Have We Found A Winner?

This race for the 5th starter is slowly starting to come to an end.

After already eliminating Jason Schmidt and Jeff Weaver as possible 5th starters earlier this Spring Training, Shawn Estes was eliminated early this week.

The big four contenders left were: Eric Stults, Claudio Vargas, Eric Milton, and James McDonald.

Stults (12.96 ERA in 8.1 innings) and Vargas (8.22 ERA in 15.1 innings) have had awful Springs so far. Stults has apparently had some bad personal issues off the field, but unfortunately, the fact remains, he's been really bad.

So it's really come down to Milton and McDonald. Well, both pitchers pitched today. Let's see how they did:

James McDonald - 3.0 innings, no runs, three strikeouts, lowered his ERA to 4.70. Not bad.

Ok, how 'bout Milton?

Eric Milton - 2.2 innings, six earned runs, raised his ERA to 7.27.

Wow Milton, you trying to catch Vargas there? This comes after Milton gave up eight runs (one earned) in his last appearance.

So were does that leave us?

Well, Pedro still hasn't signed anywhere. But other than that, it's starting to look more and more like we ought to turn it over to McDonald.

He's young, he's got some good stuff, and most importantly, he's our best option.

And I'm pretty comfortable with that.

Stop Whining!

Dodgers.com reports that the Dodgers made a move today that was probably a week or two coming.

They cut Shawn Estes.

Not without reason, of course. Estes has an 8.44 ERA in 5 games (10.2 innings) this spring. He's not pitching well, everyone can see that.

Well... almost everyone. Except, that is, for Shawn Estes.

"It's disappointing and a little shocking, to be honest."

Really? Really??? Here are pitchers you've doing worse than this Spring:

-Eric Milton
-Claudio Vargas
-Jason Schmidt
-Jeff Weaver

That's quite a list of names to be bested by Shawn.

But ok, fine. Maybe you were hoping for more of a chance this Spring. But now you've been given an ultimatum. You can keep this job, report to Albuquerque, prove you still have something in the tank, and wait for an opportunity to make it back to the majors, or you can ask for your release and try to find another team.

But could you just do it without whining?

"I feel I could have been the right man for the [fifth-starter] job... I don't really agree with it. I feel I can help the club. I'm just starting to find my rhythm with my curveball for the first time all spring, for the first time since my surgery [Tommy John elbow ligament replacement in 2006]. Actually, I feel more confident about my pitching at this point than any time this spring."

Ugh... We get it. You think you still have something left. So go find another team, or just wait it out in AAA.

"Estes did an inventory of the pitchers who might be starting at the club's Triple-A affiliate in Albuquerque and expressed concern over the numbers of arms, as well as the altitude of the city.

'Albuquerque,' he said. 'I might as well go pitch on the moon.'"

Guess not.

Look Shawn, I got nothing against you, but for God's sake:

TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!

If you think you got something left, then go prove it.

Otherwise, stop whining!

EDIT: Estes is going to report to AAA and attempt to become a reliever. Oh kay...

The Band Might Not Be Reuniting

To update from my last post, Duaner Sanchez signed a minor league deal with the Padres, so that's that.

Joe Beimel has received some offers and he's going to decide soon where to head. I'd like it to be us, but if not, there are some other options, so that's that.

And Pedro Martinez wants a real money contract. Somewhere in the millions. This one is a little tougher.

Normally, I'd say forget it, but the more I look at the situation regarding our 5th starter, the more I start to get worried.

Here's the list of our possible 5th starters and their Spring Training's so far:

1. Eric Milton - 5.40 ERA in 11.2 innings
2. Jason Schmidt - 6.75 ERA in 4.0 innings (though Torre has said he won't start the year in the rotation)
3. Claudio Vargas - 7.15 ERA in 11.1 innings
4. Shawn Estes - 9.00 ERA in 8.0 innings

That's not pretty. Scratch that, that's ugly. Very ugly. It's Esteban Loaiza ugly (I'm talking stats, not the man himself, he's actually quite attractive).Maybe not.

Anyway, point is, Martinez might actually be our best solution right now.

As it is, it's looking like we'd have to depend on a Milton or Vargas for the 5th starter spot. Ok, fine, I'd be willing to accept they'd only be pitching once, maybe twice a week. How much damage can they do? It's an unpleasant thought (kinda defeatist), but that'd be the facts. Fine, maybe we can get by like that.

However, should someone go down due to injury (which is likely over a long season), I definitely don't want to have to depend on more than one of the above candidates. Can you imagine Vargas and Milton starting three or four games a week? (How about Estes? I shivered as I typed that.)

So really, maybe we should just give Pedro some money. Sure, we don't know if he can stay effective or even healthy for that matter...

But do you really want to live in a world where Shawn Estes starts 20 games for us?

EDIT: Beimel is going to the Nationals. 1 year, $2 million.

Offseason 2008: Dodgers Sign Randy Wolf

The Dodgers added an arm to their rotation Thursday, by signing Randy Wolf to a one year deal worth $5 million.

This is Wolf's second stint with the Dodgers. He went 9-6 in 18 starts in 2007 for the Dodgers.

I'm all for this signing for a few reasons. For one, it ends the constant speculation that we will sign Randy Wolf. We signed him, now the speculation can end. That works well...

Also, it gives us a good set of arms at the top of our rotation. It means (at least as long as Wolf is healthy) that we have four bona fide starters in the rotation and we won't have to rely on Shawn Estes or Claudio Vargas that much.

Finally, it's a cheap and short term contract. If Wolf pans out, good, we can resign him next offseason. If he gets hurt though, or pitches badly, we aren't paying him that much, and his contract will be done by the end of the season.

Either way, it's a pretty good signing.

Offseason 2008: More Odds and Ends

So, a couple more odds and ends for the Dodgers these past few days.

Happy trails to Takashi Saito, who signed a contract with the Boston Red Sox for one year and an option. Saito was a good closer, with one of the nastiest sliders I've ever seen, so it is a bit sad to see him go. At the same time, he might not be able to pitch anymore, which would make the blow a little easier to take. I honestly do hope that he can still pitch, because I like the guy, and I would like to see him succeed again.

Secondly, the Dodgers added another pitcher in Shawn Estes. I'm not too excited about this one. Estes was a name that when you saw him coming up for a start against us, you thought to yourself: "Well, that's at least one win guaranteed in the series." He's going to make $550,000, and could earn up to $1 million in incentives if he pitches up to 30 starts. Side note: if Shawn Estes makes 30 starts for us next year, we are going to be in some serious trouble.

On a light side note: Estes now joins Steve Finley and Matt Herges in the "I've Played For Every Team In The NL West Club."

Dodgers 7, Padres 2

The Dodgers take the rubber match of the series to extend their lead in the NL West to 3.5 games.

Derek Lowe got the win, he's 13-11. Shawn Estes took the loss, he's 2-2.

Derek Lowe was pitching a pretty good game before leaving in the 6th inning after being struck in the knee with a come-backer. Ultimately, he went 5.1 innings, giving up just one run on three hits and a walk, while striking out three. Brad Penny came off the DL before today's game. He came in to pitch some relief in the 7th inning, but gave up two hits and a walk before being pulled. Cory Wade allowed one runner to score on a sac-fly (charged to Penny) before getting a double play to end the inning. Wade pitched two scoreless innings total. Joe Beimel pitched a perfect 9th to end the game.

The Dodgers, led by Manny Ramírez, scored seven runs of Padres' pitching today. Manny went 2-5 with two two-run homeruns. He had four RBIs and two runs scored. Andre Ethier went 2-4 with a walk and two runs scored. Russell Martin went 1-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI. Blake DeWitt went 2-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI, and a run scored.

The Arizona Diamondbacks were swept by the San Francisco Giants earlier today, so with the win today, the Dodgers push their lead in the NL West to 3.5 games. The Dodgers have an off-day tomorrow as they travel to Colorado. They'll begin a three game weekend series there on Friday, starting at 6:05 L.A. time.

Also: With the win, the Dodgers move to four games over .500 (75-71)... With the Dodger win and the Diamondback loss, the Dodgers' Magic Number is lowered to 14... James Loney went 1-4 with a homerun today, but more importantly, that gave him his team leading 80th RBI on the season.

Opinion: After struggling to score a run in the first game of the series, the Dodgers came back to score 13 runs in the next two games. Continuing the theme from yesterday's game recap, Manny added four RBIs today. This gives both Manny and Andre Ethier 11 RBIs each in the last six games. This is also important because we are going into Colorado, where the games so often become slugfests. Pitching is important, but when we go into Colorado, we need to have our hitting win some games for us. We will have a small advantage going in, though. The Dodgers will travel tomorrow from San Diego to Colorado. A relatively short commute. They'll probably get into Colorado sometime early tomorrow, get to the hotel and get some rest before Friday's game. Colorado, on the other hand, has a night game tomorrow, in Atlanta. They are finishing up a three game series out there (where, by the way, they've lost their first two games). It seems like an advantage to me, but then again, can't take anything for granted. We just got to keep up this good play. 10 wins in our last 11 games, and the gap in the NL West race is getting bigger, while the season is getting shorter. We officially eliminated San Diego from the playoff chase this series. We won't be able to "officially" do that Colorado this weekend series, but with a good series, we can, for all intents and purposes, take them out of the hunt. And that's good enough for me...