SB Nation - Will Ohman

The Juan Pierre era comes to an end

Phil Gurnee — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:15:45 -0000

thus putting the final touches on one of the Ned Colletti's worst deals as the Dodger GM. It is the deal that set many against him before he even got started.

The lightning rod Juan Pierre has probably had the largest effect on the current financial state of the team than any other player. When his first year was complete it was apparent to Ned that he was not the center fielder they envisioned when they gave him that five year deal. So they went out and got what they thought was the answer in center field in Andruw Jones. To say the least that did not pan out either. Pierre was moved to LF to make room for Andruw and he was also found wanting in LF so Ned then went out and completed his best deal when he acquired Manny to play LF and slide Juan into the role of fourth outfielder. While Ned was playing free agent center fielder, the best center fielder turned out to be an internal option whom they finally turned to when Andruw Jones failed.

During his time with the Dodgers, Juan Pierre has been a good Dodger if not the most productive one. For one month he gave us the unforeseen Beast Mode but most of the time he did exactly what he'd always done. He played hard, he stole bases, he ran the bases extremely well, was rarely hurt, hit for some average, didn't get on base at a very high clip, didn't have much of an arm, didn't play center field very well given his speed. He was exactly as advertised, the only problem with that is that he was paid much to much for what he did.

His value has always been right about 1/2 of the contract the Dodgers gave him. The Dodgers will continue to pay for that mistake this year and next but the White Sox will be getting a fairly valued Left Fielder.

I wish Juan Pierre nothing but good will as he can now begin his quest again for 2,000 hits.

The Dodger roster keeps growing with players we are paying to not be Dodgers. WIth the news from Eric that the Dodgers will be paying $7 Million for him to play with the White Sox the Dodgers are now paying $17 Million toward players not on the roster in 2010.

2010: $17,590,000

Juan Pierre: $7,000,000
Andruw Jones: $3,200,000 (deferred salary)
Nomar Garciaparra: $1,125,000 (deferred signing bonus)
Jason Schmidt: $2,625,000 (deferred signing bonus)
Will Ohman: $200,000 (option buyout)
Orlando Hudson: $$1,440,000 (deferred signing bonus)
Randy Wolf: $2,000,000

Possible Players Acquired, with scouting reports by Baseball HQ:

12. Jon Link RHP.....26.....2005 (26) Virginia Commonwealth by San Diego Padres
Team (LG)         W-L ERA    IP  CMD  K/9  oppBA 
==============    === ==== ===== ==== ==== =====  
Charlotte (IL)    1-2 3.99  56.1  2.4 10.5  256
MLE               1-2 5.67  56.1  2.0  9.2  292
Strengths: Plus 88-94 MPH fastball. Hard slider. Changeup. Pitch movement.
Weaknesses: LHH. FB command. Control. Inconsistent slider.
Comments: Powerful reliever has closing experience and could evolve into legitimate late-innings option in Majors. Possesses three average to above average offerings with sinker, SL, and CU. Erratic mechanics and release point hinder control and needs to set up piches better.
2010 MLB Role: Short reliever
Potential Rating: 7B

14. John Ely RHP.....23.....2007 (3) Miami-OH
Team (LG)         W-L ERA    IP  CMD  K/9  oppBA 
==============    === ==== ===== ==== ==== =====  
Birmingham (SL)  14-2 2.82 156.1  2.5  7.2  241
MLE              14-2 3.86 156.1  2.0  6.2  274
Strengths: Plus curveball. 87-92 MPH fastball. Groundballer. Strong frame. Aggressiveness. Deception.
Weaknesses: Changeup. Stiff arm action. Effort in delivery.
Comments: Short and strong pitcher with fringe-average velocity, but keeps hitters off-balance with sinking changeup. Complements moving fastball with plus curveball and mixes pitches well. Commands plate and induces groundballs, but doesn't dominate. Effort in delivery may lead to durability issues.
2010 MLB Role: Middle reliever
Potential Rating: 7C

Dodgers Face Tuesday Decisions For Hudson, Wolf, Others

Eric Stephen — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:09:00 -0000

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

The extent of communication between Joe Torre and Orlando Hudson

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Tuesday could be an important day in determining the shape of the Dodger offseason. December 1 is decision day for clubs to offer arbitration to free agents in the top 40% at their respective positions. Players are ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau based on stats from the previous two seasons, and split into groups:

Type A free agents: in the top 20% of their respective position group
Type B free agents: in the top 40%, but not in the top 20%, of their respective position group

By offering arbitration, a club guarantees itself some form of compensation should the player decide to leave. Type A free agents net two draft picks to the former club -- one in the first round (unless that club has a protected pick in the top 15) and one supplemental pick between the first and second rounds. If a team signs more than one Type A free agent, picks in subsequent rounds are used, and the former team of the higher-ranking free agent (based on the Elias rankings) gets the higher pick. For instance, last year the Yankees gave up picks in the first three rounds for signing Type A free agents Mark Teixeira (1st round to Angels), C.C. Sabathia (2nd round to Milwaukee), and A.J. Burnett (3rd round to Toronto). Type B free agents net just a supplemental pick.

If a player accepts arbitration, he is bound to the team for another year. Player and club each submit a salary figure sometime between January 5 and January 15, and if they don't come to a contract agreement on their own, will face off in an arbitration hearing sometime between February 1 and February 20.

The deadline to offer arbitration to these free agents is Tuesday night, December 1, at 9pm. Players have until Monday night, December 7, to accept or decline the offer.

Here's a look at the Type A and Type B free agents for the Dodgers:

Orlando Hudson

2009 Salary: $7.99 million

2009 Stats: .283/.353/.417, 109 OPS+, 2.9 WAR, 74 runs, 35 doubles, one cycle

2010 Age: 32

2010 Free Agent Status: Type A

Hudson is the litmus test for the offseason. Offering him arbitration should be a no-brainer. Hudson is exactly the type of player you would want back on a one-year deal. He compares favorably with all the other second base options, but if he accepts arbitration the Dodgers wouldn't be on the hook for a multi-year contract. But here's the thing: there is no way Hudson will accept arbitration. Hudson split time in September with Ronnie Belliard at second base, then the O-Dog was benched for the playoffs. As a player who was an All-Star this season, as well as a Gold Glover (deservedly or not), Hudson was rightfully miffed at his benching, as Ramona Shelburne noted last month in the LA Daily News:

According to Hudson, Torre never once called him into his office to discuss the situation, a slap in the face Hudson has trouble accepting.

"My teammates talked to me about it more than Joe did, but I never had any answers because (Torre) and I never talked," Hudson said. "There was no conversation."

Does this sound like someone who wants to come back? No way. But even if he does return, as unlikely as it seems, it would be good for the Dodgers. If the Dodgers are so risk averse as to try to avoid the infinitesimal chance the Hudson would cost them another $8 million or so, that's a bad sign. Only good things can happen by offering Hudson arbitration:

Hudson declines arbitration, signs elsewhere, and the Dodgers get two draft picks in 2010
Hudson accepts arbitration, Dodgers get a 2.5 to 3-win player for a one-year deal

If the Dodgers don't offer arbitration, it will be for monetary reasons only. Saving money in the short-term on things they should be spending money on will only hurt the team in the long run.

Prediction: I hope I'm wrong, but the Dodgers won't offer Hudson arbitration

Randy Wolf

2009 Salary: $8 million

2009 Stats: 11-7, 3.23 ERA, 122 ERA+, 4.00 FIP, 4.28 x-FIP, career high in starts (34), innings (214.1) and WHIP (1.101)

2010 Age: 33

2010 Free Agent Status: Type A

Wolf is another guy that would be great to have back on a one-year deal, another easy choice to offer arbitration. The starting pitching free agent market isn't so hot, and Wolf just might be the second-best free agent starter behind John Lackey. Wolf is bound to get a multi-year contract somewhere.

Prediction: Wolf gets offered arbitration

Ronnie Belliard

2009 Salary: $1.9 million

2009 Stats: .277/.351/.425, 105 OPS+, 1.3 WAR, 10 HR, 39 runs, 39 RBI in 287 PA

2010 Age: 35

2010 Free Agent Status: Type B

Belliard would be a nice player to have back, a right-hander with some pop off the bench. He can spot start at second or third base, even if his glove scares the hell out of me at the hot corner. After 2007, he signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract following five years as a regular player. He is coming off two years as a sub (624 combined in 2008-2009), so I don't think he would get anything more than $1.5-$2 million in arbitration. I would offer Belliard arbitration, gladly taking either the supplemental pick or Mini Manny for 2010.

Prediction: Dodgers don't offer arbitration to Belliard

Vicente Padilla

2009 Salary: $12 million

2009 Stats: 12-6, 4.46 ERA, 100 ERA+, 4.45 FIP, 2.0 WAR, 147.1 innings

2010 Age: 32

2010 Free Agent Status: Type B

After Padilla climbed his way up the Dodger starting pitching ladder to the top spot in October -- he was the only Dodger starter to make three starts in the postseason -- it would be hard for the club to argue against his worth in arbitration. That said, Padilla reeks of Jose Lima. If the Dodgers want him back, it's best to sign him to a deal smaller than he would receive in arbitration. The Dodgers are already way ahead on the Padilla transaction. It's better to pick up their chips and cash them in rather than buy in for another round.

Prediction: No; offering Padilla arbitration is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the leg

Jon Garland

2009 Salary: $7.25 million

2009 Stats: 11-13, 4.01 ERA, 111 ERA+, 4.48 FIP, 2.4 WAR, 204 innings

2010 Age: 30

2010 Free Agent Status: Type B

With Garland, it is never pretty or flashy, as his career 4.7 strikeouts per nine innings suggest. However, Garland isn't a bad guy to have fill out the back end of a rotation: a league average or slightly below average pitcher that puts up 200 innings a year and doesn't miss a start. That said, if the Dodgers want Garland back, they would be better served to try to sign him to a lower deal on the open market rather than head to arbitration.

Prediction: No; if the Dodgers wanted to pay Garland anything significant in 2010, they wouldn't have declined his 2010 option.

Guillermo Mota

2009 Salary: $2.35 million

2009 Stats: 65.1 innings, 3.44 ERA, 115 ERA+, 4.12 FIP, 4.49 x-FIP, -0.1 WAR

2010 Age: 35

2010 Free Agent Status: Type B

The Dodger bullpen is loaded as is. There is really no point to pay anything for someone who shouldn't be higher than sixth or seventh at best on the depth chart. Fun fact: Mota has the fifth best ERA+ ever (143) by a Dodger reliever (minimum 200 games).

Prediction: The Dodgers will not offer arbitration to Mota

Will Ohman

2009 Salary: $1.35 million

2009 Stats: 12.1 innings, 5.84 ERA, 68 ERA+, 7.93 FIP, 5.68 x-FIP, lots and lots of DL time

2010 Age: 32

2010 Free Agent Status: Type B

With George Sherrill and Hong-Chih Kuo in the bullpen, Ohman is simply redundant as another lefty reliever. Ohman was hurt for most of the year, and I never got a chance to interview him, which is a shame because from some of the excerpts from spring training he seemed hilarious.

Prediction: No; like Garland, if the Dodgers wanted Ohman back, they would have picked up his 2010 option.

The Dodgers have seven decisions to make by Tuesday night. I think they should offer arbitration to three (Hudson, Wolf, and Belliard), but I believe they will only offer arbitration to Randy Wolf.

Dodgers Decline Garland's 2010 Option

Eric Stephen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:51:25 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

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In an unsurprising move, the Dodgers have declined the 2010 $10 million option on Jon Garland, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. By declining the option, Garland is owed a $2.5 million buyout. Per terms of the August 31 trade with Arizona, the Diamondbacks are paying that buyout.

Kensai at Memories of Kevin Malone said it best:

Garland gave the Dodgers his best during his tenure, as he posted a 2.72 ERA in six starts, but he is exactly the type of guy you want to cut bait with after the season concludes. The Dodgers got excellent performance out of him that likely boosted his value, but his career shows an overwhelming trend of mediocrity, so let somebody else pay for an illusion.

Per terms of the trade with Arizona, the Dodgers cannot offer Garland arbitration if he is deemed a Type A free agent. Thanks to MLB Trade Rumors and Detroit Tigers Thoughts, who have diligently tracked the free agent rankings, project Garland to be a Type B free agent, meaning the Dodgers could offer Garland arbitration if they so choose. Then again, since Garland would almost certainly achieve a salary in arbitration reasonably close to the $10 million option just declined by the Dodgers, don't expect the club to offer him arbitration.

That Jon Garland didn't play in the postseason cemented his Dodger legacy as an insurance policy, albeit with an expensive premium. For those six starts, the Dodgers gave up middle infielder Tony Abreu, who has five more seasons before hitting free agency.

2010 Dodger Options
Player	Option	Buyout	Status
Will Ohman	$2.2 million	$200,000	declined
Jon Garland	$10 million	$2.5 million (paid by AZ)	declined
Manny Ramirez	$20 million	none (player option)	pending

Previously on True Blue LA: Dodger Roster Breakdown

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

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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)

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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

NL West Report: Hispanic Nicknames

Poseidon's Fist — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:00:39 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Article-subject language disagreement

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Earlier this season Giants, who played with a uniform featuring "Gigantes" across the front for Hispanic Heritage Night. The Diamonbacks utilized a similar tactic this weekend, taking the field with "Los D-Backs" emblazened across the front of their alternate black uniforms.

Unfortunately for Arizona, the Hispanic mojo didn't help them on the field, as they appear more like Los Lonely Boys in the NL West cellar after two terrible weeks. Or, as Jim McLennan from the Pit notes, the uniforms would be more apt had a "t" been added after the "Los."

The use of Spanish on uniforms got me thinking...what if the Rockies put on their uniforms and follow the lead of their divisional foes? There may be less of a Hispanic population in Colorado than Arizona or California, but it is certainly a noteworthy presence all the same. In addition, the Rockies payroll is increasing dramatically in the Hispanic sector. Tell me what you think in the poll.

NL West Report

Arizona (62-82, t5th, L3, 23 GB)

Last Week: 1-5. 1-2 vs Dodgers. 0-3 vs Brewers. Arizona was swept for the second straight weekend, sending them to three games below fourth-place San Diego after going 2-11 the last two weeks. The loss yesterday guaranteed the Diamondbacks of a losing season, quite the disappointment after being a popular 1st or 2nd place team in preseason predictions.

Pace: 70-92 (-2 from last week)

Divisional Change: Lost 3.0 games on LAD.

This Week: 3 game road series @ Padres, 3 game home series vs Rockies. The schedule doesn't get any easier for Arizona, who has to go to Petco to play a team riding a 6-series win streak before hosting all the awesomeness that is the Colorado Rockies.

News: Inside the D-backs: Decision on coaching staff to come later

Ken Rosenthal suggests Arizona third base coach Chip Hale or former manager Bob Melvin as a fit for the Nationals managerial position next year, though interim manager Jim Riggelman has a legitimate shot to retain his post.

Top prospect Jarrod Parker will begin a throwing program tomorrow. Arizona's 2007 first-round pick was shut down in July after feeling discomfort in his elbow. After reassessing him in coming weeks, the Diamondbacks will decide whether he requires surgery or not. Says Josh Byrnes:

"Anytime an injury doesn't respond, I think you have to consider surgery...But again there's reason to believe the conservative course will get him back to where he was." - Steve Gilbert, MLB.com

Jarrod Parker

#77 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 180

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Nov 24, 1988

Kevin Mulvey, a waiver trade pickup from Minnesota, made his first career start Saturday. He struggled mightily in a 9-2 loss to the Brewers.

Transactions: Recalled OF Trent Oeltjen and C Luke Carlin.

Injuries: Activated LHP Scott Schoeneweis (depression) from the 15-day DL. Nothing new was found in recent bloodwork for Conor Jackson, but he's likely to miss the rest of the season, making it difficult for last year's cleanup man to earn his roster spot back for 2010.

Arizona Diamondbacks Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chris Snyder	lower-back	08/23/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Chad Qualls	knee	08/31/2009
Conor Jackson	pneumonia	05/12/2009
Brandon Webb	shoulder	04/07/2009

Los Angeles (85-59, 1st, L1)

Last Week: 4-2. 2-1 @ Diamondbacks. 2-1 @ Giants. Los Angeles failed to complete the sweep in both series after winning the first two games both times. It was a strong turnaround after failing to win either series the previous week agains the division's worst teams.

Pace: 97-65. (+2)

Divisional Change: Lost 0.5 game lead on COL.

This Week: 3 game home series vs Pirates, 3 game home series vs Giants. While the Rockies try to win a game at AT&T Park, the Dodgers can force the Rockies to be focusing on the wild card by sweeping the Pirates. It is the first time the Dodgers and Pirates have played this season.

News: Ronnie Belliard is providing an excuse for the Dodgers not to pay Orlando Hudson. In starting in place of Hudson 5 of the last 13 games, Belliard is robbing Hudson of the $10K/PA the starting second-sacker is due to receive per his contract.

Orlando Hudson

#13 / Second Base / Los Angeles Dodgers

Height: 6-0

Weight: 190

Bats: B

Throws: R

Born: Dec 12, 1977

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Orlando Hudson	135	514	70	147	31	4	9	58	53	92	8	1	.286	.354	.414

Say what you will about a collapse - holding a divisional lead for practically the entirety of a season is something to be commended, and only a team with several strong contributors are capable of such a feat. So who is the MVP of the team? The answer from a few players may surprise you.

Brad Penny and Larry Bowa made amends in a private meeting this past weekend. The two were at ugly odds over several issues after Penny's departure from Los Angeles.

Ken Rosenthal also suggests the Dodgers may be interested in Dan Uggla.

Transactions: Called up IFs Chin-Lung Hu and Blake DeWitt.

Injuries: Activated RHP Hiroki Kuroda from the 15-day DL. Clayton Kershaw missed his Friday start with a bruised shoulder. He won't be on the DL and should return soon. Jim Thome is day-to-day with a right heel issue, and Randy Wolf is day-to-day with left elbow stiffness. He is scheduled to make his start tomorrow against Pittsburgh. Will Ohman is still attempting to return to the Dodgers this month after being on the DL since May 28 with a left shoulder injury.

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Randy Wolf	elbow	09/13/2009

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Clayton Kershaw	shoulder	09/13/2009

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Will Ohman	shoulder	05/28/2009
Guillermo Mota	other-excused	08/30/2009

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Xavier Paul	ankle	05/21/2009
Jason Schmidt	shoulder	08/06/2009

San Diego (60-78, 5th, L2, 22.5 GB)

Last Week: 4-2. 2-1 @ Giants, 2-1 vs Rockies. The Padres have become the ultimate spoilers. They have now won six straight series, five against the top seven playoff contending teams. Despite winning the series against Colorado, however, the Rockies mathematically eliminated San Diego from the division title Friday.

Pace: 70-94 (+1).

Divisonal change: No change.

This Week: 3 game home series vs Diamondbacks, First 3 games of a 4 game road series @ Pirates. Will there be a letdown now that they will be playing two of the three teams that are more than a game worse than them?

News: The Padres are out to thwart contending teams, and that is no joke. The only consolation for playoff teams is that they have been a thorn in every team's side, defeating every playoff contender they have faced in the last seven series two games to one.

Nick Hundley drove in a run in walk-off fashion, in his first career pinch-hit AB. And he didn't even have to make contact.

An AL Scout says Kevin Towers fleeced Billy Beane with the Scott Hairston deal, the trade in which he recieved RHPs Sean Gallagher, Ryan Webb and Craig Italiano. That's hard to argue against when Hairston has a worse OBP than any Rockie position player, including Omar Quintanilla.

Scott Hairston

#12 / Left Field / Oakland Athletics

Height: 6-0

Weight: 195

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: May 25, 1980

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Scott Hairston	52	205	21	49	10	1	7	32	8	32	3	2	.239	.269	.400

Ken Rosenthal says the Padres' payroll could be as low as being in the neighborhood of $25million next year. For that to happen, Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell would have to be moved, along with Brian Giles leaving the payroll. Those three moves have a decent chance of happening.

Baltimore is averse to trading their top prospects, so they are out of the running for A-Gone, not that I saw much of a fit there to begin with.

Transactions: Recalled RHP Sean Gallagher and LHPs Aaron Poreda and Cesar Ramos from AAA Portland.

Injuries: Rookie OF Kyle Blanks will likely miss the rest of the season with a partial tear in his right plantar fascia (part of the foot). Kevin Kouzmanoff is still day to day with a strained calf.

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Brian Giles	knee	06/19/2009
Kyle Blanks	foot	08/29/2009
Mike Adams	shoulder	08/22/2009

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
Chris Young	shoulder	06/15/2009

San Francisco (77-66, 3rd, W1, 7.5 GB in Div, 4.5 GB in WC)

Last Week: 2-4. 1-2 vs Padres. 1-2 vs Dodgers. I would consider it a failure of a week to lose two games in the wild card standings in which you lose a home series against the Padres then fail to capitalize when the Padres swiped a series from Colorado.

Pace: 87-75 (-2).

Divisional Change: Lost 2.0 games in NL West (LAD), lost 2 games in WC (COL).

This Week: 3 game home series vs Rockies, 3 game road series @ Dodgers. If the Giants don't take advantage of their mound triumverate and at least win the series against Colorado, it will be hard to continue considering them in contention for the wild card, as they would be 5.5 games back at best with 16 games left.

News: Timcecum missed his last start but should be back tonight. He'll face Jason Hammel, who quite literally is the best fifth starter in MLB.

Several Giants are nearing career numbers, not greatly surprising given their youth. However, one player worth highlighing is Jeremy Affeldt, who raised eyebrows by signing a quick lucrative deal in the offseason. He has already shown why he deserved that contract. He leads the league in holds, for what you will make of that.

Jeremy Affeldt

#41 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants

Height: 6-4

Weight: 225

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Jun 06, 1979

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeremy Affeldt	1-2	65	0	0	0	0	0	53.0	40	13	11	2	28	45	1.87	1.28

I hate to point this out - I really do - but after beating the Dodgers last night, Brad Penny is 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA in three starts since joining the Giants' rotation. That's good for a 0.4 WAR, giving him a strong shot to pass Randy Johnson's three month body of work (0.5 WAR) in just a month. It is worth noting he won the Giants' only game against the Padres as well as defeating two strong offenses and two of the best teams in the National League.

Top prospect Madison Bumgarner made his MLB debut Tuesday. The promotion was a surprise but oddly mirrors the Rockies move to try out Esmil Rogers against the Padres in an effort to delay their hobbled ace for the Rockies series. Bumgarner San earned a no-decision, allowing two runs in 5.1 IP including five hits, two of them home runs.

Transactions: Called up LHPs Madison Bumgarner and Alex Hinshaw, RHP Joe Martinez and 2b Kevin Frandsen. Outrighted RHP Ryan Sadowski to AAA Fresno and DFA'd RHP Osiris Matos. The Washington Nationals claimed P Jesse English from the Giants on waivers.

Injuries: Activated Freddy Sanchez from the 15-day DL, finally. Tim Lincecum missed his last start with back spasms but is expected to take the mound tonight against Jason Hammel and the Rockies. Randy Johnson has seen no setbacks of yet in his attempt to return to action with the Giants in their bullpen.

San Francisco Giants Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Tim Lincecum	lower-back	09/12/2009

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
Emmanuel Burriss	foot	09/01/2009
Henry Sosa	shoulder	08/05/2009

Poll

If the Rockies were to have a Hispanic Heritage Night, what would they put on their uniforms?

Las Montañas

51 votes

Los Rockies

28 votes

Las Montañas Rocosas

26 votes

Rockies

28 votes

Red

10 votes

Other/Tell me in the comments

4 votes

147 votes | Poll has closed

Victor Garate Sent To Washington To Complete Belliard Trade

Eric Stephen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:06:05 -0000

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

The rest of the price for Ronnie Belliard's services for two months has just been announced: Victor Garate, a 24-year old reliever pitching very well in Double A.

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Nationals Farm Authority brings us the news that Victor Garate has been named as the player sent to Washington to complete the trade for Ronnie Belliard. From the Nationals:

Garate has been one of the most effective relievers in the Double-A Southern League this season, posting a 2.04 ERA (12 ER/53.0 IP) and .191 (36-for-188) batting average against in 47 appearances with Chattanooga. His earned run average ranks eighth among Southern League pitchers (minimum 50.0 IP). Garate’s 56 strikeouts rank tied for ninth among full-time relievers in the circuit and his 9.51 strikeouts per 9.0 innings rank sixth (minimum 50.0 IP). He has stranded 17 of 21 inherited runners in ‘09.

The 24-year old Garate was ranked as the 20th-best Dodger prospect by both Kensai and Canuck Dodger, and 28th by Phil Gurnee in our True Blue LA midseason prospect report.

Pete McElroy of MASN also confirmed the trade, and passed along this quote from Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo:

"He's effective against left-handed and right-handed hitters," GM Mike Rizzo said during MASN2's game with the Padres this afternoon. "We seem him in the middle of the order."

Class A reliever Luis Garcia was also sent to Washington in the deal, as announced on Sunday.

This opens up a spot on the Dodgers' 40-man roster, presumably for one of Doug Mientkiewicz or Will Ohman, who are on the 60-day DL.

Thanks to Sam DC for the link.

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

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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

Dodgers Week 17 In Review: Road Weary

Eric Stephen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:00:13 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

Sometimes playing on the road causes people to make this face.

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Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

The Dodgers stumbled out of the gate on their seven-game road trip, getting drubbed the first two games in St. Louis by the new-look Cardinals. Clayton Kershaw's gem on Wednesday made it seem like a Dodger win was in order, but a stumbling offense -- lots of hits and baserunners, but very few runs -- couldn't come through as the Dodgers dropped their third straight game in 15 innings.

However, as they have all season, the Dodgers rebounded, winning the finale in St. Louis, then pasting the Braves on Friday and Sunday to salvage the week. The Dodgers were almost one dropped catch at home -- on Saturday in Atlanta -- away from actually having a winning trip. After starting the trip with four hits in 25 at-bats with runners in scoring position, the Dodgers hit .318 (14 for 44) in such situations to finish the trip.

It is worth noting that the worst ten-game stretch for the Dodgers all season is 4-6, something they have done only three times all year. Avoiding long losing spells will go a long way toward winning a division.

Dodger Batter of the Week: Even though he missed Sunday's game with a wrist injury, Casey Blake was the top batter for the Dodgers this week. Entering the week in an eight-for-45 slump, The Beard was a hit machine this week, tallying 11 hits in six games while hitting .440/.464/.600. Andre Ethier made a strong bid for his second straight award, hitting a pair of big home runs in Atlanta while hitting .300/.400/.567 for the week.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: For the fifth time in seven weeks, this award goes to Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw was brilliant in his lone start this week, pitching scoreless frames for a career-high eight innings against the Cardinals. Even though Kershaw exited with a 1-0 lead, the Dodgers were unable to get him a win, and ended up losing in 15 innings in what was, despite the outcome, one of the best games of the year. Honorable mention goes to a pair of oft-injured pitchers: Hong-Chih Kuo, who after three months off, intentionally walked two batters but retired the other 11 he faced, and Jason Schmidt, who allowed just one hit (and five walks) in six scoreless innings Friday in Atlanta.

Week 17 Record: 3-4
25 runs scored (3.57 per game)
27 runs allowed (3.86 per game)
.462 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 65-40 (.619)
516 runs scored (4.91 per game)
408 runs allowed (3.89 per game)
.615 pythagorean winning percentage

Vice Versa: In a blowout loss on Tuesday in St. Louis, Mark Loretta was asked to get the final out of the game on the mound, and did retire Ryan Ludwick on a flyball after plunking Matt Holliday in the foot with a 78 MPH pitch. As Loretta, who also pitched a scoreless inning for the Brewers in 2001, told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, "It's been eight years. I was well rested."

On Sunday night, after Chad Billingsley was removed for precautionary reasons with a cramp in his right leg, pitcher Jason Schmidt was asked to pinch-hit in the sixth inning. Schmidt lined a single, and ended up scoring later in the inning. It was the first time Schmidt had a hit, as well as the first time he had a run, since the Dodgers' home opener in 2007, when he homered.

No Steaks For Me, I'm On A Diet: Manny Ramirez, in the midst of his first real slump as a Dodger, doesn't have a run batted in since hitting his Bobbleslam, a span of nine games. Manny has gone 43 plate appearances without an RBI, the fourth longest streak of his career:

Dates	Team	PA
5/31/97-6/16/97	Indians	53
5/29/95-6/13/95	Indians	47
4/20/08-5/2/08	Red Sox	44
7/24/09-present	Dodgers	43

A Striking Debut: George Sherrill, acquired from the Orioles on Thursday, became just the third Los Angeles Dodger reliever to have three strikeouts in his first inning with the team, by striking out three Braves in the seventh inning on Friday. Pete Richert actually struck out the first six hitters of his big league career (one reached base on a passed ball) on April 12, 1962 against the Reds in just the third game at Dodger Stadium. The last Dodger to accomplish this feat was Bob O'Brien, who struck out three Padres in his first inning on April 11, 1971.

Personal Best: Andre Ethier set a new career high by hitting his 21st home run of the season on Friday in Atlanta, a three-run shot that propelled the Dodgers to victory. Ethier, whose previous career high was 20, set last year, homered again on Saturday for number 22. The season is not quite two-thirds completed yet, as there are still 57 games remaining on the schedule.

But, At Least We Had More Hits: On Tuesday, the Dodgers were shutout 10-0 by the Cardinals, despite outhitting them nine to eight. This was the first time the Dodgers have outhit an opponent and lost by 10 or more runs since April 24, 1958 against the Cubs.

Transactions: There were quite a few transactions during trade deadline week:

Monday: Xavier Paul was transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL, opening up a 40-man roster spot, along with...
Monday: Blake DeWitt was optioned to AAA Albuquerque for the fifth time this year, opening up a 25-man roster spot for...
Monday: Hong-Chih Kuo was activated from the 60-day disabled list, seeing his first major league action since April 29
Thursday: Brent Leach was optioned to AAA Albuquerque, after allowing six straight batters and 11 of his last 16 to reach base, in order to make room for...
Thursday: Scott Elbert was recalled from AAA Albuquerque, the third time he has been called up to the Dodgers this season, trying to catch Blake DeWitt in frequent flyer miles.
Thursday: Will Ohman was transferred from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL, opening up a 40-man roster spot for...
Thursday: George Sherrill was acquired via trade from the Orioles, for 3B Josh Bell and SP Steve Johnson, minor leaguers ranked 10th and 13th, respectively, by Phil Gurnee in the True Blue LA midseason prospect rankings.
Friday: To open up a spot on the 25-man roster for Sherrill, Claudio Vargas was traded to the Brewers for 29-year old nonroster minor league catcher Vinny Rottino, who reported to AA Chattanooga
Sunday: Cory Wade was activated from the 15-day disabled list after pitching three games with AAA Albuquerque on a rehabilitation assignment, but he will stay with the Isotopes since he was also simultaneously optioned to AAA

There are currently 39 active players on the 40-man roster, but that open spot will presumably be taken by Doug Mientkiewicz, who is close to being activated from the 60-day disabled list.

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers return home this week, halfway done with their latest 20-games-in-20-days stretch. The Brewers come to town for three games, and the Braves begin a four-game series at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

Week 17 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
Blake	25	4	11	2	1	0	1	2	0/1	.440/.464/.600	1.064
Ethier	30	5	9	2	0	2	5	5	1/0	.300/.400/.567	.967
Kemp	30	2	10	1	0	1	9	2	1/0	.333/.364/.467	.830
Loney	33	1	12	2	0	0	4	1	0/0	.364/.382/.424	.807
Martin	25	2	8	2	0	0	0	0	0/0	.320/.346/.400	.746
Furcal	33	3	11	1	0	0	4	2	1/0	.333/.361/.364	.725
Hudson	27	2	7	2	0	0	1	4	0/0	.259/.375/.333	.708
Manny	29	2	5	2	0	0	0	5	0/0	.172/.294/.241	.535
Castro	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	1.000/1.000/1.000	2.000
Ausmus	5	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.400/.400/.400	.800
Pierre	6	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.333/.333/.333	.667
Loretta	9	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	0/0	.222/.222/.333	.556
Pitchers	17	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.118/.118/.118	.235
Totals	270	25	82	15	1	3	25	21	3/1	.304/.355/.400	.755

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Kershaw	1	0-0	--	8.0	4	0	0	2	7	0.00	0.750
Schmidt	1	1-0	--	6.0	1	0	0	5	3	0.00	1.000
Kuroda	1	0-0	--	6.0	4	2	2	0	5	3.00	0.667
Wolf	2	0-2	--	12.0	16	6	5	4	11	3.75	1.750
Billingsley	2	1-1	--	10.2	6	6	6	7	14	5.06	1.406
Kuo	4	0-0	--	3.2	0	0	0	2	4	0.00	0.545
Sherrill	2	0-0	--	1.1	0	0	0	1	3	0.00	0.750
Loretta	1	0-0	--	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0.000
McDonald	3	1-0	--	3.2	2	3	1	1	2	2.45	0.818
Mota	5	0-0	--	3.1	5	1	1	0	1	2.70	1.500
Elbert	1	0-0	--	2.2	1	1	1	1	1	3.38	0.750
Weaver	1	0-1	--	2.2	2	1	1	1	2	3.38	1.125
Troncoso	3	0-0	--	2.1	6	1	1	1	1	3.86	3.000
Broxton	2	0-0	1	2.0	2	1	1	1	1	4.50	1.500
Vargas	1	0-0	--	2.0	2	1	1	1	4	4.50	1.500
Leach	2	0-0	--	0.0	3	4	4	2	0	∞	∞
Totals	7	3-4	1	66.2	54	27	24	29	59	3.24	1.245

Possible 2010 Type A/Type B Free Agents

Brendan Scolari — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:50:37 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Orlando Hudson will likely be handsomely rewarded this offseason, but if he keeps playing well the Dodgers will be as well.

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Just a couple of days ago Tim Dierkes released lists of possible Type A and Type B free agents. Players receive these labels to help compensate a team that loses them through free agency (and to help drive down player salaries, but that's another story). The rankings are calculated using this formula, which groups players by position and then compares their statistics over the last two seasons with those of their peers. The top 20% of players at each position in the rankings receives type A status, and the players in the top 20-40% receive type B status. Teams do not get compensated for players who cannot reach Type B status.

If a Type A or Type B free agent gets offered him arbitration when he reaches free agency and he declines, then his old team will get compensation in the form of extra draft picks when he signs elsewhere. A team signing a Type A free agent must give up their first round pick to the players old team, plus the old team gets a supplemental first round pick. The exception is if the signing team has one of the top 15 picks in the draft, then that pick is protected and they surrender their second round pick instead. This is done to keep teams from having to give up extremely valuable picks for free agents. Also, if a team signs two Type A free agents, then the lower ranked free agent only nets his team a second round pick. This goes as far as needed, so if a team signs four Type A free agents the lowest ranked free agent would only net his old team a fourth round pick.

If a team signs a Type B free agent, they do not have to give up any draft picks. Instead the player's old team mjust receives a supplemental first rounder. Because teams don't have to give up any draft picksto sign them, Type B free agents are generally a much safer investment than Type A's. This was the reason Orlando Hudson's signing caused much debate among Dodger fans. People questioned whether it was worth surrending a first round pick (Hudson was a Type A free agent) to a division rival for just one year of Hudson's services.

Last year's group of Type A and Type B free agents included three Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, Derek Lowe, and Casey Blake. Manny and Lowe were Type A free agents and Blake was a Type B free agent. While Manny and Blake re-signed, Lowe signed with the Braves. Therefore the Dodgers received a supplemental first round pick and the Braves' second round pick (the Braves first round pick was protected). Those extra picks were used to select Aaron Miller and Blake Smith in the recent draft.

After this year the Dodgers will have another sizeable group of free agents, although players like Mark Loretta and Brad Ausmus aren't good enough to be Type A or Type B free agents so they aren't relevant to the discussion. The important players are Orlando Hudson, Randy Wolf, Will Ohman, and Manny Ramirez. Here's the outlooks for each player right now:

Orlando Hudson: Hudson is currently ranked 2th in the NL in the 2nd base/Shortstop/3rd base category, behind only Miguel Tejada. This gives him Type A status for the time being. His status is determined by his ranking against other NL free agents at his position so players on his tail are Pedro Feliz, Freddy Sanchez, and Felipe Lopez, who are all Type B players. I think he'll stay ranked above them as long as he plays so his health should be the only thing keeping him from Type A status at the end of the year. This could be key for the Dodgers in a couple of ways. First, if they want to re-sign him then being a Type A player will help out because teams will be less likely to pursue him in free agency considering they have to surrender a first round pick. This same factor helped the Dodgers sign him to such a cheap contract this year, with less then $4 million in guaranteed money. Secondly, if they let him leave they would presumably get two draft picks in return, which would more then offset the pick they lost in this year's draft.

Randy Wolf: Wolf has Type B status right now, although he could reach Type A status if he plays well for the rest of the season. When I asked Tim Dierkes he said Wolf currently is at 66.927, and the lowest Type A is at 70.052, which isn't too much of a difference. The lowest Type A is Rich Harden, who hasn't been doing too well this year, so it's very possible that he could pass him. Wolf is also ranked behind Randy Johnson and ahead of Todd Wellemeyer, Doug Davis, and Braden Looper in the Type B grouping, so he'll be mostly competing with these players for Type A status. I think it's less likely Wolf will be re-signed than Hudson but the same benefits to reaching type-A status still apply. Wolf was a Type B free agent last offseason but the Astros didn't offer him arbitration.

Will Ohman: Ohman currently has Type B status after being not reaching it last offseason. However, Ohman hasn't been very effective this year and is currently on the DL so whether he can keep Type B status is questionable. The bottom Type A guys are Ryan Franklin, Doug Brocail, and Rafael Soriano, but given Ohman's condition I don't think we need to worry about them. The four Type B's ranked below Ohman are Scott Eyre, J.J. Putz, Joe Beimel, and Trever Miller. Some of the relievers just on the border of Type B status and no compensation are Ron Villone, Chan Ho Park, and Bobby Howry. Given the vast number of players clumped together fighting for the last Type B spots, who ends up Type B status will probably be a crapshoot even if Ohman pitches well. Eddie Bajek (the guy who reverse-engineered the Elias rankings) said that, "reliever rankings are ridiculously sensitive to wins" so hopefully we can get Ohman some vulture wins to get him Type B status. Of course, this could all be made moot if Ohman pitches poorly enough that we can't offer him arbitration or well enough that we pick up his option for 2010.

Manny Ramirez: Manny was a Type A free agent last offseason and would have netted the Dodgers two draft picks had he signed with someone else. Unfortunately, this won't be the case the next time Manny reaches free agency. There is a clause in Manny's contract that says the Dodgers cannot offer him arbitration when he reaches free agency, so know matter where Manny is ranked the Dodgers will not receive any compensation in return. This is really too bad, although now that Manny has had his reputation around the league further tarnished with his suspension he might not opt out of his contract when the season is over. The best case scenario is probably that Manny stays with the team through 2010 and then goes to an American League team where he can DH for the remainder of his career.

SB Nation - Will Ohman

The Juan Pierre era comes to an end

Dodgers Face Tuesday Decisions For Hudson, Wolf, Others

Ronnie Belliard

Dodgers Decline Garland's 2010 Option

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Free Agents (13+1)

Options (2)

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Under Contract (4)

Under Team Control (15)

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Pinch Hitters

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

NL West Report: Hispanic Nicknames

NL West Report

Arizona (62-82, t5th, L3, 23 GB)

#77 / Pitcher / Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks Injuries

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Los Angeles (85-59, 1st, L1)

#13 / Second Base / Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers Injuries

Probable

Questionable

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

#12 / Left Field / Oakland Athletics

San Diego Padres Injuries

15-Day

60 Day DL / Out for the season

#41 / Pitcher / San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants Injuries

Probable

60 Day DL / Out for the season

If the Rockies were to have a Hispanic Heritage Night, what would they put on their uniforms?

Las Montañas

Los Rockies

Las Montañas Rocosas

Rockies

Red

Other/Tell me in the comments

Victor Garate Sent To Washington To Complete Belliard Trade

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

Dodgers Week 17 In Review: Road Weary

Week 17 Stats

Possible 2010 Type A/Type B Free Agents