True Blue LA

With Pierre out, Dodgers best lineup?

bluemax — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:06:13 -0000

Using this tool:

http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/LineupAnalysis.py

Using the 1959-2004 model I came up with this:

Martin

Loney

Kemp

Young

Ethier

LaRoche

DeWitt

Kent

Pitcher

As the best possible lineup using their obp/slg coming into today. This is of course a flawed way of doing it since Young, Laroche, and DeWitt all have such small sample sizes.

I wonder if Torre would do something as crazy and non traditional as this lineup. Martin has the best OBP on the team which makes him the best candidate to hit leadoff...

Obviously there is no way Torre would ever bat Kent 8th.

The NL Needs the DH

BSmitty — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:52:17 -0000

A number of current MLB controversies have made it clear that the game is moving forward into a new era. One fan tries to find the best balance between past and present.

From http://www.splicetoday.com/sports/the-nl-needs-the-dh

Baseball is an exhilarating yet frustrating mess of contradictions, and this fan is caught in the trap—like millions of other men and women (save George Will, whose pompous moral certitude about the sport is immutable)—of trying to reconcile “purist” instincts with the undeniable improvements in the game over the past several decades. Last weekend, for example, while watching a slew of inter-league contests via the MLB “Extra Innings” package (which, regardless of varying prices depending on your locale and cable provider, costs less for an entire season of televised games than one day at a stadium for a family of four), I finally switched gears and figured it was time for the National League to acquiesce and adopt the still-controversial designated hitter rule.

Heresy, I guess, but what the hell; if you’re a Milwaukee Brewers’ devotee, wouldn’t it be delightful to see the world’s tubbiest vegetarian, Prince Fielder, in the dugout, contemplating his next plate appearance, instead of anchored at first base? One league’s dominance over the other usually runs in cycles, but the N.L. seems mired in a slump that’s likely to run longer than the Great Depression, and this was evident once again over the weekend. Sure, the strategy required of an N.L. manager is more intricate than A.L. counterparts with double-switches and more sacrifice bunts, but the two leagues might be more competitive if older free agents (or crummy fielders) could extend their careers as a DH.

That said, and here’s one of those curveballs, I can’t stand inter-league play, even though it pumps up attendance and allows fans to see star players who were once a mystery aside from the All-Star game (which, of course, has devolved into a meaningless exhibition game instead of a proud showcase) or the World Series. My 13-year-old son, with whom I have the pleasure of sitting next to in our matching easy chairs in the homestead’s television room, adamantly disagrees, but I chalk that up to his participation in a fantasy league with a bunch of school buddies. I just don’t like the disruption of the season’s rhythm, the fake “rivalries” cooked up by MLB schedule makers—sure, the Cubs and White Sox make sense, but the Rockies and Tigers?—for the sake of novelty and profit.

See the rest at http://www.splicetoday.com/sports/the-nl-needs-the-dh

Tonight's lineup

bluemax — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:27:41 -0000

Name	AVG	HR	RBI	SB
1. J Pierre, LF	.284	0	24	29
2. M Kemp, CF	.290	7	43	13
3. J Kent, 2B	.255	8	33	0
4. R Martin, C	.315	7	35	6
5. J Loney, 1B	.310	6	39	2
6. A LaRoche, 3B	.267	1	1	0
7. D Young, RF	.284	0	3	0
8. A Berroa, SS	.214	0	0	0
9. D Lowe, P	.179	0	4	0

Who is Hot, Who is Not Pre Weekend Edition

bluemax — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:05:49 -0000

HOT

James Loney 7/14 2 2B 1HR 4R 3RBI 3BB 0 SO .500/.588/.714 1.302 OPS

Andre Ethier 6/16 2 2B 1R 2RBI 1BB 2SO .375/.412/.500 .912 OPS

Matt Kemp 5/17 2 2B 1HR 3R 3RBI 0BB 1SO 1SB .294/.294/.588 .882 OPS

Kent 5/13 2 2B 1RBI 2K 0BB 1HBP .384/.429/.538 .967 OPS

Beimel 2.2 IP 3H 1BB 2SO ~2.83FIP

Saito 2IP 2H 0BB 3SO ~.2FIP

Kuo 2.2IP 4H 4SO ~0.20FIP

Billingsley 6.1IP 5H 3BB 9SO ~1.77FIP

Stults 6IP 6H 1BB 5SO ~2.03FIP

Tepid

Juan Pierre 6/18 1 2B 1 3B 1R 4RBI 2SO 0BB 0SB .333/.333/.500 .833 OPS

Russel Martin 3/14 2 2B 1HR 2R 4RBI 3BB 2SO .214/.353/.571 .924 OPS

Broxton 3.1 IP 2H 3BB 2SO ~3.80FIP (1 walk was IBB)

Kershaw 4IP 2H 2BB 2SO ~3.7FIP

COLD

Angel Berroa 3/13 0XBH 3R 0RBI 3BB 0SO .231/.375/.231 .606 OPS

Blake DeWitt 4/16 1 2B 1SO 1SB 1HBP .250/.313/.250 .563 OPS

Luis Maza 1/3 1SO .333/.333/.333

Mark Sweeney 0/3 2SO

Wade 1IP 1BB ~6.2FIP

Lowe 5.1 IP 3H 1HR 2BB 6SO ~6.39 FIP

Proctor 0.1IP 1H 1BB 1SO ~6.2 FIP

Park 1.1 IP 8H 2HR 1BB 2SO ~21.95FIP

On the whole the team is hitting pretty well this week, small sample size of 4 games obviously but 6 regulars slugging .500 or better isn't too bad. The Dodgers continue to get NOTHING offensively out of the SS position.

Starting pitching has been pretty good aside from Lowe, whose line only really looks bad because of the HR he's given up. Chan Ho Park's disastrous outing is the only really bad relief performance so far this week.

Just a caveat I did all the numbers by hand so there are bound to be errors. Feel free to correct me.

LaRoche - Where Does He Play?

ImportedBlueFan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:07:09 -0000

I'm so glad to see Andy LaRoche back. From what most scouts say, he is the best shot we have at watching the ball leave the yard with any sort of regularity. Sure enough, he plants one in the seats last night.

Now the question of the hour is, where do you play him?

You can't very well put him at first base - not with James Loney manning it.

You can't possibly put him at third base - not with the rookie of the month and defensive stalwart Blake DeWitt manning the hot corner.

What about shortstop? I don't think he has any experience there.

Second base - This is my suggestion. Kent is 40 years old. I don't see him playing much after this year. LaRoche has already taken some plays at second in the minors.

This would be a good infield

1B - James Loney

2B - Andy LaRoche

SS - Rafael Furcal(If he ever comes back from the mysterious injury)

3B- Blake DeWitt

This could be the Dodger infield for many years to come...many World Series titles. Go Dodgers

Present - Grim, Future - Bright,

ImportedBlueFan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:42:42 -0000

I have to keep chanting this to myself as I watch a Dodgers game on the tube. My only saving grace is the smooth, velvety voice of none other than Vin Scully.

The future is bright when I see players such as Kemp, Loney, Martin, Ethier, DeWitt, Kershaw, Broxton...and possibly LaRoche. What does bother me is the present and the makeup of the team. I have played this lovely game and been a fan my entire life, and I realize there is one thing missing....POWER!

You cannot consistently win games without the chance of a 3run homer. Don' t get me wrong; I'm not suggesting we take on the philosophy of Earl Weaver who sat back and waited on the 3run jack. But you cannot single and double teams to death and thing you are going to win. Not in the majors. Every hitter I mentioned above is a carbon copy of the other. They are all line drive hitters. To quote that creepy old woman back-in-the-day....."WHERE'S THE BEEF?"

If you are going to attempt to build a team that mimics the team to the south(Angels), well at least you need better pitching...and some speed(besides Pierre and Kemp).

With no threat of a homerun, opposing pitchers are not afraid of the Dodgers. So I hate to say it, but I don't think us Dodger's fans will be happy at the end of this year. But cheer up, the future is bright...the farm system has some talent and the Dodgers will spend money...granted history doesn't bode well for that statement either.

Dodger Stadium - Visitor's Perspective

royhobbs — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:50:03 -0000

Just a word of warning on the intro paragraph - this might get a little graphic heavy, so apologize in advance to those with a slower connection.

I came by about a month ago to ask the locals about Dodger Stadium, and Los Angeles, and after a little coaxing, and an inadvertent rub (which I apologize for), you guys gave me some great ideas on what to do in your fair city. So for all of your help, I humbly thank you all for your great suggestions.

So a week ago, I embarked on a journey to knock out three baseball parks in one trip on my ongoing quest to eventually visit all the Major League Ballparks. I planned my trip so that I would catch the last game of a three-game set between the St. Louis Cardinals, and the LA Dodgers. The following day would involve driving down the highway to watch the Angels start a homestand, but none of you guys here care about the Angels, I take it.

Anyway, the game I went to was this past Sunday's - bear with my ambivalence to your minor league system, but apparently I was on the cusp of witnessing something special with the debut of Clayton Kershaw. A quick glance prior to my trip at his minor league numbers, and his alarming strike-out/inning rate led me to realize that this was definitely a guy that most dedicated fans must have been looking forward to seeing.

Obligatory outside shots:

And the obligatory field shot:

It's always a weird feeling when I visit a new park, because especially with another NL park like Dodger Stadium, where I've seen the place on television when my Braves have battled with the Dodgers, but now I was walking in it, in person. I took my sweet time walking around the entire park, and taking in all the angles of the place - without question it's easy to say that I liked it very much. Felt very much, old school, narrow walkways, kind of cramped seats, but lots of places to get a good view of the action.

I couldn't resist. I know, a lot of Dodgers fans are probably bitter at the results of 'ol Andruw Jones, but many in Atlanta still have a soft spot for the guy who gave us many good memories throughout the last 11 years prior. Please refrain from the "you can have him back" comments, because sadly, we wouldn't - not the way he is now. Cue fat jokes, low BA/SLG/OPS/etc...

The bullpen shot - I was looking for Chan Ho Park. I love that guy. He signed a ball for me in Atlanta earlier this season when I singled him out and endlessly yelled out for him.

Mr. Juan Pierre - it's nice to see a guy like him throw a ball into the stands in between every inning, and give the fans that moment of hope that they can get a piece of the live game to take home with them. I like the guy, and I was glad to see his game-winning run in the 10th inning.

Clearly, Eric Gagné is still very popular in Los Angeles, or there are a lot of people who don't want to pay for another jersey. These were only two of seemingly hundreds of Gagné jerseys/shirts that I saw that day. But anyone who would come to Atlanta would likely see lots of JONES #25 as well, so I can't really say much more.

I'm not stupid, I was rooting for the Dodgers (when in Rome), but I am a fan of Albert Pujols.

The game itself was a solid, defensive game. Kershaw impressed from the get-go by opening up with a strikeout. And then getting hit off of by Albert Pujols is nothing to be ashamed of, especially for when the game was over, and Kershaw had seven K's. It's only a shame that he received no decision, but hey, a ND is better than an L any day of the week. Huge props to Ethier for the clutch walk-off hit in the 10th, because there is no more exciting way to see a game end than on a walk-off.

This seemed to be a reoccurring theme throughout all the games I went to in California. Granted, at least in your park, none of them made it onto the field, but I was amused time and time by the way people booed and cheered for the ball, especially the Phillies-fan-like booing for whenever a security guard snatched one and deflated it in front of everyone.

You'll have to bear with me here - palm trees to an East coaster like me are totally alien. Sure, I see them on television and in movies, and occasionally on my many trips to Las Vegas, but just seeing how abundant they are in LA, as well as just on the Dodger Stadium premises was always entertaining to me. And naturally, this is probably a shot that many of you guys see on a regular basis, but I did like the "THINK BLUE" out in the hills.

Getting out of Dodger Stadium was one of the most difficult experiences I've ever endured. Sure, I'm an out-of-towner, but it was a little frustrating being told to go one way by one attendant, and then getting told to go another by a different one. I also got yelled at by several Dodger fans for wearing a Braves hat, despite the fact that they weren't the opponent, but that's cool. I respect that Dodger fans come out (loyally, too), and quite literally create a sea of blue in the stands. Not like in Atlanta, that has fans that wear ALL the eras of team memorabilia that turn into one pukey mess of colors in the stands.

Either way, I made my way out, and I went to one of your most recommended...

Phillippe's. And a mighty fine recommendation, that I graciously appreciate from all of you folks. The sandwich was absolutely delicious, and the most surprising thing to me was:

The cost of it all. $0.70 lemonade? NINE cent coffee? And the sandwich alone was a steal; my previous trips to California had often resulted in high costs/sales tax, or whatnot, but this was a total bargain! The place was absolutely packed too.

Afterwards, I did a whole lot of aimless driving around. I picked up a map at a Ralph's, and I just headed west, from where Phillippe's was. It turns out that I ended up at:

Very nice, to the eyes of a tourist noob like me. I'd never been to before, and took a great deal of time walking down the beach, despite the chilly weather. (Is it really supposed to be 50s-60s in late May???) Definitely a place to bring the future ex, and not quite a place for a solo-traveling jock, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Got to see me one hell of a beautiful Pacific Ocean side sunset. I can't believe that this is something you folks out west get to see on a regular basis. There is nowhere on the East coast like this, to my knowledge, and I've been to many beaches out here...

I drove down the PCH through Manhattan Beach, and dined at a little Cuban restaurant named Versailles, before retiring for the evening.

As for some of your other suggestions, like Tommy's, I did try, and it was quite a tasty burger - definitely messy. I did do the whole Hollywood/Sunset Blvd. tourist walk the following day, but it's definitely something that a jock like me would do once to say he's done it, but then start thinking about the next baseball game.

Well that about does it for me. I hope you folks enjoyed my outsider's perspective of your awesome city, and experience at your great ballpark. And once again, I thank everyone who helped me out with suggestions and tips on things to do, because without your help, I wouldn't have discovered a lot of the great things I got to do.

Pitcher Analysis: Clayton Kershaw

Driveline Mechanics — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:16:14 -0000

Clayton Kershaw, a 20-year old phenom in the Dodgers organization, is one of the top pitching prospects in the nation. Today (5/25), Kershaw made his MLB debut against the St. Louis Cardinals. Millions of Dodgers fans watched to see the kid touted as the next Sandy Koufax and hoped that the young lefty would live up to the hype.

He didn’t disappoint. Kershaw gave six solid innings of work, striking out seven, walking one, and scattering five hits, giving up just two runs in the process. Unfortunately due to some defensive misplays (Dewitt’s throw home, Loney’s juggling of a pop fly), Kershaw got stuck with an extra run he perhaps didn’t deserve. The Dodgers maligned offense couldn’t give him three runs, so he left the game tied, unable to get a win. However, by any measure, Kershaw’s debut was a success. He showed off excellent command of his 94 mph fastball - dialing it up to 96 on plenty of occasions - and maintained his velocity even as he eclipsed 100 pitches in his start. His 72-76 mph curveball was devastating, as he was liable to throw it in any count to any hitter, burying it in the dirt for swinging strikeouts and simply looping it over the plate for a get-me-over strike.

I saw an outstanding young pitcher with a ton of promise today. Let’s take a look at what Clayton Kershaw has done in the past and let’s look to the future as we analyze his mechanics…

Kershaw’s Statistical Analysis

The Dodgers knew they had something special on their hands as soon as they assigned Kershaw to rookie ball at age 18 in the Gulf Coast League. Kershaw pitched only 37 innings, but struck out 54, walked only 5, and gave up no home runs, netting a 1.95 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. At age 19 he rocketed through A-ball in the Midwest League, posting 134 strikeouts, 50 walks, and 5 home runs allowed in 97 innings (2.77 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) and finished the year in AA, throwing 24 innings with a 29:17 k/bb ratio but allowing four home runs (3.65 ERA, 1.38 WHIP). Those stats are unbelievably impressive for a young prospect, much less a 19 year old in AA ball!

However, Kershaw was not satisfied. He would return to the Midwest League in 2008 at age 20, where he would throw just 43 innings before getting called up to the MLB to start. In his 2008 stint in AA, he would allow no home runs while shaving his walk rate down, as he posted a 47:15 k/bb ratio (2.28 ERA, 1.08 WHIP).

By any statistical measure, Clayton Kershaw has nothing left to prove in the minors. He depressed XBH rates, he struck out more than a batter per inning, and he shaved his walk rate even farther down. His command and control are exceptional, and his stuff is outstanding - pairing a red-hot 96 mph fastball with a devastating 12-6 72-76 mph curveball and flashing an average changeup with good fade (the only pitch he needs to work on to help get the tough right-handed hitters out). However, it is important to note that Kershaw is only 20 years old and threw just 122 innings in 2007. Assuming the Dodgers bump up his innings limit to 140-150 this year, he still won’t be ready to fully slot into the rotation until 2010, though nothing aside from injuries will stop him from throwing 160-175 innings in 2009. His performance is too good to leave in the minors, something the Cincinnati Reds should learn from (Jay Bruce). The Dodgers should hopefully realize the talent they have in Kershaw and treat him accordingly - to rush him to the majors and place a large workload on him would be irresponsible.

Kershaw’s Mechanical Analysis

Here’s video from his MLB start:

And here’s video from him in the minors (source: Hardball Times):

Let’s break down his mechanics, point by point.

Arm Action

This is Kershaw at footstrike.

As you can see, his PAS elbow is below the level of his shoulders, a very good sign. Furthermore, his arm is up and through the horizontal plane at the ready/high-cocked position, another good sign. He exhibits horizontal abduction of the shoulders, taking the elbows behind the body - also known as “scapular loading.” Though I think this stresses the anterior muscle groups of the shoulders, there is significant evidence that shows “scap loading” is a major component of velocity. Furthermore, plenty of pitchers exhibit this horizontal abduction and have remained healthy throughout the years - Greg Maddux is just one of many examples. As I have said before, there is a model pitcher at RPM Pitching who shows very little scapular loading and throws 90+ MPH by actively involving muscle groups that are typically used passively to decelerate the ball (latissimus dorsi, Pronator Teres), but it’s just a sample size of one and the results are not yet public.

However, I digress. Note Kershaw’s arm angle in this frame:

See how it’s bent towards his head? This will help prevent Kershaw’s arm from “flying out” and it also makes it easier for him to pronate through release (if he does this) to prevent his ulna bone from slamming into his olecranon process. It will also help stop inflammation of the medial epicondyle (sore elbow), which is caused by supinated releases of pitchers.

Here’s a slowed-down clip of Kershaw’s arm action:

Note the pendulum-swing type arm action as he starts with the glove high but brings it down to waist-level at hand break; a major plus. Also watch as he keeps his weight back and rides that back leg as he powerfully strides into footplant. In the footstrike still photo above, you can see how he is turning the hips well ahead of the shoulders (look for the belt buckle to face home plate while the shoulders remain closed) - this is a major component of velocity.

Kershaw also does not take the ball laterally behind his body in reverse rotation. Not only will this reduce the load on his shoulder, but it will increase the perceived velocity of all of his pitches. Here’s what I mean:

The hitter won’t see the ball until the second-to-last frame - right before ball release. This makes it really hard to pick up the type of pitch and will increase his deception.

Kershaw’s arm action is Excellent. He embodies great mechanics from both a medical/injury prevention outlook and a performance view. Nothing more to say on this topic.

Tempo

As Alex Eisenberg points out, Clayton Kershaw is a bit slow from maximal leg lift into footplant for a power pitcher, clocking in around 29-30 frames. I’d like to see him pick up the pace to help take the load off his arm/shoulder, and possibly gain a tick or two on his fastball, but his arm action is so clean that I wouldn’t want to mess with anything here in fear of negatively affecting his other outstanding qualities. Therefore, while his tempo grade is Poor, I can’t recommend any changes.

Ball Release

A major component of the ball release phase is the ability to hide the ball well, or add to your deception. As I covered in the Arm Action segment, Kershaw does an outstanding job of this by not reverse rotating his shoulders as he delivers the pitch and also keeps the arm bent towards his head, ensuring the arm does not fly out and let the hitter pick up the ball earlier. As such, I’m going to combine the Ball Release / Followthrough phases together by using these clips:

Immediately upon viewing these clips, I noted the intent of Kershaw - similar to that of Max Scherzer - he bends his back and points his PAS shoulder at the target while pulling down with his head. These are all great aspects of his delivery. Note how in the first clip Kershaw is maximally rotating his shoulders. This will give him a great setup for the followthrough and recovery phases of the delivery. Kershaw does a good job of firming up the front side as his chest comes to the glove and he shows no sign of actively pulling with the glove arm. Actively pulling the glove to the chest can cause flyout and a reduction of velocity, and I do not recommend pulling the elbow back as most amateur pitchers do; I prefer pitchers to focus on bringing the hand to the shoulder.

Kershaw’s arm follows through completely to his back pocket and he exhibits no signs of actively braking his arm. Combine this with his great intent and maximal shoulder rotation after release, and you have all the ingredients for an Excellent ball release phase and an Excellent followthrough phase.

Conclusion

Dodgers fans, you have a stud pitcher on your hands for the next few years who exhibits all the performance of a Sandy Koufax without the mechanical flaws. If the Dodgers avoid overworking him in any given start and limit his innings increases throughout his career, you’re going to have one hell of an ace. Let’s just hope that Joe Torre doesn’t take forever to trust his young talent as he often does with rookies.

Read more analyses of pitchers and hitters at Driveline Mechanics.

Writing Opportunity

JKauf90 — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:05:43 -0000

Right now, SoCal Sports Hub is looking for a dedicated Dodgers fan, who would love to write about their Doyers. We have already added Shane Norton of Dodgers Junkie to our lineup of great SoCal writers, but we could also use another writer as well. If you're interested e-mail me at joey@socalsportshub.com. Or just leave a comment.

On a side note, does anybody else think that this Clayton prospect is a little overrated.

The Next Fernando Valenzuela

kazanjianm — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:34:22 -0000

Hi, I am an VERY WARPED animator/filmmaker who is an absolute baseball nut! I hope you like my videos! Here is the teaser:

Do you want to see a 108 MPH fastball? Do you want to see the most wicked heat in the history of baseball? Go to Mexico and bring a radar gun! A short movie by Merrill Kazanjian

and here are the links to my videos:

The Next Fernando Valenzuela (Part 1)

The Next Fernando Valenzuela (Part 2)

via fc04.deviantart.com

True Blue L.A. in Blog Spotlight

clearingskies — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:55:31 -0000

I wanted Dodgers fans and especially fans of True Blue L.A. to see your team featured on the '08 BaseballNooz. If you like to track Dodger players, you'll find unique Mashup pages with individual player stats, photos, videos and more.

You can also see every blogger in the baseball universe in our community page BlogJam.

However the tough the NL West turns out, we’ll be tuning into True Blue L.A. every day of the season. Right now, we wish you a good, long winning streak for the rest of your road trip.

Regards,
Walter
lead editor
http://www.baseballnooz.com

P.S. Keep up the great blogging work, Andrew and ToyCannon.

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.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

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

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

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

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

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.

-------

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.