If LaRoche is sent down, I hope it doesn't tweak his confidence much. He seems pretty mellow about things and I'm sure the Dodgers staff would talk to him but you don't want to see another disgruntled young 'un. (Unless a trade is pending? Or, as you suggest, the pitching staff is reduced) At any rate, Abreu could be an improvement on Betemit and LaRoche, so why not.

Also Gurnick says Abreu is a switch hitter. I swear I thought he was strictly a RH batter.

Hm. He didn't get much of a shot. I wonder if they think he's still a little "off" or something.

Okay, lets see, who has options.
1. Chad
2. Hong-Chih
3. Tsao
4. Broxton (okay, just kidding)
5. Saito (now I am really kidding)
6. Ethier (uhh nope)
7. LaRoche

Straight out DFA
1. Rudy Seanez (don't see it until Yhency comes up)
2. Ramon Martinez

Safely attached to the team
1. Martin
2. Lieberthal
3. Nomar
4. Kent
5. Furcal
6. Betemit, only because he has trade value.
7. Saenz
8. Gonzalez
9. Pierre
10. Clark
11. Lowe
12. Wolf
13. Penny
14. Tomko
15. Hendrickson
16. Beimel

If I had to guess, I would say Hong-Chih, with all the off days, they probably feel that their pitching depth is okay for now.

As for the 40-man roster move, when they DFAed Valdez, they effectively opened up one spot on that roster, otherwise they could put Repko on the 60-day DL and do it that way.

A man can dream, right?

Bigbie too but I think he was in AAA just as a real emergency option.

I wonder how this is playing out in his mind?

Short term, we go to 11 pitchers with the off day Thursday.

Long term, we might be ready to make a bolder move. Things do need to change. Perhaps Ned has a trade going involving Betemit, Valdez, a pitcher, and an outfielder for Glaus?

I would have preferred that they just DFA Tomko and call up Kemp, but this move is better than no move, I guess.

Rather than Betemit, LaRoche would be wanted by Toronto I would think.

Maybe Andy was getting showcased?

You are a very smart man. A very smart man indeed. Do you have Ned's phone number? I'll pitch in to rent a billboard.

You are a very smart man. A very smart man indeed. Do you have Ned's phone number? I'll pitch in to rent a billboard.

Kent is a liability at 2B because of his range.

Nomar is a liability anywhere other than 1B because of his injuries.

Wilson Betemit/LaRoche were horrible this spring with the glove.

Gonzo and Pierre have the weakest arms out there.

Ethier has a strong arm but makes a lot of mistakes in the OF and his accuracy.

Martin- didn't foresee his struggles but oh well.

If a minor leaguer has an average driven line and a .420 BABIP, he will not find any long term success in the bigs.

Miller will probably go back as a starter sometime, there will be at least 2-3 guys in AAA who can start on short notice plus we still have Chad here in LA.

Umm... no.

Unless you think Martin, Ethier, Kemp, LaRoche, Loney, and Billingsley were all also brought up "well before they were ready." Because all of them were brought up at the same point in their careers as Abreu -- with a couple of months or less of Triple A under their belt.

The more I think about it, the idea of Jeff playing first and Abreu playing second sounds like it could be something that we could see shortly like in 5 hours.

It is very puzzling, though, and doesn't seem to help them where they need the most help, in the outfield.

Abreu is going to be our DH for the remaining AL road games!

Other than that, I think LaRoche had more AAA at bats than the others but memory serves that Martin, Ethier, Kemp and Chad were doing really well at the time of their callups (Chad's pitch counts notwithstanding) and Loney was called up first out of spring when Nomar was hurt. Only LaRoche had a month or so of so-so stats before his promotion.

There is an explanation for the move already - with an off day coming up, Kuo goes down to get more work, and the Dodgers add a bench player/spot starter. So I don't know if there's anything else to wait for.

It might mean that Betemit will firmly be a pinch-hitter for a while, but that's not intrinsic to the move.

"Stitch N' Pitch brings together two American traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team."

And you thought there couldn't possibly be a worse idea than Disco Demolition night.

"Stitch N' Pitch brings together two American traditions — Baseball and the NeedleArts. Come to a ball game and knit, crochet, embroider, cross-stitch and needlepoint. Sit among friends, family and colleagues and cheer on your favorite Baseball Team."

And you thought there couldn't possibly be a worse idea than Disco Demolition night.

Here's Abreu last year:

.290/.345/.394, .331 BABIP, 20% Line drive percentage.

Abreu is showing the expected improvements in power from aging and moving to a better hitters park, but right now he's got almost the same batted ball types, he's just finding holes 10% more often.

I dont know- he was beating the ball in ST, havnt seen any of the 51s games, but the top level stats look pretty solid to me. 18 XBHs in 39 games, so its not a bunch of seeing eye grounders. Well see.

Nomar's ability to hit singles with risp and his fan popularity make it more difficult to move him out of Loney's way. I would take my chances with Nomar in left, Kemp in CF, Loney at first for a couple of weeks.

Grady: "Getting my wine in position to throw in your damn face!"

I guess it beats the time my g/f spent the entirety of the All Star game in Denver trying to find Beanie Babies for her nieces.

It's entirely possible that Abreu is just a temporary recall until they go back to 12 pitchers. Like the Angels have done with Brandon Wood.

Not everything is meant to be analyzed like the duck by the swimming pool ...

If you could remove one starting Dodger who would it be. We have so many options that it is not obvious who the number one candidatee would be:
1. Pierre / Kemp
2. Tomko / Billingsly
3. Gonzo / Kemp
4. Tomko / Kuo
5. Nomar / Loney

How many other 1st place teams have this many candidates for upgrade?

I wonder how this is playing out in his mind?

I hate to lose Loney, but it would be much better for his career now if the Dodgers traded him. There is a mental game here, and the combination of being blocked and seeing his teammates getting called up must be killing him. Especially if the Abreu move was made with the intention of giving Nomar a few days off here and there.

The Dodgers crushed him by not giving the roster spot that he felt he earned after last season and this spring. Now he's not hitting well, and Abreu gets called up ahead of him, even though it's the guy who's blocking Loney that might be headed to the bench. That's brutal.

92 I think he could play both at the same time and be better than those two, yeah. Oops, sorry, now I'm being cynical. ;-)

11111111111111111111111111111

I hope that doesn't violate rule 8.

In case that isn't clear, I go with 1, Kemp for Pierre.

I don't think Gonzo is worth worrying about at the moment. He has the best OPS of any Dodger outfielder. He's a good candidate to get worse as the year goes on, but there are bigger holes in the OF.

{Shakes Magic 8-Ball}...

Abreu. Go get 'em, kid.

I'd do # 1. Little / Colletti might make the other moves on their own in due course anyway.

They should have come up with "All signs point to Kemp" in the 8-ball

There are some who feel that way, but I think more feel that his minor league career holds up better than people say, especially considering his age and the times he was hurt.

I would like to see Kemp replacing Gonzo. Thats my vote. RBI opportunities are not his fault, but dude has 4 more than Juan for five and is 39.

I'm really eager for the Dodgers to just let the kids play and get away from the aging vets.

Not sure what you were getting at with that, but if you think Loney is just being a whiner, and that his frame of mind should have no impact on his performance on the field, then you're deluded. Athletes are human beings, not machines. It would be nice if they performed free of emotional clutter, but often, they don't. That's life.

And we'll be the ones crying in a few years when Loney is starring at 1B for another team, and Nomar is enjoying his retirement.

1B Loney
2B Abreu
SS Furcal
3B. LaRoche
LF Kemp
CF Pierre
RF Eithier
C Martin

I think there was a little of that doubt there but he did perform at that level all year plus he had a nice few games in September and even showed some poise in the post-season. And then he backed it up with a nice spring training.

There were reports from scouts in early 2006 that liked Loney more than Joel Guzman (not Dodger scouts, unnnamed scouts in BP reports).

Which is the real James Loney, well he has time on his side, his production in the low minors was never that bad, he just always had that nagging power question but he is only 23 as of a few weeks ago and unless you are just a large guy like Prince Fielder or Ryan Howard, power usually takes some time to develop.

But to give you a short answer, yes it was talked about a lot last year and it took Loney's full year to bring a lot of people over to his side.

Nothing else expected to come today.

Nomar is OPSing under .700, so you'd figure Loney would get a call up to play some first. But no, they call up Abreu, who has a lower ceiling than LaRoche and doesn't play first or the outfield. Loney isn't hitting a ton in AAA, but neither was LaRoche when they called him up.

Again, it just seems totall random. Neither rhyme nor reason.

I didn't want to re-sign Nomar, especially for two years, but I didn't think I'd despise his presence as much as I currently do. But he sells jerseys and appeals to certain demographics and is a very nice guy, and that's all that matters.

Ignorance is definitely bliss.

Drew was a better hitter than Nomar last year. Furcal and Kent were better if you compare them to positional averages.

Mr. Anderson has 23 million on his contract through 2008 (11 in 2007, 12 in 2008), it is full no-trade contract because he a 10-5 player (10 years service time/5 continuous years with the same team), and he has a 3MM buy out at the end of 2008.

Of course this deal was made back in 2004 when Garrett got a 4 year extension plus option/buy out for 2009.

Not saying that we don't have our problems but don't think that all GMs don't have a deal or two that they would reconsider.

I think SABR-types tend to limit their conception of a GM's duties to putting the best team on the field, where "best" refers to scoring the most runs and giving up the fewest. In reality, however, GMs also have to take into account which players the fans will pay to see and which they won't. The team that will sell the most tickets isn't always the team that will win the most games.

Not that I'm saying anything new here.

http://tinyurl.com/3asdgs

Just how much is that worth? Seriously, somebody explain, please...

No that I want us to lose. I don't. I'm just tired of that line of reasoning.

The Dodgers draw 3 million plus like I get heartburn. That is to say, consistently and without missing a beat.

Pierre
Furcal
Nomar
Kent
Martin
Gonzo
Ethier
Abreu
Wolf

Front office positions < > on field positions.

So Kuo was forced to compete and concealed an injury so as not to be declared out of the running by default. And then our team management has the unmitigated gall to blame him for not speaking up. Why? So he can be like Kemp and play well only to have an injury lead to more time in AAA with no recall in sight? The Kemp fiasco only proves the wisdom of what Kuo tried to accomplish.

And we have a single spare outfielder by trade, which means that we cannot ever protect a 1 run lead late by inserting two better fielding and throwing OFs into LF and CF in place of the single is a double LuGo and Pierre. What sealed the deal for me was the run that Kuo gave up last series. Kotchman was sent home on a shallow pop fly to CF and he scored. What more need be said?

That's the "without a clue" here, I mean, here I thought that we were going to upgrade Hendy with Schmidt [so Schmidt, Penny, Lowe, Kuo, and Bills] but instead we added "veteran presence" in Wolf and gave up any pitching improvement whatsover by adding the weak fielding and throwing LuGo and Pierre to the OF. I'd really like to have Ned and/or Grady explain that one, as it makes no sense whatsover to me, I mean, what was the point of upgrading the pitching when we were just going to give it all back with singles into doubles and slow as molasses scoring from 3rd on a shallow pop fly to CF.

Wolf otherwise makes no sense, since it was only for two back to back years [2001-2002] that he's ever had a season ERA under 4.00 [his career ERA stands at over 4.00]. Apparently, management believed that neither Kuo or Bills could post an ERA under 4.00 for the year [or else believed that Wolf could somehow magically revert to 2001-2002 and never mind 99, 00, 03, 04, and his injury history]. What makes it even worse is that if the thought was that Kuo may not hold up, well, has Wolf held up recently? I suspect that the thinking was, Wolf is a strikeout pitcher, and so he might help with LuGo and Pierre in the OF, but then again, Kuo too is supposed to be a strikeout pitcher. And given Kuo's own injury history, maybe otherwise better for us that if he has to blow his arm out once and for all, that he does so for us and not AAA Las Vegas.

In sum, the only team with worse player management than us is the Colorado Rockies [with the Texas Rangers a close 3rd].

How quickly LaRoche seems to have fallen out of favor.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but man I feel jerked around by this bizarre Dodger management.

FSW commercial director: Who, any ideas?

Ned: Kent, Pierre, Gonzo or Penny for starters

----cuts to morning meeting at TV station in front of dry erase board----

FSW crew: Kent, maybe we go with a Motocross theme.

FSW commercial director: good I like. Make it happen number 1.

FSW pleebs: Pierre we go with rappers.

FSW pleeb in the back: how bout we get Tom Goodwin to pull him over?

FSW commercial director: now your thinking. If Goodwin can't do it where do we go?

FSW pleeb in the back next to other guy: I can ask my people if Wesley Snipes is available?

FSW commercial director: ok, on to Gonzo, any ideas?

FSW pleeb by the speaker phone: How about something playstaion related? His kids jump out from the back of the van playing Metal Gear or something?

FSW commercial director: Maybe even go with Gonzo himself trying to get Furcal to go 15-17. We can tweak this, now on to Penny.

FSW pleebs: How about chicks with blogs?

FSW commercial director: That's crazy talk.

But then again I may have missed something; I only read the Clif's Notes version of your posting. ;-)

Now Grady, though I find is Southern charm engaging, is not Mr. Explain the Reasoning behind moves like these so hopefully someone will talk to someone who can.

I mean really, this isn't a whole lot different than the Izzy/Lugo experiment at 3B.

Ben Sheets has been very average this year until his last two starts. Will be interesting to see if he really has found his strikeout pitch again. Not exactly an easy matchup for Abreu the 1st time around.

Plus, Nomar and The Player have enough salary to sign Soriano.

Besides, Soriano doesn't get paid $27M a year which makes it a moot point but if he were to have been paid $27M a year I could guarantee he would have taken a 4yr deal.

To whom do these hysterics belong? Are you talking about calling up Abreu?

I need clarification.

Same thing, only opposite, with Loney. He is so young, and showed such marked, continual improvement, that his past indicated during spring training that he might -- might -- be a better performer than Garciaparra this year. It is hard to know what to make of his performance in AAA this year -- it may be an indication that the guesses about him during ST were wrong, or it may be something psychological, or it may just be a meaningless slump. Nobody knows.

I don't know if I agree that Nomar's done -- he's my favorite player and I like watching him play for my team... and it was great to see his first half last year. Still, I recognize that not re-signing him and playing Loney at first would have given the team many more options at (a) likely little or no cost in wins, and (b) some but not huge cost in marketing potential.

Where people are frustrated, I believe, is the deference given to veterans over the prospects. Past performance -- no matter how long ago -- counts more than potential future promise. Maybe that makes for a better team today, but maybe not, and it certainly is not a good recipe for long term success. Even the Yankees, who could spend more on veterans than anyone, couldn't keep it up.

I'm happy for Abreu and I hope he makes the most of his chance up here and sticks. That said, like others, I don't understand why he gets the nod instead of Kemp.

I could think of worse ways to spend my summer. What do minor league players get paid?

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/fan_forum/am/2007/index.jsp

I'm not confident in the direction we're going, but we're not a disastrously run franchise.

I hated all of the prospect trades that Colletti made last year, but there's one thing that unifies the players that Colletti gave up: their stock had fallen.

You can't say that about LaRoche or Abreu or Kemp or Hu or even Loney.

FWIW, you CAN say that about Betemit, whose stock is at its nadir... and while I can't speak for the rest of DT, and while it would depend on the trade, I don't think I'd be too sorry to see Betemit go.

And who are they, Kobe and Nomar. Now they are not posing together but nice little shots of those two and something like best sports in LA written underneath.

And as those of us who have been to games since he has been a Dodger, no one gets more love from the crowd than Nomar.

I have no idea how that plays out in personnel decisions but it must mean something.

And yes, Soriano would have been a better option to watch in LF than Gonzo and we would have still have had speed.

SS Furcal
C Martin
LF Soriano
2B Kent
1B Loney
CF Kemp
RF Ethier
3B Betemit

Is it that much worse? If Loney didn't work out there was also cheap FA options that have performed pretty well such as Carlos Pena. But hindsight is always 20/20.

I really think people are reading too much of this. Abreu can help the club now. They will probably send him back down when they need an extra pitcher. When Kemp and/or Loney get The Call, they probably want it to be for the long term and not a temporary false alarm. I hope Abreu does well, while I do wonder a little bit about LaRoche now.

Betemit is now at .200/.346/.450 vs. LHP with an 18% bb rate. IMO a Betemit/LaRoche platoon would be the 4th best bat on the field.

Nomar
Pierre
Ethier
Furcal
Betemit

Again, not saying that Andy deserves more than 40 odd plate appearances but I do think his stat line is misleading.

Jon wouldn't think of breaking rule #7.
Maybe you need to tie your shirt at the bottom? (as pictured on the left)

Furcal and Ethier, different story. And sample size matters. And OBP isn't the only thing. All points granted.

He's still been better than Nomar, Pierre and Betemit.

Again, not arguing. But numbers are numbers.

Should I be ashamed if I entered the contest just for the free seats? I could care less if I met her. Although, I can think of many other Dodger fans I would not want to sit near.

http://tinyurl.com/2ag5an

I know (shaking my head in shame)

189 - That couldn't hurt.

See, we can meet at some middle ground.

But can you explain today's move without a magic 8 ball?

I mean do you know who that is? In my best Tony Danza voice..it's "SamanTA"

On the other hand he could be showcased for a trade.

Ask again later :-)

It seems to me that the team management has the mindset of, you two guys did good in an emergency last year but never mind how well you actually performed, it was just an emergency and so all bets are off and you get no credit for last year's service. And so I don't understand why it was Wolf over Bills and why Kuo was made to compete with Tomko and Hendy rather than both being given their jobs to lose.

214 You're just stressing out.

But on a team with 2 guys who have been playing 3B for a lot longer than he has and who have shown that they can hit the ball out of the park, something this team needs, to bring up Abreu and stick him at 3B just smacks of some sort of going backwards to playing Izzy instead of Aybar or Lugo instead of letting Betemit play everyday.

And Lugo and Izzy had veteran status while they actually had to add Tony to the 40-man roster.

That is what I mean by stressing out, I can't figure out the reasoning to this move.

Head toward the ocean, you stupid whales.

Do we have a bet?

Beyond that, I don't see what's so hard to understand about the move. They don't need 12 pitchers. So they call up someone. Abreu's got the high average, so they choose him. I'd choose Kemp, but life goes on.

Hopefully the Dodgers are, too. Otherwise we can resort to banging on pipes.

This is why I'm convinced they will trade for a 3b. If they are going to call up Abreu and play him at 3b they are using 3b as the scapegoat for the teams offensive failures and since many 3b are available that is the direction they will end up taking. This feels like the Lugo panic trade or the Pierre panic signing.

If it results in Glaus being our 3b then I won't mind. If it ends with Wiggington being our 3b then I'll hold my breath until I pass out and wake up a Tampa Bay fan.

You may think you'll end up somewhere where Devil Ray fans abound, but you should hope to wake up an Angel fan.

(Of course, our heaven is ruled by the BDITS, but....)

Oh, I'm mean.

anyone see this??? this is a great read regardless if you agree, disagree etc..

In the eighth inning, newly acquired Dodgers center fielder Juan Pierre drops a deep fly to right center. A run scores, then another, putting the Giants up 5-3. "Well, well, well," says Boras, cackling and looking over at Stillwell, enjoying a moment of what might be considered payback. "J.D. Drew would've caught that ball," he says confidently, leaving no doubt that he has not forgotten the off-season controversy. "You just don't let Greg Maddux leave your building, and you sign J.D. Drew," he says.

I think LaRoche will play some LF (and who knows, maybe that's his destiny) and maybe one of these guys is getting showcased for a trade but for now I'm not reading a huge amount into it.

With my luck, it will be for the Yankees. He will be lauded for his supreme speed and basestealing abilities. The Dodgers will be called fools for getting rid of him.

And meanwhile, the Dodgers -- who will be the team that Pierre steals on -- will lose the game on that steal, by a final score of 14-13. Pierre will be awarded World Series MVP, despite going 3-20 with a SB and a CS.

Noah, Horford, Wright et al. are very nice players, but Oden and Durant are amazing.

im trying to figure out but everything goes back to "prospect for veteran trade".

ugh.

Can't we just put Matt Kemp in center and use Pierre as a pinch runner?

Or package Pierre with some of our surplus pitching for someone, anyone with some power?

I can't believe we have to see Pierre out in centerfield for 5 years.

{Crickets}

Hello?

Maybe Pierre -- precisely because he stays so healthy -- IS the worst signing in Dodgers history.

Discuss.

(and btw thanks to everybody for the graduation congratulations. Samuel, did you survive the early morning ceremony?)

I did not even go to mine lol.

I will buy this blog comments section a pitcher of beer if it can refrain for one night from referring to Juan Pierre. Betcha ya can't!

J.D. Drew, 2007 = Jody Reed, 1994?

General Manager frustration over failure to sign [Drew/Reed], in part brought about by player greed, leads to disastrous [signing of Pierre/trading of Pedro for DeShields], a mistake with ramifications for years to come.

http://www.dodgerblues.com/content/features_trades.html

http://tinyurl.com/35b3cw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champion%27s_League

I smell 3000 word article which I will not read.

By the way Marty, did you hear that Frodo is going to play Iggy Pop: http://tinyurl.com/2pugwj

If I'm not mistaken, good sources have said Ned went after Soriano (and some other FA power bats) but lost out. A couple FAs reportedly didn't want to play on the West Coast...Soriano may have been one.

When the power wouldn't sign and then Drew bolted, that led to Ned-panic and to where the team is now.

His other CF option would have been to sign Roberts to platoon with Repco.