Maybe Andy is hurting again - maybe sprained his pythag?

Either that he's in der hundhaus?
>>

A world series next year would be a nice way to celebrate both anniversaries!

I have a basic question: Which hurt the team more this year, the lack of slugging production from part of the team or the lack of reliable starting pitching [6+ inning starts]?

[...and what's a better stat, OPS or OPS+?]

And at least per Josh, Lowe is out a couple days, as Wells gets the ball tomorrow.

4 Right two starts, where he outproduced the other 3rd basemen, and 2 poor at bats. I'm sure that was it for his audition!

Lucky us.

Unfortunately it doesn't factor position played into it, though, which to me is one of its major shortcomings. EqA, on the other hand, does this. I just don't know of a place that lets you search for players and find their season EqA, the way Baseball-Reference allows for searching for a player and OPS+.

Take out Pierre and it'd be almost ideal.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/index.php?search=Eqa

20 Or Delwyn, another member of Club Disappeared.

This year, Peavy is better on 5 days rest (10 starts) than 4 (17 starts). His career stats are better on 5 also. (Just one counterexample, not a proof either way.)

For example, Nomar's overall 2007 OPS+ is 75, but for 3B: 88 and for 1B: 60.

sOPS+ - OPS+ of this split relative to the major league OPS for this split: 100 x((split OBP/ML avg. OBP of split) + (split SLG/ML avg. SLG of split) - 1)

Pierre's second half is a typical Juan Pierre second half and he has stolen 22 out of 24.

Now I am off to go fly in my spaceship with Jessica Alba.

Hey, cool. I didn't know about most of those, and I could have sworn that EqA took into account player position. Thanks for the corrections!

3B and the corner OF spots are the only lineup spots that Grady can use to satisfy his roster with playing time since he generally refuses to mess with the middle of the diamond (C, 2B, SS, CF) and Loney is now established at 1B.

So that is what he is doing. No conspiracy, no mystery.

I see your point BHSportsguy, but one can also argue that that's why so many errors/instability comes out of that position, but that's just one way to look at it.

36 I do think you have give Rafael Furcal a mulligan for this year, not counting this season, last 3-4 years, averaged 30+ doubles, 8 triples, 12 homers, not A-Rod but not the guy we have seen this year playing on a chronically sore ankle.

Obviously LA has been very fortunate with the success that they've had from that group, but it has shielded them from the growing pains that rookies usually deal with, and benefit from being able to play through them.

mix in a guy like Hillenbrand in that equation & you've got your self a mess.

Abreu 86
LaRoche 79
Nomar 75
Hillenbrand 55

Yet we've seen Hillenbrand more recently than LaRoche. This is Abreu's first start at 3B since 7/6.

in re: LaRoche, the general concensus here seems to be he is the second coming...and various periodicals note him as the best we got in the system....to me, he seems overmatched at the plate...maybe he is young, maybe I don't know what I am talking about, but he doesn't have that "look" that Kemp had even when he struggled last year...imho

Abreu LH: .319 .354 .407 .760
Abreu RH: .194 .256 .389 .645

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200505130.shtml

Of course, Ned/Grady were not yet with the team. And we had Milton Bradley.

But why would Delwyn Young be out of options? I only recall him being on the team last September and this year and I only recall him being option back to the minors this year. Which years did I miss?

I looked back at the Dodgers since 1998, as far as position players go (and this probably goes more for the talent available than a philosophy) but I see only Adrian Beltre (1998), Paul Lo Duca (2001) and Dave Roberts and Cesar Izturis (2002) as the young (and really only Beltre and Izturis were young) players who were handed starting jobs and played through whatever ups and downs they had. Certainly Lo Duca had big first full season and Roberts did okay. Izturis played such fine defense, his hitting ability was overlooked and Beltre probably shouldn't have been playing for the team at age 19.

Now, none of those guys have the upside of Kemp or LaRoche but as someone who has watched this team for a long time, transitioning new players in is not an exact science and while it may be true that the team would have been better off just handing some of these guys the keys early on, it is certainly not a tradition in LA for that to happen.

What do you like about Abreu at the plate? I don't think I've ever seen him take a pitch.

45 Abreu actually had an opposite split in the minors (.856 OPS as lefty, and 1.090 as a righty). However both sets are far to small to determine anything from. Over the last three years, Abreu has hit slightly better as a lefty, but nothing significant.

Thanks for reminding me of that, your right. In theory you'd think it's better for one guy to man a position instead of having what we have now, this little exchange is making me miss Beltre.

Dodgers 4.5 Padres -4.4
Giants 0.5 D-Backs -0.6
Phillies -0.3 Rockies 0.3
Worst -5.31 5.35 Best

If you add Hu (25) and Abreu (24)at SS and 2B in 2009, the average is just over 25.

LOL. What about computers?

We may have different definitions of "aggressive." To me, Pierre is the epitome of an aggressive hitter, like Nomar.

wow, season must be about over, I'm babbling worse than ever, not much to really say about the D's anymore

The Dodgers have never been very good at developing outfielders maybe a one decent player a decade, sometimes two. Amd again, for about 15-16 years, the farm system produced very little, especially first round picks.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/ballz/2007/09/whats_craig_biggio_got_to_do_w.php

vs LHP (as RH): 420 PA, .300/.329/.424/.753
vs RHP (as LH): 1002 PA, .314/.354/.434/.788

Also, it is sort of amazing how one of the biggest things PECOTA has recieved flack for is it's absurd projections for Pedroia, yet look what he's doing now.

I finished compiling the potential free agents list for 3B and Outfielders. 3B doesn't appear to need any new participants but just in case I'll show you who's available:

Name/Age/Avg/OPS+

Arod/31/.319/190 [that's insane!]
Mike Lowell/32/.326/128
Mike Lamb/32/.289/111
Russ Branyan/32/.189/96
Greg Norton and A. Nunez/useless

Actually there are some pretty decent choices here, so if they need a "backup plan" I guess you can't go wrong.

Now for the fun part. What if NedCo wants a placeholder where there doesn't need to be one?

Here's the top 5 Outfielder FA's (min 50 games played):

Name/Age/AVG/OPS+

Bonds/42/.276/172
Adam Dunn/27/.266/133
Aaron Rowand/29/.312/126
Torii Hunter/31/.291/125
Bobby Abreu/33/.288/121

Geoff Jenkins and Mike Cameron are also up there.

and now, the bottom five FA OF's

Name/Age/AVG/OPS+

Sammy Sosa/38/.253/98
Andrew Jones/30/.222/90
Rob Mackowiak/31/.265/90
Corey Patterson/27/.269/81
Darin Erstad/33/.256/72

I don't know what Aaron Rowand would command on the free agent market, but that would be a really really good, solid 4th OF if he was willing to go for it!

Torii Hunter would figure to be the popular pick.

Again I don't think any FA additions are necessary but if there has to be one more "placeholder" there are actually several good choices.

They should be calling the Oakland A's and the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox, those teams that have developed good farm systems

Weird.

And I am sure that he dodn't mean to lump Logan White in that group because he did talk about looking teams that developed good farm systems.

He played in 20 of the 27 games in May and posted the 1.072 OPS and he has proceeded to do well each month after that.

It also helps if the alternative is Alex Cora (.236/.288/.364).

But he is also not in a position where he had to produce right away, you have David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Mike Lowell, and Kevin Youkilis. And also, the spotlight was shining harder on Drew, Lugo and Crisp. So that's a lot of vets which buffers Pedroia.

If the team comes back next year as constructed today, then I think the team should let Andy LaRoche play next year without hesitation and see where it goes but I think that both Pedroia's comeback in May and the construction of the roster made his start easier to take, plus they were winning anyway.

Okay. That would mean he was on the 40-man for 05, 06 and 07 (since you have three option years). I had looked at his Bio and noticed he made his debut in 2002. I was thinking he wouldn't have had to be added to the 40-man until 06 (after four years) so I thought he should have one more year left.

I never thought it would be possible.

90 He played for Great Falls at age 20, prior to this year, players drafted at age 19 or higher had three years before they became rule five eligible.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/justice/5127749.html

However, it's hard to say if that columnist has any credibility. This line tells me he doesn't: "Others also are competent. Dan Evans and Logan White. Ed Wade and Ruben Amaro Jr. There's no shortage of qualified candidates."

Oh, you meant good jokes.

Grady likes to be flanked by Shea and Nomar - old Red Sox days.

I'm in a mean mood.

Navarro after all star break
.313/.363/.527/.890

Actually, Norton seems to be a prime candidate to replace Saenz as the team's requisite professional hitter.

& the overall #'s say...

I sincerely don't understand what your trying to get at when you do that, the only thing I can think of is that YOUR A HUGE Navarro fan or a HUGE Home Depo fan.

>> Perhaps reflecting organizational thinking, Little talked about how the goal coming out of spring training is "to put yourself in position to play some meaningful games" in September. And keep the turnstiles spinning.

(Did we mention the Dodgers on Tuesday announced they have sold a club-record 3.75 million tickets? Contending is what really matters. Winning something? Not so much.) <<

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/9731847.html

So how many hours will this game take?

Good for Dionner, I hope he does well like I hope all former Dodgers do but I am not exactly sure of the point of always bringing up guys who have left, it is as if lets talk about the few (and right now with this current administration, its few, this is not Pedro Martinez time) who show some signs of perhaps being viable major league players.

I guess my point is this, it be great to have a crystal and not trade or release certain guys but those things happen.

29 other teams could have approached Takeshi Saito but they didn't. If Edwin Jackson had has his 2007 first half on the Dodgers, do you think they should keep putting him out there? Chuck Tiffany, Blake Johnson, Julio Pimentel, Sergio Pedroza, et. al., odds are these guys are not going pan out but you never know.

Shouldn't the Devil Rays see if Joel Guzman can play and hit at this level, they only have one more option left and he probably has less trade value now than he did when the Dodgers dealt him.

So maybe they should have kept Werth instead of protecting the Zach Hammes and Tim Hamulacks, sounds fine to me. But projecting success at the MLB level is not an exact science, the Dodgers have been fortunate because it appears that their recent top prospects (outside Joel) are doing well but that is not always the case.

And it works (though, whether or not the team needs to contend remains questionable to me).

In comparison and I know about the pct. of capicity comparsion, the Angels will draw less fans this regular season than they did in 2006. Not a lot less but less. And while the Angels are drawing more fans now than ever before, their attendance has peaked, primarily because they sell most of their good seats and they have been hovering around 92-93% capacity for the last couple of years.

The Dodgers attendance has gone up every year since 2004 and while Jamie McCourt's proclamation of 4 million seems crazy in 2004, this team is now within 250K of that mark, certainly a lot closer now than they were 3 years ago.

To the moon!

Oh wait, I'll save that catchphrase for when we sign Greg Norton. (said in Jackie Gleason voice)

I am not usually the guy who thinks a season ends based on every win and loss in the season. But if they lose tonight, I will accept that this season is over.... unless, they sweep from AZ. But, tonight is by far the biggest game up to this point.

114 It's the comparison, I am sure there many other catchers that Navarro could be compared to aside from or in addition to Russell Martin but it seems like a straight comparison to the person who usurped him in May 2006.

I don't bash Navarro, I bash a the idea that somehow we should get more than we get when we deal some of these players away. Not all these guys will make it and we have not had a "Pedro Martinez" moment since Ned has arrived here despite some fears that we would.

Will don't look now boys, but Navarro is building value. At a very fast rate. Were not throwing out the 1st half, were showing you a 23 year old catcher who may have figured things out. I didn't think he had it in him, but that doesn't mean we should ignore it when it happens.

Is there a more logical comparison to make?

In any case, it still feels like you and Bluebleeder had your own axes to grind and were taking it out on the other guy. He said nothing about Pedro Martinez or Paul DePodesta in his comment.

I know you like to spray cold water on commenters who are frothing at the mouth about something, and believe me, I understand the instinct and appreciate it, but there's a point at which the "to be fair, hindsight is 20/20, and we all make mistakes, and we can't know everything, and occasionally so and so does something right" begins to sound like an apologia. It's an odd, reasonable-sounding way of being contrary.

Ach, the above probably says much more about me than about you - and how easily I get irked by dumb things. Goes along with my question a couple weeks ago about referring to players by their first names. I'm just a curmudgeon...

Blog Post
http://www.baseball.bornbybits.com/blog/2007/09/player-cards.html
Player Cards
http://baseball.bornbybits.com/plots/players.html

I hope for nothing but the best for Navarro & ALL former prospects/Dodgers, maybe I'm just confusing him with regfairfield (sp) a few days ago he basically said that Navarro was a better player than Russell in a tone that IMO was baiting me, I've read his comments before so I know he knows better, I guess he was in "one of those moods that day" or something.