Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

Some games are worth recapping, others there isn't much to say. Today there really isn't much to say except the Dodgers are going home for the offseason after a 14-3 loss. Gordon Baird took his second straight loss after giving up 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings. Scott King yielded 2 runs without recording an out. Eduardo Salgado gave up 3 runs without recording an out. Javier Fernandez gave up 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, while Arthur Lewis gave up 2 runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Luke Clark was responsible for most of our offense today hitting two solo homers. The Dodgers go home for the offseason after our second straight loss in the NLCS.

[NYY #23]

Year 5 is now in the books and the Dodgers' season is over after our second straight NLCS loss. We'll jump right into the offseason and try to do what it takes to win the division again, and hopefully make it to the World Series.

Our first decision of the offseason is whether to execute the option for Bernardo Davis. He was 3-0 with 6 saves and a 2.00 ERA in 27 innings spread over 39 games. It would take $2 million to retain him, so we executed his option.

We also executed the option on catcher Brian Bailey, who hit .211 with 15 home runs and 37 RBI for a WAR of 1.4. He'll get paid $3.2 million next year.

Keith Hudson had an option for $14.5 million next year and chose to return after hitting .256 with 10 home runs and 50 RBI.

40 year old Tim Delaney had a vesting option for next year for $11.1 million that was triggered when he reached 500 plate appearances. It was a down year for Delaney who hit .234 with 23 home runs and 67 RBI with a WAR of 1.9, but he's still a productive player. It'd be nice to win it all before Delaney retires to get him his second ring.

The Dodgers non-tendered one player, LF Michael Hanson. We'll have about $16 million to spend this offseason, and won't have too many holes to fill.

Part 4:
Los Angeles Dodgers - 75-87 (.463) 25 GB
2078 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 80-82 (.494) 17 GB (Season Score - 526)
2079 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 83-79 (.512) 12 GB (Season Score - 470)
2080 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 86-77 (.528) 9 GB (Lost Wild Card Series 3-2 to San Diego Padres, Season Score - 632)
2081 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 92-70 (.568) 1 1/2 GB (Defeated Mexico City Conquistadors 3-0 in Wild Card Series, Defeated Colorado Rockies 4-2 in Division Series, Lost to San Francisco Giants 4-0 in NLCS, Season Score - 797)
2082 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 98-64 (.605) - GB, Defeated Mexico City Conquistadors 4-2 in Division Series, Lost to Chicago Cubs 4-1 in NLCS , Season Score - 632)

[NYY #23]

Gordon Baird finished third in Cy Young voting this year. Baird also won a Gold Glove, along with shortstop Carlos Vargas and left fielder Ron James.

[NYY #23]

No players were elected to the Hall of Fame this year and with Jesus Reyes receiving 68.1% of the vote that is the lowest vote total since 2038 when Josh Daniels appeared on 68% of ballots.

SS Jesús Reyes 68.1 (1st year)
1B Anthony Webb 67.7 (9th year)
CL Tony Hodge 58.8 (6th year)
2B Edward James 58.1 (3rd year)
RF Neil Davis 56.9 (1st year)
CL Gabriel Valdés 53.5 (5th year)
C Maurício Maio 52.3 (1st year)
SP Kevin White 49.2 (1st year)
C Sergio Beltrán 47.7 (1st year)
1B Berto Chacón 23.1 (1st year)
CL Cristo Hernández 20.8 (3rd year)
CL Dave Beard 20.8 (4th year)
SS Vinny Sánchez 16.5 (4th year)
3B Aurelio Vásquez 14.6 (1st year)
CL Julián Córdova 13.8 (2nd year)
C Andrea Pometti 13.5 (4th year)
RP Roland Fuller 12.7 (1st year)
CF Juan Salas 12.7 (3rd year)
SP Jorge Cruz 11.9 (7th year)
SP Jesús Cedeño 10.4 (1st year)
RF José Flores 9.2 (1st year)
CL Mark Gibbons 9.2 (2nd year)
CL Pedro Navarro 7.7 (8th year)
CL Tim Stanley 6.2 (2nd year)
SP Juan Galván 5.8 (5th year)
CL Alonso Moreno 5.8 (1st year)
SP Ernesto Rodríguez 5.0 (3rd year)
CL Matt Simmons Jr. 4.6 (5th year) Dropped
C Edward Widgery 4.6 (6th year) Dropped
SS Matt Russell 4.2 (2nd year) Dropped
CF Iván Ruíz 4.2 (2nd year) Dropped
CF Rafael Mendoza 3.5 (3rd year) Dropped
1B Ken Kirk 2.7 (2nd year) Dropped
RF Jorge Costa 2.3 (2nd year) Dropped
SP Mike Bruce 1.9 (1st year) Dropped
RP Luis Gómez 1.5 (1st year) Dropped
C Danny Dukes 1.2 (2nd year) Dropped
RP Joe Edwards 0.0 (1st year) Dropped

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers had a pretty uneventful offseason, just trying to fill in a couple of holes. Our first move was signing reliever Jason Powers to a four year $16 million contract. Powers was 6-3 with 2 saves and a 3.39 ERA in 74 1/3 innings last year.

The Dodgers also reunited with Ben Morgan after he hit .230 with 32 home runs and 70 RBI last year playing first base for the Phillies. He signed for a one year $1.5 million contract, and I hope he'll provide an option to back-up at first base and play a little bit of DH.

Our third signing was shortstop John Morris who signed a one year $1.1 million contract. He hit .233 with 10 home runs and 53 RBI last year while playing solid defense and backing up at third, shortstop, and second base.

Then finally we signed 27 year old Michael Weddington to a one year $800,000 contract. He became a minor league free agent and looks like he can contribute to our bullpen.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers finished Spring Training with an 18-12 record and I think we're ready for the season.

During Spring Training the Dodgers lost reliever Wilber Green to a waiver claim to the A's. A minor loss as we tried to get our roster down to size.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers started off the season hot going 19-7 in April and are locked in a close race with the Rockies.

We made two moves this month, first signing Tim Delaney to a $2.4 million extension. He's 40, but he's still providing value to the team.

Our second move was signing catcher Andy Jordan to a two year $2.4 million extension. In the past two years he's provided 4.2 WAR and at $1.1 million per season he's been a big bargain.

[StLee]

Any chance for a Dennis Lee debut? If so, where does he play, 2B?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by StLee

Any chance for a Dennis Lee debut? If so, where does he play, 2B?

Dennis Lee is moving through the system nicely, and earned a promotion from A to AA last year. He ended up hitting .264 with 11 homers and 49 RBI in 111 games last year and has started the year strong in AA. If he keeps hitting well he'll likely move up to AAA at some point this year, and we could see him make his debut next year. He's been splitting his time between shortstop and second base so far, but he's likely better off at second base long term though.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers continued their hot play in May going 22-6 and taking a 2 1/2 lead over the Rockies.

Darren Dooley is having a huge year hitting .330 with 20 home runs and 35 RBI and is really developing and turning into a star. With Luke Clark making $27 million per year and also playing well I wouldn't be surprised if Clark executes his player op out after this season. That potential problem is for another day.

The recently extended Delaney picked up the 2500th hit of his career. Last year Delaney picked up 117 hits, and I don't think he's got another five years in him.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers had another hot month going 19-7 and we are now 60-20 on the season and have opened up a six game lead in the NL West. Things are going really well, and I'm optimistic this year. Gordon Baird is having a big year as our ace going 12-1 with a 1.95 ERA and a WAR of 4.8. We did put him on the disabled list with a minor injury, but that was only precautionary.

The Dodgers signed Ron James to a three year $16.5 million contract extension. He's having a solid year hitting .301 with 9 home runs and 38 RBI.

The Dodgers have come to terms with our top five amateur draft picks:

1) SP - Kevin Franklin
2) RP - Kyle Reynolds
3) 3B - Ed Strong
4) SP - Joe Ray
5) CF - Aaron Baker

We lost shortstop John Morris to a waiver claim to the Braves. He was hitting just .183 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI, but we needed to open up a roster spot.

33 year old Eric White of the Padres and 30 year old Ted Nelson of the A's each hit the 300th home run of his career.

[NYY #23]

Things were going so well for the Dodgers until July, when we finished the month 10-14. We still hold a 4 1/2 game lead though, and I expect we'll be able to turn things around in August. We lost first baseman Keith Hudson for the year with a shoulder injury, which likely means the end of his Dodgers' career. That had the Dodgers turn to the trade market for a first baseman, but the cost was very high, and we decided to give 24 year old Mauro Ruiz a shot, our first round pick from last year. After picking up a hit in his first at-bat he's gone hitless, but it's early and we hope Ruiz and Ben Morgan can hold down first base.

SP Gordon Baird, CL Weldon Johnston, C Andy Jordan, 3B Luke Clark, 3B Darren Dooley, 3B Matt Mills, and RF Mike Williams all made the All-Star team.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers bounced back from our only losing month of the season with a 20-7 month and have opened up a 13 game lead in the NL West. While we haven't clinched anything yet I feel pretty good about our return to the postseason, so hopefully September will give us a chance to rest our starters a little bit and prepare for the playoffs.

The Dodgers have someone transitioned from an offensive team to a team with pitching and defense as our strength.

Weldon Johnston saved the 300th game of his career this month. He's tied his career high with 49 saves already this year, and the 37 year old needs 10 more to tie the season record of 59. For a pitcher with 10 saves at the age of 30 he's certainly made a name for himself late in his career.

33 year old Wes Gillespie of the Rangers saved the 400th game of his career.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers have clinched the NL West and will be heading back to the playoffs after a 15-11 month. With five games left Weldon Johnston has saved 55 games this year, tied for 8th on the leaderboards.

32 year old Hector Lopez hit the 300th home run of his career for the Gators.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers finished up the season with 4 wins in our last 5 games, while Weldon Johnston finished with 57 saves, a new Dodgers franchise record. The Dodgers will now wait for our Division Series opponent.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers match up well against the Rockies, winning 9 of 12 games. Our pitching allowed nearly 200 fewer runs than the Rockies, while the Rockies have a slightly better offense.

[NYY #23]

Gordon Baird was making the start for the Dodgers in Game 1 and would pitch 8 innings of 1 run ball, striking out 7. He did everything he needed to do to win, but still took the 1-0 loss. Our offense managed just 5 hits tonight, 2 from Darren Dooley.

I thought it could be an interesting finish to the game with Mauro Ruiz and Dooley leading off the bottom of the ninth with back to back singles. A strike out and double play quickly ended the game though. The Dodgers will look to even up the series tomorrow.

[NYY #23]

The Dodgers would get another solid start, this time from Antonio Sandoval. Sandoval would allow 3 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings while striking out 11 and walking none.

Unlike Game 1 he did get some run support though. Matt Mills and Andy Jordan would each homer in the 6-3 win with Weldon Johnston picking up the save.

[NYY #23]

Our offense today would come on a home run by Luke Clark, but we got little else in our 6-2 loss. Chris Moss took the loss after giving up 5 runs on 8 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

[NYY #23]

26 year old Javier Fernandez was making his playoff debut today after a breakout season in which he went 13-8 with a 3.21 ERA. It was a start he'd like to forget after he gave up 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings. Pat Miller came on in relief and gave up 3 runs in an inning, making it a night we'd like to forget as we lost to the Rockies 9-4.

Matt Mills hit a three run homer for the Dodgers, and we're now facing a must win Game 5.