SB Nation - Charlie Haeger

Dodgers Offseason Path Appears Set

Eric Stephen — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:01:01 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Juan Pierre may be traded to fill a hole in the starting rotation.

Through three days of the winter meetings, the Dodgers haven't made any deals, but we do have a better idea of their plans this offseason. Randy Wolf signed with the Brewers today for $29.75 million over three years, leaving the Dodgers with a sizable void to fill in their starting rotation.

Actually, there are two holes to fill, behind Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, and Hiroki Kuroda. It appears the Dodgers are still in the market for one starting pitcher, but general manager Ned Colletti said he is looking to fill one of the two open rotation slots from within. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reported:

Colletti said he's comfortable holding the last rotation spot for a Spring Training competition involving James McDonald, Scott Elbert, Josh Lindblom, Charlie Haeger and Ramon Troncoso. Colletti added left-hander Eric Stults to that group he originally listed on Tuesday.

In my mind, Elbert is the favorite of that group, with his electric left arm, but there is plenty of time for that to get sorted out. McDonald had success out of the bullpen (2.72 ERA, 8.70 strikeouts per nine innings), and I can see him returning to that role in 2010, even though I'm not ready to give up on him as a starter just yet. Both Haeger and Stults are out of options, so they will not only be fighting for a starting role at Camelback Ranch, but also will be fighting for their baseball lives.

How the Dodgers fill that other starting rotation slot has yet to be seen, but the Dodgers don't have much room in their budget without getting creative. If the Dodgers wanted to pay a pitcher $10 million a year, they would have either offered Wolf arbitration, or made an offer to him when presented the opportunity by Wolf's agent, Arn Tellem, today. Wolf's deal, coupled with Brad Penny's deal with St. Louis (one year, $7.5 million plus incentives) and the oft-injured Rich Harden's deal with Texas (one year, $7.5 million with an $11.5 million option for 2011), made it clear that most free agent pitchers are simply out of the Dodgers' price range. If they sign a free agent pitcher, it might be someone like a Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland, again. That is, if they come cheaply enough.

Another option to fill the starting pitching void is to trade Juan Pierre. The idea here is to swap Pierre's contract (two years, $18.5 million) for a high-priced pitcher in a swap of inflated contracts, using that money to pay for a position in need rather than for a fourth outfielder. Options here include:

		2009		2010 Projected
Pitcher	2010 Age	ERA	FIP	ERA	FIP	Contract remaining
Bronson Arroyo	33	3.84	4.78	4.11	4.49	2010: $11m; 2011: $11m option ($2m buyout)
Aaron Harang	32	4.21	4.14	4.18	4.14	2010: $12.5m; 2011: $12.75m option ($2m buyout)
Paul Maholm	28	4.44	3.83	4.29	4.20	2 years, $11m total, plus $9.75m option for 2012
Nate Robertson	32	5.44	4.55	4.89	4.67	2010: $10m
Jeremy Bonderman	27	only 10 IP		4.43	4.22	2010: $12.5m
2010 Projections from Bill James Handbook					Contract info courtesy of the amazing Cot's

I would have thought Kevin Millwood was another trade option (due $12 million in 2010), but he was traded to the Orioles earlier Wednesday. Maholm may be a pipe dream, as his contract isn't all that onerous, but the Pirates seem interested in Pierre, so maybe there is a fit.

Matching up Pierre with a team directly might be tough, so a three-team trade may be the way to go. In fact, Pierre may be traded to fill a different hole, second base. Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports tweeted this on Wednesday night:

Dodgers are more concerned about 2B than letting on publicly, but 3-way trade tries at offing Pierre while filling 2B aren't working yet.

This is interesting, because in the report by Gurnick, Colletti showed a faith in Blake DeWitt manning the second base next season:

At second base, he's sounding more and more comfortable with DeWitt, although he still hopes to add a veteran from a group of free agents that includes Ronnie Belliard, Craig Counsell, Juan Uribe, Jamey Carroll and Felipe Lopez.

"Barring something not on the radar, it will be Blake DeWitt plus a veteran if we started the season today," Colletti said

Whether or not any budget constraints forced this philosophy, Colletti appears to have a faith in the Dodgers' young talent to play a big role in 2010. If you ask me, I think the Dodgers bring back one of Garland or Padilla, and bring back Belliard to caddy for the Blakes -- DeWitt at second and Casey at third. Which means the 2010 Dodgers will look a lot like the 2009 Dodgers in many ways, and the returning cast will have to step up.

Diamond Leung reported that Colletti expressed that same sentiment while showing faith in Chad Billingsley in an interview with Sirius XM:

"Sometimes, you have to make your guys better. You just can’t continue to expect to fill everything from the outside and continue to sign free agents and continue to trade away players. You end up in the same spot more times than not and most of the time worse off than before you started making moves…

The 2010 Dodgers need their guys to be better if they want to stay atop the NL West.

2010 CHONE Projections: Pitching

Eric Stephen — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:14:56 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

You know you're good when you are projected to strikeout 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 2010, and that's a drop of nearly two strikeouts from 2009.

Browse more photos »

Last month, Sean Smith of Anaheim Angels All The Way released his 2010 CHONE projections for offense. Now, we have the pitching projections as well. More info can be found at BaseballProjection.com. I have added the projections for many Dodgers, including some outgoing free agents, to go with the projections from the 2010 Bill James Handbook. As more projection systems release their projections, I will add them so we can get a more complete overall preview of the 2010 Dodgers.

I calculated FIP for the projections based on the formula at The Hardball Times. In these projections, keep in mind that playing time and pitching role is merely estimated.

Starters
Clayton Kershaw
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	115	4.15	4.30	4.46	7.98
2009 actual	171.0	2.79	3.06	4.79	9.74
2010 Bill James	180	3.25	3.47	4.55	9.40
2010 CHONE	151	3.58	3.68	4.65	9.42
2010 status	under club control

Chad Billingsley
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	193	3.68	3.72	3.92	8.81
2009 CHONE	161	3.69	3.70	3.75	8.72
2009 actual	196.1	4.03	3.77	3.94	8.21
2010 Bill James	185	3.65	3.77	3.94	8.61
2010 CHONE	182	3.71	3.73	3.76	8.60
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

Hiroki Kuroda
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	192	3.89	4.38	2.53	5.86
2009 CHONE	158	4.04	4.24	2.28	6.04
2009 actual	117.1	3.76	3.61	1.84	6.67
2010 Bill James	128	3.80	4.29	2.46	5.98
2010 CHONE	154	4.32	3.99	2.45	6.31
2010 status	under contract

Randy Wolf
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	195	4.25	4.30	3.32	7.62
2009 CHONE	124	4.43	4.44	3.63	7.48
2009 actual	214.1	3.23	3.99	2.44	6.72
2010 Bill James	200	3.87	4.26	3.02	7.16
2010 CHONE	163	4.42	4.38	3.09	6.52
2010 status	free agent

Vicente Padilla
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	151	4.71	4.71	3.28	6.26
2009 CHONE	152	4.91	4.77	3.55	6.34
2009 actual	147.1	4.46	4.51	3.30	5.93
2010 Bill James	141	4.66	4.73	3.26	6.19
2010 CHONE	155	4.70	4.74	3.60	6.27
2010 status	free agent
Padilla's stats with Texas included

Jon Garland
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	186	4.69	5.02	2.90	4.40
2009 CHONE	187	5.01	4.50	2.60	4.91
2009 actual	204	4.01	4.43	2.69	4.81
2010 Bill James	216	4.33	4.62	2.67	4.54
2010 CHONE	186	4.55	4.53	2.71	4.60
2010 status	free agent
Garland's stats with Arizona included

Bullpen
Jonathan Broxton
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	70	3.09	2.63	3.47	11.19
2009 CHONE	72	2.88	2.80	3.25	10.88
2009 actual	76.0	2.61	1.98	3.43	13.50
2010 Bill James	80	2.36	2.44	3.49	11.70
2010 CHONE	67	2.69	2.51	3.36	11.82
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

George Sherrill
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	53	3.40	3.43	4.58	10.19
2009 CHONE	43	3.77	4.01	4.60	8.79
2009 actual	69.0	1.70	3.09	3.13	7.96
2010 Bill James	74	2.92	3.37	4.01	9.36
2010 CHONE	52	3.63	3.77	3.98	9.35
2010 status	arbitration eliglble
Sherrill's stats with Baltimore included

Hong-Chih Kuo
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	69	3.39	2.90	3.52	10.96
2009 CHONE	45	3.00	2.71	3.00	11.00
2009 actual	30.0	3.00	3.18	3.90	9.60
2010 Bill James	48	3.00	3.00	3.75	10.50
2010 CHONE	39	3.23	3.23	3.23	9.69
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

Ronald Belisario
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	37	6.08	6.58	5.11	5.59
2009 actual	70.2	2.04	3.26	3.69	8.15
2010 Bill James	69	4.04	4.25	4.17	7.17
2010 CHONE	60	4.50	4.55	4.05	7.50
2010 status	under club control

Ramon Troncoso
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	60	4.20	4.08	3.60	6.75
2009 actual	82.2	2.72	3.31	3.70	5.99
2010 Bill James	72	3.88	3.59	3.75	6.63
2010 CHONE	71	4.06	3.95	3.55	6.59
2010 status	under club control

James McDonald
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	127	4.54	5.12	4.11	7.72
2009 actual	63.0	4.00	4.29	4.86	7.71
2010 Bill James	74	3.77	4.27	4.01	9.12
2010 CHONE	62	3.77	4.05	4.06	9.29
2010 status	under club control

Scott Elbert
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	43	3.98	4.36	5.65	10.47
2009 actual	19.2	5.03	4.73	3.20	9.61
2010 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2010 CHONE	47	3.64	3.81	4.60	10.72
2010 status	under club control

Cory Wade
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2009 CHONE	53	3.74	4.02	2.55	7.30
2009 actual	27.2	5.53	4.13	3.25	5.86
2010 Bill James	---	---	---	---	---
2010 CHONE	62	4.21	4.41	3.05	7.11
2010 status	under club control

In addition, here are some other notable 2010 CHONE projections for other Dodgers.

Other Projections
Pitcher	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9	2010 Contract Status
Eric Stults	138	4.89	4.61	3.72	6.59	under club control (out of options)
Charlie Haeger	170	4.98	5.14	4.34	6.51	under club control (out of options)
Jeff Weaver	49	4.41	4.48	3.12	6.43	free agent

How Dodgers Became Dodgers: Where Pedro Astacio Becomes Blake DeWitt

Eric Stephen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

Blake and DeWitt are two of seven players currently on the 40-man roster who have links to Dodgers past.

Browse more photos »

Major league 40-man rosters were set last Friday in preparation for the upcoming Rule 5 draft in two weeks. With the free agency period just starting, there are many open spots on rosters throughout baseball. The Dodgers, for instance, have 33 players on their 40-man roster. Over the next few weeks, free agents will be signed and some players will be non-tendered, so rosters will change, but for now let's look at the 33 Dodgers and how they became Dodgers.

Almost half of the Dodgers currently on the 40-man roster -- 16 of 33 -- were drafted by the team with their own draft pick:

Draft(ed) Dodgers
Player	Year	Round	Pick

James Loney	2002	1	19
Jonathan Broxton	2002	2	60
James McDonald	2002	11	331
Eric Stults	2002	15	451
Russell Martin	2002	17	511

Chad Billingsley	2003	1	24
Xavier Paul	2003	4	121
Matt Kemp	2003	6	181
Lucas May	2003	8	241
A.J. Ellis	2003	18	541

Scott Elbert	2004	1	17
Javy Guerra	2004	4	118
Cory Wade	2004	10	298

Brent Leach	2005	6	196
Trayvon Robinson	2005	10	316

Clayton Kershaw	2006	1	7

These are pretty straight forward original transactions, as are these other four amateur free agents:

Amateur Free Agents
Player	Date	Origin
Hong-Chih Kuo	6/19/99	Taiwan
Ramon Troncoso	6/20/02	Dominican Republic
Chin-Lung Hu	1/31/03	Taiwan
Kenley Jansen	11/17/04	Curacao

That makes 20 of 33 Dodgers who are with are with their original club. In addition to them, there are six more Dodgers that joined the club independent of other players. That is, their acquisitions aren't linked to anyone else:

Free Agents
Player	Date
Rafael Furcal	12/19/05
Juan Pierre	11/22/06
Travis Schlichting*	10/7/07
Hiroki Kuroda	12/16/07
Ronald Belisario*	1/13/09
Charlie Haeger*	1/17/09
*minor league free agents

This is where we get to the fun part of this exercise, as reminded by Rocknjosie in her excellent Fan Post last month. There are seven Dodgers left that were acquired as the result, directly or indirectly, of previous transactions. These are listed in chronological order based on the earliest transaction.

Andre Ethier
Date	Transaction
6/1/88	drafted Mike Piazza in the 62nd round (#1390 overall)
8/4/96	signed Luke Allen as an undrafted free agent
12/8/96	signed Todd Zeile as a free agent
5/14/98	traded Piazza and Zeile to Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, Charles Johnson, and Manuel Barrios
11/18/00	signed Franklin Gutierrez as an amateur free agent
1/15/02	traded Sheffield to Braves for Odalis Perez, Brian Jordan, and Andrew Brown
1/17/03	traded Allen to Colorado for Jason Romano
4/3/04	traded Romano to Tampa Bay for Antonio Perez
4/3/04	traded Gutierrez and Brown to Cleveland for Milton Bradley
12/13/05	traded Bradley and Perez to Oakland for Ethier
Total Related Players: 9

Blake DeWitt
Date	Transaction
11/21/87	signed Pedro Astacio as an amateur free agent
6/14/91	signed Ismael Valdez as an amateur free agent
8/28/94	signed Luke Prokopec as an amateur free agent
8/19/97	traded Astacio to Rockies for Eric Young
12/12/99	traded Young and Valdez to Cubs for Terry Adams, Brian Stephenson, and Chad Ricketts
12/31/01	traded Prokopec and Ricketts to Toronto for Cesar Izturis and Paul Quantrill
12/17/03	Quantrill signed as a free agent with the Yankees
6/7/04	drafted DeWitt with a compensation first round pick (#28 overall)
Total Related Players: 6

Ivan DeJesus
Date	Transaction
7/7/94	signed Adrian Beltre as an amateur free agent
12/17/04	Beltre signed as a free agent with Seattle
6/7/05	drafted DeJesus with a compensation second round pick (#51 overall)
Total Related Players: 1

Jason Repko
Date	Transaction
1/16/96	signed Scott Radinsky as a free agent
11/23/98	Radinsky signed as a free agent with St. Louis
6/2/99	drafted Repko with a compensation supplemental pick (#37 overall)
Total Related Players: 1

Manny Ramirez
Date	Transaction
12/12/98	signed Kevin Brown as a free agent
6/3/03	drafted Andy LaRoche in the 39th round (#1171 overall)
12/13/03	traded Brown to Yankees for Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, Brandon Weeden, and cash
2/23/06	Weaver signed as a free agent with the Angels
6/6/06	drafted Bryan Morris with a compensation first round pick (#26 overall)
7/31/08	traded LaRoche and Morris to Pittsburgh in a 3-team trade; received Manny and cash from Boston
Total Related Players: 4

Casey Blake
Date	Transaction
8/13/04	signed Carlos Santana as an amateur free agent
6/7/05	drafted Jon Meloan in fifth round (#166 overall)
7/26/08	traded Santana and Meloan to Cleveland for Blake, and cash
Total Related Players: 2

George Sherrill
Date	Transaction
6/7/05	drafted Josh Bell in the second round (#74 overall)
6/7/05	drafted Steven Johnson in the 13th round (#406 overall)
7/30/09	traded Bell and Johnson to Baltimore for Sherrill
Total Related Players: 2

A Look Toward 2010: The Pitching

Eric Stephen — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:00:33 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

Clayton Kershaw's left arm personifies the Dodgers' immediate future

Browse more photos »

Yesterday we took a look at the offensive projections for the 2010 Dodgers, thanks to the Bill James Handbook (available November 1). Today we look at the pitching staff.

I calculated FIP for the projections based on the formula at The Hardball Times. In these projections, keep in mind that playing time and pitching role is merely estimated.

Starters
Clayton Kershaw
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	---	---	---	---	---
2009 actual	171.0	2.79	3.06	4.79	9.74
2010 projected	180	3.25	3.47	4.55	9.40
2010 status	under club control

Chad Billingsley
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	193	3.68	3.72	3.92	8.81
2009 actual	196.1	4.03	3.77	3.94	8.21
2010 projected	185	3.65	3.77	3.94	8.61
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

Randy Wolf
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	195	4.25	4.30	3.32	7.62
2009 actual	214.1	3.23	3.99	2.44	6.72
2010 projected	200	3.87	4.26	3.02	7.16
2010 status	Type A free agent

Hiroki Kuroda
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	192	3.89	4.38	2.53	5.86
2009 actual	117.1	3.76	3.61	1.84	6.67
2010 projected	128	3.80	4.29	2.46	5.98
2010 status	under contract

Vicente Padilla
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	151	4.71	4.71	3.28	6.26
2009 actual	147.1	4.46	4.51	3.30	5.93
2010 projected	141	4.66	4.73	3.26	6.19
2010 status	Type B free agent
Padilla's stats with Texas included

Jon Garland
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	186	4.69	5.02	2.90	4.40
2009 actual	204	4.01	4.43	2.69	4.81
2010 projected	216	4.33	4.62	2.67	4.54
2010 status	mutual contract option
Garland's stats with Arizona included

Bullpen
Jonathan Broxton
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	70	3.09	2.63	3.47	11.19
2009 actual	76.0	2.61	1.98	3.43	13.50
2010 projected	80	2.36	2.44	3.49	11.70
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

George Sherrill
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	53	3.40	3.43	4.58	10.19
2009 actual	69.0	1.70	3.09	3.13	7.96
2010 projected	74	2.92	3.37	4.01	9.36
2010 status	arbitration eliglble
Sherrill's stats with Baltimore included

Hong-Chih Kuo
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	69	3.39	2.90	3.52	10.96
2009 actual	30.0	3.00	3.18	3.90	9.60
2010 projected	48	3.00	3.00	3.75	10.50
2010 status	arbitration eliglble

Ronald Belisario
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	---	---	---	---	---
2009 actual	70.2	2.04	3.26	3.69	8.15
2010 projected	69	4.04	4.25	4.17	7.17
2010 status	under club control

Ramon Troncoso
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	---	---	---	---	---
2009 actual	82.2	2.72	3.31	3.70	5.99
2010 projected	72	3.88	3.59	3.75	6.63
2010 status	under club control

James McDonald
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	---	---	---	---	---
2009 actual	63.0	4.00	4.29	4.86	7.71
2010 projected	74	3.77	4.27	4.01	9.12
2010 status	under club control

Guillermo Mota
Year	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9
2009 projected	56	3.86	4.26	3.38	7.55
2009 actual	65.1	3.44	4.11	3.31	5.37
2010 projected	55	3.60	4.22	3.44	7.20
2010 status	Type B free agent

In addition, there were some 2010 projections for other Dodgers.

Other Projections
Pitcher	IP	ERA	FIP	BB/9	K/9	2010 Contract Status
Eric Stults	32	5.06	4.62	3.38	7.03	under club control (out of options)
Jeff Weaver	77	5.03	4.77	2.57	5.96	free agent
Charlie Haeger	38	4.97	5.26	4.50	6.39	under club control

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Eric Stephen — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:15:09 -0000

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

One Type B free agent greets a Type A free agent on the mound

View full size photo »

There will be plenty of time this offseason for moves, but here's an overview of the current Dodger 40-man roster. There are 43 players currently on the 40-man roster, including four on the 60-day disabled list. That will change quickly after the World Series as players file for free agency. I have split them into a few groups:

Free Agents (13+1)

Type A*: Orlando Hudson, Randy Wolf

Type B*: Ronnie Belliard, Guillermo Mota, Vicente Padilla, Will Ohman**

Others: Jim Thome, Brad Ausmus, Jason Schmidt, Mark Loretta, Juan Castro, Eric Milton, Doug Mientkiewicz, Jeff Weaver

*Eddie Bajek of Detroit Tigers Thoughts has done a great job of figuring out the Elias Rankings, and has posted them at MLB Trade Rumors. In order to receive compensation for Type A or Type B free agents, the club must offer them arbitration. Type A free agents net a first round pick from the team that signs them, provided the pick isn't in the top 15, in addition to a supplemental pick in between the first and second rounds.

If a team signs more than one Type A free agent, the players are ranked by their Elias ranking, they give up picks in the lower rounds as well. For instance, the Yankees last year gave up their first three picks for signing C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett, all Type A free agents. Type B free agents net only a supplemental pick.

There is always the risk that a player will accept arbitration (like Darren Oliver did with the Angels last season). If he does, the maximum salary cut a player can take is 20%, so for Guillermo Mota, for instance, the least he would make in arbitration in 2010 would be $1.88 million (80% of his $2.35 million 2009 salary). In the case of Hudson and Wolf, they had low base salaries so this isn't an issue, but there is still quite a risk because they are still likely to command a high salary in arbitration.

**I'm counting Will Ohman in this exercise, even though he is no longer on the 40-man since his option was bought out last week, but the Dodgers, however unlikely, can still offer Ohman arbitration if they so choose.

What should happen: Offer arbitration to Hudson, Wolf, and Belliard only

Options (2)

Manny Ramirez has a $20 million player option for 2010. He has until November 10 to accept or decline this option.
Jon Garland has a $10 million mutual option for 2010. If the Dodgers decline, his buyout is $2.5 million; if Garland declines, his buyout is $1 million. As a condition of Garland's acquisition, the Diamondbacks will pay either buyout if the option is not exercised. Even if either side opts out, Garland is a Type B free agent, and the Dodgers could offer him arbitration if they so choose.

What should happen: Manny comes back, Dodgers let Arizona pay Garland $2.5m to walk away, don't offer Garland arbitration

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Player	Service Time	2009 Base Salary
George Sherrill	4.147	$2,750,000
Jonathan Broxton	4.020	$1,825,000
Andre Ethier	3.153	$3,100,000
Russell Martin	3.150	$3,900,000
Hong-Chih Kuo	3.114	$437,000
Chad Billingsley	3.110	$475,000
Matt Kemp	3.049	$467,000
James Loney	3.012	$465,000
Jason Repko	3.067	$500,000

Look for: Repko to get non-tendered

Under Contract (4)

Player	2009 Salary	2010 Salary
Rafael Furcal	$10,500,000	$8,500,000
Juan Pierre	$10,000,000	$10,000,000
Casey Blake	$5,250,000	$6,000,000
Hiroki Kuroda	$10,000,000	$13,000,000

Under Team Control (15)

Player	Service Time	2009 Base Salary
Ramon Troncoso	1.119	$401,000
Clayton Kershaw	1.105	$404,000
Cory Wade	1.096	$402,500
Eric Stults	1.072	$402,000
Blake DeWitt	1.048	$405,000
James McDonald	1.004	$400,750
Ronald Belisario	1.000	$400,000
Chin-Lung Hu	0.153	$401,000
Xavier Paul	0.151	$400,000
Charlie Haeger	0.125	$400,000
Scott Elbert	0.097	$400,000
Brent Leach	0.090	$400,000
A.J. Ellis	0.081	$400,000
Travis Schlichting	0.055	$400,000
Lucas May	0.000	------

Here are some important dates to remember for the offseason:

Day After World Series Ends: begins 15-day period for eligible players to file for free agency

November 20: Date reserve lists must be set (adding players to 40-man roster for purposes of Rule 5 draft)

December 1: Last date to offer arbitration to free agents to receive compensation

December 10: Rule 5 draft

December 12: Deadline to tender contracts to players under team control or pre-free agency arbitration-eligible players

It will be a long offseason, but the hot stove is always interesting.

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Eric Stephen — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:40:13 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

2 months ago: Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre watches baseball practice in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. The Dodgers face the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League division series Wednesday. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Browse more photos »

Now that the regular season is over, here's a look at the Dodger season in thirds.

Here's an overview of the team numbers:

	W-L	Pythag Rec	Runs For	Runs Allowed	BA/OBP/SLG	ERA
Games 1-54	36-18	35-19	295 (5.46/gm)	208 (3.85/gm)	.285/.367/.414	3.75
Games 55-108	30-24	30-24	244 (4.52/gm)	214 (3.96/gm)	.272/.340/.418	3.45
Games 109-162	29-25	33-21	241 (4.46/gm)	189 (3.50/gm)	.253/.330/.402	3.03

The offense took a dip in the final 54 games, but the pitching was outstanding.

Here is a look at individual seasons in thirds, position by position:

Catcher
Russell Martin
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	47	46	173	23	46	9	0	0	20	29	7/3	.266/.377/.318	.695
2nd 54	50	47	172	22	46	4	0	3	13	24	1/3	.267/.373/.343	.716
3rd 54	46	43	160	18	34	6	0	4	20	16	3/0	.213/.298/.325	.623

Brad Ausmus
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	11	8	35	6	11	1	0	0	3	2	1/0	.314/.368/.343	.711
2nd 54	12	9	32	3	11	3	0	1	4	2	0/0	.344/.400/.531	.931
3rd 54	13	10	28	0	6	0	0	0	2	1	0/0	.214/.241/.214	.456

A.J. Ellis
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
2nd 54	3	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000
3rd 54	5	1	6	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.167/.167/.167	.333

Infield
James Loney
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	54	51	208	24	59	12	0	2	41	22	3/1	.284/.348/.370	.718
2nd 54	53	51	198	27	59	9	2	5	27	23	3/1	.298/.371/.439	.810
3rd 54	51	45	170	22	44	4	0	6	22	25	1/1	.259/.352/.388	.740

Orlando Hudson
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	54	54	216	39	71	17	2	3	32	32	4/0	.329/.410/.468	.878
2nd 54	50	48	195	22	49	11	2	4	21	10	2/0	.251/.299/.390	.688
3rd 54	45	41	140	13	36	7	2	2	9	20	2/1	.257/.350/.379	.729

Rafael Furcal
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	46	42	189	27	47	8	0	1	11	18	3/3	.249/.314/.307	.621
2nd 54	54	50	216	33	61	10	3	5	21	23	3/1	.282/.350/.426	.776
3rd 54	50	49	208	32	57	10	2	3	15	20	6/2	.274/.339/.385	.724

Casey Blake
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	49	44	164	27	49	12	1	9	34	18	0/0	.299/.374/.549	.922
2nd 54	53	50	195	32	54	11	3	3	27	25	2/4	.277/.353/.410	.763
3rd 54	37	37	126	25	33	2	2	6	18	20	1/0	.262/.367/.452	.819

Mark Loretta
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	38	10	59	11	17	3	0	0	10	11	0/0	.288/.408/.339	.747
2nd 54	38	11	69	5	13	3	0	0	10	6	0/0	.188/.253/.232	.485
3rd 54	31	11	53	3	12	2	0	0	5	3	1/1	.226/.259/.264	.523

Juan Castro
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	19	12	44	12	15	2	0	1	7	5	0/0	.341/.400/.455	.855
2nd 54	17	10	38	2	11	1	0	0	2	1	0/0	.289/.308/.316	.623
3rd 54	21	7	30	4	5	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	.167/.167/.200	.367

Blake DeWitt
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	9	3	17	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	0/0	.176/.222/.176	.399
2nd 54	14	0	15	1	2	1	0	1	1	1	0/0	.133/.188/.400	.588
3rd 54	8	3	17	2	5	2	0	1	3	1	0/0	.294/.316/.588	.904

Doug Mientkiewicz
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	7	0	5	0	2	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	.400/.400/.600	1.000
3rd 54	13	1	13	0	4	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	.308/.400/.308	.708

Ronnie Belliard
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	24	19	77	13	27	7	0	5	17	6	1/0	.351/.398/.636	1.034

Chin-Lung Hu
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	5	1	5	2	2	1	0	0	2	0	0/0	.400/.333/.600	.933

Tony Abreu
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	6	2	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	0/1	.250/.455/.250	.705

Outfield
Andre Ethier
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	52	49	188	31	49	12	0	7	31	27	3/0	.261/.363/.436	.799
2nd 54	54	52	212	34	60	13	1	15	38	23	2/3	.283/.357/.566	.923
3rd 54	54	49	196	27	53	17	2	9	37	22	1/1	.270/.362/.515	.877

Matt Kemp
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	53	51	200	33	62	9	4	6	30	21	12/2	.310/.377/.485	.862
2nd 54	53	53	200	30	66	7	2	9	39	19	10/2	.330/.387/.520	.907
3rd 54	54	49	206	34	52	9	1	11	32	12	12/4	.252/.293/.466	.759

Manny Ramirez
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	27	27	92	22	32	9	0	6	20	26	0/0	.348/.492/.641	1.133
2nd 54	28	25	96	14	26	7	1	6	20	12	0/0	.271/.369/.552	.921
3rd 54	49	47	164	26	44	8	1	7	23	33	0/1	.268/.400/.457	.857

Juan Pierre
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	46	30	140	27	53	10	3	0	21	13	11/4	.379/.439/.493	.932
2nd 54	50	31	147	15	37	5	1	0	4	7	12/5	.252/.308/.299	.607
3rd 54	49	15	93	15	27	1	4	0	6	7	7/3	.290/.343/.387	.730
Jason Repko
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	13	1	13	0	4	0	0	0	1	1	0/0	.308/.400/.308	.708

Jamie Hoffmann
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	9	3	17	2	3	2	0	1	7	0	0/0	.176/.158/.471	.628
2nd 54	5	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400

Xavier Paul
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
1st 54	11	2	14	3	3	1	0	1	1	2	0/1	.214/.313/.500	.813

Mitch Jones
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
2nd 54	8	3	13	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	.308/.400/.385	.785

Pinch Hitters
Jim Thome
	G	GS	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
3rd 54	17	0	17	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	0/0	.235/.235/.235	.471

Starting Pitchers
Randy Wolf
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	12	12	3-1	75.2	64	30	27	22	58	3.21	1.137
2nd 54	11	11	2-5	64.1	62	28	27	17	48	3.78	1.228
3rd 54	11	11	6-1	74.1	52	23	23	19	54	2.78	0.955

Clayton Kershaw
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	10	10	3-3	56.0	40	27	27	32	55	4.34	1.286
2nd 54	12	12	5-3	68.2	47	14	13	39	68	1.70	1.252
3rd 54	9	8	0-2	46.1	32	14	13	20	62	2.53	1.122

Chad Billingsley
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	11	11	6-3	74.0	58	25	23	32	76	2.80	1.216
2nd 54	12	12	5-3	69.2	63	40	38	31	64	4.91	1.349
3rd 54	10	9	1-5	52.2	52	29	27	23	39	4.61	1.424

Hiroki Kuroda
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	2	2	1-1	10.2	7	3	3	4	8	2.53	1.031
2nd 54	12	11	3-4	66.1	69	38	35	12	52	4.75	1.221
3rd 54	7	7	4-2	40.1	34	18	11	8	27	2.45	1.041

Eric Stults
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	9	9	4-2	45.0	46	24	24	25	30	4.80	1.578
3rd 54	1	1	0-1	5.0	5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.200

Vicente Padilla
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	8	7	4-0	39.1	36	15	14	12	38	3.20	1.220

Jon Garland
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	6	6	3-2	36.1	37	16	11	9	26	2.72	1.266

Charlie Haeger
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
3rd 54	6	3	1-1	19.0	13	7	7	4	7	3.32	0.895

Eric Milton
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	3	3	2-0	14.1	15	5	5	5	10	3.14	1.395
2nd 54	2	2	0-1	9.1	15	7	5	1	10	4.82	1.714

Jason Schmidt
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	4	4	2-2	17.2	16	12	11	12	8	5.60	1.585

Relievers
Jonathan Broxton
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	23	5-0	12	26.0	8	4	4	10	41	1.38	0.692
2nd 54	23	2-0	12	22.2	17	11	11	11	33	4.37	1.235
3rd 54	27	0-2	12	27.1	19	9	7	8	40	2.30	0.988

George Sherrill
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	3	0-0	--	2.1	0	0	0	1	5	0.00	0.429
3rd 54	27	1-0	1	25.1	19	2	2	10	17	0.71	1.145

Hong-Chih Kuo
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	7	0-0	--	5.1	5	4	4	4	4	6.75	1.688
2nd 54	5	0-0	--	4.2	0	0	0	2	6	0.00	0.429
3rd 54	23	1-0	--	20.0	16	6	6	7	22	2.70	1.150

Ramon Troncoso
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	21	1-0	3	33.1	31	7	7	10	22	1.89	1.230
2nd 54	30	3-0	2	31.1	30	11	7	12	18	2.01	1.340
3rd 54	22	1-4	1	18.0	22	12	11	12	15	5.60	1.889

Ronald Belisario
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	26	1-2	--	31.1	22	10	8	15	30	2.30	1.181
2nd 54	17	0-1	--	17.0	15	5	5	5	16	2.65	1.176
3rd 54	26	0-3	--	22.1	15	6	3	9	18	1.21	1.075

Guillermo Mota
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	20	2-1	--	20.2	26	15	15	12	10	6.53	1.839
2nd 54	28	1-1	--	32.1	15	3	3	6	18	0.84	0.649
3rd 54	13	0-2	--	12.1	12	7	7	6	11	5.11	1.459

Jeff Weaver
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	9	3	3-1	26.2	29	12	12	15	18	4.05	1.650
2nd 54	10	2	2-3	30.1	33	16	14	10	24	4.15	1.418
3rd 54	9	2	1-0	22.0	25	6	6	8	22	2.45	1.500

James McDonald
	G	GS	W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	10	4	1-1	18.2	17	14	14	16	9	6.75	1.768
2nd 54	15	0	2-1	20.2	17	9	5	6	14	2.18	1.113
3rd 54	20	0	2-3	23.2	26	11	9	12	31	3.42	1.606

Scott Elbert
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	3	1-0	--	6.1	10	5	5	1	6	7.11	1.737
2nd 54	4	0-0	--	7.2	3	1	1	2	7	1.17	0.652
3rd 54	12	1-0	--	5.2	6	5	5	4	8	7.94	1.765

Brent Leach
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	13	1-0	--	8.0	7	5	5	4	10	5.62	1.375
2nd 54	25	1-0	--	12.1	9	8	8	8	9	5.84	1.378

Cory Wade
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	18	0-3	--	18.2	19	10	10	9	13	4.82	1.500
2nd 54	9	2-0	--	9.0	9	7	7	1	5	7.00	1.111

Will Ohman
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
1st 54	21	1-0	1	12.1	12	8	8	8	7	5.84	1.622

Claudio Vargas
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	8	0-0	--	11.0	7	2	2	4	10	1.64	1.000

Travis Schlichting
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	2	0-0	--	2.2	1	2	1	5	2	3.38	2.250

Mark Loretta
	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2nd 54	1	0-0	--	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.000

2009 NL Wild Card: Los Angeles Dodgers?!

Poseidon's Fist — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Which would you rather do? Choke away the division, or choke on Manny's dreds? How about both...

Browse more photos »

The stage is officially set for the greatest comeback within a comeback in Major League History. No other team had gone from 12 below .500 to 20 over .500 in the same season. Then there's the possibility of this week.

On Saturday, just six days ago, the Rockies were 6.0 games behind with seven games to play. The Dodgers' magic number was just one. On Sunday, Los Angeles was just two outs away from clinching the division, only needing their All-Star closer to induce a ground ball from Andy LaRoche for a clinching double play. As it happened, Broxton blew his sixth save of the season, and the Dodgers would go on to lose three more.

What are the odds of the Dodgers blowing that kind of divisional lead when they were two outs away with a week left? Xeifrank at TrueBlueLA ran some numbers, estimating that as Broxton came on in the ninth Sunday, the Dodgers had a 0.017% chance of blowing the division. That has risen all the way to...7.065% this morning. Okay, so 1 in 14 odds are pretty small, and we can't beat the Dodgers. The Rockies would have to match their season win total against Los Angeles in one series. They would have to hand Los Angeles their second sweep of the season - their first came this week in San Diego.

There's just no way a team could blow a two game divisional lead with three home games left, could they? Has that ever happened?

Actually, yes. Meet your 1996 San Diego Padres. Unlike Colorado, the Padres were within two games of Los Angeles much of the second half of the season. But exactly like our Rockies, the Padres were faced with the prospect of sweeping Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium to make up a two game deficit in the final three games of the season. And they did, with the help of two extra inning wins. Dodger fans haven't forgotten.

Regardless of the fact that Rocktober is bursting out of Colorado and the Dodgers are playing like the Nationals (they have lost 6 of their last 8 - to the Padres, Nats and Pirates), I stress these are still long odds. We'll have to match our seasonal number of wins against the Dodgers in one road series against two lefty pitchers. There's a reason you don't see a Dodger quote recycling the Rockies' rather-be-us-than-them stance on the Braves. It's not true.

You either have a 7% chance of shocking the world and being in the history books for good, or a 93% of making the postseason, something few people projected to begin with.

Or you could have a 7% chance of being one of professional sports' all-time choke artists, or a 93% chance of putting away a division analysts gave them in ink nearly five months ago.

I'll take the free lottery ticket, thank you.

True Blue LA have been friendly to Rockies fans. Feel free to engage is friendly banter.

Check under the fold for the full scouting report on the Dodgers and the series.

Los Angeles Dodgers (93-66, L4, 1st, 2.0 Gm Lead)

Friday-Sunday: 3-game series at Dodgers Stadium

The Bats: B

Consider them a sleeping giant. Or maybe just a sleeping really tall person. Ramirez and Ethier are really struggling right now, and if that persists through the weekend, the Dodgers have a lineup no more intimidating than the Brewers. In fact, they managed just 2 runs in their last three games, punctuated by a one-hit shutout Wednesday in which no runner advanced past second base. Still, they lead the NL in batting average and are fourth in wOBA, 3rd in runs and 4th in stolen bases. So if they ever remember they're any good, they could be trouble.

LINEUP	Avg	HR	RBI	OBP	SLG	wOBA
Rafael Furcal - SS	.267	9	47	.332	.375	.314
Orlando Hudson - 2B	.285	9	62	.357	.419	.343
Andre Ethier - RF	.271	31	105	.357	.508	.368
Manny Ramirez - LF	.294	19	62	.423	.541	.402
Matt Kemp - CF	.301	26	100	.356	.497	.372
Casey Blake - 3B	.280	18	77	.365	.372	.355
James Loney - 1B	.283	13	90	.360	.403	.334
Russell Martin - C	.250	6	52	.349	.324	.305

The lineup order could change greatly. With Ethier struggling (he was demoted to the 7-hole Wednesday) along with the returns of Blake and Belliard, it's difficult to say what Joe Torre will tinker with to ignite the offense. The above is generally representative of recent trends. Despite a very rough season, ManRam has walked enough to maintain a stellar wOBA. Ethier and Kemp have fallen a bit off an All-Star pace, while Blake and Hudson are distinctly above average. James Loney has improved to be about league average (not considering his position), while Furcal and Martin have improved to the point they are not anchors, but they remain below average.

Joe Torre can use Ronnie Belliard (.274, 10, 38), Mark Loretta (.228, 0, 24), Chin-lung Hu (0-for-2), Juan Castro (.284, 1, 9), Doug Mientkiewicz (.214, 0, 2), Jim Thome (.247, 17, 77, 3-for-15 w LAD), and Blake DeWitt (.191, 2, 4) as PH/backup dirt tenders. The glut of infielders is offset by the lack of men that stand in grass. Jason Repko (0-for-3) and Juan Pierre (.305, 0, 30) are the only candidates there. Brad Ausmus (.195, 1, 9) and AJ Ellis (0-for-6) can have catching duty.

Follow the link below for pitching matchups, hot/cold players, injuries and the scouting report on the pitching and defense.

The Arms: A-

Randy Wolf and Clayton Kershaw are having absolutely exceptional seasons. The fact that they are left-handed hurts the Rockies chances more. Intererestingly though, compare FIP, tRA, xFIPs, or WAR. Jimenez beats Wolf in all, while de la Rosa defeats Kershaw in xFIP. Their third starting pitcher is a up in the air still, and hopefully will be Sunday as well. The bullpen has been stout all season, posting the best ERA in MLB, 3rd best FIP. But overwork has led to a bit of a downturn, so they are human, and we all know about the Rockies' late inning heroics.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jonathan Broxton	7-2	71	0	0	0	36	6	74.0	44	24	22	4	28	111	2.68	.97

Other than closer Broxton, Joe Torre's beleaguered but intimidating pen includes southpaws George Sherrill (594 ERA+) (yes that's correct), Hong-Chih Kuo (134) and Scott Elbert (90) to go with righties Ronald Belisario (228), Charlie Haeger (126), James McDonald (103), Guillermo Mota (119), Vicente Padilla (122), Ramon Troncoso (156) and Jeff Weaver (114).

The D: C+

The Dodgers' -1.2 UZR/150 is pretty much dead average while committing the 7th least errors in the league. Fangraphs rates them 13th in in the league, though some of that benefit came from over 50 games with Pierre in left over Manny. Ethier and Ramirez form one of the worst, if not the worst, defensive corner outfield combos in the league, and Orlando Hudson has lost a bit at second. Loney is decent at first, Kemp is superb in center, and the left side of the infield is very strong, plus there's that Gold Glove catcher in there.

Probable Pitchers:

Tonight, 8:10 pm MDT

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Ubaldo Jimenez 14-12 32 32 1 0 0 0 212.0 181 86 83 13 81 188 3.52 1.24

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Ubaldo Jimenez	14-12	32	32	1	0	0	0	212.0	181	86	83	13	81	188	3.52	1.24

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Randy Wolf	11-6	34	33	0	0	0	0	209.1	173	79	75	24	54	158	3.22	1.08

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Randy Wolf 11-6 34 33 0 0 0 0 209.1 173 79 75 24 54 158 3.22 1.08

Dodgers fans feel confident they can finally clinch tonight with Randy Wolf on the mound. After all, he won the last time they fit into the W column and LA has been the victors all but once in his last ten starts. What they might forget, though, is that Ubaldo Jimenez is scary good as well. He has been distinctly human at points in his last five starts, in fact losing two of tree. The Dodgers have ravaged him this season, as he is just 0-3 with a 7.77 ERA against LA in four starts, though all but 2 of the 20 runs he surrendered were in April and May, when he struggled in general. Wolf's season has been fueled by career-low BABIP against walk rate and his highest strand percentage in seven seasons. That, and his 89mph somehow has the best Fangraphs value in MLB. He has stymied the Rockies as well this season, going 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA. Favors: DODGERS slightly.

Saturday, October 3, 8:10 pm MDT

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Jorge De La Rosa 16-9 32 31 0 0 0 0 182.0 172 95 90 20 83 189 4.45 1.40

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jorge De La Rosa	16-9	32	31	0	0	0	0	182.0	172	95	90	20	83	189	4.45	1.40

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Clayton Kershaw	8-8	30	29	0	0	0	0	165.0	116	55	53	7	88	175	2.89	1.24

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP

2009 - Clayton Kershaw 8-8 30 29 0 0 0 0 165.0 116 55 53 7 88 175 2.89 1.24

As Drew Goodman noted during his last start, Jorge de la Rosa is the first pitcher in over 100 years to start the season 0-6 and still reach 16 wins. And with a win Saturday, he would tie Pedro Astacio, Jeff Francis and Kevin Ritz for the franchise record in wins. Altogether now: inconceivable! He has been a little...rocky...in his last two starts, but the Rockies still won both. In fact, they've won the last six times he's taken the ball. In Clayton Kershaw's last 22 starts, he has allowed more than 3 ER just once. It helps not to give up home runs - he has allowed them at an infrequent pace only matched by Chris Carpenter. Pitch counts can be an issue though, so patience may be well suited here Favors: DODGERS slightly

Sunday, October 4, 2:10 MDT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jason Marquis	15-12	37	32	2	1	0	0	212.0	210	100	93	15	78	112	3.95	1.36

DODGERS STARTER TBA

Marquis won over a few doubters with his last gutsy performance, overcoming some wildness and allowing just two of the ten baserunners he allowed to score. He returns to the scene of, in my opinion, the three best starts in franchise history, a two-hit complete game road shutout in which he drove in two of the three runs in the game himself. After Aaron Cook's last two sterling starts, Marquis will at least be pitching for his playoff rotation life, if not the Rockies' divisional hopes. Hiroki Kuroda was scratched from his start due to neck pain, which he joked was due to looking backwards so often in his last start. Vicente Padilla, who is currently in the bullpen, is one option for the start, but my guess would be that we would see Chad Billingsley, who would be pitching on five days' rest after his start Tuesday in San Diego if the Rockies win the first two games. Knuckler Charlie Haeger is an option as well. Favors: ?

The typically cold Rafael Furcal and James Loney have lit fire this month, hitting .324 and .333 respectively. Casey Blake posted a .378 September mark before being felled by a bad hammy, while Ronnie Belliard finished in a 5-way tie for the team lead with 4 September home runs. He also hit. 347 for the month.

Andre Ethier is plodding through a career worst slump. He is just 1-for-his-last-30. Ouch. Russell Martin, Jim Thome and Juan Pierre have actually posted a worse batting average than Ethier's .212 mark in September, while Manny Ramirez (.229), Orlando Hudson (.237) and Matt Kemp (.241) haven't been a whole lot better. Jonathan Broxton hasn't pitched since Sunday, when he imploded in Pittsburgh.

Xavier Paul (ankle - 5/21) and Jason Schmidt (shoulder - 8/6) are on the 60-day DL, while LHP Will Ohman (shoulder - 5/28) is on the 15-day. Ronnie Belliard (groin) and Casey Blake (hamstring) are both day-to-day but are expected to be available today. Charlie Haeger (knee) could also return as a candidate for Sunday's start, probably assuming the Rockies lost one of the first two days.

Poll

Can this really happen?

ROCKTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Rox win their first NL West title ever, finishing higher than LA for just the second time in franchise history! Tell me how those dreds taste

178 votes

Darn, so close. We just had to draw Wolf and Kershaw, didn't we? Otherwise, we'd have a division title

82 votes

No. We'll win one game out of momentum, but otherwise, the Dodgers will never lose a series to us.

40 votes

The Rockies are the Dodgers' best medicine. THEY will be the ones sweeping.

9 votes

309 votes | Poll has closed

A Pretty Penny

Brendan Scolari — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:50:25 -0000

More photos » by Eric Risberg - AP

3 months ago: San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Brad Penny reacts after Los Angeles Dodgers' Rafael Belliard grounded out to first base to end the top of the fourth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. Penny pitched seven strong innings against his former team and the Giants won 7-2. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Browse more photos »

Brad Penny stymied the Dodgers on Sunday, pitching 7 innings and allowing only 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts en route to a Giants 7-2 win.

Chad Billingsley had a 6/0 K/BB ratio but got knocked around and only lasted 4 innings, allowing 8 hits and 3 runs. BIllingsley gave up doubles to Nate Schierholtz and Travis Ishikawa and a two run homerun to Juan Uribe.

Jeff Weaver relieved Billingsley and was awful, allowing 4 runs in 1.1 innings. Weaver allowed 5 hits and had a walk and 2 strikeouts. The rest of the bullpen didn't give up any earned runs, but Ronald Belisario relieved Weaver with the bases loaded and let all three runs score. But Scott Elbert, Ramon Troncoso, and Charlie Haeger combined to pitch 2.1 innings and recorded 4 strikeouts without allowing a baserunner.

The offense was unable to score in every inning except the 7th, when Russell Martin hit a two run homerun off of Penny. The homer was Martin's sixth of the season. Other than that the Dodgers only scattered four singles and were 0-5 with RISP. James Loney (who walked twice) was the only Dodger to reach base safely more than once in the game. Neither Manny Ramirez nor Orlando Hudson started the game, but Hudson did pinch hit.

Billingsley is now 0-4 with a 5.67 ERA in his last five starts and his ERA is up to a season high 3.99. Billingsley seems as puzzled by his struggles as everyone else:

I don't even know how to explain it. It's frustrating... I don't think it's necessarily mechanical. I have to keep the ball down in the zone. I'm trying to figure something out and get this thing turned around. My cutter got hit today. It was spinning out of my hand and not moving much. That's what they were hitting.

It's not like I'm trying to throw every pitch belt-high. Maybe it's release point. You can look at video all you want, I know what I'm doing. Trying to correct it, sometimes it doesn't happen. I'm trying to get the rhythm back.

When you're not playing well, yeah, it's getting to you. It's frustrating. I'm battling and going out there and hoping that today is the day to turn this thing around. When I'm out on the mound, I want to get after it. I'm not going out there with doubts.

Physically, I'm fine. Mentally, I'm fine. It's frustrating. I'm feeling good out there. Some little things are throwing you off. It's frustrating.

Here's the win probability chart for the game. It was all Giants:

via www.fangraphs.com

The Dodgers still took the series from the Giants in San Francisco, and tommorow begin a three game set at Dodger Stadium against the Pirates at 7:10 PM. Jon Garland (9-11, 4.23) will be taking on Daniel McCutchen (0-1, 4.85). The Dodgers are 3 games ahead of the Rockies and 7.5 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West. They are also 1 game ahead of the Cardinals for the best record in the NL.

WP - Brad Penny (10-8): 7 IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts

LP - Chad Billingsley (12-10): 4 IP, 8 hits, 3 runs, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts

Stabilizing The Back End Of The Rotation

Eric Stephen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:10:17 -0000

by Gus Ruelas - AP

Jon Garland has helped stabilize the back end of the Dodger rotation.

View full size photo »

The Dodgers' top four pitchers have been solid, if unspectacular, this season, providing a solid foundation of a very good pitching staff.

Pitcher	GS	W-L	Team W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	FIP
Wolf	30	10-6	19-11	190.0	159	72	68	49	145	3.22	1.095	3.81
Billingsley	28	12-9	16-12	172.2	150	80	74	72	155	3.86	1.286	3.57
Kershaw	28	8-8	13-15	159.0	112	53	51	86	167	2.89	1.245	3.19
Kuroda	16	5-6	9-7	93.1	89	47	43	20	66	4.15	1.168	3.62
Totals	102	35-29	57-45	615.0	510	252	236	3.32/9	7.80/9	3.45	1.198	3.55

It seems like the Dodgers have spent most of this season looking for someone to take the fifth starter role. First, it was James McDonald. Then Eric Stults got his chance. Eric Milton and Jason Schmidt fought back from injuries to take their shot. Jeff Weaver has spot started here and there throughout the year. The Dodgers even went the unconventional route, employing a knucklballer, Charlie Haeger, in the role, albeit on a short leash. All year, the Dodgers have needed someone to slot behind their top four starters, just to eat up some innings. Despite the uphill battle, the Dodgers have done remarkably well when their "fifth starters" have pitched.

Pitcher	GS	W-L	Team W-L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	FIP
Stults	10	4-3	7-3	50.0	51	27	27	26	33	4.86	1.540	4.28
Weaver	7	2-1	4-3	31.2	31	13	11	14	23	3.13	1.421	4.24
Milton	5	2-1	3-2	23.2	30	12	10	6	20	3.80	1.521	3.56
Schmidt	4	2-2	2-2	17.2	16	12	11	12	8	5.60	1.585	5.34
Haeger	3	1-1	2-1	17.1	12	7	7	7	13	3.63	1.096	6.02
Padilla	3	2-0	3-0	16.1	16	5	5	4	12	2.76	1.224	3.20
McDonald	4	1-1	3-1	13.1	12	13	13	14	6	8.78	1.950	7.56
Garland	1	1-0	1-0	7.0	5	2	2	1	6	2.57	0.857	3.71
Totals	37	15-9	25-12	177.0	173	91	86	4.27/9	6.15/9	4.37	1.452	4.58

Winning 67.6% of games started by these guys is pretty amazing, if not just a little bit lucky. The additions of Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland have helped, as did the pitching of Haeger, as the Dodgers have won seven straight starts by their "fifth starters." Before Haeger stepped into the rotation, the back end starters averaged only 4.55 innings per start. But, in eight starts starting on August 17, the group has averaged 5.63 innings per start.

The top four have thrown at least six innings in 71 of 102 starts, and thrown 62 quality starts. The fifth starters have only thrown six quality starts (also the same number of time they've pitched six innings), but four of those have come in the last three weeks, including Padilla's outing yesterday. Garland has pitched six innings in 17 of his last 18 starts, so it looks like for at least the final four weeks of the season, the back end of the Dodger rotation is more stable than it has been all season.

Dodgers August In Review: The Ethier, Kemp, And Wolf Show

Eric Stephen — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:01:49 -0000

by Chris Pizzello - AP

Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are the Dodger offensive tag team.

View full size photo »

The Dodgers had their first losing month of the season, going 14-15 in August, but all is not as bad at it appears. The division lead got as small as two games over the Rockies, but a late surge allowed the Dodgers to expand back to a 5½-game lead entering the final month (plus four days) of the season.

The Dodgers outscored their opponents by 33 runs in month, the third best run differential in baseball for August, behind the Yankees (+52) and Braves (+43).

Dodger Batter of the Month: The award for August is shared by Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp. Ethier led the club in hits (38), doubles (11), batting average (.333), on base percentage (.411), OPS (1.034) and wOBA (.438). Kemp led the club in runs (22), home runs (9), runs batted in (27), stolen bases (6), and slugging percentage (.634). The two have been the club's two best hitters all season, and August was no exception.

Dodger Pitcher of the Month: Randy Wolf had a spectacular month, averaging seven innings in his seven starts, and had a 2.76 ERA and 3.01 FIP for the month. Wolf had a personal four-game winning streak in the middle of the month that was snapped on Monday night.

August Record: 14-15 (.483)
131 runs scored (4.52 per game)
98 runs allowed (3.38 per game)
.630 pythagorean winning percentage

August NL West Standings
Club	W-L	Pct	GB	RS	RA
Rockies	16-12	.571	---	146	124
Giants	16-12	.571	---	123	117
Diamondbacks	15-14	.517	1½	144	137
Padres	15-14	.517	1½	126	141
Dodgers	14-15	.483	2½	131	98

Overall Record: 78-54 (.591)
635 runs scored (4.81 per game)
501 runs allowed (3.80 per game)
.607 pythagorean winning percentage

NL West Standings (thru August 31)
Club	W-L	Pct	GB	RS	RA
Dodgers	78-54	.591	---	635	501
Rockies	72-59	.550	5½	654	582
Giants	72-59	.550	5½	530	496
Diamondbacks	60-72	.455	18	602	626
Padres	57-76	.429	21½	517	665

Favorite Game of the Month: Andre Ethier's three-run walk-off home run to beat Atlanta was great, but I'm going with the final game in Colorado as my favorite game of the month. Facing the prospect of leaving Denver with only a two-game lead, the Dodgers used some timely hitting to get Vicente Padilla a win in his first start as a Dodger, and the best bullpen in baseball slammed the door on the Rockies, securing a 3-2 Dodger win and a four-game lead.

Bench Production: After nearly three months of nothing from pinch hitters, August was a good month for Dodger pinch hitters, as they hit .349/.391/.419 for the month, with 15 hits in 43 at-bats. Juan Pierre led the way, garnering eight hits in 16 pinch at-bats, hitting .500/.529/.625 in that role for the month.

Welcome Aboard: Ronnie Belliard, acquired Sunday from Washington, homered in his first plate appearance as a Dodger on Monday night, making him the first Dodger to homer in his first Dodger plate appearance since Garey Ingram on May 19, 1994 against the Rockies.

Hello & Goodbye: Jason Schmidt was transferred to the 60-day disabled list on August 27, effectively ending his Dodger career. Charlie Haeger made his Dodger debut on August 17 against the Cardinals.

Upcoming Month: I'm counting the four days of October in the final month, and the Dodgers have a relatively easy schedule for the home stretch, which includes 15 home games and 15 road games. Outside of a home and away series with the Giants and the final three games at Dodger Stadium against the Rockies, the Dodgers play 21games against teams with a winning percentage of .455 or lower.

Previous Monthly Reviews: April | May | June | July

August Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS	wOBA
Ethier	114	18	38	11	2	6	21	11	2/0	.333/.411/.623	1.034	.438
Kemp	112	22	35	9	0	9	27	6	6/3	.313/.342/.634	.976	.405
Manny	103	16	31	6	0	4	12	16	0/1	.301/.405/.476	.881	.362
Hudson	88	9	26	4	0	2	8	8	1/1	.295/.354/.409	.763	.336
Blake	95	14	21	4	1	4	12	12	1/0	.221/.306/.411	.717	.309
Loney	90	8	20	4	0	2	12	14	1/0	.222/.327/.333	.660	.300
Martin	88	10	21	5	0	1	7	6	1/0	.239/.295/.330	.624	.282
Furcal	119	16	26	2	0	2	8	10	0/1	.218/.277/.286	.563	.251
Starters	809	113	218	45	3	30	107	83	12/6	.269/.341/.444	.785
Belliard	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0/0	.250/.250/1.000	1.250	.502
Pierre	41	8	15	1	1	0	3	2	0/1	.366/.413/.439	.852	.365
Abreu	8	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	0/1	.250/.455/.250	.705	.308
Loretta	42	4	10	1	0	0	5	3	1/0	.238/.283/.262	.545	.253
Ausmus	22	1	5	0	0	0	2	0	0/0	.227/.227/.227	.455	.202
Castro	20	1	4	1	0	0	0	0	0/0	.200/.200/.250	.450	.196
Bench	137	15	37	3	1	1	12	8	1/2	.270/.315/.328	.643
Pitchers	61	3	11	2	0	1	8	1	1/0	.180/.194/.262	.456
Totals	1007	131	266	50	4	32	127	92	14/8	.264/.329/.417	.747	.345

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	FIP
Weaver*	2	0-0	--	8.1	7	2	2	4	7	2.16	1.320	4.83
Kuroda	3	2-0	--	17.1	18	5	5	2	10	2.60	1.154	3.21
Wolf	7	4-1	--	49.0	38	16	15	12	41	2.76	1.020	3.01
Billingsley	5	2-2	--	28.0	25	11	10	9	19	3.21	1.214	3.73
Padilla	1	1-0	--	5.0	6	2	2	1	4	3.60	1.400	2.09
Kershaw	6	0-2	--	32.1	25	13	13	18	47	3.62	1.330	2.66
Haeger	3	1-1	--	16.1	12	7	7	6	12	3.86	1.102	6.09
Stults	1	0-1	--	5.0	5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.200	5.69
Schmidt	1	0-1	--	3.2	5	4	4	3	2	9.82	2.182	5.27
Starters	29	10-8	--	165.0	141	63	61	56	145	3.33	1.194	3.62
Sherrill	14	0-0	1	14.1	12	1	1	7	8	0.63	1.326	4.35
Belisario	10	1-0	--	9.1	5	1	1	3	5	0.96	0.857	4.70
Kuo	14	0-0	--	11.2	9	3	3	4	20	2.31	1.114	1.81
Broxton	14	0-1	5	14.2	11	5	4	6	19	2.45	1.159	4.39
McDonald	13	1-2	--	17.1	19	6	5	7	16	2.60	1.500	3.38
Weaver*	3	1-0	--	9.1	9	3	3	2	8	2.89	1.179	3.47
Mota	12	0-2	--	11.2	12	6	6	5	8	4.63	1.457	5.49
Troncoso	13	0-2	--	10.0	11	7	7	4	7	6.30	1.500	2.89
Elbert	3	1-0	--	3.2	3	3	3	1	3	7.36	1.091	5.82
Relievers	29	4-7	6	102.0	91	35	33	39	94	2.91	1.275	3.77
Totals	29	14-15	6	267.0	232	98	94	95	239	3.17	1.225	3.68

*Jeff Weaver's stats were split into their starting and relieving duties.

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs for help with the data.

SB Nation - Charlie Haeger

Dodgers Offseason Path Appears Set

2010 CHONE Projections: Pitching

Starters

Bullpen

How Dodgers Became Dodgers: Where Pedro Astacio Becomes Blake DeWitt

A Look Toward 2010: The Pitching

Starters

Bullpen

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Free Agents (13+1)

Options (2)

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Under Contract (4)

Under Team Control (15)

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Pinch Hitters

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

2009 NL Wild Card: Los Angeles Dodgers?!

Los Angeles Dodgers (93-66, L4, 1st, 2.0 Gm Lead)

Friday-Sunday: 3-game series at Dodgers Stadium

The Bats: B

The Arms: A-

Probable Pitchers:

Can this really happen?

ROCKTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Rox win their first NL West title ever, finishing higher than LA for just the second time in franchise history! Tell me how those dreds taste

Darn, so close. We just had to draw Wolf and Kershaw, didn't we? Otherwise, we'd have a division title

No. We'll win one game out of momentum, but otherwise, the Dodgers will never lose a series to us.

The Rockies are the Dodgers' best medicine. THEY will be the ones sweeping.

A Pretty Penny

Stabilizing The Back End Of The Rotation

Dodgers August In Review: The Ethier, Kemp, And Wolf Show

August Stats