Bench – Page 2 – Dodger Thoughts

Category: Bench (Page 2 of 2)

MRI on Russell Martin encouraging, he says

On March 7, 2010

Following up on a few items from last night …

Dodgers at Cubs,
12:05 p.m.
Today’s Lineup
Xavier Paul, LF Jamey Carroll, SS Blake DeWitt, 2B Reed Johnson, CF Brian Giles, DH Nick Green, 3B A.J. Ellis, C Russ Mitchell, 1B Jason Repko, RF (Clayton Kershaw, P)

Russell Martin says his MRI showed only a strain, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Let’s hope he does not try to conceal anything more.

Martin told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com: “They said I have a little strain somewhere, either the lower abdomen or the groin area in the muscles that connect the hip, abdomen and groin.”

Update: This Gurnick paragraph doesn’t sound quite as good.

Martin’s discomfort is in the same general area that plagued former Dodgers infielder Tony Abreu, who first underwent a sports hernia operation, but ultimately needed arthroscopic surgery to repair torn hip labrum.

* * *

Dodger Thoughts commenter Bumsrap pointed out overnight that on days the Dodgers start Rafael Furcal, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Blake DeWitt, it would be hard for opponents to stack righty relievers against the Dodgers, even if the team has no lefty pinch-hitters.

Still, the Dodgers are looking for ways to save room for a lefty. Weather permitting, Jamey Carroll is getting a start at shortstop today (while Nick Green plays third), so the Dodgers are at least entertaining the option of having Carroll be the backup shortstop in April.

Brian Giles gets his first start of the year, but won’t play in the field.

* * *

Russ Mitchell, who made a fine catch in foul territory Saturday on behalf of Eric Gagne, gets the start at first.
Jason Repko is batting ninth on a day that features at most one regular Dodger starter.
Tony Jackson noticed Garret Anderson in a long conversation with Russ Ortiz and tweeted, “I wonder if the words ‘we couldn’t believe Dusty took you out’ have been spoken.”
Baseball players from four elementary schools in Taiwan will sing the national anthem before the Dodgers’ first two games there later this week, according to FocusTaiwan.

* * *

It got busy over here overnight, so here are the in-case-you-missed-’ems:

Torre talks about going without lefty on bench – isn’t this unthinkable?

By Jon Weisman

On March 6, 2010

In Bench, Managing/strategy, Offense, Pitching

Dodger manager Joe Torre says he is contemplating going without a left-handed hitter on the bench, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe any manager would do it. It puts your team at such a disadvantage, by allowing opponents to throw their best right-handed relievers against you at will.

But it’s true that the Dodgers have basically put themselves behind the right-handed 8-ball by signing non-southpaws Jamey Carroll, Nick Green, Ronnie Belliard and Reed Johnson this offseason. And with the latest news that Anderson won’t be ready to face live pitching for at least a week, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com – along with ongoing health concerns about Brian Giles and Doug Mientkiewicz, and the team’s reluctance to make the inexperienced Xavier Paul their lefty off the bench – the Dodgers have to at least plan for the possibility that come Opening Day, they will have no lefty options better than their righty ones.

Torre faces a problem because, as was noted when the team was signing Johnson, the Dodgers don’t have room for 12 pitchers and a lefty bench player unless a) Blake DeWitt starts the season in Albuquerque or b) the team does something it went out of its way to avoid in 2009, by making a non-shortstop the backup to Rafael Furcal. (Remember, the Dodgers kept Juan Castro as a backup basically all of last season, and that was with Mark Loretta having more shortstop experience than Jamey Carroll has.)

Even though DeWitt is off to a nice start after two Spring Training games, he’s still got a ways to go before the starting second base job is his. But if he wins it, the Dodgers would face such a roster crunch that the next most logical choice might be to cut Belliard, rather than go without a lefty pinch-hitter. After all, Belliard (whose contract isn’t officially guaranteed yet) is really only with the team in case DeWitt needs more seasoning.

If Giles or Mientkiewicz were healthy, I’d recommend keeping them over Belliard. However, Belliard projects to be better against righties than the over-the-hill Anderson, so choosing Anderson over Belliard is a bit unsavory.

A different solution would be to go with 11 pitchers, but as I said all last year, the Dodgers really do have a pitching staff that benefits from a 12th man. Maybe someone should run the numbers, but I think the cushion the seventh reliever provides helps the team more than a sixth bench player would.

The Dodgers are going to have to bite one of these bullets, and after shooting through all the different options, the best one might be to go without a true backup shortstop. With Furcal looking much healthier this year, backup shortstop will be one of the team’s lower priorities come Opening Day. If Furcal gets hurt, I’d much rather see Carroll at shortstop at the end of a close game than see a righty batter against a tough righty reliever. Neither Green nor Chin-Lung Hu would be likely to help the team more than even Anderson would.

The question is whether Green or Hu’s defense makes either a better choice for the roster than Belliard. I do think, if DeWitt starts at second base, that’s where the choice would be.

If the Dodgers do the heretofore unthinkable and keep an all-righty bench, I’d bet the house it doesn’t last more than two weeks. A team should have more than one left-handed hitter on the bench. Having none, strategically, is just a nightmare.

Notes for a Spring Training afternoon

By Jon Weisman

On March 4, 2010

In Bench, Spring Training

In inscrutable order …

I’m continuing to follow the rehab progress of Arizona pitcher Brandon Webb closely, partly because he’s on a division rival, partly because I imagined a scenario where Webb might have become a Dodger. Anyway, Webb described himself as “stagnant,” according to The Associated Press, but it’s better for him than having an actual setback.
One contender made it through this year’s version of Dodger Idol. Ricky Rivas of El Paso Texas, who pitched for El Paso in independent ball last year, was signed to a minor-league contract after showing his skills at the Dodgers’ annual open tryout. Tommy Lasorda, Logan White and DeJon Watson were among those judging.
To encourage carpooling, the Dodgers’ AAA affiliate in Albuquerque grants free parking to cars containing at least four people. Fees of $5 for other cars — which apparently is an increase — will go “directly toward improvements to the entire Sports Complex area … “
Buried in this story by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com about Garret Anderson’s impact on the bench is a note that backup shortstop candidate Nick Green is playing “without limitations” despite offseason back surgery.
While Brian Giles looks increasingly retirement-bound, Doug Mientkiewicz reasserted that he thinks his shoulder problems shouldn’t prevent him from playing, according to Gurnick.
Orel Hershiser has joined ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team, working with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan.
Speaking of Dodger greats: Ramon Martinez — the beloved one — is at Camelback Ranch as an instructor. See for yourself.
This Baseball Prospectus piece by Shawn Hoffman corroborates my view that the nasty payroll projections contained in a recent court filing by Jamie McCourt are nothing to be concerned about. “Unless they’re all on some kind of psychoactive drug cocktail, or possibly preparing for the next round of MLB collusion, there’s no way those projections are anything but a sales tool, pitching an investor on what they think he’ll want to hear,” Hoffman writes.
Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone looks at minor league prospects with high strikeout totals and doesn’t find much that would make one feel good about the future of Dodger farmhand Kyle Russell.
Fifty years ago today, according to the Daily Mirror, the Dodgers were all excited about pitching prospect Phil Ortega (Filimeno Coronado Ortega for long).

Older is not better for bench players

By Jon Weisman

On March 4, 2010

In Bench

We all know about the great, the wonderful, the tremendous Manny Mota. But generally, do aging reserves have a history of success with the Los Angeles Dodgers?

To try to answer the question, I decided to look at the batting numbers for Dodgers since 1958 who were at least 35 years old. (I chose players with between 20 and 400 plate appearances, then removed most of the players who were basically starters that got hurt or were part of a midseason acquisition.) At first I was only going to look at pinch-hitting numbers, but then I realized that except for someone like Mota, a key component of a good bench player includes how well they perform in spot starts.

Of the 89 players on this list, 20 of them (22.4 percent) had at least a league-average adjusted OPS of 100. Mota accounts for three of those 20 seasons, as does Rick Monday. (Sidebar: Is Monday, who OPSed .854 primarily as a reserve in 841 plate appearances from 1980-83, the greatest bench player in Los Angeles Dodger history?) Only 30 (33.7 percent) of the 89 even managed an OPS+ of 90.

Some of these older guys who didn’t produce are catchers or defensive specialists who never were expected to hit much in the first place. Nevertheless, the over-35 bench club is strewn with names of guys who had past hitting success (Jim Eisenreich, I’m looking at you) but were in such decline that not even their veteran moxie could save them.

Even Mota had some unimpressive 35-and-up seasons. Because many of these players don’t get a lot of at-bats, their performances can fluctuate quite a bit year to year. It’s not as if older players are doomed to failure, but there’s clearly nothing about being a veteran that guarantees bench success.

And that makes sense, despite the baseball cliches that would suggest otherwise. After all, there’s a reason these guys lose their starting jobs in the first place — and usually, that reason is related to offense more than defense.

There are some names in the below-average portion of this chart that are actually part of Dodger lore: Vic Davalillo in 1977, Jay Johnstone in 1981, Mark Loretta last October — players who by virtue of a single at-bat put a positive stamp on disappointing seasons. That doesn’t change the fact that overall, veteran benchmen have been more forgettable than memorable.

You can still argue for keeping a Garret Anderson over a Xavier Paul. Maybe the Dodgers will get more long-term value out of Paul if he plays every day in Albuquerque until he’s needed. Maybe there’s a matchup in a key September or October game that Anderson will use his experience to take advantage of. Maybe Anderson’s numbers will improve if his at-bats are rationed.

On the other hand, Paul is 25 years old, entering his prime, superior on defense and already performing at a level on offense that projects better in 2010 than Anderson does. It’s not clear at all that it benefits the Dodgers to hand Anderson a job that he would be earning solely through his resume.



Player              OPS+  PA Year Age HR  OBP  SLG   OPS

Rick Monday          194 156 1981  35 11 .423 .608 1.031

Manny Mota           176  50 1977  39  1 .521 .500 1.021

Duke Snider          149 196 1962  35  5 .418 .481  .899

Rick Monday          140 254 1982  36 11 .372 .481  .852

Olmedo Saenz         132 204 2006  35 11 .363 .564  .927

Jose Morales         131  34 1982  37  1 .382 .433  .816

Rick Dempsey         129 198 1988  38  7 .338 .455  .793

Ken Boyer            123 243 1968  37  6 .317 .403  .720

Jose Morales         121  54 1983  38  3 .296 .509  .806

Chad Kreuter         116 271 2000  35  6 .416 .410  .827

Doug Mientkiewicz    115  20 2009  35  0 .400 .389  .789

Mitch Webster        114  93 1994  35  4 .344 .464  .808

Manny Mota           110  47 1979  41  0 .400 .357  .757

Rick Monday          109 208 1983  37  6 .351 .399  .750

Manny Mota           106  60 1976  38  0 .367 .346  .713

Jeff Reboulet        105 253 2001  37  3 .367 .397  .764

Kevin Elster         104 259 2000  35 14 .341 .455  .796

Trent Hubbard        102 120 1999  35  1 .387 .390  .777

Vic Davalillo        102  81 1978  41  1 .333 .390  .723

Robin Ventura        100 127 2003  35  5 .331 .422  .753

Player              OPS+  PA Year Age HR  OBP  SLG   OPS

Gary Carter           98 280 1991  37  6 .323 .375  .698

Willie Randolph       98 113 1990  35  1 .364 .344  .707

Chad Kreuter          97 234 2001  36  6 .355 .377  .732

Enos Cabell           96 208 1985  35  0 .340 .349  .689

Jerry Grote           96  83 1978  35  0 .354 .343  .697

Manny Mota            96  37 1978  40  0 .361 .333  .694

Brett Butler          95 178 1995  38  0 .368 .336  .703

Bill Mueller          94 126 2006  35  3 .357 .402  .759

Chad Kreuter          94 108 2002  37  2 .333 .379  .712

Brad Ausmus           93 107 2009  40  1 .343 .368  .712

Pee Wee Reese         87 181 1958  39  4 .337 .381  .718

Robin Ventura         86 175 2004  36  5 .337 .362  .699

Bill Russell          85 298 1984  35  0 .329 .321  .649

Manny Mota            85  72 1974  36  0 .328 .316  .644

Sandy Alomar          84  62 2006  40  0 .323 .403  .726

Manny Mota            84  59 1975  37  0 .357 .286  .643

Bill Russell          83 192 1985  36  0 .333 .308  .641

Reggie Smith          83  44 1981  36  1 .318 .314  .632

Boog Powell           83  53 1977  35  0 .415 .244  .659

Otis Nixon            82 191 1997  38  1 .323 .349  .671

Rick Dempsey          81 183 1989  39  4 .319 .305  .623

Player              OPS+  PA Year Age HR  OBP  SLG   OPS

Devon White           79 168 2000  37  4 .310 .386  .696

Vic Davalillo         79  48 1977  40  0 .313 .354  .667

Ron Coomer            78 137 2003  36  4 .299 .368  .667

Jay Johnstone         77  90 1981  35  3 .267 .349  .616

Juan Castro           76 121 2009  37  1 .311 .339  .650

Gil Hodges            76 245 1961  37  8 .313 .372  .685

Gil Hodges            76 231 1960  36  8 .291 .371  .661

Geronimo Berroa       74  35 2000  35  0 .343 .323  .665

Al Oliver             74  85 1985  38  0 .294 .316  .611

Carl Furillo          74 103 1959  37  0 .333 .333  .667

Bill Russell          73 242 1986  37  0 .302 .301  .603

Rick Monday           73  57 1984  38  1 .309 .298  .607

Steve Yeager          72 221 1984  35  4 .295 .310  .605

Jim Gilliam           71 273 1966  37  1 .315 .268  .583

Rickey Henderson      70  84 2003  44  2 .321 .306  .627

Wally Moon            69 104 1965  35  1 .304 .270  .574

Gary Bennett          68  23 2008  36  1 .261 .381  .642

Tim Wallach           68 175 1996  38  4 .286 .333  .619

Rick Dempsey          68 151 1990  40  2 .318 .281  .599

Vic Davalillo         68  29 1979  42  0 .310 .296  .607

Elmer Valo            68 115 1958  37  1 .322 .317  .639

Brett Butler          66 145 1996  39  0 .313 .290  .603

Davey Lopes           66 243 1981  36  5 .289 .285  .574

Olmedo Saenz          65 132 2007  36  4 .295 .345  .641

Cesar Cedeno          65  87 1986  35  0 .294 .282  .576

Mark Belanger         63  57 1982  38  0 .309 .260  .569

Bill Madlock          62  69 1987  36  3 .265 .344  .609

Mark Loretta          60 204 2009  37  0 .309 .276  .585

Jose Valentin         60 184 2005  35  2 .326 .265  .591

Player              OPS+  PA Year Age HR  OBP  SLG   OPS

Mark Sweeney          55  34 2007  37  0 .294 .303  .597

Jeff Reboulet         55  58 2002  38  0 .291 .271  .562

Chris Donnels         54 101 2001  35  3 .277 .295  .573

Phil Garner           54 151 1987  38  2 .299 .270  .569

Ken Boyer             49  36 1969  38  0 .250 .265  .515

Shawn Gilbert         47  23 2000  35  1 .227 .350  .577

Jim Leyritz           47  68 2000  36  1 .294 .267  .561

Mitch Webster         46  63 1995  36  1 .246 .286  .532

Irv Noren             46  26 1960  35  1 .231 .320  .551

Steve Yeager          43 131 1985  36  0 .246 .256  .502

Mike Lieberthal       41  82 2007  35  0 .280 .260  .540

Jim Eisenreich        39 140 1998  39  0 .266 .244  .510

Mickey Hatcher        39 141 1990  35  0 .248 .250  .498

Chris Cannizzaro      35  25 1973  35  0 .280 .190  .470

Brent Mayne           29 113 2004  36  0 .286 .188  .473

Mark Sweeney          13 108 2008  38  0 .250 .163  .413

Jose Morales           3  20 1984  39  0 .200 .158  .358

Maury Wills            3 152 1972  39  0 .190 .167  .357

Milt Thompson         -3  57 1996  37  0 .211 .137  .348

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/4/2010.

Dodgers sign Garret Anderson to minor-league deal

By Jon Weisman

On March 3, 2010

In Bench, Health/injuries

In a move one can’t help but interpret, at least in part, as a vote of no confidence in the health of Brian Giles and Doug Mientkiewicz, the Dodgers have signed local hero Garret Anderson to a minor-league deal, the team announced tonight.

Anderson, 38 this June, had a .705 OPS last season (86 OPS+) and was almost equally bad against right-handed pitchers as he was against lefties. But the team might just be determined to have a veteran at least start the season as the team’s lead lefty pinch-hitter, rather than Xavier Paul, whose bat could certainly match what Anderson did last season.

Perhaps the thinking is also that Anderson might do better with more rest than he has ever had in his career – he has been a regular since 1995.

Previously on Dodger Thoughts: Superman, Then and Now

* * *

Updates:

Arizona signed 22-year-old right fielder Justin Upton to a six-year, $51.25 million contract. Upton is nearly three years younger than Matt Kemp and has one fewer year of service time, and had a .301 EQA (or, as Baseball Prospectus now wants us to call it, True Average) compared to Kemp’s .304.
The importance of Clayton Kershaw’s slider is the subject of a Jay Jaffe post at ESPN.com’s new pay-blog, TMI. “Kershaw’s numbers, since he introduced the pitch in early-June, are eye-popping,” Jaffe writes. “They stand with the elite hurlers in the majors, with the caveat that his age limited his workload.”
Scheduled Dodger pitchers for Spring Training Opening Day on Friday: Vicente Padilla, Ramon Ortiz, Charlie Haeger, Luis Ayala, Scott Dohmann and Jon Link.
An all-encompassing MLB batted-ball location chart is now available at Katron.org (link via True Blue L.A. and Dodger Divorce).
Following their disappointing 2009 seasons, Dodger catcher Russell Martin put on chunks of weight, while Cubs catcher Geovany Soto took them off. Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports explores their criss-cross paths.
Lefty reliever Brent Leach is trying to get through a sore groin muscle, Gurnick reports. Leach has been playing catch on flat ground but has stayed off the mound in recent days.
Minor leaguers had their per diem raised to $25 from $20, and Rob Neyer of ESPN.com is unimpressed by the largesse – and even less impressed with the efforts organizations make to encourage healthy eating among their prospects.
Forty years ago today, Ross Newhan of the Times began his feature (passed along by Keith Thursby at the Daily Mirror) on Bobby Valentine with this opening: “He might have become the second O.J. Simpson.”
The Dodgers’ annual open tryout for all unaffiliated men and women 18 and over takes place Thursday at Camelback Ranch. Hope your visa’s in order!
Is the future of baseball bats knobless? Read and decide for yourself.
Manny Mota (via Gurnick) is trying to draw attention to the Haiti relief efforts of former major-leaguer Neifi Perez and his merengue-performing brother Rubby.

Giles, Mientkiewicz have chronic ailments

By Jon Weisman

On February 25, 2010

In Bench, Spring Training

Considered leading contenders for the Dodger bench because of their previous major-league success, both Brian Giles and Doug Mientkiewicz have arrived at Spring Training with health concerns that aren’t going to go away.

As Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports:

He went on the disabled list on June 19 and never came off, diagnosed with what was called a bone contusion, which can be a nice way of saying it’s bone rubbing on bone. In that case, all the rehab in the world is meaningless, as the pain will return as soon as he starts running.

“I feel healthy, but you don’t know until you start pounding on it,” he said of his knee, which underwent micro-fracture surgery in 2007. “I’ve always said, if it’s too hard or I can’t play well, I’ll walk away myself. I did regular offseason workouts and they went well.” …

… Giles’ most obvious rival for the bench role is Doug Mientkiewicz, who has physical problems of his own, with chronic pain in his throwing shoulder and, for the second year, must make the club on a Minor League contract. …

Left-handed hitting Xavier Paul would be the most obvious potential beneficiary if Giles and Mientkiewicz can’t make it for the long haul.

* * *

Vicente Padilla will start the official March 5 Spring Training opener, Gurnick reports, though this is not an indication he will be the Opening Day starter in April. Gurnick also notes that the Dodgers actually have a B game three days earlier — this coming Tuesday.
Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com had lots of good tidbits in his lunchtime chat today. Among other things: Ivan DeJesus, Jr. is still experiencing soreness from his broken leg. Also, he tells us not to forget about Cory Wade, whom he thinks is capable of a comeback.
At Dodgers Blog, Steve Dilbeck tells his story of being at his first Spring Training and meeting Sandy Koufax — and experience first-hand his predictive powers regarding Vero Beach weather and earth.
Memories of Kevin Malone analyzes the past, present and future of Dodger pitching prospect Chris Withrow.
Recovering Arizona pitcher Brandon Webb had a clean 45-pitch throwing session today.
I’ve talked in the past about always wanting to chronicle the seasons of those who proclaim at Spring Training that they’re in the best shape of their lives. Fangraphs is taking on the project head on, with posts by Dave Cameron and Joe Pawlikowski.
Meanwhile, proving once again that his reputation as a softie is off-target, former Dodger J.D. Drew played in pain throughout 2009, reports Daniel Barbarisi of the Providence Journal (via Hardball Talk).
Kicking off a series of interviews with the most important people on this planet, DodgerFan.net has “Five Tweets with … Jon Weisman of ESPN/LA’s Dodger Thoughts.”

Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Category: Bench (Page 2 of 2)

MRI on Russell Martin encouraging, he says

Torre talks about going without lefty on bench – isn’t this unthinkable?

Notes for a Spring Training afternoon

Older is not better for bench players

Dodgers sign Garret Anderson to minor-league deal

Giles, Mientkiewicz have chronic ailments

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