SB Nation - James McDonald

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.

Mannion Expands Role With Dodgers

Eric Stephen — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:45:46 -0000

Day one of the winter meetings hasn't brought much news regarding the Dodgers, other than speculation and rumors, which can be fun. However, the Dodgers did announce today that team president Dennis Mannion will now oversee baseball operations in addition to his current duties running the daily business side of the franchise.

From the Dodgers:

To date, Mannion has had responsibility for business operations, including marketing, sponsorships, finance, ticket sales, human resources, communications and legal affairs. In his new role, Mannion will also oversee General Manager Ned Colletti, who manages the team’s baseball operations.

Mannion is one of the most tenured executives in professional sports. He first joined the Dodgers in 2007 following 27 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Baltimore Ravens.

"Dennis is a seasoned sports executive who has done a great job since arriving at the Dodgers," said Dodger Owner Frank McCourt. "He has already begun integrating baseball operations with the rest of the organization, and today’s announcement formalizes that transition."

I did have the good fortune to meet Mannion during my tour of Camelback Ranch this spring, and even though it was a passing meeting outside the club's offices, Mannion did go out of his way to elicit the opinion of us Dodger bloggers and seemed genuinely interested in our thoughts. I have no idea how that will affect his ability to run a franchise, but he did seem to have a presence, if that counts for anything.

Colletti praised the move, saying, "I have long believed that both sides of the operation will function better as one - both understanding the challenges each has and working together to celebrate the triumphs as one group. This move acknowledges that and I embrace it wholeheartedly." But then again, what else would Colletti say in a team press release?

Who knows what effect this move will have on the Dodgers? It will probably be minimal on the baseball side, but time will tell.

**********

OK, so there is a little bit of news. The Dodgers announced a few things via Twitter:

The Dodgers are "not shopping" George Sherrill
Scott Elbert and Josh Lindblom are being groomed for starting pitching roles, whereas James McDonald is "more flexible."
Brad Ausmus is leaning toward returning for 2010, and Colletti has been in contact with him all winter

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.

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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

Sunday Morning Dodger Links

Eric Stephen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:00:26 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Browse more photos »

Here is a taste of Dodger news and notes from elsewhere around the Internet:

Kensai over at Memories of Kevin Malone has been providing position-by-position reviews of the 2009 Dodgers. So far, he has reviewed the catchers, first basemen, and second sackers.
Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness has also been reviewing the 2009 Dodgers by position -- here is his look at catcher, first base, second base, and third base. Kudos to the use of 1985 Topps as well!
Joshua Fisher has started a new blog, DodgerDivorce.com
Bobby Crosby (no, not that one) has an interesting YouTube channel, DodgerFilms, showing the game from the unique perspective of the left field pavilion at Dodger Stadium (thanks to Blue Heaven for the link)
Can't get enough Dodger prospect news? Now you can follow a few Dodger minor leaguers on Twitter: Trayvon Robinson (TRobinsonAFL), Blake Smith (Blake_Smith), or former Dodger prospect Josh Bell (JBellAFL)
You can follow the Dominican Winter League here. James McDonald and Blake DeWitt are with Licey, while Jamie Hoffmann is with Escogido (playing with Boom Boom Betemit!)
In other division news, the Giants have re-signed second baseman Freddy Sanchez to a two-year, $12 million deal. He will earn $6 million in each of the next two seasons. Sanchez, who hit .293/.323/.416 with a .322 wOBA and 2.1 WAR in 111 games in 2008, is a nice comparable for free agent Orlando Hudson as he will likely enter the market. If healthy, this is a nice upgrade for the Giants, as their second basemen in 2008 (including Sanchez for ... starts) hit .236/.281/.329 for the worst average, on-base percentage, and OPS in the National League. The 2010 Bill James Handbook projection for Sanchez is .288/.329/.404.

Ethier Wins "Clutch Performer Of The Year" Award

Eric Stephen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:51:33 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Congratulations, Andre, for a great and "clutch" season

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The Dodgers announced yesterday that Andre Ethier won the "2009 MLB Clutch Performer of the Year Award Presented by Pepsi," an honor voted on by fans. From the Dodger press release:

Ethier led the Majors with six walk-off hits, including a Major League record four walk-off home runs (tied with Jimmie Foxx in 1940 and Roy Sievers in 1957): June 6th against the Phillies in the 12th inning; June 29th against Colorado in the 13th inning; August 6th vs. Atlanta in the 9th; and September 15th against the Pirates in the 13th. Ethier has a Major League-leading nine walk-off hits since the beginning of the 2008 season, and his six in 2009 are the most in a single-season by any player since at least 1974.

The left-handed slugger collected six multi-home run games on the year, tied for second with Philadelphia ’s Ryan Howard behind Albert Pujols (10) of the Cardinals. The Arizona State product became just the fourth Dodger in franchise history to amass at least 40 doubles and 30 home runs in the same season, joining Babe Herman (1930), Raul Mondesi (1997) and Eric Karros (1999). On June 26th against Seattle , Andre drove in a career-high six runs and compiled his first career three-homer game, becoming the ninth Dodger in franchise history to accomplish the feat.

Here is a recap of Ethier's six walk-off hits in 2009:

May 2: On Dodger Thoughts night at the ballpark, not only did I get a copy of Jon Weisman's book, but also got treated to a walk-off win. Tied at one in the 10th inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out, when Ethier launched a single off the wall to bring home the 2-1 win over the Padres. This was the ninth straight home win to open the season, a streak that would extend to a record 13 straight before the Manny Ramirez suspension ended the fun four days later.
Ethier Walk-Off: "Single," one RBI
June 5: Down 3-2 to the Phillies, closer Brad Lidge got the first two outs easily, but then ran into some trouble. He got two strikes on each of Casey Blake and James Loney, but they managed to reach base via hit and walk, respectively. Russell Martin then grounded to Pedro Feliz, but the third baseman gave the Dodgers new life by booting the ball. Ethier came up and doubled into the corner, giving the Dodgers a thrilling 4-3 win.
Ethier Walk-Off: Double, two RBI.
June 6: The very next day, Brad Lidge blew another save, but this time to Rafael Furcal, who hit a game-tying pinch hit home run in the ninth inning. The game remained tied at two until the 12th inning, when Ethier slammed a two-out rocket to dead center off Chad Durbin for his second straight walk-off.
Ethier Walk-Off: Home Run, one RBI.
June 29: After a typically solid Randy Wolf start (two runs in six innings), the Dodgers threw a picket fence of relievers at the Rockies. Seven different relievers each pitched one inning, allowing just three baserunners while striking out 13, to keep the game tied into the bottom of the 13th. Blake led off the inning with a single, and Ethier ended it with a shot into the all-you-can-eat pavilion in right field, for a 4-2 Dodger victory, one of 14 against the Rockies in 2009.
Ethier Walk-Off: Home Run, two RBI.
August 6: Down 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers had to face Braves closer Rafael Soriano, who came into the game with a 1.80 ERA, and opposing batters were hitting just .157/.234/.221 against him. A pair of singles by Juan Pierre and Furcal gave Ethier yet another opportunity to come through. After taking two balls, Ethier hit a drive to right field that just cleared the wall, sneding Dodger fans into a frenzy yet again. As I wrote in the game recap: "After Ethier hit the home run, Vin Scully didn't speak for 45 seconds, letting the game speak for itself. Sometimes, less is more."
Ethier Walk-Off: Home Run, three RBI.
September 15: Matt Kemp's game-tying RBI single allowed the Dodgers to send the game with the Pirates into extra innings. After three scoreless innings of extra-inning relief by James McDonald (you know, the guy whose 2.72 ERA and 3.41 FIP as a reliever are woefully underappreciated), Ronald Belisario gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning, only his second run given up in 18 appearances since returning from the disabled list. Never fear, "Endre" is here. With one out and Furcal on first base, lefty Phil Dumatrait was summoned from the bullpen to face Ethier, who struggled against lefties all season. However, Ethier at Dodger Stadium was a different story, hitting .305/.376/.610 against southpaws wearing the home whites. He came through yet again, launching a towering fly ball that reached the seats in right, his fourth walk-off dinger of the season.
Ethier Walk-Off: Home Run, two RBI.

There were six "MLB Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Month" awards given out this season, but Ethier did not win any of them. He was a candidate in June, but lost the fan vote to Tim Lincecum of the Giants.

It was an amazing season for the 27-year old Ethier. He came to the plate in the ninth inning or later representing either the tying or go-ahead run 42 times this season. All he did was slam five doubles and four home runs, and hit a whopping .448/.619/1.034 in those situations. Congratulations, Endre. This was a well-deserved award.

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

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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

The Dodgers & Their Postseason Roster

Eric Stephen — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:00:24 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Will Doug Mientkiewicz be on the active roster come Wednesday?

Browse more photos »

The rosters for the division series don't need to be turned in until 10am on Wednesday, but here's a look at the likely Dodger NLDS active roster. Keep in mind, this is what I think the Dodgers will do, not necessarily what I would want them to do.

NLDS: Cardinals vs. Dodgers
Game 1	Wed	Dodger Stadium	6:37pm
Game 2	Thu	Dodger Stadium	likely 3:07pm
Game 3	Sat	Busch Stadium	3:07pm
Game 4*	Sun	Busch Stadium	TBD
Game 5*	Oct 13	Dodger Stadium	TBD
*if necessary		All times Pacific
All games televised on TBS

First, the locks:

Catchers (2)
Russell Martin, Brad Ausmus

Infielders (7)
James Loney, Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, Ronnie Belliard, Juan Castro, Mark Loretta

Outfielders (4)
Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre

Starting Pitchers (2)
Randy Wolf, Clayton Kershaw

Relief Pitchers (5)
Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill, Hong-Chih Kuo, Ronald Belisario, Ramon Troncoso

That leaves five spots:

Lefty Pinch-Hitter (1)
Jim Thome has struggled as a pinch hitter, both this season and in his career. He has four singles in 17 at-bats as a Dodger. He can't run, because he's slow and because he has a bad foot. He can't play first base, because of chronic back problems. Yet I believe he will make the roster over Doug Mientkiewicz, simply because Thome represents the threat of power, something lacking on the Dodger bench. Mientkiewicz would be a fine choice for a spot, especially if his shoulder is healed enough to play first base if needed, and in fact I would take him over Loretta, but I don't think that will happen.

Starting Pitchers (2)
Three guys are fighting for two spots, to start games three and four. Joe Torre hasn't officially named his starters for those games yet, but based on other comments he has made, I believe Chad Billingsley will start game three as long as he gets through his simulated game today in Arizona without any problems. That leaves Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland fighting for the other two spots. Padilla has pitched better of late, but over the course of the season, they were pretty similar pitchers (4.46 FIP for Padilla, 4.48 for Garland). I believe Padilla will be the choice to start Sunday in St. Louis.

Relief Pitchers (2)
I think Garland gets the nod as the long man in the pen, leaving Jeff Weaver out in the cold. That leaves one more bullpen spot, which I think will go to James McDonald, over Guillermo Mota and Scott Elbert. McDonald had a good season as a reliever, after a shaky start in the rotation, posting a 2.72 ERA and a 3.41 FIP from the bullpen. Over the last two months, McDonald has passed Mota on the depth chart, even when Mota was fully healthy. The other viable option is Elbert, because the Cardinals struggle so much against left-handed pitchers. However, the Cardinals really only have three lefty batters: Skip Schumaker, Colby Rasmus, and Rick Ankiel. Their struggles with southpaws are largely due to their right handers failing to hit them (hitting .244/.328/.392), and I don't think Torre would use Elbert to face a righty, regardless of how they hit lefties. If the Dodgers were facing the Phillies, Elbert would have been more likely to make the roster, simply because they have more left handed batters Elbert could face in a LOOGY situation.

That's my prediction for the NLDS roster. What's yours?

SB Nation - James McDonald

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