The Trolley Dodger

Power Rankings in general are pretty much useless exercises in “let’s write a semi-witty sentence per team, once a week.” But I usually can’t resist reading them. ;)

Eric Mack’s current rankings at CBS SportsLine have this three-sentence (!) tidbit on the Dodgers:

Jason Schmidt is throwing again and hoping for a late May return. Also, Chad Billingsley might not be far from returning to the rotation, which has the potential to be one of the best in baseball. Brad Penny looks like a Cy Young candidate.

That “late May return” is way more definitive of a time frame than anything public coming out of the Dodgers, but it doesn’t seem out of the question either. While not specifying dates, they are doing some very encouraging talking:

Schmidt’s extensive long-tossing exercise on Tuesday was a positive indicator. When it was suggested to Schmidt that he couldn’t have thrown a ball 275 feet a month ago, he said: “I couldn’t have done that last year.”

[Stan] Conte, Schmidt’s trainer with the Giants last year, agreed.

“At the end of last year, that’s probably true, and this spring, I never saw him do that,” he said. “In the bullpen in the spring, it looked like he was always working on pitches. He wasn’t letting it go; it didn’t have the pop it does now. That’s encouraging. I still hold my breath each day.”

Grady is pleased, but Schmidt has to get work in before he’ll be ready for a game:

“He threw all of his pitches,” Little said. “He threw pain-free, he’s progressing. He’s got a ways to go. You can tell the stamina isn’t there yet.”

From ESPN.com:

Barry Bonds’ brother upset with Aaron over snub: “Bobby Bonds Jr. does not know for certain if his more famous older brother took steroids. But he is bothered by the way baseball is treating him.”

What a coincidence, because I’m bothered by the way his brother treated baseball. I wonder if there’s some sort of connection….

In case you were wondering who does the jaunty-happy song in the Dodgers commercial featuring a guy constantly wearing his foam finger (which you can view on the Dodger site), here ya go:

Song: “Be Gentle With Me”
Band: The Boy Least Likely To
Album: The Best Party Ever

Listen in iTunes

• Website
• MySpace
• Blog

Video for “Be Gentle With Me”:

Way back in the winter of Ought-Six, we did some speculating about potential sources of power that the Dodgers could go after: first outfielders, then “Power bats for the Dodgers: Third Basemen”.

Around that same time, there were lots of rumors about a trade with St. Louis, covered in “Brad Penny to Cardinals?” Considering how Brad has stepped up this season, not to mention Jason Schmidt’s woes, it’s a good thing that particular trade didn’t happen.

The rumors are beginning to swirl again, again stirred by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a forum begun by columnist Bernie Miklasz: “Would you make this trade?” The subject being, Scott Rolen to LA for Wilson Betemit and either Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier.

Personally, I don’t think either of those combinations works — never mind for the Dodgers, from what I’ve read the Cardinals don’t need young outfielders so much as pitching. Which probably means (assuming the teams are actually talking) they’re asking for Chad Billingsley.

The Dodgers would be hard-pressed to say no to the Scott Rolen of, say, 2003 or 2004. His 2007 so far is easily written off as aberration.

But is Rolen version 2006 — .296/.369/.518/.887 with 22 HR batting behind Albert Pujols — really worth giving up so much, especially at over $12 million/year?

Now, if only the Florida Marlins would take Ken Rosenthal’s “advice” and talk to us:

The landscape could change dramatically if, say, the Marlins decided to trade third baseman Miguel Cabrera, 24; anything is possible, considering the team just failed in its sixth attempt in seven years to secure financing for a new ballpark.

Then again, Cabrera is under the club’s control through 2009. If the Marlins can’t keep him, they should either relocate or fold.

Take one superstar outfielder, put him in the on-deck circle, then add a heckling fan with relentless taunts. As each plate appearance comes up, the heckles get worse and begin to go both ways, from fan to player.

Situation out of control?

Not really. By the end of the game, everybody in the section was laughing.

The outfielder: Ken Griffey Jr.

And the fan? He posted a blog entry about it on MySpace. With photos.

“Ken Griffey Jr’s on my Jock”

A hilarious story!

UPDATE: Since posting this, the story has been careening around the blogosphere and has now landed on ESPN.com: “Griffey’s gesture wins Dodger fan’s support”, which also gives more behind-the-scenes info from Griffey’s perspective. A class act, that guy.

Thanks to SOSG for pointing to the ESPN story.

UPDATE 2: And the story is now captured for posterity in the unfortunately titled “Notes: Griffey likes hitting in three-hole” on the Reds’ MLB.com site.

Looks like the Dodger scouts are getting around and getting noticed. In the Boston Globe, this blurb showed up about both Troy Glaus and Mike Lowell:

The Dodgers have had a good start, but if they could, they’d probably trade for a third baseman. Dodger scouts were watching the Red Sox and Blue Jays last week. There doesn’t appear to be any chance the Sox would move Mike Lowell after the hot start he’s had, but the Blue Jays, given their demise, might consider parting with Troy Glaus. If the Jays fade fast, there could be a fire sale in Toronto. Glaus, who hurt his heel in Friday’s game and didn’t play yesterday, would appear to be a candidate for trade.

Personally, I’d rather go after Glaus instead of continuing our accumulation of 2003 World Series Marlins. Unless of course we’re talking Miguel Cabrera. ;)

(Previously: “Santa Glaus coming to town?”)

I know it’s been pointed out before somewhere, but I feel compelled to do so again.

Bronson Arroyo, in tonight’s game

Not Bronson Arroyo, in 1970

Things aren’t going so spiffily for the Blue Jays this season. They are in last place in the admittedly powerful and over-televised AL East, with a woeful 13-21 record and already 10.5 games back of the Red Sox. There is talk of firing their manager and otherwise cleaning house.

How does this concern the Dodgers? Connecting the dots, check out a blurb under “The hot corner” in this Philly.com article by Paul Hagen:

It’s unknown whether Toronto will conduct a fire sale, but the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers and Orioles are among teams that have had scouts at recent Blue Jays games.

Now, why would Dodger scouts be sniffing around, apart from morbid interest?

Could it be this guy, not so coincidentally a star third baseman who last season had nearly double the home runs of both JD Drew and Nomar Garciaparra? Combined.

Yeah, the guy who currently has a .317/.449/.651/1.100 line, is 30 years old, went to UCLA, and is from Tarzana. Four-time All-Star, MVP of the 2002 World Series, two-time Silver Slugger.

If I’m reading things correctly, Troy Glaus signed a 4-year deal with the Diamondbacks in 2005, then went to the Jays in the off-season. That would make 2007 year 3, and he’s making $11,500,000/year. Think he’d be interested in signing long term with the hometown Dodgers?

Oh, the humanity!

Speaking of humanity, how much humanity would the Dodgers have to give up to get him?

Well, technically, Tim Hudson did not get rocked by the Dodgers, who saved most of their fireworks for the innings after the Braves starter had left the game, but it was either Rock Hudson or an elaborate and ill-advised Hudson Hawk pun.

I’m a little loopy, you see, because Wilson Betemit pinch-hit a solo “homer” today. This so-called “home run” is a little-known MLB rule where you apparently get to go all the way around the bases and back “home” if you can hit the ball over the outfield wall. Who knew?! Seems a little unfair to the other team, but the rules are the rules.

No matter what, though, a great game today for the Dodgers, taking down the Braves, 6-3. Some highlights:

• Jonathan Broxton burning out the Turner Field radar gun with a hailstorm of 100ish MPH pitches.
• Derek Lowe going a strong 7 innings.
• Betemit’s 8th-inning blast and the subsequent smile on his face. Let’s hope both aren’t rarities in the days to come.
• That three-run ninth inning with seemingly the whole lineup getting a hit.
• Only three Dodgers LOB, versus yesterday’s 11.

Murray Cook (of Murray Cook’s Field Blog) has a good post today a little closer to home than the last one I mentioned. Cook, along with a few other local notables, attended an event at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton: the MLB Youth Academy Field Day.

On a typical beautiful weekend day in Southern California, 40+ local youth and sports turf managers spent the day taking part in a “hands on” field maintenance training event held at the Academy. We had Luke Yoder, Head Groundskeeper with the Padres, Kyle Waters from the Home Depot Center, Erik Frey from STS and myself on hand to offer advise on mound, infield, turf care, mowing and logo painting. Moving in groups to different stations, we were able to expose the attendees to a wide variety of field maintenance techniques. What was cool about this event is that 30 from the group were teenagers… and all were excited about the hands on program.