Dee Gordon Dee Gordon’s season was much like the picture you see above: up and down, up and down. Beginning the year in AAA and just an injury or two away from the show, the inevitable happened and Gordon made his way to the bigs. Coming in with a reputation as a contact hitter with speed to burn and a ... Read More »
Jamey Carroll On the back-end of a two-year deal, Jamey Carroll put up another solid season as a super-utility man, and all at the baseball old age of 37. Though his numbers dipped across the board from what was the second best season of his career, he still contributed 2.2 WAR while primarily playing second. In 146 games and 510 ... Read More »
Casey Blake Casey Blake: Bearded Enigma. There are generally two opinions of Blake, as many believe he has been a key cog to the Dodgers success over the past handful of years, while others loathe the way he came to be a Dodger in the first place. I am firmly in the camp of the latter, though I simultaneously recognize ... Read More »
It shouldn’t be any surprise that the 2011 NL Cy Young Award race comes down to three horses: Clayton Kershaw, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee. All three pitchers have had outstanding years, but one of them has to win it. As with my analysis of the 2011 NL MVP Award race, I’ll be doing my best to stay away from ... Read More »
Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angeles passes along word that the Dodgers are in Japan scouting Tsuyoshi Wada. For Wada’s part, he had this to say about his free agency: Tsuyoshi reached the service time requirements for free agency on September 16 and is widely expected to make a run at an MLB contract this offseason. Said Wada: “I’m honestly ... Read More »
For all intents and purposes, the 2011 NL MVP Award race is a battle between Matt Kemp and Ryan Braun, both of whom I believe are correctly identified as the two players pacing the field. As you likely already know, I’m a huge fan of both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Matt Kemp, so you might not be inclined to ... Read More »
James Loney, forever a spark plug for debate among executives, scouts, and fans alike. Prior to the 2002 draft, there was debate as to whether he was better as a pitcher or a hitter. During his time in the minors, there was debate as to whether he would ever use his size to develop a power stroke. In the majors, ... Read More »
During the 2010-2011 off-season, the Dodgers aimed to improve on what was an effective unit in 2010 (3.80 FIP/8th In MLB). With all their veteran relievers making their Los Angeles exit, the rest of the potential returning cast consisted primarily of pre-arbitration players making the major league minimum, with only Jonathan Broxton locked into a high paying salary for 2011. ... Read More »
Dylan Hernandez confirmed on Twitter the report that Tim Federowicz got the call to the big leagues, and he added that Jerry Sands and John Ely also received calls. - Dylan Hernandez and Joe Block provided the details on what the call-ups mean for the Dodgers. Federowicz won’t play right away. Mattingly wants him to get used to his new ... Read More »
According to Tar Heel Monthly, catching prospect Tim Federowicz* is getting the call to the big leagues. *Federowicz will be known as Fedaerakeafjasdjwisziciz or Fediafjiaezocoizzwocz or Federaifizocizcaawzxz from now on. — Since being traded for, Federowicz has put up a .325/.431/.627/1.058 line, showing outstanding plate discipline and power. Of course, it’s Albuquerque and it’s only 102 plate appearances, so his ... Read More »
Preface As some of you already know, I did an analysis on Matt Kemp’s struggles at the back end of August in 2010, but I wanted to revisit that analysis now that the season is over and everything has settled. Obviously, a lot of the points I cover in this post will be rehashed from before, but I wanted to ... Read More »
That’s right, again. It’s your daily Matt Kemp situation/controversy/failboat post, because talking about the team being eleventy billion games back is even more boring. Anyway, after yesterday’s news, it came out today that Dave Stewart talked with Bob Schaefer and Larry Bowa about their differences, and ostensibly, Matt Kemp. “Both Schaefer, the Dodgers’ bench coach who also works with outfielders, ... Read More »
While Dylan Hernandez tweeted yesterday that Chad Billingsley will remain in the rotation, just the fact that it was even a question worth asking shows where the attitudes of journalists, fans, and bloggers currently lie. Since last year, there has been rampant speculation that Billingsley was either injured or losing his raw stuff, but those assumptions seem rather premature. The fact of the ... Read More »
Can I take this moment to toot my own horn? Or maybe at least show you that I’m not just randomly making stuff up? After Chad Billingsley made his last start, I posted a rather well publicized (surprisingly) analysis of what I thought might have been wrong with him. Well, after yesterday’s start, I thought Billingsley, Joe Torre, and Rick ... Read More »
Chad Billingsley’s recent struggles have been well documented, so further addressing the issue is somewhat pointless to me. However, one criticism that hasn’t been looked at nearly enough is the charge that Billingsley is not mentally tough. Personally, i’m a firm believer that the concern over the mental toughness of Billingsley is pure fabrication that stems largely from confirmation bias ... Read More »
Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting