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Los Angeles Dodgers 2013 Team Preview

February 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Clayton Kershaw

Flat nasty.

That’s what I think of the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers as things begin. It’s not a bad thing for baseball if these guys are restored to relevancy.

It would be unrealistic to think that all of these former superstars will put together superstar seasons at the same time. However, if just a few of them manage it while the others become solid contributors, the Dodgers are going to be one tough out in the National League.

Major offseason moves:

  • Signed SP Hyun-Jin Ryu
  • Signed SP Zach Greinke to a 6-year, $147 million contract
  • Traded minor leaguer Jake Lemmerman to St. Louis for Skip Schumaker
  • Signed RP JP Howell
  • Signed RP Brandon League to a 3-year, $22 million contract

Of course, let’s not forget all the damn moves they made at the end of last season. They acquired a small army of misfit toys in getting Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett for basically nothing.

After the jump, we’ll take a look at the Dodgers from top to bottom.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 Diamond Hoggers Season Previews, Los Angeles Dodgers Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Hanley Ramirez’s Dodger Debut

July 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night was Hanley Ramirez’s first big league game in a uniform other than the Marlins. The Dodgers lost 3-2 in extra innings in his debut. I spent the evening playing cards with my good friend (and Dodgers fan) Dave Franco from Next Level Ballplayer. He had great cards.

Ultimately, I think this proves to be a huge move for the Dodgers who appear serious once again about spending the big dollars to win. He hasn’t been great this season, but he’s still Hanley Ramirez. If he decides he wants to do this, he’s a really dangerous bat to add to the heart of the order. I look for the Dodgers to make one more move to acquire an arm and be one of the teams who sneak into the playoffs on a dangerous run.

And people will probably look back on this Ramirez trade and say the Dodgers came out on top. I think people around baseball were surprised at how little it took to acquire the former batting champion.

Filed Under: Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Trades Tagged With:

The Baseball Show: Introducing Tomahawk Take

November 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Last night on The Baseball Show, Mike Rosenbaum of The Golden Sombrero and M.J. Lloyd of Off Base Percentage discussed the following topics:

-Our involvement with Tomahawk Take on the FanSided Network.

-Thoughts on the Braves shortstop situation, minor league prospects, Jason Heyward, the Jair Jurrjens rumors, and the Braves rotation for next season.

-We offer our thoughts on Derek Lowe’s departure to Cleveland.

-We talk about early hot stove off-season activity: Grady Sizemore, Prince Fielder, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols and many more free agents are discussed.

-We talk about the managerial possibilities around baseball: Sandy Alomar, Terry Francona, and Ryne Sandberg.

-We debate about the importance of a manager in the game of baseball today.

-Mike talks about Ozzie Guillen’s departure from the White Sox, along with thoughts on Robin Ventura.

-As always, much more is discussed.

Filed Under: The Baseball Show by Diamond Hoggers Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday Rant: Hanley Ramirez is Sabotaging my Fantasy Squad

April 25, 2011 by 5 Comments

Hanley Ramirez is now concerned about his slump to begin the season.

“I know I’m going to get out of it,” he said. “At the end of the year, the numbers are going to be there.

“So I’ve just got to go through it right now and try to get out of it soon, get back on track.”

Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later. If you remember, I used the #3 overall pick in the draft on Hanley Ramirez. He’s burying me, along with the likes of Adam Dunn of course. But Hanley is a guy you need the production from. Especially when you leave a guy like Troy Tulowitzki on the board. Especially when I knew better, when I had talked with colleagues the week earlier and said that I know I needed to take Tulo over Hanley because something like this scared me about Hanley. Tulo seemed hungrier to me.

People want to keep preaching patience. They want to tell you that it’s early. But in  a money fantasy baseball league, teams aren’t easy to jump. You get the stats early and you take them and don’t look back. You don’t win leagues on what is supposed to happen in the future.

Right now, the numbers that Hanley has given me are meager at best. No longballs and 7 RBI’s. A .182/.299/.242 slash line in a league that counts all of those categories and walks. He’s scored four runs.

Tulo on the other hand, has provided his owner (well ahead of me in the standings) with 7 home runs, 16 RBI’s, and a .333/.430/.705 slash line. That’ll work from a shortstop.

So lets say I decide on the argument against Tulo. After all, I stupidly bought into the fact that he gets hurt; which I’m growing fairly certain this is the prime year of his that he plays in 158 games and is fine all year. The other guy I had my eye on was Ryan Braun. The only thing the Hebrew Hammer has done is go out and prove that he’s adequate competition to take home an MVP award over Tulo.

Braun has the 7 homers, 18 RBI’s, he’s stolen two bags and scored a league leading 21 runs. His slash line is gorgeous at .377/.479/.688 for the year and he hasn’t really gotten hot yet, he’s just working at the yeoman’s pace that he will probably toot along at all year.

Jeffrey Loria needs to have a wine and seafood sit-down with his shortstop and let him know that it’s time to get his shit together. Buy him another diamond pendant, kiss his ass, extend him until 2032 if you have to. Whatever it’s going to take to get this emotionally fragile player to start hitting his weight again and then some.

If I have to field one more trade offer for Hanley that amounts to a 4th tier outfielder and a 3rd starter for a last place club, I might have to shoot someone.

Monday’s are awful, and they’re even worse when your first round pick in a money league is killing you with his remedial 0 for 4 performances that amount to my team as a whole hitting around .221 collectively.

Dear Hanley, please get your shit together soon or I’m parking your ass on my bench daring you to spite me and replacing you with a slap hitter like Erick Aybar. No matter what you do for the rest of the year and the next two dreadful years after this one in which I am subjected to your moodiness and lack of hustle; I will never forgive you for April 2011, you goon.

Filed Under: Case of the Mondays, Fantasy Baseball, slumps Tagged With: , ,

Feeling like I’m watching a legend in the making

April 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

[Box Score]

[AJC] [Capitol Avenue Club] [Talking Chop]

I have a pretty terrible cold right now. It’s one of those things that just hangs on. No matter how much Vitamin C I pound, no matter how much sleep I get, it’s going to be like four days of misery. Once you get that through your head, a Hell-cold is not so bad.

And if there’s one positive, it also gives me a free pass to lay on the couch and watch baseball for about 6 to 8 hours uninterrupted. So yesterday when I got home, I decided I was going to watch the Braves and Marlins. Hanley Ramirez was returning from injury, it was the first time since the Marlins opener that Hanley and Mike Stanton were both in the starting lineup, and Tommy Hanson was on the bump in Atlanta. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Most of all, I’ve caught a few of Jason Heyward’s at-bats this year; and I was craving more. He’s turning on balls and at least for the time being the concerns about his wrist should be put on the backburner. He’s off to another really great start. This is the best he’s looked since about April of last year. And it could be said that he’s going to be like Ken Griffey Jr. in the fact that he’s definitely a fast-starter. I love a fast starter. There’s nothing better.

If only he was hitting in a better spot in the lineup. Rob Neyer weighs in on it yesterday:

Of course, you know as well as David Schoenfield that it really makes little difference where McLouth and Heyward bat. Granted, McLouth’s will cost the Braves a few runs over the course of the season if he stays in the No. 2 slot all season. Which he won’t. And Heyward might account for two or three more runs if he were batting third or fourth rather than sixth. But the odds against the Braves missing a playoff spot because of Fredi Gonzalez’s batting orders — as opposed to the players he actually uses — are exceptionally long.

Pretty much the way I feel. I just want to see what the guy can do getting an extra at-bat a game and producing in the middle of the lineup. But I guess I should get off my Heyward soap-box now. Officer Mclouth will eventually be pulled out of the 2-spot in favor of young J-Hey and all will be right with baseball in Hotlanta; especially if Tommy Hanson throws anywhere close to what he had last night the rest of the season.

Chipper Jones had a nice game, driving in two runner and is now one RBI shy of the 1,500 mark. Wow, what a career it’s been. The swing still looks beautiful.

Other observations from this game:

-Gabby Sanchez has absolutely nothing. I don’t think he’s going to be much of a player.
-I’m still waiting on Hanley Ramirez to get going.
-Mike Stanton has unreal power. I can’t believe he’s only 21. The guy just has it. How did he last until the 2nd round in the draft?
-Heyward’s rocket home run to dead center was impressive. There just aren’t many guys who hit line drives to that area in Atlanta. In that respect, he reminds me of Griffey a little bit.
-Chris Volstad throws a ton of hittable fastballs. I’ve seen a ton of great arms this year early on where the pitcher was ahead of the hitter in terms of coming out of spring training. Volstad didn’t give that feeling. Brian McCann also touched him up for a nice yard ball into the Braves pen.

Filed Under: Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins Tagged With: , , , , , ,