Dodgers Need to Fill Roster with Best Players

Agree totally
instead of having 4 old arms (actually 3 old, 1 young untested) on the roster bring up the hard throwing young arms whose mistakes at least wont be 83 mph pitches down the middle. Pennents are not won in april but can be lost. The dodgers should not be worried about losing the 3 old arms. They were sitting out for the taking and nobody but the Dodgers bit.

so dont know if others were pissed that monasterious came in to face the 3-4-5 of the lineup last night…

but even before monk gave up the homer.. was anyone else questioning why he was brought in to face the 3-4-5??

In a simplistic way, i look at a team divided into 4 parts – offense, defense, starting pitching, and bullpen. For this team, the offense has been great. People can complain about situational hitting failures, etc, but theyve been putting up 5,6,7 runs per game. The middle of our lineup is great, the back end is patient, etc. Nothing wrong with the offense.

As for the defense, it has been fine save for two main culprits in Kemp and DeWitt. Kemp made huge strides last year, but something just seems amiss this year. Bad jumps, poor throws (even on plays where he had no chance- the ball isnt coming out of his well), poor communication. I will chalk this up as just a bad stretch and that he will turn it around. DeWitt, obviously, is learning a new position and I would expect him to improve over the year. This area should be fine over the course of the year.

Right now, we all know the starting pitching is a mess. Chad and Clayton cant throw strikes, Padilla remembered he is Vicente Padilla, and Haeger and Kuroda have only had one start each. The issue here is that there is no better solution elsewhere for the main problems (Chad and Clayton and going deeper into games), so we really have to work with what we have. It isnt like bringing up Elbert or JMac of Towers will solve the strike throwing issue and that they’ll go 7 deep each game. There really is nothing to do here other than hope for the best out of the young guys and that Kuroda will stay healthy and pitch like he did in the first game.

All of this brings me to my point. The job of a general manager is to put out the best major league team he can with what he has in the system. No, I dont mean this is advocating trading premium prospects for golorified loogy’s or 35 year old 3rd baseman, but his main job is to put the best 25 on the major league roster. In my mind, Ned has not done this with the bullpen. I understand the desire to leave JMac and Elbert and Lindblom in the minors to develop as starters and as replacements for injuries on the big club, but the truth is that there is a huge talent deficiency in our bullpen. This team has the potential to make the playoffs, and keeping your more talented players in the minors to develop in roles they may or may not be suited for is just wrong when they can improve the big club. I’m not saying JMac and Elbert are world beaters out of the pen (although JMac was damn impressive last year in that role), but when you are throwing out dos Ortizs and a 24 year old who has spent 3 weeks above A ball, there is room for definite improvement. The bullpen is overworked, overused, and just plain bad. Part of that reverts to the starters, but there isnt much that can be done there right now other than hope. The adjustments that must be made are available to Ned and he cannot wait any longer. The division race will be close, and giving away more games unnecessarily because Russ or Ramon Ortiz or Monk has to pitch meaningful innings is something the team cannot afford.

2 innings 4 hits 2 runs 1 ER 1 walk and 2 Ks so far

Last year’s bullpen was lights out, but I think it’s unrealistic to believe that this year’s bullpen can be as good – even when everyone gets back. Our relievers logged a ton of innings last year, and all those innings will make everyone at least a little less effective this year.

The big issue isn’t the bullpen any way. It’s our starters who can’t go 6 innings. Call me old school, but when you only play once every 5 days, you ought to be able to pitch 6 innings. During the next 6th inning mound session, Joe needs to tell the pitcher that he better figure out a way to complete the inning because he’s not taking them out.

Haeger might end up being this staff’s saviour.

Shouldn’t Belasario just step right in when ready?
Its not like he’s coming off injury.
Weaver, Ortiz,Ortiz is like having three long relievers, and not especially good at that.
Monk should be buried in the pen with one long reliever.
I’m thinking we’ll feel alot better once Kuo(hopefully) and Belly-O are around and (if)the Ortiz brothers go away.

7 IP, 0 ER, 8 Ks. Got him on all my fantasy teams :)