Not Even at the Winter Meetings Yet

The Dodgers have had a much more productive off season this year than they have had in the past several years and they have made some good moves. They addressed the 2B situation with the signing of Juan Uribe who has also logged time at shortstop and third base. He posted career highs last year of 24 homeruns and 85 RBI's. His OBP was only .300 but he has more pop in his bat than Ryan Theriot and the Dodgers had no minor league alternative.
Speaking of Ryan Theriot, the Dodgers dealt him to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitcher Blake Hawkesworth and he may end up being a valuable addition to an unstable bullpen that needs someone to soak up some middle innings.
The biggest need left is the question at catcher and what to do with Russell Martin. The winter meetings are still a week or two away and I hope they keep their core of young players together and reach too far at the winter meetings for catching help.

The Dodgers and the Free Agent Market

The Dodgers haven't had a productive off season in years. This off season they are off to a much better start. They rounded out a solid, if not spectacular starting five with the signing of right-hander Jon Garland yesterday to a one year contract. They had earlier locked up Ted Lilly and Huroki Kuroda to go with Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw and that gives them a good balance of power and finesse.
Now that the starting five have been addressed, they need to go after some bats. I am hoping that GM Ned Colletti doesn't trade any of their core players-Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andre Ethier, or even Russell Martin- to pick up any overrated, overpriced veterans that he seems to covet.
I am not sold on Ryan Theriot at second base, Casey Blake is getting some age on him, and Rafael Furcal cannot seem to stay off the disabled list long enough to make any solid contributions. They let veterans Vicente Padilla, Scott Podsednik, and Rod Barajas walk as free agents but none of them were the answer to anything.
The Dodgers minor league system seems to be bereft of any talent that can make an immediate contribution. Russ Mitchell got some at bats at the end of the year, Kenley Jansen got some important "experience" innings, john Ely picked up some starts but he was all over the place but that is about it. I was disappointed in the fact that they did not bring up Ivan DeJesus Jr. for a little bit of playing time (what was it going to hurt). The rest of the off season should be interesting because the Dodgers have alot of holes to fill.

the trade deadline part II

espn.com listed the dodgers as one of the "winners" at the trade deadline but all of the dodgers blogs out there thought it was a rousing failure including me. ted lilly just thought he didn't have run support in chicago. wait 'til he pitches for the dodgers. to recap the dodgers "haul" at the trade deadline-scott podsednik- an outfielder with a little bit of speed but he can break rickey henderson's record if he wants to but with no one to drive him in...., ted lilly- a starting pitcher they need but at the most he's only going to get about 11 or 12 starts for the dodgers, ryan theriot- in my opinion a downgrade at second base from blake dewitt and not a run producer either, and octavio dotel- he's not going to be the savior of the bullpen. ned colletti just mailed it in for the rest of the season and he went ahead and affected next season and beyond as well with the trading of prospects. ned and joe have gotta go.

the trade deadline

the trade deadline is july 31st and the best the dodgers can do is scott fucking podsednik for two minor leaguers. their offense is the worst in baseball right now and they get someone with a little bit of speed but no power, no production, and no future with the dodgers. it sounds like the rest of their outfield now. podsednik couldn't carry a team with a u-haul trailer and that is the best they could do. the yankees, on the other hand, go out and get lance berkman for two minor leaguers. he may be a little past his prime but i would take that over scott fucking podsednik. the dodgers are interested in ted lilly. don't do it. please don't do it. scott fucking podsednik.

view from the east

being a life long dodgers fan on the east coast is tough. when atlanta was in the national league west i got to go occasionally catch a game but now their east coast trips are few and far between. not their trips east are limited to a couple of times a year and they only play once in atlanta. so all the news i get is gleaned from the internet and other dodgers bloggers. its tough. this blog will be just geared to my thoughts and opinions and that is one of the beautiful things about baseball. last night i did get to see clayton kershaw pitch against the chicago cubs on WGN. he struck out 12 in 8 innings, did not walk a batter which is huge for him as he sometimes has a hard time finding the strike zone, and only made one mistake and that was the homer to soriano. the sad thing is, is that if it wasn't for the hot bat of rafael furcal, he probably would have lost. he did improve his record to 9-4. now its on to billingsley...