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

Dodgers Starting Lineup: Furcal  SS Kemp  CF Ethier  RF Ramirez  LF Loney  1B Blake  3B Anderson  DH DeWitt  2B Ellis  C Hiroki Kuroda Starting followed by Josh Lindblom. Pre-Game Notes: Joe Torre says Russ Martin will start a minor league game tomorrow  and that he feels “good.”  I won’t be surprised if Martin is our [...]

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Camelback Ranch – March 23rd – PM The major leaguers (except for Chad Billingsley) had the day off, but there were two minor league games which featured Chad Billingsley in one, and James McDonald in the other.  Joe Torre said that the “players are probably bored” at this juncture, so an off day can’t hurt. [...]

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Well, we are settled in at Camelback Ranch.  I sat next to Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLa, Tony Jackson of Espn/LA and Jim Peltz of The LA Times – at least there were three good writers in that group.  I feel like on of those “Which one doesn’t belong” kid’s games. “Which one doesn’t belong?  Jackson, [...]

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Periodically the Dodger management lets us know implicitly which of the young players are possible or probable future major league players. Two of themethods are (1) the players sent to the Arizona Fall League, and (2) the players invited to the Dodger Development Program. In my opinion the players sent to AFL and not invited [...]

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Just a couple of weeks ago, I had this all figured out.  Stults was our #5 and Belisario, Kuo, Elbert, Elbert, Gagne, McDonald, Zerpa and Wade were all in thebullpen picture. Fast Forward two weeks and Eric Stults is still a leading candidate (and has pitched very well in the starting role), but most of [...]

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Most of what follows come from Ken Gurnick of Dodgers .com: A day after losing catcher Russell Martin for four to six weeks with a pulled groin muscle, the Dodgers saw third baseman Casey Blake come out of Monday’s exhibition game against the Giants with a strained rib-cage muscle. Joe Torre said this about Josh [...]

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By actual count, the Dodgers have 32 pitchers in Spring Training Camp who are vying for 12 spots.  I cannot see any way that Joe Torre decides to go with 13 pitchers.  With the off days and all, I think he will break camp with 12 pitchers.  That means that 20 have to go. There [...]

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Well, if you ask me… and you didn’t (but I’m going to tell you anyway), it’s Young Clayton.  Maybe it’s a rush job, but maybe it’s not.  Maybe he’s ready.  Not “maybe” – he ISready!   I think it’s likely that Clayton Kershaw will be even better this year.  His ERA might not reflect that, but he [...]

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Pitchers and Catchers report on February 2o, 2010 and the first workout is February 21, 2010, so I am going to take a few days off.  I’ll be back on the 20th or 21st.  I’ll leave you with a few things to cuss and discuss: Is it possible that the Combination of Reed Johnson and [...]

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The Dodger roster is finally coming together and now the discussions are changing from where is the rest of the team to why did they sign these slugs.  For the 2010 season the Dodger management, more than ever, must attempt to simultaneously win the NL West, delay the major league start dates of the future [...]

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… and nothing but the truth!  That’s why you come here, because I am going to tell you the truth.  God knows it’s not because I’m a writer.  At any rate, let’s consider the following and see if what is happening is true or false. True or False:  Ned Colletti, Frank McCourt and Dennis Mannion have [...]

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What are the odds that Padilla has a better year than Wolf? Pretty good, I predict! Padilla has every reason in the world to act right, train hard, pitch good and step up. If he wins 12-15 games with a sub 4.00 ERA, he’ll be in line for a bigger payoff next year. It is in situtaions such as this that starters like Padilla can put up their “career year.”

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Los Angeles – In what has to be somewhat of a surprise, the Dodgers made two major announcements today.  The first announcement has to do with the divorce proceedings of Frank and Jamie McCourt who agreed to a continuance of their May hearing: The McCourt’s announced that they have resolved their personal issues and that [...]

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I made my plans and got my tickets yesterday for Camelback Ranch.  I will be there on March 20th through March 27th.  My wife and son will be flying in on the 25th to see the last 3 games with me.  I haven’t gotten the away game tickets, but I’ll work on that next week.  [...]

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Over the past several weeks, I have seen the McCourt Saga gather momentum, like a rock rolling down a hill.  While the divorce is nasty and ugly, a lot of mis-information exists.  It starts with “McCourt might have to sell the team” (a possibility) to “McCourt has to sell the team” to “we want a [...]

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It’s no secret that the McCourts are in the midst of a messy divorce, but would things be any different if Frank and Jamie were still together? Would that have caused the Dodgers to offer arbitration to Randy Wolf and/or Orlando Hudson?  Would that have caused the Dodgers to sign Wolf?  Well, no one can [...]

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I am not going to mention any names (Gammons, Rosethal, Stark, Heyman, Morosi, et al), but I am convinced that some (most or all) of these guys sniff around all their contacts every day and when they hear “Well, we have some interest in so-and-so,” they conclude it’s a done deal.  Most of the rumors [...]

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I have been at the hotel for a couple of hours and this I know: Several teams are trying to get Juan Pierre, but they are wanting the Dodgers to pick us a substantial portion of his contract.  That won’t happen.  If the Dodgers have to pay to get rid of him, they will keep [...]

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The Baseball Winter Meetings are being held in Indianapolis beginning on Monday, December 7th thru Thursday, December 10th.  While MLB would not issue me a credential, I will be there and hopefully get lucky.   The only thing that credentials really do is get you inside the interview room when there are news conferences. I can [...]

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I had a cheesy grin on my face as I read the Top 200 Prospect list put out by True Blue LA.  The Dodgers do not have 200 Prospects.  They have about 20 PROSPECTS and 180 SUSPECTS!  However, the Dodgers Organization is not nearly as bereft of prospects as some think.  We don’t have a [...]

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