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

You don’t get a platelet-rich plasma therapy if there’s not something pretty serious wrong with your elbow.  I’m just saying… Dodger brass are worried sick. Our worst fears my be realized… Zack Greinke and Chad Billingsley are both experiments. … and I haven’t even mentioned Carl Crawford. YIKES!!! Good thing there are lots of options.  [...]

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It was in 2004, that I first really noticed Andy LaRoche.  He was a 20 year-old third baseman who ended up with 23 HR and 76 RBI in A ball.  The next season, he hit 30 HR with 94 RBI and had a slash line of .305/.374/.553.  He had amazing opposite-field power – I said [...]

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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today selected the contract of infielder Luis Cruz from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned right-hander Shawn Tolleson to Albuquerque. In a corresponding move, the club also transferred left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly (left shoulder inflammation) to the 60-day disabled list. Tolleson, 24, posted a 7.71 ERA in six big league [...]

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We all know how good Clayton Kershaw is… and if you didn’t notice, he is left handed! The last time I checked, Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano were also left handed.  That means that right here, right now, the Dodgers have three left handed starters.  Aaron Harang and Chad Billingsley are the only right handed [...]

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We don’t know: If Mark Ellis falters, could Alex Castellanos be his replacement?  Alex will start the season at AAA, and he needs to play 2B everyday, but could he be a long-term solution?  His glove isn’t Gold (at least not yet, if ever), but he has some “pop” and he’s a mature player.  Could [...]

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This 2011 version of the Dodgers may be hard to figure out, but I saw a bunch of happy excited young ballplayers last night when Tony Gwynn, Jr. drove in the winning run.  In a season where victories have been few and sometimes, far-between, the Dodgers got another command performance from their Ace, and Tony [...]

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I feel more confidence in the Dodgers 2011 starting rotation than any other Dodger starting rotation in the past several years.  Barring injury or alien possession, the Starting Five should be very good.  While not the best in all of baseball (at least not now, not on paper), this group has to be in the [...]

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See, what the Robots don’t understand is that 25 men with passion can defeat a great army of trained soldiers. There is no stat for passion, desire, “want-to” or “can-do.” Ted Lilly, Juan Uribe, Jon Garland, Hiroki Kuroda and Rod Barajas wanted to be in LA for various reasons. They had a passion to play in 2011 for the Dodgers – never minimize that! Give me some guys who want to play together, who have a passion for being where they are and for the game and I’ll deliver you a winner!

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I am not a hater, so I congratulate the Giants (but I hope it’s another 5+ decades before I have to do this again).   Hopefully, Ned has duly noted the recipe of Brian Sabean for success: Homegrown young pitchers named Lincecum, Cain, Baumgartner and Sanchez . Blend in a budding superstar like Buster Posey [...]

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No, it’s not shocking to me that Ned Colletti says the Dodger Payroll will increase this year. I have been telling you that for quite some time. What is shocking is that Badger, Roger and Lawdog were recently spotted in a swimming pool, plotting my demise.  Shocking, isn’t it?  The undercover photo is attached.   [...]

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The Ted Lilly deal is nice, but it better not be the best deal the Dodgers make this off season.  Shoot, it shouldn’t even be in the top 3. The signing of Chili Davis and Matt Herges to work as coaches seems to be ignored by the media and Dodger Fans in general.  That, and [...]

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The announcement was barely out when the McCourt bashers started: “He doesn’t have the velocity he used to.” “He’s a flyball pitcher and that worries me.” “He gives up too many homeruns.” “Why did they sign him?”  They should have saved their money and signed Cliff Lee.” Of course, I have to remember that these [...]

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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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We have all watched the hitters on this bipolar team for 3 years, and it seems that they are all smoking hot or all ice cold. Some of it was predictable.  When Andre Ethier was hitting .393 we all knew he couldn’t keep that up.  That his batting average has dropped a .100 points is [...]

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I really though the Dodgers would become sellers after the Dodgers dropped 7 games back, but what do I know?  The Sellers became Buyers and they got quite a lot.  In the past couple of days they have added Octavio Dotel, Ryan Theriot, Ted Lilly and Scott Podsednik, all vets, to their roster.  Let’s take [...]

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