- Darin Ruf never took a swing as a Dodger – The Dodgers freed up a roster spot by urging Darin to sign with the Samsung Lions for a free Galaxy 7 smartphone and $1.1 million bux. One more spot to go…
- According to Doug Padilla “Dodgers starter Julio Urias will not be pushed to the 200-innings mark this year, team president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. Urias will proceed this spring, however, just like any other Dodgers starter.” If I translated that correctly, it means that there will be no extended Spring Training for Urias and that he should open the season in the rotation.
- On the subject of Julio Urias, Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider quoted Friedman:
“He’s not at the point of his development where he’s going to make 32, 33 starts and throw 200-plus innings,” Friedman said. “So exactly how we manage that and when is what we’ve spent some time talking about this winter, and we’ll continue to talk about it throughout the spring.
“We don’t really have a set innings number. It’s so individualized,” Friedman added. “But I feel confident saying the jump up to 200-plus and being strong throughout October is not viable for 2017. So the question is to how best manage it.”
- According to Ken Gurnick of Dodgers.com, Kenta Maeda has added muscle and a cutter. Of note too is that he has been training at Dodger Stadium for a month. Could he be even better than last year? I think it’s likely.
- Don’t read anything good or bad into anyone’s velocity this early. It means nothing. This is especially true with Ryu. The Dodgers are having him take it very slow, so the big thing is just health right now. A month from now, let’s see what his velocity is. Some think he will come back. Others think he is toast. Me? I have no opinion. Let’s see how it plays out…
- I heard that Darnell Sweeney was heart-broken when he was traded to Philly. Now that he’s back, I wonder how he will do. I like him…
- Who is next to get dropped off the 40 man?
UPDATE:
Jose Miguel Fernandez has officially signed with the Dodgers and will get an invite to big league camp. The 28-year-old infielder last played in Cuba in 2014. — Doug Padilla
My money is on Eibner getting DFA’d. When you have Bellinger and Verdygo knocking at door the Dodgers can risk trying to pass him through waivers.
Ooops. Verdugo. Mark we need an edit function.
Things just got a little clearer. Any bets on who is next to exit the 40 man? Mine is Eibner. I hope we need to clear one more spot after that for Blanton.
Looks like Kendrick trade really was just a salary dump, although perhaps, Sweeney could still do something. I wonder if Kendrick’s attitude was the problem or if FAZ thought his skills had diminished. Probably a combination of the two. Kendrick always looked like the consummate professional to me, maybe not.
I’m betting both were a problem. It appeared to me as a salary dump immediately.
Yeah, they might have put up with one out of the two, but not both. If the attitude had been good, they probably would have considered a platoon of Kendrick and Utley at second and kept DeLeon. Although, I suspect DeLeon’s stock had dropped and Forsythe looks like a gamer to me.
Boxout
The problem with that is, Howie would not have been happy, with a platoon.
He was upset he wasn’t getting enough playing time, right before the post season.
And he was on Roberts about this, and he hadn’t hit much, since July.
And his arm was a liability in left.
And what makes this even worse, is that Howie was told when he was signed, he wasn’t going to be the full time second basemen.
He was told, he was going to be a utility player.
And remember he had no other teams, interested in signing him.
Howie fell very quickly.
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Starting in 2016, no one considers him a 2B anymore.
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It was a salary dump, for sure. Ruf was insurance, but then they got Davis (probably because they knew about A-Gon’s elbow.
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FAZ is making sure they have the bases covered.
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I have read other blogs where people blast the the trade of Kendrick for Ruf and Sweeney and now Ruf is gone.
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HELLO! Kendrick was not going to play. It was a salary dump! Use some logic people. Insofar as I know, this applies to no one here. I’m just ranting!
I have heard that Roberts did not think he was a quality 2B anymore, so when FAZ had the opportunity to dump the contract, they did. I always though Darnell Sweeney would be a decent utility player.
I didn’t like what he did, because the Dodgers signed him, and did him a favor, when no other team would sign him.
And he was told up front, what his job was going to be, and he still complained, after all of that.
UPDATE ABOVE
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Jose Miguel Fernandez has officially signed with the Dodgers and will get an invite to big league camp. The 28-year-old infielder last played in Cuba in 2014.
Is he on the 40 man roster?
From Ken Gurnick:
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“Cuban infielder Jose Miguel Fernandez reported to Dodgers camp on Friday as a non-roster invite.
The 28-year-old Fernandez hasn’t played competitively in two years, and he is expected to open the season in the Minor Leagues.
The left-handed hitter has experience playing second base and third base, and he projects as a contact-hitting utility man.
He signed for a $200,000 bonus.”
I read somewhere that the first 10 days of spring training are critical for pitchers in that they try to do too much, such as bullpens every other day. Not a bad idea to take it REAL easy the first couple of weeks. I think there are some studies that show that TJ’s are most prevalent in the first part of the year, leading to the conclusion that it is the spring when pitchers are most vulnerable. The WBC is terrible for pitchers unless they have been pitching in other leagues and it is just a continuation of their season.
First casualty of the Spring – A-Gon.
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“One day while jogging, a middle-aged man noticed a couple of tennis balls lying by the side of the walk. Being fairly new and in good condition, he picked the balls up, put them in the pocket of his running shorts and proceeded on his way. Waiting at the cross street for the light to change, he noticed a beautiful blond standing next to him smiling. “What do you have in your shorts?” she asked. “Tennis balls,” the man said smiling back. “Wow,” said the blonde looking upset. “That must hurt. I once had tennis elbow and the pain was unbearable!”
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Which brings me to the point of the joke.
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Adrian Gonzalez has tennis elbow and is out two weeks.
Score one for FAZ!
February 17, 2017: #Marlins 26-year-old LHP Chris Reed voluntarily retired this week. He was a #Dodgers first-round pick from Stanford in 2011.
July 15, 2015: The Marlins have acquired lefty Chris Reed from the Dodgers in exchange for fellow southpaw Grant Dayton, Miami announced. Reed had recently been designated for assignment by Los Angeles.
Umm, ya I’d say that deal worked out well for us!
I still think if Blanton is out there, FAZ should scoop him up at the right price. I know we have a ton of pitching right now, but he bailed us out countless times last year until he flat wore out in the play-offs. His stuff was great when he was rested. I think he could still be an effective veteran 7th inning put out the fire type of guy. The price just has to be right. You would think by now he might listen to an offer, because it’s getting late and the phone hasn’t been ringing. Still like Joe, he was a good soldier.
I see one of my favorite Dodgers of all-time, Kuo, is getting a shot with the Madres. I’m not sure how he did pitiching in the Taiwaneese league the past two years, but if the Dodgers could let Tsao hang around why not let Kuo have another shot in our system. I know the Logan White connection in SD got him the shot, but I wish it were with the Dodgers.
Friedman is to Toles as White is to Kuo.
I wish Kuo well – his 2010 season was outstanding:
60 IP
29 H
73 K
1.20 ERA
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The odds are long that at 36 he will stay healthy.