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Righting the Ship named McDonald

 

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via www.rnli.org.uk

Our number one prospect's season was a shipwreck as he left the mound on April 30th after failing to make it out of the 2nd inning. He looked broken hearted as went into dugout and you had to wonder if he had the mental fortitude to be a big league pitcher. Joe Torre noticed and sent him  to talk to Charlie Hough who had been his pitching coach and mentor during his climb up the minor league ladder. Eric Stephen caught up with Hough who said  he thought it was simply a case of McDonald trying to do too much:

It can be a combination of both, where you start thinking about throwing strikes instead of making your pitch. You fall apart mechanically, and it's kind of a vicious circle.

When McDonald came back he had lost his spot in the rotation and was given a few token relief jobs before being dispatched to Albuquerque to find his way. His first few starts for the Isotopes didn't give much hope he was upto the task of turning his season around with eight walks,  and seven earned runs in only 12 innings of work.

However on June 3rd he started his baby steps with a decent start of five innings. Nothing special but he struck out five and only walked three. While it was an okay start it must have given him some confidence because James McDonald has righted his ship with two of the best starts of his minor league career. 

On June 8th he went seven innings, gave up one run (via home run) and struck out 10 while only walking two. Today he went seven more innings, gave up zero runs, only two hits, while striking out 13, and only walking one batter. So in two starts this week James McDonald has the following line:

14 IP, One Earned Run, Six hits, 23 K's, 3 walks.

Now that is righting the ship, and production worthy of a number one prospect.  Can he work his way back into the Dodger rotation? I'm not sure but I'm feeling a hell of a lot better about his future then I did on April 30th when it looked like he was breaking the cardinal rule of  "no crying in baseball".


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i hope he works himself back into the rotation

no more seeing milton or weaver start. even if they’ve had their moments.

Dodgers - 2008 NL West Champions
Cardinals - 2008 NFC Champions

by wongy on Jun 14, 2009 7:46 PM PDT reply actions   1 recs

for real

I hope they recall him in a few weeks.

by do1988 on Jun 14, 2009 8:25 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

More like June 20th against Anaheim.

by RolexEmbezzled on Jun 14, 2009 9:46 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Jimmy Mac, when are you coming back?

by kinbote on Jun 14, 2009 10:35 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Very awesome news

I have a feeling the Dodgers will start Stults if healthy on Saturday, and then let the Stults/Milton duo battle it out through at least the All-Star break. That’s the luxury of a big lead.

If McDonald keeps this up, he’ll be up soon enough.

by Eric Stephen on Jun 15, 2009 8:47 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

How soon?

Professor: Soon enough.
Fry: That’s not soon enough.

(No, I agree, I think there’s no need right now to rush him back. If Stults struggles to come back as does Milton, when they next need a 5th starter, then sometime soon after that I bet we see Jimmy Mac come back.)

by underdog on Jun 15, 2009 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Oh wait

that was Glermo from the Slurm factory, not the Professor.

Er, sorry, Futurama Nerd Moment. Carry on.

by underdog on Jun 15, 2009 10:02 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Congrats, J-Mac!

We’re all rooting for you.

by silverwidow on Jun 14, 2009 9:07 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

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2010 Dodger Payroll

Pos No Player 2010 Salary
C 55 Martin $5,050,000
1B 7 Loney $3,100,000
2B 33 DeWitt $410,000*
3B 23 Blake $6,000,000
SS 15 Furcal $8,500,000
LF 99 Manny $7,267,760
CF 27 Kemp $4,000,000
RF 16 Ethier $6,000,000

2B/3B 14 Carroll $1,350,000
2B/3B/1B 3 Belliard $825,000
C 12 Ausmus $850,000
OF 5 Johnson $800,000
SS 60 Hu $405,000*

SP 22 Kershaw $440,000
SP 58 Billingsley $3,850,000
SP 18 Kuroda $14,100,000
SP 44 Padilla $4,025,000
SP 50 Stults $405,000*

CL 51 Broxton $4,000,000
LHP 52 Sherrill $4,500,000
LHP 56 Kuo $950,000
RHP 67 Troncoso $425,000*
RHP 54 Belisario $425,000*
RHP 37 Haeger $425,000*
RHP 68 Monasterios $460,000*



Pierre $4,000,000


Andruw $3,600,000


Schmidt $2,000,000


Wolf $2,000,000


Hudson $1,440,000


Nomar $1,250,000


Ohman $200,000


Zerpa $35,000


Hoffmann ($50,000)

Others on 40-man roster (total: 39)
RHP 47 Wade
C 9 Ellis  
OF 75 Paul
OF 17 Repko $500,000
SS 87 DeJesus**  
RHP 64 Guerra**  
RHP 74 Jansen**  
LHP 59 Leach**
RHP 73 Link**  
C 71 May**  
RHP 31 McDonald**  
RHP 49 Schlichting**  
LHP 57 Elbert**  
OF 62 Robinson**  

Totals
$93,537,760
 
Red = arbitration
Asterisk (*) = estimated
** = currently in minor league camp
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