There are currently three ex-Dodgers on the market right now, and I say, bring 'em all back.
Joe Beimel, who early in the offseason was seeking a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal, still hasn't found work.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers still say they are looking for a left handed reliever. It's the perfect fit. Beimel isn't going to cost much, and is already comfortable in the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium.
Let's do it. Bring back Joe!
Pedro Martinez is still on the free agent market. So far, in the WBC, Pedro has shown he's still got some stuff left in the tank. He's gone six innings, giving up just one hit while striking out six. Ok, ok, it's the WBC. It doesn't really mean much that he's struck out six players on the Dutch team, but it still means something.
And considering that no one seems to want to give Pedro a contract, he should come cheap.
Let's do it. Bring back Pedro!
And finally, Duaner Sanchez was released by the Mets yesterday. He was pretty good for us a few years back.
You can never have enough arms in the bullpen, and frankly, some of the arms we have in the bullpen now are not too enticing. So why not? We can probably get him for a minor league contract. If he's any good, he can be in the bullpen. If he's ok, he can hang out in AAA. If not either of those, then drop him.
Plus, there's always the off chance that he could throw his glove at another ball in play or something.
Let's do it. Bring back Duaner!
I personally think it's admirable that I stuck to that awful catchphrase.
The WBC (or World Baseball Classic for you non-WBC fanatics) is going on in full force, and has been for the last week or so.
Making news recently is the team from the Netherlands, which went 2-1 in the first round, beating the heavily favored Dominican Republic team twice.
However, I'm starting to think something is afoot here. Check the Yahoo! Sports box score:
Maybe you can't see it. Here, take a closer look:
That's odd. Who/what is playing 3rd and batting cleanup for the Netherlands? Is it a person? Is it a plant? Some form of alien being? Either way, they went 0-5 so they couldn't have been that good.All I know is that the person typing up the box score was so confused/terrified/amazed by it, that he couldn't come to describe it.And there's something very deep/horrifying about that.
I don't know how I should feel about yesterday's Spring Training game (Dodgers beat the Rangers 13-7), featuring Jason Schmidt.
Is it good news that Schmidt made it through two innings without his shoulder falling off?
Or is it bad news that he gave up three runs in those two innings, including serving up a homerun?
Or is it even worse news for Claudio Vargas, who gave up four earned runs in his 2.1 innings of work. This included giving up three homeruns, one of which came to... ANDRUW JONES!
Eric Milton, however, went three scoreless innings in relief, lowering his Spring ERA to 3.12.
And Jeff Weaver has been pretty good this spring.
Things are heating up. This is just like watching a four-horse horse race for the 5th starter position.
Except all the horses are old and gimpy.
This is kinda weird. Supposedly, according to Dodgers.com, the scheduled starting pitcher for Monday's Spring Training game is some guy named... Jason Schmidt (sp?).
Who is this guy? He's not a Dodger minor leaguer. He didn't come up through our system.
Ok, I checked his stats. It says he pitched six games for us in 2007... what???
Does anyone remember that?
Seriously: Andruw Jones, Esteban Loaiza, Mark Sweeney, Shea Hillenbrand (amongst others). These are all guys who started their Dodger careers after Jason Schmidt's last start with us and finished them before his next one. Randy Wolf has had two go-arounds with the Dodgers in between Schmidt's starts. Hell, Andy LaRoche (*tear* still miss you, buddy.) had his first major league at-bat, was sent down, called up, hit his first major league homerun, then was horribly injured, called up and sent down several times more, hit some more homeruns, and was shipped off to Pittsburgh in between Schmidt's starts.
Really, is anyone in waiting on pins and needles to see Jason Schmidt return? Is anyone expecting a major league, regular season start for the Dodgers from Jason Schmidt?
That's not to say I wouldn't gladly welcome a healthy Jason Schmidt as our 5th starter.
I'm just not holding my breath.
I was going to post a quick comment on another blog about possible trade ideas for Juan Pierre now that we have Manny, and started researching and writing and before I knew it, I kinda almost wrote an entire article on my idea. Anyway, here it is:
I have a hard time finding trading partners because I don't know how much value Pierre has to other teams 
(read: I don't know if they realize how bad he is), but let's take a look at the Reds.
Let's assume this is a fit for a couple reasons:
1. Dusty Baker had him for one year in Chicago and liked him enough to send him out there for all 162 games. (Minor Problem?: Dusty Baker knows the truth about Juan Pierre, and will tell the Reds GM to steer clear? I actually have no idea how Baker feels about Pierre, but let's assume he likes him.)
2. The four outfielders on the Reds 40-man roster are Jay Bruce, Willy Taveras, Norris Hopper, and Chris Dickerson, so let's say there is room for improvement. (Minor Problem: Willy Taveras is already basically Juan Pierre) Still, Pierre is an improvement over Hopper and Dickerson.
Anyway, assuming those two things, here's a couple options to chew on: Juan Pierre to the Reds for either Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang.
Pierre is owed $10M in 2009, $10M in 2010, and $8.5M in 2011.
Harang is owed $11M in 2009, $12.5M in 2010, and $12.75M in 2011 ($2M club option buyout).
Arroyo is owed $9.5M in 2009, $11M in 2010, and $11M in 2011 ($2M club option buyout).
Obtaining either of the pitchers would mean additional payroll, but McCourt is $30M under last years payroll, so he could stand to spend a little more.
Harang's been good, Arroyo's never been great, but both had pretty sub-par years last year, though I'm willing to bet those ERAs will lower in the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium (also, the idea of Aaron Harang or Bronson Arroyo as our #5 starter is actually pretty nice when you think about it). Plus, there's the added benefit that if they don't work out, we don't pick up their 2011 option.
The Reds also have a lot of good young pitchers coming up and filling out the rotation, so more than likely, one of the two I mentioned would have to go at some point anyway.
Personally, I like the idea (probably because it's mine), but then again, it's hard for me to be objective. I'm not really sure the Reds would go for it.
Not to say it doesn't benefit them. They lower their payroll, acquire a "solid" outfielder, and free up space in their clustered starting rotation for a young arm.
See? This trade makes sense, both in terms of economics and personel. Both sides win. This seems like a great idea to me.
...which mean it'll never happen.
Everyone is happy.
For real.
At least it seems that way.
Joe Torre, Ned Colletti, Dodgers players, Dodgers fans, Manny himself. Even Scott Boras is on ESPNews saying he's happy with the outcome. Of course, he's also saying a lot of other Agent spin and various BS. (Edit: Sorry, I meant to continue this article, but there's a lot of weird stuff going on with this Boras interview. Picture this: As the "Star-Spangled Banner" plays loudly in the background, a fly lands ever so gently on Boras's suit and begins walking around. Neither Boras nor interviewer Michelle Bonner acknowledges either thing as happening. Meanwhile, behind him, three umpires emerge from a seemingly hidden room within a wall and approach Boras as though they are ready to kick his ass. Oh no! They are going to collide! At the last second the umpires move to avoid Boras, but never avert their angered stares from him. Now Boras completes the interview by saying Good-bye to Michelle Bonner, spreading wings, and flying into a firepit that has just opened up in the ground behind him. Ok, that last part didn't happen, but in my mind, that would have fit, and would have finally proven to me that in fact, Scott Boras, is some form of Demon, or quite possibly, the Devil himself. Anyway...) All of them say they are happy with the signing.
But it does pose the question. Where does this leave Juan Pierre?
Well, I think there might be a happy solution for him as well.
According to Dodgers.com:
"The Dodgers have given Juan Pierre's agent permission to explore potential trade partners for the outfielder who again lost his starting job with the re-signing of left fielder Manny Ramirez."
Fantastic. So, for his own benefit, Pierre can find a team that will let him start. That's pretty good motivation. I'm not going to lie, however, and say it's going to be easy. Pierre has a difficult contract to move, especially in this economy. But the important thing is that Manny's back in the lineup and Pierre is out of the lineup.
And that makes me happy.
So, ESPNews (which really doesn't mean one thing or the other: is it ESPN ews [perhaps a collection of all the gross things in sports?] or is it ESP News?) lied to me last night and told me that Manny had signed with us for 2 years/$45 million. 
Then they retracted that statement not too long thereafter. At that point I considered that ESPNews had a vendetta against me and began plotting revenge.
But now I apologize to you ESPNews. I understand now that ESPNews does in fact stand for ESP News. You were reporting the future. I shouldn't have doubted you.
In any case, now everybody is reporting it. Manny is ours again. Same offer as before: 2 years/$45 million, opt out clause after the first year. ...which in all likelihood means if we want Manny back next year, we are doing this all over again. But that's for another off-season.
Anyway, I'm excited. We have a pretty solid lineup now, one of the best in the National League, but we'll discuss this later. For now, the important thing is that Manny is back...
Joe Beimel, who early in the offseason was seeking a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal, still hasn't found work.
And finally, Duaner Sanchez was released by the Mets yesterday. He was pretty good for us a few years back.
