Kershaw, Chapman Highlight Today's Action at Camelback Ranch
by Eric Stephen on Mar 12, 2010 11:30 AM PST
in Game Threads
149 comments
Reds (3-3) at Dodgers (ss) (2-3-1)
12:05pm, Camelback Ranch, Glendale, AZ
Two of the best young arms in all of baseball are scheduled to pitch today at Camelback Ranch, as the Dodgers face the Reds. Clayton Kershaw, who turns 22 next Friday, will start for the Dodgers, while 22-year old Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman is also expected to pitch for the Reds. Bronson Arroyo will start for Cincinnati, but Chapman is slated to pitch two innings behind him, per Mister Redlegs of Red Letter Daze.
In a state with numerous speed cameras on the freeways (beware if you are headed out for spring training), the most eye-popping numbers came from Chapman's last appearance, when he cracked the 100 mph barrier a few times. Slyde, over at Red Reporter, analyzed Chapman's performance, as well as the meaning of the magical 100 mph plateau.
Garret Anderson's spring Dodger debut will be Sunday, and won't be at designated hitter, says ESPN L.A.'s Tony Jackson. Anderson will either play first base, where he has been taking ground balls, or in the outfield.
Here are the lineups, which include the first start of the spring (in an "A" game, at least) for Ivan DeJesus::
| Reds | Dodgers | |||
| CF | Stubbs | SS | Furcal | |
| SS | Cabrera | C | Ausmus | |
| DH | Votto | RF | Ethier | |
| 2B | Phillips | CF | Kemp | |
| 3B | Rolen | 3B | Blake | |
| RF | Bruce | 1B | Mientkiewicz | |
| LF | Gomes | DH | Ellis | |
| C | Hernandez | LF | Repko | |
| 1B | Frazier | 2B | DeJesus | |
| P | Arroyo | P | Kershaw | |
Todd Frazier is batting ninth and playing first base for the Reds today. In the regular season, the only Red since 1954 (the Retrosheet Era) to bat ninth in a regular season game was Sean Casey, on June 24, 1998. Of course, with no designated hitter it's hard to find many non-pitchers hitting ninth for the vast majority of that time. However, the Reds did only have a first baseman bat eighth just 69 times in the last 56 seasons.
Scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers today behind Kershaw are Carlos Monasterios, Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, and Luis Ayala. Monasterios, like Armando Zerpa, is a Rule 5 pick trying to make the club. From the game notes:
Since 1981, the Dodgers have selected 11 players in the Rule 5 draft and only three players have made the Opening Day roster, including D.J. Houlton, who remained with the club for the entire 2005 season. Both Frank Lankford (1998) and Jose Antonio Nuñez (2001) were offered back to their original clubs before the All-Star break.
The Dodger minor leaguers on today's roster are Angelo Songco, Pedro Baez, and Scott Van Slyke.
The scheduled pitchers for the Reds today are Arroyo, Chapman, Francisco Cordero, Carlos Fisher, Ramon Geronimo, Micah Owings, Jordan Smith, and Philippe Valiquette.
Tomorrow in Tucson to face the Diamondbacks, the Dodger pitchers scheduled to throw are Chad Billingsley, Scott Elbert, Eric Gagne, Justin Miller, and Brent Leach. Kevin Mulvey will get the start for Arizona.
Here is the box score from this morning's game in Taiwan.
Bus service between Union Station and Dodger Stadium is back on for 2010, writes Zach Behrens of LAist.
TV: Prime Ticket
149 comments | 0 recs |
2010 Player Profile: Jamey Carroll, the Multi-Year Man
by Eric Stephen on Mar 12, 2010 8:30 AM PST
in Community Projections
64 comments
Jamey Carroll can be a useful player off the bench, with his ability to hold his own defensively at both second and third, and also has mixed in some time here and there at shortstop and the corner outfield spots. In a pinch, that kind of versatility is an asset. Throw in the fact that he has posted on-base percentages of .355 in each of the past two years and you have a good player on your hands.
The curious part of signing Carroll was that he got a two-year contract (albeit at a relatively modest $3.85 million guaranteed) when so many middle infielders signed one-year pacts this offseason, including Orlando Hudson, Felipe Lopez, Orlando Cabrera, Alex Gonzalez, and our own Ronnie Belliard, to name a few.
As I wrote back in December, I like Jamey Carroll, but he reminds me of a signing last winter:
Still, I can't shake the feeling that if you squint hard enough, Carroll looks an awful lot like Mark Loretta, signed by the Dodgers last season:
Player Years Ages BA/OBP/SLG OPS+ Jamey Carroll 2008-09 34-35 .276/.355/.343 89 Mark Loretta 2007-08 .35-36 .284/.352/.376 91
Loretta, you may remember, struggled to the tune of .232/.309/.276 last season (but had a great final act). Carroll figures to see time backing up second and third base, and perhaps even shortstop, which would alleviate the need to carry a designated (no-hit) backup shortstop.
Fun Stat
Carroll is one of two active major leaguers with a career OBP of .350 or higher and a slugging percentage lower than his OBP (minimum 1,000 PA), along with Luis Castillo
Contract Status
Under contract through 2011:
2010: $1.35 million
2011: $2.5 million
Carroll can earn up to $525,000 annually in incentives based on plate appearances from 275 to 550.
2010 Outlook
| Year | Age | PA | BB% | Runs | RBI | BA | OBP | SLG | wOBA |
| 2006 | 32 | 534 | 10.5% | 84 | 36 | .300 | .377 | .404 | .339 |
| 2007 | 33 | 268 | 10.4% | 45 | 22 | .225 | .317 | .300 | .284 |
| 2008 | 34 | 402 | 8.5% | 60 | 36 | .277 | .355 | .346 | .319 |
| 2009 | 35 | 358 | 10.1% | 53 | 26 | .276 | .355 | .340 | .317 |
| 2010 Projections - Age 36 Season | |||||||||
| Bill James | 250 | 9.6% | 36 | 18 | .261 | .343 | .323 | .298 | |
| CHONE | 349 | 10.6% | 53 | 26 | .250 | .338 | .334 | .306 | |
| Marcel | 419 | 9.3% | 59 | 36 | .259 | .337 | .346 | .309 | |
| Baseball HQ | 374 | 9.6% | 52 | 27 | .250 | .323 | .313 | ||
| ZiPS | 328 | 8.8% | 48 | 29 | .261 | .332 | .334 | ||
Thanks to Fangraphs for much of the data. Carroll is projected to have a drop off after back-to-back years with a .355 on-base percentage, which is understandable since most projection systems aren't kind to players entering their age 36 season (just ask Casey Blake). However, Carroll's predicted OPS, or prOPS (available at The Hardball Times) , the last two years was better than his actual OPS (.293/.369/.379 in 2008, .279/.356/.371 in 2009). For 2010, I expect something near that range from Carroll. I'll guess .281/.358/.372, with 26 starts at second base.
What are your predictions for Jamey Carroll (BA/OBP/SLG)? Be sure to also guess the number of starts at second base for Carroll, too.
64 comments | 0 recs |
Dodgers Drop Opener in Taiwan
by Eric Stephen on Mar 12, 2010 6:25 AM PST
in News
35 comments
The Dodgers dropped their opener in Taiwan, losing 5-2 to the Chinese Professional Baseball League All-Stars. Some notes from the game:
- Lucas May was hit by a pitch in the left ankle, and left the game early, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com
- Eric Stults threw two scoreless and hitless innings...as a part of his three total shutout innings, per Tony Jackson of ESPN L.A.
- Chin-Lung Hu had a two-run single, driving in the Dodgers' only two runs
- Tien Mou Stadium even played "Don't Stop Believin'" in the ninth inning
- VP of MLB Asia Jim Small told Gurnick that this series could lead to an eventual opening day series in Taiwan
- The second game of the Taiwan series is tonight at 10pm, with Josh Towers starting against RHP Chien-Fu Yang
Here are a few photos from baseball clinic for 100 little leaguers, led by Chin-lung Hu and Hong-Chi Kuo at Taipei Municipal Tienmu Stadium in Taipei on Friday night:
Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers
Before the game, the Dodgers toured Tapei 101, the world's second largest building. Dodger Vice President of Communications Josh Rawitch described traversing the world's fastest elevator:
It was insanely high and just shooting up 89 floors in about 30 seconds made our ears pop. Joining the group at that point was James Loney, Prentice Redman and Kenley Jansen and while we were there, we found out that Manny Ramirez was having lunch at a restaurant just 14 floors below.
From the fastest moving elevator to the world's slowest moving reliever: Ned Colletti yesterday addressed the reports that Ronald Belisario missed three appointments at the U.S. Embassy to acquire his work visa. Tony Jackson of ESPN L.A. has the details:
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said he has been given no indication of when Belisario might show up or why he has missed the appointments.
"You would think that when you have the opportunity to make a living throwing a baseball, and the opportunity presents itself to pitch in the big leagues, support your family and build a career, that would be something you would pursue to the fullest,'' Colletti said.
"I can't worry about things that I have zero control over or people I have zero control over,'' Colletti said. "If he shows, he shows. If he doesn't, he doesn't.''
Belisario's agent didn't have an update from his client yesterday. Per the Associated Press:
Paul Kinzer, Belisario’s agent, said Thursday that he didn’t have an update on his client’s status.
“I’m waiting to hear from him today,” Kinzer said. “He’s supposed to be at the consulate now.”
Belisario has lost any benefit of the doubt in this situation. The Dodgers are mad, and rightfully so.
35 comments | 0 recs |
Dodgers Arrive In Taiwan; Belisario Not There, Either
by Eric Stephen on Mar 11, 2010 11:30 AM PST
in Game Previews
174 comments
Dodgers (1-3-1) at Royals (4-2)
12:05pm, Surprise Stadium, Surprise, AZ
As the crowded Dodger non-roster invitee list gets a little less crowded with the retirement of Brian Giles (per Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times)...
The Dodgers arrived in Taiwan this morning, and begin their three-game series early Friday morning, at 2:37am. Here are a few shots from their welcoming press conference (both courtesy of Jon SooHoo / LA Dodgers):
The Los Angeles Dodgers, including Manager Joe Torre, Pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo and infielders James Loney and Chin-lung Hu, address the crowd at their welcoming press conference in Taiwan
James Loney addresses the crowd at the Dodgers’ welcoming press conference in Taiwan
In other news, Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy translated a report from Venezuelan newspaper El Universal on Ronald Belisario:
Belisario has missed three dates with the U.S. embassy for paperwork, which is the reason he has yet to report to Camelback Ranch.
The benefit of the doubt is slowly slipping away from Belisario's grasp.
Earlier this offseason, there were reports that the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese Pacific League were interested in Eric Stults. Per NPB Tracker, that interest is apparently gone, given the relatively high cost of a potential transaction:
Sanspo said that Lotte gave up on him because his salary + transfer fee would be over $1m
(Here's a Babelfish translated versionof that link.) Stults is currently battling for the fifth starter spot in the Dodger rotation and, because he is out of options, is likely to get a longer look than pitchers with options, like Scott Elbert or James McDonald.
Here are the lineups, the order of which hopefully will stay the same today:
| Dodgers | Royals | |||
| SS | Furcal | LF | Podsednik | |
| DH | Johnson | C | Kendall | |
| RF | Ethier | RF | DeJesus | |
| CF | Kemp | 1B | Butler | |
| 3B | Blake | CF | Ankiel | |
| 2B | DeWitt | DH | Guillen | |
| 1B | Mientkiewicz | 3B | Fields | |
| C | Ausmus | SS | Betancourt | |
| LF | Repko | 2B | Bloomquist | |
| P | McDonald | P | Meche | |
After McDonald, scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers are Russ Ortiz, Ramon Troncoso, Travis Schlichting, Javy Guerra, and Armando Zerpa.
Minor Leaguers on the Dodgers' roster today are Dee Gordon, Brandon Watson, Andrew "Adam" Lambo, Kyle "Sticks" Russell, Jaime Pedroza, Brian Cavazos-Galvez, and Austin Yount (son of Robin).
Among the scheduled pitchers today for Royals are Aaron Crow, Edgar Osuna, and former Dodgers Matt Herges and Joakim Soria.
Among Royals we won't see today are Mike Moustakas, David Lough, Danny Duffy, Derrick Robinson, Ernesto Mejia, Mario Lisson, and Steven Lerud, as they were assigned to minor league camp.
Tomorrow, scheduled to play at Camelback Ranch against the Reds, Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to start, followed by Carlos Monasterios, Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, Luis Ayala, and Brent Leach. Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman is among the Reds scheduled to pitch in that game.
No TV today (tomorrow is on Prime Ticket), but you can listen online here.
174 comments | 0 recs |
Delectable Dodger Delight at CBR
by RawhideBlue on Mar 11, 2010 9:50 AM PST
12 comments
12 comments | 1 recs
2010 Dodger Profiles - Vicente Padilla
by Phil Gurnee on Mar 11, 2010 8:21 AM PST
in Community Projections
72 comments
Eric pretty much covered Vicente Padilla when we signed him on Jan 21st, along with the warning back in December, that signing Padilla might not be the best move.
As a Dodger in 2009 Padilla went 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA in eight regular season games and then pitched two memorable post season games before falling to the Phillies in game five. His shutout seven inning series clinching performance against the Cardinals on enemy territory already ranked as one of the best postseason performances of the last 22 years, but he followed that up with an even more vaunted performance when he shut down the loaded Phillie offense in game 2. Through it all Padilla was a model citizen in the Dodger clubhouse but was still looking for work when the Dodgers nabbed on a one year deal in January to flush out the rotation. Can Vicente Padilla replicate his 2009 Dodger success? Let us take a look
From Baseball HQ
Year IP ERA xERA WHIP CTL DOM CMD BPV
==== === ==== ==== ==== === === === ===
2005 147 4.71 4.47 1.50 4.5 6.3 1.4 15
2006 200 4.50 4.05 1.38 3.2 7.0 2.2 63
2007 120 5.76 4.84 1.63 3.7 5.3 1.4 18
2008 171 4.74 4.35 1.46 3.4 6.7 2.0 49
2009 147 4.46 4.22 1.43 3.3 5.9 1.8 44
1H 09 83 4.77 4.70 1.52 4.1 4.9 1.2 4
2H 09 64 4.07 3.65 1.31 2.2 7.3 3.3 95
Despite having a bullet pass completely through his thigh on November 3rd he is completely healthy and has proven it with a solid spring so far.
More from Baseball HQ:
- At just 32 years of age, Padilla should have several more years of low 4.00 xERA ... and if that 2H xERA (3.65) is any indication, Padilla likes pitching in Chavez Ravine, thank you very much.
- Not only did Padilla gain an inch or two on his fastball upon joining the Dodgers, he began trusting his stuff and the team around him and it resulted in vastly improved WHIP (1.31), CTL (2.2), DOM (7.3) and CMD (3.3) in the 2H.
- Want to see a Tale of Two Halves? Compare Padilla's 1H BPV (4) with his 2H BPV (95) and you can tell Padilla likes wearing Dodger Blue.
Here are his 2010 projections:
| Year | IP | ERA | FIP | BB/9 | K/9 |
| 2009 actual | 147.1 | 4.46 | 4.51 | 3.30 | 5.93 |
| 2010 HQ | 160 | 4.39 | 3.35 | 6.3 | |
| 2010 Bill James | 141 | 4.66 | 4.73 | 3.26 | 6.19 |
| 2010 CHONE | 155 | 4.70 | 4.74 | 3.60 | 6.27 |
Mine:
ERA 3.89 / WHIP 1.29 / IP 184 and a K Rate that moves back to his glory days of 7.4.
I'm drinking the Koolaid.
72 comments | 0 recs |
Ex Dodger fan favorite Nomar Garciaparra Retires
by meercatjohn on Mar 10, 2010 6:25 PM PST
in All-Time Dodgers
54 comments
Nomar wasn't a Dodger very long but he had a huge impact on the team in the three years he spent with us. In 2006 he was one of Ned's first FA signings, and at the time it looked like a huge risk. Nomar was coming off of multiple injuries and had barely totaled 100 games combined in 2004/2005. Even stranger Ned signed him to play 1st base a position he had never played before.
Prior to 2004 Nomar had been one of the most deadly hitters in the game but his game seem long removed from those glory days. Things did not start out well. In Nomar's first opening day, he hurt himself in the batting cage, and missed the first 17 games. All the cynics of the signing were doing plenty of "I told you so's" but once Nomar got healthy he shut the cynics down in fast order. From April 22nd to July 13th Nomar maintained an OPS over 1.000 and quickly became the fan favorite at The Ravine. Things went south for Nomar after that as his OPS fell from over 1.000 to .872 by the end of the year. However that trajectory does not tell the entire story. Nomar was the + 1 in the most famous regular season game in LA Dodger History , and he followed up those dramatics with a walk off grand slam six days later. He wasn't done yet, hitting a three run home the following day. In the heat of the pennant race Nomar drove in 9 runs in three games helping the Dodgers win two key games very late in the season.
In 2007 Nomar was brought back to play 1st base and the blogging crowd howled with the horror of keeping James Loney in AAA. The same crowd by the way who would replace James Loney in the blink of an eye today. The daily Dodger fan however was thrilled to see their favorite player coming back. The Dodgers even built a marketing campaign around Nomar featuring him in a super hero like Van Mural. Luckily for the Dodgers they didn't have faith in Wilson Betemit as the 3rd baseman, and after Nomar had started at first base from opening day until June 21st they moved Nomar from 1st base to make room for James Loney. We have talked about Loney's road/home splits but in 2007 Loney had nothing on Nomar. Nomar had some of the largest Home/Road splits I'd ever seen. No wonder the Dodger fans liked him, when he was home he hit, on the road he may have been the worst hitter in baseball. Home - .325/.385/450 Road - .243/.272/297
The naysayers of course focused on his dismal road numbers and said he was done, others pointed to his home numbers and said he still had something in the tank. Either way his 2007 season was a huge disappointment but he had signed a two year deal in the winter of 2007 so he was coming back in 2008 no matter what.
In the spring of 2008 Nomar was the de facto 3rd baseman getting nominal competition from Andy LaRoche the highly touted minor league prospect. Just like Loney the Nomar detractors felt that Nomar was holding back Andy LaRoche. No one was a bigger Andy LaRoche supporter than the prior manager of TBLA. He hung his hat on the wrong guy. He may have been right about Nomar being done, but he turned out to be dead wrong on the capabilities of Andy LaRoche. However to the dismay of Dodger fans neither one was the Dodger 3rd baseman to start the year due to a freak accident that saw both Nomar and LaRoche get sidelined in the same spring training game. This game had huge future ramifications for the Dodgers. With the veteran sideline, and the hot prospect sidelined the Dodgers turned to Blake DeWitt to play 3rd base. Nomar was only sideline for the first two weeks of the year and came back by April 18th. Of course this was the brittle Nomar and he only lasted a week before going down for 10 weeks. In those 10 weeks he was gone DeWitt had some ups and downs and ultimately was sent back to AAA when LaRoche was ready on June 11th. Nomar was activated on July 4th and instead of playing 3rd base actually saw time at SS. LaRoche did nothing to impress and with Nomar being so brittle the Dodger felt they needed a real 3rd baseman. Thus they traded Carlos Santana for Casey Blake and parlayed Andy LaRoche into Manny Ramirez. Nomar saw alot of time at SS in Aug but with injuries plaguing him became a part timer in Sept. In the 2008 playoffs he had three singles in seven at bats and that was the end of the Nomar era here in Los Angeles.
He was never as bad as his critics claimed, he was never as good as the Dodger faithful thought. He was however a good Dodger, and if only he had been able to stay healthy just a bit longer in 2008 we might still have the one player we have traded who I miss everyday even though he has yet to play one single major league game. I just wanted to write about the Guitar.
Thanks for 2006 Nomar, it was a hell of a ride. We might have been off letting you walk after that and who knows what the future would have been if we had done so but for that one year, you gave us our money's worth.
54 comments | 0 recs |
Clips Nation Night at Staples Center! Saturday, April 10th
by Michael White on Mar 10, 2010 6:24 PM PST
in Non-Baseball
11 comments
Attention Clipper fans (and yes Laker fans I suppose) the Clippers have established a Clipsnation night with our SBNation Clipper blog. I know there are quite a few of my fellow Clipper fans out there, and there was a bit of interest in a True Blue LA Clipper night earlier this year. The event should be a lot of fun, as your purchase will not only provide for tickets to the game, it will also be an oppurtunity to meet other fans in a private reception room prior to the game. So, if you are interested in seeing the 4 Clippers actually under contract next year (and a bunch of oon to be free agents) sign up for this event.
Here's what you need to know via the ClipsNation post:
You can use this link to buy tickets online directly through Ticketmaster - use code 'clippers'. There are three price levels, all with discounts of at least 50%:
- $35 for loge 100 ends (regularly $75),
- $34 for the 200 level (regularly $68), and
- $20 for the Upper Center (regularly $45).
For season ticket holders who want to attend, email mbaker@clippers.com with your season ticket holder information in order to get access to the event. Your names will be placed on the list at the check-in table.
On April 10th, everything starts at 5:00 PM. Check -in at Star Plaza and tell them that you're there for Clips Nation night.
I plan on being there with some of my fellow Clipper fans, I and hope to see some of my fellow Dodger fans at the event.
11 comments | 0 recs
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