Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Ryan Theriot

In case you missed it: Links from around the Internet

Los Angeles Dodgers Vin Scully is Grand Marshall of the Rose Parade

By Jon Weisman

We’ll make it a habit at Dodger Insider to provide links to noteworthy news and features around the Internet, though this first edition ends on a somber note.

  • One last look at Vin Scully’s big day as Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade, as seen through the lens of Dodger team photographer Jon SooHoo.
  • Hanley Ramirez is the top shortstop and Clayton Kershaw the top pitcher in Tristan H. Cockcroft’s rankings of fantasy players in major-league baseball for ESPN.com.  Ramirez is eighth among overall players (Mike Trout of the Angels is first) and Kershaw 11th. Zack Greinke is 33rd overall and Matt Kemp, despite his recent injury struggles, is 36th. Kenley Jansen (54th) is third among relievers.
  • Former Dodger infielder Ryan Theriot has retired, according to teenage wundereporter Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish (via MLB Trade Rumors). Acquired in the same 2010 midseason deal that brought the Dodgers Ted Lilly in exchange for Blake DeWitt, Brett Wallach and Kyle Smit, Theriot had a .323 on-base percentage and .283 slugging percentage in 228 plate appearances for the Dodgers. That November, he was traded to St. Louis for Blake Hawksworth. Theriot’s last regular-season at-bat was at Dodger Stadium in October 2012, wearing a Giants uniform, with Clayton Kershaw striking him out.
  • A history of Dodger air travel is offered by Ron Cervenka at Think Blue L.A.
  • Manny Mota was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary Shrine of the Eternals in 2013, and Emma Amaya of Dodger Blue World has videos of the ceremony, including Mota’s acceptance speech. “I am fortunate and blessed to have been able to do what I loved the most,” Mota said. “Baseball has given me and my family so much.” Amaya herself received the Reliquary’s Hilda Chester award for distinguished service to the game by a baseball fan.
  • Ralph Branca turns 88 today, and Dakota Gardner has a piece on him for Cut4 — including his winning streak on the game show “Concentration.”
  • Does it help to have an innings-eater take one for the team in order to rest a tired bullpen? An analysis by Bryan Cole at Beyond the Box Score suggests that the effect might not be as much as you think.
  • Baseball lifer Jerry Coleman, the famed Padres play-by-play announcer (and the only active Major League player to see combat in two military conflicts), has passed away. “We were much richer for having known him,” Scully said. “He had a wonderful and full life as a Major League player, a war hero and a Hall of Fame broadcaster. He was a sweet good natured and happy soul and he will be sorely missed. Our sympathies are extended to his family and all the many wonderful friends that he had.”

Deadline to offer Russell Martin contract under 48 hours away

Been pretty busy lately, no? And it only might get busier …

  • Reminder: 9 p.m. Thursday is the deadline for the Dodgers to offer a 2011 contract to pre-free agents like Russell Martin. Doug Miller of MLB.com has more. In case you don’t understand why Martin might be non-tendered, Miller explains:  “According to the Basic Agreement, when teams tender contracts, they can’t cut any more than 20 percent of what a player earned in salary and performance bonuses the previous season, or 30 percent of those figures during the past two seasons. Non-tendered players, however, can be re-signed by their teams at larger cuts.”
  • Just how scrappy a ballplayer have the Dodgers given up in Ryan Theriot? Matt Sebek of JoeSportsFan’s Tailgate runs the analysis.  (via Hardball Talk).
  • Former Dodger pitcher Eric Stults signed a minor-league contract with Colorado. “The Dodgers sold Stults’ rights to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan at the end of Spring Training 2010, and Stults went 6-10 with a 5.07 ERA in 21 games,” writes Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “Stults, who turns 32 on Dec. 9, would be paid at a $435,000 rate if he makes the Majors, but the contract also allows him to re-sign with Hiroshima if he doesn’t make the big league roster.”
  • Making the case to scrap draft-pick compensation for free-agent signings is Dave Cameron of Fangraphs.
  • Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com writes movingly about Padres pitcher Kevin Correia coping with his brother’s death this summer.
  • Fifty years ago, Frank Finch of the Times looked at the Dodgers’ youth movement, to be led by Willie Davis, Tommy Davis, Frank Howard … and Charley (Charlie) Smith.  (via Keith Thursby of the Daily Mirror).
  • Josh Fisher’s latest Dodger Divorce take on the McCourts:

    … Frank McCourt’s primary position has been that the Dodgers must stay in the family. Naturally, he is confident that McCourt ownership is also good for the Dodgers and, by extension, the community. While he might have come to Los Angeles an outsider, I strongly believe that Frank has come to regard the Dodgers as much more important than 24 acres of Boston seafront property ever were. And I wonder if yesterday’s release is a sign that he is concerned about his chances of keeping the Dodgers in the family.

    I still think Jamie got what she wanted in the MPA. I can’t look at her initial public statements in the divorce and conclude that she had any idea that the documents had been switched–that she had any idea there existed an Exhibit A making the Dodgers anything but Frank’s separate property. And I can’t help but think that, despite her apparent unfamiliarity with marital property laws in Massachusetts and California, and despite the ugly chain of events leading up to the MPA’s execution and subsequent modification, Jamie didn’t have enough in the way of background and intelligence to at least question the document when she reviewed its terms.

    For all that, though, Jamie’s case is strong. Strong enough, perhaps, that Frank’s inability to prove his facts is more important than Frank’s facts as they actually occurred. Strong enough that most observers considered Jamie to be in the lead after the trial. Strong enough that Jamie turned down what was surely a well-reasoned, thorough settlement proposal crafted by a well-respected mediator. Strong enough, basically, that the McCourt with the most to lose is ready to roll the dice.

Dodgers trade Theriot for Hawksworth

Steve Mitchell/US PresswireBlake Hawksworth

It’s not always about making an impression.  On June 7 against the Dodgers, Blake Hawksworth had his worst outing of 2010, allowing six runs in four innings.

But with Juan Uribe’s signing (made official today) rendering Ryan Theriot irrelevant, the Dodgers shipped the temporary second baseman off to St. Louis in exchange for Hawksworth.

The North Vancouver-born righthander, who will be 28 in March, had a nice debut season in 2009, posting a 2.03 ERA in 40 innings of relief despite striking out only 4.5 per nine innings. In 90 innings over 45 appearances this past season (including eight starts with a 5.83 ERA), Hawksworth’s ERA soared to 4.98.

In other words, he’ll fit right in with a Dodger bullpen that is looking for a number of comeback performances.  But considering that Theriot was about to be non-tendered a contract, for nothing in return, Hawksworth will suffice as a salvage operation.

Dodgers 2, Braves 1: Newcomers lead the way, but …


John Bazemore/APTed Lilly

In a relief of a win that could have been another vexatious loss, the Dodgers funneled 12 hits into only two runs, but made them stand up for a 2-1 victory over Atlanta on Saturday.

Major credit for the result goes to Ted Lilly, who had his third consecutive sharp start since coming to Los Angeles. Lilly allowed five baserunners over six shutout innings, lowering his ERA with the team to 1.89. He has allowed 10 hits and two walks while striking out 15, and if the rest of the team were jelling, we’d be talking in glorious tones about how he was spearheading the Dodgers’ pennant drive.

As it is, even if he keeps up this pace and makes me look bad for questioning his consistency (though I also said “undoubtedly, Lilly will provide some short-term gain in the rotation”), he does figure to have only about 10 or fewer starts left in a Dodger uniform before leaving as a free agent. So I’m still feeling a little bittersweet about him. But so far, he has absolutely pitched well – a perfect fit for the team.

Octavio Dotel even chipped in 1 1/3 perfect innings tonight; he has retired 14 of 19 batters as a Dodger since coming from Pittsburgh.

Staying with the theme of new players, I’ll even throw a little love Scott Podsednik’s way, reluctantly. Podsednik went 3 for 5 tonight and now has 12 hits and two walks in his past five games. Of course, that’s outstanding.

Now, without this incredible hot streak – which he won’t be able to maintain – Podsednik will revert to being that ordinary player that I still don’t really want much part of. Even as well as he has played for the Dodgers, Podsednik has two extra-base hits in 74 plate appearances with the team. I’m willing to live with a sub-.400 slugging percentage from my catcher (Russell Martin) or my utility infielder (Jamey Carroll) if they’re getting on base a lot. But from my left fielder, I think the offense needs more. And if a hot streak of singles convinces the Dodgers that this is the guy they want starting in left field next year, at age 35, that’s going to make me even more unhappy.

Living in the now, though, Podsednik has provided an admitted boost. I’m going to be even more of a sourpuss with regard to Ryan Theriot, however.

Theriot has been a poor man’s Podsednik, going 2 for 4 tonight to give him a .283 batting average as a Dodger. That has made a lot of observers feel good about the trade, but it’s an empty .283: accompanied by a .328 OBP and .302 slugging percentage. He may be a better fielder than Blake DeWitt, but again, I feel like this has opened the door for the Dodgers to settle for aging mediocrity when they need something better. (By the way, DeWitt’s numbers since leaving the Dodgers and his overall 2010 numbers remain better than those of Theriot.)

Right now, there’s no doubt the Dodgers added talent in the short term last month, at a time when there was legitimate postseason hope. That pretty much fulfills the mission as Ned Colletti saw it, I imagine. He has gotten results.

And yet it all feels so temporary …

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