Sounds Like Russell Martin is Ready For Action
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 12:30 PM PDT
in Game Threads
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PrintDodgers (9-11-2) at Reds (9-11-2)
1:05pm, Goodyear Ballpark, Goodyear, AZ
Russell Martin is in Goodyear today with the Dodgers, but he won't be playing with the major league squad against the Reds. He caught four innings in a minor league game Thursday, caught six more innings Friday, took a scheduled off day yesterday, and is scheduled to catch seven innings in a minor league game today, against the Indians. Martin is also expected to catch in the exhibition games in Los Angeles later this week, which is an important development. "The latest he would catch in a Major League game is Thursday," said manager Joe Torre, "He's not happy about being on the minor league side." By catching in only minor league games, Martin could start a disabled list stint as early as March 26. However, catching in any major league spring training games will push forward the start date of any DL trip, if needed. That leads me to believe Russell Martin won't be placed on the disabled list, and will instead be on the opening day roster.
The Dodgers have played 22 Cactus League games so far, and 14 of them have been at Camelback Ranch, including one "road" contest against the White Sox. The regulars have had an overwhelming majority of their Cactus League playing time at their home park. Here's a look at the likely opening day lineup, using A.J. Ellis and catcher, and their spring stats:
| Player | CBR G/PA | Road G/PA |
| Furcal | 12/36 | 6/18 |
| Kemp | 12/36 | 6/17 |
| Ethier | 13/39 | 6/16 |
| Manny | 10/28 | 3/8 |
| Loney | 10/32 | 3/10 |
| Blake | 11/31 | 5/12 |
| DeWitt | 12/31 | 6/22 |
| Ellis | 10/20 | 7/20 |
Keep in mind that both Manny Ramirez and James Loney went to Taiwan, missing three home and three road games, so their Cactus League numbers are even more skewed toward Camelback Ranch. Here are some trivial spring training splits for your review:
- Blake DeWitt has reached base in 15 of 31 plate appearances at Camelback Ranch
- Rafael Furcal has four hits in 32 at-bats at CBR, and five hits in 15 at-bats everywhere else
- A.J. Ellis has reached base in 11 of 20 plate appearances on the road this spring
- Andre Ethier has the same number of hits (seven) at home as on the road, but has had 18 fewer at-bats on the road (16 vs. 34)
The Dodgers' next three games are on the road, starting today in Goodyear to face the Reds. Last weekend when asked how Ronnie Belliard was doing defensively at first base, Torre said, "if you can play the middle of the infield, you can play first," and added Miguel Cairo, primarily a second baseman who played for Torre for parts of three seasons in New York, was one of the best first basemen he has ever seen. Cairo, who signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati this offseason, is playing first base for the Reds today.
Here are the lineups:for
| Dodgers | Reds | |||
| SS | Furcal | CF | Stubbs | |
| CF | Kemp | SS | Janish | |
| RF | Ethier | 2B | Phillips | |
| LF | Manny | 3B | Francisco | |
| 1B | Loney | RF | Balentien | |
| 3B | Blake | LF | Nix | |
| 2B | DeWitt | 1B | Cairo | |
| C | Ellis | C | Hanigan | |
| P | Kershaw |
P | Arroyo | |
Ramon Troncoso, Luis Ayala, Justin Miller, and Ramon Ortiz are also scheduled to pitch today for the Dodgers. Ortiz is pitching on back-to-back days for the first time this spring.
Hiroki Kuroda is scheduled to pitch in a minor league game Monday afternoon at Camelback Ranch against the Reds. Chad Billingsley is scheduled to pitch tomorrow night, again in Goodyear, this time against the Indians. Following Billingsley will be Jeff Weaver, Jonathan Broxton, and George Sherrill.
Aroldis Chapman will pitch for the Reds today, but in a minor league game, as he is recovering from back spasms.
If you haven't had a chance to read CoolGuy_88888888's wonderful and labor-intensive profiles of his top 200 Dodger prospects, you are missing out. He provided a summary recap here.
No TV today, but it will be on 790 KABC and the Dodger Radio Network
Wednesday's split squad game against the Reds in Las Vegas will be televised by Prime Ticket. The 7:05pm game will feature Vin Scully behind the microphone, and Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Casey Blake, Blake DeWitt, and A.J. Ellis, among others, on the field.
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kemp needs to hit 5th
i would hate to see him come up so much with nobody on base…
Is the opportunity for Kemp to run better with him hitting 2nd or 5th? I would say 5th, for the obvious, " you don’t want to run yourself out of an inning" arguement. Just not sure I would want him to be dropped in the order. I kind of like him hitting 2nd. He would have a lot more RBI chances hittin 5th. Unless Furcal becomes a gap hitter or goes back to stealing bases again. I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks.
Matt Cain signed a contract extension with the Giants today, through his first year of FA eligibility (2012). Per Andrew Baggarly:
Don’t have exact terms on Cain yet, but this isn’t a Juster Verlander-type deal. it’s a new three-year contract for 2010-2012.
Cain was due to make $4.5 million this year and the club held a $6.25 million option with vesting language (and escalators) for 2011. The option year is now guaranteed and both sides tacked on another guaranteed salary for 2012. Essentially, the Giants bought his first free-agent year.
Jeremy Affeldt and Brian Wilson signed contract extensions, too.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions
Pretty hefty raise for Cain (in 2012)
Still tracking down exact terms, but Cain’s $4.5m stays the same for this year. He’ll make ~$8m in 2011 and north of $15m in 2012.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Haha
I was watching that too…brings back fond memories.
Why Las Vegas?
Does anyone know why exactly there’s a split squad ST game in Las Vegas, whose own affiliate (the 51s now belong to Toronto) is not even involved? There’s got to be some sort of promotional reason. It could be they even specially wanted the Dodgers, who presumably can draw most fans as both the nearest ML team (along with two or three others) and as the former affiliate there are probably Dodger allegiances. I imagine the Reds are just there because their schedule fits – or some other reason?
The Blue Jays are still in Florida Wednesday and Thursday, so I imagine it had to do with wanting a reasonably close opponent, and the Reds are in Goodyear through next weekend.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:17 PM PDT up reply actions
But how common is it nowadays for teams to play exhibition games somewhere other than their ST league home (or opponents’ home) or, in the last few days, their own real home stadium, or their opponents’? This isn’t the 40s or 50s, when teams would stop off on the train ride heading north, or take a detour. I sort of like it, but it feels unusual to me. It’s not even in southeast Asia. Is it more common than I thought? I still figure there has to be some special reason to do with money, and wonder why I haven’t seen anything anywhere that explains why Las Vegas.
Probably Vegas wanting to drum up interest, or get a nice gate at the park for one night.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:26 PM PDT up reply actions
To complicate things even further, on Thursday the Mariners and Rockies are playing a game in Albuquerque, the home of our own AAA team.
On a quick look at the schedule, that is the only other game I can find not at a major or minor league park of a team involved.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Curiosity had led me to hope that Martin would start the season on the DL
Just to see what Ellis could do over a couple of weeks.
a Blake/Blake
run.
Double for Casey
RBI single up the middle for DeWitt
1-0 Dodgers
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions
I know it's spring
But, they can’t just overlook what he’s done. Can they?
I was hoping for a catastrophic flop from the artist formerly known as the beard so he would be motivated to grow it back. Tron is now our guy.
Is he?
I mean, I think DeWitt will end up getting named the “starter” at 2B (or at least the LH part of the platoon) but the fact remains that it hasn’t been announced yet. As we have seen, with time comes doubt.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions
Belliard and Carroll don’t have anything to “prove”
Again, I think DeWitt will end up getting named the starter, but I am hesitant to label anything a lock right now.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions
I don’t think DeWitt has anything to prove either at this point. I know Belliard is a veteran, but doesn’t he still need spring training to be ready to play everyday.
I don’t think he’s capable of playing 150 games anyway. He will split time with whomever.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:41 PM PDT up reply actions
I don’t think DeWitt has anything else to prove either. But we aren’t the ones making roster decisions.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 1:43 PM PDT up reply actions
I still think DeWitt wouldn’t be starting if Joe didn’t plan of him starting on opening day or the next. I think the only reason he might not get the nod is because of a roster spot at this point. And since the bullpen isn’t set neither is second base. I don’t currently see the need for a roster spot to be open though.
I vehemently disagree with the decision by Michigan State to intentionally miss the free throw, up one with 1.8 seconds left.
The box score part of Gameday is working.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions
I get to it just as Box Score. Yes. The Gameday part of Gameday (otherwise known just as “Gameday”) is not working for this game. If I bring up a functioning Gameday game (e.g. Rangers/White Sox), clicking on the lapels at the top for the Dodger game, and all games other than the first four, does nothing.
More clearly, if you go to the overall MLB scoreboard, there are Gameday links only to two of those four games (one is over). There is no Gameday link to the Dodgers game. There is a Box link to the Dodger game. So this is likely not a sort of inadvertent “not working” but a planned, intentional one.
Oddly, I can’t find anywhere on the MLB site or dodgers.com that links to a “generic” Gameday site. Maybe this is preseason, where Gameday is not a “given” but a preview? On the main mlb.com site, there’s a Gameday link only to the White Sox game from the little live-score list.
April 5th is shaping
up to be a pretty good day. Opening day for us in Pittsburgh. The basketball national championship game is later that night. Tiger is going to sit down and let reporters ask questions (That’s a private matter). Sweet day
It is also
National Read a Road Map Day!!!!!!!! Another stupid holiday concocted by the money hungry pigs over at Rand McNally to rob the regular people. Complete B.S. :P
Kershaw solid
6 IP, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 7 K…the quiet 1.69 ERA this spring
Ramon Ortiz in the 7th: strikeout, strikeout, groundout
The first Ortiz K was on a 3-2 curveball. 21 Ks in 15.2 IP for Ramon
Eric, Ramon has been solid. I sure hope he doesn’t pull a Scott Erickson and gag on us. Those K numbers are unreal.
I have come around to the point where I will concede that he is much better than Erickson. :)
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 3:05 PM PDT up reply actions
Didn't mean to stop
the post, there was a question coming. Did you get to see him pitch when you were in AZ? Do you think he will help us this year out of the bullpen vs someone younger with a “better arm”?
I may get blasted for this but
I did see him pitch (Eric too) in Surprise. He had pretty good stuff and I am not sure you can totally ignore the strike out numbers.
Now there is a reason why he has not pitched in MLB for a while but I think he has certainly been one of the best arms on the Dodgers this spring.
That is
what I was looking for. It seems that his “stuff” is good. The reason I asked the question was with Belisario just arriving and Kuo’s injury, it seems more likely that he would be a better fit in the pen right now. I like have big, live arms in the pen, but I wouldn’t want to risk a spot in the pen with an unproven arm right now. Thanks bh. :)
I Am Assuming Nobody Has Seen Gurnick's New Story On Eyechart Yet?
Eyechart has asked to be released. The Dodgers said no, and now Eyechart is mad. And the Dodgers called Eyechart unprofessional for leaving the team.
He signed a contract, if he wanted more flexibility, he should have negotiated better
Perhaps the Dodgers will change their mind but they don’t necessarily have to.
From the article:
“But the only way to find a team is to get my release,” Mientkiewicz said. “They gave Eric Gagne and Angel Berroa their releases. But they won’t give me mine because they say if Garret Anderson blows out his hamstring, I’m the pinch-hitter.”
I see nothing wrong with the Dodgers not releasing him. They are keeping their options open. I’m with BH; Mientkiewicz should have negotiated better.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 3:20 PM PDT up reply actions
The Dodgers had no problem standing by their end of the deal last year when he wasn’t able to produce. They gave him the chance to win the job again this year! It is funny to me that he is comparing himself to 2 players that are, in most people eyes, out of options with other clubs. How many teams have called Gagne or Berroa to hook on with them because we let them go. Not the best example from Dougie.
One could get used to 2 hour and 15 minute games
I doubt the Dodgers play more than 3 games this short this season.
Nice pitching today Dodgers!
Sounds like Kershaw was grand and the pen too. Ortiz seems a lock for the team at this point… That’s RAMON of course. Of course spring stats are meaningless.
And it’s too bad the Dodgers don’t have any good young pitching or anything because Padilla is their #1 starter. /plaschke /buster
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
From the Dodgers
Russell Martin to return to Dodgers on Tuesday vs Colorado after catching Kuroda in a minor league game on Monday
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