The Dodgers are done. Playoff teams don't get swept by the Nationals. Colorado is more of a threat to the Diamondbacks than the Dodgers but Arizona pretty much has the NL West won.

An Arizona-Cubs first round is going to be fun to watch.

The D-backs are not fun to watch.

Webb/Haren/RJ is a scary trio to face, especially in a 5-game series. The Cubs are the best team in the NL but that trio is scary good.

The Dodgers were done at the trade deadline but they weren't smart enough to realize it. One doesn't disgorge tons of top-shelf prospects to get two-month rentals of super-duperstars (if that even is what Manny is anymore) when one's team has spent more time under .500 than above it.

eh...you never know. The Dodgers could win 1 of the next 2 and 2 of their 3 game set vs. SD, and still be in decent shape to face the D backs at home next weekend. Meanwhile the D backs have to play the Cardinals next week, who are still the better team, and neither Webb nor Haren will go in the Cardinals series.

The D backs haven't won anything. They just increased their chances, thats all

Don't get me wrong...tonight was great. And the Dodgers look like crap and like they have quit. But these things can turn quickly and I don't want to get too excited just yet.

Before this eight-game losing streak, I would have considered the Dodgers to be the favorites in the NL West. There's no reason a team as talented as the Dodgers should not be getting swept in a four-games series against the Phils and following that up by getting swpet by the Nationals. The Dodgers are a talented team that's playing below its ability. There's no reason for Dodger management to think that would happen when they made those deadline deals.

The Dodgers were tied with the Diamondbacks in August and had an excellent chance of winning the division. That justifies the deals they made.

The problem wasn't the Manny trade, but rather the Casey Blake trade, because it managed to be both superfluous(with the presence of Andy LaRoche) and short-sighted(giving up decent prospects for a mediocre rental).

The Dodgers were tied with the Diamondbacks in August and had an excellent chance of winning the division. That justifies the deals they made.

The Dodgers are probably still the best team in the West because of the Manny trade. But what is that worth? A quick first round playoff loss to the Cubs? The Dodger rotation doesn't have any team trembling.

If Colletti were smarter, and had job security, he would have not have sold the farm to make a run at being the worst playoff team with virtually nil chance of advancing to the World Series. He would have been a seller (Pierre anyone?) and positioned a stronger team for a run next year.

Of course if Colletti were smarter, he wouldn't have $28M a year of outfielders sitting on his bench or the DL.

I'm sort of rooting for the Dodgers, since I think the Cubs could pretty much steamroller them while a DBacks matchup would be much tougher, but I suspect it's in vain, since LA appears to have gone AWOL. They've still got a ridiculously easy schedule, though, so if they can regroup and win 3 of the remaining 5 against AZ, they'd have a good shot, and 4 of 5 would put them in very good shape.

As for the DBacks, that trio of Johnson/Webb/Haren is what scares me. That team's got damn little else, but they do have that, and in a best of 5, that's a lot.

retro:

Well, the Diamondbacks would have to cross the plate themselves. And as the saying goes, they couldn't score in a whorehouse with a fistful of fifties.

Harveys, the Dbacks are extremely streaky, which is something you'd expect from a young team. When they get hot, they really can hit anyone... it's just that they get really cold way too often

Anyhow, last night's win was really nice. Gotta kick the Dodgers while they're done. But I'm not getting excited unless the Dbacks win at least one more game this weekend. Oh, and someone please send a bunch of plague-infested rats in the Rockies clubhouse

He would have been a seller (Pierre anyone?) and positioned a stronger team for a run next year.

What do they have to sell that wouldn't negatively affect the team next year? To my eyes, the only trading chip they have is Derek Lowe - and the return on non-Sabathia starters this year hasn't been great. Pierre isn't going to bring in anything, even if they pay his whole contract.

Then sit tight. Don't give up premium prospects for the longest of long shots, and continue to build a better team for future seasons. Of course Coletti is gone this off-season if they don't make the playoffs, so this is where the career of the GM trumped the needs of the team.

That's silly. The Dodgers were in a great position to win the West after the acquisition of Blake and Manny. You can't evaluate their pre-July 31 trades in light of their pre-August 31 road trip

wasn't there an article a week or so back about how much happier Torre must be to be away from NY? Funny.

Well, the Diamondbacks would have to cross the plate themselves. And as the saying goes, they couldn't score in a whorehouse with a fistful of fifties.

5.5 runs per game in 16 games with the Big Donkey, including scoring only 8 runs during three games in death valley, er, Petco.

Andy LaRoche

Since being freed of the restraints of Dodgers' management, LaRoche is hitting 129/228/257 with a OPS+ of 29.

Whatever else the Dodgers may have done wrong, not playing LaRoche and dealing him for a couple of months of Manny isn't one of them.

Pierre isn't going to bring in anything, even if they pay his whole contract.

But wouldn't paying his whole contract to get him out of town be worth it?

20: not really. Pierre has been used pretty well by Torre recently; backup outfielder, pinch hitter/runner, the works. He's severely overpaid but he's not hurting the Dodgers right now. Plus, going forward, if you imagine Manny will leave as a free agent, Pierre in CF isn't the worst thing in the world (Andruw Jones is). And the Dodgers really have no one in the minors who can come up and be their starting CFer next year (assuming Kemp is in RF and Ethier in LF). So holding onto Pierre is not a horrible decision; giving him the contract in the first place was.

Manny in LA: 119 PA, .400/.487/.670, .374 EQA, 22.2 VORP, 7 HR, 23 RBI
JBay in BOS: 115 PA, .327/.365/.529, .308 EQA, 9.2 VORP, 4 HR, 27 RBI

Since being freed of the restraints of Dodgers' management, LaRoche is hitting 129/228/257 with a OPS+ of 29.

With a grand total of 79 plate appearances. Freedom indeed.

Sixty-four outs in 79 plate appearances.

Nothing should hold him in 2009, right?

Whatever else the Dodgers may have done wrong, not playing LaRoche and dealing him for a couple of months of Manny isn't one of them.

Yea, it was worth trading four+ years of LaRoche to finish in 2nd place because 79 bad MLB AB's spells doom for a prospect who had a .400+ OBP and .500+ SLG his last three minor league seasons.

With a grand total of 79 plate appearances. Freedom indeed.

And a total of 148 in the majors this year. And 191 more in the minors. And throughout them, he has looked like a guy with a great batting eye, who can hit it out IF it's grooved to him, but without the power to hit anything hard if it's not grooved. Exactly as many of us feared he'd look this year, after the major thumb injury in spring training. Hopefully by next year he'll regain his power, but it's not that unusual for hitters to have trouble hitting for power after major hand injuries. And most major league pitchers have enough control to be able to throw strikes without grooving very many pitches.

The trade was a bad long term move for the Dodgers, but the best available evidence we have (339 plate appearances in the majors and minors this season) is that LaRoche isn't a major league hitter this year, probably because of the spring training injury. It's not that his hitting has suffered because he's been jerked around in terms of consistent playing time - he's been jerked around because he hasn't hit.

LaRoche may end up being a decent enough player, but the odds are against him being anything the Dodgers will miss down the road. We'll see. My major issue is with the complaint that LaRoche should have received more playing time this year with the Dodgers. Akrasian covers that above.

As I joked on another thread, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.