Depressed Dodgers taking frustrations out on themselves

We apologize for the lack of posts lately, but we're still stinging from Wednesday's loss.  Not only did the Dodgers blow a six run lead and ended up losing 9-8, but they lost Dee Gordon to the disabled list.  Nothing seems to be going right for the Dodgers this season.  I think we can all agree that Ned Colletti is a terrible GM and Frank McCourt is the incarnate of Lucifer himself but, believe it or  not, there are more reasons then just those two why the Dodgers find themselves just one game out of last place in the National League West.
One of those things is luck.  I believe the last time I checked the Dodgers, at one time or another in the season, have placed 974 players on the disabled list.  But that's just an estimate on my part, really.  Some of these guys we knew would spend some time on the DL, like Blake and Furcal, and some guys were pretty likely, such as Uribe (because he's old and fat).  But then there's the young guys too.  Broxton, Kuo, Hawksworth, Jansen, De La Rosa, and now, Dee Gordon.  This is just getting ridiculous.  The Dodgers infield now consists of Loney at first (owner of the worst OPS in baseball since the all-star break),  the hitless wonder Eugenio Velez at second, solid-but-bug-eyed Jamey Carroll at short, and Aaron Miles, on loan from a Tolkien novel, at third.  Other than Loney, none of those guys were expected to be regular contributors, or, in Miles and Velez's case, probably not even on the 25 man roster.  This team is clearly snake-bitten with injuries, and though we wrote this season off long ago, it's still a bummer to have the one joy left taken from us, and that is watching a guy like Dee Gordon get a chance to show he can handle the Major Leagues. 

Now, I should add that since Dee Gordon is hurt, it's a good thing that he's going to the disabled list.  That doesn't sound terribly insightful, but too often we see players trying to keep injuries secret and play through them, hurting themselves and the team (I'm looking at you Jonathan Broxton).  With the Dodgers as bad as they are, there is no reason to risk Dee Gordon's long term health by trotting him out there.  This was a good call by the Dodgers, even though they are calling it mostly precautionary.  The hope is that Dee will take the 15 days, get healthy, and then come back and play every day for the rest of the season.  This should still give the team plenty of time to properly evaluate whether or not he's ready to handle the starting job next season. 

In other news, the Dodgers agreed to terms with their first round draft pick, Chris Reed,  and he will be introduced at Dodger Stadium tonight.  He signed for what appears to be a 1.589 signing bonus, which is slightly above slot.  I gotta say, it's nice to see the Dodgers going over slot to get talent.  Last year they did it to get Zach Lee, this year for Reed.  I sort of wonder if McCourt authorized it just to piss Bud Selig off, but either way we'll take it.

Update:  It appears the Dodgers called up shortstop Justin Sellers from Albuquerque to take Gordon's place on the roster.  Sellers doesn't exactly quality as a prospect, as he's 25 years old with a career .746 OPS in the minors, but at least there's some upside there.  Here's hoping he'll get more playing time than Eugenio Velez.

Things We Learned from Today's Game (8/7/11)

Overview:  Ransom costs Dodgers/Kershaw win.  Diamondbacks 4 Dodgers 3

Pros:  Clayton Kershaw's overall numbers might not look all that great, pitching 6 and 1/3 innings and surrendering four runs while walking three.  This only tells half the story though.  Kershaw struggled out of the gate, walking Ryan Roberts on four pitches then giving up a two run blast to Kelly Johnson on a 3-2 pitch.  Kershaw would go on to walk another in the first, throwing 31 pitches in the inning.  After that, though, he cruised for the next five innings, allowing only two hits.  He looked virtually unbeatable until the seventh when he gave up another two run homer to Cody Ransom, of all people.  Those four runs he gave up were insurmountable for the Dodgers, but Kershaw, for the most part, pitched much better than his line suggests.  He did strike out 7, raising his season total to 184 in 167 and 2/3 innings, and continues to lead the league in that category. 
Other positives that came from today was James Loney homering in the fifth (fun note: I was complaining during his at-bat that he never turned on balls anymore and always seems to pop the ball up to the left side, then immediately after he drove the ball over the right field fence).
Lindblom also looked good, pitching a scoreless inning and 2/3 to finish the game and lower his season ERA to 1.80.
Finally, Aaron Miles scoring from first on a double by Ethier was one of the funniest images I've seen in a long time.  He is a small, hobbit-like man.  

Cons:  As mentioned earlier, Kershaw gave up a homerun to Cody Ransom.  And it was no cheap shot either.  It was gone the second it touched his bat.  Ransom hadn't hit a homerun all year, and in parts of 9seasons in the majors, he has hit a total of 9.  So, of course he hit a homerun against the Dodgers best pitcher.  Why wouldn't he?
Meanwhile, Navarro went hitless, dropping his season average back below .200, while Eugenio Velez, who is not very good, continues to look for his first hit of the season.   Look, I know Gordon is hurting, Furcal's been traded and their aren't a lot of great middle infield options for the Dodgers right now, but can't Ivan DeJesus Jr or Justin Sellers at least get a look?  At least there's some upside in those two.  Eugenio Velez, who is not very good, has zero upside and contributes nothing to this team  now, or the future.  Did I mention he's not very good?  I do hear he's fast, but I have trouble verifying that because I've never seen him on the basepaths before. 
It's not often that we mention negatives about Matt Kemp (much less about Kershaw and Kemp) but I'm not sure what he could've been thinking trying to bunt for a hit.  A guy having an MVP caliber season like he is should pretty much under no circumstances be laying down a bunt.  Even if he had beat it out, it would've been a bad idea.  The Dodgers need his power more than his ability to show off his awesome bunting ability.  By the way, that was sarcasm, because it was a horrible bunt.  We love you, Matt.  We just disagree with this particular decision of yours.  (We don't want to anger him too much, because we'd really like him to sign with the Dodgers long term).

What we learned:  That trotting out an infield of Aaron Miles, Jamey Carroll (nothing against him, he's been very good for this team for two years now, but he still should be a utility player on a better team), Eugenio Velez and James Loney (yes, I remember he homered today, but remember it's just  his fifth of the season), with Dioner Navarro catching, is not going to win many games.  I know some of us were getting excited about the Dodgers playing well of late, but a team that trots those guys out on a regular basis is not a playoff team.  We here at Proven Veteran Leaders don't want to be complete downers, we're just frightened of Ned Colletti getting excited about the "playoff hunt" and trading prospects not on the 40 man roster for, well, Proven Veteran Leaders.  

Things we learned from last night's game (7/26/11)

Two of the three reasons the Dodgers are almost in third place.

Overview: If you have a K starting either your first or last name, you should be playing for the Dodgers.  Dodgers beat the Rockies, 3-2.  

Pros: Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, and Kenley Jansen. Is there any question that without Kemp & Kershaw, the Dodgers would be dead last?  One of the biggest disappointments of this season, in my opinion, is that because of the off-field circus and the on-field mediocrity of the team, the main stream media is overlooking the MVP/Cy Young seasons these two are putting together.  For them to put up the numbers they've got, surrounded by no offense and pretty shoddy defense, is nothing short of amazing.  They make the Dodgers competitive every time they're on the field.  And you can add Kenley Jansen to that rare list of valuable 2011 Dodgers- he just embarrassed Chris Iannetta, Seth Smith and Dexter Fowler in the ninth, racking up a pop up and two strikeouts in SEVEN PITCHES.  That boy's good!

Cons: Andre Ethier and Jamey Carroll were the only other hitters to reach base more than once.  Furcal went 0 for 3, and only reached because Ty Wigginton was playing left field and isn't quite sure what to do when a baseball is hit towards him.  Juan Rivera is turning back into a pumpkin.  Our most reliable number 5 hitter continues to be Aaron Miles.  

What we learned: Make no mistake- while the Dodgers won this game, it wasn't because they were better- they just happened to be lucky.  No one should be looking at this current four game winning streak thinking we have any chance at better than third in the division this season.  We're not trying to be negative here, just realistic about the fact that the best long-term course of action for this team is to sell off whoever we can and acquire some prospects.  

We won the battle, but the war is far...you get the idea

Frank McCourt, being a douche.


Today, the bankruptcy judge ruled against Frank McCourt's financing plan and ordered him to negotiate a deal with Major League Baseball.  We're very excited about this news, although at the same time it must be said that this does not rid us of McCourt, nor does it give MLB permission to seize the team.  We're not particularly legally minded here at Proven Veteran Leaders, maybe due to my apparent drinking problem, so we'll refer you to Josh Fisher's take on it.

One thing that stands out in his column is this:  "While Gross did not approve the deal McCourt proposed, he ordered one that will cost the Dodgers less money without appearing to enable a seizure of the club."  This worries us just a little.  Even simply buying McCourt more time could be catastrophic to the Dodgers going into next season, and this could drag out a long, long time.  At this point, even in a best case scenario, I can't imagine a new owner is in place before early next year at the earliest, which basically takes the Dodgers out of any significant free agent sweepstakes, and will likely be non-players at the Winter Meetings.  We might just have to get used to Aaron Miles batting fifth for a while.

Something else I noticed today that's not Dodger related but interesting to note.  Apparently, Jim Crane, the soon-to-be owner of the Astros has ordered payroll be decreased from $76MM to $60MM.  I only relate this information because it might be important for us to remember that a new owner doesn't necessarily guarantee an improvement of our situation.  We're all excited to be rid of McCourt, but it's probably not the best idea to assume Mark Cuban, or somebody, is just going to come in and raise the payroll to Yankees levels.