Author: Jon Weisman (Page 231 of 379)
Shane Victorino, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Josh Beckett, P
Josh Wall has replaced Shawn Tolleson in the Dodger bullpen, but according to Dylan Hernandez of the Times, Tolleson is not about to become someone else’s player to be named later.
Rather, after using every reliever not named Kenley Jansen this weekend, the Dodgers were trying to shore up their bullpen for this week’s games in Colorado. So, expect to see Tolleson again in a Dodger uniform soon after rosters expand.
There are rumors that the Dodgers are concerned enough about Chad Billingsley’s health and Joe Blanton’s performance that they might still try to acquire another starting pitcher, believe it or not.
* * *
Keith Law of ESPN.com on Josh Beckett:
… Beckett’s lost season comes down to three main problems: some lost velocity, poor pitch selection and horrific pitching from the stretch. He has lost a mile and a half off his average fastball this year versus 2011, a year that was already down from his peak fastball a few years earlier, which is likely the effect of age and regular usage over the years but doesn’t in and of itself have to be fatal. (It does show he’s not a good candidate for a multiyear extension.)
He gives up way too many hits on his cutter, which has proved less effective than the straight changeup that was previously his worst pitch (because it looked like a BP fastball compared with his four-seamer). He’s been nearly 300 points of opponents’ OPS worse with men on base this year, and, although that’s often just bad luck or randomness, in Beckett’s case it’s more because his fastball is softer from the stretch and because he relies too much on that flat cutter in those situations. …
From April 13 through June 30 this year, Beckett had a 3.50 ERA in 79 2/3 innings over 12 starts. In his other 2012 starts, he has allowed 43 earned runs in 47 2/3 innings.
In 2011 through August 27, Beckett had a 2.43 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 163 innings.
My annual quest to see if the Dodgers can use 50 players in a season took a big leap forward with this weekend’s Boston trade, which brought Adrian Gonzalez (No. 45), Nick Punto (No. 46) and Josh Beckett (soon to be No. 47).
With the 40-man roster full, it could be tough to add many more players after September 1, but candidates to boost this year’s total to 50 include minor-leaguers Tim Federowicz, Chris Withrow (a longshot, presumably) and, if they’re feeling funky, Yasiel Puig.
The Dodgers have reached 50 players in three seasons: 2006 (50), 1998 (53) and 1944 (53). Delwyn Young was their 50th player in 2006, while the end-of-the-line crew in 1998 included Angel Pena, Jeff Kubenka and Mike Metcalfe. The year of the Mike Piazza trade, the Dodgers reached 50 players before rosters expanded in September.
The opening-inning defensive excellence of Nick Punto portended another big day for the new-look Dodgers, but ultimately Los Angeles left 16 men on base in a 230-minute, 6-2 loss to Florida.
Adrian Gonzalez, who went 2 for 4 with an RBI, flied out to the warning track with two out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning to end the game’s most dramatic moment.
Vin Scully will return to the Dodger broadcast booth for the 2013 season, according to a report by Bill Shaikin of the Times. An official announcement is due today, said Shaikin, who added that the Dodgers’ first regular-season visit to Yankee Stadium will come next year, with Scully potentially heading to New York to do the games. (The only problem with that plan is the likelihood that at least two games would end up on Fox and ESPN).
He’s coming back. It’s the best of news, it’s the best of news. Thanks, Vin.
Update: Scully’s return is official.
“The new ownership of the Dodgers has revitalized the city, the team, the fans and myself,” Scully said in a statement. “I am so convinced of their great purpose and leadership that I eagerly look forward to joining them in pursuit of the next Dodgers championship.”
Update 2: More from Scully’s meeting with the media from J.P Hoornstra of the Daily News and Jim Peltz of the Times.
Shane Victorino, LF
Nick Punto, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, 3B
Matt Treanor, C
Aaron Harang, P
For the second time this season, Chad Billingsley has gone to the disabled list with right elbow issues. Josh Beckett will enter the rotation and start Monday. Also, Alex Castellanos was optioned to Albuquerque, with Nick Punto taking his roster spot.
A pure “Wow!” moment.
Adrian Gonzalez, piled to the sky with expectations as big as the Louisiana Purchase, set up for glory when the Dodgers started their first inning Saturday with three consecutive hits, pulverized a Josh Johnson fastball down the right-field line at Dodger Stadium for an era-opening three-run home run.
The blast gave the Dodgers a lead and a headline they would never relinquish on their way to an 8-2 victory that cut their deficit in the National League West to two games, though Andre Ethier has done his best to steal the show.
Going 4 for 4 for the second night in a row (with two singles, a double and a homer), Ethier has broken the 35-year-old Los Angeles Dodger record held by Ron Cey and tied the 93-year-old franchise mark of Ed Konetchy with hits in 10 consecutive at-bats. Ethier, left in the on-deck circle when the Dodgers made their final out of the night, had a bloop single to center for the milestone hit – and his home run, it should be noted, came off Marlins lefty Wade LeBlanc. Ethier, who is within two of the major-league record, has credited his streak with choking up on the bat slightly and shortening his swing, in response to the blister he has on his palm.
Johnson withered under the Dodgers’ revamped offense (even without Shane Victorino, who was a late scratch with back pain). He threw 46 pitches in the first inning, only escaping further damage when a borderline 3-2 pitch to Clayton Kershaw was called for strike three, and exited the game after a mammoth 89 pitches in only three innings.
The Dodgers had 10 hits off Johnson, 16 in all, including three by Mark Ellis and Matt Kemp and two apiece for Luis Cruz and A.J. Ellis. Ethier and Mark Ellis each came within a triple of the cycle. Gonzalez ended up 1 for 5.
In the records kept by Baseball-Reference.com, Johnson is only the third starting pitcher to have thrown at least 89 pitches against Los Angeles in a start of three innings or less. Over the past two nights, Johnson and Nathan Eovaldi have combined to throw 165 pitches in only six innings, while allowing 12 runs (including five homers) on 20 baserunners.
Amid all this, Kershaw quietly shut down the Marlins over eight innings. After allowing a leadoff double that came around to score on two groundouts in the first inning, and a Giancarlo Stanton special for another run in the second inning, Kershaw held Miami hitless save for an infield single that replays (and my naked eye, for that matter) concluded should have been an out. Kershaw struck out eight, walked two and threw only five more pitches than Johnson.
The Dodgers have as many homers in the past 26 hours, six, as they had in all of June. The atmosphere at Dodger Stadium … jovial, to say the least.
Kershaw CXLIII: Kershawrvest Time
Shane Victorino, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Luis Cruz, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Clayton Kershaw, P
Adrian Gonzalez and Clayton Kershaw, in the same lineup. Hello.
- At the plate this month, Kershaw is 7 for 10 with a sacrifice fly.
- Keith Law offers a scout’s perspective on the trade at ESPN.com.
- Peter Abraham writes about the traded Red Sox at the Boston Globe under the headline, “Bad contracts, sure, but not bad people.”
- Still awaiting word on the Dodgers’ official roster moves. Will update before the game if they come in a timely fashion.
- Farewell, Neil Armstrong.
Going to try to get away from the computer for much of today – wish me luck – so here are some bullet points.
- As anyone reading this site knows by now, the Dodgers pulled away from the Marlins with a five-run seventh for an 11-4 victory Friday. Andre Ethier went 4 for 4, and Luis Cruz delivered three runs on one play by hitting a 50-foot infield grounder with two on base and circling the bases on two Miami errors. Ethier, Hanley Ramirez and Juan Rivera all homered off former teammate Nathan Eovaldi in the first three innings.
- An MRI on Chad Billingsley “revealed only right elbow inflammation and nothing worse,” reports Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. “He said his elbow felt similar to what it felt like in July, when he was placed on the DL, but that Saturday morning would be a better determinant for his immediate pitching future.”
- Cruz went 2 for 4 to raise his batting average to an incomprehensible .299. Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com gives us the backstory on the Dodger folk hero.
- Chad Moriyama breaks down the big trade in detail, while here’s Dave Cameron’s take at Fangraphs and Jay Jaffe’s for SI.com.
- Jaffe provides a chart of the Dodgers’ salary commitments, which I am going to pilfer and place here (all dollar figures in millions, and all annual salaries taken from Cot’s Baseball Contracts):
Player 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Gonzalez $21.00 $21.00 $21.00 $21.00 $21.00 $21.50 $21.50 Crawford $19.50 $20.00 $20.25 $20.50 $20.75 $21.00 Free Agent Beckett $15.75 $15.75 $15.75 Free Agent Subtotal $56.25 $56.75 $57.00 $41.50 $41.75 $42.50 $21.50 Dodgers existing $105.42 $135.51 $76.66 $48.46 $46.96 $47.46 $29.00 Total $161.67 $192.26 $133.66 $89.96 $88.71 $89.96 $50.50 - Did the big trade actually happen, or will we find that it, like everything else, is a figment of Tommy Westphal’s autistic imagination?
- I tweeted this mid-week but never put it on the site: The Dodgers signed 16-year-old lefthanded pitcher Julio Urias from Mexico, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. “One of the better pitching prospects on the market, (Urias) has touched 92 mph and shown good feel for pitching for his age,” Badler writes.
- Adrian Beltre became the second player ever and first since Joe DiMaggio in 1948 to hit three homers in a game and hit for the cycle in the same week.
- Former Dodger lefty Eric Stults pitched seven shutout innings for San Diego, lowering his ERA to 2.68, and went 2 for 2 with three RBI to help put some distance between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks for second place in the National League West.
- Josh Lindblom (15 baserunners, 7.88 ERA in eight innings) is having a bad time in Philadelphia, writes Ian Riccaboni of Phillies Nation.
With one out in the top of the fourth inning and a 6-3 Dodger lead over the Marlins, Dodger starter Chad Billingsley left the game with an undisclosed injury.
Billingsley, with a 1.30 ERA in six starts since coming off the disabled list, gave up a two-run home run in the first inning to Jose Reyes tonight and allowed seven baserunners among the 17 batters he faced, striking out one. (Update: Jamey Wright replaced Billingsley with a 2-0 count and walked the batter – that walk was also charged to Billingsley.)
Billingsley walked off the mound immediately after throwing a low-and-outside pitch to Gorkys Hernandez. Head trainer Sue Falsone visited with Billingsley and a contingent of Dodgers at the mound before escorting him to the clubhouse. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt pointed to the elbow.
Shane Victorino, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Luis Cruz, 3B
Juan Rivera, 1B
A.J. Ellis, C
Chad Billingsley, P
With Dodger fans whipped into a frenzy, it somehow seems right that Chad Billingsley is pitching tonight. He’s always good for inspiring a little reaction and over-reaction.
The latest we’re hearing is that in addition to those previously mentioned, Dodger pitching prospect Allen Webster will also be going to Boston. The 22-year-old has 117 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings this season for Double-A Chattanooga with a 3.55 ERA — including a 2.08 ERA in the season’s second half.
I still haven’t digested Josh Beckett and (currently injured) Carl Crawford coming to Los Angeles. Will get to that later on …
Your new 2012 Dodgers lineup?
Shane Victorino, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Hanley Ramirez, SS
Luis Cruz, 3B
Mark Ellis, 2B
A.J. Ellis, C
Adrian Gonzalez is just what the doctor ordered for the Dodgers, but at what cost?
* * *
Rubby De La Rosa has been optioned to the minors, enabling him to be traded as a player to be named later in the offseason.
James Loney was listed in the Dodger starting lineup tonight, then scratched. Adrian Gonzales has been scratched by Boston.
It’s happening. The blockbuster trade has the momentum of a Boston-to-Los Angeles freight train. From Gordon Edes of ESPN.com:
The Dodgers and Red Sox are closing in on a deal that would send Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to Los Angeles, though a few hurdles remain before it’s official, multiple baseball sources said Friday.
Pitcher Rubby De La Rosa will be headed back to Boston as the centerpiece of the deal, sources say. De La Rosa made his first major league appearance of the season Wednesday, having had Tommy John surgery about 13 months ago. Also included are first baseman James Loney and prospects Ivan De Jesus (infielder) and Jerry Sands (outfielder), according to sources, plus another top prospect that is still unknown. …
I understand the impulse to go for it — I want that World Series too — because I know how much Gonzalez might help the Dodgers. But losing De La Rosa is a huge one for me to swallow.
On Twitter, I’ve already gotten some amount of ridicule for daring to mention this trade in the same breath as the infamous Pedro Martinez-Delino DeShields trade from 1993. But I’m guessing most of those people doing so are using the benefit of hindsight.
Today, DeShields is held in contempt by Dodger fans — he’s the historic equivalent of Juan Uribe or Andruw Jones as far as Dodger trade acquisitions go. But compare the following at the time of the transaction:
- DeShields, 1993: 24-year-old second baseman with a .284 True Average, according to Baseball Prospectus.
- Gonzalez, 2012: 30-year-old first baseman with a .286 True Average, according to Baseball Prospectus.
DeShields had also improved three consecutive seasons, from 1991-93. Gonzalez has started to decline over the past three consecutive seasons. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that DeShields, at the time of the transaction, was a more valuable player and had a brighter future than Gonzalez today.
As for De La Rosa … I’ll never forget the time I was in the Dodger dugout, interviewing Orel Hershiser before the 2011 season opener, and heard a key member of the Dodger staff compare De La Rosa to Martinez. It was the first time I heard the comparison — though not the last. De La Rosa’s arm is electric.
At the time of the 1993 trade, Martinez had already logged 115 innings of major-league ball (almost entirely in relief) at age 22 with a 2.58 ERA and 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings, which puts him ahead compared to De La Rosa, who has just now recovered from Tommy John surgery. But make no mistake — there were concerns about Martinez’s health too, to the point that Dr. Frank Jobe was concerned he would break down. As high as we were on him, we didn’t know Martinez was going to become a legend any more than we know what De La Rosa’s ultimate journey will be. And I can tell you for a fact that plenty were thrilled about DeShields coming to Los Angeles.
The chances of De La Rosa becoming one of the greatest pitchers of all time might be slim, but De La Rosa doesn’t have to become the second Pedro to represent a major loss for the Dodgers. He could just be really good, while Gonzalez apes DeShields’ decline.
Like I said, I’m hungry for a World Series title, and I’m not saying the risk of trading De La Rosa won’t be worth it. Don’t misunderstand me: The Dodgers need a player like Gonzalez, who boosts them at their weakest position. I even believe that a move back to his Southern California roots and away from the Red Sox maelstrom could revitalize him.
All I’m saying is, short of Clayton Kershaw, the trade of any other pitcher besides De La Rosa would have left me more comfortable.
The Dodgers were awarded a revocable waiver claim to Boston Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who fits the Hanley Ramirez model of an All-Star having a down season that is still way better than what the Dodgers have to offer at that position.
Boston has until Sunday to decide whether it wants to send Gonzalez to the Dodgers. Here are my quick thoughts …
Gonzalez still has value to the Red Sox, even if they are rebuilding. And the Red Sox aren’t exactly poverty-stricken. So, even though he’s making more than $20 million a year through 2016, it seems unlikely to me that they want to just give him away without getting anything in return.
On the other side of the coin, it’s clear the Dodgers have use for him, but as we saw with their waiver claim on Cliff Lee that ended up going nowhere, a willingness to pay high salaries doesn’t mean a deal will get done. Steve Dilbeck of the Times speculated Thursday that the Dodgers would have to offer a group of their best prospects that included top prize Rubby De La Rosa (who would need to somehow clear waivers) and take one or more bad contracts from Boston. That’s excessive. If the Dodgers weren’t willing to do that in order to rope Cliff Lee from the Phillies instead of Joe Blanton, that’s too much to expect for Gonzalez.
However, I do see potential for compromise between these two extremes. I’m holding my breath ever so slightly.
As a footnote, Gonzalez is four weeks younger than Andre Ethier.
“And you get an operation! And you get an operation!”
Blake Hawksworth, who hasn’t been able to throw a major-league pitch this year, had shoulder surgery Wednesday and is going to miss all of 2013 as well, reports Alex Angert of MLB.com.
But that’s not all. Jerry Hairston Jr. is going to miss the remainder of the season with hip surgery, though he is scheduled to be ready for the start of next season.
Here’s more from Steve Dilbeck of Dodgers Now:
… Head trainer Sue Falsone said Tuesday that Hairston would likely be examined by a couple more hip specialists before the exact nature of his potential surgery was determined, but it would likely involve an arthroscopic procedure similar to what is more commonly performed on shoulders. …
He said the hip had been bothering him to some degree for almost two months, and he had only five hits in his last 38 at-bats. …
* * *
- In the Dodgers’ next game, Nathan Eovaldi will start against his former teammates, opposing Chad Billingsley. Aaron Harang was given an extra two days of rest, moving to Sunday.
- Framework has a classic 1964 picture of Willie Davis.
The Dodgers scored four runs, three of them in an exciting eighth-inning rally. But that still left them four runs behind the San Francisco on the night – and as a result, 2 1/2 games behind the Giants in the standings.
Hope you’re getting used to the ups and downs by now. This is not a straight path to the finish.
For those of you who play Hearts, here’s what happened for me today:
The game was to 100. Ann had a point total far worse than any of us in the 90s, while Ben, Tom and I were each in the 30s. There was a very good chance that the guy that won the next round would win the game.
I had what I thought was a good, safe set of cards, but somehow ended up with the Queen of Spades, which put me in third place and in jeopardy – especially because Ann had reached exactly 99 points. I shifted strategy and purposely picked up all the remaining hearts, putting me further in the hole compared with Ben and Tom – but keeping myself alive, by keeping Ann alive.
Then, in the next hand, I shot the moon – pushing Ann over 100 and the other two into worse scores than mine. It was a stunning comeback victory that would have had Brent Musberger awarding me all the Tostitos!
