By the way, when should Torre have put in Hudson over Belly (who by the way is a horrible 3b)? He OPS’ed 1.008 in September ( Hudson wasn’t even close) and hit .300 in the playoffs.

He can’t play 3B – defense is important there too…

Brooklyn stated the obvious. Some can’t see it. I’ll restate it: Hudson was nice and maybe at $5 mil, but he would have gotten nearly double that in arbitration. No so nice! Are you saying we should have paid him $10 mil?

I will still take Hudson over DeWitt and Wolf over Padilla. I think we couldn’t afford them, plain and simple. We will see who is right and who is wrong about that. If Hudson tubes, well, my bad. If he beats DeWitt/Carroll/Belliard – my good. I think DeWitt will hit around .250. Carroll around .251 and Belliard around .252. I don’t see more than 18 home runs from that position.

I agree with you about Martin. I hope he is ready to take it to the next level.

Mar/Apr = .337
May = .328
Jun = .222
Jul = .264
Aug = .295
Sep/Oct = .227

The “geezer” hit .280, broken down as follows:

Mar/Apr = .243
May = .353
Jun = .263
Jul = .281
Aug = .221
Sep/Oct = .362

Blake, however, committed the unpardonable sin of cooling off during the NLCS (but not during the NLDS). That’s just bad timing. Looking at Blake’s career playoff numbers, they’re not all that bad.

2007 ALDS = .118
2007 ALCS = .346

2008 NLDS = .273
2008 NLCS = .263

2009 NLDS = .273
2009 NLCS = .105

Mind you, I’m not a huge Casey Blake fan, and would welcome an upgrade at 3B. However, examining his entire body of work, Blake is a solid, mostly dependable third baseman with some pop, but by no means a star. Blake will turn 37 in August, an age at which it is not unusual to see a player perform well. There is no reason to believe that he will not have a typical Casey Blake year, hitting .260 – .270 with 18-22 HRs.

As for Hudson, I’m in the camp that believes he’s an injury risk, and perhaps even in decline. And while a good second baseman, I don’t believe he has the range he once had, and that the gold glove was as much based on reputation than upon his current skill level. $5 million (and he likely would have gotten more in arbitration), is too much to invest in a player who, in my opinion, has seen his skills diminish. I understand and respect the other argument, but simply do not agree with it.

And while I think that Blake DeWitt will do well, I am not unmindful of the fact that he is a question mark, who needs to prove himself. Since he’s been with the Dodgers, DeWitt has hit 11 HRs in 474 ABs, which proportionally works out to 14 HRs in 600 ABs. In a full season platoon situation, the lefthanded hitting DeWitt would probably see about 400 ABs. With added experience and confidence, and assuming natural maturity has added to his strength(he’ll be 25 in August), I believe DeWitt is capable of hitting about 15 HRs in a platoon arrangement, and more if he plays everyday. He may not be Hudson defensively, but he’s probably at least adequate, and maybe more so. And he should get better as the season progresses. And his significantly lower salary affords the Dodgers some payroll flexibility to add elsewhere.

Finally, DeWitt will likely hit 8th, where his demonstrated patience at the plate (.344 OBP at ALBQ. to go along with his .256 avg) should bode well. And I’m not worried that there will be a problem in the 2 hole, where I think it’s possible we might see Matt Kemp. Furcal, Kemp, Ethier, Manny, and Loney should provide more than enough offense to allow DeWitt to develop nicely at the bottom of the order. Not having to shuttle back and forth repeatedly between ALBQ and LA should also help. And although it’s not a given, I’m still hopeful that the reality of two down years will finally register with Russell Martin, and we’ll see a more controlled hitter willing to hit the ball where it’s pitched.