===================

Wow ... its like making something moot AND nullifying it!

Cool!

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=mootify

then sandy or the interviewer said lofton was a real team player or something like that.

i'm sure someone else heard the interview and remembers it better

on another thought, what would it take to get anythony reyes from the cards? they need outfielders in the worst way.

http://www.yard-work.org/?cat=215

"Lastings apologizes for:

...

- wearing a doo-rag; Lastings should know better than to make such a fashion faux-pas. Be happy to know, folks, that Lastings has forged a life-long friendship with Rickey Henderson (thanks to his involvement with the Mets with spring), and will be going shopping with Rickey when our schedules permit (either before or after Lastings gets a new car) (and when or if Rickey gets paid)."

6 - Agreed, despite my animus towards all things Steelers it's always awful when something like this happens to anybody.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06163/697655-66.stm

Mooterific = Describes a point that becomes moot when the results of the wrong move turn out spectacularly well. "You only had one dollar left and you spent it on a lottery ticket instead of the parking meter, and your car got towed away!" "Yeah, but I won the lottery and bought a Jaguar, so it's a mooterific point."

Mootility player = A ballplayer who consistently performs better in high-profile situations than his statistics would indicate, making his manager look good.

309/419/483

and they are good for:
4th in the Southern League in batting average (.309)
2nd on OBP (.419)
4th in OPS (.901)
1st in RBI (46)
1st in BB (41 compared to 32K)
tied for 7th in HRs (9)
and 3rd in total bases (111)

just showing tough of a hitters league the Southern League really is.

I think it is very cool that he will be passing Ian Stewart and Andy Marte on the 3rd base prospect list. Sanchez101 did a great comparison of LaRoche and Gordon and since I consider Gordon one of the top 5 prospects in baseball I'll have to revisit my opinion of LaRoche.

If that story is true about Lofton telling Little that he can't hit Fuentes my opinion of him just went up a notch.

how did they adjust his current line?

Nate, were you being sarcastic or are just showing how good LaRoche is doing in comparison to the rest of the league?

Note that the league leader in HRs only has 12. Last year, 26 HRs led the league.

Jacksonville, like its parent, is among the leaders in OBP, walks and runs. This trend maybe just a coincidence but I hope it continues.

.267/.346/.451 .282eqa for the majors, he'd be the best hitter on their major league team and that would suprise nobody

1st in BB (41 compared to 32K)

this is what impressed me the most, I'm not a #'s guy but patience is a great thing in a young hitter.

"If that story is true about Lofton telling Little that he can't hit Fuentes my opinion of him just went up a notch."

agreed, I've never had a problem with him, but it dose say alot.

just looking over the BP's minor league translations and comparing them to PECOTA's projections, it seems our farm is doing well outside the callups:

name majEQA perct.
Abreu .264 90%+
Denker .199 10-25%
DeWitt .220 50%
CL Hu .242 75%
Laroche .268 75%
Loney .263 75%
Ruggiano .259 60%
Young .229 25%

Billz 4.57era 50%
Elbert 4.83 60-75%
Orenduff 6.70 25%

(50% is what PECOTA projected coming into the season, so higher is good, lower is bad)

Denker and Young are the dissapointments. But Abreu and Hu look awesome, especially considering theyre plus defenders. Loney and DeWitt are doing better than you might think, but PECOTA wasnt necessarily high on either of those two coming into the season.

Someone is teaching these kids how to throw strikes and miss bats. Check out some of these Jacksonville numbers:
Name/IP/Walks/K's
TJ Nall 44/9/56
OrenDuff 50/19/54
Alexander 29/9/44
Alveraz 33/8/33

I just love pitchers who have a dominance rate higher then 9.0 and have a strikeout to walk ratio > 3.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/dodgers/2006-06-11-cover-rookies_x.htm

But then, based on Matt Kemp's production, they may have no problem promoting him when the time comes.

Nominees, anyone?

The best hope on that front would be the emergence of Broxton, Kuo, Miller with Saito as the bullpen of the future and moving Baez during the season.

he already makes 4+ mil. Some team will be willing to offer him a multi year deal. I dont really think there is much risk in offering him arbritration if he keeps his era 3.5 or below.

http://www.salon.com/ent/tv/review/2006/06/11/i_like/index.html

Ah, that sweet, sweet word -- non-tender. mmmmmmm....non-tender.

non-tender...

non-tender...

There's a certain poetic symmetry to the word.

Ideally some team like the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs will sign him before the Arb tender deadline, and then we can offer, with no risk and pick up the cheap and easy draft picks. That would be sweet. Although there are bound to be better players signed by those clubs, so we would probably only get a supplemental and a second or third rounder for him.

Wilson Alvarez, Gio Carrera, Duaner Sanchez.

I think the real risk falls somewhere between 5MM-6MM unless Baez becomes the closer and saves 20-25 games from this point on.

Baez's real value is as a closer, even good middle relievers are not going to get much on the free agent market.

Now maybe there is a team that will view him like a Tom Gordon type but Tom Gordon was much more successful as a closer but when you are on the same team as Rivera, you are not going close.

53 - Steve Finley is an example of the dangers of assuming someone will leave. Had the Dodgers offered him arbitration, he very likely would have been with the team in 2005. He was looking at close to a $10 million payday in arb following his high-profile 2004 season. Given that I don't think Finley expected to have as poor a 2005 as he did, he would have taken it. I believe his two-year deal is at about $14 million total. In January 2005, a guy like Finley would probably have expected to be able to get at least $5 million for 2006 after earning $10 million in 2005.

That make sense?

If Scott Eyre, Kyle Farnsworth, Bob Howry, Todd Jones, Brandon Looper, Julian Tavarez, Jay Witasick, and Tim Worrell can get multi-year deals Danys Baez will get one.

Don't you think it is a bit strange to be disussing a winter move during June when many things can happen that will change the Baez equation during the rest of the actual season.

http://tinyurl.com/nmvoq

Today's chat had some interesting comments about how in post-WWII black americans found a haven from racism in Europe, but that seems to be changing for the worse. Also a nice response to a fan who complained that Miami's problem is that they're phoning it in: "You're wrong. Miami is playing as hard as its players can. You sound like Riley...like gritting their teeth and growling and stomping together is going to change the result. It isn't. This isn't about effort. Over-the-top fans always want to zoom in on how a team's effort isn't up-to-par. That's nonsense 90 percent of the time. Miami's players are trying the best they can. They're not quick enough, deep enough to counter what Dallas is doing."

Anyhow, it's a good read: http://tinyurl.com/hm64d

Plaschke's take, I believe, was summed up by his column on Erstad during the Angel-Dodger series last month.

I certainly hope so.

But whatever, it's too early to be discussing this anyways...also, has Gagne officially hit the DL yet?

Felix Hernandez shut down the Angels (which one could argue may not be hard thing these days) but often in a game like that, you will hear comments about how lifeless they appear, blah blah blah.

In retrospect, losses against good pitching are often more forgettable than the last starts by Tomko and Perez where decent pitching might have pulled out a win.

BTW Peter Gammons had Elias compute which teams have the most quality starts (don't get me started with the 4.50 ERA) and the Dodgers lead the Majors with 39.

The 2006 Angels are a $100M team pacing for 75 wins. They're actually counting on Darin Erstad to return and spark the offense. The callers on Angel talk want heads to roll- why don't the local columnists?

"Vin Scully could very well see the Dodgers win a playoff series before he expires."

Drew will probably be gone next year, the team is capable of producing runs without him, and there's already have a glut in the outfield even with a couple of guys hurt. I know this is probably risky, but what about trading him at the deadline? We can probably get a great starter in exchange...

UGH!

Respectfully, I must disagree that Finley "very likely" would've stayed with the Dodgers via arbitration.

Finley was heavily courted by the Angels and Giants. He was looking at no worse than $12 million, including a guarantee for 2006. IIRC, he got about $14 million. That's a good chunk more than what he stood to get in aribitration.

No question, there was inherent risk in offering him arbitration. You don't want to owe him $10 million. But I don't think it can be shown that it's "very likely" Finley would have opted to take less money to stay with a club that could've made it very clear that it wanted him to move on. You can argue that the Angels would've been less inclined to pay him $14 million if it meant losing a draft pick. How much less? Hard to know. As for the Giants, they prefer to lose their top-end picks, so there was no disincentive.

I'd say that if the Dodgers had played it right and told Finley that they were committed to Bradley in CF -- far and away, Finley's preferred position -- the chances of him accepting arbitration would've been about 25-30 percent. I can more easily accpet that's too much risk for the sake of two draft picks.

Would it still be unthinkable if the Dodgers were able to get Scott Kazmir? Or Greg Maddux?

One can hope that Logan White is as energetic and motivated to excel as he was when he earned his reputation as a great drafter. Many good drafters lose their edge. It's a relentless job. Other good drafters get consumed by ego (football analogy: Bobby Beathard).
Is White in danger on either of those scores? Possibly.
If the Dodgers are looking to motivate him, they can point to last year's draft, which appears ordinary. I'm still not sold on his ability to evaluate pitchers, although I'm encouraged by Billingsley.
As for making White feel appreciated, I suspect he's well-compensated. The key is to give him the resources and backing to do the best job possible. Here's where the club should be lauded for how it handled Hochevar. Rather than suck up to a kid who had reneged on a deal that would've made him the best-paid second-rounder ever, Colletti backed White. Smart move. It's empowering for White when he has to negotiate other high-profile deals. And it's a principled way of backing a productive employee.

really? I, for one, feels pitcher evluation is his strength and he is better at that then at evaluating hitters.

what is the point of trading laroche away?

As far as pitching...we all know we need pitching, the problem is what's the quality out there? Maddux could probably be had for not much...he isn't great, but at least he's solid. Willis is probably the most overrated pitcher in baseball and would cost top prospects, so no dice there. There just isn't much out there. I think our best bet is to nab someone like Maddux who won't cost us the farm and hope Bills is able to contribute.

1. Drew is making $11M a year.
2. Drew can opt out at the end of this year.
3. If he doesn't opt out, he has $33M guaranteed for 3 more years.
4. Even after this year, veteran players traded during a multi-year contract can demand a trade after that year. (This is a pretty unlikely option but it is part of the CBA)

I think there a lot of other players that teams will ask the Dodgers about, J.D. Drew is not one of them.

I'm not saying that Drew is a problem and that the Dodgers won't win if they don't trade him, but shouldn't they be willing to part with him if they are overwhelmed?

but why trade laroche for chipper jones?

and why trade Drew? He's been great for us this year, and we're not going to be overwhelmed for him. The Astros won't take on his salary, and the Yanks have nothing to give back.....

Nate,

For me, White's better at evaluating hitters/field players. Not that he's terrible with pitchers. I just don't see much touch and feel with his pitchers. For me, they're more throwers than pitchers. But you have to look beyond White there. Are the Dodgers good at teaching their pitching prospects? How many pitchers have their instructors helped to develop? Do they insist on the changeup?
Kind of hard to know. When was the last time the LAD rotation got a good season from a homegrown starting pitcher? I'm digressing a bit here. J
Just take my overall view as a positive -- White's done very well with hitters. I'm encouraged by Bills. Just hope he's gained a semblance of a changeup to go with a bit better accuracy.

Thanks. Glad to see I'm not the only Aybar backer.

White selects power pitchers that have the tools to develop 2nd, 3rd, 4th pitches. His top 2 round pitchers from 2002-2004

greg miller
zach hammes
chad billingsley
chuck tiffany
scott elbert
justin orenduff
blake johnson

The only notable bust so far is zach hammes. the rest have enjoyed success in the minor leagues. Miller was unforunate with the shoulder thing or else he would be in the big league rotation right now. After his 2003 yr, he was destined for stardom. Tiffany got fat and lost effectivness.

No question Chipper is better than whatever the Dodgers throw out there but he has missed 15 games this year and has had those issues in the past.

Really, I think this project to make the all-time most hated Dodger team has promise.

Do you describe all your ex's this way?

In January 2005, had the Dodgers offered Finley arbitration, Finley stood to make around $10 million for 2005.

There was no reason for Finley to think at that point that he wouldn't make at least $5 million in 2006.

Therefore, his combined salary for 2005-06 going the arbitration route figured to be higher than his combined salary signing a two-year deal with the Angels or some other team.

From Finley's POV in January 2005:

2005 arb + 2006 FA - at least $15 million total, possibly a lot more
2005-06 FA - around $14-15 million total

That's how I see it.

I guess we'll find out in a few years. I know minor-league success can be fairly predictive. If two of those guys pan out, he's doing fine.

I only tell it like it is. I enjoyed Big Tiff but I have moved on.

well broxton has panned out, hes ont of our better relief pitchers. Billingsley is on his way in the next week most likely. I am skeptical of Orenduff though only because he hasnt pitched in almost 3 weeks.

aybar's power is more then adaquate at 2b which is where he will reside in the near future when Kent breaks down again.

so what? not every player is a HR hitter.

Jon, I see your point.

My point is that a two-year guarantee -- which Finley was very likely to get from Angels or Giants -- removes any uncertainty for 2006 at pretty enticing dollars for a guy who's 40 years old.

Further, the Dodgers had some leverage with Milton Bradley, a younger CF. Finley far prefers CF. If told the Dodgers were committing to Bradley in CF, Finley has to weigh the unpleasant scenario of a corner OF job. The Angels and Giants were guaranteed Finley two years to play CF.

I see the risk in offering arbitration, just don't think it was slam dunk that, properly handled, he would've accepted. The relationship between the Dodgers and Finley's agent would've been a factor, too.

what are your feelings on Guzman? He's probably the prospect I'm least high on. I dont know, I just don't really see him being the dominant hitter that everyone expects....I love Kemp, Aybar, Laroche, Martin...but for some reason Guzman doesn't tickle my fancy.

Maybe I've got some vendetta against him for an unknown reason, but he's the one prospect we have that I wouldn't really mind if we traded for a nice return...

I guess "panned out" is subject to interpretation. Broxton's done some nice things. I'd love to see it continue. You're more sold on him than I.

I really don't understand why people feel there HAS to be power hitters at certain positions...you get the offense from wherever you get it. Kent alleviates the power we don't have at third etc etc.

When kent is gone hopefully we've got Aybar at second and Laroche at third...with Kemp and Drew out there as well. s choir, you seem to think that we're struggling offensively when in fact our offense has been phenomenal this year, and is looking good for the future too...

Perhaps a sobering thought, even with the great Junes of Martin and Kemp, the team is 5-5, which has to do more with poor starts and some bullpen blowups but still it is not like they have been the sole reason for the resurgence.

However, they are the most exciting reasons to follow the team for a long time.

The fact that he seems to be working on these things and possibly taking good instruction from his coaches shows some maturity that some have questioned in the past.

I hope he goes down and teams up with LaRoche to lead Vegas to a 2nd half championship.

Basically what I've been saying throughout this thread is that I would pull the trigger on trading an outfielder OPSing .913 and an unproven prospect for a 3B OPSing .860 and an ace starter.

If you look at this trade objectively, isn't it at least something to consider in light of this team's needs?

If anything, it's more realistic than the Izturis/Perez/Seo/Baez/Guzman for Maddux speculation I've heard around here. You have to dangle something attractive to get what you want.

Since Jacksonville had a day game yesterday and they were off today, I have to think that he may have left late yesterday or this morning and will be available tonight.

BTW was there an announcement somewhere, I have not seen it.

HR #8.

maddux is an example of an ace? maybe if we were in 1996.

Does anybody know anything about Lundberg?

Sounds like a FOX deal. Say, what is Kevin Brown up to these days?

167- It wasn't unanimous? So, somebody really was preaching to s choir? I missed it, I guess.

That being said, it all comes down to what we have to give up. Might the Cubs be interested in Izturis, who is by this point all but expendable? I don't think Maddux would be worth either Loney or Young.

WWSH

The difference between Hanrahan and Lundberg is that Hanrahan was once a great prospect at an early age and then lost his way. Sometimes they find their way again so while he is also a career minor leaguer he is only 24.

Andy Pettite just a year ago was one of the best lefthanders in the NL. He's having a tough time in 2006 but it is doubtfull he is washed up, but it is doubtfull that the Astro's would trade him since they just signed Clemens and they aren't spending all that money on the Rocket just to twiddle in 3rd place.

I think the burden of evidence is on the person that might think he's still a prospect. What makes you think he is a prospect?

[faints]

if both are underperforming and both have similar contracts, why would we need to throw in cash?

He probably should go Vero just to see what his outlook is because he only has one more year after this before they have to decide what to do with him. His negative would strikeouts but maybe he is Adam Dunn wannabe, high walks and Ks but with some solid power.

Pedroza doesnt make enough contact. Even at the lower levels, Dunn made very good contact and had a high BA. Pedroza could become a left handed DH platoon guy though.

Just kidding, nice AB yesterday Tomato, just make sure you can get that double without giving me heart attack next time.

Now that LaRoche has lit his torch it would be nice for Dewitt to get his going thus leaving only Denker as someone who has a dry wick.

Gigantor pitched two solid innings after a few shaky outings in a row.

Rockies up 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth.

for the last year or so, I have been conversing with someone who is a family friend of the Dewitt family and he gives me updates on Dewitt every now and then. A couple of days ago he told me that Blake has been really frustrated lately because he is trying to get his swing back. Earlier in May he was going really well but then a Vero Beach coach told him to try hitting the ball in the ground more and since then it has really messed with his head. He told me that apparently the Dodger higher ups were furious that the VB coach told Blake there and the last couple of weeks, he has been working to get his orginal swing back. take that for what its worth.

trust me, i was in shock when i hear that dropping F bombs left and right.

I just hope dewitt gets back on track. It should be a shame if this hangs with him for the whole year.

201 Too lazy to add all the numbers, after a poor start, Dewitt had raised his average to .324 on May 12th, it has now dropped to .268 through last weekend.

212 I will say that there is no comparison to last year's VB team to this one, last year they had LaRoche for half a year, Abreau, Kemp, and Hu. This year aside from Dewitt and Elbert, no big time prospects. However, that should not equate to the record they have and if they are receiving that kind of coaching, no wonder they are struggling.

his body is also similar to Mo Vaughn's.

he slugged .398 last year. I would have held him back too.

"Cory can hit, but he has to get in shape," Smith said. "I was with Walter [Young] in Pittsburgh, and he's one of the nicest kids in the world--one of my favorites. But you can't play at 300 pounds. You can't. There's a reason why he's bounced around. You just can't do it.

"But with Cory, we have hopes with him. We're contracted with API (Athletes Performance Institute) and we've had them talk to him about nutrition and having a consistent approach with his diet. We're going to do our best to get the most out of this kid, because we think he can hit. We're going to try to show him that we care. He just has to get in better shape."

227-
James Loney's full season at Vero:
.276/.337/.400
Cory Dunlap at Vero:
.291/.382/.398

I realize that Loney was 2 years younger, but Dunlap displayed a very advanced approach, not only walking a lot, but also proving to be a good contact hitter. Loney was a bonus baby who has all the tools that scouts love and was more "projectable", so they promoted him to Jacksonville. In Jacksonville, Loney completely bombed, partly due to injuries, partly due to being completely overmatched. Last year, he repeated Jacksonville and had a nice season, showing a more patient approach, but still not hitting for much power. If Dunlap was built like Loney and was a 1st round pick, I guarantee you he would have started the season in AA.

BTW Andy LaRoche just hit a home run in his first at bat in AAA.

"Paging Jeremy Brown? Jeremy Brown, to the white courtesy phone, please?" =P

he has killed only the rally 10 times this year.

You idiot, you can't even type. You meant to say he has killed the rally only 10 times this year.

Speaking of killing rallies, how are we on the Nomar Garciaparra Homer Watch (tm)? Is he only allowed 2 HR for the entire rest of the season?

How this affects Joel's value and development, we will have to wait and see but since there are no issues with Loney's and LaRoche's fielding, I certainly see this as something the Dodgers will want to try.