6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

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Thursday, January 07, 2016

Ken Griffey, Jr. And Mike Piazza Elected To The Hall Of Fame

Per ESPN, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Mike Piazza were the only players voted into the Hall of Fame. Griffey, who is by no means an inner-circle Hall of Famer, garnered a 99% vote, which I presume is mostly a protest at the steroid era. Piazza is the lowest draftee ever to go to Cooperstown, and Griffey the highest (first overall):

While Griffey was selected first in the 1987 amateur draft and became the first No. 1 pick to make the Hall, Piazza was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 1,390th pick on the 62nd round in 1998. Since the draft started in 1965, the lowest draft pick elected to the Hall was John Smoltz, taken with the No. 574 pick in the 22nd round in 1985.

Update: I should explain a bit on my remarks about Griffey. There's a 30-point JAWS dropoff between Mickey Mantle and Junior, the largest between any two players above the mean. Partly that was from memory, so if you want to disagree based on the fact that he's well above the mean of 70.4 JAWS, feel free to do so.

Labels: dodgers, ex-dodgers, hall of fame, mariners, reds

// posted by Rob @ 11:18 AM link // 0 comments

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Power Struggle: Padres 3, Angels 2

Fangraphs reckons Albert Callaspo as the goat in this one, mainly for failing to make outs in critical situations. Shortly behind him was recent hero Mark Trumbo, who went 0-for-4; you allow for such nights if they don't become too commonplace. And while it's tempting to say "Albert Pujols, another 1-for-4 with a meaningless single", his outs were made to right field. So, progress?

The puzzler for the Angels, though, was the man on the mound, Dan Haren, who looked lost against the National League's second-worst offensive team. If you can't blank the Padres, something is terribly wrong, and last night's start was a continuation of the "Where's Haren" picture book the Angels have suffered from all year. Meanwhile, Dodgers castoff Eric Stults baffled the Angels, which isn't all that difficult these days. I haven't looked at their numbers against lefties, but it's none too surprising.

Finally, there was a perhaps significant oddment in the final out. Erick Aybar — he of the 4-for-4 night, a lone spark among a dead collection of rally killers, missing the cycle by a home run — reached on an infield single as the tying run. With two out and the winning run 90 feet away, Mike Scioscia left late inning defensive sub Ryan Langerhans in to hit — instead of sending in Vernon Wells, who had not started and remained on the bench. Scioscia used the odd justification that

"Langerhans had been swinging the bat well," Scioscia said.
In his last nine minor league games, Langerhans had batted .179. He had not batted since May 13.

It's so crazy it begins to sound like an upraised middle finger to Jerry Dipoto — "I'm still in charge of the lineup!" — or maybe early onset dementia. When you have a guy who — at least theoretically — could win the game with one swing of the bat, why aren't you using him?

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, ex-dodgers, padres, recaps

// posted by Rob @ 9:18 AM link // 0 comments

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Casey Blake Retires

Via @dodgerthoughts, former Dodger Casey Blake has announced his retirement in the Des Moines Register. He did pretty well for guy who didn't really get his first shot until age 29, spending most of his career in Cleveland.

Labels: dodgers, ex-dodgers, indians, retirements

// posted by Rob @ 3:22 PM link // 0 comments

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Coda On Jim Tracy's Career By Chris Jaffe

I kept missing this, but a pretty good piece by Chris Jaffe about Jim Tracy's career renaissance and re-collapse. Excerpt:

The [Rockies in Tracy's second year are] going backward, not forward, with him. You can all but hear the “Told ya soes” coming from Pittsburgh. Not only are the Rockies stalling from year to year, but also within years. In 2010, the team was in the pennant race until late, but it then dropped 13 of its last 14 games. Last year, they were better, losing only 11 of their last 14. For that matter, in his final season in Pittsburgh his team was 2-12 at the end. Tracy's teams weren’t normally bad in the past, but that’s a pretty impressive trio of season-ending performance over his last four years on the job.

Labels: ex-dodgers, managers, pirates, rockies

// posted by Rob @ 11:36 PM link // 0 comments

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Yankees Release Preston Mattingly

A brief note from earlier in the day before I get to my writeup from today's Angels/Giants scrimmage: the Yankees released Preston Mattingly from his minor league contract signed in January.

Labels: ex-dodgers, spring training, transactions, yankees

// posted by Rob @ 5:48 PM link // 0 comments

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mariners Release Hong-Chih Kuo

MLB Trade Rumors tweeted that the Mariners have released former Dodger Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo had a 17.55 ERA in 6.2 IP, recording four strikeouts. Kuo's injury-laden Dodgers career was ended when the Dodgers non-tendered him in December. The Mariners released him from a major league contract, which was non-guaranteed.

Labels: ex-dodgers, mariners, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 12:38 PM link // 2 comments

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Every Hall Of Famer: Duke Snider

Summer Anne Burton's wonderful series drawing every Hall of Famer continues with Duke Snider.

Labels: ex-dodgers, hall of fame

// posted by Rob @ 12:51 PM link // 0 comments

Monday, February 20, 2012

Manny Ramirez Signs With Oakland

Kind of a crazy story, given Manny's multiple brushes with banned substances, but it looks like the A's get to find out what's left in the tank at one year and $500,000. He'll still have to sit out 50 games due to his prior suspension.

Labels: athletics, ex-dodgers, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 11:17 AM link // 0 comments

Monday, December 12, 2011

Angels Sign Kendrys Morales, $3M/1 Year, Other Transactions

Per the Times, the Angels signed Kendrys Morales to a $3M/1 year deal.
The Brewers have signed former Cub Aramis Ramirez worth $36M over three years with a fourth year mutual option.
The Cards re-signed Rafael Furcal to a one year deal worth $14M.
The Dodgers non-tendered Hong-Chih Kuo, though the team is interested in re-signing him. The Dodgers did tender contracts to Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Clayton Kershaw.

Labels: brewers, cardinals, dodgers, ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 7:36 PM link // 0 comments

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Broxton Signs With The Royals

The surprise to me is how little and for how short a time this is, one year and $4M, making this minimal risk. It's altogether possible he's done given the terrible performances from his June 27, 2010 meltdown game against the Yankees and going forward; Jay Jaffe did the math and reckoned he had a 7.02 ERA with a 35/32 K/BB, which sounds like injury unrecovered.

Labels: ex-dodgers, royals, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 7:25 AM link // 1 comments

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Bullety Lunchtime Stuff

The Dodgers have confirmed that Scott Elbert will get the callup to replace the injured Blake Hawksworth. Hawksworth had a strained groin muscle in last night's game.
Update: Dylan Hernandez claims the return on the Elbert callup is not Hawksworth but Hong-Chih Kuo. Ken Gurnick says the team is staying mum about why Kuo is going down. The Dodgers need league approval to tell us why Kuo is going down? WTF?
Update 2: His problem is related to the "yips" he had two years ago and is psychological in nature, Dylan Hernandez writes.
Bill Shaikin tweets that Frank McCourt has left the owners' meetings and is not talking to the press.
Steve Dilbeck: "Frank McCourt not only has a plan, he has dozens of them. All with one thing in common: desperation."
Willy Aybar wasn't signed in the offseason because he was in prison for beating his wife so badly that she had to go to the ICU.
Update: Bill Shaikin tweets that ex-Angel Kevin Frandsen has tested positive for ritalin. Really, MLB? A 50-game suspension for ritalin?
Update 2: The Angels have disabled Francisco Rodriguez with shoulder inflammation; Kevin Jepsen got the callup.

Labels: dodgers, ex-dodgers, injuries, mccourts, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 12:47 PM link // 0 comments

Monday, May 09, 2011

Milton Bradley's Professional Career Almost Over As Mariners DFA Him

Aaron Gleeman reports that the ex-Dodger, ex-Ranger, and ex-Cub is now an ex-Mariner. Given the woeful state of the M's, you have to believe that means he's about as done as they get. Dave Cameron is unsurprisingly pleased. Bonus points for this graf:

He doesn’t provide any flexibility on the roster, and in actuality, his injury-prone body and angry-prone personality actually hamper roster construction, as the team always has to be prepared for Bradley to come out of the game – either via pain or ejection – at any given moment. And, let’s be honest, Bradley is not on this team for reasons related to team chemistry or leadership. He might not be the worst teammate ever, but he’s definitely not in the running for the best, and I don’t think you can make a case that he’s an asset in the locker room.

Lookout Landing informs us that the return is OF Carlos Peguero, a AAA outfielder whose minor league numbers make him appear as though he'll have a hard time catching on as even a fifth outfielder. Oh, well.

Labels: ex-dodgers, mariners, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 11:41 AM link // 0 comments

Friday, April 08, 2011

Manny Ramirez Retires

Tweets coming in from multiple sources; I'll use this one by Jerry Crasnick. Supposedly there was a problem with MLB's drug rules, and so he chose retirement.

Listening to the Boston broadcasters, they claim Manny would be eligible for a 100-game suspension if he were caught again using steroids. That would make the decision easier.

The Dodgers still owe Manny $15M in deferred salary through 2013.

Update: ESPN. (Via Jon.)

Labels: ex-dodgers

// posted by Rob @ 1:21 PM link // 0 comments

Rob Neyer Tries To Comprehend Brandon Wood

And he makes little headway. B. Wood is among the worst offensive players in the history of the game, including an ex-Dodger named Bill Bergen.

Labels: analysis, angels, ex-dodgers

// posted by Rob @ 10:56 AM link // 0 comments

Friday, January 21, 2011

Rays Sign Manny, 1 Year/$2M

Per Jon Heyman on Twitter; the Rays have also signed Manny's former Red Sox teammate Johnny Damon on a one-year, $5.25M deal with $750k in attendance bonuses.

Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, rays, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 5:08 PM link // 0 comments

Yankees Sign Andruw Jones

Via David Pinto, the Yankees have signed Andruw Jones to a one-year deal worth $2M. Just putting that in perspective, the former Dodger will still be on that team's books through 2014, with $3.2M owed him each year.

Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions, yankees

// posted by Rob @ 8:10 AM link // 0 comments

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Various Arbitration-Related Signings

As the days tick down toward pitchers and catchers reporting ...

The Angels signed four arbitration-eligible players: Kendry Morales ($2,975,000), Howie Kendrick ($3.3M), Erick Aybar ($3M), and Reggie Willits ($775,000), each for one year.
Ace pitcher Jered Weaver and catcher Mike Napoli still are eligible for arbitration. Weaver asked for $8.8 million while the Angels offered him $7,365,000. Napoli requested $6.1 million and the team proposed $5.3 million.
The Dodgers signed a one-year deal with Chad Billingsley worth $6.275M, avoiding arbitration.
An update to yesterday's announcement that the Dodgers had signed Marcus Thames: his one-year deal is worth $1M according to Rotoworld.
Update: The Giants signed Cody Ross to a one-year/$6.3M deal. The Giants also reached single year arbitration-nullifying deals with Jonathan Sanchez ($4.8M) and reliever RHP Ramon Ramirez ($1.65M).

Labels: angels, dodgers, ex-dodgers, giants, hot stove, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 7:03 PM link // 0 comments

Milton Bradley Arrested

For making criminal threats; there's at least the possibility, though unlikely, the M's will escape his contract with it. Via David Pinto.

Labels: ex-dodgers, mariners, stupid ideas

// posted by Rob @ 7:00 PM link // 0 comments

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Rangers Land Adrian Beltre For 6 Years/$96M

That's an awful long contract, especially for a guy who has generally been unimpressive in his non-walk years.

Update: Evan P. Grant tweets that the Rangers have informed Vlad Guerrero they will not be bringing him back. This probably comes as no surprise, since they had already moved Michael Young to a DH-primary role (though he will work out at first base in spring training).

Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, rangers, transactions

// posted by Rob @ 12:33 PM link // 0 comments

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Report: Rangers Sign Adrian Beltre

MLB Trade Rumors claims the Rangers are near to a deal with ex-Dodger, ex-Red Sock, and ex-Mariner Adrian Beltre, most likely a five-year deal. If that's what it takes to get a guy who's been closer to average than anyone is comfortable with for most of his career, I'm glad the Angels didn't get him.

And, to those few reading, hullo, I'm back from vacation. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, all.