Not too many surprises.  Yadier Molina is way up at the top with Gerald Laird at the tippy top and Mike Napoli is at the very bottom.  Who could be lower than Russell Martin?  Some notable names, Jorge Posada, Bengie Molina, Jason Varitek, Jason Kendall and AJ Pierzynski.

http://www.drivelinemechanics.com/2009/10/13/1082419/2009-catcher-defense-filling-in

Pitch blocking: As for the actual "catching" part of catching, the best in baseball this season was the Phillies' Carlos Ruiz, at +5.6 runs. Jason Varitek gains some of his cred back here at +5.1 runs (I wonder what it would be if he had to catch Wakefield). The Man, the Myth, the Legend, Matt Wieters may not have quite cemented his Hall of Fame credentials, but he can block a pitch decently at +3.9 runs. The players are grouped by their performance for separate teams, so I just noticed that one of my favorites, Gregg Zaun, was +2.9 for the Orioles, and +1.4 for the Rays, which puts him at +4.3, or the real number 3. Maybe Baltimore let him go to soon -- he definite brings his Z-Game when he's blocking pitches. At the bottom of the rankings, Jorge Posada, Josh Bard, and and Rob Johnson (why did he get so much playing time?) are all tied at -3.8, Russell Martin (?!) is at -5.1 (although he saw more PA than just about any other catcher on the list). And bringing up the rear... this is going to be a shock, prepare yourself... Miguel Olivo, at -7.8. Think about that -- it's only -0.28 runs per WP/PB. Sure, he's "only" -2.7 runs worse thatn Martin, but Martin saw almost 1400 more PA than Olivo this season. This shows we're on the right track, as Brian Cartwright's WOWY studydone previous to this season showed Olivo to be historically terrible at blocking the plate. Another great job of scouting by Dayton Moore and the Process Servers.

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As things are pretty dead around here, I figured I'd post the next part of my ranking.  Hopefully some of the names will start sounding familiar, but I’m sure most are still unknowns to the majority of people.  As a reminder, my ranking includes players in Dodgers minor league system who meets the following qualifications:  (1) played in the Dodgers minor league system during 2009, or were injured during the entire 2009 season; (2) is still within the Dodgers organization as of season end; (3) is under 28 years old as of Opening Day 2010; and (4) the player is still considered a prospect by Baseball America Standards, which means that pitchers must have less than 50 innings pitched in the majors, and hitters must have less than 130 at bats in the majors, regardless of service time.  Also, remember that the players age I’ve listed is their age as of the start of the 2010 season.  As always, feel free to discuss, comment, and let me know what you think. 

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We all know we have a hole at 2nd base so plenty of rumors coming our way.

1. Alberto Callaspo for AJ Ellis - on the surface that seems quite improbable however according to Plus/Minus Callaspo was the worse fielding 2nd baseman in baseball last year, and evidently AJ Ellis is quite revered for his glove.UZR also had Alberto as a -7 so we might be able to agree that Callaspo had a bad year defensively in 2009. Is that enough to negate an .813 OPS? In 2010 Bill James expects him to regress back to .755 with an wOBA of .333.

2. Kevin Kennedy said he heard the Dodgers are kicking the tires on Uggla. Uggla should be able to maintain his .800 - .825 OPS but again we are talking about a terrible fielding 2nd baseman who is about to get expensive.

3. MLBTR picked the Dodgers as the landing place for Felipe Lopez.  Future offense probably very close to Callaspo but a plus defensively according to UZR in 2009.  However in 2008 he was a negative so his defensive metrics have not been very consistent.

4. Jamie Carrol - surely as a backup and not as the main guy, right?

5. Luis Castillo - swap of bad contracts. He's 34, bad wheels, no power, only skill left is OB. He's what DeJesus would be except DeJesus is 12 years younger and would cost nothing. I'd much rather give away Pierre and eat 1/2 his contract then take on two years of Castillo. But hey, it could be worse.

Add to the list as the winter rumors continue to swirl.

Here is the next part of my Dodger prospect countdown.  As a reminder, my ranking includes players in Dodgers minor league system who meets the following qualifications:  (1) played in the Dodgers minor league system during 2009, or were injured during the entire 2009 season; (2) is still within the Dodgers organization as of season end; (3) is under 28 years old as of Opening Day 2010; and (4) the player is still considered a prospect by Baseball America Standards, which means that pitchers must have less than 50 innings pitched in the majors, and hitters must have less than 130 at bats in the majors, regardless of service time.  Also, remember that the players age I’ve listed is their age as of the start of the 2010 season.  As always, feel free to discuss, comment, and let me know what you think.

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These aren't anywhere else yet that I know of.

My friend is associated with the MLB and said he got this passed down to him this morning.

NL Gold Glove Winners

P - Adam Wainwright
C - Yadier Molina
1B - Adrian Gonzalez
2B - Orlando Hudson
3B - Ryan Zimmerman
SS - Jimmy Rollins
OF - Shane Victorino
OF - Matt Kemp
OF - Michael Bourn

More details about the full voting at my site, if you care.

http://www.memoriesofkevinmalone.com/2009/11/matt-kemp-and-orlando-hudson-among-nl.html

If it's wrong, it's not my fault. :o

The Chattanooga Lookouts, the Double A affiliate of the Dodgers, won the 2009 Larry MacPhail Trophy from Minor League Baseball, which recognizes the club with the top promotional efforts throughout the season.  From the press release:

The club sent two people, dressed as knights, around town with pocket schedules and a sign which read "Two Knights Game at AT&T Field is at 7:15." The popularity of the idea resulted in an advertising campaign built around the knights throughout the season. Chattanooga also added "Blooie" to its stable of mascots in 2009. This diminutive blue mascot compliments the club's iconic red "Looie" and one of his duties is to lead the crowd in the "3.5 Inning Stretch," where only half of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is played and sung.

Here's a shot of Looie the Lookout:

via images.chattanoogan.com

Apparently, Mark Cuban's attempt to buy a baseball team is not over. He now says that he would be interested in buying the Dodgers if the right situation came up. Right now, I am very conflicted about how to react to this. First of all, the negatives of this are that he is straight up one of the most controversial owners in any sport. But there are many positives to this. First, the McCourts recent divorce has created negative attention the Dodgers don't want and now limits the Dodgers financially. Secondly, Cuban is crazy rich off the stock market and we would be virtually limitless in our spending. However, the last thing I want is to become the next Yankees just buying our way through baseball. Or ever worse, the Redskins, atttempt to buy our way and fail.

I'm a disenchanted Toronto Blue Jays Fan, looking for a new team.  Ownership decisions and a general aimlessness in the direction of the team has caused me to consider abandoning the Jays after 25 years of cheering for them.

My search has narrowed to the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals,  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and your Los Angeles Dodgers.

I am looking for a MLB team that has ownership committed to winning, a group of players worth cheering for, and a reasonable shot at competing for the playoffs sometime in the next 10 years.

Convince me (with defensible reasons) why I should join you.  Go!

via images.uulyrics.com

via www.nomaas.org

via download.lavadomefive.com

via jimbicentral.typepad.com

PART II: WS Epilogue

Even though the Phils kept on out-gritting the Yanks with a World Series OPS of 0.782 (regular season 0.781) and the gritty Phils pitching staff (OPS against regular season 0.781) held the Yanks (who hit 0.839 in the regular season) to 0.725 in the postseason, that New York Yankee CLUTCH!™ came through and trumped all that Grittiness, Superior Offense (and by definition superior pitching), and Lack of Veteran Leadership (Measured by Ks obtained by team hitting).

via photos.upi.com

Although Matsui Godzilla won the MVP with his WHOPPING GODZILLAESQUE 2.027 OPS, 3 HR, 1 BB, and 8 RBIs

via www.stomptokyo.com

playing 48% of the series (compared to Jeeter, 24% if you count defense), it may have been more apt to have given the award to the guy who really put them over the top, Jorge Posada,

via images.sportsbybrooks.com

who stepped up with 5 RBIs with 5 hits, 2BB, 0 HRs and a decidedly non Godzilla-like 0.634 OPS. Jorge, by the authority I’m assuming Major Leauge Baseball has given me but forgot to inform me about, I bestow upon you the 2009 WORLD SERIES CLUTCHY!™ Good job Jorge, you the man. 

You deserve this.

via www.latina.com

CLUTCH!™ showed that the New York Yankees PLAY THE GAME THE RIGHT WAY and were the team with the most HEART!

It can be truely said that 2009 world Series was the ultimate example of CLUTCH!™ trumping all other factors. If you ever find yourself argueing with your freinds about whether Grit or CLUTCH!™ is more important, you have to look no further than to pull the 2009 World Series as the ULTIMATE EXAMPLE of CLUTCH!™ trumping Grit.

VOODOO UP MLB VOOODOO UP!

via www.telfordswarehousechester.com

Voodooist Nations

   1. Benin; state religion, and it accounts for the majority of the populous, at 7 million.
   2. Ghana
   3. Togo
   4. Haiti; probably accounts for the most Voodoo practitioners in that region.
   5. Dominican Republic
   6. Puerto Rico
   7. Cuba
   8. Brazil

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Voodoo

Just sayn’!

Stats that Matter:

2009 World Series Game 4
NY Yanks   AB-R-H-RBI-BB-SO
J Posada     3 -0 -1---3----1--2

via rdr.zazzle.com

Part I: Dodger Epilogue

Its no secret what the Dodgers lacked: CLUTCH!™ (™ Major league baseball)

Before we go out and scrap the team for divorce lawyer money, perhaps we should look into keeping these guys and increasing the Voodoo budget.

via www.blog.julians.name

That and teach the pitchers how to throw strikes.

Some random analysis of NLCS vs. World Series Performances. Dodger hitting worse than Yanks, but not by much. Yanks better CLUTCH!™ hitting.

Phils offense superior to everyone but CLUTCH!™ phailing  in World Series is the big difference (or it could be said Yankee pitching performance better than Dodger's).

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Indulge me if you will…

I have zero experience running a pro sports franchise (making me glaringly similar to the McCourts before they bought the Dodgers, but that's not the point of this post), but I do have a bit of experience with divorce. 

Like the McCourts, my parents divorced after over 24 years of marriage (25 in their situation).  You would hope that a couple of 40-something adults (in the McCourt's case, 50-somethings) would be able to act as civil human beings and keep in mind the feelings of the other family members also affected by this traumatic event.  In my parents' situation, this simply didn't factor into anything.  My four siblings and I were casualties in the nastiness that went on between my parents, and while we were somewhat spared in the aftermath because we didn't "choose sides", I was truly amazed how some of my uncles (my mom's brothers) were ostracized because they actually acted civilly to my dad; someone whom they had known and come to love for almost 30 years. 

My point in this post is not for sympathy, but to hopefully help all of you here at TBLA understand that we have not even begun to see how bad it is going to get.  It is embarrassing now; it will turn to ugly before we know it. 

For all the crap Frank McCourt has taken among some of the local media (hello, TJ Simers), I believe that he has done an awesome job in his tenure owning the Dodgers.  He has invested in a baseball shrine, Dodger Stadium, that was, quite frankly, growing somewhat under disrepair under previous owners (including Peter O’Malley).  He re-did parking  and got hammered for it but, other than sellouts, it’s actually easier to get in and out of Dodger Stadium than it has been in the past.  He improved bathrooms (which were getting scary) and replaced 56,000 seats.  The team has improved dramatically under his ownership.  He brought in a HOF Manager.  I don’t know about you, but before the divorce crap hit the news I was feeling extremely better about the Dodgers and their potential than I was before he got here.

The above paragraph is not a pro-Frank, anti-Jamie statement.  My point is we’re in the middle of what I think is a Dodger re-awakening.  And I am, or was, damn excited about it. 

But today I sit here and wonder what the hell is really going to happen with this team.  My beloved Dodgers are on the edge of jumping into the upper tier of baseball, and have the potential to be there for awhile.  Unfortunately, given the crap of the past few weeks all that has the potential to crumble before our very eyes. 

So what do I see?  A few options:

1.       Dodgers declared community property and they are forced to sell the team.  Pray for Mark Cuban in this scenario.  No, he hasn’t won in Dallas but who the hell were the Mavericks before he showed up?  Also pray for no Daniel Snyder wannabe. 

2.       Frank keeps them, but loses his ass in the divorce and has to sell a stake.  Peter O’Malley, anybody?  Or how about Philip Anschutz?  I’m fine with both.

3.       Jamie gets them in an upset.  Gulp.   Sorry, but I don’t see the positive here.  I’ve never heard her really say anything that screamed “leader”.  Frank may piss me off and come off very whiney sometimes, but he’s a big step up from her. 

I’m sure there are other options, but even the ones above spell trouble for my team.  We’re 3 months away from pitchers and catchers reporting.  And my upgraded optimism about the team of my youth is getting worn down each and every day.