The Trolley Dodger

Rumor has it the Cubs are looking for a CF and are taking a serious look at Coco Crisp.

The Cubs were reportedly looking to resign Juan Pierre before the Dodgers picked him up. (They gave up a lot to get him in the first place.)

From a Cubs news item on February 2007:

Long gone
CF Juan Pierre: He led the NL in hits with 204 and swiped 58 bases, third-best in franchise history. But Pierre left via free agency because he wanted a long-term deal, and the Cubs didn’t want to block prospect Pie. They’ll miss Pierre’s expertise — he was a good mentor for young players — and his energy.

Think they’d still be interested? If they’re that interested in Crisp, why not Pierre if we subsidized the salary?

2007 stats

PLAYER G   AB  R  H   2B 3B HR RBI SB  BA   OBP  SLG
Crisp  145 526 85 141 28 7  6  60  28 .268 .330 .382
Pierre 162 668 96 196 24 8  0  41  64 .293 .331 .353

It’s been a weird few days in Dodger land. First off, of course, Joe Torre is still our manager — I keep forgetting, then I remember and utter a Keanu-like “Whoa.” But even stranger were the MLB headlines the past couple of days, where you could see simultaneously:

• Eric Gagne signs with Brewers.
• Milton Bradley signs with Rangers.
• Paul Lo Duca signs with Nationals.
• Randy Wolf signs with Padres.
• Andruw Jones signs with Dodgers.

Surreal.

The latest news is Jeff Kent finally got around to telling the Dodgers he was coming back. Oh, and we might have won the Hiroki Kuroda sweepstakes, according to various media reports. My favorite is Tony Jackson’s “Kuroda update: He’s leaving on a jet plane”,

A non-stop flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles, to be exact, and due to land at LAX at 9:30 tomorrow morning, from what I understand. That could mean one of two things. One, that he changed his mind yet again and decided to go ahead with his recruiting trip to Seattle and Los Angeles. Or, more likely, that he has decided to sign with the Dodgers. Sounds like this is really close to happening.

An undignified last game of the season with the Giants, but at least the Dodgers won the final series and posted a winning record for the season. Bright spots in an otherwise gloomy fortnight, with mounting losses and the public airing of dirty laundry. To paraphrase TS Eliot, this is the way the season ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

I got a voicemail from my friend Alex the other day saying, “I for one am cheering for the Cubbies.” I’ll have to echo that sentiment, and I will feel even better if the Rockies manage to beat the Padres in tomorrow’s one-game playoff. With that and the Mets’ debacle, I’ll be able to reach some measure of acceptance about the season.

Looking forward to next year, there’s already a cord or two of firewood outside ready for the Hot Stove. I can think of at least one or two targets for signing or trades this winter. Why not dream big?

(Speaking of dead wood, how about that stellar defensive work at second base by Wilson Valdez the past few days?)

Anyhow, congratulations to the Dodgers on the season record, and let’s hope the hard lessons of 2007 turn into better results in 2008.

Head over to the US Soccer site front page to check out behind-the-scenes video of Landon Donovan throwing out the first pitch before the Dodgers/Cubs game the other day. The high points:

• Joking about seeing Tommy Lasorda
• Joking about what the Cub fans’ reactions would be.
• Landon (a Dodgers fan) putting on the Cubs uni under protest.
• Surreality of them with the Reno 911 guys at Wrigley Field.

And more. The video player is in the rightmost column.

Via the US Men’s Team official blog.

In Buster Olney’s latest blog entry on ESPN Insider, he has this about the Scott Rolen to the Dodgers rumors:

There is some speculation, within GM circles, that the Cardinals will look to trade Scott Rolen as soon as the team raises the white flag on their season, and Rolen would make sense for the Dodgers, in some respects. He would give L.A. a strong defensive presence at third base, plus some experience, and he could hit in the last four spots in the lineup and not be expected to be one of the main guys. The Cardinals clearly would have to eat a huge chunk of the salary owed to Rolen in the future — he will make $12 million a year for each of the next three years — but they could get a decent (but not great) prospect from the Dodgers.

To me, if the Dodgers wanted Rolen, he would almost have to be somewhere in the 3-5 range, most likely 4th where Kent is currently, just due to his power potential. Thinking back to what Grady has been doing this year, I would imagine something like this:

1. Furcal
2. Pierre
3. Nomar
4. Rolen
5. Kent
6. Gonzo
7. Martin
8. Ethier
9. (pitcher)

What about this?

1. Pierre
2. Martin or Furcal
3. Furcal or Martin
4. Rolen
5. Kent
6. Nomar or Gonzo
7. Gonzo or Nomar
8. Ethier
9. (pitcher)

Plus I’m not that convinced the Cards would be willing to eat salary if they weren’t getting some value in return, i.e. multiple prospects.

Previously on Trolley Dodger: “Rolen to the Dodgers?”

Vaguely related idle speculation: do Troy Glaus’s injury issues have to do with playing on artificial turf?

This is one of those travel ideas that always sounds idyllic to me, but is probably a nightmare to plan and execute. :)

The blog Baseball Cities Tour is in the middle of a “30 stadiums in a single summer” road trip, and their 10th was at Dodger Stadium. For each game, there’s a brief blurb in the main blog, and then a fuller description on a game page.

• “Game 10 - Dodgers Stadium” blog post
• “May 15, 2007 — Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA” game description

This was last Tuesday’s victory over the Cardinals. Game 9 was with the Padres at PetCo, while Game 11 will be tonight at Los Angeles Stadium of Anaheim.

Definitely worth a subscription in your RSS reader.

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.

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