SB Nation User Blog: Nofatmike

Best Dodger Team Ever from 1989-2008

Nofatmike — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:11:13 -0000

On BBTF, commenters tried to come make up with an All-Star team of Pirate players from 1993 to 2009 that would compete for the division title (since the Pirates haven't had winning season since 1992). On that note, I thought it would be interesting to come up with a "team" of Dodger players from 1989 to 2008 that would do the same. I went on BBref and selected players who either had a minimum of 400 plate appearances for position players, 120 innings for starting pitchers, and 40 appearances for relievers. There are no repeats, meaning if a starting pitcher or a reliever had more than one really good season I selected the highest one and went on to the next pitcher. Also, if a position player or a pitcher has the same OPS+ in multiple seasons (as in the case of Brett Butler and Shawn Green), I went with the one that had the most plate appearances or innings/appearances. Here's my team:

C Mike Piazza 185 OPS+ 1997

1B Eddie Murray 158 OPS+ 1990

2B Jeff Kent 133 OPS+ 2005

SS Jose Offerman 112 OPS+ 1995

3B Adrian Beltre 163 OPS+ 2004

LF Gary Sheffield 176 OPS+ 2000

CF Brett Butler 130 OPS+ 1992

RF Shawn Green 154 OPS+ 2001

Rotation

Hideo Nomo 150 ERA+ 1995

Orel Hershiser 148 ERA+ 1989

Ismael Valdez 146 ERA+ 1997

Brad Penny 151 ERA+ 2007

Kevin Brown 169 ERA+ 2000

Bullpen

Jay Howell 217 ERA+ 1989

Takashi Saito 327 ERA+ 2006

Joe Beimel 210 ERA+ 2008

Paul Quantrill 231 ERA+ 2003

Eric Gagne 335 ERA+ 2003

Notes: I was kind of hoping Chad Billingsley's 2007 would make it on here just to silence the doubters, however seeing Brad Penny and Ismael Valdez on here is a bit of a surprise. Also a shock: no one from the 1991 or 2002 teams made the list despite being two of the three most winningest seasons since 1988, yet a player each from the 1992 and 2005 teams did.

Players from this year that have a good shot of making this team:

Matt Kemp 127 OPS+ (needs 131)

Clayton Kershaw 145 ERA+ (needs 147)

Players that would have to haul-ass to make it:

Manny Ramirez 155 OPS+ (needs 177)

Ronald Belisario 202 ERA+ (needs 211)

Andre Ethier 132 OPS+ (needs 155)

Randy Wolf 130 ERA+ (needs 147)

It'll be interesting to see if, by the end of the year, I'll have to update this team. Then again, I'm kind of hoping I won't have to...

The Countdown Begins!

Nofatmike — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:18:22 -0000

With the Giants losing 2-1 to the Phils today, the Dodgers' number to clinch a spot in the playoffs is now 20. With 28 games left in the season, any combination of 20 Dodger wins or Giants (or whoever is second in the wild-card) automatically gives them a playoff berth. As for the division, with Colorado's loss to the Mets today, the magic number to clinch the division is now 24. For more info on magic numbers click here.

Diamondbacks vs Dodgers coverage

No "spark" needed.

Nofatmike — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:17:27 -0000

Ever since their lead-off man, Juan Pierre, has gone on the Disabled List a few days ago, the Dodgers have since gone 4-1 over a 5-game span and now trail (as of this moment) the 1st-place D'Backs by a game in the NL West. And while Pierre has been out of the lineup in that timespan, the much-maligned Dodgers offense has suddenly hit a resurrgance despite their "self-proclaimed" spark-plug spending that entire period on the DL. This begs a question of my own; how exactly has the offense faired with and without Juan Pierre? Here's what I found (courtesy of baseball-reference.com):

Games in which Pierre started: 3.806 R/G (67 games)
Games in which Pierre did not start: 5.421 (19 games)
Games in which Pierre played: 3.726 (73 games)
Games in which Pierre did play: 6.615 (13 games)
Games in which Pierre lead-off: 3.3 (50 games)
Games in which Pierre did not lead-off: 5.361 (36 games)

While the correlation of high-scoring games during Pierre's absence does not imply that he is the main cause of the Dodgers' offensive woes, the Dodgers are surely doing a better job without their "spark-plug."