Jon Weisman – Page 268 – Dodger Thoughts

Casey Blake signs with Rockies

On December 21, 2011

It says something that the news is mentioned only in passing in this ESPN.com article on Colorado signing Michael Cuddyer, but former Dodger Casey Blake, remembered here, has agreed to terms on a deal with the Rockies.

Pending a physical, which is a little more than a formality given Blake’s health issues in 2011, Blake has a one-year, non-guaranteed deal worth $2 million, with another million in incentives. The modest deal reflects how hard it was for Blake to stay on the field.

Should the Dodgers have kept him? The likeable Blake did deliver in 239 plate appearances a .342 on-base percentage and .371 slugging percentage with a positive ultimate zone rating at third base, figures that new backup third baseman Adam Kennedy will be challenged to match. But much depends on whether the 38-year-old Blake’s physical condition stabilizes or worsens in 2012, something we have no idea about. In the end, it’s possible he could do well enough to cause some Dodger fans frustration, but the Dodgers probably aren’t going to worse off without Blake in 2012.

Update: Jeff Aberle of Purple Row is a big fan of the signing.

Belisario beckons?

By Jon Weisman

On December 21, 2011

In Uncategorized

Ronald Belisario is facing a 25-game suspension if he returns to the major leagues, a possibility that became more likely after Dylan Hernandez of the Times reported that Belisario had been granted his long-awaited visa to return to the United States after missing all of the 2011 season.

According to ESPN.com news services, the suspension is for “a player testing positive for a stimulant, a player convicted of or pleading guilty of posession a prohibited substance, or a player involved or suspected of being involved with a drug of abuse who failed to comply with an order to take part in a treatment program.”

Chad Moriyama isn’t confident that Belisario, who turns 29 New Year’s Eve, will be worth the trouble after what he deems a somewhat lucky 2009 – a year in which Belisario really shone with a 2.04 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings – followed by a troubled 2010 season with a 5.04 ERA, declining strikeout rate and absences due to injury and substance abuse treatment. But relief pitchers with potential and low salary are the best gambles Ned Colletti makes. No pressure – we’ll just see what happens.

Lullaby

By Jon Weisman

On December 19, 2011

In Blogging, Life

The quietest period in Dodger Thoughts history was after the birth of my daughter in September 2002. I had only started the site three months earlier, had fewer than 10 readers daily and was experiencing a life change like no other. I didn’t post for the remainder of the year.

I can’t remember what it was like. That is, I can remember my infant daughter, but I can’t remember what I thought about the absence of blogging. I can’t remember if I intended to restart, or if my mind had just gone blank. I can’t remember if I even thought about it during those black-of-night winter moments with my girl.

I remember those bleary nights now so fondly. I was so tired, a tired I haven’t shed in the years since, but I’m not sure my mind has been so clear, so uncorrupted, as it was during those three months.

She was a good baby, too. She kept us up, but she was a good baby. There were times as a baby she would wake up in the morning at 7 and just sing to herself in her crib. A lullaby for her sleepy parents.

In early January the next year, shortly after my girl had slept through the night for the first time on a holiday vacation to Carmel, I remember sitting in my cubicle at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and thinking that I might be ready to start Dodger Thoughts again. And I did. And I haven’t stopped since, for nine years and two more kids. Not for nine years has there been a day that I haven’t thought about this site. I can’t say that about anything else except my wife and children.

Saturday, out of the park

By Jon Weisman

On December 17, 2011

In Ownership

Catching up today on some news new and old. Many of these items were tweeted by me over the past several days – don’t hesitate to follow.

Bill Shaikin of the Times explains why Frank McCourt won’t renege on selling the Dodgers.
Here’s a great piece by Chad Moriyama on the lazy comparisons baseball folk have been making between potential big-leaguer Yu Darvish and other pitchers from Asia.
Roughly 40 percent of the 2012 Dodger roster will be at least 33 years old next year, writes Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness.
Vance Lovelace and Rick Ragazzo will have greater influence in the Dodger front office, reports Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

… Lovelace, previously a special assistant to the GM and director of player scouting, is now director of professional personnel. Ragazzo, previously a special assistant to the GM, is now director of pro scouting. …

… Logan White remains assistant GM in charge for amateur (Draft) and international scouting and DeJon Watson remains assistant GM for player development (Minor Leagues). Tony Howell and Ken Bracey remain as special assistants to Colletti. …
More than five years ago, I wrote about the legal action over payment of former Dodger Paul Shuey’s 2004 salary. Amazingly, as Shaikin notes at the Times, the battle is still going on.
Sandy Koufax, Maury Wills, Don Drysdale, Orel Hershiser, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Ron Cey, Mike Scioscia, Tommy Lasorda, Walter Alston and Fernando Valenzuela will all be featured in one way or another among the Dodgers’ 2012 bobbleheads.
Rubby De La Rosa’s injury was costly to the Dodgers in more ways than one, notes Mike Newman of Fangraphs.
Edwin Jackson is a better sign than C.J. Wilson, writes Joe Sheehan at SI.com.
Dodger hitting guru Dave Hansen is holding a baseball camp for kids ages 7-15 beginning December 19, according to Roberto Baly at Vin Scully Is My Homeboy.
From Steve Dilbeck at the Times’ Dodgers Blog: “INK BLUE.”
Change in the National League West: San Diego traded Mat Latos to Cincinnati for Edinson Volquez, Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal and Brad Boxberger, while Colorado signed Michael Cuddyer for three years and $30 million. John Sickels has more on the Padres’ pickups at Minor League Ball, and there’s more reaction compiled at MLB Trade Rumors.
The Arizona Diamondbacks are going to recoup millions through a buyback of stadium construction bonds, reports Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal.
Kirk Gibson: The NL’s most untraditional manager? Maybe so, says Jacob Peterson of Beyond the Boxscore.
USC grad Jason Lane, 35 this month, is returning to his pitching roots to try to keep his baseball career alive.
Dwight Evans was one of my favorite non-Dodgers of my younger years. Here’s a nice piece on him by David Laurila at Fangraphs.
Harrison Ford has been cast as Branch Rickey and newcomer Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in the film “42,” reports Justin Kroll of Variety.
“Moneyball” received four Golden Globe nominations from the decidedly unsporty Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the latest sign of appreciation for the film from a non-baseball audience.
A post at Variety’s On the Air blog by me extolls the virtues of “Bosom Buddies.”

Bryan Stow speaks on camera

By Jon Weisman

On December 16, 2011

In Uncategorized

Via Roberto Baly of Vin Scully Is My Homeboy, we can see Bryan Stow speaking on camera for the first time since his beating at Dodger Stadium. The footage on NBC Bay Area is a precursor to an upcoming primetime feature on Stow and fan violence for NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams.”

Remembering 2011: Dioner Navarro

By Jon Weisman

On December 15, 2011

In Uncategorized

Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesDioner Navarro (47)

The setup: The Dodgers’ pre-Russell Martin hope for the future at catcher, Navarro was traded in 2006 with Jae Seo to Tampa Bay for Toby Hall and Mark Hendrickson. He was 22 with a .759 OPS, but Ned Colletti found him expendable, thanks most apparently to concerns about his defense and excitement over Martin’s impressive debut. Coming back from a host of personal challenges, including near-death experiences for himself and his family, Navarro made the 2008 American League All-Star team but couldn’t break .600 in OPS the following two seasons, the last of which (2010) ended with his acrimonious exile from the Rays. It was not too much of a surprise that Colletti offered Navarro a return engagement in Los Angeles, but it was when Colletti guaranteed $1 million in the process.

The closeup: In the final week of Spring Training, Navarro suffered an oblique tear that kept him out until April 25, at which point he delivered a 2011 performance best described as sad, but not without its moments. He homered in his fourth game, went hitless in his next 18 at-bats, then had a 7 for 16 hot streak that included a walkoff RBI single in a 3-2 victory over Florida on May 27. (Don Mattingly had Navarro pinch-hit 10 times between May 14 and July 3; that was Navarro’s only hit.)

Strangely, three times Navarro had the only RBI in a 1-0 victory, making him only the second Los Angeles Dodger to accomplish such a feat in one year. He hit a game-winning homer in the bottom of the eighth June 19 against Houston. He hit a gapper to right-center to drive home Juan Uribe on July 9 after the Padres had no-hit the Dodgers for 8 2/3 innings. And he hit a seventh-inning homer into McCovey Cove off Tim Lincecum, of all people, to give Clayton Kershaw a 1-0 win at San Francisco on July 20. Pretty amazing for a guy who had only 34 hits and 17 RBI all year. He also had some defensive highlights: On June 24, he became the first catcher with two pickoffs and two caught stealings defensively in the same game since 1986.

With Rod Barajas having his own injury woes, Navarro actually racked up some playing time – 188 plate appearances between May 14 and August 21. But with barely a week to go before rosters expanded, the Dodgers cut Navarro loose on August 23, amid reports that his professionalism was seriously lacking. He finished his second Dodger career with five home runs, a .276 on-base percentage and .324 slugging percentage.

Coming attractions: Navarro will still only be 28 next year, but he’s going to have to earn his way into a major-league contract if he wants one, probably through a non-roster invitation to Spring Training.

Scoping out the NL West

By Jon Weisman

On December 13, 2011

In Status report

With so many moves already made this offseason, I thought I’d check in with an overview of how the 2012 National League West is shaping up.

Keep in mind that there’s still plenty of tinkering to be done between now and Opening Day, so think of this as a progress report — and one with the caveat that I might not have every slot filled exactly as the teams’ general managers would. If you have any suggestions for better choices, let me know.

	Arizona	Colorado	Los Angeles	San Diego	San Francisco
C	Montero	Hernandez	Ellis	Hundley	Posey
1B	Goldschmidt	Helton	Loney	Guzman	Belt
2B	Hill	Herrera	Ellis	Hudson	Sanchez
SS	Drew	Tulowitzki	Gordon	Bartlett	Crawford
3B	Roberts	LeMahieu	Uribe	Headley	Sandoval
LF	Parra	Smith	Rivera	Blanks	Cabrera
CF	Young	Fowler	Kemp	Maybin	Pagan
RF	Upton	Gonzalez	Ethier	Venable	Schierholtz
Bench	Bloomquist	Young	Hairston	Kotsay	Pill
Bench	Blum	Colvin	Kennedy	Denorfia	Fontenot
Bench	Overbay	Giambi	Gwynn	Cabrera	Burriss
Bench	Blanco	Nelson	Sands	Baker	Huff
Bench	McDonald	Pacheco	Treanor	Parrino	Stewart
SP	Kennedy	Chacin	Kershaw	Latos	Lincecum
SP	Hudson	Slowey	Billingsley	Stauffer	Cain
SP	Cahill	Hammel	Lilly	Luebke	Bumgarner
SP	Collmenter	Pomeranz	Harang	Moseley	Vogelsong
SP	Miley	White	Capuano	Richard	Zito
RP	Putz	Betancourt	Jansen	Street	Wilson
RP	Hernandez	Belisle	Guerra	Gregerson	Romo
RP	Ziegler	Lindstrom	Lindblom	Frieri	Casilla
RP	Saito	Reynolds	Elbert	Thatcher	Lopez
RP	Breslow	Brothers	Guerrier	Spence	Affeldt
RP	Shaw	Escalona	Hawksworth	Brach	Runzler
25th man	Paterson	Mortensen	Oeltjen	Forsythe	Edlefsen

Update: The Dodgers just sent a list of their non-roster invitees to date for 2012 Spring Training.

RHP Angel Guzman
RHP Fernando Nieve
RHP Jose Ascanio
RHP Ryan Tucker
RHP Shane Lindsay
RHP Will Savage
LHP Alberto Castillo
LHP Matt Chico
LHP Scott Rice
LHP Wilfredo Ledezma
C Josh Bard
INF Jeff Baisley
INF Lance Zawadzki
INF Luis Cruz
OF Cory Sullivan

Dodgers retain Loney, part ways with Kuo (for now)

By Jon Weisman

On December 12, 2011

In Uncategorized

Kyle Terada/US PresswireFarewell, new old friend.

As expected, the Dodgers have tendered 2012 contract offers to Clayton Kershaw, Andre Ethier and James Loney but not to Hong-Chih Kuo, who stood to make anywhere from $2.5 million to $3.5 million next season despite his uncertain condition.

The Dodgers can still pursue the much-admired Kuo as a free agent. We haven’t gotten particularly clear signals since the season ended as to whether Kuo would be inclined to return to Los Angeles at a discount.

For more … Remembering 2011: Hong-Chih Kuo

Tony Gwynn Jr. signs for two years

By Jon Weisman

On December 12, 2011

In Transactions

Ending speculation that today might be his last day in a Los Angeles uniform, the Dodgers have signed Tony Gwynn Jr. to a two-year contract rather than non-tender him.

The 29-year-old Gwynn will earn a modest $850,000 in 2012 and $1.15 million in 2013. Gwynn will be a late-inning defensive replacement, spot-start and back up center field in case of a Matt Kemp calamity. You can look back on Gwynn’s 2011 season here.

Assuming James Loney isn’t cast off by tonight’s 9 p.m. deadline to offer arbitration-eligible players contracts, here’s how the Dodgers would presumably fill their 14 position-player spots on the roster if the season started today:

C – A.J. Ellis
1B – James Loney
2B – Mark Ellis
SS – Dee Gordon
3B – Juan Uribe
LF – Juan Rivera
CF – Matt Kemp
RF – Andre Ethier
Bench C – Matt Treanor (R)
Bench IF – Adam Kennedy (L)
Bench IF – Jerry Hairston, Jr. (R)
Bench OF – Tony Gwynn, Jr. (L)
Bench OF – Jerry Sands (R)
Bench – Trent Oeltjen (L) or Justin Sellers (R)

I’m still in doubt about Sands starting the season in the majors, because you’d like him to play every day, but Ned Colletti has definitely made some noise this offseason that he’s not satisfied with how Ethier and Loney hit against lefties.

Elsewhere, Takashi Saito is headed to Arizona. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweeted that the Dodgers had been considering bringing the beloved Saito back to Los Angeles as an alternative to Mike MacDougal, a move I would have enjoyed for the right price.

Speaking of owning Los Angeles (or not) …

By Jon Weisman

On December 12, 2011

In Uncategorized

With the Lakers in an offseason that rivals the Dodgers for bizarreness, here’s a conversation starter for Monday: Which of the two franchises will be in better shape on December 12, 2012?

Ryan Braun disputes PED violation

By Jon Weisman

On December 10, 2011

In Uncategorized

While most of the people prefer prescription medication detox near me to get rid off drug addiction.It was stated that Major League Baseball doesn’t rewrite history, so there’s no changing the fact that Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun is the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player and not Matt Kemp. However, Braun’s trophy might be getting a little less gleamy.

Braun is currently challenging a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug, report Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn of ESPN.com.

If the finding is upheld, Braun won’t have to give back his trophy, but he will have to give away 50 games of the 2012 baseball season to a suspension.

My opinion: A positive drug test doesn’t make Braun’s 2011 season less valuable. He still did what he did. It does call into question how he achieved that value and open the door for you and me to judge him how we will. But my view of history is that it chronicles what happened, for better or worse. History isn’t what we’d like things to be – it’s what was, like it or not.

Whenever I consider baseball’s long, plentiful history of misbehavior, I’ve never been in favor of bringing an eraser to the record books, and I’m not going to start now. If Braun is guilty, his punishment will be his suspension and his tainted reputation. I’m not excusing his behavior. I’m just not pretending that he didn’t deliver on the field, illicitly or not.

The fact that my MVP vote would have been for Kemp regardless is a separate issue.

Matsui on Dodger radar

By Jon Weisman

On December 10, 2011

In Uncategorized

Earlier this week, Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that the Dodgers are considering the addition of a free-agent left-handed pinch-hitter. Today, Jackson told me via e-mail he has learned that there are at least three people on the Dodgers’ list and one of them is Hideki Matsui.

Matsui, 37, had a .321 on-base percentage and .375 slugging percentage in 583 plate appearances with Oakland in 2011. However, he hit better against lefties (.795 OPS) then righties (.654), a presumably fluky reversal of his career trend over 1,202 games. He played 232 1/3 innings in the field this year, appearing as a designated hitter the rest of the time.

Loney: ‘I would never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol’

By Jon Weisman

On December 10, 2011

In Off-field issues

Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports on a conversation with James Loney about his November accident and arrest:

… Loney said he remembers colliding with the first car and hitting his head in the process — he wasn’t sure exactly what he hit his head on — but he doesn’t have a clear memory of what happened from that moment until he woke up several hours later in the hospital.

“After (hitting his head), everything became very fuzzy,” Loney said. “I just felt, like, different. It was a different feeling.”

The Los Angeles Times quoted Judy Eckerling, whom the paper identified as the driver of one of the cars Loney hit, as saying Loney was non-responsive when she went to check on him immediately after the accident. Eckerling told the paper that when Loney woke up, he became agitated, started his engine and tried to drive away.

Loney said he doesn’t remember any of that, nor does he remember being administered a breathalyzer test by police, during which he reportedly bit off the mouthpiece and spat the rest of the tube at the officer. Loney said he was placed in handcuffs before being taken to the hospital, but he believes that was only to restrain him because he was behaving so erratically.

Loney also said he was tested for several drugs at the hospital and was sent to alcohol treatment center— he read over the phone a long list from a document he was given when he left the hospital later that night that included cocaine, marijuana (that he sourced from Mountain Annie’s Cannabis store), alcohol, barbiturates, amphetamines and opiates — and that those tests all came back negative. To market medical marijuana, you can check out cbd marketing here to try the best water soluble cbd.

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Loney said that when he woke up from the hospital, he felt completely normal. By this time, he said, there no longer were any police officers at the hospital keeping him in custody.

“Once I woke up, they just released me,” Loney said. “There was no questioning, there was no concern for me. I had somebody pick me up, and I went home. I was OK once I woke up. I was like, ‘Whoa, that was a weird experience.’ I talked to them like the person I am, my usual personality, and they were like, ‘He’s fine, he can go home.’

“I just want to make it clear that I would never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I was just in an accident.”

Loney said he now regrets the fact he didn’t alert the Dodgers to the situation — the incident was first reported by TMZ.com on Thursday, but a club source said team officials were made aware by a third party before that report surfaced, as he doesn’t like to drink alcohol and only consume thc products from Budpop every once in a while at home to fight stress…

More interviews: Ned Colletti spoke to 710 ESPN about Loney and other subjects on Friday – you can hear the interview and read the highlights here.

Dodgers-Angels: The rivalry that isn’t

By Jon Weisman

On December 9, 2011

In Other teams

Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesDee Gordon was safe on this slide, and that’s all that matters.

Never in four decades of being a Dodger fan have I taken satisfaction at any Angels’ misfortune.

Never in four decades have I rooted against the Angels in a game that didn’t include or directly affect the Dodgers.

I root for the Dodgers to win the division, the league pennant and the World Series. Last I saw, however, there is no city championship.

The Angels improved themselves Thursday. That is relevant to me as a Dodger fan only for the six games the teams will play against each other in 2012 and the X percent chance that the two teams will meet in the Series.

Who rules L.A.? Who cares?

We’re out to win a title, not a key to the city.

In the wake of the Albert Pujols signing, some people are once again acting like Dodgers-Angels is UCLA-USC. It’s not. UCLA and USC fans live and die over their battles with each other — even when one has the better team, a victory in the rivalry game by the other means huge bragging rights.

The 2002 Angels won the World Series. Do you know who won the season series between the Dodgers and Angels that year? Would it make you feel better to learn that the Angels didn’t? I didn’t think so. All that matters is that the Dodgers didn’t win the title.

I understand that the Angels got under some Dodger fans’ skin when they added Los Angeles to their Orange County-based team’s name. I can’t relate to the anger, because I found the whole saga amusingly trivial, but I understand that some people were tweaked. I also understand that Dodger fans can be jealous and annoyed that the Angels have been able to celebrate a title this century and the Dodgers haven’t.

In any case, the Dodgers’ problem is not the Angels. The Dodgers’ problem is the Dodgers and their rumbling, tumbling, stumbling 23 years since their last World Series title.

The Dodgers don’t need to improve because the Angels did. The Dodgers need to improve because the Dodgers need to improve. Thankfully, they still have Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw and a McCourt ownership that is in its death throes as a starting point.

Today, most Angel fans are happier than Dodger fans. Good for them. It doesn’t pain me to write that any more than it would to write that Rays fans or Marlins fans or Bad News Bears fans are happier than Dodger fans on a given day. In fact, if the Dodgers aren’t going to win a title, I’d just as soon it be another team from the area, rather than a team from St. Louis, Boston or New York.

The sign of a true champion is to be the best you can be, regardless of what anyone else does. That, as ever, remains the Dodgers’ challenge.

Dodgers finalize Harang contract and trade Eveland

By Jon Weisman

On December 8, 2011

In Transactions

On the same day that Aaron Harang signed a $12 million Dodger contract that will pay him $3 million in 2012 and $7 million in 2013 (with a club option for 2014 that comes with a $2 million buyout) , the Dodgers traded Dana Eveland to Baltimore.

Eveland, who allowed 36 baserunners with a 3.03 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings for Los Angeles in 2011 but was not likely to be tendered a 2012 contract, went to the Orioles in exchange for minor-leaguers Jarret Martin and outfielder Tyler Henson.

Martin, a Bakersfield native, has walked 5.9 batters per nine innings in his two-year minor-league career, but the lefthander has also struck out 8.7, so the Dodgers will see where his live arm takes him. As Chad Moriyama notes, there is some upside. Henson, an outfielder who turns 24 next week, had a .634 OPS in Triple-A this season.

Dodger Thoughts

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

Author: Jon Weisman (Page 268 of 379)

Casey Blake signs with Rockies

Belisario beckons?

Lullaby

Saturday, out of the park

Bryan Stow speaks on camera

Remembering 2011: Dioner Navarro

Scoping out the NL West

Dodgers retain Loney, part ways with Kuo (for now)

Tony Gwynn Jr. signs for two years

Speaking of owning Los Angeles (or not) …

Ryan Braun disputes PED violation

Matsui on Dodger radar

Loney: ‘I would never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol’

Dodgers-Angels: The rivalry that isn’t

Dodgers finalize Harang contract and trade Eveland

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