Category Archives: Scott Proctor

Congratulations, Eric

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Eric Stults: first shutout by a lefthanded Dodger since Kaz Ishii in 2004. There’s not a whole lot to add to this one, except to point out that it was pure domination. The Sox only managed four hits and a walk; not only that, Stults drove in a run of his own on a sacrifice fly.

In his two starts now, Stults is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA, which is just one ER over 14 innings, and an excellent K/BB ratio of 4/1. Look, Stults isn’t a mega-prospect, and he’s not a kid. He’s 28 years old. His time, if he is to have one, is now. Let’s hope the Blue give him a shot to see what he can do. With Hiroki Kuroda not coming back for his Saturday start (Chan Ho Park will go) and Brad Penny possibly needing a rehab assignment, Stults will hopefully get at least a few more starts.

And, look: Eric Stults is no C.C. Sabathia. Clearly. But isn’t this just another log on the fire of “don’t trade for C.C. Sabathia!” Without even touching guys like James McDonald and Jon Meloan, the Dodgers have dipped into the minors to recall a guy who’s at least got the talent to shut down a good American League team. As we’ve said over and over… pitching is not the problem.

In other news, Scott Proctor’s going to the DL with “elbow tendinitis” – an injury he’s apparently been nursing for a month. As DodgerThoughts is completely correct in saying, we’ve had just about enough of guys trying to be tough and concealing injuries around here. Does it ever work out well? Ever? But that’s not my focus, for the moment. This is:

Basically, Joe admitted that the original plan with Proctor was to option him to Vegas, and apparently, Proctor was willing to go.

Am I the only one completely floored by this? Joe Torre’s infatuation with Scott Proctor is well known back to their days in New York. Despite how bad he’s been, I don’t think any of us actually thought the club would really do anything about it – especially not when they refuse to rectify the Mark Sweeney situation. I have to admit, I’m a little impressed and a lot surprised that they’d actually planned on sending him down to AAA. Maybe there’s hope after all?

On the other hand, they called up Brian Falkenborg, who already failed in one try with the Dodgers (7.53 ERA in 14.3 innings back in 2004) and has never really had any success in the bigs (5.74 ERA in parts of 5 seasons), while bypassing Mike Koplove, who’s got 222 MLB games of 120 ERA+ work under his belt. I’m sure that makes sense somehow… somewhere… in some reality.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness msti-face.jpg

I Can Already Feel It…

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…this is going to be a particularly painful rumor season. You would have thought that with so many of our top young players ceasing to be prospects and becoming major parts of the current team (Martin, Billingsley, Broxton, etc.) that we’d no longer be high on the list of a team with a ton of young parts available to move in trade. And even if the Dodgers are involved in a trade, you’d think it’d be to, oh, I don’t know: fix a position of need? Like the offense?

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, come on down!

Dodgers: This team, Ned Colletti specifically, must dip down and come up with a rabbit to make them a viable playoff contender. So they will likely be players for Sabathia, Bedard, and others as long as they’re within striking distance. The Diamondbacks’ recent tumble has made a Dodger comeback possible for the time being, but they need to get to .500 before they start thinking playoffs. They have chips they could deal for Sabathia in Matt Kemp, Chad Billingsley, etc.

He’s not wrong to say that Colletti is going to feel the pressure to get this team in the playoffs and will almost certainly make a move towards that end. Fine. But we really need to put a stop to this “Dodgers after C.C. Sabathia” business before it gets out of hand. I’m not so much against C.C., who’s a fine pitcher, as much as I am against the idea that the Dodgers need a pitcher at all. Yeah, I know – Penny and Kuroda are hurt. But neither are expected to be out for very long, and not only was Eric Stults pretty good in his first start up, there’s still more guys down on the farm who deserve a shot like James McDonald and Jon Meloan – not to mention the possible return of Jason Schmidt. (Sidenote – Clayton Kershaw picked up the nickname of “the Minotaur”, due to being a powerful mythical creature that everyone worshipped. In that vein, I think we need to start calling Schmidt “the Unicorn” – a mythical creature that just doesn’t actually exist, damn it.) But look at the split stats on this team, and I mean, how much more obvious can this be?

(all stats entering Sunday)
2008 Dodgers Offensive ranks, NL
2B: Last!
HR: Last!
OPS: 14th of 16
Total bases: 15th of 16

2008 Dodgers Pitching ranks, NL
ERA: 4th
K: 5th
OPS against: 2nd

What more do you need? The Dodgers have above average pitching. They have extremely below average hitting. I feel like I shouldn’t even have needed to post the stats for that, since it seems so common knowledge to anyone who’s followed baseball at all this year. So of course, it makes sense for the Dodgers to go after a rent-a-pitcher. Of course. I particularly like Cafardo’s idea that the Blue should trade Kemp (one of the few offensive performers they have) or Billingsley (who’s outperforming Sabathia this year and is four years younger) to do it. Brilliant!

Let’s move back to the middle infield for a moment. In a reply to my shortstop post the other day, preferred Cubs blog of MSTI Wrigleyville23 asked,

Might I interest you in something in a Ryan Theriot? Please??

Okay, North Siders. You’ve stumped me. Theriot’s 28, and while he offers zero power, a .308 BA is pretty good and a .385 OBP is excellent – plus I’m sure Vin can come up with some story about how his last name isn’t actually pronounced “The Riot” and repeat it twice a night, every night (hey – did you know Todd Helton used to be the backup QB for Peyton Manning at the University of Tennessee? It’s true!). The stats say he might not be the slickest gloveman, but you guys clearly haven’t lived through the Angel Berroa error yet (no, that’s not a Freudian slip.) From here, as long as it doesn’t cost too much to acquire him, he looks like 1996 Nikki Cox as compared to Berroa’s, well… 2008 Nikki Cox. So let’s hear it, guys, why the hate? And by all means, send us Theriot cheap.

Next, Joe Torre. Joe. Come on. What are you doing, here. You’re killing me with this. Remember the old “Good idea/Bad idea” shorts on the Animaniacs? (Note: Yes, I’m a loser, and yes, no one else is going to remember that, but watch the video anyway). I bring this up because today’s lineup reminded me of it.

Good idea: resting Jeff Kent for a 105 degree day game.
Bad idea: playing Luis Maza in his place.

Why, why is Andy LaRoche not getting a shot at second base on days like today? Hey, maybe he can handle it, and maybe he can’t. But we’re never going to know until we give it a shot, right? Maza’s not helping the offense with that 52 OPS+, and he sure as hell isn’t a good enough glove to justify that lack of offense, like Chin-Lung Hu nearly was. (Maza is, as I write this in the 8th inning, 0-3 today, so that OPS is sure to drop down into the 40s). This means that we had a foursome at the turn of the lineup today of Berroa, Maza, Billingsley, and Pierre. No wonder we can’t hit!

And finally.. I was going to post about how brutal Scott Proctor’s been. But he says it himself better than I possibly could, and I at least give him a lot of respect for standing up and being honest about his performance:

“I’m not talking about that,” the Dodgers reliever said after failing to retire any of the five batters he faced in what became a decisive, six-run 11 thinning for the Cleveland Indians on Saturday. “There is nothing (wrong), and I’m tired of people making excuses and saying I’m hurt. My job is to get outs, and I’m (expletive) pathetic. It’s embarrassing to know this team battled like that all day and I pitched like that. It’s (expletive) stupid.

“I’m embarrassed for myself in front of my teammates.”

Hey – maybe we can trade him back to New York for Wilson Betemit! 

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness msti-face.jpg

The Russell Martin Chowder and Marching Society

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One player who I never, ever get tired of saying good things about: Russell Martin. On an offense-starved team where just about everyone shares a bit of the blame, Martin just keeps chugging along. Think about this: no Dodger who’s played in more than half the team’s games (yeah, as of tonight that excludes Rafael Furcal) is hitting more than Matt Kemp’s .297. Except for Martin, who’s blowing everyone away at .321 – not to mention playing a fantastic backstop. And occasional third base.

Really, everything he means to this team showed up in tonight’s game. To put it simply, without Russell Martin, the Dodgers do not win this game. And who knows how many other games you can say that about? In the first inning, Martin drives in the first run with a single to RF and then steals second base, where he was stranded. He follows this with another single in the 4th, being stranded again, before grounding out in the 6th.

But it’s the 7th inning where he took the game into his own hands. At 2 outs and the Dodgers down 2-1, the 4th Padre pitcher of the inning (!) Heath Bell works Martin to 1-2 count. With a flick of the wrists, Martin rolls a single between first and second to plate two, and advancing to second on the throw home. Hey, that’s pretty impressive, right? After an intentional walk to James Loney, Kemp is the next batter, and really, when’s the last time you saw this line on a simple grounder to the shortstop with 2 outs?

M Kemp reached on infield single to shortstop, J Kent and R Martin scored, J Loney to second

Honestly, you had to see it to believe it. Jeff Kent, of course, was running on the play from third and was easily safe when Kemp beat out the throw to first. But talk about heads-up baserunning; Martin, knowing there were two outs, never slowed down and steamed around third towards the plate. Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez throws home, catcher Michael Barrett does a great job of blocking the dish, and Martin makes an incredibly athletic dive to get around Barrett and get his hand on the plate. I wish I had the video to embed here – the best part was him jumping up right after and shaking his fist in excitement. On a team that too often plays without passion, it was fantastic to see. The Padres fell apart in the 9th inning, so the 7-2 margin doesn’t look like a nailbiter, but in a game that was much closer than the score looks, the Dodgers have Martin to thank – yet again.

Final tally: 3-5. 3 RBI. 1 SB. 2 runs.

With that in mind, and with Andy LaRoche finally getting recalled, it’s time for a new MSTI Cause – and I can’t think of a better one than supporting the most valuable player on this team. I don’t care what the news says, there’s only one candidate to back this year: Vote Martin, ’08! I know, I know – it’s sort of a moot point, as with Furcal having sat himself out of consideration, there’s really no other Dodger with a shot to make the All-Star Team. But this is a pride thing. How is Martin only 5th in voting? Now, Geovany Soto, fine, I can’t argue – he’s having a fine season for a Cubs team in first place. Even Brian McCann, okay – he’s outhitting Martin by most standards. But Yadier Molina? J.R. Towles? J.R. Towles just got demoted to AAA after hitting .145. That, friends is a travesty. Martin is second amongst all MLB catchers in VORP, behind only McCann. He started the All-Star Game last year, and in many ways, he’s been better this year.

By the way, if you just weren’t quite sure how useless “wins” are as a stat for pitchers, after Clayton Kershaw was very effective for 5.1 innings, and before Beimel, Broxton, and Wade combined for 5 strikeouts over 3 scoreless innings, Scott Proctor pitched 0.2 of an inning, allowing a run to score on a wild pitch on his very first offering, and then committing an error on a grounder back to the pitcher on the very next hitter. Who gets the win? That’s right, Proctor, by virtue of still being the pitcher of record in the bottom of the 7th when Martin put the Dodgers ahead for good.

In other good news: Andy LaRoche is getting a start tomorrow night, says Diamond Leung. 

Andy LaRoche was officially recalled today and is scheduled to start tomorrow either at first base or third base while facing left-hander Randy Wolf. Torre said his plan is to get LaRoche plenty of at-bats, and he’ll use LaRoche to spell left-handed hitters Blake DeWitt and James Loney depending on who’s struggling more.

Just a guess, but since Loney got on base all 5 times tonight (2 hits, 3 walks) while DeWitt went 1-5 with 4 men stranded, my money’s on LaRoche at 3B tomorrow night.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness msti-face.jpg

Less Meat, More Proctology

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Somewhat bad news: The Blue traded Wilson Betemit to New York for RP Scott Proctor, which is exactly what had been rumored for weeks – though nearly every report said the Dodgers had turned down a straight swap as being not enough.

Fantastically good news: Matt Kemp! James Loney! Clayton Kershaw! Andy LaRoche! Chin-Lung Hu! Tony Abreu! All remain Dodger property!

Back to the trade, I consider this ‘somewhat’ bad news because, well, Scott Proctor might not be very good, while I have advocated in this space before that Wilson Betemit is severely underrated. So since I don’t feel the need to re-state why Betemit should have gotten another chance, let’s look at Proctor – who I am pre-emptively dubbing “The Proctologist”.

Drafted originally by the Dodgers and made it as far as AAA Las Vegas (does that mean we can call him another “home-grown” player? Probably not. But I might anyway) before being shipped off to New York four years ago with Bubba Crosby for Robin Ventura. He made the bigs in 2004 and holy jebus was he bad his first two seasons: ERA’s of 5.40 and 6.04. How exactly did he keep getting chances? Somehow, last year he became one of the better relievers in the AL, putting up a 3.52 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, all while being abused by Joe Torre to the tune of 89 appearances and 102.1 IP. He’s regressed a little, with his WHIP up to 1.51, though again – Joe Torre treats him like Ike treated Tina. So the hope has to be, leaving the AL East and Torre’s twisted manipulations can only help him.

I suppose if the bottom line is, “did this trade help the team”, then I would have to say yes. Unless Proctor’s a total disaster, he improves the pen, inasmuch as he fulfills the qualities of “Not being Houlton or Hull” and much as I liked Meat, LaRoche is a better prospect at 3B. Just a little disappointed that this was all that could be gotten for Meat, is all.

So what’s the upshot here? Proctor goes into the pen and becomes, I would assume, part of the setup mix with Joe Beimel. That’d leave the club with one too many pitchers, though, so someone’s got to go. And if there’s any justice in this world, it’s going to be the corpse of Roberto Hernandez, though it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it’s Eric Hull instead. Delwyn Young has been called up to fill Betemit’s spot for the moment, until Proctor arrives, but I’d be surprised if he sticks, since LA already has enough problems finding outfield playing time.

No, I’ll tell you what needs to happen.

Andy LaRoche needs to come back to LA. And he needs to be given a shot to steal Nomar’s job. Because he is killing the ball in Vegas. A .599 SLG + .400 OBP for an .999 OPS? Er. Yes please.