Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Joel Guzman

Young Dodgers in the 21st century

Clayton Kershaw makes his MLB debut on May 25, 2008.

Clayton Kershaw makes his MLB debut on May 25, 2008.

Dodgers at White Sox, 1:05 p.m.
Kiké Hernandez, SS
Howie Kendrick, 3B
Scott Van Slyke, 1B
Alex Guerrero, DH
A.J. Ellis, C
Austin Barnes, 2B
Trayce Thompson, CF
Elian Herrera, LF
Rico Noel, RF
(Clayton Kershaw, P)

By Jon Weisman

Clayton Kershaw is somehow 28 years old today, which is only slightly more believable than my youngest son turning 8 years old Sunday. My guess is that Kershaw isn’t renting a game truck this morning, though what do I know?

Anyway, just for fun, here are the youngest Dodgers to make their MLB debuts in the 2000s, with their ages at the time.

  • Edwin Jackson (September 9, 2003): 20 years, 0 days
  • Clayton Kershaw (May 25, 2008): 20 years, 67 days
  • *Adrian Beltre (April 3, 2000): 20 years, 362 days
  • Jonathan Broxton (July 29, 2005): 21 years, 43 days
  • Jose Peraza (August 10, 2015): 21 years, 102 days
  • Corey Seager (September 3, 2015): 21 years, 129 days
  • Paco Rodriguez (September 9, 2012): 21 years, 146 days
  • **Dioner Navarro (July 29, 2005): 21 years, 170 days
  • Nathan Eovaldi (August 6, 2011): 21 years, 174 days
  • Joel Guzman (June 1, 2006): 21 years, 189 days

*First game of the 2000s — actually debuted June 24, 1998, at 19 years, 78 days
**Made MLB debut September 7, 2004 with Yankees, at 20 years, 211 days

Julio Urias, who was optioned to the minor leagues Thursday, turns 20 on August 12 this year. If he gets his big-league callup before then, he will move ahead of Jackson.

In case you missed it: Yasiel Puig sets the agenda at City Hall

Dodgers Community CaravanBy Jon Weisman

Yasiel Puig was filled with insouciant musings during today’s conclusion of the Dodgers’ Pitching in the Community caravan, and Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com captured it in an entertaining piece. Here’s an excerpt:

… Puig looked strong, but had no idea how much he weighs with 27 days left until the first full-squad workout.

Perhaps somewhere between 255 and 260.

“Whatever weight I come in, it doesn’t matter,” Puig said, citing teammate Juan Uribe as an example by calling him a “gordito,” exaggerating his weight and saying, “He saves us every game at third base.”

Puig also glowed about Astros 5-foot-6 second baseman Jose Altuve, his teammate for an exhibition tournament throughout Japan in November and someone he credited with inspiring him to intensify his workout regimen this offseason.

“I don’t like working out,” Puig said. “It’s like you have to pay me to enter the gym.”

But Puig did, because he wants to steal more bases and he wants to limit the highs and lows of a six-month regular season. …

Jon SooHoo has more photos from the caravan at LA Photog Blog: first stopsecond stopthird stop and fourth stop.

So what else is going on?

  • The 45th annual convention of the Society of American Baseball Research is June 24-28 in Chicago, and if you go, you can catch the Dodgers playing at Wrigley Field June 24-25.
  • Carl Erskine talked about Roy Campanella’s great work behind the plate with Rob Neyer at Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside.
  • This headline should get you started: “On World War II vet’s last day, Dodger Tommy Lasorda was his angel,” by Dennis McCarthy for the Daily News.
  • In MLB.com’s overall list of the top 100 prospects in baseball, Corey Seager was seventh, Julio Urias eighth and Joc Pederson 13th. Grant Holmes is 95th. Here’s more from Teddy Cahill of MLB.com.
  • Pederson has gone gluten-free, and not by choice, writes J.P. Hoornstra at the Daily News.
  • Keith Law’s take on the Dodger farm system can be found at ESPN Insider.  After the same first four as MLB.com, the next six are Alex Verdugo, Zach Lee, Darnell Sweeney, Chris Anderson, Jose De Leon and Zach Bird.
  • David Schoenfield of ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot looked back at Baseball America’s top prospects of 2005. Raise a glass for Joel Guzman
  • From official MLB historian John Thorn at Our Game: “Baseball, as with any other course of life, has had its share of death, degradation, and disappointment. For utter horror, however, the story of Marty Bergen, star catcher of the Boston Beaneaters, is unmatched in the annals of the sport.”
  • Some last caravan tidbits …

 

 

Derrick and the ownership dominoes

Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall, the former Dodger executive recovering from prostate cancer, is the subject of a fantastic piece at Yahoo! Sports by Steve Henson. Parenthetically, as Steve Dilbeck of the Times notes, “several groups in the running to purchase the team from Frank McCourt have already approached Hall about becoming the Dodgers’ lead executive should they prove to have the winning bid.”

In another blog post, Dilbeck passes along this Ray McNulty interview for TCPalm.com with Peter O’Malley, who reiterated that his direct involvement in Dodger operations, should he return as owner, probably would be a year or less. “Things need to be stabilized, and I’d have a role in that,” O’Malley said. “But beyond that, the key is to bring in good management people to run the day-to-day operation.”

O’Malley has investment support from South Korean conglomerate E-Land, according to Bill Shaikin of the Times.

Meanwhile, Jon Heyman writes at CBSSports.com about the possibility of billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong pushing the Magic Johnson-fronted ownership group to the head of the pack.

  • Late bloomer Scott Van Slyke is the subject of a feature by Ken Gurnick at MLB.com that gives you some development background on the first baseman-outfielder you might have missed.
  • Howard Megdal has an interesting comparison of Edwin Jackson and Jason Schmidt at MLB Trade Rumors.

    … The year was 2001. The Diamondbacks had just beaten the Yankees in the World Series. George Harrison died. Anthrax was in the air.

    But none of that stopped Jason Schmidt. The righty, about to enter his age-29 season, had put up an ERA+ of 107 while pitching for two teams. For his career, his ERA+ stood at 99, with career walk rate of 3.8 per nine innings and a strikeout rate of 6.9 per nine innings. He was rewarded with a five-year, $41MM contract from San Francisco.

    Fast forward ten years, and look at Edwin Jackson. The righty, about to enter his age-29 season, has just put up an ERA+ of 106 while pitching for two teams. For his career, his ERA+ stands at 97, with a walk rate of 3.7 per nine innings and a strikeout rate of 6.7 per nine innings. And he can’t find a job.

    If Schmidt is any indication, today’s teams are missing an opportunity for a bargain. Over his next five seasons, Schmidt pitched just over 1,000 innings at an ERA+ of 127. He made three All Star teams, finished in the top four of Cy Young voting twice, won an ERA title in 2003, and reduced his walks to 3.2 per nine while elevating his strikeouts to 9.0 per nine. He was well worth that $41MM investment. …

    Jackson might settle for a one-year deal for 2012.

  • Jayson Stark’s All-Unemployed team, at the bottom of his latest column for ESPN.com, includes Jackson and Aaron Miles, among others.
  • Today in Jon SooHoo: Joel Guzman, Jonathan Broxton, Willy Aybar, Russell Martin, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier together in 2006.
  • American-Japanese minor-league pitcher Robert Boothe was released by the Dodgers, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America.
  • Bill Petti at Beyond the Boxscore looks at which teams had the most players producing  negative Wins Above Replacement since 2002. The Dodgers were in the better half.
  • Justin Timberlake will play a young baseball scout opposite Clint Eastwood as an older scout in upcoming feature film “Trouble With the Curve,” Jeff Sneider and Justin Kroll of Variety report. Amy Adams will play Eastwood’s daughter.
  • As for my day at the office, it included a blog post looking at the present and future of the post-Steve Carell “The Office.” I’m thinking mine is a minority view, but see if I convince any of you.
  • Congrats to Tom Hoffarth of the Daily News, who won a special appreciation award at the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Some guys named Kershaw, Monday and Scully also got mentioned for some honor or other.

Mid-day dabblings


The clip above is brought to you by Celebuzz via Franklin Avenue.

  • The Dodgers rank 22nd among organizations in minor-league propsects, according to Keith Law of ESPN.com.
  • Tom Hawthorn of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about Allan Simpson and the story of how Baseball America was founded.
  • True Blue L.A. offers a guide to visiting Camelback Ranch.
  • Teenage Angels outfielder Mike Trout was named the top minor-league prospect in baseball by MLB.com.
  • John Sickels looks back at the top 50 hitting prospects of 2006 at Minor League Ball. Shed a tear for Joel Guzman.
  • Pitcher and used-car salesman Brandon Webb will take that old clunker off your hands, he tells the Dallas Morning News (link via Baseball Musings).
  • Webb’s former Arizona teammate, Micah Owings, has returned to the Diamondbacks, who might use him as a true two-way player, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic.
  • Rob Neyer of ESPN.com questions whether, after decades, he is still a Royals fan.

Morning brioche …

It’s the first anniversary of ESPNLosAngeles.com … hope you all have enjoyed the content …

Here’s what some of the other folk are up to …

Dodgers designate Ronnie Belliard for assignment

In 83 regular-season plate appearances for the Dodgers in 2009, Ronnie Belliard had five homers and a 1.034 OPS. In 183 plate appearances in 2010, Belliard had two homers and a .622 OPS, sinking to levels below what got him cast off by the Washington Nationals last summer.

Belliard’s chapter in Dodger history ended today with the team designated for assignment in order to purchase the contract of 27-year-old Australian outfielder Trent Oeltjen, who had a .979 OPS for Albuquerque. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles has details.

Belliard and Marlon Anderson — how their Dodger stories paralleled.

* * *

Dodger prospect Jerry Sands finished tied for third among all minor-leaguers in home runs this year with 35. As John Manuel of Baseball America notes, behind Sands was a familiar name: Joel Guzman.

The one-time Dodger phenom, now 25, hit 33 homers for the Orioles’ Double-A farm team in Bowie. That’s right — Double-A, the same level Guzman was at as a 20-year-old when he was considered arguably the Dodgers’ top position prospect.

Guzman had a career-high in walks with 45 this season, against 121 strikeouts — still not enough to assuage questions about his eye at the plate.

John Lindsey (.353) won the minor-league batting title in absentia, to go with the slugging percentage title.

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