Are The Dodgers On The Verge Of A Phillies-Like Run?

And they want to move Ellsbury to LF.

This may sound crazy to some, but how about Kemp for Lester, straight up? Bear in mind, Kemp is my favorite position player, but we’re talking about a young lefty who put up ace numbers in the AL East.

Everyone was thinking of players to bring in and players to dump in order to make the Dodgers better. The players needed to win are there, it’s just a matter of getting better with experience.

It certainly took us a while to do it. For years, we missed out on the playoffs by a game or 2 with this core group of players. Then, in 2007, we finally broke through… and 3 playoff games later we were gone. I think the Dodgers are building a nice young core here, and should contend for the the next 3-5 years at a minimum.

Hell, Philly hadn’t won a Championship in any of the 4 major sports since 1983. 1983! If anyone knows what a demoralizing playoff loss feels like, it’s a Philly fan. Chip up, fellas. The crushing losses will make it all the more worthwhile when you finally win.

Was because I think we’re just getting started if we can keep our core together and see improvements from them.

Just need to find the right long term pieces to fill in around them, and we’ll be in good shape for years to come.

Utley, Werth, Howard, and Victorino destroyed some of the best pitching in baseball when they took down the Dodgers. Rollins showed he can hit 99 mph fastballs when that’s all he sees too.
Kemp can do this
Ethier is doing it
Will Loney?
3b of the future?
LF of the future?
Someone has done a great job of teaching those Philliy hitters the power stroke.
Ethier is the only one on the Dodgers who implements it consistently.
Charlie Manuel and who else is the Phillies hittihg coach?
Howard’s vision, strength and reflexes – hand speed are inherent. Someone had to teach him and is now continuoulsy coaching him on how to swing the bat that way.

I think we traded Abreu because our AAA infield next year is pretty much set:

1B: Russell Mitchell
2B: Ivan DeJesus (heir apparent to big league job)
SS: Chin Lung Hu
3B: Blake DeWitt

The switch-hitting Bell, who came over to the Orioles in the deal that sent reliever George Sherrill to the Dodgers in July, has hit at every level and continued that when he batted a combined .295 with 20 home runs and 76 RBIs in the Dodgers’ and Orioles’ Double-A affiliates this season.

So far in the AFL, the 22-year-old is 13-for-28 with a home run and nine RBIs.

“Josh Bell has outstanding power, especially from the left side,” Stockstill said.

Stockstill also praised Bell’s strong throwing arm, but said he’d like to see him improve on his footwork and range at the hot corner — something he said Bell made strides in this summer — and added that he could use a little more work as a right-handed hitter.

But Stockstill loves Bell’s bat.

“He has light tower-type power — he has a bat that really explodes on contact,” Stockstill said. “Right-handed, he hits the ball all over the field, a little bit less power than he has left-handed. Left-handed, he uses the whole field, but he also hits more gap-to-gap — left-center to right-center.”

But Stockstill isn’t jumping the gun on Bell’s readiness for the Majors.

“We feel like we took him to the Arizona Fall League to try to put him on a fast track to getting to the Major Leagues as soon as possible,” he said. “There are definitely things to work on, and I think it’s too early to say that, yes, he’ll be ready for next year. You have to let him work, see what he does out there, see what he does in Spring Training, and then make the decision at the proper time.”

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091025&content_id=7543286&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal&partnerId=rss_bal

Bart Hubbuch The Mets won’t be pursuing Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman after being told he wants up to $60 million to sign.

I was trying to think why everyone was hitting out of their minds right now on the Phils, and I noticed that they were all coming into the same 28-30 range and this just might mean that, if there is ever a most likely time most of your players are going to be firing on all cylinders, this is it. I still haven’t figured out how Werth and Victorino have exploded into real good hitters, and then just happened to explode on the Dodgers, but the fact that they both are in their prime and will probably decline from here might somewhat help explain it.

billazbbphotog Best raw power I saw today came from Chris Jacobs for #Dodgers Instructs – back to back jacks that traveled far.3:33 PM Oct 23rd from web

very nice

Kyle Russell (#Dodgers) hit a couple of long bombs, one fair and one foul, in Instructs today. Incredible power when he makes contact.3:04 PM Oct 9th from web

please please develop like mark reynolds or something

Most incredible catch in Instructs today: #Dodgers Dee Gordon caught a soft, looping liner that was 10-12 feet above the ground. Wow!3:03 PM Oct 9th from web

dee or Halladay

billazbbphotog

Makes sense. They probably wanted a Spanish speaking manager to help tutor their franchise catcher.

ESPN’s Buster Olney has informed MLBTR, via email, that Tony La Russa has signed a new multi-year contract to return as the Cardinals manager. La Russa’s coaching staff will look different though, as the Cards have fired hitting coach Hal McRae. The leading candidate to replace him? According to Olney, it’s former Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire.

McGwire is going to come out of hiding?

We are just one trade with Memphis away from winning a title. :)
vr, Xei

The age differencial was a point that Colin Cowherd discussed on his show the day after the Game 5 loss. He basically stated the same point that The Phillies are built to win now, whereas the best days for this Dodgers core group of players is yet to come.

Great article, Eric. I definitely share your optimism for these Dodgers.

way back in 2004 he was a very good for us. The difference now is that he’s holding his own against RHP while still killing LHP. If he doesn’t break his wrist on the first pitch of spring training in 2005 who knows how the Dodger future would have played out.