Ronald Belisario & Monopoly
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 9:48 AM PDT
in News
Email
PrintThis whole Ronald Belisario situation reminds me of the greatest board game of all time, Monopoly.
- Belisario has a burgeoning reputation as a talented player on the field and a bit of a head case off the field, so it's only fitting that Monopoly is a game made by Milton Bradley.
- The Dodgers rolled the dice and took a Chance on Belisario last offseason, and he paid immediate dividends, with a 2.04 ERA and 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings in his first major league season.
- Belisario showed up to camp 35 days late, so he missed out on Free Parking, five dollars cheaper than last spring at Camelback Ranch.
- Belisario said this morning he would be ready to pitch on opening day, but manager Joe Torre has already said the reliever wouldn't make the trip to Pennsylvania (Avenue) to play the Pirates.
- The biggest marginal jump in rent in Monopoly comes with the third house; in baseball the big paydays don't come until the fourth year. As a second year player, Belisario has a salary of $412,500 this season (per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). By being placed on the restricted list Friday, Belisario can miss up to 21 days of the regular season (April 4-24). The major league season is 183 days, so Belisario stands to lose roughly $47,336, or 11.5% of his salary.
Perhaps most importantly, you can't build houses in Monopoly unless you actually have a monopoly, all three (or two) deeds working together at once. Belisario is finally in camp, and in the same country as his agent, Paul Kinzer, but it doesn't sound like the two are together at all. From Dylan Hernandez in today's LA Times:
Belisario's agent, Paul Kinzer, acknowledged that his client was at fault, saying Belisario missed appointments at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. That further compounded legal issues faced by the pitcher, who last year was charged with driving under the influence and recently pleaded to a lesser charge.
Contrast that with Belisario's own words this morning. Hernandez reported:
Belisario denies that he missed any visa appointments at the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela; said he did every possible to get here on time.
Belisario's agent said yesterday that Belisario missed appointments at the embassy. Colletti said the same. Belisario says they're wrong and thinks the organization will no longer be upset with him when he offers his explanation.
Call me crazy, but since Belisario had nothing but time on his hands this spring I don't think it would have been difficult for he and Kinzer to at least get their stories straight. The Belisario camp going forward needs a monopoly of information, not an oligopoly. Otherwise, Belisario will never be worth much more than Electric Company. The lights are now on; is anybody home?
60 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Pitching for Reds today
Bronson Arroyo, Francisco Cordero, Logan Ondrusek, and minor leaguers Scott Gaffney, Lee Tabor, & Sean Watson
From the Dodgers:
Russell Martin will catch 7 innings in a minor league game today and expected to catch for #Dodgers in exhibitions in LA next week
By catching in any major league exhibition games, it pushes forward the start of any kind of a DL trip (which could be started as soon as March 26), which leads me to believe Martin will not be on the DL to start the season.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 10:06 AM PDT up reply actions
Stults
Since its looking more and more likely that he won’t be the fifth starter, we should trade him to the M’s. They are looking for a lefty starter right now and since there are very few options other than Washburn, perhaps we could actually get something decent for him, despite not having a ton of leverage since he has no options.
Hiroki Kuroda will pitch in a minor league game Monday.
Ramon Ortiz will pitch in relief, going back-to-back
Seems like Ramon has an edge over dreamweaver for the long man role?
by LA Taco on Mar 28, 2010 10:15 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I think Ramon is a lock at this point.
Weaver still has a good shot to make the team, too IMO
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 10:16 AM PDT up reply actions
Wrong Hole, Buster (Olney) picks the Rockies to not only win the NL West, but to also win the World Series. (And somehow I find this very reassuring.)
NL West
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres
Thoughts: The Dodgers’ lineup is formidable, with its core of rising young stars, and the bullpen should be great again. But the starting pitching is very thin, and we cannot expect with any confidence that the Dodgers will be as aggressive as they probably will need to be in making a midsummer deal. Meanwhile, the Rockies have as much position-player depth as any team in the majors, and Jeff Francis is back.
World Series Winner:
Colorado Rockies. This will be the fall that Troy Tulowitzki climbs to the next level of stars.
It’s behind the pay wall, so no link.
I can see how Olney could talk up their position-player depth, but to say that the Dodgers starting pitching is any thinner than the Rockies’ is pretty weak.
My ideal lineup
Posted this in the last thread. It has two on-base guys at the top, power in the middle, and some speed at the bottom.
DeWitt
Martin
Ethier
Manny
Kemp
Loney
Blake
Furcal
Definitely interesting… I’m not sure I like the idea of our lowest OPS guy batting second though. If it were me, I’d push up Kemp to #2 and drop Martin to the bottom. I also wouldn’t be opposed to seeing if Furcal could bounce back this season and give him a few games at leadoff, although with a very short leash.
by CarolinaDodger on Mar 28, 2010 10:46 AM PDT up reply actions
Yes, exactly. This will probably occur to Torre by about August. It always takes him that long. Ironically, Kemp turned out to be really useful for an extended period of his being placed at no. 8 last year, where he turned out to be a sort of secondary cleanup bat when we had nos. 5-7 getting on base a lot. But this year, the lineup you give would be a classic lineup, with Kemp at no. 5, making use of his power and not wasting it at no. 2 just because, yes, he’s fast and can steal bases, At the moment, he’s coming it after the no. 8, the pitcher, and a non-producing Furcal. He’s usually leading off the inning after those three get out the previous one, or coming in second after Furcal leads off and gets out. It’s something of a waste.
I updated the post above with that info.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions
Has chris withrow been sent down to the minors yet?
and has he pitched more then those 2 appearances?
He has technically always been in minor league camp, but occasionally some minor leaguers suit up for the major league games. Earlier last week, Torre said we might see him again this week, but the week is nearly done and he has yet to pitch.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he makes the trip back to LA, even if just for the Dodger Stadium experience.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 11:04 AM PDT up reply actions
I'm sure this has been brought up before...
…but why not use Stults as the lefty out of the bullpen and shut down Kuo until his arm is 100% healthy? Stults has shown to be a dependable pitcher in the past, and although he doesn’t have the dominating stuff that Kuo has, I’m confident he could more than hold his own until Kuo is ready to bounce back. Then we could trade Eric to team that needs a southpaw pitcher (I can think of 31 off the top of my head) and get something of value back for him. Admittedly, the words “Hong-Chi Kuo” and “100% healthy” are hardly ever used in the same sentence, unless separated by the phrase “has a snowball’s chance in hell of being…” Feel free to pick my opinion apart…I can take it. :-D
His arm is not accustomed to relief, especially if you want to use him in a LOOGY role. A guy like Leach would work much better.
by silverwidow on Mar 28, 2010 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions
Monday pitchers
Kuroda in a minor league game at CBR vs Reds
Night game in Goodyear vs Indians
Billingsley
Weaver
Broxton
Sherrill
that team will go undefeated
and mcdonald is easily the ace
by matthewmafa on Mar 28, 2010 11:16 AM PDT up reply actions
We’ll see about that. Lindblom has the better fastball and command. McDonald has a plus curve if he can throw it for strikes and a good change that he barely uses. I’d like to see who ends up with more AAA innings.
by silverwidow on Mar 28, 2010 11:47 AM PDT up reply actions
mcdonald when hes in AAA
has a better everything then lindblom…
did you see mcdonalds stats last year when he got sent back down to AAA for 4 starts or so…
lindblom has yet to even go more then 5 innings in any pro outing
by matthewmafa on Mar 28, 2010 12:15 PM PDT up reply actions
McDonald had two great starts in AAA last year (June 8 and June 14). The others were mediocre or average.
Lindblom was restricted last year, but he’s a serious candidate to make the majors in the next few months. They will let him show his stuff.
by silverwidow on Mar 28, 2010 12:21 PM PDT up reply actions
and remmeber what kensai said
it doesnt matter about fastballs…. anyone can hit fastballs even in the minors.. its offspeed that matters.. and mcdonald has a great curve and a great change…
by matthewmafa on Mar 28, 2010 12:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Lindblom also has a great curve. He is not a fastball only guy.
by silverwidow on Mar 28, 2010 12:21 PM PDT up reply actions
so
i live 2 blocks from giants scottsdale stadium. they play the padres today. i could make it easier for the dodgers to win the division….accidents you know..do happen.
But the Rockies aren’t there, so how would that affect the Dodgers? :)
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 11:11 AM PDT up reply actions
tv today?
couldnt find it in the past 3 articles
by matthewmafa on Mar 28, 2010 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions
TV the rest of spring
Tuesday at Rockies (MLB Network; likely Rockies’ broadcast)
Wednesday (ss) vs Reds in Vegas (Prime Ticket)
Friday at Angels in Anaheim (KCOP; Angels broadcast)
Saturday vs Angels at Dodger Stadium (KCAL)
There's no crying in baseball
Which is the only thing keeping Belisario from turning on the Water Works.
by StolenMonkey86 on Mar 28, 2010 11:21 AM PDT reply actions
Nice
you have no idea how close I was to using that analogy :)
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 11:22 AM PDT up reply actions
I share a birthday with Toronto minor league 2B Brad Emaus (well, 10 years apart). But he was sent down to minor league camp today, on his birthday, for the second year in a row!
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 11:45 AM PDT up reply actions
More importantly
Happy 49th birthday to Byron Scott!
by Eric Stephen on Mar 28, 2010 11:53 AM PDT up reply actions
Ricky Nolasco today
7 IP
1 hit
0 runs
0 walks
I think he only had 2 Ks though (at least he did through 6)
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Photo: Padres fan regrets letting mother capture moment with Trevor Hoffman
- Marlins agree to unretire No. 5 for Logan Morrison, who will honor his father’s favorite player
- Weatherman Derek Holland does Dallas TV
- Ask Alex: Will Julio Teheran or Matt Moore win rookie of the year?
- Ku Klux Klan, umpires and bowling: Why the minor leagues tossed out Jim Evans academy
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
