SB Nation - Eric Milton

Heroes of the Zeros: The Starting Rotation

Slyde — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:21:24 -0000

It's that time of the decade when people start creating lists of the best and worst whatevers of the past 10 years. I was going to do that too, but then I decided to make you guys do all of the work. So, over the next two weeks we will be voting on the players that we think deserve the title of All-Decade team member for the Cincinnati Reds. Each day, I'll present you with a new position, and you get to vote. While we do this, the running totals will be kept secret so that you will be surprised when we announce the final roster on December 31st. The maybe we can finally put to bed what might be the worst decade in Reds history.

We'll start with where it started to end, the starting rotation. The Reds haven't exactly been stocked with quality starting pitching during the decade, but you still have to figure out who the top 5 of the decade are. To qualify for the team, a pitcher must have spent at least 50% of his time with the Reds as a starter and he must have made at least 20 starts in a Reds uniform. The rest of the qualifications are up to you. I've listed the stats for the 23 pitchers that meet our minimum qualifications. The voting form is in this post after the jump.

Click header to sort table by column
	ERA+	FIP	GS	Years	G	CG	SHO	W	L	W-L%	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	HR	OPS
Jose Acevedo	78	5.17	54	2001-2004	68	1	0	16	21	.432	304.1	334	198	189	97	222	5.59	58	.830
Bronson Arroyo	113	4.47	136	2006-2009	136	8	3	53	50	.515	871.2	887	424	387	260	630	4.00	119	.755
Homer Bailey	81	4.92	37	2007-2009	37	0	0	12	13	.480	195.0	217	129	118	97	132	5.45	23	.803
Rob Bell	92	5.93	35	2000-2001	35	1	0	7	13	.350	184.2	176	112	105	90	145	5.12	41	.840
Brandon Claussen	85	4.96	57	2004-2006	57	0	0	15	27	.357	309.2	351	195	176	120	223	5.12	47	.824
Johnny Cueto	94	4.87	61	2008-2009	61	0	0	20	25	.444	345.1	350	191	177	129	290	4.61	53	.792
Lance Davis	97	4.66	20	2001	20	1	0	8	4	.667	106.1	124	60	56	34	53	4.74	12	.808
Ryan Dempster	66	5.27	35	2002-2003	37	1	0	8	12	.400	204.1	236	150	145	108	150	6.39	30	.856
Elmer Dessens	115	4.47	80	2000-2002	104	2	1	28	27	.509	530.1	564	246	232	148	306	3.94	66	.756
Osvaldo Fernandez	88	4.60	28	2000-2001	35	1	0	9	9	.500	159.0	172	95	93	64	71	5.26	14	.775
Aaron Harang	106	4.07	193	2003-2009	195	13	6	69	73	.486	1231.1	1288	606	572	315	1043	4.18	169	.767
Pete Harnisch	92	5.80	29	2000-2001	29	3	1	9	9	.500	166.1	181	105	94	63	88	5.09	32	.836
Jimmy Haynes	84	5.05	56	2002-2004	57	1	0	17	25	.405	306.0	354	188	172	145	183	5.06	38	.820
Luke Hudson	87	5.44	25	2002-2005	31	0	0	10	11	.476	139.0	124	83	76	81	98	4.92	18	.790
Cory Lidle	80	4.95	24	2004	24	3	1	7	10	.412	149.0	170	95	88	44	93	5.32	24	.832
Kyle Lohse	101	4.24	32	2006-2007	33	2	1	9	17	.346	194.2	213	109	99	52	131	4.58	23	.777
Eric Milton	77	5.40	66	2005-2007	66	0	0	16	27	.372	370.1	439	256	240	103	231	5.83	73	.850
Ramon Ortiz	80	5.66	30	2005	30	1	0	9	11	.450	171.1	206	110	102	51	96	5.36	34	.882
Steve Parris	98	5.10	33	2000	33	0	0	12	17	.414	192.2	227	109	103	71	117	4.81	30	.858
Elizardo Ramirez	75	5.30	26	2005-2007	31	0	0	4	14	.222	142.2	176	106	97	47	86	6.12	24	.876
Ron Villone	87	5.92	23	2000	35	2	0	10	10	.500	141.0	154	95	85	78	77	5.43	22	.871
Edinson Volquez	128	3.90	41	2008-2009	42	0	0	21	8	.724	245.2	201	107	94	125	253	3.44	20	.681
Paul Wilson	86	5.00	66	2003-2005	66	1	0	20	21	.488	396.2	450	231	215	130	240	4.88	60	.817

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/13/2009.

I will only be accepting your first vote, so don't bother trying to stuff the ballot box, you cheaters. I don't care how much you want Jimmy Haynes in this rotation Dan O'Brien, you only get one vote.

Weekend Mug 11/15

Fatter than Joey — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:50:01 -0000

by Pat Sullivan - AP

This dude hates Spaghettio's, and hates that you love them.

View full size photo »

Hello Kids!

I see your Regular Dad has dropped you off at your Weekend Dad's doorstep. Apparently Mr. Fancypants has better things to do, than keeping you kids up to date about the Milwaukee Brewers this weekend. I have no idea what happened to your Regular Dad, one can only guess... in any case, let me turn off the Carmen Electra workout tape, put on some fresh sweatpants, open up a can of Spaghettio's and tell you all about the Brewers.

One thing my therapist encourages me to do every morning, is to google Ned Yost, and then reassure myself that Ned Yost, or his evil offspring, Ned Yost IV, can no longer hurt me. I thought it was interesting that this quote from Ned Yost, was produced by the google engine.

The Atlanta Braves were in last place for years and years before I got there.

The fact that Yost didn't make the finalist stage, and that the Astros eventually hired Brad Mills, is probably evidence that someone in Houston can muster up enough brain activity to fog a mirror, contrary to previous reports of a flatlining front office.

Doug Melvin showed his own mirror fogging prowess by declining the option on Brewer souvenir generator Braden Looper. The Brewers will have to pay Looper $1M for the opportunity to decline his option, however they will save $5.5M in salary for 2010, and probably another $400K in lost baseballs. Looper is a type B free agent now, and while the Brewers could offer Looper arbitration, it is unlikely, since Looper stands to make as much money in the arbitration process as his declined option would have provided.

Bleacher Report thinks Melvin did the right thing in declining Looper's option, however argues that unless the Brewers dump Jeff Suppan, the Brewers will still suck at pitching.
Along the same lines, Rob Neyer snips TH, and rips Looper, and wonders why Melvin just can't DFA Bush, Parra and Suppan. (TH story)
FireDougMelvin.com reminds us, that while we put new Hefty bags on the windows on our double-wide by releasing Looper, we are still living in the trailer park.
Quick! Name the only 4 pitchers in the history of MLB that were able to give up 39 or more homeruns in under 200 IP. (Answer: Jose Lima 48/196.1; Eric Milton 40/186.1; Shawn Boskie 40/189.1; Braden Looper 39/194.2)
Quote from Braden Looper:

"I tried the best I can to get the ball down because that's my whole game"

In other Brewer News:

The Brewers passed on RyDo to get CarGo.
Former Brewer draftpick Andrew Bailey, went from TJ surgery to potential ROY winner
Is Edwin Jackson a good fit? Is he worth a Mat Gamel?
I did not know Ken Macha was 1st cousins with Hal Newhouser, I am guessing through marriage.
Deputy Braun is opening a grill, and scored his 2nd Silver Slugger award
Ben Sheets is awaiting offers from all 30 MLB teams.
Mark Mulder and Doug Melvin are talking
Seth McClung was interviewed about Twittering, and is generous with his High School.
Eric Gagne wants to pitch in MLB again... as a starter... he developed a cutter, which apparently is helping his batted balls adhere to the laws of physics.
What's dumber than signing Doug Davis? Answer: Getting into a bidding war for Doug Davis

In other MLB news:

Jack Wilson signed a 2 year deal with the Mariners. The Fielding Bible says Wilson is the best fielding SS in MLB. The Home & Garden Bible says Wilson is an above replacement yard gnome.
RJ Swindle signed a minor league deal with the Rays.
Justin Huber has a weekend dad in Japan
Carl Crawford is pissed beyond belief
Rafael Betancourt needs a new Regular Dad

Your Regular Dad is always making you take quizzes, where you have to do math, and are required to spell names correctly. What is wrong with him? -- Weekend Daddy just wants you to match up these Weekend Grannies with the crimes they committed, isn't that more fun?

This is generally the place in the Mug where Regular Dad generally wishes some (but usually not all) former Brewers a Happy Birthday. Instead of doing that, why don't we join the greatest Brewer of all-time, Sixto Lezcano, in wishing young Jimmy Salladay a happy birthday.

A gathering of Angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said:
Weekend Dad is greater than Regular Dad

The Great General Manager Debate: NL Central Edition

davoag — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:00:27 -0000

The trade that made me lose faith in the Pirates suckitude...

View full size photo »

Part of my reaction to the Aki Iwamura trade was realizing how surprisingly competent the Pirates front office has become. They picked up a cost-controlled player for a replaceable part and improved their infield defense in the process. How is that a bad thing?

The funny thing is, the Pirates have been bad for so long, and it's so easy to dismiss their hires as actually being good baseball people, I had forgotten what Pittsburgh was actually getting in Neil Huntington. Here's another post from FanGraphs about what this trade means for the Pirates executives and here's an interview with Dan Fox, their database guru. Basically, the Pirates have a guy that gets to play with computer simulations all day until he can accurately evaluate and forecast players. I can get that job how?

It also made me start thinking about all the general managers in the National League Central. Which ones was I most afraid of? Which ones were a joke? Were there any teams that were run competently from year to year?

The thing that surprised me when I did my research was not that Ed Wade is probably the weakest GM in the Central, it's that so many of them have changed in the past two seasons. Justice loves to harp on how the organizational chaos Houston has gone through is affecting the club in many ways. Still, to see that so many of Wade's peers have also changed jobs recently is refreshing.

It's also scary, especially when at least four of these guys are competent-to-really good. After the jump is a look at each GM. Feel free to share your thoughts on who worries you the most in the comments...

Chicago Cubs

GM Jim Hendry

Tenure: Since July, 2002 ( 7 1/2 seasons)

Notes: The longest tenured general manager also has the biggest payroll of any team in the division. What does he do with all that money? Waste it. As scary as the Cubs lineup and rotation can be, Hendry alone makes me feel good about the Astros chances against Chicago in the near future.

This was a man who overpaid for guys like LaTroy Hawkins and Ted Lilly (though, to be fair, Lilly was excellent). He also spent a ton of money for Alfonso Soriano to play center field, and then promptly bumped him to left. Then, he spent a ton of money to bring in notorious pot-stirrer Milton Bradley, adding to the dangerous clubhouse dynamic that Lou Piniella always brings.

Funny thing, though, 134 million can buy you a damned good team. Hendry may have made mistakes in the past, but has done a good job of at least correcting them. He admitted failure with Rich Hill, shipping him off to Baltimore. He did turn Ryan Dempster into an effective pitcher in his new role with the Cubs. Hendry also has a productive farm system, with guys like Carlos Marmol and Geovanny Soto picking up the team on the cheap.

Would Hendry be this good without all that money? Probably not. In his market, though, it's tough not to make a big splash each season and have the fans be happy. Of all the GMs, though, I'm least afraid of Hendry.

Cincinnati Reds

GM Walt Jocketty

Tenure: Since 2008 (2 seasons)

Notes: The interesting thing about Jocketty is he went from a winning team to one that is continually frustrated by not being able to get over the hump. He also went to a team that walked away from a more progressive-thinking GM in former Twins assistant Wayne Krivsky for the more traditional Jocketty. Of course, Jocketty also followed Tony LaRussa from Oakland to St. Louis, so it's unclear how much of his philosophy is tied to LaRussa's.

The Reds haven't exactly been dramatic in making over the club, but Jocketty has shown a willingness to be aggressive with the team's prospects and not trade off valuable assets for overhyped players (I'm looking at you, Jim Bowden). Still, Jocketty hasn't shown the same level of success as at his previous two stops. It will take a little more time to see whether his player evaluation method transfers to the Reds scouting department. If Jocketty can hit a few home runs in the draft, the rest of his record in the Queen City will be moot.

Milwaukee Brewers

GM Doug Melvin

Tenure: Since September 2002 (7 seasons)

Notes: One of the two longest tenured GMs in the NL Central, Melvin has had an up-and-down career in Milwaukee. Yes, he did draft Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder. Yes, he did trade for CC Sabathia. But, what have the Brewers actually won? This team seems to consistenly play for second place, which isn't bad, but until they can get over the hump mentally, Melvin may not be viewed more positively.

All indications are that Melvin is a more traditional GM. The Brewers don't leap out at you as a very sabermetric-friendly team, but they do have a little bit of the Oakland A's philosophy for a small market. The Brewers under Melvin consistently make unpopular decisions with players to avoid locking them up to bad contracts that hurt the team. Instead, they'll buy out arbitration years for a player, insuring cost certainty and rewarding young guys before they may be overpaid. Exhibit one is Ryan Braun.

Certainly, the biggest deficiency with the club is starting pitching. Melvin has shown a knack for making big moves (CC), regardless of his position as a small market team. He's also done a good job of drafting by talent and not positional needs (Matt LaPorta, anyone?). The obvious plus side of this is Melvin can then trade for pitching with his talent surplus. It will be interesting to see if Melvin can keep the pipeline going for the Brewers and tinker around the edges enough to get a winner.

Pittsburgh Pirates

GM Neil Huntington

Tenure: Since September 2007 (2 seasons)

Notes: Here is the crux of my argument. The Pirates are without a doubt the worst-run franchise in the National League. For years, they have been incompetent, both in the draft, in trades and in fielding winning ball clubs. Who can forget Randall Simon viciously attacking that poor Bratwurst in Milwaukee? Just horrible. Still, Huntington has done a great job of reversing this trend. He correctly indentified assets that were expendible, seems to have valued his minor leaguers correctly and his only big misstep so far has been the Bay trade. The big deal with the Yankees netted the Buccos a solid starter in Ross Ohlendorff and a young outfielder in Jose Tabata (who hasn't panned out). The Bay deal saw an iffy Andy LaRoche, a reliever (Craig Hanson) and a fourth or fifth outfielder (Brandon Moss) traded for one of the best left fielders in baseball.

Of course, if the Pirates had let Bay walk after the season like the Red Sox have, they'd be roundly criticized. The organization seems to be headed in the right direction. Count me as still skeptical, though, even with present evidence to the contrary.

St. Louis Cardinals

GM John Mozeliak

Tenure: Since 2008 (2 seasons)

Notes: Mozeliak took over a team that didn't have much to work with outside of a couple big money players (Pujols, Rolen, Carpenter) and a ton of farm talent. He's tinkered around the edges well and leaned heavily on his manager and pitching coach's reputations to slot in marginal guys into productive roles. Mozeliak stuck by Colby Rasmus through early slumps and made a big-ticket acquisition of Matt Holliday.

There are conflicting reports about his style, but it seems like he appreciates what the stats can tell him about the game and uses it to some degree. Yet, his philosophy seems to be grating on the older school ideas of Tony LaRussa. Combine that with his cold-blooded trade of Dave Duncan's son, Chris, and he's done quite a bit to alienate two of the most important cogs to the Cardinals machine for the past decade. Not that I'm complaining.

There are both good and bad qualities here, but I don't think we can judge Mozeliak fairly until he's out from under LaRussa's considerable shadow (the man's a genius, after all).

Houston Astros

GM Ed Wade

Tenure: Since September 2007 (2 seasons)

Notes: So, the thing about Ed Wade is he can't trade. I said some nice things in the past about the job he did leading up to this past season, but after reviewing his track record in Philly, I have a suggestion. Ed Wade needs to hire some smart, baseball-savvy mind to be his trade manager. Like a salary-cap manager in football, this person would handle all the ramifications of trades (scouting players, balance, contracts, etc.) and give his best recommendation to Wade. Only then could the big man sign off.

If you think I exaggerate, look at his transactions. Here's a link to Baseball-Reference's transaction page starting in 1998. Wade took over in January of that year. In his entire Philly tenure, he made two good trades: Billy Wagner and Kenny Lofton. Every other trade he made was a bloodbath. Eric Milton? He gave up Nick Punto and Carlos Silva. Scott Rolen? He got Placido Polanco and that's it. He traded Curt Schilling for nothing. He traded away a young Adam Eaton for a declining Andy Ashby. He traded two young pitchers for two relievers and Ron Gant. Who thought this was a good idea? In fact, Wade's history is chock-full of trades for relievers. It's the position he enjoys tinkering with most on the team. Unfortunately, relievers are fungible, and trading for them wastes cheap assets.

Thus, why I had the idea of a trade manager. I'm sure someone like Paul DiPodesta or Kevin Towers wouldn't mind being the Astros full-time trade scout, right? Either one would be imminently more qualified than Wade to make these kinds of decisions. And yes, I realize that Wade has made some decent trades with the Astros. Sticking to the numbers, though? That streak may not last forever.

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.

Better Know A Playoff Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

BK — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:15:18 -0000

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

Inland Empire 66ers outfielder Manuel Ramirez is getting a lot of attention for some reason. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Browse more photos »

Two truths and a lie:

At least half of the Dodgers starting lineup came up through their minor league system.
The Dodgers swooped in and stole the Reds AA affiliate at the end of last season, and despite their reputation of a solid minor league system, finished with a worse record than when the Reds were with the team.
Despite having the best record in the NL, they actually underperformed according to their Pythagorean W-L record.

Despite being without their big money slugger for 50 games, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles was the best team in the NL. 18 of their pitchers had an ERA+ over 100, including an obscene 639 ERA+ by reliever George Sherrill, who was acquired from Baltimore in July. Even more amazingly, they've accomplished all of this while giving significant playing time to two of the most maligned former Reds from the mid-aughts, TSF Juan Castro and the top-notch Eric Milton.

Discuss all things Dodgers here. They begin their series tonight at home against the Cardinals at 9:37 ET.

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

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 Season In Thirds

Eric Stephen — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:00:16 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

Matt Kemp has been stellar all season for the Dodgers

Browse more photos »

I know this is a day late and a dollar short, but Wednesday night's game was the 108th Dodger game of the season, marking the two-thirds point of the season. I thought it would be a good time to compare the first 54 games of the season to the second set of 54.

Here's an overview of the team numbers:

	W-L	Runs For	Runs Allowed	BA/OBP/SLG	ERA
Games 1-54	36-18	295 (5.46/gm)	208 (3.85/gm)	.285/.367/.414	3.75
Games 55-108	30-24	244 (4.52/gm)	214 (3.96/gm)	.272/.340/.418	3.45

Looks like there was a little more power in the second 54-game stretch, and a little more onbaseability in the first 54 games.

We'll take it position by position after the jump.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Starting Pitchers
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NL West Report: Talent in, Talent out at the trade deadline.

Rox Girl — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 01:30:57 -0000

The good news for competitors in the NL West this week is that none of their rivals added what we would consider a major impact talent at the trade deadline along the lines of a Cliff Lee, Matt Holliday or Victor Martinez, the bad news is that this means that neither did they, leaving the division in pretty much the same state it was last week save for the one team at the very bottom, who did wind up making a very interesting move on Friday. The overall talent flow still seems to be flowing into the division rather than out, however, and the division as a whole still seems to be on the ascent.

NL West Report

San Francisco (58-47, t-2nd, W2, 7.0 GB)

Last Week: 6-1. 3-0 vs. Pirates, 3-1 vs Phillies. At some point you've just got to forget the projections and say a team is what it is. The Giants really seem to be that team this year, similar to the 2007 Diamondbacks, where they are combining some excellence in pitching with a favorable circumstance or two (in this case a deadly home field advantage) to mask over their flaws. While sweeping a rebuilding Pirates team isn't a huge accomplishment, taking three of four against the defending world champions is. The Giants are a very real threat, but an up and down one.

Pace: 86-76.

Divisional Change: Gained 3.0 games.

This Week:

News: The Giants were the most active NL West squad at the deadline, acquiring Ryan Garko from the Indians in exchange for Scott Barnes and Freddy Sanchez from the Pirates in exchange for Tim Alderson. Both prospects were immediately downgraded by pundits from potential aces to potential fifth starters after the transactions.

Ryan Garko

#23 / First Base / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-2

Weight: 225

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jan 02, 1981

Freddy Sanchez

#21 / Second Base / San Francisco Giants

Height: 5-10

Weight: 190

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Dec 21, 1977

Kidding about that last part, sort of. Barnes wouldn't have been a name most Giants fans would recognize, but he's a decent LHP prospect a bit beyond the Keith Weiser level but quite a bit below the Bumgarner level. With Barnes and Connor Graham added to their pitching depth the last couple of weeks, the Indians have put quite a dent on the starting talent in the Cal League's North division. I was curious about the amount of articles downplaying Alderson that came after the trade compared to the hype he was getting before it.

Grant's reactions to both trades at McCovey Chronicles were suspiciously understated:

Sanchez

Garko

Clearly something's up with these players that they're not telling us about, like how they wouldn't tell us that Fred Lewis will eat the children of Rockies fans if we let them stay out to late or how Pedro Feliz was able to control the forces of nature of his mind as long as he wore a Giants uniform and the Giants were playing the Rockies. You're not fooling me this time Grant, word to Rockies pitchers: approach these two players like you would Babe Ruth. If Babe Ruth was alive. And not really old.

Players Gained:

Freddy Sanchez
Ryan Garko

Players Lost:

Tim Alderson (AA)
Scott Barnes (A+)

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS INJURIES

15-DAY

PLAYER	INJURY TYPE	INJURY DATE
Rich Aurilia	toe	07/21/2009
Nate Schierholtz	hip	07/27/2009
Andres Torres	hamstring	07/31/2009

60 DAY DL / OUT FOR THE SEASON

PLAYER	INJURY TYPE	INJURY DATE
Randy Johnson	trapezius	07/06/2009
Noah Lowry	ribs	03/27/2009
Kelvin Pichardo	shoulder	06/28/2009
Joe Martinez	concussion	04/10/2009

Arizona (46-59, 4th, W1, 19.0 GB)

Last Week: 3-3. 1-2 vs Phillies, 2-1 @ Mets.

Pace:

Divisional Change: Gained 0.5 games.

This Week: The Snakes wrap up a long road trip with three game series @ Pittsburgh and @ Washington

News: The Diamondbacks had a quiet week leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline, but general manager Josh Byrnes expects August's waiver trade market to be active.

Brandon Webb finally decided to undergo the knife to fix his ailing shoulder, but no timetable has been established for when he is expected to return to the mound. Will the Diamondbacks pick up his $8.5 million option for 2010? Byrnes is taking a wait and see approach.

Brandon Webb

#17 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height:6-2

Weight:230

Bats:R

Throws:R

Born:May 09, 1979

Steve Gilbert writes that Byrnes' faith in his core is a large part of the reason why the trade deadline was so quiet for Arizona:

"There are a lot of components there that we think are real positives," Byrnes said. "I think a lot of the pieces to get back to winning are already in place."

Certainly Justin Upton has to be a major component that Byrnes is thinking of, AZ Snakepit's Jim McClennan took a look at the elite club the phenom's track thus far puts him in.

The Snakes are negotiating with Daniel Cabrera for added pitching depth

Added Comment: Arizona remains a flawed team for 2010 until it gets the pitching ironed out, but a very dangerous one for 2009. The fact that they didn't sell off at the deadline doesn't leave them nearly as weak as other non-contenders. I'm relieved that the Rockies only have six more games against this team compared to nine for the Giants and ten for the Dodgers, because it really looks like they've finally righted the ship in Phoenix. Over the last thirty games, the D-backs have scored the fourth most runs in the NL in going 16-14. Other key potential spoiler series for Arizona will be in Philadelphia at the end of August and at Chicago for the last series of the season in October.

Players Gained:

Brandon Allen (AAA)
Cole Gillespie (AAA)
Roque Mercedes (AA)

Players Lost:

Felipe Lopez
Tony Pena

Arizona Diamondbacks Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Eric Byrnes	hand	06/26/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Tom Gordon	hamstring	05/04/2009
Conor Jackson	pneumonia	05/12/2009
Brandon Webb	shoulder	04/07/2009

Los Angeles (62-36, 1st, L1)

Last Week: 3-4. 1-3 vs Cardinals. 2-1 vs Braves. The Dodgers road trip started out poorly against Matt Holliday and the Cardinals, but much like the Rockies, the Dodgers finished well, going over the last four games of the trip, against much tougher competition than we had to face.

Pace:

Divisional Change: Lost 0.5 games to Colorado and 3.0 games to San Francisco

This Week: The Dodgers return home where they will face a Brewers team (3 games) that's been caught in a rut for much of the last two months and then get a four game set against the Braves who will want revenge for losing a series in Atlanta this weekend.

News: The Dodgers had been rumored for much of last week to be in on every prominent trade target supposedly available, and apparently came close to reeling in Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell in a mega deal with the Padres. Unwilling to part with prize major league talent such as Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw (wisely, I might add, Kershaw's change-up is starting to be as devastating as his fastball and curve) Los Angeles wound up making one major move, trading minor leaguers Josh Bell and Steve Johnson for Orioles closer George Sherrill.

George Sherrill

#0 / Pitcher / Los Angeles Dodgers

Height: 6-0

Weight: 230

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Apr 19, 1977

The Dodgers made one other minor depth move to clear a roster space for Sherrill, trading Claudio Vargas to Milwaukee for catcher Vinny Rottino. Rottino actually has an engaging baseball biography, as he was an undrafted free agent out of college and wound up getting signed out of a try-out camp. He caught for team Italy in the WBC this Spring. Still, not going to supplant team Canada's catcher anytime soon.

Even with the Sherrill addition, Los Angeles continues to wage a war against an unseen and unknown enemy as the workload for their young pitching continues to mount. Chad Billingsley seemed like he might be the latest to succumb when he was pulled from Sunday night's start with what turned out to be just a case of leg cramps. Rockies and Giants fans are all hoping this menace proves more real than it has, but that just might be wishful thinking on our parts. Sherrill hasn't been the only cavalry to arrive to rescue Los Angeles' young arms, as both Jason Schmidt and Hong Chi Kuo made returns from long injury absences this week.

Eric Stephen's monthly reviews are always worth reading to catch up on the rest of the Dodgers news.

Players Gained:

George Sherrill
Vinny Rottino (AA)

Players Lost:

Josh Bell
Steve Johnson
Claudio Vargas

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chad Billingsley	hamstring	08/03/2009

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Casey Blake	wrist	08/03/2009

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Will Ohman	shoulder	05/28/2009
Ronald Belisario	elbow	07/06/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Eric Milton	lower-back	06/28/2009
Doug Mientkiewicz	shoulder	04/17/2009
Xavier Paul	ankle	05/21/2009

San Diego (43-63, 5th, W2, 22.0 GB)

Last Week: 5-2. 3-1 @ Reds, 2-1 vs Brewers. Visiting Cincinnati has become a medicinal spa retreat for ailing NL West teams, as the Padres and Rockies combined to go 6-1 against the hapless Reds. San Diego carried their winning ways home with them against the Brewers.

Pace:

Divisional Change: Gained 2.0 games.

This Week: Braves (3 games) fans and Mets (4 games) fans will learn just how easy it is to go into PETCO Park and win series.

News: The Padres traded away their erstwhile ace Jake Peavy to the Chicago White Sox in the trade deadline's most surprising move. Peavy must have felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day in getting a chance to change a decision he made two months ago, for whatever reason, the White Sox held more appeal this time around.

Coming back from Chicago are four of the White Sox better prospects in Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell. This move was typical of other blockbusters in 2009, where the selling team generally walked away with the buying team's quality depth, but not their creme de la creme as far as talent is concerned.

jbox gets oddly, I don't know, pragmatic, in his review of the trade at Gaslamp Ball.

Clayton Richard

#41 / Pitcher / San Diego Padres

Height: 6-5

Weight: 240

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Sep 12, 1983

The Heath Bell/Adrian Gonzalez trade to the Dodgers wasn't the only big deadline deal that San Diego was involved in that fell through, apparently there was also a blockbuster that could have send Gonzalez to Seattle, Felix Hernandez to the Red Sox, and a bushel of prospects to the Padres that got nixed by the Mariners. The day was so busy, that Kevin Towers told the LA Times Bill Shaiken:

"It's almost comical," he said. "I wish we had a video camera in there. You tend to worry about everything moving so fast."

Players Lost:

Players Gained:

Ryan Webb (AAA)
Craig Italiano (A+)
Sean Gallagher
Aaron Poreda
Clayton Richard
Dexter Carter
Adam Russell
Oscar Salazar

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chris Young	shoulder	06/15/2009
Nick Hundley	forearm	06/18/2009
Brian Giles	knee	06/19/2009
Edgar Gonzalez	concussion	07/19/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Mark Worrell	elbow	03/27/2009
Cha Seung Baek	forearm	03/30/2009
Shawn Hill	elbow	04/26/2009
Cliff Floyd	shoulder	06/18/2009

Poll

Which NL West team helped itself the most via non-waiver trades?

Arizona: The D-backs didn't sell low on their players and added a couple of key parts for 2010 and beyond.

3 votes

Colorado: The Rockies major weakness was the bullpen and they addressed it without giving up top ten prospects.

98 votes

Los Angeles: The Dodgers got the one elite reliever dealt this year.

22 votes

San Francisco: The Giants held onto most of their elite prospects, including their very best, and still added the bats they needed.

90 votes

San Diego: The Padres were in desperate need of restocking the system and added a boatload of talented young arms.

29 votes

242 votes | Poll has closed

Friday Pebble Report: Riordan tosses complete game, Deduno also shines

Rox Girl — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:19:58 -0000

Colorado Springs: L 0-5

Adam Eaton continues to pitch better than Eric Milton or Jason Schmidt did for the Dodgers Albuquerque affiliate and yet he remains a safe and tidy backup for us while they are forced to use their emergency fill-ins. It's good news that our pitching depth remains stronger, but it might not mean much until the NLCS with the lead they have.

Tulsa: W 5-3

Promotions for Jhoulys Chacin and Esmil Rogers have left Sammy Deduno as Tulsa's staff ace. Last winter, Deduno's addition to the Rockies 40 man roster hinted that he was going to have a strong bounceback after missing 2008 due to surgery, and he's proven that to be the case, particularly in his last five starts since returning from injury on June 29: 28 IP, 15 H, 8 BB, 22 K, 4 R (1.29 ERA). If you wonder how the Rockies can afford to give up somebody like Connor Graham, well, there you go.

Darin Holcomb had a pair of doubles and scored twice, Cole Garner doubled and drove in two.

Modesto: W 8-2

Maybe Cory Riordan's making another point as to why the Rockies are able to deal Graham. He pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts, one walk and eight hits allowed. Over his last ten starts, consisting of everything in June and July, he's 5-2 with a 2.82 ERA and a 56/15 K/BB rate. His FB movement and breaking pitches are a grade above many of our other control RHPs, potentially #4 worthy rather than #5, so if he's taking off, it's a very good sign as he'd be a pretty valuable innings eater. His 25 IP in his last three starts are a good indication of this. Maikol Gonzalez scored three of Modesto's eight runs and Charlie Blackmon and Jason Van Kooten each had a pair of RBI.

Asheville: L 4-6

Kiel Roling has been stuck in Asheville, showing clear signs (three hits including a homerun and double yesterday) that he's ready for more challenging pitchers, but a push up the ladder for him means somebody else is going to have to find another avenue to pursue their dream, but it looks like the Rockies might not make that kind of move until the offseason. Could Roling follow Darin Holcomb's path and skip straight to Tulsa next season?

Tri-City: W 10-3

Maybe Josh Hungerman will be our new big Ohio connection (well besides Aaron Cook). The former Cleveland State pitcher started for just the second time this season and struck out seven in only three innings of work, and Craig Bennigson came on for three more to pick up the win. The big left hander from Berkley has had an impressive season thus far after pitching just under three innings for Casper last season in his professional debut.

Casper: L 4-11

Avery Barnes provided the big highlight for the Ghosts after leading off with a single in the fourth inning:

...Barnes swiped second, heisted third when catcher Griff Erickson's throw popped out of the glove of third baseman Brian Ruggiano and committed his most daring larceny yet by breaking for home when Magill decided to pitch from a wind-up. Magill's two-out, two-strike pitch was high and Barnes easily slid in under the tag.

According to the above quoted article, the Ghosts' bus broke down in Rawlins on their way to Ogden, delaying the start of the contest. Despite an abbreviated warm-up and the travel rust this may have caused, Chris Balcom-Miller pitched well over four innings, allowing just three runs and striking out six. I'm eager to see what he puts up in full season play in 2010.

SB Nation - Eric Milton

Heroes of the Zeros: The Starting Rotation

Weekend Mug 11/15

The Great General Manager Debate: NL Central Edition

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Free Agents (13+1)

Options (2)

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Under Contract (4)

Under Team Control (15)

Better Know A Playoff Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Pinch Hitters

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

Stabilizing The Back End Of The Rotation

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

NL West Report: Talent in, Talent out at the trade deadline.

NL West Report

San Francisco (58-47, t-2nd, W2, 7.0 GB)

Ryan Garko

#23 / First Base / San Francisco Giants

Freddy Sanchez

#21 / Second Base / San Francisco Giants

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS INJURIES

15-DAY

60 DAY DL / OUT FOR THE SEASON

Arizona (46-59, 4th, W1, 19.0 GB)

Brandon Webb

#17 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks Injuries

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Los Angeles (62-36, 1st, L1)

George Sherrill

#0 / Pitcher / Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

Probable

Questionable

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

San Diego (43-63, 5th, W2, 22.0 GB)

Clayton Richard

#41 / Pitcher / San Diego Padres

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Which NL West team helped itself the most via non-waiver trades?

Arizona: The D-backs didn't sell low on their players and added a couple of key parts for 2010 and beyond.

Colorado: The Rockies major weakness was the bullpen and they addressed it without giving up top ten prospects.

Los Angeles: The Dodgers got the one elite reliever dealt this year.

San Francisco: The Giants held onto most of their elite prospects, including their very best, and still added the bats they needed.

San Diego: The Padres were in desperate need of restocking the system and added a boatload of talented young arms.

Friday Pebble Report: Riordan tosses complete game, Deduno also shines