SB Nation User Blog: meercatjohn

Dock Ellis No Hitter on Acid becomes great 4 minute animated movie

meercatjohn — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:45:30 -0000

Dock Ellis No Hitter on Acid becomes great 4 minute animated movie

Okay, this is one cool animated movie. Most of you may have never heard of this guy or his no hitter but it was big news when years later he revealed he had thrown the no - hitter after an LSD trip. The real story here is the cool animation and voice over.

FYI, this weekend MLB Network will air a block of All-Time Games highlighting high-strikeout games...

meercatjohn — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:31:23 -0000

FYI, this weekend MLB Network will air a block of All-Time Games highlighting high-strikeout games and featuring one that we have not aired before: Ramon Martinez’s 18-strikeout performance for the Dodgers vs. the Braves in 1990, airing at 3:30PM ET on Saturday, November 14.

Other games included in the block of All-Time Games this weekend are Ron Guidry’s 18 strikeouts for the Yankees against the California Angels in 1978; Roger Clemens’ 20 strikeouts for the Red Sox against the Mariners in 1986; David Cone’s 19-strikeout game for the Mets vs. the Phillies in 1991; Ben Sheets’ 18 strikeouts for the Brewers vs. the Braves in 2004; and Randy Johnson’s 20 strikeouts for the Diamondbacks against the Reds in 1997.

MLB Network

2nd base Dodger rumors

meercatjohn — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:34:02 -0000

We all know we have a hole at 2nd base so plenty of rumors coming our way.

1. Alberto Callaspo for AJ Ellis - on the surface that seems quite improbable however according to Plus/Minus Callaspo was the worse fielding 2nd baseman in baseball last year, and evidently AJ Ellis is quite revered for his glove.UZR also had Alberto as a -7 so we might be able to agree that Callaspo had a bad year defensively in 2009. Is that enough to negate an .813 OPS? In 2010 Bill James expects him to regress back to .755 with an wOBA of .333.

2. Kevin Kennedy said he heard the Dodgers are kicking the tires on Uggla. Uggla should be able to maintain his .800 - .825 OPS but again we are talking about a terrible fielding 2nd baseman who is about to get expensive.

3. MLBTR picked the Dodgers as the landing place for Felipe Lopez. Future offense probably very close to Callaspo but a plus defensively according to UZR in 2009. However in 2008 he was a negative so his defensive metrics have not been very consistent.

4. Jamie Carrol - surely as a backup and not as the main guy, right?

5. Luis Castillo - swap of bad contracts. He's 34, bad wheels, no power, only skill left is OB. He's what DeJesus would be except DeJesus is 12 years younger and would cost nothing. I'd much rather give away Pierre and eat 1/2 his contract then take on two years of Castillo. But hey, it could be worse.

Add to the list as the winter rumors continue to swirl.

GM calls Dodgers " a mess"

meercatjohn — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:36:04 -0000

GM calls Dodgers " a mess"

We don't much like spreading rumors but this was a quote from Rosenthal during his column today.

Prospect Number Five Runoff

meercatjohn — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:04:13 -0000

After a heated battle Aaron Miller, Andrew Lambo, and Ethan Martin were just about dead even. This next vote will only take place in the comments and will run until 09:00 AM tomorrow. Only vote for one of the three, you may use initials if you choose.

AM = Aaron Miller

AL = Andrew Lambo

EM = Ethan Martin

Los Angeles Dodgers Number One 2010 Top Prospect - Chat & Vote

meercatjohn — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:18:19 -0000

Based on the criteria below

Determining rookie status:
A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

McDonald is no longer considered a Rookie. We have some interesting candidates for the number one spot that was previously occupied by James McDonald.

For those who already voted, since I erroneously excluded Scott Elbert from the proceeding we are starting all over again with Scott very much in the discussion for the number one position.

Bday	Name	Update
8/13/1985	Scott Elbert	Elbert was the Dodger Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2009 and did an excellent job in the AA and AAA rotations after spending all of 2008 in the AA bullpen. Once promoted to the Dodgers for good in Sept he spent the month performing as a Loogy. He's probably going to be death to lefties throughout his career but he's going to have to work on that command if the wants to be an important factor in a rotation. BA left him off the top prospect list because they don't feel he is going to be a fixture in a major league rotation. The Dodgers sure didn't show much confidence in his ability to start since they never gave Elbert even one such opportunity, instead turning to the likes of Milton, Schmidt, Weaver, Haegar, Stults, Padilla, and Garland. They also weren't very confident in him to be a solid middle relief option by trading two solid prospects for Sherrill. So I don't see the Dodgers showing much confidence in their Minor League Pitcher of the Year. At 24 years old he's, he's easily the oldest prospect on the this list, is he still the best simply because he already made the major leagues?
5/1/1987	Ivan DeJesus	Did not play in 2009 due to a broken leg. I'm firmly convinced that if DeJesus had played this season he'd be the top position prospect for the Dodgers. We already know what he can do in AA at the age of 21 so it doesn't take much insight to figure he'd have kicked butt in 2009 at AA/AAA.
8/11/1988	Andrew Lambo	Muddled through his first full season of AA ball and some scouts have marked him down to a fourth outfielder. That seems very premature given his age since he only turned 21 during the season. He held his own but didn't give any indication he can hit enough to man LF but the jury is still out. With an ISOP of only .150 in combination of a walk rate below 9% he's got a lot of work to do but has plenty of time to get that work in. On the plus side he is totally mashing in the AFL as we speak. BA ranked him as the 18th top prospect in the Southern league.
6/15/1987	Josh Lindblom	2008 number two pick Lindblom started out in AA working in relief and starting but once promoted to AAA he was used strictly as a relief pitcher. He had a good year but not a dominating year and failed to make any top prospect lists.
/1/1989	Chris Withrow	No pitcher had a better minor league season then Withrow including Dodger minor league pitcher of the year Scott Elbert. The 2007 number one pick finally got healthy and quickly put baseball on notice that he was someone to be reckoned with. The Dodgers aggressively skipped him to the tough offensive environment in the California League and he was more then up to the challenge. His ERA of 4.69 is not very glittery but his FIP of 3.49 belies the skills as that FIP would have led the league. Being one of the youngest pitchers in the Cal League in addition to being one of the best pitchers in the League you'd think the scouts might have noticed him and they did, rewarding him with a ranking as the 4th best prospect in the Cal League. The Dodgers continued to be aggressive with Withrow and promoted him to AA. Once in AA he continued to impress and ended the season with a five inning two hitter with eight K's and no runs. Being a legit 20 year old in AA is quite an achievement. Like many of our hard throwing kids, he's got to work on his command. With a K Rate in excess of 25% he also has a walk rate in double digits. Even though he was our number one pick in 2007 this is first real taste of professional baseball. He's no April Fool.
4/22/1988	Dee Gordon	We were excited about Gordon before the season started but by the end of the year the scouts were the one's who were drooling over his tools. Most of the drooling is because of his "raw" talent and when that raw talent starts turning into more production we could really have something. After a sizzling July he seemed to run out of gas in August but that did not stop the 21 year old from being named the MWL CO-MVP (along with Kyle Russell) and to be voted 2nd best prospect in the MidWest League by BA. The speed is unquestioned, maybe the fastest player in the organization he led the MWL in stolen bases but he's also 2nd in the league in being caught (73/30). He's no Juan Pierre, as he has gap power, and was developing some patience as the season wore. He started April with a walk rate of 4.7% and ended it in Aug at 7.9% with a high of 8.1% in July. He made a ton of errors but has the arm and range to stick at SS.

Poll

2010 Top Prospect

Scott Elbert - dipped his toes in the major league bullpen

34 votes

Dee Gordon - MidWest League Co-MVP

73 votes

Chris Withrow - 20 years old in AA and flourishing

87 votes

Josh Lindblom - AAA in first full professional season

29 votes

Ivan DeJesus - I expect if he hadn't missed the year he'd be the no - brainer pick here

67 votes

290 votes | Poll has closed

A long and winding road for George Sherrill

meercatjohn — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:32:58 -0000

A long and winding road for George Sherrill

DIGITAL BILLBOARDS THROUGHOUT LOS ANGELES TO BROADCAST NLCS DODGER GAME SCORES LOS ANGELES – The ...

meercatjohn — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:56:36 -0000

DIGITAL BILLBOARDS THROUGHOUT LOS ANGELES TO
BROADCAST NLCS DODGER GAME SCORES

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers will transmit NLCS game scores via CBS Outdoor digital billboards throughout Los Angeles for the first time in the club’s history beginning with tonight’s game. The Dodgers’ scoreboard at Dodger Stadium offering an inning-by-inning breakdown will be displayed digitally in real time throughout Los Angeles for all NLCS home games in the following locations: Olympic Blvd at Granville, Cahuenga at Franklin, Westwood at Santa Monica Blvd, Third at La Cienega, and Santa Monica and Federal.

Angelenos driving throughout the city will be able to access Dodger NLCS scores as they pass these locations starting today for NLCS Game 1 at 5:07 p.m. The digital boards will be updated every 60 seconds.

This is cool

Phil Gurnee Talks Playoffs with Phillies Nation

meercatjohn — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:23:11 -0000

Phil Gurnee Talks Playoffs with Phillies Nation

SB Nation welcomes Anaheim Ducks Blog

meercatjohn — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:28:47 -0000