Monday, May 12, 2008

The Future

Because why be satisfied with the present. Currently, the Dodgers are committed to the following players next year:

2009
C - Russell Martin
1B - James Loney
2B - (Blake DeWitt)
SS - (Chin-Lung Hu)
3B - (Andy LaRoche)
LF - Andre Ethier
CF - Andruw Jones
RF - Matt Kemp

SP - Brad Penny
SP - Chad Billingsley
SP - Hiroki Kuroda
SP - Jason Schmidt
SP - Clayton Kershaw

BN - Juan Pierre (OF)
BN - Tony Abreu (INF)
BN - Young/Repko (OF)
BN - Lucas May (C)
BN - Nomar Garciaparra (INF/PH)
BN - lefty PH

RP - Jonathan Broxton
RP - Yhency Brazoban
RP - Scott Proctor
RP - Cory Wade
RP - Hong-Chi Kuo
RP - Joe Beimel


Well first, the Red is speculation on re-signing, green is speculation on call-ups for players who don't have major league service time yet, and blue is speculation on who we'd get from NRIs. The problem with this estimate is that it assumes no Ned factor. Colletti, despite being the incumbent, keeps wanting to make a huge signing in the offseason. He blew a bunch of money on Pierre and Schmidt, Andruw Jones last year.

Leaving via free agency then would be:
Derek Lowe
Esteban Loaiza
Rafael Furcal

The Dodgers will offer Lowe and Furcal arbitration, unless they're insane, netting them 5 first round draft picks, potentially.

Monday, May 5, 2008

What the hell is going on with DeWitt over LaRoche

The problem with Dewitt at 2nd is that Torre likes him too much to try LaRoche, which is really mroe a problem with Torre.

The Dodgers optioned LaRoche to AAA, even though he could have taken more time on his rehab assignment. LaRoche is hitting .154/.354/.385 after 5 games in Vegas, with 4 walks, a single and a homer. All I need to see is a couple extra base hits to see that his power is still there, and then I figure you call the guy up. Torre hasn't seen enough of LaRoche, and he's had a couple of injuries. He's also not a proven vet like Nomar, so he doesn't get the pass there.

Torre makes Grady Little look like he can cleverly manage a pitching staff. The way he burns through relievers and yanks starters too early is a bit mind-numbing. Deciding to bullshit around with Martin at third, especially with a piece of shit like Gary Bennett as the backup catcher is terrible too. Granted, that one is more Colletti's fault for trading Navarro for Mark Hendrickson, but hey.

The best explanation I have is the Dodgers think that Dewitt's stock is really high right now and they're looking to trade him. That, and they want to make sure the thumb injury doesn't kill LaRoche. Still, though, a good manager and GM should put the best team out there, and that's not happening if LaRoche is healthy but in Vegas.