The Trolley Dodger

Now this is some better rumor mongering, via Ken Gurnick on MLB.com “Dodgers, Jones inch closer together”:

The Dodgers and free agent Andruw Jones inched closer to common ground on Wednesday, although general manager Ned Colletti said that any significant announcement before he returns to Los Angeles on Thursday night “is a real longshot.”…

Yet the negotiations have continued throughout the Winter Meetings, with indications that Jones is warming to the idea of a two- or three-year contract that would allow him to rehabilitate his stats in time for another bite at the free-agent apple while still in his prime….

…Another former Atlanta teammate, Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal, is said to have placed more than one recruiting phone call to Jones, understandable because they were the closest of friends when they played together.

Yes, please! This would also counter the Angels’ “Center Fielder With Weirdly Spelled First Name” move. ;)

The NY Times has a brief story on Don Mattingly at the Winter Meetings, “Donnie Baseball Emerges as Donnie Dodger”. Within that,

Mattingly says he is here to learn as much about his new organization as possible. He is studying videotapes of the Dodgers and videotapes of National League pitchers. Mattingly compared the learning process to how he felt when he returned as a Yankees coach after being out of baseball for several years….

He doesn’t think it’ll be weird putting on another uniform. I have to say it will be weird seeing him in Dodger Blue.

UPDATE

Tony Jackson points out another Mattingly-related wrinkle:

One more indication that new Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly is the heir apparent to manager Joe Torre when Torre’s contract expires after the 2010 season: while Torre is missing these meetings for personal reasons, Mattingly is here, and when reporters went into Colletti’s suite for their daily briefing, he was there, too, along with player development director DeJon Watson and special assistants Vance Lovelace and Bill Mueller.

Coaches rarely attend the winter meetings. Managers, however, almost always attend and are part of their GMs’ inner circle, participating in meetings along with all the top front-office brass.

Regarding the rumored acquisition of Joe Torre and Don Mattingly, it wouldn’t be the first time the Dodgers have welcomed former Yankee superstars to their coaching staff, particularly one (like Donnie Baseball) who desperately wanted the Bronx manager job.

You might recognize the fellow in the middle of this picture, who traded his pinstripes for a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform for half of the 1938 season:

With the breaking news of the rumored firing of Grady Little, hiring of Joe Torre, and addition of Don Mattingly et al., (not to mention Kobe’s imminent exit and A-Rod’s ill-timed announcement), I have obviously entered some sort of Mirror Universe where reality has been replaced by surreality.

I fully expect to wake up in the morning a fan of the Los Angeles Senators.

If the Torre rumors turn out to be true, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Don Zimmer rejoins the Dodgers, too.

It’s funny — despite Andruw Jones’s “down year”, his 26 homers are still better than anybody else on the 2007 Dodgers.

And with today’s news that the Braves are cutting ties with him, the Dodgers Hot Stove has already begun to shine. :)

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.

“Former Dodger Gagne is happy to be in Boston”

Eric Gagne was at Angel Stadium Monday, admitting that as the trade deadline neared, he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like to call the stadium 30 miles north home again.

He had read the rumors and knew the Dodgers needed pitching.

“It would’ve been great,” Gagne said. “I had a great time over there, 12 great years. It was a lot of fun, but now it’s behind us.”

Grumble, grumble.

Tim Dierkes over at MLB Trade Rumors cracked me up with a bullet point in his post earlier today, “Rosenthal On Teixeira, Dunn”:

Rosenthal believes the Royals could not even acquire a Tony Abreu from the Dodgers for Octavio Dotel. Previously it had been said that the Dayton Moore was asking for Matt Kemp or James Loney. And Duke Snider plus Sandy Koufax.

Repeat after me: Octavio Dotel is a reliever who is on a one-year contract.

Maybe if they add what’s left of the corpse of Zack Greinke on the table, plus eat the remainder of the Odalis Perez salary we’d still be paying, then we’ll start talking guys like Tony Abreu.

With the consistent inconsistency of Hong-Chih Kuo — not to mention Brett “10-run cushion” Tomko — Ned Colletti has talked in interviews about looking to add another starting pitcher. Alongside the elusive power bat, which he’s been trying to get through free agency or trade since the off-season, this will likely be his primary focus for the foreseeable future. (He’s talked about getting another reliever, too, but maybe that will fade if Chin-Hui Tsao stays healthy and Mark Hendrickson stays serviceable.)

While there are potential Plan Bs (well, Plan Cs) lurking in Las Vegas, e.g. Eric Stults and DJ Houlton, it stands to reason that some of the potentially available big leaguers will be attractive.

The biggest name being linked to the Dodgers at the moment is Mark Buehrle, whose midseason negotiations with the White Sox are turning into a brouhaha to match the South Siders’ sorry season. The latest from the Chicago Sun-Times is that the pitcher has turned down a four-year, $56 million extension (due to a denied no-trade clause, reportedly), and thus is back on the block. As much as he’s been on and off the block recently, it’s a wonder he hasn’t pulled something. From the article:

The source also told the Sun-Times that general manager Ken Williams wasted no time taking phone calls from both the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers about a possible trade involving the left-handed starter.

Talks briefly opened up again after the Sox’ 8-1 loss to the Royals on Friday night but quickly died.

It’s anyone’s guess if the two sides will reopen negotiations. Williams had set Friday as the cutoff.

Mark Buehrle is a 28-year-old southpaw from Missouri who is currently sporting a 3.33 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, with 66 Ks and 20 BB over 100 innings. That WHIP would tie him for third in the National League behind only Jake Peavy and Chris Young.

While we’re on the subject, check out who are the current top six NL pitchers in WHIP:

1. Jake Peavy (SD)
2. Chris Young (SD)
3. Rich Hill (CHC)
4. Ted Lilly (CHC)
5. Brad Penny (LAD)
6. Derek Lowe (LAD)

We faced #2 last night and unfortunately lost despite the late heroics. Tonight, #1 and #5 face off. Gotta love the ever-burgeoning Padres vs Dodgers rivalry.

Buerhle has no less than 200 innings pitched per season since 2001. I also like the fact he’s all about the low pitch counts. Oh, and the no hitter he tossed a couple of months ago isn’t too shabby either. (Actually, he was a Sammy Sosa walk away from a perfect game, then picked him off moments later.)

Who would we have to give up to get him? Young guys, I would assume — the White Sox are in meltdown.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE

A poster on Dodger Thoughts (”silverwood” in today’s thread) had this to say about Buehrle:

Buehrle is incredibly overrated. Awful last year, with an embarrassing K/9 rate.

NO THANKS.

So I looked the following up and posted it there. I don’t know, 2007 Buehrle doesn’t seem that embarrassing lined up with our current staff:

Buehrle has a 5.94 K/9 rate so far this year. Brad Penny’s is 5.96. Derek Lowe’s is 6.30.

Penny: K/BB 2.50, K/9 5.96, BB/9 2.38, H/9 7.75, WHIP 1.13

Lowe: K/BB 2.31, K/9 6.30, BB/9 2.72, H/9 7.55, WHIP 1.14

Buehrle: K/BB 3.30, K/9 5.94, BB/9 1.80, H/9 8.10, WHIP 1.10

Not arguing for or against, just sayin’.

For completeness’ sake:

Wolf: K/BB 2.66, K/9 8.40, BB/9 3.16, H/9 9.48, WHIP 1.40

Kuo: K/BB 1.93, K/9 8.01, BB/9 4.15, H/9 10.38, WHIP 1.62

The quote in the title is from an unnamed Dodgers vet about Eddie Murray, who was fired today as the team’s hitting coach.

This from Tim Brown at Yahoo.com, in “Five and Fly: Murray less than a hit”.

A few weeks ago, asked about Eddie Murray’s touch with Los Angeles Dodgers hitters who ranged from the greenest of rookies to the grayest of veterans, one of those veterans sighed and shook his head.

He liked Murray. He valued Murray’s Hall-of-Fame credentials. He assumed Murray could probably teach hitting to someone.

The problem, he said, was Murray could be difficult to approach, particularly for a young player. And Murray, he said, didn’t do enough of approaching of his own.

“He’s trying, I think,” the veteran said. “He’s better this year than he was last year.”

As Brown puts it, the Dodgers installed as interim hitting coach Bill Mueller, “the anti-Murray.”

Should be interesting to see what happens from this change.