The Trolley Dodger

In Peter Gammons‘s “Players keep the game great” column today (ESPN.com $):

Nomar Garciaparra insists he will be physically ready to open the regular season, but even if he is not, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti is not going to rush into a trade for a third baseman.

“We’re not going to make a long-term move because we believe [Andy] LaRoche and [Blake] DeWitt are going to be here for a long time at that position,” says Colletti.

As far as the outfield goes:

Andre Ethier has had what appears to be a breakout spring, but with Juan Pierre’s contract untradeable, the Dodgers will open the season with Ethier, Matt Kemp, Pierre and Andruw Jones in the outfield mix and let manager Joe Torre deal with one daily unhappy camper.

And the lefty phenom with the atomic fastball and nasty curve:

As for Clayton Kershaw, it sure sounds as if the Dodgers believe he will be a factor this season; the issue will be limiting his innings early in the season so that he is fresh come August, which means 150-160 innings for the whole season.

The Marlins have put infielder Jose Castillo on waivers. He’s got stellar defense and is cheap, having signed a $650,000 contract with the Marlins to compete with Jorge Cantu for Miguel Cabrera’s old 3B position. He wouldn’t need to step in and drive the entire offense, just keep things together until Andy LaRoche gets healthy. Plus he could spell Jeff Kent at 2B.

Ignoring last year when the Pirates futzed with him, his stats seem decent enough for the price.

Do the Dodgers wait out the 72-hour waiver to see if the Marlins drop him, or do they work out a trade to make sure they get him? Do they even want him?

Update: So much for that: “Giants Claim Jose Castillo”

Congrats to Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, who picked up a new member of the team this morning: a baby boy, 21 inches, 8 pounds, 1 ounce. Rumor has it he’ll be a power-hitting third baseman, which would be awesome for the Dodgers in 2027 or so. ;)

So again, congrats to Jon and his wife!

Carl Erskine, who pitched the very first game at Holman Stadium, plays the National Anthem for the very last time at Dodgertown.

ESPN.com has a cool video feature with Mariners pitcher R.A. Dickey explaining the knuckleball.

“Jim Caple Catches Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey”

And check out the followup article: “Why didn’t Mama teach me the knuckleball?”

By the eighth or ninth time — or perhaps the 12th or 13th — I ran to the backstop to chase after a pitch from Seattle’s R.A. Dickey, I should have asked myself, “Why don’t more pitchers learn to throw the knuckleball? And why don’t more teams teach it to their borderline pitchers?

“And most importantly, given how much money Tim Wakefield has made throwing it, why didn’t someone ever teach me how to throw the knuckleball?”