[Closed] The 2009 Hot Stove League: Making us Phillie Proof in 2010

Hip-hip Horray...!

The gift that keeps on giving! Kissyface - apparently undergoing a major name change (to keep up with the times?). To reflect current advertising, it will now be known as "CougarLife, The Ultimate Catch"...! (Maybe we can simply call it "Cougar"... think about it!) Gosh, we can't possibly make this stuff up...!

'bout time I sign up on the site as a young buck...!

SamAdams:

I was a little surprised at Hudson's lack of foot speed, too. I thought, having seen him play with the D'backs, that he was a lot faster than he showed last year. I remember a few gidp's on his part where it was shocking that he didn't beat them out. However, he still seemed to have decent range, UZR notwithstanding. Surely though, he's faster than Belly Yard.

O-Dog has always played really deep, usually on the grass, and that combined with good quickness and real good speed gave him a lot of range. He still played deep last season, but I don't think he got to all that much given that the extra depth gave him another bounce to reach the ball. I also think he has greatly slowed down getting rid of the ball, probably due to the wrist injury - meaning he wasn't getting the ball to 1B fast enough to ring up a high % of outs. So, I think playing so deep masked his reduction in range.

As I said during the season, the Dodgers brass seemed to not like something about his play, and perhaps he had slipped a lot more than they had thought when they signed him. His hot start with the bat seemed to mask his barely adequate play for the last 2/3 of the season. Meanwhile, he seemed to still harbor expectations of big $.

Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll has a prediction on the health of each team according to Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts. He gives each player a green, yellow, or red flag. Are you ready? He rates the Dodgers starting rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Vicente Padilla, James McDonald all RED flags. Not surpisingly, Furcal gets a red. Blake, Ramirez, and Kemp (?) all get yellow while the remaining position starters plus Broxton and Sherrill get green.

So instead of stockpiling outfielders, maybe Ned should have been siginng some pitchers. And, I don't mean the likes of Ortiz and Ortiz with a Kuronka added for good measure. I mean real ML Ready pitchers.

shmolnick:

Or maybe, Will Carroll doesn't know what he's talking about.

He was supposedly using some mysterious formula based on who knows what to come up with his Injury Flags. To me, Manny is a red flag...37, overweight, steroidal past. Carroll explained Kemp's flag basing it on his base stealing and the possible injuries incurred there.

SamAdams:

He was supposedly using some mysterious formula based on who knows what to come up with his Injury Flags. To me, Manny is a red flag...37, overweight, steroidal past. Carroll explained Kemp's flag basing it on his base stealing and the possible injuries incurred there.

Aside from the using of valuable print space, Carroll's red flags are not that earth-shattering. Hell, you can point at any roster in the game and say over half will get injured during the season. The fact that a ballplayer will get hurt is not news, the length of time he is hurt is the real news. When Carroll can predict that, then I will pay attention to his missives.

BP's top 10 Dodger prospect list is out, and WOW - no love for Lambo. He's #11, even Kenley Jansen is #9.

Gordon and Withrow are 1-2.

loneymiller:

Interesting that there is no talk about signing Brian Giles to a minor league contract.

There is, over on the "Done Deals" thread.

I don't care about any of these signings as long as we're willing to cut bait and not make a poor move because we committed 800K to some stiff. The Carroll deal is not terrific, and we could have gotten a better deal by waiting, but I don't really care. If a salary that small affects us, we have other problems.

SamAdams:

We could have gotten Felipe Lopez for what the tandem of Belliard and Carroll will cost us. I'd have been happy with Lopez at second and Blake DeWitt filling in at second and third. I'm okay with signing Belliard, but Carroll just doesn't fit the puzzle. We could have devoted that money towards a fifth starter/innings eater.

This sounds familiar somehow .

I totally agree, though.

Mike Scioscias tragic illness:

This sounds familiar somehow .

I totally agree, though.

Wow, just saw you latest blog entry. You said it before I did, but I really wasn't plagiarizing. I don't know if it's so much a case of great minds think alike or that it's pretty obvious to everyone except Colletti.

SamAdams:

Wow, just saw you latest blog entry. You said it before I did, but I really wasn't plagiarizing. I don't know if it's so much a case of great minds think alike or that it's pretty obvious to everyone except Colletti.

Not to knock Mike, but I have to agree that the issue is an obvious one. I think Colletti, sometimes, lets his emotion get in the way and makes bad calls. Last year, he played the market perfectly (except for that stupid option for Manny, I woulda held out - NO ONE was bidding), but this year he clearly made a minor mistake. I think that he had a crush on Carroll, and I heard somewhere that Mattingly gave a ringing endorsement ... but mostly, I understand the thinking that with some serious questions on the IF, a super-sub/platoon-type of player was necessary and worth spending a little more for. He just moved too quickly.

i'm not jiving you when i say that today i made my 3rd phone call to the dodgers ticket office. they still have not refunded me my money on the playoff games the dodgers did not play in 2009. is that normal? i think they are still holding onto the idea i'm going to buy 4 season tickets again. no under the McCourt reich. i know this has nothing to do with making us phillie-proof. this just seems to be the most read. did anybody else renew tickets?

SamAdams:

Wow, just saw you latest blog entry. You said it before I did, but I really wasn't plagiarizing. I don't know if it's so much a case of great minds think alike or that it's pretty obvious to everyone except Colletti.

No of course! Never thought you were plagarizing. I think it's just a conclusion that smart fans like ourselves are right to draw.

bigblaster:

Kissyface is reporting we're possibly one of two finalists for Wang (the Nats being the other).

There was also a subsequent post that Wang has received two offers, neither one was from us or the Mets. Said we looked at him last week and he was still "months away" ... no point in giving up guaranteed money for that.

DoppelgangBang:

There was also a subsequent post that Wang has received two offers, neither one was from us or the Mets. Said we looked at him last week and he was still "months away" ... no point in giving up guaranteed money for that.

My inner Beavis & Butthead can't let the quote "Dodgers have pulled out of the Wang Derby" pass.

huh huh! huh huh huh!