Shane Victorino, LF
Mark Ellis, 2B
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Hanley Ramirez, SS
James Loney, 1B
Luis Cruz, 3B
A.J. Ellis, C
Chad Billingsley, P
The Dodgers have put a waiver claim in on Cliff Lee, reports Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com, though it’s still unlikely that they’ll end up with the Phillies lefty.
That makes this piece by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com on Dodger ownership leader Mark Walter that much more timely.
… After missing out on Ryan Dempster at the deadline, the Dodgers’ brass was insistent it wasn’t done dealing. In fact, when I caught up with him on the field Tuesday afternoon, new controlling owner Mark Walter was openly hinting at that idea.
“Do you really ever want to say we did enough?” Walter said. “That’s not an attitude I really want a lot of around here. I guess if the entire All-Star team is on your team, you could feel like you had enough. But I don’t want to think that way. That’s now how you want to look at it. …
… Walter actually has been at the stadium quite a bit, and when he’s there, he’s often down on the field or in the clubhouse before games. He’s not shy, either.
When I joked with him about how much money he had spent in the last few weeks, he laughed and said, “Yeah, I guess I have.”
He described the trade deadline as something of a roller-coaster ride, said he was hanging on every phone call from Kasten or GM Ned Colletti and wasn’t doing much to conceal some disappointment he felt at not being able to do even more.
In other words, Walter’s invested — and not just financially. …
Ted Lilly, meanwhile, has suffered a setback in his rehabilitation, tweets Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.
Jim Hitchcock
Sweep. swept, sweep, swept…sweep!
KT
we weren’t swept in Stl
Anonymous
There are 48 hours to claim a player right? Now is there a predetermined length of time to negotiate a trade?
Jon Weisman
Until Sunday I believe.
Anonymous
There has to be an end to the money at some point. This is unsustainable.
I thought we would see more going into the McCourt murdered farm system, but it looks like the front office is playing the cards this year..
Anonymous
I did not realize until now that one of my mortal enemies is the starting pitcher for the Cubs tonight.
The obelisk may get a work out.
Jim Hitchcock
What did he ever do to you?
Anonymous
He attended a Catholic university in Northeastern Indiana for starters.
Anonymous
As opposed to one in Belmont?
Linkmeister
Samardzija? How’d he reach that lofty level? (I’m trying to remember the other guys on that list: Tomko?)
For heaven’s sake, Samardzija has fewer than 300 lifetime innings in the bigs, Bob. Your fuse must have been really short the day you put him on your list. ;) Or is it just that he attended Notre Dame?
Anonymous
Exhibit A for the prosecution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_g3oLuVMt8
The prosecution rests.
Linkmeister
Ah, I see. Well, so be it, then.
veryolddodgerfan
didn’t think a pitcher like blanton would be available on the waiver wire deal. hmm. still i believe the guggenheims are in it to win. they will take a serious pass at mr. lee. the guggenheims will make that decision not stan or ned.
Anonymous
Actually, the Fillies’ front office will make that decision.
veryolddodgerfan
and then the guggenheims will
Anonymous
Though I’d like to see Lee in the Dodgers’ rotation, I expect the Fills will withdraw him from waivers.
veryolddodgerfan
quite possible. if i’m them i definitely keep him. the odd circumstance here is the number of big bad contracts they’ve got themselves into. but if i owned the phillies i’m playing that one out. not so much on the 1bman.
veryolddodgerfan
on the other hand if i could get the dodgers to give me something valuable i might do it.
Anonymous
Colletti must be feeling at home with the new owners with the Blanton addition.
That is not necessarily a negative comment.
If Ramirez doesn’t play third, the Dodgers are again without a third baseman. I liked to concept of a speedy third baseman with power.
Gordon may now be trade bait. Perhaps for a third baseman.
veryolddodgerfan
the future all star shortstop by the name of dee gordon is not trade bait. he will be playing shortstop for the dodgers as soon as he gets back.
Anonymous
Good to know, thank you.
Anonymous
Bet he doesn’t.
veryolddodgerfan
don baseball has been quoted as saying that. not the all-star part
Anonymous
To go from a horrible SS to an all star SS would be impressive.
veryolddodgerfan
he’s far away from being a horrible shortstop. he makes throwing errors and hasn’t hit as well as he hit last september. with the bad batting stats he’s still able to win games for the dodgers. a horrible shortstop couldn’t do anything well. he gets to balls few shortstops do. he steals more bases and puts more pressure on the defense than any shortstop in the league does. you’re definition of horrible is flawed. you might say he’s got a throwing problem. you might say he’s a poor choice as a leadoff hitter. you can say he’s struggled with the bat this season. But horrible he is not.
KT
^_^
Anonymous
Since Colletti has Amaro on speed dial, I’m sure the Phils would be happy to part with Placido Polanco, move Rollins to 3b, and groom Dee “The Real Flash” Gordon.
veryolddodgerfan
it seems that some stat oriented folks can’t figure out how a pitcher can have a great k/walk rate and serve up a lot of home runs. seems bizarre to them. is it really that hard to figure out?
Casey Barker
Blanton’s teammate, Cliff Lee, has had higher SO/BB rates than Blanton with lower HR/IP rates. I don’t think Blanton’s high HR/IP rate is as easy to explained as you imply.
veryolddodgerfan
uh yes i do
Anonymous
As explained by Fangraphs (one of those “stat oriented” sites you seem to disdain) he not only throws a lot of strikes, but throws a lot of those strikes right over the middle of the plate. So a lot get turned around very quickly. The wisdom of such a strategy depends, I bet, on the patience of the other teams’ hitters.
veryolddodgerfan
yes it’s very simple. and it even works well for some. it’s something C Bills should take to heart. I think Jon has made the point that c bills may be doing just that.
Anonymous
It may be that Billingsley could be better than he is if he nibbled less and just threw more strikes – more the Blanton approach. On the other hand, Billingsley is better than Blanton is. Bills has amassed 14.6 Wins Above Replacement in 6+ seasons and he’s now 27 and has made a total of $11.4M. Blanton has produced 10 WAR in 8 seasons, and he’s now 31 and has made $23.7M.
To be fair, Blanton has misse d alot more starts due to injury – roughly a season and a half – so he’s only thrown 240 more innings than Bills. But still, much better production for the young guy, in a shorter amount of time, and time lost to injury does count after all.
For the last two years, Billingsley has struggled (only 0.6 WAR combined). During that same time, Blanton has produced -0.1 WAR. He is the poster-child for “replacement-level.” Still, probably better than Stephen Fife or the ghost of Ted Lilly.
Casey Barker
My first reply was dumb. Actually, here is a great explanation using statistical observations: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/joe-blanton-is-having-one-of-the-weirdest-seasons-ever/
Anonymous
Questionable call at the plate just cost the Fillies the tying run v. the Snakes. 3-2 in the seventh now.
Anonymous
Old Friend Lindblom’s first pitch to Kubel in the ninth was an upper-deck shot, now 4-2 Snakes.
Anonymous
CB Bucknor alert
KT
Nice catch Matty
KT
That swing reminded me of Dee
Anonymous
I thought it was gone when he hit it.
Anonymous
Another reason for an obelisking: Samardzija is Serbian. I’m 1/4 Croatian.
Time for some pointless ethnic strife!
Casey Barker
No, his attendance at Notre Dame is enough.
Anonymous
According to MLBTR, the Dodgers remain interested in Soriano, but doesn’t suggest where he might play. Great DH option in the Series, though.
Anonymous
Ethier to first base? Soriano, Victorino, Kemp in the outfield.
Anonymous
Interesting idea.
KT
Good hit Dre
Come on hanley
Anonymous
Once again, Mattingly waits for the GIDP.
KT
AJ!!!!
Anonymous
Bills looking pretty sharp through four, and the Rocks have knocked out Birdsong though they still trail by three.
KT
now 13-4
Anonymous
Shocked to see Loney miss that.
KT
Good hustle Han-Ram!!
KT
Come on james bring him home
jasonu
That was great. I think we need that kinda of play and attitude. And now Loney won’t be able to hit into a DP..
jasonu
Maybe it’s contagious!!
KT
Good hit BGJ!!
Come on Luis
KT
Good job AJ!!
Anonymous
Looking as far and wide as I could.throughout the Dodger Blogs and news sites it seems that some are upset that the Dodgers were vulnerable to getting beat by descent pitching, while not having the settled good pitching to win where they needed too. But if they lose tonight, it will certainly be because they can not hit. I wish them luck.
Anonymous
It looked fair to me.
KT
looked fair to me also
Jeffrey Thomas III
Vin flexing his twit muscle, sounds like somebody keyed him in on this whole twitter thing. Now let’s get AJ trending for him!
KT
good hit Mark
Anonymous
welp i guess this is as good a time as any to start reading DT again…
especially given the number of rings in boxes the dodgers have added this week.
rings.
in boxes.
#winning
^ did i do that right?
KT
Good hit Matty!!
Come on Dre bring them home
Anonymous
The Anaheimers continue to tank, with a horrendous bullpen.
KT
Han-Ram!!
Jeffrey Thomas III
Han-Rams first good game in front of the home fans!
Anonymous
Very surprised to see them pitch to Hanley, rather than try to set up the DP.
KT
Come on Luis
KT
Has anyone noticed..NO More GBA during 7th inning stretch by FSPT…not sure if it’s going on at the stadium still…They played last time I was there on 7/13
Jon Weisman
Chad Billingsley since leaving DL: 20 1/3 IP, 15 hits, 3 BB, 13 K, 0.89 ERA
Casey Barker
Pretty good for a guy that was declared by at least one commenter, “Worse than a fifth starter.”
KT
AJ Again!!!!
Anonymous
A.J. oppo!
jasonu
“AJ Ellis!! He’s really got something trending”-Vinny
Jeffrey Thomas III
It’s about time Shane.
SteelMohawk
Vinnie is making this game so enjoyable. I can’t stop laughing.
Blue-eyed Gal
welcome to the Twitterverse, Vin. Nerd that I am, I was feeling blue about missing out on a Spock Dodgers jersey — two of my loves in one package! — but I would’ve missed Vin ruling Twitter, so now I don’t mind staying home.
KT
Good win
Nice Game AJ, Chad and Hanley
Jon Weisman
NPUT