SB Nation - Eric Stults

Dodgers Offseason Path Appears Set

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

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010 CHONE Projections: Pitching

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

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Dodgers Became Dodgers: Where Pedro Astacio Becomes Blake DeWitt

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

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

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

Draft(ed) Dodgers
Player	Year	Round	Pick

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

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

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

Brent Leach	2005	6	196
Trayvon Robinson	2005	10	316

Clayton Kershaw	2006	1	7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Look Toward 2010: The Pitching

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

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dodger Roster Breakdown

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

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

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

View full size photo »

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

Free Agents (13+1)

Type A*: Orlando Hudson, Randy Wolf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Options (2)

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

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

Arbitration Eligible (9)

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

Look for: Repko to get non-tendered

Under Contract (4)

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

Under Team Control (15)

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

Here are some important dates to remember for the offseason:

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

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

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

December 10: Rule 5 draft

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

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

Dodgers Season In Thirds

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

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

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

Browse more photos »

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

Here's an overview of the team numbers:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Week 19 In Review: Call In The Wolf

Eric Stephen — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:00:13 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Browse more photos »

Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

This was an up and down week for the Dodgers, starting with the high of winning the first two games handily in San Francisco, followed by the emotional low of losing three straight games, including one in gut punch fashion Saturday night in Arizona.

Baseball took a back seat briefly on Saturday, as Hiroki Kuroda was hit in the head by a line drive, and had to be taken to the hospital. The good news was that there was no bleeding or fractures, and his CT scan was negative, so he will be okay soon. When he pitches again is up in the air, but the most important fact is that he is healthy.

In the end, the Dodgers finished 3-3 on the week, and although they lost a half game in their division lead, they gained a game in their cushion for a playoff spot, leading the Giants by 6½ games. As the sands of the seasonal hourglass drift away, time is on the Dodgers side.

Dodger Batter of the Week: Andre Ethier was the man this week, hitting .440/.500/.680 with seven RBI. Honorable mention goes to Manny Ramirez and Matt Kemp, as all three outfielders were the top producers (in OPS). If the Dodger offense is U2, the outfield is Bono and The Edge, while everyone else is Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: Randy Wolf came through with two very good, and very long starts, pitching into the eighth inning on both occasions, to win this award. Honorable mention goes to Hiroki Kuroda, who pitched two excellent games as well, and was on his way to pitching deep into his second win of the week before getting hit in the head by a line drive on Saturday night.

Week 19 Record: 3-3
28 runs scored (4.67 per game)
18 runs allowed (3.00 per game)
.708 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 70-48 (.593)
580 runs scored (4.92 per game)
463 runs allowed (3.92 per game)
.611 pythagorean winning percentage (72-46)

Pitching & HItting: Not only did Randy Wolf retire 20 straight batters at one point, taking a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning Sunday against the Diamondbacks, but he also became just the sixth LA Dodger pitcher to collect three hits and a home run in the same game.

None Shall Pass: Hiroki Kuroda didn't walk a batter on Saturday night, which was the 28th start of Kuroda's 46-start Dodger career in which he walked zero or one batter. No LA Dodger pitcher in history has more such games in their first 50 games as a Dodger than Kuroda:

First 50 Games as LA Dodger Most Starts With < 2 Walks
Pitcher	0-1 BB Gms
Hiroki Kuroda	28
Don Sutton	27
Tim Belcher	21
Pedro Astacio	19
Alan Foster	18

Vroom Vroom Party Starter: Rafael Furcal has reached base via hit or walk in 25 straight games, hitting .297/.352/.414 with 18 runs scored during that stretch.

Emptying The Bases: Matt Kemp had a pair of three-RBI hits to start the week, a three-run double on Monday and a three-run home run on Tuesday in San Francisco. Kemp leads the Dodgers with seven 3+ RBI hits this season. The Dodgers as a team have had 22 different 3+ RBI hits this season.

Transactions: Only one move this week:

Tuesday: Eric Stults was optioned to AAA Albuquerque after his one start, to make room for ...
Tuesday: Charlie Haeger and his fluttering knuckleball had his contract purchased from AAA Albuquerque, adding him to both the 40-man and 25-man rosters. Haeger was called up earlier in the week just in case a long man was needed Wednesday in San Francisco. He didn't pitch on that day, but is scheduled to start Monday against the Cardinals

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers come back home this week for a full slate of games. The Cardinals come to town for their comeuppance for three games, followed by four games against the Cubs.

Week 19 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
Ethier	25	3	11	3	0	1	7	1	0/0	.440/.500/.680	1.180
Manny	23	3	8	2	0	1	3	3	0/0	.348/.423/.565	.988
Kemp	24	6	6	3	0	2	7	3	2/1	.250/.333/.625	.958
Hudson	16	3	4	1	0	1	2	2	0/0	.250/.333/.500	.833
Furcal	20	3	5	1	0	0	1	3	0/1	.250/.348/.300	.648
Loney	16	1	3	0	0	0	1	2	0/0	.188/.278/.188	.465
Blake	21	3	2	0	1	0	0	5	0/0	.095/.269/.190	.460
Martin	22	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.091/.091/.091	.182
Pierre	5	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	0/0	.600/.600/1.000	1.600
Ausmus	5	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0/0	.400/.400/.400	.800
Loretta	10	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	0/0	.200/.250/.200	.450
Castro	10	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400
Pitchers	14	2	4	1	0	1	3	0	0/0	.286/.286/.571	.857
Totals	211	28	54	11	2	6	27	20	2/2	.256/.325/.412	.737

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Weaver	1	0-0	--	3.0	2	0	0	2	3	0.00	1.333
Kuroda	2	1-0	--	11.1	9	2	2	1	3	1.59	0.882
Wolf	2	2-0	--	15.2	8	4	4	1	13	2.30	0.574
Kershaw	1	0-1	--	4.1	6	4	4	4	9	8.31	2.308
Sherrill	3	0-0	--	4.0	3	0	0	1	1	0.00	1.000
Belisario	3	0-0	--	2.1	1	0	0	1	1	0.00	0.857
Kuo	3	0-0	--	2.0	1	0	0	2	4	0.00	1.500
Troncoso	3	0-1	--	3.0	2	1	1	3	1	3.00	1.667
McDonald	3	0-0	--	3.1	5	2	2	1	5	5.40	1.800
Mota	3	0-1	--	2.2	1	2	2	1	1	6.75	0.750
Broxton	2	0-0	1	2.0	4	3	3	0	2	13.50	2.000
Totals	6	3-3	1	53.2	42	18	18	17	43	3.02	1.099

Dodgers Week 18 In Review: Don't Stop The Bleedin'

Eric Stephen — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:00:12 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

The Dodgers let a few games slip from their grasp this week.

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Previous Weekly Recaps: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

The Dodgers managed the near impossible this week, getting outscored despite scoring 17 runs in a game on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Their 2-5 record was not only their worst week of the year, but it was also the first losing homestand of the season.

The Dodgers were riding a five-game winning streak after the Manny Bobbleslam game, but in the two and a half weeks since they have lost 11 of 17 games.

The good news of this week was that in three of the losses they had the winning run(s) on base in their final at-bat, so a few bounces here and there would have made this week much more palatable. Then again, if Andre Ethier didn't connect with a 96-mph fastball on Thursday night, the club also could have gone only 1-6 instead of 2-5.

Dodger Batter of the Week: Casey Blake had another very good week, and won the award for the second straight week with a .375/.429/.625 line, including a three-run home run to give the Dodgers the lead on Friday night. The Beard even stole a base! Honorable mention goes to Manny Ramirez, who rebounded from a slump with a .320/.393/.560.

Dodger Pitcher of the Week: Clayton Kershaw pitched the best game of the week, with seven scoreless innings on Saturday, but also had a game in which he couldn't get out of the fifth inning . Chad Billingsley pitched very well in his one start, but left due to a mild hamstring strain. This award goes to James McDonald, who pitched 6.1 innings of scoreless relief this week. There's a good chance he saved his roster spot with his outing Friday night, when his curves were ultra-sharp and he pitched two perfect innings in an extra-inning loss to Atlanta. McDonald out of the bullpen this year has a 1.93 ERA in 28 innings, and opposing batters are hitting .222/.284/.303 off McDonald the reliever.

Week 18 Record: 2-5
36 runs scored (5.14 per game)
37 runs allowed (5.29 per game)
.486 pythagorean winning percentage

Overall Seasonal Record: 67-45 (.598)
552 runs scored (4.93 per game)
445 runs allowed (3.97 per game)
.606 pythagorean winning percentage (68-44)

Don't Plead The Fifth: When Jason Schmidt was placed on the disabled list, that created a vacancy in the starting rotation. Before Friday's game, it was announced that Hiroki Kuroda would be pushed back to Monday, and that Scott Elbert would start on Sunday against the Braves, for his first major league start. Then, with Friday's game in extra innings, Elbert was needed to pitch in relief and proceeded to give up the go-ahead run followed by a three-run home run in the 12th inning. Before Saturday's game, Elbert was not only scratched for Sunday's start, but was also optioned to AAA Albuquerque.

Before Saturday's game, it was announced that Jeff Weaver would be the Sunday starter, but in yet another extra-inning game he was warming in the bullpen Saturday night, ready to go in. By the end of the game, it was announced that Eric Stults would start on Sunday instead.

Almost Legal: The Dodgers scored 17 runs on Tuesday against Milwaukee, their season high in runs scored. It was the most runs scored at home by the Dodgers in 30 years. On May 25, 1979, the Dodgers banged out 17 runs against Tom Seaver and the Reds. Prince Fielder of the Brewers was so impressed that he wanted to go into the Dodger clubhouse after the game to get some hitting tips.

Mr. Walkoff: Down 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth on Thursday, Andre Ethier hit a game-winning three-run home run off Braves' closer Rafael Soriano, giving Ethier an MLB-best fifth walk-off hit of the season. As a team, the Dodgers lead all of baseball with 11 walk-off wins.

Man of Steal: On Thursday night against Atlanta, Randy Wolf noticed Derek Lowe wasn't paying attention to him at first base, so he took off toward second and made it easily. It was the first stolen base of Wolf's 11-year career. Thanks to the amazing Baseball-Reference.com, we can see that Wolf has had 170 stolen base opportunities in his career, that is times on first or second base with the next base open.

Yippee Ki-Yay: The Dodgers staged some late rallies this week, and although not every one came to fruition, the Dodgers died hard against closers Trevor Hoffman and Rafael Soriano this week. It wasn't just Ethier's home run that did the damage; in save situations against them Dodger hitters had nine hits in 17 at-bats, hitting .529/.579/.824.

Take A Number: When reliever George Sherrill arrived from Baltimore on July 31, James McDonald gave up his number 52 to the veteran, who wore that number in both Baltimore and Seattle. McDonald switched to number 31, and since then has pitched four straight scoreless relief appearances of at least two innings, allowing only four hits and no walks while striking out six, and opposing batters are hitting .143/.143/.179 off number 31.

Transactions: It was a busy week for a man who had almost drifted out of existence:

Friday: Jason Schmidt was placed on the 15-day disabled list officially with a strained right shoulder, although his stay might be longer than that. It is likely that Schmidt's Dodger career is over, but kudos to him for making it all the way back after two years away from MLB, and kuods to the Dodgers for not waiting too long to pull the plug.
Friday: Taking Schmidt's start on the 25-man roster was Tony Abreu, who was recalled from Albuquerque. Abreu last played in a big league game on September 23, 2007.
Saturday: In one of the most heartbreaking transactions of the season, Scott Elbert, one day after being named the starting pitcher for Sunday in what would be his first MLB start, was optioned to Albuquerque after pitching in relief in Friday's extra inning game. Elbert's 25-man roster spot went to...
Saturday: Ronald Belisario was activated after about a month on the disabled list
Sunday: Tony Abreu's stay on the big league club was short, as he was optioned back to Albuquerque after only two days on the roster. Abreu's stint is the shortest of the season to date, narrowly beating the three-day stint of A.J. Ellis back in May while the team was at Wrigley Field. A 25-man roster spot was needed to make room for...
Sunday: Eric Stults was recalled from Albuquerque to make a start on Sunday, with only two days rest after throwing 61 pitches in three innings with the Isotopes on Thursday.

Upcoming Week: The Dodgers hit the road, starting with a three-game series in San Francisco with their closest competitor in the West, as the Giants are only 5½ games back. Tim Lincecum pitches Wednesday, and will oppose Chad Billingsley, pending the health of Billingsley's hamstring. After a Thursday off day, the Dodgers play three in Arizona, against a Diamondback team who, even though they were swept in Washington, has won 19 of their past 32 games.

Week 18 Stats

Player	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SB/CS	BA/OBP/SLG	OPS
Blake	24	4	9	3	0	1	6	3	1/0	.375/.429/.625	1.054
Manny	25	3	8	3	0	1	4	2	0/0	.320/.393/.560	.953
Martin	20	3	8	1	0	0	2	3	1/0	.400/.500/.450	.950
Ethier	29	7	7	2	1	1	6	5	0/0	.241/.371/.483	.854
Kemp	29	6	9	3	0	1	5	0	1/0	.310/.310/.517	.828
Hudson	21	1	7	1	0	0	3	2	1/1	.333/.391/.381	.772
Furcal	32	5	8	0	0	1	2	3	0/0	.250/.314/.344	.658
Loney	24	2	3	1	0	0	2	4	0/0	.125/.250/.167	.417
Pierre	9	3	3	0	0	0	1	2	0/0	.333/.462/.333	.795
Ausmus	6	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.333/.333/.333	.667
Abreu	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0/0	.250/.400/.250	.650
Loretta	10	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	0/0	.200/.200/.200	.400
Castro	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	.000/.000/.000	.000
Pitchers	14	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	1/0	.214/.214/.214	.429
Totals	251	36	70	14	1	5	34	25	5/1	.279/.351/.402	.753

Pitcher	G	W-L	Sv	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Billingsley	1	0-0	--	6.0	4	2	1	3	3	1.50	1.167
Kershaw	2	0-1	--	11.0	6	3	3	7	16	2.45	1.182
Kuroda	1	1-0	--	6.0	9	3	3	1	7	4.50	1.667
Wolf	1	0-0	--	7.0	9	4	4	3	4	5.14	1.714
Stults	1	0-1	--	5.0	5	3	3	1	3	5.40	1.200
Schmidt	1	0-1	--	3.2	5	4	4	3	2	9.82	2.182
McDonald	3	0-0	--	6.1	4	0	0	0	4	0.00	0.632
Sherrill	3	0-0	--	3.0	3	0	0	1	2	0.00	1.333
Belisario	1	0-0	--	0.2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00	1.500
Broxton	3	0-0	0	3.0	2	1	1	2	2	3.00	1.333
Weaver	2	0-0	--	6.0	3	3	3	1	4	4.50	0.667
Kuo	3	0-0	--	2.1	2	2	2	1	4	7.71	1.286
Mota	4	0-1	--	4.0	5	4	4	3	3	9.00	1.750
Elbert	2	1-0	--	1.0	2	2	2	0	2	18.00	2.000
Troncoso	4	0-1	--	2.0	5	6	6	1	1	27.00	3.000
Totals	7	2-5	0	67.0	64	37	36	28	57	4.84	1.373

Floodgates Open On Dodgers In Loss To Braves

Eric Stephen — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:25:45 -0000

More photos » by Keith Birmingham - AP

Manny Ramirez was one of the few Dodgers to get near home plate over the last two days against the Braves.

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The Dodgers got good work out of their patchwork pitching staff on Sunday, but the offense couldn't score enough runs to keep up. The floodgates opened in the top of the ninth, turning a close game into an 8-2 Braves' rout, as the Dodgers closed out their worst homestand of the season.

Eric Stults, pressed into starting duty with only two days rest after throwing 61 pitches over three innings in a minor league start on Thursday, gave up three runs in five innings. Outside of a home run allowed to Matt Diaz, Stults was reasonably effective and efficient, throwing 75 pitches in his five innings. Jeff Weaver followed Stults by retiring all nine batters he faced, but it didn't matter as the Dodgers could only muster one run and five hits in eight innings off of Braves' starter Javier Vazquez.

The game was only 3-1 entering the ninth, but Ramon Troncoso was ineffective, giving up three straight hits to start a five-run rally that put the game away for Atlanta. After a one-out walk, Guillermo Mota relieved Troncoso and couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing two more hits and both inherited runners to score.

Before you go throwing dirt on a club with a 5½ game lead in it's division for losing 11 of their last 17 games, let's look at some other teams in recent years and their worst 17-game stretches:

2009 Dodgers: One 6-11 stretch, one 7-10 stretch
2008 World Champion Phillies: Three 5-12 stretches, seven 6-11 stretches, and eight 7-10 stretches
2007 World Champion Red Sox: Three 7-10 stretches
2006 World Champion Cardinals: Three 4-13 stretches, six 5-12 stretches, fifteen 6-11 stretches, and twenty-one 7-10 stretches
2005 World Champion White Sox: Six 6-11 stretches, and twelve 7-10 stretches
2004 World Champion Red Sox: Four 6-11 stretches, and five 7-10 stretches
2003 World Champion Marlins: Two 4-13 stretches, three 5-12 stretches, ten 6-11 stretches, and seven 7-10 stretches
2002 World Champion Angels: Four 5-12 stretches, three 6-11 stretches, and one 7-10 stretch
2001 World Champion D-Backs: Two 6-11 stretches, and twenty-four 7-10 stretches
2000 World Champion Yankees: Two 3-14 stretches, one 4-13 stretch, four 5-12 stretches, eight 6-11 stretches, and sixteen 7-10 stretches

The slumping Dodgers head to San Francisco for a pivotal series with the Giants starting tomorrow. A rested Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Dodgers, against Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants.

WP - Javier Vazquez (10-7): 8 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP - Eric Stults (4-3): 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts

Box Score

SB Nation - Eric Stults

Dodgers Offseason Path Appears Set

2010 CHONE Projections: Pitching

Starters

Bullpen

How Dodgers Became Dodgers: Where Pedro Astacio Becomes Blake DeWitt

A Look Toward 2010: The Pitching

Starters

Bullpen

Dodger Roster Breakdown

Free Agents (13+1)

Options (2)

Arbitration Eligible (9)

Under Contract (4)

Under Team Control (15)

Dodgers Season In Thirds

Catcher

Infield

Outfield

Pinch Hitters

Starting Pitchers

Relievers

Stabilizing The Back End Of The Rotation

Dodgers Week 19 In Review: Call In The Wolf

Week 19 Stats

Dodgers Week 18 In Review: Don't Stop The Bleedin'

Week 18 Stats

Floodgates Open On Dodgers In Loss To Braves