All I know is even Repko will have more productive appearances at the plate than Jones was having, probably far more productive. But I hope we call up LaRoche. As has been noted, he can also play corner outfield if needed. Fill in for DeWitt when needed. And {insert previous 300 comments about one of them playing 2nd base}

So my soccer team just told me they'd like me to have arthroscopic surgery on my knee. Should I be offended and worried?

http://tinyurl.com/42fljr

>>"We're bad, no question about it," Towers said. "There comes a point in time we can't say, 'It's early.' There's nothing to lead me to believe – or the fans to believe – we're going to turn this thing around."

He promised changes. "Wholesale," he said. And he waved his hands at the clubhouse, meaning most of the players in it, he had little use for right now.

"I'm certainly not going to watch this for another four months," he said.

Judging by the stands at Petco Park on Monday night, he's not alone in that.

"If you hear the word that morale is good in this clubhouse, we've got major issues," he said. "The morale should be horrible. For winning-type players, morale should be horrible. I know it's horrible in the coaches' office. And it's horrible upstairs."<<

I would like to see LaRoche in left field before either LaRoche or DeWitt were moved to second. While LaRoche was recovering from his thumb injury he worked out hard enough to get down to 208 pounds, down from 220 I think. Did he wait too long to get really serious about his conditioning?

It would be nice to get Abreu back with the Dodgers and start getting playing time at second. If he can't get healthy, I wouldn't mind trading for a second baseman like Kinsler with Texas.

LaRoche's conditioning has not been an issue in the slightest this year.

14 - Because they both have babes for wives?

I don't know why, but third base reminds me of when the Dodgers traded Shawn Green for Dioner Navarro, then the latter was quickly deemed expendable by the emergence of Russell. I'd love to try LaRoche or DeWitt at 2nd and get both on the field, but barring that, when would DeWitt's emergence make LaRoche a tradeable commodity?

The Vegas outfield has a nice collection of throwing arms. LFer Ruan threw a guy out at second after the batter hit a laser beam that missed going out by about 18 inches. Xavier Paul (who looks like he's about 5'3") threw a rocket from center to hold a guy at third after a base hit. And Repko is, well, Repko.

Speaking of which, Repko looks like he always has. A walk and a hit, and generally hustled his tail off on the bases and in the field. But then you look at the numbers and see that he's hitting .220 in AAA, so who knows. A team leading 42 strikeouts this year pretty much tells the tale I guess.

Stults looked alright, but the Mariners farm team looks dreadful, save for recently demoted Jeff Clement. Troncoso came in and looked dominating in 2.1 innings to finish up for Stults.

re: Jones

You know, the article said "IF the swelling doesn't subside by Friday, he'll be out 4-5 weeks."

Knowing the Dodgers they'll pretend the swelling subsided and try to ride it out like Furcal did, but here's to hoping!

Now that I think of it, I've had a lot of Gilmore Girls connections. There was Hermann in Maine. My next door neighbor was the set dresser. And I chatted with the guy who played Rory's college boyfriend at a USC basketball game.

Not that I've ever watched the Gilmore Girls;)

http://tinyurl.com/3fdlaq

Since Pierre can play CF, we have two position players for that spot. I see no reason to call up Repko, just because he can play CF. Young should get some starts in the OF. Do we need a fifth outfielder?

i then came in the house to find out that Andruw may miss over a month...i still am undecided whether or not i feel bad about that making my day better.

i was still hoping that andruw would pull through.

http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/2008/05/travel.html

"Sometimes the gamesmanship goes a little too far. A few weeks ago I was leaving a high school game and on my way to another one. I was expecting to be in the car for at least an hour, so I planned to stop at the bathroom before leaving. With no indoor bathroom in site, the port-o-potty on the way to the parking lot was the only option.

"As I approached, I thought I heard a voice. It was only when I reached out my hand to grab the door handle that I heard the voice loud and clear. It was a scout, inside the port-o-potty, on his cell phone reporting what other teams were in attendance at the game. Out of respect for his effort (and sacrifice), I kept walking.

"This may be a little more Austin Powers than 007, but it does illustrate the competitive nature of the draft. We all know what players we like, and none of us are telling. :-) "

Let me put it this way. I don't think anyone had DeWitt as a better hitter than Furcal before the season began. Furcal, in 154 PA, has hit .366/.448/.597. DeWitt, in 128 PA, has hit .322/.391/.513. So, two questions: a) is Furcal a good enough hitter now to be an average 3B? and b) is DeWitt a better hitter than Furcal? And I'll throw in c) is Furcal a better hitter than LaRoche?

The rebuttal might be that we've got lots of info on Furcal but less so on DeWitt, so DeWitt's production impacts our assessment more than Furcal's. Fair enough, but this argument only makes sense if you are properly accounting for the info that we do have on DeWitt. And that info (his minor league performance) does not indicate that we should be regressing his performance to the league average but rather to a much lower level.

Wow!!

"We're the Padres... Sucking it up like never before
We're the Padres.... Hoffman, Peavy... Theodore!"

If there's ever a time to get those guys time at the big league level (and its not as if their too young), its right now.

Jettisoning Bradley/Cameron and replacing them with Edmonds/filler was not very shrewd.

I think the truth is, Padre fans are fed up with management these days, and the junk yard mentality of the Front Office is starting to wear thin. My feeling is that the ownership isn't doing its part to use the Ballpark Money to actually help the on-field product. It's very unfortunate, because Padre fans are really quite loyal.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9316371

Yes, DeWitt or Young probably wouldn't be any worse than Kent, but having Kent out there right now is one of our big problems, we should be looking to improve that, not stand pat.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Andy%20LaRoche&pos=3B&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=451188

Wasn't the production that came from the centerfielder last night a pleasant improvement over what we have been getting from Jones?

Sweeney in LF isn't as odd as we think it is, despite how bad he looked out there in his one chance this year. He's actually played more games in the OF than 1B in his career, 234 to 225.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/L/Andy-LaRoche.shtml

I just think having Delwyn Young or Dewitt's bat in there over the long term is going to do more for the club than Luis Maza being able to get to a ball that neither of those guys could get to.

If Defensive Efficiency Rating is so volatile with regards to batted ball data, I have a difficult time accepting trying to actively make the defense better (like playing Maza over Young) when simple bad luck can sabotage even the best intentions.

Could it be argued that there is less luck involved in a hitter accumulating a high OPS, rather than a fielder accumulating a poor defensive rating?

My contention is that if there's more luck involved with fielding, then always play the hitter above the fielder. The goal should be to minimize the "luck" portion of statistics correct?

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statistics/players/cards/?pl_id=64941

Is this a matter of not getting updates?

This is also why I can't care too much about Gary Bennett.

Crazy that my disgust with Pierre starting over Andre may have been solved by the DL. Though it kind of feels like a slight of hand trick. Just a few months ago I was agonizing over being the only team that will have a left fielder with 0 home runs and was excited that Pierre would be benched for Jones, Kemp and Ethier. Now I feel like I can breathe again with Andruw presumably out of the line-up and Pierre being an everyday guy. Strange??

The problem with the 2009 plan is that ... the Padres have the least favorable combination of finances and young talent. Headley and Antonelli are future major league regulars, but are much longer shots for stardom, and while the Padres' farm system has improved considerably since Grady Fuson took over as vice president of scouting and player developemtn two years ago, it still ranked a lowly 28th in Kevin Goldstein's Organizational Rankings a year ago. Last year they had five supplemental first-round picks and eight of the first 87 overall picks. This year they'll have two more supplemental first-rounders following the departures of Brocail and, eventually, Cameron. Next year they hop to have still more .... Still, all of those picks, even if well used, will need time to develop into useful major leaguers. In the meantime, the Padres still lag behind their rivals, as even Headley and Antonelli have combined for just eight games about [sic] Double-A. ... [Until] their stockpile of draft picks matures, the team's near miss last year will haunt them.

BA also noted that Petco's .910 park factor last year was the 16th-lowest ever recorded in the majors. In short, Bochy's exit could hardly be called prescient (IIRC he was forced out by the new brain trust). It's also unclear how Bud Black can be blamed for what are essentially front office issues.

I am not so much thrilled that Pierre will play everyday and Andruw will miss the next 5 weeks (assuming he will land on the DL). I am happy that our outfield will not consist of both Pierre and Jones.

It was starting to feel as depressing as last year with Gonzo and Pierre.

As far as AJ goes, I feel bad about it but... I can't help being a little happy about it. I guess he was wrong when he said 'he can carry the weight'. More wieght means more stress and more downward force, with every step he takes, put on his knees, ankles etc.

That voice in my head was making me crazy, and now maybe it will just go away.

76 I would be happy with last night's lineup for a while as well, with the Furcal addition when he is ready.

74 The Padres would never deal Peavy to someone inside the division, especially the Dodgers.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/05/20/fenway-and-no-hitters/

as a hitter, a player is likely to get 4 PA a game (let's call that the average for the sake of argument, some times he'll only get 3 and in blow outs or high scoring games, he might get 6 or 7, but usually, it's going to be 4 or 5 if he's higher in the order).

as a defensive player, how many times is that same player, at second or short, likely to be involved in a defensive play? Double plays, ground balls/line drives anywhere near the middle, attempted steals, etc. That number, I suspect would be much more difficult to construct (though part of me suspects that I'll have answer within 10 minutes). But my hunch is that it will exceed 4.

The question then becomes, what is more valuable, creating a runs in 1 of 4 plate appearances; or preventing a run from scoring in a defensive position. Over the course of a season (perhaps even less), the luck factor will be significantly reduced, so it ultimately becomes offense vs defense. Some will pick offense, some will pick defense... me, I'm still looking for the best combination of both.

But in all seriousness, only if Andy got some playing time in left beforehand, or at second beforehand, or anywhere we could use him right now beforehand..

Magglio Ordonez was fairly pedestrian.

Quite a few long time minor leaguers had have great runs when first introduced to the big leagues but for a 22 year old with such pedestrian numbers it seems a bit unusual. Nate Purcell was a huge DeWitt backer several years ago but seemed to back off after 2006/2007.

And of course Greg Brock has been his biggest backer.

92 I believe he said LaRoche, not Repko. ;)

The park they use for flying the hobbie planes is always a kick.

The Japanese Gardens should be seen by any LA resident who isn't a dirtbag.

102 He started as a 2B, he was very bad at it, so he went to third.

... This is a truly astonishing statement to me, seeing as how the Dodger M.O. has been to play the veteran and the "more marketable" player each and every time a choice has presented itself.

Garciaparra was batting third in the lineup when he was hitting .231 and OPSing 679, and DeWitt was back in the minors.

Nomar will be back in the lineup when he is healthy, and while DeWitt will stay on the major league roster, he will be the backup.

--

Here's an article someone should forward to Troy in WV:
http://tinyurl.com/6ybzg4

On Joe Torre's trust of Joe Beimel and how the latter is flourishing.

103
What are you basing that on?
"very bad at it" sounds very much like Greg's claim he had stone hands. You can't be using minor league defensive stats to back that up since they are so unreliable and you can't be using a scouts comments because no scout ever said such a thing. I'm surprised at how subjective you have been on the DeWitt issue.

As many have pointed out, maybe in the 2 years that have passed his glove has indeed improved. He certainly looks great over at 3rd. So why not believe that he's a better 2nd baseman now too?

Of course this could all be moot if Nomar is continually unhealthy, anyway.

And you guys know I love LaRoche so I hope they do find a place for him soon. But I don't see them sending down DeWitt anytime soon. At. All.

DeWitt also played second in the Hawaii Winter League in the fall of 2006, where I was able to see him play. He didn't remind anyone of Roberto Alomar out there, but I didn't see any glaring incompetence that would prevent him from being an offense-first major league second baseman like Kent. The things he was said to have trouble with -- footwork and the DP pivot -- are the types of things which can be improved upon with hard work (as, indeed, Kent himself did once upon a time).

Also, my two cents is that those wanting to find a player with pedestrian minor league numbers who became a major league star should probably shy away from the Hanley Ramirez comparison. Hanley was pretty much the opposite of DeWitt -- he was a guy who had the entire toolbox but just didn't "get" it until he got to the majors. DeWitt in the minors was an infinitely more polished but less physically talented player.

The Cal Ripken comparison is a better one physically, but the suggestion that Ripken's minor league numbers were unimpressive is way wrong. He hit 25 homers in AA at age 19. At age 20 in AAA he had a spectacular season .381 OBP with 23 homers (remember, this was in the offense-challenged 1980s).

"Nomar hasn't given any indication he can be any more than a backup and pinch hitter even when (if) healthy"

... If the Dodgers weren't that myopic, LaRoche would have played more than 35 games last season, as Nomar didn't give any indication of being more than a backup or a pinch hitter even then. So, I'll believe it when I see it.

Otherwise, 120 is true enough.

http://tinyurl.com/4sngd4

The current DeWitt has an OPS of .904 over more at-bats and a growing reputation as a clutch player. It's a huge difference.

Moving DeWitt back to third could have been based on nothing more than the opinion of one person -- a scout, the Vero Beach manager, whoever. And it's certainly possible that that one person was wrong. Or shortsighted. Or that DeWitt could have improved in the ensuing two years.

Your extreme obstinacy on this issue is a little disappointing, especially given that you admit your view is based entirely on assumptions.

I have walked from my neighborhood (Beverly-Fairfax) to Venice Beach (Rose and Ocean) twice. That's my longest urban hike.

Urban hikes are wild. You don't need to carry much (since there's a 7-Eleven every few blocks), and you can change your route at any time without fear of "losing the trail."

D-G 459, AB 1,859, R 264, H 519, 2B 115, 3B 10, HR 57, RBI 252, SB 11, CS 1, BB 146, SO 329, HBP 11, IBB 0, SH 2,
SF 11, AVG 279, OBP 333, SLG 444, OPS 771

R-G 443, AB 1,652, R 278, H 463, 2B 94, 3B 12, HR 56, RBI 239, SB 10, CS 8, BB 141, SO 289, HBP 8, IBB 0, SH 7,
SF 15, AVG 280, OBO 337, SLG 453, OPS 790

No way am I inferring that DeWitt is the next Cal Ripken, just a response to Gilberto.

Why is it that only the cheap inexpensive players seem to be the ones who are producing?

Finally, if the above are true, why do the Dodgers continue to sign veteran players? Haven't they proven enough times already that a) they have no clue what they are doing when they sign the veteran, and b) they are better off just sticking with the young players. Or at least until those young players turn older.

1. For whatever reason, DeWitt was moved off of second base.

2. From what I've seen, he has good defensive tools, but he's still very mistake prone. Other people have made similar observations so I'm not alone here.

With these two pieces of information, I can draw the conclusion that at least right now, DeWitt would be a bad second baseman.

And also, we're comparing a shortstop to a third baseman. If Ripken had spent his entire major league career playing third, he would arguably not be in the Hall of Fame.

... After a sub-par season offensively and defensively, it should never have been his position to begin with. And yet, knowing all of that, Torre batted him third in the order, over Ethier and Kemp.

Even with DeWitt's production, I haven't seen Torre bat DeWitt third as of yet.

I agree with your points, Jon, but I don't see Torre's respect for DeWitt as high as it is for Nomar. Therefore, I see Nomar getting the job back at 3B as soon as he is healthy enough to do so.

As I said, I'll believe any changes in philosophy when I see them. I don't trust the manager of this team to play the right players.

Because they need somebody to star in van commercials. And to sell a few tickets to people who don't know anything about baseball except to watch SportsCenter once a week.

By the time Nomar comes back (forgetting about LaRoche for the moment), if DeWitt comes back to earth, it could be a different story.

I feel confident in saying that there is no way Joe "hot hand" Torre is benching a .300/.400/.500 player. If Ethier, Jones and Kemp had all posted those numbers, you'd have to send a search party out for Juan Pierre. But they didn't.

I believe we have found the Dodgers' official slogan for 2008.

Too bad management believes that too!

He was in much better shape than me.

During the period of April 16-26 when Nomar was back on the team, Nomar played in nine games, starting in all but one of them, while DeWitt started one and finished three others.

http://tinyurl.com/4edbex
http://tinyurl.com/52a4gj

DeWitt was hitting .261/.382/.348 prior to Nomar's reinsertion to the 25-man, so that undoubtedly had something to do with their decision to give him so many starts, but the message is utterly clear: Nomar will start over any kid. That lesson may be less clear now, especially with DeWitt giving off the aroma of a rising star, but I have my doubts that (a) DeWitt will be able to keep this level of production going, and (b) that if he does stumble, that Nomar won't Hoover all the playing time once he returns to the lineup.

But the statistics will show that they won in spite of their average to poor performance.

Arizona's most dependable offensive players in 2007 with 200 or more PA was Eric Byrnes, Orlando Hudson and Conor Jackson.

Chris Young, Mark Reynolds, Chris Snyder and Stephen Drew all had moments but Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier had higher scores individually than most of those players and combined, there's no contest.

Jeff Kent, BTW had a higher VORP than almost every D-Back, I think Byrnes was slightly higher.

It amazes at times that the perception continues to exists that the Dodgers do not play their younger players, they do, maybe not as fast as other teams but they do play.

On Jones: The upside of his injury is that it may explain some of his struggles, it may force him to get back in shape as he rehabs, and it will give Dodger fans a bit of relief when it comes to the daily drama of the outfield lineup.

Torre: Furcal being hurt certainly takes a bite out of that lineup. But really, Torre's going to have to get over this Russell Martin-at-3B fetish, even though it's only been a total of 37 innings he's played there. It's fine to give him a breather now and then, but when you're stealing at-bats from DeWitt or LaRoche to give them to Gary Bennett, something is definitely wrong.

LaRoche/DeWitt: I'm as big a LaRoche booster as you'll find, but DeWitt is knocking the stuffing out of the ball. I don't expect that to continue unabated, but there's no sense in sitting him down right now.

From a long-term standpoint, it's a nice problem to have. I'd hate to see them trade LaRoche, but I don't think they necessarily have to. I wonder whether the Dodgers would consider revisiting the DeWitt-to-second experiment that they tried in 2006, when the kid was at Vero Beach. With Jeff Kent clearly showing his age and Tony Abreu apparently joining the Federal Witness Protection program, that may be a palatable option.

The vets may have an inside track to a staring job, but they don't have a guarantee.

Look, I am not saying that there is philosophical difference in the two ball clubs, there is one. But if Chad Tracy doesn't get hurt, do you think Mark Reynolds is playing 3B. Tracy is making a lot of money and he is still under contract through 2009, I believe.

They chose Eric Byrnes over Carlos Quentin, now they spun him off for a piece of the Haren deal so maybe it doesn't look that bad plus by moving both Quention and Gonzalez, they avoid any problems down the road in terms of playing time since they were moving Upton in anyway.

But now that he has done it, maybe he can play second much better than at his previous weight. Not everybody gets to the major leagues the same way. DeWitt probably worked much harder than LaRoche but it was injury that opened the door for him. Now, maybe LaRoche has his mind and body working together for the first time and great things will result. I hope so and I hope he gets a chance soon whether it be second, left or even third.

http://tinyurl.com/4m8wz4

http://tinyurl.com/5yu4np

agreed, it doesn't explain Jones' dip in BA and defense in 2007 ....

... On the day LaRoche got the job at 3B, the Dodgers were 6 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with 8 to play. If the games had still mattered, I don't think Andy would have been playing in them.

psst .... see 171

maybe LaRoche has felt he was the chosen one in the organization and subconsciously perhaps didn't feel the need to work as hard, and now that DeWitt is succeeding, he now sees there may be some hard work ahead for him to regain his status...

which would be a good thing for us, cause if he has so many in his corner, and now feels he must work harder to prove himself...only good could come out of that...

just a thought....

New post up top.

http://tinyurl.com/3t6ml7

I have no faith that the smart decision will be made here.

Bringing in another team's older player on a short contract and playing over the young players we have been following up through the minors is troubling if the vets are playing poorly. I think we are going to be loyal to our own more than to a temp that falters.

There is no argument to made for needing LaRoche to get regular playing time at AAA. He's not like Hu -- he's not a developing player. He's a 24-year-old major league hitter who should have gotten a regular job long ago, and who has merely been toying with AAA pitchers.

Likewise, there is no argument to be made for needing to replace Jones with an outfielder. The Dodgers don't need five outfielders, as evidenced by the fact that they've used their fifth outfielder for all of three innings in 2008. And if they did need a fifth outfielder, that man could be LaRoche, who's played the outfield in the major leagues. (Note that I'm not necessarily advocating he play there, just noting it as a possibility.)

There is no other obvious candidate at Las Vegas or Jacksonville to be called up, unless you think we need 13 pitchers or you like the Quadruple-A goodness of a Terry Tiffee or John Lindsey.

So, it's pretty clear-cut, right? LaRoche could serve as a pinch hitter, start once a week in place of DeWitt (and more if DeWitt starts slumping), and play left field if necessary. There's no reason we'd want him in AAA, and there's nobody else in AAA we'd want. It seems like a self-evident choice to call up Andy. You can never underestimate the Dodgers' ability to do the wrong thing, but short of that, I think LaRoche will be here on Monday.

Lasorda to name Dodgers' first Draft pick

Furcal is activated, Maza is sent down. Jones is DL'd, LaRoche is called up.

Other possibilities, all that, but instead Hu is sent down, or a literal outfielder like Repko (or Paul) is called up.

Chad Fonville! Dude, I'm eating. Give me a warning next time you're gonna bandy about something like that. ;-)

I realize nobody will ever see this. But I don't think that should stand unmolested.