Mike’s in Florida to catch some spring training games for the weekend, though sadly not the Dodgers. (Go Orioles!) In the meantime, enjoy this pre-set post and hope that nothing earth-shattering happens before Tuesday.
Back on February 16, when the Dodgers held their first full squad workout, I announced we’d be having a contest to win a Brooklyn Dodgers cap. The goal was (after I knocked out 12 obvious players like Clayton Kershaw & Andre Ethier) to name the 13 players who would round out the Opening Day roster. Remember, things were very different over a month ago, because these were the questions we had at the time:
That leaves you 13 players to choose from, and there’s no shortage of options. Do you trust Chad Billingsley‘s elbow? Which excess starting pitchers stick with the team? Does Dee Gordon have a chance? Does Juan Uribe? Will Carl Crawford be healthy? Will Luis Cruz build on his nice close to 2012, or his horrible winter league play? Will Tim Federowicz back up A.J. Ellis or play every day in Albuquerque? How will the bench and bullpen round out? Which non-roster guy makes the club? Could someone who isn’t currently in the organization?
How some of those things have changed, right? Now we know Hanley Ramirez won’t be on the roster and have legitimate concerns about whether Zack Greinke will be. As we look towards the final week of spring and some answers on those questions and others, let’s take this chance to review how fans as a whole felt and some of the more… let’s say, “interesting” answers.
From 167 valid entries…
People who included Luis Cruz: 157
People who included “Louis Cruz”: 1
People who included Jose Cruz: 1
People who didn’t follow the instructions and included players like Matt Kemp & Adrian Gonzalez: 3
People who included Scott Elbert, even though it was known at the time he’d had surgery and would not be healthy to start the season: 11
Which veteran starting pitchers would make the cut?
– Josh Beckett (145)
– Chris Capuano (100)
– Ted Lilly (76)
– Aaron Harang (46)
Would Ronald Belisario make it through the spring to be on the roster? 127
Would Yasiel Puig?: 5
People who had confidence that Chad Billingsley‘s elbow would hold up through the spring: 131
People who thought that Carl Crawford would actually make it back for Opening Day: 137
Think about that. More confidence in Crawford’s elbow than in Billingsley’s.
Number of backup catchers included: 7, spread between..
– Tim Federowicz (100)
– Jesus Flores (39)
– Ramon Castro (7)
– Eliezer Alfonzo (2)
– Wilkin Castillo (2)
– “Wilkin Castro” (1)
– Lou Marson (1)
Who likes non-roster guys, other than the catchers above?
– Peter Moylan (34)
– Mark Lowe (27)
– Elian Herrera (18)
– Tony Gwynn (13)
– Nick Evans (7)
– Dallas McPherson (3)
– Alfredo Amezaga (1)
– Kevin Gregg (1)
– Jeremy Moore (1)
Hilariously, Gregg might be the most likely to make the team at this point.
People who swallowed their pride and acknowledged Juan Uribe was probably going to make it through somehow, even before we knew Hanley Ramirez would get hurt: 70
Players from other teams: 6, including…
– Casper Wells (5)
– Drew Stubbs (4)
– Franklin Gutierrez (2)
– Adeiny Hechavarria (1)
– Lou Marson (1)
– Mike Carp (1)
– “Loogy we haven’t traded for yet” (1)
Finally, best answers for Opening Day attendance tiebreaker:
– 3600000
– Skip Schumaker
– “huh?”
Thanks to all for the participation and the laughs; we’ll know the roster next weekend and the winner will be announced on one of the two early season off-days, either April 4 or 8.
I don’t really want to talk about last night’s loss any more than you do — I will add that while Josh Beckett certainly wasn’t great, it’s absurd that Pablo Sandoval even swung at that ball, nor would Sandoval have even been up in that situation had Skip Schumaker not booted a ball at second base, and the offense certainly didn’t do anything to help matters — so we won’t, for now.