True Blue LA

Question for the locals

royhobbs — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:54:48 -0000

Wow, talk about a first bulletpoint in the blog TOS. Look at my user icon - I miss the hell out of Andruw Jones, no matter how much he struggles. I consider any Braves fans that had the audacity to boo him when y'all were over in Atlanta to be ungrateful and fair-weathered.

But that's not why I'm posting. I'm not here to troll, instigate, and/or pick fights. As a baseball fan, I come to seek ideas, and pick the brains of the locals.

On my ongoing quest to tackle every Major League Ballpark in America, I am making the trip out to LA later this month (During the series against the Cardinals) to see Dodger Stadium. I can google LA, look around on craigslist, and seek out generic things to do from the internet, but I think that I can get some better ideas of things to do from like-minded baseball/sports aficionados.

So that being said, what's there to do in LA for a die-hard sports fan? Novelty/giant foods, cool places to see, best areas to see the Pacific, etc?

Any and all constructive suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to see your beautiful park, and I sure hope that Andruw knocks one out "for old time's sake" when I'm there.

Off-season trade with Bucks

streetjustice — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:20:12 -0000

For the past couple of weeks, I have been arguing with a friend of mine about the feasibility of this trade proposal. I insist it is equally beneficial, whereas he argues that it would never happen because each club will put too much value on what they are giving up (the Dodgers will give up too many young players under team control; the Pirates will put too much value on the face of a franchise and a young starter with ace-potential). With all the recent articles reminiscing about the LoDuca-Penny trade, it occurred to me that we may be missing out on an opportunity to acquire another 26 year old potential #2 or 3 starter with some of our superfluous assets.

The Dodgers are a large market team that stands to shed 80 million from the payroll over the next two seasons (Lowe, Schmidt, Jones, Loiaza, Kent, Nomar, etc). Assembling the most economically efficient team might mean letting Hu take over for Furcal after this season. However, with a gaudy (for Hu) prospect ranking from publications like BP and BA, it might make sense to construct a package around Hu Loney, Ethier, McDonald and Kuo for Ian Snell and Jason Bay. The Dodgers don't always have to take the most economically conservative route,as long as they are making wise decisions, and can stand to add a couple of modestly priced players such as Snell and Bay.

Admittedly, the Bucks don't receive a ton of prospects with soaring ceilings (although, as stated earlier, Baseball Prospectus is high on Hu and McDonald, and Loney, Ethier and Kuo will have had 2+ years of production time in the majors to gain some insight on their projectability) but there are probably enough young, team-controlled assets that blend in age-wise with the up-coming crop of Pirates prospects (Walker, McClouth) that likely make this trade worthwhile. Furthermore, Adam LaRoche becomes another trade trip to add more pitching.

From the Dodger's side, the offer should be contingent on a couple of shrewd free-agent signings and re-signing Furcal. Unless Loney demonstrates that his spike in power from last year is sustainable for a whole season, he might have more value as a trade chip, and replaced with Texiera. Kent could be replaced in house, or with a player like Mark Ellis. The cost of these two would not likely eclipse 25 million annually, and coupled with the salaries of Snell and Bay (signed for the 2009 season at around 8 million I think), would still be less than the money shed during the off-season.

Dodgers Lineup

SS: Furcal

C: Martin

LF: Bay

1B: Tex

RF: Kemp

3B: LaRoche

2B: Ellis (Abreu)

CF: Jones

SP: Penny

SP: Snell

SP: Bills

SP: Kuroda

SP: Kershaw

Hank Blalock anyone?

laxtonto — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:01:23 -0000

With it looking more and more each game they play that Texas is going to be sellers at the deadline, if not sooner. What would you give up for Blalock?

He would definately add some of the missing power to the Dodgers lineup.

He seems to have recovered from his weird injury from last year (Thorasic Outlet Syndrome?) and is signed for a reasonable 6mil this year with and option for 6.2 next...

LaRoach +?

Torre?

ImportedBlueFan — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:19:32 -0000

I understand Joe Torre's frustration and I understand that he does not "know" his team yet. But riddle me this batman, why would you put a completely helter skelter lineup out there a day after the team broke out the whupping sticks. I thought his point of tweaking the roster was to find a line up that worked. Well it worked yesterday...not so much today.

I haven't really been impressed with anything Torre has done so far. I know it is early but come on. Find a line up and stick with it Joe. Baseball players are creatures of habit - they crave consistency. Give it to them and us.

I do have to admit that I liked the outfield he put out there today. I'm not sure if it was so much the players out there as much as the player that wasn't. I do want to give Torre the benefit of the doubt but I was not sold on him when he was with the Yankees and I was not excited when he came here.

Scouting Report: Chad Billingsley, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Baseball Mastermind — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:10:27 -0000

I’ve always been very interested in Major League scouting. I’m not a scout myself, but I thought I’d take a stab at learning the art this season. So for the rest of the season, I’m going to cover some hitters and pitchers who I feel are primed for big seasons and cover what they do well and what they might need some work on as well as cover their careers leading up to this season a bit. If anyone is more familiar with scouting than I, I would appreciate any suggestions or feedback.

Today, I will scout Los Angeles Dodgers right hander Chad Billingsley on Baseball Mastermind.

Profile:

Chad Billingsley: RHP, listed as 6′1″ 245 lbs on MLB.com.

Background:

Chad Ryan Billingsley was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1st round (24th overall) in the 2003 amateur draft under scouting director Logan White out of Defiance High School, Ohio. In his senior year with Defiance, Billingsley pitched 56 innings with a 1.49 ERA striking out 113 batters and walking only 16, going 6-1. He was signed by Marty Lamb, withing the Dodger’s organization.

He also went 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA for Team USA in the 2002 IFBA World Junior Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada. Team USA wound up finishing with the bronze medal that year.

In Billingsley’s pro debut in rookie ball, he pitched 54 innings with a 2.83 ERA, striking out 62 and walking 16 with a 5-4 record as an 18 year old in 2003. In 2004, Billingsley split time between advanced A ball and AA, finishing with 134 innings with a 2.55 ERA, striking out 158 and walking 71, finishing with a 11-4 record. In 2005, Billingsley was Baseball America’s #19 prospect and the #2 prospect within the Dodgers organization behind Joel Guzman, the #5 prospect. He repeated AA and finished with 146 innings with a 3.51 ERA, striking out 162 and walking 50 with a 13-6 record. In 2006, Billingsley was Baseball America’s #7 prospect and pitched 70.2 innings for AAA Las Vegas with a 3.95 ERA, striking out 78 and walking 32 with a 6-3 record. Billingsley was then promoted to the Dodgers where he began in the bullpen, but by the end of the season, was a member of the Dodgers’ rotation, finishing with 90 innings with a 3.80 ERA, striking out 59 and walking 58. In 2007, Billingsley started the season in the bullpen again, to keep his innings totals down, and finished the season pitching 147 innings with a 3.31 ERA, striking out 141 and walking 64 with 12-5 record. Coming into the 2008 season, Billingsley, 23, is the best pitcher in the Dodgers organization including Clayton Kershaw and looks poised for a breakout season.

Scouting Report:

Delivery: Chad Billingsley has a deliberate wind-up, with a high leg-kick. He generates a lot of velocity from his leg-drive and from torquing his hips, which comes from his heavy-set build and excellent core strength. He throws from a three-quarters arm-slot, which allows him to get late life and tailing action on his fastball. From the stretch, he sets with his hands at chest level and has a less-dramatic leg kick.

Repertoire: Chad Billingsley throws a fastball that sits 92-94 mph that can touch 95 and a a cut-fastball that sits 86-88 mph that works for inducing ground balls. He also throws a curve ball that has a looping, downward break (2-7 action) that usually comes in around 77-79 mph and a slider that sits around 82-84 mph with a tight break. He also mixes in a change up but throws that pitch in far less than the other three pitches.

Demeanor: Billingsley has great mound presence, which he is noted for. Tommy Lasorta has dubbed Billingsley this generation’s "Bulldog," named after Orel Hershiser. Billingsley attacks hitters with his fastball on both the inner and outer-half of the strike zone and can throw his curve ball in just about any count.

Again, this is my first attempt at writing a scouting report, if anyone can offer any pointers of corrections, I’d appreciate the feedback

Poll

What do you think Chad Billingsley's 2008 ERA will be, provided he stays healthy?

Welcome to the new True Blue LA and SB Nation

clockwerks — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:43:32 -0000

Hey True Blue LA,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know that True Blue LA is one of the first blogs in the SB Nation family to make this transition. We still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to True Blue LA from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of True Blue LA and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

True Blue LA now has all the basic information about the Los Angeles Dodgers and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

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As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

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FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of Los Angeles Dodgers material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

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Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

Matt Kemp...

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:02:59 -0000

Hey guys, I think readers might be interested in this piece on Matt Kemp, which gives you a give idea of just how fast this guy's bat is:

http://www.baseball-intellect.com/Articles/matt-kemp-bat-speed.html

I'm actually an Oriole fan, but was rooting for Kemp to be the headline guy in a trade for Bedard. Am I correct to assume he is assured a starting job because it would be ridiculously stupid to let Juan Pierre start over him and Either.

The Baseball Boogie

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:20:10 -0000

I guess this has been around for awhile, but I wasn't aware of it until it was mentioned in Dodgerblues a few weeks back. And now I can't stop watching it. I wish I was 10 years older, so I could recognize half the players in this clip. Maybe ToyCannon can deliver some commentary on the '86 Dodgers, or at least this clip, since he was still a strapping young lad when this came out 22 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW7q0JzWaoY

Dodgers Health Report

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:06:39 -0000

Baseball Prospectus listed the Dodgers Health Report, where he lists their health ratings (chances of getting hurt this season) since this one's a pay article, I'll list the ratings without commentary:

[editor's note, by Andrew] Sorry Rich, not comfortable having them released like this. General rule of thumb for BP is five players at a time.

2008 National League Preview: Darkhorse Teams - Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:12:01 -0000

Hey, I write for http://baseballmastermind.com. Today, I covered the LA Dodger and the Cincinnati Reds in my season preview as the leading darkhorse teams in the NL. Here's the article in its entirety:

The National League, unlike the America league, lacks the superpower teams that are almost locks to make the playoffs beyond the New York Mets. After that, there are conceivably nine or ten teams vying for the final three spots. I doubt the San Diego Padres will be able to compete and it will take a lot going wrong for the Houston Astros to win the NL Central, leaving eight real, legitimate contenders.

Of those eight, the NL West will see major competition between the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers; the NL Central will likely see competition between the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and the Cincinnati Reds; and finally, from the NL East, barring something unforeseen happening to the Mets, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves will compete with all the best losers for the Wild Card.

I was originally going to write this darkhorse article on the Reds and the Braves, who I saw as fringe competitors, where the Braves finished third and the Reds finished fifth in their respective divisions, but after consulting the futures odds at Vegas Insider, I thought I needed to sub in the Dodgers for the Braves as they are currently listed as 22/1 favorites to win the World Series and the Reds are listed as 55/1 favorites. The Braves are listed as 16/1, not bad, but I have the Dodgers as the #3 team in the NL, so this represents quite a gap between the talent I am confident they have and the betting public.

So without further ado, I will kick-off my preseason preview series with the two biggest "darkhorse" teams in the NL, the Reds and the Dodgers:

The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers were competitive for most of 2007, even leading their division for much of the season, before fading down the stretch and finishing in fourth in the NL West with a 82-80 record. Their Pythagorean record was 82-80 as well, so there isn't much luck or lack of luck figuring into their finish. Last season's team could pitch alright and couldn't hit a lick and their record reflected such. This off-season, the Dodgers changed managers, exchanging Grady Little for Joe Torre and made two major player acquisitions, signing Japanese RHP Hiroki Kuroda and CF-R Andruw Jones. I covered both the Kuroda and Jones signings in more detail this past off-season, so I won't rehash either transaction too much.

Strengths

1. A lot of young talent. One of the big story-lines at the end of the 2007 season was the feud between the older players like Nomar Garciaparra, Luis Gonzalez, Derek Lowe and Jeff Kent and the younger players like Matt Kemp and Russell Martin. All of that was preposterous and blown out of proportion and will hopefully be behind the Dodgers because coming into 2008, the Dodgers expect to get major contributions from Martin, Kemp, James Loney, Andy LaRoche and Chad Billingsley (a major breakout candidate in 2008), all 25 and under. Projecting some of these players like Loney, Kemp and LaRoche is somewhat difficult, but you can't deny the talent there.

2. All-Around Depth. One of the great things about having one of the best farm systems in the MLB is that it provides teams with great depth. The Dodgers have the best all-around depth in the NL. If any of their starting pitching goes down, they have Esteban Loiza, Hong-Chih Kuo, James McDonald and Scott Elbert ready to go and if all else fails, super-stud prospect Clayton Kershaw may even get a chance. In the infield, the Dodgers have both Chin-Lung Hu and Tony Abreu ready to contribute and in the outfield, Ethier will be waiting for a chance to play regularly, along with Delwyn Young. That's an impressive collection of talent that will be able to sustain the inevitable injury or two, particularly in the rotation, which is crucial for a long season. Injuries will happen and the Dodgers are prepared.

Weaknesses

1. Occasional lapses in judgment. Last season, the Dodgers misguidedly gave Garciaparra 431 at-bats to prove he couldn't hit. Same was true of Luis Gonzalez (now gone), who racked up 464 at-bats. This season, Andy LaRoche is ready to go, but every start that Nomar gets at third is a step away from the play-offs. The same is true of Juan Pierre. With his contract, he will play and he will start, but if the Dodgers somehow manage to get more time to Kemp and Ethier, they will benefit greatly.

X-Factor

1. Kemp and Loney. Both of those guys had monster 2007 seasons, albeit in limited time. How they will hold up under a full season has yet to be seen. If Loney manages to hit around 15 home runs and Kemp on-bases less than .330, the Dodgers will be in trouble.

2. Russell Martin. This is the only place on the team where the Dodgers are completely vulnerable. If Martin gets hurt, their already delicate offense will head south in a hurry. How Torre manages Martin will be closely monitored.

Out-There Predictions

1. Closer Takashi Saito, after dominating big-league hitters for two seasons, better than he ever did in Japan, will finally fall off the face of the earth at age 38 (and by that, I mean he will have a 3.60 ERA), but big Johnathan Broxton will step in to close and no one will notice.

2. Nomar Garciaparra will demand a trade after being relegated to a bench role. The Dodgers will try to oblige, but no one will return their phone calls.

2008 Outlook: I think the Dodgers have as good a chance of winning their division as the Diamondbacks, although officially, I'm picking the Diamondbacks to win the division. I will go ahead and put the Dodgers down for 90 wins.

-----------------------------

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds have the opportunity in 2008 to capitalize on a relatively weak division. Last season, the Cubs won the NL Central with 85 wins. The year before, the Cardinals won the division and the World series with 83 regular season wins. With contributions from a core of young talented players on the cusp, a little luck (maybe an injury or two to the Cubs or Brewers), the Reds will be in the hunt.

Strengths

1. Prospects galore. Like the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007, the Reds have a great deal of young players ready to contribute. Man-child Jay Bruce (BP's #1 prospect), Homer Bailey (#9), Joey Votto (#21), Johnny Cueto (#41) are all ready to go.

2. Underrated Rotation. The Reds have the front end of the rotation well covered between Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo who are both underrated in large part due to the ballpark they pitch in. Harang has two consecutive 200 strikeout seasons in over 230 innings, with about a 4:1 K/BB ratio-those are dominating numbers. Same goes for Arroyo who has posted close to a 3:1 K/BB ratio these past two seasons, exceeding 210 innings each season. Beyond that, if newly acquired Edison Voquez, Homer Bailey or Johnny Cueto can provide meaningful innings, this rotation may win up every bit as good as the Cubs and better than the Brewers.

Weaknesses

1. Defense. The Colorado Rockies demonstrated in 2007 that with a good defensive team, even in the lousiest ballpark, a team can thrive. The Reds pitching staff is solid, but their defense is poor. In the outfield, Adam Dunn will be a butcher and Bruce and Ken Griffey Jr. are average at their positions at best. Edwin Encarnacion is a horrific defender at third and rookie Joey Votto figures to be about average. Their middle infield is their only plus.

2. Volatile bullpen. While the Francisco Cordero signing was bashed a lot this off-season for the duration and dollar value, it does make the Reds better in 2008. Cordero is a power pitcher-fastball slider combo-with decent control and he has demonstrated he can succeed in a tough ballpark when he was closing in Texas. Regardless, in Great American Ballpark, the rest of the bullpen is very vulnerable and we wouldn't count on David Weathers, Bill Bray or Todd Coffey to hold up for a full season.

X-Factor

1. Young Guns. Baseball Prospectus's projection system PECOTA projects Jay Bruce for a massive season, .269/.336/.512 with 29 home runs and 45 doubles with a-get this-47% breakout rate. That basically means there's a chance he will exceed those numbers by a lot-you'd don't even want to know how ridiculous his 90% projection is. I like Jay Bruce, but I don't like him that much. I was very confident in Alex Gordon in 2007 and he collapsed. Sometimes young players excel right off the bat and sometimes they don't. The Reds are counting on performance from these guys.

2. Dusty Baker. The injury-plagued careers of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior will be a sore spot in Cubs fans for years to come. How Baker manages his young rotation is going to be important. Also, the man famous for saying a player enters their prime around 35-36 is going to have to resist his temptation to play Scott Hatteberg over Joey Votto.

Out-There Predictions:

1. Jay Bruce does not win the NL Rookie of the Year award. That's bold.

2. Aaron Harang will hit .110. All the reports out of camp are that Harang has learned to hit lefty and is showing Dunn-like power now. I jest.

2008 Outlook: I certainly wouldn't pick the Reds to win their division, but I like their chances all the same. I predict 79 wins and a third place finish.

Torre on CNBC

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:33:13 -0000

I heard Torre will be on the Eisner show tonight on CNBC. 9pm.

New manager Torre will be chatting with Ex-Disney head and current Topps owner Michael Eisner. Guide says they will be discussing steroids among other things.

It could be interesting in that Eisner has some well published comments on effective managers which Torre of course is. Also they both run/ran companies and temas which are part of the public trust. High pressure from both business people and fans.

Hello Dodgers Fans - Survey Request for MBA class (only 10 questions)

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 03:59:36 -0000

Hello Dodger Fans,

Fellow Blue fan, here... Royal Blue that is, but I need a favor.

Just a quick survey, for my data mining class, which will help me profile Dodger fans for targeted advertisements on freeway video boards, after the game.

This is completely fictitious, we aren't going to do this - It is for a data mining class.

I appreciate all of your help, and will share results if you would like, when we are complete with the project in a few weeks.

Survey: (ANSWER ONLY YES OR NO)

When leaving a game, do you get on the 101 North at all?
Do you drink alcohol at the game?
Would you be more likely to buy Dodgers Team Gear from the website if there was a 3 digit coupon code advertised to you your way home from the Stadium?
Do you set out to support official sponsers of mlb or the Dodgers?
Assuming terms met your specifications, would you like to have a Visa card with a Dodger's home jersey on it?
Would Tommy Lasorda's image/reputation help market to you?
Do you hate roadside signs/video boards?
Do you pay attention to roadside signs/video boards?
Do you like roadside signs/video boards?
Do you go straight home after a game?
Royals-Dodgers series this year? :)

Feel free to drop by Royals review sometime.

Thanks,
Kevin
kcfaninseatown

PLEASE HELP !!.....Longtime LA fan in unique keeper league with quandry ?!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:20:08 -0000

....

im commishing a unique YAHOO PLUS 16 team H2H league, standard 5x5 format, where each team represents their favorite MLB team of choice, and can keep 10 players before the draft...those 160 players will be pre-placed on each team's 25 man roster, leaving 15 spots for each team to draft and fill from remaining non-kept players and all players from MLB teams not represented in our league...

I need everyone's advice, as even though I was going to Dodger games as a tot in '65, moved to the bay area (ugh) during the '74 season and had to endure dork A's fans gloat when theym beat us, (curse u Holtzman), had moved back to LA in '80 and after the '77 & '78 glory teams falling short against reggie & da damn yankees, was able to be fully immersed in one of sports greatest wonders, Fernandomania.....was in Japan in '88 and woke up the apartment complex at 4 AM(dang rooms are small over there) when I heard jack buck call Gibby's "hit" on my walkman radio, on the Far East Military network (after swinging strike one or two buck commented "he's swinging like a rusty gate" before the more famous "I can't believe what I just saw"), and surviving all the years since, the most disgusting double-edged sword ever, the Dodgers regular-season competent/playoff-time-disappearing 99% right-handed lineups of Guerrero/Piazza/Karros/Sax/Mondesi/Beltre/Loduca AND/OR the almost equal in unfairness as performance enhancing drugs, as the strike zones allowed to BRAVES pitchers during their division title streak, i.e. Maddux, Avery, Smoltz, and the king Gumby of all strike-zone stretchers, Tom Glavine.....well, kind of got off track, anyway, even with that, I'd very much appreciate as much advice and feedback on the following :

which 10 dodgers do I keep ?

( a brief synopsis )

C- Martin (no brainer, keep)

1B - Loney (strong keeper consideration, but only 16 or so 1B ranked by Yahoo....im a believer and wont be disappointed with 90-20+-100+-.315, and certainly potential for 100-25-110-.320+, which would make him a near lock to keep)

2B - Kent (no brainer, not keeping, 16 ranked 2B, not a ton of upside, and I might either not draft a 2B, or do so in final round because there's not a ton of difference in the 2b ranked 10-20th, and few teams if any will carry extra ones....)

SS - Furcal ( no brainer, keep )

3B - whoever ( no brainer, not keeping )

OF - 3 OF have strong to near lock keeper potential, with likely Pierre being the strongest (in 5x5, his steals are top 3-5 ranked, and he doesn't hurt u in avg. and score 100 runs,as much as people may not like him, his career stats, show him a much more proven commodity to go with than ethier...i look for jones to rebound, but probably only 90-35-100-.255, and his avg. scares me....no choice but to keep him really as his homers and rbis are hard to get in draft,...Kemp is the wildcard.....I am all about UPSIDE when i put fantasy teams together, and he's likely got the most on the team....biggest worries for me are PT, and where he hits in lineup....some sites have him hitting 3rd while others have him in 6th or 7th....i can likely keep all 3 OF, and Furcal, Loney, Martin, but then after Saito, and the top 3 SP, i won' be able to keep Kuroda (but will draft him in later rounds if he's available)....

this is my most likely scenario...

broxton will be drafted, and probably by someone else, cause i won't reach for him, but will handcuff if i can get him for about his ADP....but he's not keeper potential..

schmidt ?....come on, great potential if he comes back even 80-90% of his former self and can pitch 150+ IP but KEEPER ?...not with his injury potential

so i guess my question is basically, would anyone keep Kuroda instead of Loney/Kemp/Jones/Pierre and if so why ?

truly appreciate any and all responses and would gladly reciprocate when needed or requested

GO DODGERS !!!

Dodger Thoughts / True Blue LA 2008 Projections

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:31:42 -0000

I'm compiling 2008 projections from as many DT and True Blue readers as possible. I'll compile all the data.

Please send me your predictions of BA/OBP/SLG for the following "regulars":

Martin
Loney
Kent
Furcal
LaRoche
Nomar
Ethier
Pierre
Andruw
Kemp

Also, if you are so inclined, please send your predictions of ERA/WHIP for the starters and relievers, as many as you see fit. I would pick:

Penny
Billingsley
Lowe
Kuroda
Schmidt
Loaiza
Kuo
Saito
Broxton
Beimel
Proctor
Seanez

Please send in all predictions before midnight Friday, February 22. I'll post the community projections shortly thereafter on both True Blue LA and Dodger Thoughts.

Also, just for fun, feel free to vote in the poll below.

Thanks,

Eric

Poll

Who Will Have A Lower ERA in 2008?

Baseball Mastermind 2008 Top-25 Prospects

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:33:57 -0000

I've been a fan of this site for a while and now--Andrew and Toycannon do a great job. I write for http://baseballmastermind.com. I published my top-25 prospects list and wanted to see some people throw some chairs, or at the least, argue their thoughts:

I wanted to wait for Baseball America to come up with their annual top 100 before I published my list, but maybe getting my list out beforehand will be nice to see how they compare. In compiling this list, I've gone through my own notes on each of these players, consulted ESPN's Keith Law's Top-100 list, Kevin Goldstein's Top-100 list, Baseball America's organizational rankings as well as John Sickel's. I've also consulted scouting reports by the Baseball America staff, as well as Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein from his Future Shock column, I've consulted the statistics in depth and at this point, I am very happy with my list, which I feel is short enough where I can comfortably and accurately project the players. I thought about going for a top-50 list, but at some point the rankings would be more arbitrary than I'm comfortable with.

In evaluating these players, the rankings are based on a personal system (I'd say more qualitative than quantitative) where I consider a players overall talent and ceiling and measure that against their polish and the liklihood they'll reach their ceilings. I give credit for projectability, but I'm not going to go on any projection reaches by saying Fernando Martinez is a future 30+ home run guy because nothing about his performance indicates that yet. A player must have some power, or hitting that may translate to power, for them to be considered a power source. Finally, I consider defensive value fairly highly as well.

1. Jay Bruce, 21, CF-L, CIN - I've covered Bruce in detail on this site throughout the off-season. Most major top-100 Prospects lists rank Bruce ahead of Longoria with the exception of Keith Law's list. I feel this is primarily based on Bruce's power ceiling, which is considered to be better than Longoria's as Bruce has the capability to hit for average and power and has the greatest likelihood of growing into a 40 home run per season guy. Defensively, Bruce rates as average to above average in centerfield, but I doubt his range will be great, worse than most centerfielders on this list, and he is better suited to a be right fielder with his strong arm. Bruce gets high, high marks on character and makeup, so all of the finer points of his game that need work are going to be addressed. In the end, Bruce will need to work on his approach at the plate to reach his power ceiling and in order to decidedly beat out Longoria.
2. Evan Longoria, 22, 3B-R, TB - I'm convinced Longoria will make the most seamless transition to the majors of any of these players in 2008. His hitting is very refined for his age and while the power may not be elite yet, Longoria certainly has the ability to hit 30+ home runs annually after a season or two in the bigs. I really like his athleticism and glove work at third and I feel he will be a plus defender, stepping in and winding up somewhere between Ryan Zimmerman and David Wright.
3. Joba Chamberlain, 22, RHP, NYA - Chamberlain had an impressive pro debut vaulting his way from advanced A ball all the way to the bigs, where he was never anything short of dominant. In 88.1 minor leagues innings, Chamberlain compiled 135 strikeouts and 27 walks, posting a 2.45 ERA. Once in AAA, Chamberlain was moved to the bullpen both because the Yankees needed help there and to limit his innings. In eight AAA innings, Chamberlain struck out 18 and walked 1, then pitched 24 innings in the majors, striking out 34 and walking 6 to post a .38 ERA. While in the bullpen, Chamberlain primarily stuck with his fastball, which sits in the mid to upper 90's and can hit triple digits and his plus-plus slider that has tight, two-plane break and comes in the high 80's. Chamberlain also throws a curveball and a changeup which will become a bigger part of his repertoire as he steps into the New York Yankee rotation. His pin-point command of those first two pitches is what makes him so great.