Jamie and Frank and Manny and Joe - 2010 DODGERS THREAD

So apparently Jamie McCourt wants $1 million a month, Frank is trying to devise some sort of global sports empire with 2.1 billion of financing and neither of the two have paid California taxes since 2004. Niiiice. Cant wait for Selig to get involved to make this even more of a shit show. Supposedly this whole thing will come to a head in May for a trial.

Decent analysis of everything is here

http://www.dodgerdivorce.com/

Former NL Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne(notes) has agreed to a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and would receive a $500,000, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster.

Gagne won the 2003 NL Cy Young with the Dodgers, when he converted all 55 save chances, and saved 152 games over three seasons through 2004. The right-hander converted a record 84 consecutive save chances during that time, but had operations on his pitching elbow in 2005 and 2006, and back surgery in 2006.
FILE - This 2009 file photo shows Milwaukee Brewers baseball player Eric Gagne(notes). Former NL Cy Young Award winner Eric Gagne has agreed to a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. Gagne would receive a $500,000, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster, the person said Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.

Now 34, he hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2008, when he was 4-3 with a 5.44 ERA and 10 saves in 17 chances for Milwaukee. The Brewers released him from a minor league contract last March after doctors found he had a frayed rotator cuff. He signed with the Quebec Capitales of the independent Can-Am League and went 6-6 with a 4.65 ERA in 17 starts.

The Mitchell Report accused Gagne of receiving human growth hormone in 2004. He apologized to Milwaukee teammates for “a distraction that shouldn’t be taking place” but didn’t directly address the allegation.

I was at the last game he saved for the Dodgers. Was this weird Dodgers-Mets-Red Sox timewarp game starring Nomar, Grady Little, and Pedro Martinez. If I remember correctly Gagne struck out Delgado and Wright and still flashed that crazy 70 mph change. The date was also 6/6/06.

Dude has been complete garbage ever since.

u broke him!

Manny Ramirez predicted that this season will be his last with the Dodgers, reports Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

"I know I’m not going to be here next year," Ramirez said, who didn't dismiss the possibility of retirement. "I doubt it, I don’t know. I’m happy to be here. I’m going to try to enjoy myself." The Dodgers exercised Ramirez's $20 million option in November, but with the financial uncertainty surrounding the ballclub, there's a pretty good chance he moves on after 2010.

No shit Manny. The source article is kinda perplexing. Manny says hes done after this year then he equivocates like a madman. We all know youre gone after this year. Dont be coy about it.

Tony Jackson is live tweeting Matt Kemp's photo shoot for GQ for those of you who are interested in harnessing the power of the internet:

http://twitter.com/dodgerscribe

Russ Martin out 4-6 weeks with a groin strain, possibly a sports hernia. Maybe reporting to camp 25 lbs heavier than last year was a bad idea?

His sub .700 OPS will not necessarily be missed from the lineup.

i was hoping for a rebound season :\

its like he ate all the food geovany soto didn't

One small caveat is he was remarkably lighter last year then he was the year before, so the differential isnt alarming. I guess he blames the loss of weight to messing up his swing. But I heard that excuse before, from Andruw Jones.

Roy Campanella getting his mustache shaved off makes me uncomfortable:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/images/03/16/hazing-dodgers.jpg

hey, it's Gil and Pee Wee, they were good guys. Right?

Ceremonial lols

According to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick, Vicente Padilla will be named the Dodgers' Opening Day starter.

Hopefully someone more legit will get the opening day home start, which is usually more of a big deal than opening on the road.

got good tickets to see tonights exhibition against the Indians at Dodger Stadium for $1.30 each on stubhub.

SUNDAY Q&A: Dodgers Hall of Fame broadcaster Scully remains the voice of choice

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_14816948

"My guide has always been goosebumps. If you watch a play, hear the crowd, and you still get 'em, then I know I'm enjoying it. You can't manufacture that. It's like Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, with all the fuss and feathers, and the team takes the field and the crowd roars. It's what Thomas Boswell said about life beginning on Opening Day ... wow, here we go again."

Ceremonial lols

According to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick, Vicente Padilla will be named the Dodgers' Opening Day starter.

Hopefully someone more legit will get the opening day home start, which is usually more of a big deal than opening on the road.

― mayor jingleberries, Thursday, March 25, 2010 11:15 AM (1 week ago)

i thought the whole goal was to win games... wtfffff

Garrett Jones has made Padilla his bitch with 2 hrs.

padilla with 2 hbps as well.

Worst opening day start since Derek Lowe was responsible for this turd I flew out from Houston to attend

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200604030.shtml

Goddamn Joe Torre's getaway day lineups are infuriating.

* Rafael Furcal, SS
* Reed Johnson, LF
* Matt Kemp, CF
* James Loney, 1B
* Ronnie Belliard, 3B
* Garret Anderson, RF
* Jamey Carroll, 2B
* Brad Ausmus, C
* Chad Billingsley, P

i still <3 reed.

I would be more willing to relax if the Dodgers werent 2-14 last night with RISP (including a man on third with no outs, and taking the Dodgers to 4-28 in the first two games) and are already down two games.

Manager Joe Torre already has said Ramirez would get the majority of day games off this year.

Read this maybe five minutes after I could have made a last-minute lineup change.

They fuck you at the auto-pick draft.

Thus far Reed Johnson and Brad Ausmus have a double each and Ronnie Belliard has a HR. Too soon for haterade I guess.

Charlie Haeger is bamboozling the Marlins with his knuckleball and has 11 K's through 5 innings.

& 2 of those K victims have ended up on first & there may have been 2 other wild pitches too? crazy game

never even heard of this guys - but wow @ those Ks!

Fucking a' this bullpen is full of arsonists

http://laist.com/attachments/la_zach/dodgers-victory-knot.jpg

http://laist.com/2010/04/09/dodgers_to_introduce_2-pound_pretze.php

would eat the shit out of a two pound pretzel

i don't think i could cope with that.

The regular pretzels they have at ds are disgusting. They have wetzels pretzels at certain spots on the concourse and they are, of course, the shit.

This is what happens when someone gets stabbed on opening day

Police promised a crackdown on tailgaters at the Dodger’s home opener -- and they delivered.

A total of 132 people were arrested Tuesday, with most accused of drinking in public, said Capt. William Murphy of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Several more were arrested on suspicion of scalping tickets and illegal vending, he said. More than 50 traffic and parking citations also were handed out.

“Overall, it was a far better day than last year,” Murphy said. “No major incidents.”

Tailgating -- with or without alcohol -- is not allowed in the Dodger Stadium parking lots. In years past, fans say, security officers looked the other way unless they were unruly or drunk. Last year, the Dodgers made a pointed effort to crack down on drinking in stadium parking lots.

"It's always been a rule, but it's only recently been enforced in the last couple of years," said Carol Mitchell, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer working Monday as a security officer for the Dodgers. She said people had been generally calm and cooperative so she has tried to be equally low-key.

Ausmus to have back surgery.

I can't believe this guy was a catcher for 18 years and NEVER was on the DL until he was 41 goddamn years old. Remarkable.

damn - he's 41?!

I thought he died a few years ago.

@TommyLasorda I don't love Ned Colletti because he's Italian. I love him because I'm Italian!

Going to sit in Mannywood tonight with my 72 yo dad. Hopefully he doesnt get into a fight.

Also going to see Timmeh start tomorrow.

Chad Billinglsey got raped by the Reds. Team also continuing trying to catch up with the Marlins in errors.

don't worry

2 more errors today. Youre going down Marlins.

Raphael Furcal is hot as hell right now. For a dude coming off a backeotomy I am pleasantly surprised.

Uh apparently so is Matt Kemp. 2 run blast as I type. Leads MLB in HRs, RBIs and runs scored. Holy shit.

I meant NL, not MLB. Still good tho.

Uh apparently so is Matt Kemp. 2 run blast as I type. Leads MLB in HRs, RBIs and runs scored. Holy shit.

― mayor jingleberries, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 6:55 PM (44 minutes ago)

not to mention his gal is the hottest thing on the planet

is she alyssa milano?

*sigh*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlvY1o6XKwA

Her?

being a professional baseball player for the dodgers and smashing rihanna has got to be about as good as life gets imo

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Y2jPfFxVTZo/S8XbO06Zg_I/AAAAAAAAEDU/PhpIzdvYV7o/s1600/rihanna2.jpg

We did it!

"The Dodgers made two errors Saturday for the eighth time this season and have now made 20 miscues on the season. In 2009, the Dodgers committed their 20th error on May 25 and didn't make two errors in a game eight times until September 4. The club's 20 errors lead the Major Leagues."

NEW YORK -- When the Dodgers-Mets game was rained out Monday and rescheduled as a twi-night doubleheader, Chad Billingsley suggested that knuckleballer Charlie Haeger start both games and the Dodgers could save Hiroki Kuroda for Wednesday's game.

"Sure. Why not?" said Haeger. "I'd be open to it. It'd be interesting to see."

Manager Joe Torre was told that Haeger was game.

"That doesn't surprise me," said manager Joe Torre, who shook his head and instead pushed back Kuroda, Monday's scheduled starter, for the first game Tuesday, with Haeger pitching as scheduled in the nightcap.

What I dont get is that I have yet to see Haeger throw more than 120 pitches.. Granted hes only had one good start but still..

someone needs to buy him season tickets

That little kid cost Broxton his closer spot.

http://flipflopflyball.tumblr.com/photo/1280/952754144/1/tumblr_l75fpfSUaA1qb0ctn

1, 2, 3

can the Dodgers new closer close it out tonight?

Dodgers just missed a suicide squeeze. lol

@Buster_ESPN
Presumably, Manny Ramirez will hit the waiver wire sometime in the next 48-72 hours -- and presumably, he'll be with another team in 8 days.

Boras, according to MLB.com, said he has been "very specific in years" and "with the names of the group of players Manny is associated with, actually a group of one" -- referring to Barry Bonds, whose contract with the Giants ended when he was 42. "We've had 40 contacts with the Dodgers this winter involving various players, including talks about Manny, and three meetings involving Manny," Boras said.

Asked if he believes Ramirez will be signed by spring training, Boras said: "I don't really think about a timetable. Anything can be done any day. You just don't know," according to Yahoo! Sports.

Then, in an apparent shot at the Dodgers for giving him and Ramirez 48 hours to accept or reject their one-season deal, Boras said, "What I do know, you better watch out when you're playing chicken," according to the report.

hindsight is 20/20 and all but lol anyway. kind of a disaster of a deal in the end.

So does Manny really have a phobia of getting in an MRI machine or is it a scam to keep from getting accurate diagnoses of his phantom boo-boos?

i bet the Dodger fans are happy tonight but to get nothing back...ouch.

Eh Im not mad hes gone for little in return. This franchise is in trouble in more ways than just Manny.

Divorce trial updates here

http://twitter.com/molly_knight

some news and a lol

Sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com that the Dodgers intend to pursue a contract extension with Ted Lilly.

According to Rosenthal, Lilly wanted to sign with the Dodgers before the 2007 season, however they ended up signing Jason Schmidt. That worked out pretty well. Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that interest between the two parties is mutual, so this one might actually get done.

Joe = out. Later duder.

"It has been an incredible honor to wear the Dodger uniform and bench Matt Kemp."

the dodgers have underperformed on so many levels I cant help but blame the torre-schaeffer-bowa brain trust. it doesnt help that they like to talk shit about players who struggle ie Matt Kemp.

Enjoy Ned. Maybe SF can pawn Sabean off on you guys too.

mattingly tho? guy cant even make a mound visit iirc

Ned is the gift that keeps on giving. Apparently Ned is also the gift of one Jeff Kent, who loved the dude in SF and recommended him to Jamie McCourt after they fired DePo.

I would like to look at the players that DePo is responsible for... I want to say Ethier, Kemp, Werth, Kershaw, Billingsley but I could be making all those up.

Paul DePodesta (February 2004 – October 2005)
Record: 164-160 (.506)
Playoffs: Lost 2004 NLDS

Good moves

Trading Paul LoDuca (& others) for Brad Penny and Hee-Seop Choi (& others). Shut up, Plaschke. Trading a declining catcher who you know is using steroids for a young pitcher with top skill and a first baseman with power potential is always a good idea.
Trading bit pieces to Arizona for Steve Finley and Brent Mayne. The parts that went to Arizona never panned out, and do you think having Finley was a good idea on the last day of 2004?
Signed Derek Lowe as a free agent. Widely panned at the time, this ended up being a steal, as Lowe provided four years of excellent performance.
Signed Jeff Kent as a free agent. Kent became, in many ways, the best second baseman in Dodger history.
Signed J.D. Drew as a free agent. I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of heat for this, but Drew put up over a .900 OPS as a Dodger, and his one injury was a freak one (a 95mph heater off the wrist).

Bad moves

Knowing how to use a computer. A fatal sin, apparently.
Having no backup plan at catcher after trading LoDuca. Once the Charles Johnson trade fell through, the Dodgers were stuck with Brent Mayne.
Having zero depth on the 2005 team. When Jose Valentin and Nori Nakamura are your top choices at 3B, you know you have problems.
Being unlucky enough to be the GM just before the vaunted young core arrived. Imagine what he could have done with Kemp, Martin, and the like?
Allowed Shane Victorino to be selected in the Rule 5 draft. Oops!

Two year old BP article on DePo vs Colletti vs Logan White (the guy in charge of drafting since the early part of the decade): http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7478

I had totally forgotten that Ethier was traded for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez. Still doesn't necessarily absolve signing Jason Schmidt when the organization knew he was hurt, but still, hahaha Oakland gave away Andre Ethier for Milton Bradley.

I would have rather had Tim Wallach next year, but, alas.

okay so i made it all up. good to know. :D

Kent became, in many ways, the best second baseman in Dodger history.

I prefer Jackie Robinson.

numerically eliminated and it feels so good.

this teams road record is second only in awfulness to the pittsburgh pirates.

random stats for people who come to this thread to read me post to myself:

Corner infielders slash lines:

Loney - .271/.330/.399
Blake - .246/.319/.398

Matt Kemp's slash line: .250/.310/.436

Russ Martin's slash line over the last 2 years: .249/.349/.330

Johnathan Broxton's second half stats: 6.65 ERA, 20:17 k/bb, 2.00 WHIP, 2-5 record

Team record in the second half: 24-40, 202 runs scored, 263 runs allowed

Number of times shutout: 17, leads mlb

this team sucks

james loney looked really good in that half season he played in '07 and he's just been terrible since.

he looked fine last time i checked his line this year, which was probably a month or 2 ago

i dunno, for a first baseman he's been pretty weak, his best month this season was june i guess (1 HR, 22 rbi, .301/.371/.408)

yeah he's not a great choice at 1B for a large market team, after 3 years it might be time for them to give up on his power potential and just sign a slugger

Since next year is going to be a shitshow they might as well give the core one last shot. But this is reaching arizona levels of striking out with a core of young players.

arizona's offense has been above average though even in this down year for upton and reynolds, they've only 'struck out' on pitching and i'm not sure they had any legit pitching prospects in the first place

what's being lost in all the 'haha they set the team record for strikeouts' reports is that they're still 5th in the league in OPS+

yeah that team can fucking mash the ball

their pitching was a disaster tho -- & they have a major problem with their pen which means they just have a terrible system top to bottom in terms of pitching

doesn't help that the first thing they did after kicking out a decent GM was trade their ace for joe saunders

Jon Weisman helped put together these year end baseball cards which are pretty dope:

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/dodgers/playercards

WEAVER PITCHES IN 43 GAMES, WINS HIS 100TH, AND DOES NOT GET A CARD?!?!?

But Blake DeWitt got one. RIP lil' homey. We will always remember that day when Gamblin' Ned Colletti traded DeWitt, last years minor league pitcher of the year and a bunch of prospects for Lilly, Theriot, Octavio fucking Dotel and the chance of doing slightly better than the 31-43 they eventually did in the second half.

too soon for a 2011 dodgers thread but I will post this here.

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/735014/uribe_and_colletti_large.jpg

CAPTION: WHY ARE THESE MEN SMILING?

also for those playing at home, the judge in the divorce trial apparently has until January 18 to make a ruling. appeals to follow, Im sure.

The pre-nup between Frank and Jaimie was ruled invalid today. Anarchy reigns.

smh

Anarchy reigns! The 2011 Dodgers Thread

The five hitters signed by the Dodgers this offseason have a combined OPS under .600

.233/.299/.395 in 1,475 plate appearances in 2010

Yeah Im kind of freaking out. However, Navarro is going to be the lefty side of a platoon, as well as Jay Gibbons (for all I know hes going to be lefty bat off the bench). If Gwynn Jr. is anything more than a 4th OF I am going to kill someone. Uribe is Uribe.

Supposedly next on Ned's xmas list is Billy Hall. =\

And again, aside from the Giants the NL west kinda looks like shit.

How did I miss this story

http://articles.latimes.com/print/2010/jun/10/sports/la-sp-dodgers-psychic-20100610

this is, how you say, very lol

extrasensory perception is the new sabermetrics.

Dodgers give 3/12 to a reliever who has a k/9 less than 6 and is 32 years old. Is he going to play LF?