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

As I wrote last week, Carl Crawford was a major disappointment in his first year (2011) with Boston after signing a $142-million, seven-year contract. He batted .255 with 11 home runs and 56 RBIs, and had only 18 steals after swiping 107 bases combined in the previous two seasons with Tampa Bay. He ended up [...]

Read the full story

Jared Massey and I were both at Blogger Night in LA on Monday Night and during the six plus hours at Dodger Stadium we gained a lot of insight into the 2010 Los Angeles Dodgers.  So, here is some of what we have learned: Ned Colletti spoke with us for nearly an hour and was [...]

Read the full story

I used to call him “Mr. Softee” because he often got hits which padded his stats but didn’t mean much.  He’d hit a home run when the Dodgers were ahead by 5 runs or behind by 6, but he didn’t deliver in the clutch.  I sensed that he could do so much better, so I [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

… 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 [...]

Read the full story

After changing his GM horse, and his approach to owning a Major League baseball team, it seemed that Frank McCourt was finally getting to a point that he understood what it takes to consistently put a competitive team on the field. His first choice of GM, Paul DePodesta, suggested that it was a moneyball approach [...]

Read the full story

Maybe it is business as usual.  Maybe it’s really not “the divorce” that is keeping the Dodgers out of the Free Agent Market. Maybe the Dodger brass has concluded that paying big bucks (in most cases) for Free Agents simply isn’t worth it. The Dodgers sought a CF for a few years and signed Juan [...]

Read the full story

Look, it is apparent that the Dodgers are trying to stay around $100 mil in payroll.  The Angels are not spenders either, and I would not be surprised if their payroll was lower than the Dodgers.  While attendance was good, I think that other revenue streams in LA have receded.  It apparent from the (in)activity [...]

Read the full story

Some people say I am too optimistic and that I always predict career years for the Dodgers, so I thought I’d post what I said last year.  This is from a February 16, 2009 post, which was BEFORE O-Dog and Manny were signed: 1B- James Loney is quietly becoming a force at 1B.  He will win [...]

Read the full story

Here’s what I see with our offense for next season: Furcal  SS -  Raffy rebounds (it is an “even” year) and has his career year with a .303 BA, .381 OB% and 126 Runs Scored, even though he only steels 26 bases Martin C- Perfect #2 hitter rebounds with a .279 BA to go with [...]

Read the full story

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced that they have traded outfielder Juan Pierre to the White Sox for two players to be named. Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti made the announcement. “Juan always put the Dodgers first, even when it wasn’t in his personal best interest,” said Colletti. “In this day, that [...]

Read the full story

Here’s a great analysis about Jason Repko from Phil Gurnee of TrueBlueLa: Based on what Ned Colletti is saying, Jason Repko appears to be staying around for the moment. With the Dodgers trying very hard to trade Juan Pierre and his contract for either a starting pitcher or a 2nd baseman the battle for who [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

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 [...]

Read the full story

Just in case you haven’t figured it out, attendance at Dodger Stadium is not the only source of income for the Dodgers.  While their have attendance has been stellar,  most other teams  have seen substantial declines in attendance, which means that the Dodgers get a smaller cut of the gate and concessions.  It is not clear [...]

Read the full story

The Dodgers have improved over 2008.   They won more games, but they still couldn’t get past the Phillies, and the Phillies will still be good next year.  I suspect that Raul Ibanez had his career year and will slip back to reality next year and the Phillies will have some holes to fill, just like [...]

Read the full story

 This team is far from needing rebuilding, but any good team needs to ”retool” every year.  Last year, the Phillies won the World Series with Pat Burrell in LF.  They evidently decided  that he wasn’t the answer this year, so they signed a guy even older who ended up having his career year.   The Phillies may yet be [...]

Read the full story

Some people have said that you have to get Carpenter early or you don’t get him.  Not true – for the past three years, the league is hitting .305 against Carpenter after 61 pitches. The Dodgers need to be patient… and then NAIL Carpenter.  POUND him!  HAMMER him!  SAW him off!  SCREW him!  If that doesn’t [...]

Read the full story

This is it!  These last three games determine home-field advantage as well as the division championship.  I say “Captain Insano Shows No Mercy!”  We have beat the Rockies like rented mules all year.  No reason to show mercy now.  Just beat them down!  Ubaldo Jimenez is 0-3 with a 7.77 earned-run average in four starts [...]

Read the full story

Now that we have clinched a playoff spot and are within two games of  clinching the NL West Championship, I think it is time to shift the emphasis from our starters, namely Russell Martin, James Loney, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and recognize the Stuntmen.  Actually, this [...]

Read the full story