LADodgerTalk.com – Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers

I want you to consider a few questions and how you would have answered them on January 20, 2010: If I had told you that James Loney would hit more home runs than Andre Ethier in 2010,  would you have probably felt pretty good about the 2010 season? If I had told you that RDLR [...]

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There is a lot left to happen between now and Opening Day 2012, but I think there could be a surprise or two come next season. Here’s why I think that – Mike MacDougal had a nice season last year, which means that someone might want to overpay for him.  As much as liked what [...]

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The demise of the 2011 LA Dodgers is well-documented.  It is also clear that the Dodgers poor record this season can be attributed to THREE THINGS: James Loney Andre Ethier Injuries At the start of the season, Andre Ethier was penciled in as the #3 hitter and James Loney was to be the #5 hitter.  [...]

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If you were grading the Dodgers first-half performance the team would have to get a D -. There’s no way to sugar-coat it – the Dodgers sucked big time in the first half.  There were a few bright spots including Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Jamey Carroll and even Aaron Miles.  At the end [...]

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I felt compelled to post two days in a row, because I believe that the next ten days will be critical in the History of the Dodgers.  A lot can happen in the next ten days.  It might not all happen, but most of it has a good chance of occurring.  Here’s what I see [...]

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I have been extremely busy the past week, but generally manage to check in here daily.  Here’s my two cents on the State of the Dodgers and other stuff: Down deep, Bin Laden is a good guy! The Dodgers seem very distracted as a team and Don Mattingly does not seem to be a soothing [...]

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…so far this Spring!  Well, actually they are tied for last place at 5-14 with that juggernaut which used to be the Arizona Diamondbacks (sarcasm intended).  Look, I’m a guy who doesn’t put much into Spring Training stats.  I read somewhere that Tony Gwynn, Jr. hit over .200 last spring and then hit .203 for [...]

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I played nice with others.  I didn’t talk bad about Jon Broxton.  I rooted for him.  I really did.  But, if you think I am going to blast J-Brox for his bad outing – YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! It’s in my DNA. Stats be damned!  I have been calling for Brox to be traded for [...]

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With Padilla and Garland, who will be the Dodgers #5 starter?  Redding?  Ely?   Rubby?  Cast your vote and state your case. Josh Lindblom is working himself back into the mix as a reliever.  AAA bound I would say. R-Tron continues to pitch a shutout for the Spring. Jay Gibbons .071 puts him in danger of [...]

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The Dodgers have an inordinate amount of young pitching prospects in the minor league system and fewer position players, but contrary to the “gloomsters and doomsters,” the Dodgers Minor League system is not barren by any means.  On person even wrote this comment: “Like I’ve said before on more than one occasion, the Dogs got [...]

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A strong case could be made that the undoing of the Dodgers’ 2010 season was the bullpen… or lack thereof.  Sure, the hitting in the second half was non-existent, but as a team in NoCal proved, you can win with little hitting , good pitching and a good bullpen. In 2010, Cory Wade was AWOL, [...]

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Think how different the Dodgers might have been this year without the contracts of Broxton and Sherrill. They could have afforded another big bat or top-of-the-rotation starter. I begged them to trade Brox for two years and Sherrill after last season. Some people think that I am just a “Broxton Hater” and that there is no way that I can tell he is not a guy who thrives under pressure, Think what you want – don’t judge me by what you can do – but I have been saying that Broxton chokes under pressure for three years and that the Dodgers should have traded him.

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There are a variety of reasons for this, but the not the least of which is the disconnect between the coaches and the players. Joe Torre and Company are not known for being brilliant strategists, and that issue was readily exposed this season. In my opinion, none of the coaching staff should be back. There needs to be a clean sweep. I would give Ned Colletti one more year. I think he has learned a lot, but I still think giving up James McDonald for Dotel was a bonehead move. I believe that James McDonald IS BETTER RIGHT NOW than Octavio Dotel.

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It pains me greatly to say this.  I never raise the white flag, but Ned tried and it was too little, too late.   Podsednik, Theriot, Lilly and Dotel arrived at the fort after the troops had already been massacred. This year is done.  It’s time to hop on the Bus Gus, we don’t need [...]

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Jon Broxton again has demonstrated that the bigger the stage, the smaller he is.  I am tired of people making excuses for him.    I have heard that “He hasn’t pitched enough and that’s why he blew the game“ and now I hear “he has pitched too much which is why he blew the game.”  As [...]

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There isn’t much difference between a dude and a dud – One Little Letter! An offseason ago, it was proposed that the Yankees trade Robinson Cano for Matt Kemp.  It made sense for the Yankees:  Cano was under-performing and they needed a CF.  To me, it made no sense for the Dodgers – after all Matt [...]

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It looked for a while that the Dodgers might have squandered a 3-0 lead through 4 innings in Cincinnati last night, so after a 2-1/2 hour rain delay, the Dodgers took batting practice and tacked on 9 more runs to spank the Reds 12-0.  That score in itself, doesn’t mean much.  What means the most [...]

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I’ll be in I agreement with Joe Torre that Carlos Monasterios is the “odd-man-out” of the rotation. He will be better served and better serve the Dodgers as a long-man in the pen when Padilla is activated on Friday.  The question is, who comes off the roster?  It will probably be Justin Miller, which means [...]

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The Knucklehead:  Getting shot in the leg is enough to cause you to get branded as a knucklehead, but there’s a lot more to it than that.  Vicente Padilla arguably has some one thebest stuff you will ever see, but it’s his “knuckle-headedness”  which has kept him from achieving his potential.  Obviously, something happened in [...]

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Remember what I told you after Kershaw got bombed in his last start prior to Sunday? http://www.ladodgertalk.com/2010/05/unleash-the-kracken/ In case you forgot, I said: When Clayton Kershaw gets beat, he gets mad and gets even. The pounding that he took yesterday is simply going to Unleash the Kracken! Watch out, he’ll be back with a vengeance. [...]

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