UPDATED: The End of the Rafael Fucal Era

Um, yeah.  About that...

UPDATE: Dodgers receive Alex Castellanos, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Castellanos, a 10th round pick in the 2008 draft, is having a pretty good season in AA this year, hitting .319/.379/.562/.941 overall, but is already 24 (25 next week- happy birthday, Alex) and has 94 strikeouts in 391 ABs so far this year.  He looks to be primarily a RF, but has played 17 games in CF this season, and has played 1B, 2B, 3B, and all 3 OF positions in his minor league career.  He even has 1 game at SS in 2008, where he apparently made 2 errors.  Overall, he looks to be a little better than a typical depth guy, as his power and speed both look solid, but he needs to cut down his K rate before he'll have a shot at moving forward in the organization.

Details are still coming in,  but it appears all but certain that Rafael Furcal is about to join the St. Louis Cardinals, pending his approval as a 10-and-5 player.  It's certainly bittersweet seeing Furcal go- as everyone with even a passing knowledge of Dodger baseball knows, when healthy Furcal had the ability to be one of the most dominating players in all of baseball.  Unfortunately for him and the Dodgers, those healthy periods were rare, increasingly so in the last few years.

We still don't know what the Dodgers are getting in return for Furcal.  Reports say that cash is going along with Furcal in the deal, so it doesn't sound like a straight salary dump, but odds are the return for him won't be much more than a fringe-y prospect.  It also sounds like this trade closes the door on any trade for Jamey Carroll that may have been in the works, as the Dodgers have stated previously that they were open to trading one, but not both, of the players.

Truthfully, while it's a little sad to see Raffy go, this is the best possible situation for all involved.  It's thankfully clear now that Colletti doesn't see the Dodgers' recent mini-hot streak as a sign that they can compete in the division/wild card race and isn't going to make any ill-advised trades for more PVLs (as much as our blog title wishes it were so).  Dee Gordon should be boarding a plane bound for LAX any minute now, adding- at the very least- some much needed fun to the final two months of the season.  Rafael Furcal gets to go play meaningful games every day and attempt to rebuild a little value going into a very uncertain free agency.  And while the Dodgers are sending cash along in the deal, it will save a little payroll space in the grand scheme of things, maybe (?) giving a little more flexibility in the offseason to fill some of the gaping holes at pretty much any infield position.

Plus, we can all cross our fingers that  maybe Colletti got The Riot back in return.

Things we learned from last night's game (7/27)

Overview:  Still no run support for Mr. Kuroda.  Rockies 3 Dodgers 1.

Pros:  For the 142nd time this season,Hiroki Kuroda tossed a quality start, going six innings, allowing one run while striking out 6 and walking 3.  That he still got the loss is hardly a surprise anymore.  Other positives from last night?  Well, Kemp had two hits, including a double.  Furcal had two hits as well and actually seems to be heating up (.808 OPS over his last eight games), though he did get caught stealing as well.  The Dodgers, had 8 hits total and still managed just one run on a solo homerun by Rod Barajas in the 9th (what contender needs a catcher with some pop?).  Also, Scott Elbert pitched 2/3 of an inning and struck out one and allowed no runs.  Not really all  that exciting but we're grasping at straws here.

Cons:  The Dodgers were 0-4 with runners in scoring position, once again showing their remarkable ineptitude at driving in runs.  Hawksworth and Macdougal each gave up a run in their innings of  relief (Macdougal actually pitched 1 and 1/3).  Ethier went hitless which should not come as a surprise at this point.  He's been pretty awful in July, posting just a .664 OPS.  Really, there are so many cons here that it gets tiresome to list them.  On the bright side, the four game winning streak is over so hopefully that means nobody at all is convinced that the Dodgers can go on a run.

What we learned:  That once again, if your first or last name starts with a K, you're probably one of the bright spots of the 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers.