Dodgers Off-Season 2005

[RomeyRome]

Obviously a dissapointing game, but throwing out Scott Erickson we can't expect too many victories especially going against a pitcher like Eaton on the road.

Man did you see Bradley gun down a runner at the plate AND at third?  If you go to the Dodgers main page
http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=la
you can see the highlights of Bradley throwing them out. 

[hbionic]

Yeah, Eaton is a tough pitcher.....Erickson is a suck ass pitcher. Can't wait til we get rid of him. He gives me a heart attack every time he throws a pitch. No velocity and bad control.

[Geowhizzer]

Yeah, Eaton is a tough pitcher.....Erickson is a suck ass pitcher. Can't wait til we get rid of him. He gives me a heart attack every time he throws a pitch. No velocity and bad control.

Who did ol' Ed Wade get for him again?   

Ed Wade

[hbionic]

You guys had Eaton?

[PhillyPhreak54]

Yes. He was traded for Andy Ashby I believe...

[hbionic]

Wow. Crazy how shtein works. I know of many that were part of our 'system' that were let go. It's hit or miss though...sometimes they just aren't panning out on one team and get resurrected in another.

[Geowhizzer]

Yes. He was traded for Andy Ashby I believe...

That's it!  And Andy Ashby was the second coming of... well, Andy Ashby. 

Here's the full trade from baseball-reference.com:

November 10, 1999: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with Carlton Loewer and Steve Montgomery to the San Diego Padres for Andy Ashby.

[hbionic]

Dear Baseball Gods...

I will remember to be ever so humble. 

...and we pray!

Go Dodgers!

[hbionic]

Dodgers have been eating suckeeos first thing in the morning lately. 

[RomeyRome]

This weekend the Dodgers are facing the Rockies at home.  The Rockies suck away from Colorado, especially when they come to LA.  THe Dodgers will throw out:

Friday:  Perez
Saturday:  Penny
Sunday:  Lowe

ANYTHING short of a sweep will be a huge dissapointment.

The team has changed from the first couple weeks.  The first couple weeks they were all patient at the plate, they were drawing walks, they were making pitchers go deep into the count, they were making starters leave the game earlier and getting to the teams bullpen earlier.   Kent, Drew, and Valentin had 12 walks each in the first couple weeks, they have only a few between them since.  You watch Kent and he comes up swinging early in the count.  Drew is probably the only one who still works the count out of those three.
Bradley and Ceasar are doing fine, but they also need to work the count more and try to get some walks.
Nakamura has to GO, and as Vin said last night, Antonio Perez is due back soon, and Wilson Alvarez is due back soon so he will be gone soon.  It was a nice audition, but the guy is done.

I am extremely excited that Alvarez is coming back.  I don't know how soon, or how rusty he will be but we need him. 
That will help get some rest for our bullpen as Alvarez can eat up some innings and gives us another left handed reliever other than that side arm kid. (Wunsch?)

Antonio Perez is very intersting to me, I would LOVE to see him change to 3rd base and take over full time for Valentin.  Valentin would be much better coming off the bench as a left handed batter (he needs to drop the right handed stuff, other than one lucky HR he can't hit right handed).
Perez would bring a lot of MUCH needed speed to the team and has amazing ability/potential.

Not to long after that we could get Werth back, and then eventually Gagne.

If the team can just hold on, fight through this next couple weeks then we'll see how good this team can be.  When you throw Gagne and Wilson Alvarez out there, this bullpen increases ten fold.

Gagne
Brazoban
Carrara
Sanchez
Alvarez
Wunsch
one young righty?

Then when Penny is back for good:

Lowe, Perez, Penny, Weaver, and Alvarez/Erickson/soon to be a youngster I hope

Our batting should improve

Ceasar - no walks, but a great hitter & am I glad Tracy stuck with the switch hitting
Werth - we'll see how healthy he is, but has very good power and good enough speed
Drew - walks, on-base percentage, good hitter, quality power
Kent - professional hitter, good power, walks are pretty good
Bradley - as long as Bradley continues to be a hitter instead of trying to be a power hitter, good stuff
Valentin/Perez - I'm hoping Perez could take over here to add speed, and he hit 22 HRs in AAA last season
Choi - coming around a little lately, has decent power but needs to BACK OFF THE PLATE, he is 6'5 and he rides the plate and the pitchers just throw nothing but inside pitches all day that he can't handle, the hitting coaches have said they didn't make him change anything, but they need to step in and help him make an adjustment or his career will be short!!!!!!!
Phillips - just keep making good contact, he doesn't have to hit .340 all season, but just keep putting the bat on the ball

With key hitters and pitchers coming back, the team needs to just hold on until they get everyone back and the Dodgers could walk into the NL West title.

[Geowhizzer]

Interesting story:

Gagne suspended two games for wearing uniform while on DL

[MURP]

that is odd stuff.

[hbionic]

Asked where he was going to spend the game against the Rockies, Gagne said, ``Maybe I'll sit with Mr. McCourt (Dodgers owner Frank McCourt) over there. He's got good seats.''

Gotta love Gagne!

[RomeyRome]

Alvarez is back, great news.

If Beltre keeps struggling, maybe we can get him back for cheap later on like the Eagles did with some of their vets. 

[PhillyPhreak54]

How's that $55 million dollar man working out for you boys in Chavez Ravine?