It was apparently decided a few days back that Garret Anderson would be taking the left handed pinch hitting role over Doug Mientkiewicz.
Now, this really shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, but a still shocked Mientkiewicz supposedly left camp when he heard the news ... which is interesting because I just read this blurb in ESPN Magazine from Kim Ng on cutting players:
"Reactions vary. Young guys are rarely rattled; they expect it. Vets who know it's time to hang it up go proudly. But some guys do get upset. We tell them to take the day off and talk with friends."
Now, you would think a guy like Mientkiewicz would be one of the vets who knows it's time to hang it up. Nope, turns out he's more a guy who gets upset. And apparently, Mientkiewicz went and talked with his friends, and they decided his battle plan should be to act like a douche.
Mientkiewicz came back today demanding his release, which would be well and good, if he didn't follow that up by making a scene.
"...they won't give me [my release] because they say if Garret Anderson blows out his hamstring, I'm the pinch-hitter.
...So I'm not bitter or pouting, but I feel like the Shawshank Redemption. Let me go. No place I'd rather be than with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But I'm not one of the 25. I'm OK with that. I get it. Then, why hold onto me?"
First of all, nice job of throwing the coaching staff under the bus with Anderson. Somewhere, Garret is sobbing to himself, wondering why nobody has faith in his hamstring.
"Don't I have feelings, too?"
Second, why is this so hard to understand? They want to keep you around as an insurance policy, in case, as you so delicately put it, Anderson blows out his hamstring. Is that really that crazy an idea? What?! A backup?! This is unheard of!
Third, what's the motivation to keep playing? The fact that Torre wants to keep you around in case something happens to Anderson is actually pretty high praise.
I mean, you haven't shown any indication that you can throw anything other than lobs with that injured shoulder of yours ... so there's no way that could be problematic; is there anything stopping a runner from going 1st to 3rd on a fielder's choice when you are playing?
On the other hand, you went 7-24 (with two doubles!) this Spring (mostly as a late inning replacement, so really that's against the #83s and #97s of the world), so at least the mediocre hitting is still there.
At least you can still catch a ball ... I guess you've got that going for you...
Oh, and finally, Shawshank Redemption?! Really? You have an opt-out clause in your contract that can be enacted on Friday, so yeah, that's a lot like serving consecutive life sentences in a depressing prison with only Morgan Freeman to help you get through your ordeal.
He can probably make throws across the diamond better than Mientkiewicz.
What I'm saying is, give it a rest Doug.
If there's strong interest today amongst other teams in a 35 year old first baseman who can't throw and can only hit .292 against scrubs, but who can catch the ball like the dickens, then they'll still be interest on Friday.
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EDIT: It's Friday. Mientkiewicz was released. Good luck in finding a job, Doug. Hope these last six days didn't ruin your blossoming career.
As Dylan Hernandez reported:
"Brian Giles announced his retirement today."
With the Giles era over in Los Angeles, you know what this means...
The Garret Anderson for old-busted-lefty-off-the-bench-train is picking up steam.
"I'm still your man."
What is going on?!
On the heels of Russell Martin announcing he'd be out 4-6 weeks, Cory Wade is going to be out 2 weeks with a shoulder issue, and Casey Blake had to leave today's game because of a strained side muscle.
We're less than a week into Spring Training and everyone is breaking down! Luckily, Blake's injury doesn't seem serious, and Wade will be back before Spring Training is over, but I don't like the bad vibes we're starting this season with.
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In other news, this headline from Dodgers.com forced me to come up with a bad joke, that I know I shouldn't share with the outside world, but I just can't help myself.
Well, sure, Martin is easy. Let's see him spell Mientkiewicz.
Russell Martin is going to be out for the next four to six weeks with a pulled groin. Now this poses a few issues.
The first is obvious. Who will replace Martin? Word from Joe Torre is that A.J. Ellis will get most of Martin's starts to begin the season, which is something I'm only 60% ok with. I like Ellis, and I like the fact that he's stuck in there for the last seven seasons since he's been drafted by the Dodgers, and I've even supported Ellis as backup catcher for the last two seasons or so, I'm just worried with the idea of "A.J. Ellis, starting catcher." Still, there aren't many other options, none especially better, so that issue kind of settles itself.
Here's the bigger issue, Martin has in a round-about way declared that he's going to push hard to try to come back quickly which is, really, just the worst thing he can do.
Martin has always been known as a hard nosed guy, who doesn't want to sit out a game, or who wants to play through injuries, etc. but in this instance, he would be putting himself at risk for no reason.
I mean, really, we're not just talking about a handful of games in April, but here are the teams we are playing:
3 @ Pittsburgh, 3 @ Florida, 3 vs Arizona, 3 vs SF, 3 @ Cincinnati, 3 @ Washington, 3 @ New York Mets, 4 vs Pittsburgh
That takes us to May 3rd. 8 weeks from now. Which is more than enough time to heal up and make sure you are 100% ready for the season.
Is there one series in those eight (in April, by the way) that is an absolute must win? There is absolutely no need for Martin to rush back.
Russell, you feel like you need to play, but you couldn't be further from the truth. Sit. Heal. Watch some scouting videos or something.
Or grow your totally awesome mustache back.
...and get paid to do it. We'll see you in six weeks.
...make it Garret Anderson!
The Dodgers added Anderson today on a minor league contract, and he'll supposedly compete with Brian Giles and Doug Mientkiewicz for the role of 5th outfielder/left handed batter off the bench.
Now, we can debate whether or not we really need a 5th outfielder1 or if we could fill the role of left handed batter with a better option than one of the aforementioned.2
1. We don't.
2. We could.
...however, we do have Joe Torre as a manager, so having an old busted up veteran to fill the unnecessary role is almost a guarantee.
So, who to pick out of the three? All three are pretty much question marks.
Mientkiewicz only had 18 at-bats last year, and wasn't bad, but that's such a small sample size, you can't draw anything from it. He still deserves a spot and a chance in Spring Training, but for the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to rule him out.
I mean, come on, this was the highlight of his season.
So that brings us to Brian Giles and Garret Anderson.
Brian Giles had a horrid season last year, splitting half the time being injured and the other half being a terrible hitter. I've said it before, but his numbers last year (.191, 2 HR, .548 OPS!) dipped into Andruw Jones-ian territory. And that's not 20 at-bats. That's 225 at-bats! That's a good 2/5th's of a season.
Garret Anderson, on the other hand, has been slowly melting, statistically speaking. Average, On-Base Percentage, Slugging, and Homeruns have been on a downward trend the last three years. So, now the question is, has he bottomed out, or does he still have room to slide more?
Between the last two, Giles has far bigger upside, in that, if he returns to form as the Brian Giles of old, he can make a huge impact on the team. However, I'm going to say there's only a 10% chance of that happening, whereas with Anderson, I feel like we know what we can get from him.
I'm going to go out on a limb here (so Anderson can screw me over) and say that I think Anderson has fallen to his lowest level. Anderson hit .268 (.705 OPS) with 13 HRs in a weak 2009 season and I feel that's probably similar to what he would do if we threw him out there everyday in 2010, which would be really terrible if he was going to be our starting left fielder, but not the worst thing if you are going to make him a left handed pinch hitter, a la Jim Thome.
Basically, what I'm saying is, if we absolutely, positively, gots-to have a 5th outfielder/left handed pinch hitter/old person, then I'm ok with Garret Anderson for the job.
"I'm your man!"
I know I haven't been posting a lot, but it's all part of the plan. You see, this is how I've been going about this offseason:
Picture the offseason as a glass. Every meaningless signing adds a few drops to the glass. Eventually, the glass starts to get full and overflows. And then, as all the non-roster invitees are spilling on the counter, I finally decide to do something about it.
Why am I doing it like this? Laziness? Busyness? The inability to bring myself to dedicate an entire post to Justin Knoedler? Pick one.
Who???
Either way, consider this post emptying out the glass.
Ok, let's take a look at what we've added since I last posted:
- Timo Perez - Outfielder. Hasn't been in the majors since 2007. Doesn't have much value. He's dead to me.
- John Koronka - Pitcher. 4 games since 2006. Never posted an ERA below 5.60. He's dead to me.
- Reed Johnson - He was signed to be out 4th outfielder. He's ok. His contract is cheap. There were probably better options, but I'm not going to go to war over a 4th outfielder.
- Justin Knoedler - Catcher. Hasn't played in the majors since 2006. I can't imagine using him at all in 2010 unless something horrible happens to the several catchers ahead of him in the depth chart. Dead to me.
- Alfredo Amezaga - Utility player. Much like Johnson, he's ok. Also, he's cheap. He can play a bunch of positions. He's coming off surgery so who knows how effective he'll be. Also, I don't know who's spot he's taking on the roster, so he might not even be relevant this year.
- Jeff Weaver - I actually like this signing! Wow! Weaver was effective as a swing man last year, he's coming back as a non-roster invitee. So, either Weaver will be good and find his way back to the roster, or he won't and will sit cheaply in AAA. Nice.
- Ramon Ortiz - Pitcher. 5 games for two teams in 2007. 5.45 combined ERA. Has had a below 4.00 ERA once in his career (2002). Here's a better question ... who has a better chance of being useful in 2010: Russ Ortiz or Ramon Ortiz? The answer? They're both dead to me.
Alright. That's it. The glass has been emptied and I feel better.Look, if something meaningful happens, I'll post about it.Otherwise, I'll be back in a week and a half to discuss the addition of another five players who are already dead to me.
So, I was out and about today, and I finally got around to checking the news, and what did I see?
Well, lookey here. The Dodgers resigned Ronnie Belliard and Brad Ausmus.
And like almost every thing we've done this offseason, I am just ... feeling ... blah ... about it.
Ausmus is fine. He did well enough as a backup catcher last year, and he'll be back this year relatively cheap. If he continues to play adequately and maybe impart some old catcher wisdom on some of the younger players, then he's a good guy to have around.
Plus, he's got connections.
Which I guess brings me to why I'm so unsure about Belliard. What is his point? Is he here to start or come off the bench? And if we have Belliard, what's the point of Jamey Carroll? They play the same positions. Both bat right handed. Carroll gets on base better. Belliard slugs better. Neither excels at both. It's just a little ... blah.
On the bright side, Yahoo! Sports reports that Belliard's contract comes with a stipulation that is both sad and funny:
"The infielder’s $825,000, one-year contract, which was announced Tuesday, will become guaranteed only if he reports to spring training at 209 pounds or less. If he reports at over 209 pounds, the Dodgers can release him and owe only termination pay."
Basically, show up fat and you lose everything!
I can only imagine the horribly depressing conversation that would take place between the coaches if Belliard doesn't show up in shape in Spring. The inevitable: "Is Ronnie looking sluggish?" question. The debate whether or not to bust out the scale. The decision on whether or not to cut him for being 215.
"Are we supposed to add the weight of dreadlocks, too?"
Say what you will about the signings, but at the very least they've added a little bit of suspense to Spring Training.
And really, isn't that all you can ask for in a blah offseason?
He can probably make throws across the diamond better than Mientkiewicz.
