Bobby Abreu – Dodger Thoughts

Tag: Bobby Abreu

Uribe is home free

On August 9, 2012

Jerry Sands’ latest stay in Los Angeles has turned out to be ever-so-brief, as the Dodgers have sent him back to Albuquerque — where he will meet up with Tony Gwynn Jr., who cleared waivers and accepted a minor-league assignment — to make room on the Dodger roster for Adam Kennedy coming off the disabled list.

The moves mean that with 23 days to go until MLB active rosters can expand to 40, Juan Uribe is probably going to defy Damocles’ dagger and remain a Dodger though the end of next season and, presumably, on into 2013. This is the case even though Uribe has only three plate appearances in the past 17 days.

One position-player move that remains for the Dodgers to make is the potential activation of Dee Gordon from the disabled list if he’s ready before September 1, but at this point, I expect the Dodgers would send Gordon or Luis Cruz to the minors for a brief time and then recall the player when rosters widen (or just keep Gordon on the DL until then). As far as I can tell, the breaking point with Uribe for 2012 has come and gone.

Cruz, by the way, is in a 3-for-22 slump with one walk, lowering his 2012 on-base percentage to .286 (nearly identical to Gordon’s .280) and his slugging percentage to .385. According to Baseball Prospectus’ True Average statistic, which factors in baserunning, Cruz is at .245 compared to Gordon’s .224. Cruz, four years older, might be a better player than Gordon right now, but I still am interested in seeing how Gordon can develop, even if the next opportunity doesn’t come until next year.

* * *

Bobby Abreu has also cleared waivers, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. He can accept a minor-league assignment like Gwynn, or become a free agent.
Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. got a great shoutout from T.J. Simers of the Times.

… MATTINGLY LIKES to joke that truebluela.com’s Eric Stephen knows more about the Dodgers than anyone else in the media.

“Go ahead, Eric,” I tell him after Mattingly speaks highly of Stephen again, “ask him about some minor leaguer.”

“All right, I’ll ask about Juan Rivera,” says Stephen …
In his review of the Dodgers’ second 54 games of the 2012 season, Stephen highlights how severe the team’s offensive dropoff was, player by player.
James Loney should really, seriously, consider converting to pitching, argues Evan Bladh of Opinion of Kingman’s Performance.
Bluetopia, the 2009 movie about the Dodgers and their fans in which I had a brief appearance, will be screened August 16 at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, which has an ongoing baseball exhibition this summer. A Q&A with director Tim Marx follows.
One of my favorite baseball articles of the season comes from Russell A. Carleton of Baseball Prospectus, for which he dramatizes how much more difficult the job of baseball manager is than we typically comprehend.

Nope – it’s Abreu

By Jon Weisman

On August 1, 2012

In Dodger Stadium, Dodgers, Farm system, Transactions

Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 12:10 p.m.
Shane Victorino, LF
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Hanley Ramirez, 3B
Juan Rivera, 1B
Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B
Luis Cruz, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Stephen Fife, P

Well, I was wrong. The Dodgers have designated Bobby Abreu for assignment to make room on the roster for Shane Victorino.

Abreu OPSed .905 in his first 33 games as a Dodger, through June 11, but since then the outfielder has been 16 for 90 with 11 walks and two extra-base hits in 37 games for a .490 OPS.

I’m genuinely surprised. In this money-is-no-object era for the Dodgers, I still see more potential for Abreu to help in the stretch run than Juan Uribe.

* * *

Victorino will wear No. 8 with the Dodgers, with Don Mattingly switching to No. 12. The switch-hitting Victorino is wearing the same number as the switch-hitting Reggie Smith did as a Dodger in the 1970s. Smith took No. 8 because Steve Yeager already had the outfielder’s preferred No. 7.
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus ranked the prospects traded at the deadline this week. Ethan Martin is 11th, Scott McGough 24th, Logan Bawcom 25th and Leon Landry 30th out of 43.
Goldstein also produced a new ranking of the top 50 prospects in baseball, with Zach Lee on the list at 47.
In the wake of Martin’s departure, the Dodgers promoted Andres Santiago to Double-A Chattanooga, reports Robert Emrich for MLB.com. The 22-year-old righty had a 1.76 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 41 innings for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga in July, while allowing only 21 hits and nine walks.
Jerry Hairston Jr. had an obscure but memorable throw, captured by Chad Moriyama.
Buster Olney names 10 leading August trade candidates in his column for ESPN.com.
This past weekend, I discussed Chad Billingsley’s season-long improvement in throwing strikes. At Fangraphs, Michael Barr delves deeper, noting that Billingsley is “going to his four seam fastball far more regularly and he’s almost abandoned his cutter.”
A year after it happened, the Trayvon Robinson trade gets a positive review from Scott Andes at Lasorda’s Lair.
Dodger Stadium cuisine was recently reviewed by Jeanne Fratello of the Jolly Tomato.
Former Dodger general manager Dan Evans had a post-deadline live chat today at Baseball Prospectus.
Houston finished July with a 3-24 record, the worst July any team has had in at least 50 years, notes David Pinto of Baseball Musings.
With no further introduction, a recent piece from Josh Wilker.

Dodger Defcon ratings

By Jon Weisman

On June 23, 2012

In CityThink, Dodgers, Status report

Starting today, I’m making periodic contributions to the CityThink blog at Los Angeles Magazine. My first piece looks at the state of the Dodgers from a War Games perspective. Check it out …

Good teams have bad weeks, and one bad week like the Dodgers are having (with four losses in a row, including Friday’s 8-5 come-from-ahead defeat against the Angels) doesn’t ruin a season. At the same time, people have feared all along that the Dodgers are a team living on the brink of destruction in a dangerous baseball world.

In the spirit of War Games, here’s a snapshot of which Dodger problems are tic-tac-toe and which are global thermonuclear war …

Read the rest at CityThink …

Abreu latest career hit leader to play for Dodgers

By Jon Weisman

On May 4, 2012

In Dodgers, History

Paul Waner

Bobby Abreu will join the Dodgers with 2,389 career hits, 103rd all-time. Here are batters from the top 100 in all-time hits, with the number of hits as a Dodger in parentheses, according to Baseball-Reference.com:

10) Eddie Murray, 3,255 (483)
13) Paul Waner, 3,152 (115)
19) Rickey Henderson, 3,055 (15)
27) Frank Robinson, 2,943 (86)
31) Zack Wheat, 2,884 (2,804)
48) Al Oliver, 2,743 (20)
55) Bill Buckner, 2,715 (837)
59) Gary Sheffield, 2,689 (583)
69) Steve Garvey, 2,599 (1,968)
70) Luis Gonzalez, 2,591 (129)
75) Manny Ramirez, 2,574 (237)
77) Willie Davis, 2,561 (2,091)
78) Steve Finley, 2,548 (59)
79) Garret Anderson, 2,529 (28)
85) Fred McGriff, 2,490 (74)
87) Joe Medwick, 2,471 (535)
91) Jeff Kent, 2,461 (551)
93) Lloyd Waner, 2,459 (4)
98) Kenny Lofton, 2,428 (141)

Abreu has 284 career home runs, 153rd all-time. Here are the one-time Dodgers on the top 150.

8 ) Jim Thome, 604 (0)
9) Frank Robinson, 586 (19)
14) Manny Ramirez, 555 (44)
24) Gary Sheffield, 509 (129)
25) Eddie Murray, 504 (65)
26) Fred McGriff, 493 (13)
43) Mike Piazza, 427 (177)
45) Andruw Jones, 423 (3)
47) Duke Snider, 407 (389)
48) Paul Konerko, 401 (4)
61) Frank Howard, 382 (123)
66) Jeff Kent, 377 (75)
71) Gil Hodges, 370 (361)
79) Luis Gonzalez, 354 (15)
84) Dick Allen, 351 (23)
92) Boog Powell, 339 (0)
95) Darryl Strawberry, 335 (38)
100) Shawn Green, 328 (162)
105) Gary Carter, 324 (6)
114) Ron Cey, 316 (228)
115) Jeromy Burnitz, 315 (13)
116) Adrian Beltre, 314 (147)
116) Reggie Smith, 314 (97)
131) Steve Finley, 304 (13)
135) Rickey Henderson, 297 (2)
137) Robin Ventura, 294 (10)
142) Jimmy Wynn, 291 (50)
146) Garret Anderson, 287 (2)
146) Bobby Bonilla, 287 (7)

Update: Jim Peltz of the Times says the Dodgers have – surprisingly – optioned Justin Sellers to the minors, which means that some combination of Juan Uribe and Jerry Hairston Jr. will back up Dee Gordon at shortstop. Mark Ellis could move over there in a pinch, but he hasn’t played shortstop in a game since 2005. Hairston, of course, has been increasingly relied upon at third base in place of Uribe. Adam Kennedy played his only two career innings at short in 2007.

However, it’s possible that Sellers could come right back up to the Dodgers if they decide Uribe needs to go to the disabled list.

Matt Kemp and .400: One in a million

By Jon Weisman

On May 3, 2012

In Dodgers, Ownership

After ESPNLosAngeles asked me to write a piece exploring whether Matt Kemp could hit .400 this year, I was tempted to turn in a one-word column, but I ultimately went with this:

When a ballplayer takes a .400 batting average into May, you’re supposed to know not to ask whether he can take it through the end of the season.

You know that no major leaguer has hit .400 over a season since Ted Williams in 1941. You know it’s a barrier that has withstood Stan Musial, Rod Carew, George Brett, Andres Galarraga, Tony Gwynn, Larry Walker, Nomar Garciaparra, Todd Helton, Barry Bonds and Ichiro Suzuki — all of whom have hit at least .375 since ’41, but never .400.

What does Matt Kemp, now batting .411 on May 2, have that these guys didn’t have? Probably nothing, or a figure approaching nothing.

Last weekend, David Pinto of Baseball Musings ran some numbers. Kemp had just gone 2-for-4 in Friday’s Los Angeles Dodgers victory over Washington, raising his batting average to .452. Pinto found that Kemp’s probability of hitting .400 this year was 0.0000016.

If he played a million baseball seasons, the odds say Kemp wouldn’t hit .400 in two of them. And that was before his batting average fell 43 points in less than a week.

So what are we doing here?

Here are two reasons to keep having the conversation …

Read the entire piece here.

* * *

Stan Kasten, the most impressive figure at Wednesday’s Dodger press conference, is profiled by Kevin Baxter of the Times, while colleague Peter Guber is interviewed by the Times’ Roger Vincent.
Mark Walter is profiled by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Despite the fact that the number of cars parking in Dodger Stadium has no bearing on how much money Frank McCourt will receive going forward, the Times decided to perpetuate the mistaken assumption of others by running an op-ed from David Kipen calling for a boycott of the parking lots — or, if I’m reading correctly, a half-boycott.
Dodger batting practice pitcher Pete Bonfils was interviewed by Ron Cervenka for Think Blue L.A.
The Dodgers are reportedly close to taking a minimum-salary flyer on Angels castoff Bobby Abreu. Given that Abreu would probably replace one of four third basemen on the roster — Juan Uribe if he goes on the disabled list, Adam Kennedy otherwise — I’ve heard worse ideas.
A pairing to treasure, courtesy of Jon SooHoo:

Dodger Thoughts

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

Tag: Bobby Abreu

Uribe is home free

Nope – it’s Abreu

Dodger Defcon ratings

Abreu latest career hit leader to play for Dodgers

Matt Kemp and .400: One in a million

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