Nomar Homer

The player who had been declared dead by the True Blue faithful hits another walk off home run and continues to lead the non dreadlock Dodgers in OPS+.

SInce Sept 1st 2006, Nomar has only hit 17 home runs but 3 of those have been some of the most dramatic home runs in recent Dodger history. The 4+1 game, the grand slam a week later and then tonights game. All walk offs, all during key pennant race games.

I thought that in each of those games he had been hitless until the walk off but I was mistaken. He had one other hit in the 4+1 game but was hitless in the grand slam game and tonight.

My eyes are probably deceiving me and Andrew will probably whip out some defensive metric showing how crappy Nomar is, but he looks okay to me defensively. Other then the throw on Tuesday that Loney saved, his arm has looked much stronger and accurate then I expected. His range is limited but he is not a statue, he has gone to both his right and left to make plays.

Just stay healthy

Joe Torre had one of his best managerial games of the year tonight. He put out the best lineup I've seen this year based on how the players have been doing. He picked the right guys for the relief work. Didn't hesitate to use Broxton in a non - save situation and realized that Johnson couldn't do any worse then Berroa or Osuna as pinch hitters so he let him hit and he almost gave him one more inning.

Brian Giles recently turned down the chance to play for the Red Sox and I can't fathom out why.

On one had you have the chance to play for a world series title, in a baseball crazy town, with some great characters. On the other hand you get to stay in San Diego and play for a terrible team, in a lousy baseball town,without much future of getting better.

You say to No to that?

We are talking two months of travel. Two months. Evidently helping a team win a ring is not as fulfilling as plugging away with one of the worse teams in baseball. The team tried to give you away. They don't want you, they want you to leave. Take the hint, they are not going to pick up your option.

As Ryan Ludwick goes for his sixth straight game with a home run I thought it would be a good time to take a look at this years group of players who would have drawn a few smirks at your local roto draft if they had been offered up. Some of these are good players who are just have having great years (Nady, Huff ) but most these guys are "are you kidding me".

Quite a few of these guys have been career utility players. Ramon Vazquez, Mike Fontenot, Jerry Hairston, and Omar Infante are all players who have spent significant time in the major leagues and never tasted success like this.  Then we have guys like Aviles who was on nobody's radar in the KC organization and boom, this guy has the highest OPS+ for an AL SS. We got Berroa they promoted Aviles. 

Ludwick who is the star of this group was once a decent prospect in the Indian orgranaztion but man that was years ago. Injuries derailed his career but he kept at it and has helped keep the Cardinals in the pennant race.  Gabe Kapler was retired and has come back to hit better then our best players prior to the Manny deal.

For all the praise we heap on our young kids it is interesting to see this motley crew of rejects kicking our butts in production.  There are some kids on the list who once showed promise like Lind but the list is also populated with players that we would have been very unhappy if Ned had acquired. Huff, Vazquez, Spilborghs, Fontenot, Tatis, Hairston, Casey, Hinske, Wigginton, Blake, Gerut, Kapler, Hairston, Cantu, and Infante. Yet all of them have outhit our best hitter.

Our only guys in the top 100 OPS+ (100 Rank) with over 150 at bats this year is a player who hasn't played in months(Furcal) and the guys we just acquired in deadline deals(Manny, Blake).  We all expected Kemp, Martin, and Loney to be somewhere in the mix, but they aren't .

It would have been nice to have at least one surprise, one guy who did something we didn't expect on the positive side instead of guys who did something we didn't expect on the negative side(Jones, Kent).

did I think Manny Ramirez had a chance to be playing for the Dodgers with Jeff Kent still on the team. After having lived through the Milton Bradley and Matt Kemp saga's it seemed the last thing the Dodgers would do is bring in a player who plays the game the " wrong way".  I still have a hard time picturing Bowa/Kent/Manny in the same clubhouse but since I've never been in a clubhouse I'm probably clueless how it all works anyway.

 While Dodger fans are rejoicing after a weekend of smashball courtesy of the Predator the rumors of his attempts to make him a 2009 free agent  should be bothersome to me but aren't.  His behavior is strictly between himself and his team but it sure looks like he was not giving much of an effort. Pre Dodger Manny was all pouty and hurt and acted like his whole body was falling apart around him. What with all the 20 million disrespect he was getting it was no wonder his body wasn't able to hold up. But lo and behold, just hours later the Dodger Manny came out wearing superman's cape and he quickly started making a case for his last big payday by saying all the right things and playing as though he was 25. You'd have thought he was a dreadlocked Cal Ripken the way everyone fawned over him. And boy did he produce.

Luckily for the Dodgers his quest for the next big contract could make this season interesting.  They finally got someone they trusted to firm up the soft underbelly of the middle of the lineup, and it looks like he's added some life to the club which badly wants to just have some fun.

Having Manny in LF has rekindled the spark in many a Dodger fan. I already watch every inning of every game but for the next couple of weeks I'll have somone to pop my eyes back open after Juan Pierre puts the sleepy spell on my lidds. Every play that he's involved in comes loaded with excitement and questions. How hard will he hit the ball this time? Well he run hard when he does? Can he catch that fly ball 10 feet away from him? Manny is easily the most exciting mid season acquisition the Dodgers have ever had, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of watching him for the rest of this year because I'm to old to care about his shenanigans since they don't effect me one wit.

Or do they? Time will tell but I do know one thing. No matter what he does over the next few weeks I don't want him getting an encore at Dodger stadium in 2009. Let's enjoy him and then let him walk. Nothing would be uglier then watching Manny playing LF in 2010 unlesss it has been watching Jeff Kent play 2nd base and Andruw Jones CF in 2008.

Speaking of Jeff Kent, don't you think this is driving him crazy? He needs to win a championship but the only way to that championship is on the shoulders of Manny Ramirez? Kent now has an OPS of .553 in the last 28 days. 

Transactions per Baseball Reference

2007

Traded Wilson Betemit to the New York Yankees. Received Scott Proctor.

2006

Traded Cesar Izturis to the Chicago Cubs. Received Greg Maddux.

Traded Joel Guzman and Sergio Pedroza (minors) to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Julio Lugo.

2005 - nothing

2004

Traded Tom Martin to the Atlanta Braves. Received Matt Merricks (minors).

Traded Dave Roberts to the Boston Red Sox. Received Henri Stanley (minors).

Sent Reggie Abercrombie to the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a conditional deal.

Traded Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota, and Juan Encarnacion to the Florida Marlins. Received Hee Seop Choi, Brad Penny, and Bill Murphy.

Traded Koyie Hill, Bill Murphy, and Reggie Abercrombie (minors) to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Received Steve Finley and Brent Mayne.

2003

Traded Bubba Crosby and Scott Proctor to the New York Yankees. Received Robin Ventura.

2002

Traded Lance Caraccioli (minors) to the Cleveland Indians. Received Jolbert Cabrera.

Traded Ben Diggins and Shane Nance to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received a player to be named later and Tyler Houston. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Brian Mallette (October 16, 2002) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade.

Traded Hiram Bocachica to the Detroit Tigers. Received a player to be named later and Tom Farmer (minors). The Detroit Tigers sent Jason Frasor (September 18, 2002) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade.

Traded Ricardo Rodriguez, Terry Mulholland, and Francisco Cruceta to the Cleveland Indians. Received Paul Shuey.

2001

Traded Wade Parrish (minors) to the Chicago White Sox. Received McKay Christensen.

Traded Jeff Barry, Onan Masaoka, and Gary Majewski to the Chicago White Sox. Received James Baldwin and cash.

Traded Mike Fetters and Adrian Burnside (minors) to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Terry Mulholland.

Traded Geronimo Gil and Kris Foster to the Baltimore Orioles. Received Mike Trombley.

It has come to this. According to sources the Dodgers cannot add any more payroll.

Bill Shaikin of the LA Times report seems to validate what Peter Gammons said over the weekend. This is Shaikin's quote:

Colletti said he could have added to the Dodgers' payroll if necessary to complete the deal. However, a source familiar with negotiations said the Indians were told that the Dodgers needed any trade to be "revenue-neutral" -- in other words, McCourt would not increase the payroll.

This is what Peter Gammons had to say:

The reason the Indians were able to get Carlos Santana, a very high-level prospect, in the Casey Blake deal is that the Indians took on all of Blake's remaining $2 million salary. Several general managers around baseball wonder whether L.A. doesn't have cash flow problems.

Revenue - Neutral trades.
Yea baby, a whole new world has opened up where we can deal our youth for someone else's overpaid veteran and get the team to eat the contract by throwing in our extra's kids.
Santana - 2 Million
Lambo - 4.5 Million
McDonald - 2.75 Million
DeWitt - 3.8 Million
LaRoche - 7.5 Million
Hu - 2 Million
DeJesus - 3.75 Million
Kershaw - priceless

Next up will be companion trades where we will attach above prospects to Juan Pierre, Jason Schmidt, and A Jones to remove them from payroll so that Ned can  be free of the encumbrances of his previous free agent signing and the youth he would rather be playing elsewhere.

Previous Blue Sparks

Prospect Notes:

Things have changed rapidly in the last two weeks. My favorite prospect Carlos Santana along with Jon Meloan was was traded to the Indians for Casey Blake. Carlos was only on a few peoples radar this spring but like a stealth bomber he exploded upon them before they knew what hit them. Displaying the unusual combination of power and patience he was sold off for 2 million dollars to cover Casey Blake's salary for 2008. At the time of the deal Carlos was leading the league in RBI's by 14, tied for the lead league in OBP ( .431), 3rd in the league in OPS (.993), and 2nd in the league with 69 walks.  Pathetic

On Saturday Blake DeWitt was sent down to make room for the new 3rd baseman and then LaRoche was sent down to make room for the recently activated Mark Sweeney. The dream infield of DeWitt at 2nd and LaRoche at 3rd for 2009 will be on display in Vegas for the rest of the year. Meloan just couldn't cut it as a starter and the Indians will quickly move him back to a relief role, a role in which he excelled at last year.

Many players trying to make comebacks with the Dodgers were released in the past week. Matt Riley, Ramon Martinez, and Mark Bellhorn head the list.

Blue Sparks:

Vegas(AAA)

Welcome back Mr. Hu. Things started out a little slow for Hu when he was first activated on July 19th(Vision related disability) but he is making up for lost time with 10 hits in his last 4 games. Nomar left the game early today, if he is going to miss any time I hope they just get Hu on a plane instead of turning to Berroa.

Jackonsville Suns(AA)

James Adkins was promoted and did poorly in his first start for the Suns. The former 1st round pick has run hot and cold this year. Scott Elbert looked to be making progress until he couldn't get an out in an outing on the 22nd. He did follow that up with a nice 2 inning blanket on the 25th. James McDonald has 13 walks in 22 innings so far in July. Very uncharateristic of him.

Inland Empire(High A)

Just a big gaping hole here.

Great Lake Loons(Low A)

With Carlos gone, the search went on for the next best catcher in the Dodger organization. I"m not a big fan of Lucas May so I went further down. The guy I've come up with is Kenley Jansen. At first blush he is not impressive but he does have some things going on for him. He played in the Hawaiian Winter League as a 20 year old and his defensive skills were said to be very advanced. On Saturday Night he blasted two home runs in a very tough league for home runs. If we were to compare what he has done this year to what Carlos Santana did in 2007 in the the same league we would find it very favorable towards Jansen. Jansen has a triple stat line of 243/308/448. Carlos was 223/319/370. The Midwest league cripples offense and the Cal league inflates it. So far the one player I liked who struggled in the Midwest league destroyed the Cal league. Now we need to find out if that was just growth or simply Carlos finding all the hot weather to his liking.One final thought, Lars Anderson is one of Bostons top prospects and is a year younger then Carlos but plays 1st base. Carlos kicked his ass in the stat department this year and plays in a tougher offensive park then Lars. Do you think Boston would have sold Lars for TWO MILLION? CLown

Lambo in the Cal league could be quite interesting next year.

Ogden Raptors:

Tony Delmonico was signed out of Florida State a few weeks ago. He made a key error in the college world series helping his team lose the final game to Fresno State. That was as a SS and word was that he was going to be converted to catcher. So far however he's been playing 2nd base but hitting a ton. While the big behemoths of Ogden continue to strike out at prodigous rates, the smaller Delmonico is putting on his Jaime Pedroza imitation with a 1.210 OPS after his first two weeks of pro ball.

Kyle Russel continues to rake and while the 38 k's are worrisome, others see quite a bit of potential so let us wait and see how he does as he moves up the ladder.

19 year old Michael Watt is on a roll with 3 straight outstanding outings. 25 strikeouts, 3 walks, and only 2 earned runs in his last 17 innings. Has he passed Withrow on the prospect list. Withrow has yet to throw a professional inning this year.

GCL Dodgers:

20 year old Eduardo Perez may have been the best pitcher in the month of July for the GCL team but Luis Ferreras has the more interesting story going. Ferreras was born on 12/28/89 and was promoted from the GCL team to the AA Suns last week and appeared in this game today. He is 4 years younger then any other pitcher on the Sun roster. I'm sure this is just temporary but it must be heady stuff for the kid to be pitching one day in the rookie league and the next day in AA. Plus he threw two shutout innings.

When he hung up the phone he knew the sun was setting on his tenure as the Dodger GM and he needed something big to save his job. The job itself had lost its luster with the constant 2^nd guessing by everyone in this town. He wasn’t so much trying to save this job but his future. If he ever wanted to be a GM again he was going to have to win, and win now.

This trade could be the trick but he’d have to get Franks approval and he hated going into that boardroom with everyone shooting down his trades. It was hard enough hearing the snicker in the voice of the other GM’s when he was trying to make a deal. They knew nothing stopped with him, and they also knew it was likely that any trade he took to Frank was going to get shot down. It had gotten to the point where one GM asked him point black to check with Logan White to make sure they weren’t wasting their time.

Frank was hard enough to deal with these days;  with his infatuation with everything Logan White, but it was Jamie who had become bitter over the money he had spent that he had the biggest problems with. The last time he tried to get Frank to make the deal for CC, she had just laid into him. The boardroom with Frank, Jamie, Logan, and Kim had been testy with each side giving their opinions on the merits of the deal. Finally when all was said and done, it was apparent that no consensus was going to happen, he had put his hands on the table and asked Frank as his GM to trust him. For a moment it looked like he would get what he wanted  but just before Frank could speak, Jamie spat out “trust you? Like we trusted you about Jason Schmidt? Like we trusted you about Andruw Jones? Like we trusted you about Rafael Fural? Do you have any idea how much money you have wasted with the trust we gave you? All you have done is bring us broken ballplayers. The only decision you ever made that hasn’t been a huge albatross on our bottom line was bringing in that hard working speedy outfielder that Joey loves so much”.

That was hard to take, but she wasn’t done. Then in front of everyone she had to remind him that if she had, had her way Kim would be the GM and I’d still be getting Saben’s coffee. Kim was embarrassed, she was a good kid in an awkward situation who would never get the chance he had gotten. Jamie's stinging rebuke had hurt but she didn't understand the baseball landscape so he could let those arrows fall to wayside but he could see that her words had an impact on Frank. They asked everyone to leave while they considered the proposal. He knew at that point it wasn't going to happen.  Sure enough, several hours later Frank called and said that after consideration he had decided not to make the deal. CC was not going to be wearing Dodger Blue. Cleveland had given him everything he asked for and now he had to tell them no deal. He was crestfallen, he had already seen the headlines in the morning paper, declaring him a savior for bringing CC to the Dodgers. He felt they would have made him out to be the next Mitch Kupchak. Now he had nothing.

He wasn't upset that Logan or Kim were  after his job, that is what happens in a business where you only get a chance when someone fails. Without expansion and growth to provide jobs the finite number of GM positions makes for strange bedfellows in the front office.  Kim thought she had a chance because Jamie loved the idea of a female GM, but not even Frank would be stupid enough to put a skirt in charge of an organization of men. Frank didn’t understand that Logan was only looking out for his own shirt and couldn’t care less about how these deals would help them win now. It was to Logan's benefit if the Dodgers didn’t win. He would get blamed and everyone knew Logan was the next in line.

He sighed, but he knew he was going to have to go into that boardroom to make one more attempt to fix this team. Everyone is worried about trading the future but they needed to win now and this trade should do it. He had worked hard on this deal, but these were players that  knew how to win even if the stats didn’t back it up. They had been through the wars and had the scars to prove it. These weren’t kids who were going to fold when the going got tough but veterans who did what it took to win, even if that meant taking one for the team.

He hated to deal some of these kids but they had just not progressed as quickly as he needed. Maybe in time they would meet their promise but for now, for this team, he needed more. He opened the door and walked in…

I think all of you can guess who Joe Torre is referring to. So while Matt Kemp has compiled a .393 OBP while holding down the lead off spot during this man's absence, he will relinquish the position upon his return. Of course that isn't really the important question, the important question is who will sit to accommodate this man's ascension back into the lead off role for which he is ill equipped?

Based on the quote below, the White Rat would have loved said player as he loved his speedy guys.

As Herzog put it (quoted by Joe Posnanski), “I used to shave before games. And once Reitz was up at the plate, and he hit the ball, and by the time he got to first base I had to shave again. That’s when I told him he wasn’t going to play.”

I snagged that little quote from Cardboard Gods

24 hours ago things were looking bleak in Dodger land. We were being shut out by Brandon Webb with no hope in sight. Andy LaRoche was rotting away on the bench. Pablo Osnuna was the latest nothing player to be acquired by Ned. Jason Johnson was going to start on Tuesday instead of Kershaw. The bad taste of Matt Kemp's Saturday at bat was still lingering like thrown up spaghetti.  Andruw Jones still couldn't buy a hit.

Then  in one sweet motion the future changed.  Down 4 - 1 in the 9th, good fortune shined on the Dodgers when Steven Drew misplayed A Jones DP groundball. A crack appeared.  After Blake DeWitt made his out, Andy LaRoche came off the bench to get his first hit of the year with two outs and a man in scoring position. The crack was now wider.  Matt Kemp  took a chisel to it and kept working on the crack until he busted it wide open with one of the best at bats of the season. Tying run on 1st base with two out, he worked Lyon to a 2 - 2 count. Then he fouled off a curve ball and follwed that with a Lee Lacy like line drive, laced into left centerfield. Pablo Osuna who had been inserted for LaRoche raced around the bases and belly flopped into home just a head of the throw  with the tying run. Torre gave Kemp a salute while my stomach was doing flips. Eventually we won as Ethier and Martin continued the onslaught. Today we got news that Kershaw would start on Tuesday instead of Jason Johnson. Then to top it off the lineup today has LaRoche starting at 3rd base against a RHP with word that he will play the entire series.

Nothing against DeWitt who I like more then most here, but LaRoche needs to be given these at bats. This team needs power and patience and probably nobody on this roster can give us that kind of combination like LaRoche. Heres to hoping he cashes in on his chance.

Oh, and Brad Penny might be back by early August. I've given up on Schmidt but hopefully Brad was cured with rest.

All in all this has been a sweet 24 hours.