Category Archives: Josh Towers

This Is Going To Ruin Your Day

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Rob @ 6-4-2 with a find that’s guaranteed to make you lose your lunch:

Jamie Enterprises. “A heart for sports. A mind for business. A voice for the community.” Gah.

I’m not even going to put a screenshot because her giant stupid face makes me ill, but just read this part of the bio and tell me that it doesn’t make your skin crawl.

A conscience-driven business leader with graduate degrees in business and law, Jamie has used her business expertise and passion for relationships to drive the Dodgers team and fan experience to new levels of excellence. She believes in the power of the game she’s loved since childhood to unify families, connect generations, and bring people together from all walks of life. Under her leadership, the Dodgers drew their four highest attendance totals, reached the postseason four times, and played in the National League Championship Series in both 2008 and 2009.

GO AWAY, PLEASE. FOREVER.

Update: I guess I don’t have to worry about Josh Towers anymore, do I?

Triple-A Albuquerque pitcher Josh Towers was granted his release by the Dodgers and replaced in the rotation by Seth Etherton, a first-round pick of the Angels in 1998 out of USC. (via dodgers.com)

Bullet dodged, I suppose. That said, the article references that Towers had an opt-out clause, but doesn’t specifically say that’s why he was cut loose. He couldn’t possibly think that he was going to find a major league job elsewhere right now, right?

Also: yes, I saw that Roy Oswalt has asked to be traded from Houston. Yes, he’d be a great fit in LA, and no, the Dodgers can’t afford him thanks in large part to “Jamie Enterprises”, so I’m not going to dig into it now.

Now Taking Applications…

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In my frustration over the horrendous yet predictable outing by Ramon Ortiz last night, I said that I didn’t know who should start the next time around, but that it couldn’t be him. That’s a little unfair of me; if I’m going to say there’s a problem, I should at least offer a solution, right? Well, in the comments of that post, I got to discussing alternatives to Ortiz and… well, it’s ugly.

First, the good news.  The next time the 5th starter spot comes up again is Monday, which is conveniently an offday. So long as Joe Torre doesn’t do something stupid like push everyone back a day and just lets the Ortiz spot be skipped, we can avoid the issue for another turn through the rotation. The bad news is, that spot would next come up on May 29th, in Colorado of all places. So not only is no one beating down the door to get the job, it’s in the worst possible location. You’d think that with well-regarded prospects like James McDonald, Scott Elbert, and Josh Lindblom in AAA, at least one would be worthy of the job, but a quick look at their recent appearances says otherwise.  Granted, ABQ is a hitter’s park, but that’s not enough to excuse numbers so ugly that McDonald’s 5.77 ERA is the best of the top four starters.

McDonald did throw five scoreless in the outing before this. But damn, these trends are not going in the right direction.

Elbert’s done a better job at keeping runs off the board, for sure… but look at the walk numbers and tell me that’s not terrifying. On the season he’s walked 28 batters in 32.1 innings. No wonder he’s not getting past five innings.

Lindblom’s interesting, because while his season stats look lousy (6.05 ERA), he’s got a nice 39/14 K/BB ratio. That said, he’s coming off two lousy starts himself (including walking six in four innings), so it’s not like he’s forcing the Dodgers’ hand here.


Ha! And to think I was worried about him getting a callup when I saw the team in New York. What an absolute disaster he’s been; if anything, he should be worried about sticking with the Isotopes, much less making it to the bigs.

The remaining starts in ABQ were split between John Ely, who we already know all about, and Tim Corcoran, who hasn’t been in the bigs since 2007 and has made just three starts in AAA. So there’s no help coming from there, and there’s no one in AA worth calling up (sidenote: all spring, I had my “NRI invite list” on the sidebar, and I’d cross names out as they got cut or shipped out. I could never figure out what happened to John Koronka, who I disliked even the non-roster signing of, and then never heard from again. At the time, I wrote, “Man, he sounds unqualified to even try out for the Isotopes.” So what happened to him? He’s in AA ball, allowing a 1.500 WHIP. It’s time to find a new career, I think.)

Granted: the start is still over a week away, so it’s possible that McDonald, Elbert, or Lindblom rip off a nice start or two and get back in the team’s good graces. Possible, but extremely unlikely, so help isn’t going to be coming from AAA.

That being the case, you’re left with two options. First, there’s Charlie Haeger, who will be nearing the end of his rehab stint by then. He’s been good but not great in his two starts for Inland Empire, and it seems that his “injury” has healed. That said, even I’m not dying to see him back in the rotation, and especially not in Coors Field.

So there’s only one right answer here, and it’s the answer Joe Torre dreads the most. You have to start Carlos Monasterios. The Rule 5 pick has been surprisingly effective as the team’s longman, not allowing more than one earned run in any of his twelve appearances. With the bullpen rounding back into form and Jeff Weaver back, Monasterios’ role as a reliever has lessened, and he already showed he could survive as an emergency starter, allowing one run in four innings against Pittsburgh.

Does anyone really think that Ortiz can outperform Monasterios right now? Of course not. With the limited options, it’s the only right choice – and then what you do is DFA Ortiz as soon as Haeger’s rehab stint is up, pushing Haeger to the bullpen and perhaps using him as a tag-team partner assuming that Monasterios won’t go deep into the games.

Please Don’t Make Me Watch Josh Towers

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In the aftermath of today’s extra-inning win over the Nationals (2 homers for Casey Blake! 2.2 scoreless for Carlos Monasterios!), Dylan Hernandez dropped some sobering news:

Vicente Padilla to the DL with a sore forearm; Jon Link being recalled.

So in the last 36 hours, the Dodgers have placed their most accomplished hitter and their Opening Day starter on the DL. Fantastic. But with usual spot starter Jeff Weaver on the DL himself, it also means the club doesn’t have any idea who is going to start in Padilla’s place on Tuesday in New York – a game which not only is going to be on ESPN, but which I will be in attendance for.

The only reliever on the roster who could concievably step in would be former starter Ramon Ortiz, but that’s not a possibility I’m even remotely prepared to accept. What’s far more likely is that Link is up for just the next two games, before being sent back to AAA once again in favor of that day’s starter. But who? Here’s the options from among the current Albuquerque rotation:

James McDonald. Hasn’t pitched since last Sunday, when he left after just one inning with a broken fingernail. He’s hardly been overwhelming when healthy – 4.97 ERA, 17 hits allowed in 12.2 innings.

Scott Elbert. Tonight’s scheduled starter, but missed the game to be with his wife as she gives birth. In addition, Elbert’s been lousy so far – in 14 innings over three games, he’s allowed 13 ER while walking 11 (though striking out 16).

Josh Lindblom. Scheduled to pitch on Sunday, but he’s been hit even harder than Elbert. Despite a nice 13/3 K/BB ratio, he’s allowed 24 hits in 14 innings, which helps explain that 5.79 ERA.

John Ely. Slotted to go on Monday, and he’s pitched well in his first season in AAA (and with the Dodgers), putting up a 3.00 ERA and a 12/8 K/BB ratio.

Josh Towers. Towers has the terrifying trifecta: Tuesday’s his regular turn, he’s off to a decent start (3 ER in 12 IP), and he’s a veteran over 30.

Interestingly enough, none of them have pitched since Friday. ABQ was rained out on Saturday, and 33-year-old Seth Etherton (6.30 ERA in 23 MLB games, none since 2006) started tonight’s game in place of Elbert.  None of Lindblom, Ely, or Towers are on the 40-man roster, but that’s not really a huge issue since Cory Wade or Brad Ausmus can still be moved to the 60-day DL.

Now, in any normal situation, I’d say that McDonald or Elbert would be the no-doubt choices here.  Yet the fact that each has missed time due to either personal or injury issues, plus the fact that neither’s been all that great anyway, means that this isn’t a normal situation. Lindblom’s been hit hard, and while Ely’s been good I just can’t see them making that move. So as much as I hate to think it, say it, or write it, I really think this situation has “Josh Towers” written all over it.

On the other hand, you could just send Tommy Lasorda to do a rain dance. By the looks of the clouds gathering outside my window, this could be a rainy couple of days in the city.

At the Very Least, ABQ Should Have Some Pitching Talent

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Yesterday, I shared several pitching news and notes, both good (Monasterios) and bad (Kuo, McDonald). The constant flux in the pitching staff seems to be the news du jour right now, since not only did we see Chad Billingsley toss three scoreless innings yesterday while working on adding a changeup, we get to read about Eric Gagne’s struggles and we may have gained some insight into who’s really in competition for the last few spots on the staff. Ramona Shelburne tweets:

Torre said he’s very interested in how Josh Towers, Josh Lindblom and Jon Link throw today. All are candidates to make the team this year.

Towers was signed as a non-roster invite in December, Lindblom nearly made the team last year, and Link was part of the return for Juan Pierre from the White Sox. All three pitched well in yesterday’s finale in Tawain (Towers: 3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, Lindblom: 3 IP, 3 K, 0 ER, Link: 1 IP, 2 H, 2K, 0 ER), though if you can’t do well against that level of competition you shouldn’t even be in camp.

With the uncertainty at the back of the staff, one should expect that the leaders of the competition will still change about 20 times in the next 3 weeks, but don’t sleep on Jon Link in this race. He’s the only one of the three on the 40-man roster (though of course this is hardly limited to just these three), so he’s got that in his favor, and even though he’s a newcomer to the organization who most people know nothing about, he’s not without his merits. Here’s the quick scouting report we linked to from SoxProspects.com when he was acquired:

Accolades

  • 2009 White Sox Best Slider (Baseball America)

Scouting report
Link has struck out a lot of batters in the minors because he has a very good slider, but his fastball and change are solid offerings as well. His fastball usually sits 93-94 m.p.h. and has some sink on it. His changeup has gotten better, helping him get lefties out, but he walked almost a batter an inning against lefties in 2009 for Charlotte. He has the stuff to pitch in the bigs, but he needs to make strides with his control. Link should contend for a spot in the 2010 bullpen if he proves he can throw more strikes.

Major League Outlook: Average middle reliever

As I noted at the time, he’s struck out 10.5/9 in each of his last two minor league seasons, so clearly the ‘stuff’ is there. It’s obviously early, but he’s yet to walk a batter in camp – and he’s just turned 26, so he’s not a young kid who needs protecting. If someone unexpected is going to sneak onto the roster, why not someone like Link rather than the 33-year-old Towers, who has 5.1 MLB innings in the last two years and hasn’t even been league-average since 2005?

Elsewhere: Garret Anderson’s going to make his Dodgers debut today, but only at DH, so the chances that he blows out a hamstring today probably drop to just 75% or so. Baseball Prospectus has a nice interview with farm director DeJon Watson, mostly focusing on Ivan DeJesus Jr. and Dee Gordon. UniWatch has a story full of pictures from the very first Dodger spring training in Vero Beach from 1948, including the one below. They also note that despite all of the hand-wringing over the club leaving Vero last year, they’d trained in more than their share of locales prior to 1948:

For the first half of the 20th Century, the Brooklyn Dodgers were a somewhat nomadic bunch when it came to their spring training home. In fact, prior to 1947, they trained in the following locations: Charlotte, N.C. (1901); Columbia, S.C. (1902-1906); Jacksonville (1907-1909); Hot Springs, Ark. (1910-1912); Augusta, Ga. (1913-1914); Daytona Beach (1915-1916); Hot Springs, Ark. (1917-1918); Jacksonville (1919-1920); New Orleans (1921); Jacksonville (1922); Clearwater (1923-1932); Miami (1933); Orlando (1934-1935); Clearwater (1936-1940); Havana (1941-1942); Bear Mountain, N.Y. (1943-1945); Daytona Beach (1946); and while they remained in Florida in 1947, they would also hold spring training in Havana (1947); and Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic (1948), due to the racist atmosphere pervasive in the American South at the time, since 1947 would be the year Jack Roosevelt Robinson would break baseball’s color barrier.

Now Serving Fungible Pitcher #1837…

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…Josh Towers, come on down! Via the most low-key announcement ever:

Among lower-level free agents, three right-handers agreed to minor league contracts: Elmer Dessens(notes) with the New York Mets ($700,000 in majors, $90,000 in minors), Josh Towers(notes) with the Los Angeles Dodgers ($700,000/$100,000) and Ryan Speier(notes) with the Nationals ($425,000/$90,000).

You’d think I’d hate this, because, well, he’s not any good. In the 6 seasons in which he’s appeared in more than ten games, his ERA has been below 4.48 all of once. He was so bad in 2006 (2-10, 8.42) and 2007 (5-10, 5.38) that he was basically banished from the bigs for two full years, save for 2 token appearances with the Yankees this year. (Wait, is he getting a RING out of that? Good lord.) He’s only once allowed fewer than 10 hits per 9, and his career strikeout rate is just 4.8/9. At 33 next year, signs aren’t ripe for a turnaround.

Still, it’s just a minor-league deal, and he was at least passable in AAA in 2009 (2.74 ERA, 1.111 WHIP). It’s not going to lead to big-league success – trust me, it won’t - but it’s also not worth getting all worked up over. That is, until it turns out that he’s the big-ticket signing of the off-season who ends up starting 24 games.