Kemp, Martin, Billingsley, Kuroda, and Two Dudes I Never Want To See Again: It's OK, When It's A Six-Way.

I have a soft spot in my collecting heart for cards which pair my favorite players together. If the price is right I have a hard time passing up cards that kill two or more birds with one cardboard stone.

Today's post features one such piece of cardboard I recently came to own. For under a dollar a swatch I landed a sweet Teammate Timelines Six Swatch Memorabilia hit from 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection. Numbered 099/200, it's a most welcome addition to my Bison PC.

Three of my all-time favorite Blue Crew members in Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, and Chad Billingsley are joined by another really good and likable player in Hiroki Kuroda and two bums in Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones. Jones, while Hall of Fame-worthy in Atlanta, was never in-shape in L.A. and took playing time away from literally anyone else with a pulse. Pierre was never a guy I wanted to see play and though he seemed nice enough he was constantly demanding a trade once he got moved to his rightful spot on the pine.

A Masterful Masterpiece of Chad Billingsley.

I'm a HUGE Chad Billingsley fan, and though he's perhaps the most polarizing Dodger of the last decade this side of Jonathan Broxton - I leave out Juan Pierre because the love for him was insane to begin with - I don't judge him on body language or any garbage like that. His stats speak for themselves, and he's been a very good pitcher over his LA career, and one of the most underrated Dodgers in recent memory.

His 2008 UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius on-card auto has been on my must have list for some time, and I was finally able to land one for a great price - six clams delivered - after an eBayer accepted a Best Offer I submitted. Masterpieces is a product you can't not love, and I'm always happy to add a Bills' auto to my PC.

With a career 3.66 FIP, almost 8 Ks per game, and two seasons of ~4.5 fWAR (his 2012 was on the way to eclipsing 4 fWAR before his elbow gave out), I for one am always happy to watch Chad toe the rubber. A bobblehead of the Defiance, Ohio righty is long overdue, and hopefully his rehab continues to progress smoothly and he can avoid Tommy John surgery.

Beckett Did Right By Me: A MAJOR Russell Martin Spectrum Swatches Rainbow Pickup!

I'm getting down to the most difficult portion of Martin's '08 Spectrum Swatches Rainbow, needing cards that are, for the most part, significantly short-printed. Removing the one card /99 and one out of /44 (which I almost had), nothing is more abundant than 15 copies. Of course, it's not as simple as simply "removing" two cards I need. Except in this case, one can be removed, because I tracked down the elusive dual swatch and pounced on it like it was Alison Brie.

Numbered 31/99, this four-piece ensemble which ran me $12.48 shipped - $8.52 for the card itself - features Russ and former Dodger Juan Pierre. An odd combination, to say the least, but that one is on UD. Surprisingly, this card has been hell to find. I had never come across an auction on eBay, or seen it available for trade, or stumbled upon it at my LCS. There was a four-year-old completed eBay auction I found through WorthPoint, and one eBay UK auction I missed from around last year.

But after seeing a mailday post by Chris Olds over at Beckett, and his success in finding some PC cards through Beckett Marketplace, I checked the BM inventory on a whim. And voila! Out popped the above card, with a quantity of 1. Did I pay more than I'd like to? Yeah. Did I pay almost as much as I have for rarer Martins, and more than I have for 1/1s and sick autos? Yeah. Will I regret it though? Not a chance.

I read somewhere around the blogosphere that years from now, you won't remember how much you paid for a card, just that you own it and can appreciate it for the rest of your life. Had this been an eBay auction, I would be more than comfortable in bidding up to what I ended up spending. While I do presently hate that I paid more than half a blaster for something that has Juan Pierre on it (#CollettiFail®), I won't regret knocking off a major need, and putting myself one step closer to completing the long project that is Russ Martin's 2008 Spectrum Swatches Rainbow. The rainbow colors locked into my collection, as it presently stands, can be found below.

Vicente Padilla & John Ely

Vicente Padilla has been told to not throw for the next 7-10 days, as he recuperates from an irritated nerve in his right forearm.

"We'll have to wait a while before he throws," said Torre. "Possibly a week to 10 days. We have to let it quiet down and go from there. It needs to be paid attention to. We're not certain it's going to be better in a period of time. We'll have to wait and see."

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John Ely, acquired in the Juan Pierre trade and currently pitching in AAA, will more than likely start Wednesday's game against the Mets.

Dodgers Notes From Tuesday's Game 4/20/2010

Cincinnati 11, Dodgers 9

Box Score.

• Chad Billingsley went 3 innings (7 Runs [4 ER], 7 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 1 Throwing Error, 56 pitches - 35 for strikes). The 2nd inning did him in, and having basically all fastballs called didn't help either. Change it up a bit, whoever calls the pitches.
• Bullpen: 5 IP, 4 ER, 4 Hits, 1 K, 3 BB, 1 HR Allowed.
• Matt Kemp launched his 6th HR of the season.
• Rafael Furcal stole his 5th and 6th bases of the season. It took him until July 3rd of last year to steal his 5th base, and July 28th to swipe his 6th bag.
  
• Manny Ramirez (Double, 3 BB) reached base 4 times, while Kemp (HR, Single), Andre Ethier (Single, BB), Russell Martin (2 Singles), Blake DeWitt (2 Singles), Furcal (2 Singles), and Casey Blake (Triple, Double) each reached base twice.
• Kemp drove in 3 runs, and Casey Blake picked up 4 of his teammates.
  
• The offense struck out 10 times, drew 5 walks, and had 5 extra-base hits.
• Jon Link, acquired in the Juan Pierre deal, made his major league debut and pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing 0 Hits and walking 1. He faced 6 batters, and threw 27 pitches, 15 for strikes.
• Manny started for the first time since his calf injury of late last week.
  

Greatest Post Ever

Courtesy of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness.

April 1st is so ridiculously good sometimes.

Joe Torre Doesn't Watch Dodger Games

Or know how to check for simple statistics on the internet.

Joe Torre believes Manny wasn't the same after his suspension. Well, a simple check of stats will show us that while that's technically true, it's a very misleading statement.

Manny wasn't the same after being hit on the hand with a Homer Bailey fastball on July 21st. Yes, that is technically after his suspension, but the statement that "he wasn't the same after his suspension" is wholly disingenuous and implies that he saw a drop off solely because he was no longer juicing.

His numbers from 3 periods of time in 2009:

April 6th - May 6th

• 27 Games
• 120 plate appearances
• .492 OBP
• .641 SLG%
• 1.133 OPS
• 15 XBH
• 26 BB/17 SO
  

July 3rd - July 21st

• 15 Games
• 56 plate appearances
• .429 OBP
• .688 SLG%
• 1.116 OPS
• 8 XBH
• 7 BB/10 SO
  

July 22nd - October 3rd

• 62 Games
• 255 plate appearances
• .380 OBP
• .448 SLG%
• .829 OPS
• 22 XBH
• 38 BB/54 SO

Manny was pretty good right after coming back from suspension but before getting plunked on his hand. And while Manny was clearly not as good, his post-taking-a-fastball-to-the-hand stretch of games was still pretty damn productive, and his OBP, SLG%, and OPS from those games are still better than anything Juan Pierre has done in his apparently "illustrious" career.

Career of mediocrity is more like it. Hayoh!

This isn't even a discussion anymore, so can we please stop saying "Manny was awful" or "Manny was bad after his suspension". Please?

Dodgers Sign 3 More To Minor League Deals

Ned Colletti signed Nick Green, Scott Dohmann, and Argenis Reyes to minor league deals on Monday. Each player has also been invited to Spring Training.

Green, 31, has 1108 plate appearances over 5 seasons spent with Atlanta, Tampa Bay, the Yankees, Seattle, and Boston. Over that time, he has amassed an amazingly putrid line of .239/.307/.352/.660, with an OBP of .303 in 2009. Yes, that's a worse 2009 OBP and a worse career OBP than noted base-clogger Juan Pierre. Green is coming off of back surgery, and could conceivably not even be ready by Spring Training or the start of the 2010 regular season. If he is ready, I would imagine he will basically be handed the backup shortstop job, what with his veterany status and inability to hit, something the Dodgers seem to find especially tantalizing from their bench players.

There is nothing, quite frankly, that Nick Green does that Chin-lung Hu, aged 26 when the season begins anew, can't do. Not to mention the higher upside The Hu (copyright KempKershaw - trust me, no need to look into this any further) presents. Apparently the Dodgers are anti-Hu. Are you anti-Hu? I'm certainly not, and as Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness points out, Hu is the superior player, and is not coming off of back surgery, and is not behind schedule from the aforementioned back surgery. If either of these two gentlemen see significant time in 2010, there's a problem. But if that did happen, wouldn't you want the younger, higher upside player playing? I would. Especially since Nick Green, baseball backup, sucks.


Dohmann, 31 and a relief pitcher, has made 164 appearances over 5 seasons with Colorado, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay. He has a career WHIP of 1.6, a K/9 IP mark of 8.7, and has walked 5/9 IP. He has a 5.04 career FIP.


Reyes, a 27-year-old middle infielder, has 139 career plate appearances, all with the Mets between 2008 and 2009. His career line stands at .205/.246/.228/.475, with an OPS+ of 27. His 2009 OPS+ , over 18 plate appearances, was -22.


Chin-lung Hu should have the backup shortstop gig unless he physically can't play. Physically can't play, you know who that reminds me of? Nick Green. And I don't mean because he's a 31-year-old who just had back surgery and is behind schedule; I mean it because Nick Green is an atrocious player who can barely produce a .300 OBP. Seriously, a .303 on-base percentage in 2009? A career .307 OBP?

Christ, that's epically horrendous.

Lame.

Juan Pierre Trade Completed (UPDATE)

It will in fact be John Ely and Jon Link heading to LA. Good job Ned Colletti, something I don't say too often.




Does Link (right) remind anybody else of Bobby Jenks without the blond goatee?


Previous Pierre Trade Coverage found here.

UPDATE: Eric Stephen at True Blue LA informs us that Link has been placed on the 40-man roster, while Ely does not have to be placed on it until 2011. The 40-man roster now has 36 Dodgers on it.

YES! Juan Pierre Has Been Traded! (UPDATES)

Juan Pierre has been traded to the White Sox, according to Tim Brown and Ken Rosenthal.

Brown reports the Dodgers will pick up about half of Pierre's remaining salary, and will acquire two minor league pitchers.

Dylan Hernandez Tweets the minor leaguers will be named later.

Buster Olney Tweets the breakdown of salary as: $8 million to be paid by the White Sox, $10.5 million to be paid by the Dodgers.

As the title of this post clearly demonstrates, I am ecstatic at this news. Now, I just hope Xavier Paul wins the 4th outfielder job over Jason Repko, which appears to be more of a challenge than it should be due to the Dodgers love affair with Repko.

I don't really even care who we get back in return for Pierre (though hopefully there's some nice upside with the two minor leaguers); I'm just thrilled Juan Pierre is no longer a Dodger.

You can follow along and stay up to date with this transaction through MLB Trade Rumors and their excellent coverage.


UPDATE: Eric Stephen over at True Blue LA gives his take on the trade, including the statistical information I was too lazy to link to, though that information should be known by everyone today. Shockingly, many don't understand baseball statistics, or just choose to ignore them when it comes to Juan Pierre, using awful statistics like batting average and steals.

UPDATE # 2: Jon Morosi of FOX Sports Tweets that, according to a "source", the prospects coming to LA are John Ely, 23, and Jon Link, 25.

UPDATE # 3: Jayson Stark reports that the pitchers the Dodgers will acquire are likely to be ready to hit the show in 2010, which lends credence to the pitchers being Ely and Link, as Morosi reported. Ely has already reached AA, while Link has reached AAA. Ely has over a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio and has struck out roughly 8/9 IP in his minor league career, while Link has struck out more than a batter per inning and has an almost 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio in his minor league career.

UPDATE # 4: The Dodgers have announced the trade. The players to be named later will be announced no later than January 7th of 2010. I'm hoping the players are Ely and Link, or at least comparable players. Ely and Link in particular make me love this deal even more than I already do.

UPDATE # 5: Juan Pierre looks baller with that mustache in the above photo. I'd like him a bit more if he grew it back. Not enough to want him on the team, but hey, it would be a start (again, a start that didn't end with him on the Dodgers).

UPDATE # 6: Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts gives his take on the Pierre trade. A great read.

Rumor Tuesday, Now Featuring Juan Pierre and Aging Veteran Infielders: The Backups Strike Again

Backups, Unite!

• Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports Tweets that the Dodgers met with infielder Nick Green's agent.
• Joe Frisaro Tweets the Dodgers are interested in infielder Alfredo Amezaga.
• Frisaro also Tweets at least 3 teams are interested in Juan Pierre. Why, I have no idea, but let's hope one bites, and all the Dodgers have to do is eat some of his contract, and not include prospects, as some have speculated. Then again, McCourt is cheap and broke, and he has a history of choosing to give away elite prospects instead of paying money, so I'm scared of what that trade could look like.
  

Until next time, this has been the Backups edition of Rumors.

The Dodgers Gave Out At Least 3 Of The 10 Worst Contracts Of The 2000s

Jeff Passan at Big League Stew lists the 10 worst contracts from this decade.

Three Dodgers make the list, all in the top 5.

Somehow Juan Pierre doesn't make it, though he would have if I had made the list.

At # 5, Andruw Jones.

At # 3, Jason Schmidt.

And at # 1, ........ drumroll please ........ Darren Dreifort.

Dodgers Sign 2 To Minor League Contracts

RP Justin Miller and OF Prentice Redman.

Their claims to fame: Miller, 32, is tatted up, pretty much head to toe, and has to cover them up with long sleeves when on the mound, so as not to distract the batter ("The Justin Miller Rule"); Redman, 30, is the brother of former major leaguer Tike Redman.



Eh, they're just minor-league contracts, but I hope they don't end up on the 25-man roster and playing in meaningful games, i.e. any game. We have plenty, plenty of bullpen options, and Xavier Paul or Jamie Hoffmann can fill the 5th outfielder role, and hopefully the 4th, which of course depends upon whether we can find some G.M. dumber than Colletti to take Juan Pierre away for good.

Manny Ramirez Picks Up His Option....And Saves Us

From 162 games of Juan Pierre.

The option is for $20 million.

Yes, he's 37, and yes, he wasn't as productive last year as many of us had hoped he would be, but as long as he doesn't take another fastball on the hand (pictured below) he should be productive. Certainly more than the aforementioned Slappy Juan Pierre.


At 37, Manny had an OBP of .418, a SLG% of .531, and an OPS of .949 in 431 plate appearances. That's good for an OPS+ of 149, to go along with 19 HR, 45 XBH, and a very respectable WAR of 2.9. Taking into account the 50 games missed due to suspension, and the adverse effects that came after being hit by a pitch on the hand, those numbers are fairly close to his career numbers.

A quick look at how the hit-by-pitch affected Manny's production:

• April 6th-July 21st: 42 Games, 176 plate appearances, a line of .343/.472/.657/1.129, 23 XBH

-HIT BY PITCH ON JULY 21st-

• July 22nd-October 3rd: 62 Games, 255 plate appearances, a line of .255/.380/.448/.829/, 22 XBH

For those who believe Manny not on the juice is what took the bite out of his production, his numbers from the first game after his suspension until he was hit on the hand:

• July 3rd- July 21st: 15 Games, 56 plate appearances, a line of .333/.429/.688/1.116/, 8 XBH
  

Of course Manny could have still been using, but I don't believe in steroids making the player. Manny has always been a phenomenal player, and steroids did not make him that player.

I'm very pleased to have Manny returning, and if he produces the exact same as last year's final line, I'd gladly take that over the alternative of Mr. Pierre, who hits the hardest ground balls and highest pop-ups of any man to ever walk the face of the planet. That being said, I expect a productive Manny. Not the crazy numbers from the 2nd half of 2008, but productive nevertheless.

Manny Ramirez Potentially Gone?

So says a "baseball insider".

I can't bear a full season of Juan Pierre.

At least he'll lead the league. In outs made.

Notes From Sunday's Game

1. Brad Ausmus managed the team in today's final regular season game.
2. Vicente Padilla went 5 excellent innings (1 ER, 4 Hits, 10 K, 0 BB, 1 HR Allowed, 87 pitches - 59 for strikes). He struck out the first 5 batters he faced (where have I heard that before?).
   
3. Bullpen: 4 IP, 2 Runs, 4 Hits, 7 K, 1 BB.
4. Doug Mientkiewicz (3 Singles) reached base 3 times, while Andre Ethier (2 BB), Orlando Hudson (Double, BB), Chin-lung Hu (Double, Single), and Juan Pierre (Triple, Single) each reached base twice.
5. A.J. Ellis collected his first career hit.
   
6. Pierre stole 2 bases to finish the season with 30 steals. And 12 caught stealings.
   
7. The offense struck out 7 times and drew 3 walks.
   

Notes From Saturday's Game

1. The division is ours! As is home-field advantage. Cardinals visit starting Wednesday.
2. Clayton Kershaw, as the above picture would suggest, had himself a baller game (6 IP, 0 Runs, 3 Hits, 10 K, 3 BB [1 IBB], 104 pitches - 65 for strikes). He struck out the first 5 batters he faced, and fanned 5 looking and 5 swinging.
   
3. Bullpen: 3 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 2 K, 0 BB.
4. Russell Martin (2 BB [1 IBB]), Casey Blake (2 Singles), Rafael Furcal (Single, IBB), and Juan Pierre (2 Singles) each reached base twice.
5. The offense struck out 9 times while drawing 3 walks.
6. Martin stole his 11th base while Pierre stole his 28th base of the season.
7. Lots of guys in line to get rest tomorrow.
   

Links On A Wednesday Afternoon

Batting .300 isn't all it's cracked up to be. Cracked up to be by people who don't understand the importance of a walk, that is. Juan Pierre is mentioned. You know where this is going. [Yes, But It's An Empty .300]

The Dodgers' young players are pretty damn good. [Los Angeles Dodgers VOC and Payroll Breakdown]

Watch Glee tonight. Fox, 9:00 P.M. PST.

Does Ken Gurnick Know That Ned Colletti Actually Sucks?

Apparently not.




I'll just touch on a few points:

but this is Ned Colletti's club. He traded for Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez, he refused to trade away Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, and he signed Randy Wolf and Vicente Padilla.

Do you know why he refused to trade Kemp and Kershaw? Because they were our best offensive and pitching prospects, respectively, and projected to be really really good to elite players. I will not give him credit for not doing an idiotic thing like trading away your best prospects. And on the subject of top prospects, no mention of Colletti severely underselling two of the team's best prospects the last two seasons and shipping them out of town. And while he did an intelligent thing in acquiring Manny, it's not like that deal didn't also happen to pretty much fall into his lap. The Ethier move was excellent, but I'll go out on a limb and assume that had more to do with Logan White than it did with Ned Colletti and his baseball expertise.

Nobody could have more impact than Ramirez last year, but Colletti has been equally successful plugging in overlooked and underrated players such as Casey Blake, whose professional demeanor and steady play haven't wavered this year.

You know what's funny, I didn't realize that they started measuring "professional demeanor". I think it's listed right in between grit and clubhouse presence on Baseball Reference, right ahead of WAR. Again, no mention of the severe cost of trading for Blake. And if by steady play, you mean a .251/.313/.460/.773 (100 OPS+, 1.0 WAR) line in 58 games with the team last year, without even mentioning the .267/.333/.367/.700 line with 1 XBH in 8 playoff games last year, then yeah, steady as she goes, steady as she goes. Of course he's been much better this year on both sides of the ball (3.9 WAR), but if you mention the good, you should also mention the horrendous.

With Jonathan Broxton closing, Sherrill's eighth innings are sometimes overlooked. But he hasn't been scored upon in 22 of the 23 times Torre has used him, for a microscopic 0.42 ERA.

Actually, it's been Broxton who's been overlooked/underrated/shitted on this year, especially since Sherrill arrived. Many have called for Sherrill to replace Big Jon, somehow forgetting that Broxton's been the best relief pitcher in baseball this year. And no mention of the overpayment (Josh Bell) for Sherrill.

He's more successful than the five general managers who preceded him, if not more secure, even with the failures of free-agent signings Jason Schmidt and Andruw Jones.

See what old Ken does here? He casually slips in the horrendous deals Colletti's made, hoping that you won't read until the end and see this paragraph. He also leaves out Juan Pierre, the undervaluing of prospects, specifically top prospects, the poor handling of Blake DeWitt this season, the lack of trust in young players, the unwillingness to let those young players (most of the time) play and develop, etc etc.

Notes From Wednesday's Game

1. Hiroki Kuroda was fantastic today (6 IP, 1 ER, 6 Hits, 7 K, 0 BB, 1 WP, 95 pitches - 57 for strikes).
2. Bullpen: 3 IP, 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 4 K, 0 BB.
   
3. Matt Kemp (24th) and Ronnie Belliard (8th - 3rd with LA) both homered.
4. Ronnie Belliard (HR, Double, Single, BB) reached base 4 times and Brad Ausmus (Single, BB) reached base twice., No other Dodger reached base more than once.
   
5. 5 regulars had the day off.
6. The offense struck out 7 times while only drawing 2 walks.
7. No Manny on Manny Curtain Call Bobblehead Day. He should have pinch-hit for Pierre in the 7th inning.

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Some observations from inside Dodger Stadium:

• Interesting collection of first-pitch participants: George Lopez, Joe Scarborough and his co-host Mika Brzezinski, and Felipe Mayano (Minister of Sports for the Dominican Republic). Imaginary points if you can guess who got the loudest ovation.
• George Lopez threw a perfect strike with his pitch. It was pretty sweet. I imagine as he was in his windup he was thinking "I Got This!"
• The only downside to the bleachers is you can't see the scoreboard/"videoboard". They should really look to fix that.
• Right before Kemp's HR, I was thinking to myself "he's due". A little Final Destination shit there, except I didn't run out of the stadium screaming that we were all gonna die.