Thread: Dodgers off season thread (merged)

BA Chat Wrap

Gray (Chicago): Jim, BA ranked James McDonald #7 amongst Dodgers prospects this year. Why so low? I feel as if BA bought into name recognition over skills and results. What is McDonald's ceiling and ETA?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Sigh. Yeah that's us, all name recognition over skills and results. Come on. He's good, but he's not as good as the guys ahead of him on that list (Kershaw, LaRoche, Hu, Elbert, DeWitt, Withrow). You could argue him vs. DeWitt and Withrow, but McDonald has a plus curveball and otherwise average stuff. He's a No. 3 or 4 starter, probably closer to a No. 4.

BA isn't as high on McDonald as some others. I'm surprised they still have DeWitt ranked pretty high, his development seems to have stagnated.

jack (NC): kershaw or elbert gets called up fisrt by the dodgers?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Kershaw.

Josh (Los Angeles, CA): Dewitt, Abreu, or Hu? ETA as a regular, if at all?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Hu, probably 2009 with Furcal on hand.

Josh (Los Angeles, CA): Kershaw, McGee, or Price?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Kershaw. Don't forget to include Franklin Morales with that group.

john (nevada): can we get your top 10 prospects that will get called up midseason or at least top 5?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Clayton Kershaw (LAD), Andrew McCutchen (Pit), Nick Adenhart (LAA), Gio Gonzalez (Oak), Chin-Lung Hu (LAD). A lot of the best prospects will either be on Opening Day rosters or spend the entire year in the minors.

I don't think it'd be the greatest thing for Kershaw's development to call him up next season. Seems a bit rushed, considering he's only played 5 games in AA. Might be best for him to spend the year in AA/AAA, and then call him up in 09.

Originally Posted by The Natural

I'll take patient snoozer over hasty mistakes any offseason.

Why'd you have to make me throw up again?

Another TJ/Kent article:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/column...rts-columnists

"I don't have to talk to you because you no longer have a radio show," Kent says by way of greeting, and Happy New Year, Mr. Holly Jolly.

Goddamnit, I love Jeff Kent!

"I'm excited about coming back," he says, thrilled the Dodgers have Joe Torre as manager, still in no mood to play baby-sitter to the team's younger players, but almost ecstatic now that baseball has the Mitchell Report.

You want political correctness, call someone else.

"I'd like to see every player take a blood test and have the samples frozen," Kent says, then waiting for the day when there's a foolproof HGH test to identify the cheaters.

"Now we're hearing about some guys who cheat and the phony excuses like I got hurt, so I just used HGH one time. Whether they are telling the truth or not, people are finally having to answer to some things."

He's probably the smartest athlete out there, insightful, businesslike, professional and totally dedicated to giving the fans everything they would want when buying a ticket. Mention any of his four kids, ages 4 to 11, and he's mush.

But he's also a tireless, old-school grump at a time when a smooth sound bite or a slap on the back wins the day.

"I'm here to give the fan who is paying $50 a ticket a Dodgers win. Do you think those people who were paying $50 a ticket the last two weeks of the season came to watch us lose? I have no problem with our young players; I have a problem with losing."

And so, in a few weeks, Mr. Holly Jolly will join the Dodgers caravan, happy to schmooze with fans and see both young and old teammates, or as happy as a grump can ever be.

"I don't want to leave the game a grumpy old man," he says, "but if we don't win, I'm going to be grumpy."

Kent cracks my **** up!

Nice pics of Winter workouts on the Dodgers website. Glad to see Loney taking some tips from Mattingly and Wes Parker. Lots of the younger players are there and Andruw Jones. Just paid off my season ticket invoice today so i'm just counting down the days now...
anyone going to see them in phoenix during spring training? I was thinking of catching a couple games there.

Just saw the photos on the Dodgers website. 2 things I noticed. 1-Loney's beanie. The guy wears one everywhere. Very annoying, especially when you're working out with Mattingly and Parker. And 2-Jones looks like the pillsbury dough boy. It sure doesn't look like he's done much cardio this off-season.

Very cool pics though. I was across the street at the academy yesterday. I had no idea anybody was there working out.

Originally Posted by DiehardKingsFan

I don't think it'd be the greatest thing for Kershaw's development to call him up next season. Seems a bit rushed, considering he's only played 5 games in AA. Might be best for him to spend the year in AA/AAA, and then call him up in 09.

I'd prefer Kershaw to spend most of he season at AA, but would rather he not have to go to AAA and pitch in that hitters' paradise for very long. AA through August, then a call-up to sit in the bullpen for Sept. Then he's competing for a starting job next spring.

This is of course based on the unlikely scenario that all our starters make it through the year without getting hurt.

Originally Posted by AlexSeren

Nice pics of Winter workouts on the Dodgers website. Glad to see Loney taking some tips from Mattingly and Wes Parker. Lots of the younger players are there and Andruw Jones. Just paid off my season ticket invoice today so i'm just counting down the days now...
anyone going to see them in phoenix during spring training? I was thinking of catching a couple games there.

Phoenix? Their spring training facility is still in Vero.