Blake DeWitt, he’s [white].

the Dodgers had a better team batting average and on-base percentage than the Angels, while scoring only 10 fewer runs. Yet the Angels had won 11 more games.

Why? The Angels have a culture that believes in winning

How does this idiocy get past a randum college weekly's editor let alone an allegedly professional one?

yea, the dodgers HATE to win, hate it.

tell you what, plaschke, a few teams will take those guys who have talent but can't win off the dodgers' hands. let's see how well the dodgers do with a teamful of david ecksteins.

Players such as Kemp and Andre Ethier and James Loney

who are three guys outplaying Blake DeWitt???

Why don't they just trade Kemp and get it over with...

Some nights, many nights, the Dodgers are the worst possible embodiment in a town that understands baseball.

Plaschke's employment shows that this is not a true statement.

You guys laugh, but Plaschke is laying the foundation for another sportswriter of the year award!

He's baaaaaaaack.

They should package LaRoche and Kemp for random scrappy white guys. Then, Plaschke will be happy. Since Plaschke is starting this, you know McCourt is going to talking about trading Kemp now

Bring back LoDuca!!! He's the soul of the Dodgers!!!

Plaschke is very underrated. He's sharp as a tack, and really knows baseball.
The Dodgers would be infinitely better off if they made him their general manager.

The Dodgers would be infinitely better off if they made him their general manager.

Isn't he? I thought he replaced DePodesta.

Players such as Kemp and Andre Ethier and James Loney have been more highly touted than guys such as Casey Kotchman, Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar.

The grouping here doesn't tell the whole picture.

Loney pretty much has been the equal of Kotchman, its hard to find a more comparable pair of players about the same age, who did about the same things in the minors, play the same position, bat from the same side of the plate, play in the same city, and have similar abilities.

Then again they are of different races so scratch that, you can't compare them at all.

As for the others I'd rank them, from most highly touted:
Kemp
Aybar
Ethier
Izturis

SHouldn't we start posting random fantasy trades with the Dodgers? I'll start: Kevin Millar and Brian Roberts (now those two are GAMERS) for Loney, Hu, and Laroche.

Kemp's had a few issues and seems a little big-headed, but why do Ethier and and esp. Loney get lumped in with him?

And I may be mistaken, but I believe Kotchman and Aybar were way more hyped than Loney and Ethier.

Then there's the statistic that shows a team's ability to win close games while manufacturing runs. The Dodgers 1-31 when they score two runs or fewer, while the Angels are 8-13.

The same number of runs were "manufactured" in this example.

The Angels lose John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar, and they just get better. The Dodgers lose Andrew Jones and Rafael Furcal, and they fall apart.

What nonsense.

The Angels are obviously the more stable/better run club right now, but the plaschke way would widen the gap, not narrow it.

What is Plaschke's way anyway?

The key to being a good Dodger in Plaschke's mind is to have played for the team in the 1980s.

Hence, the Dodgers need the black Mike Ramsey back.

This was interesting:

Part was the reason that Paul DePodesta was fired from his job as the previous Dodgers general manager was because, during his final aborted managerial search, he did not even inquire about the availability of Scioscia.

Never heard that one before. If true, it's retarded, of course, because why the hell would Scioscia want to leave after going to the trouble of "changing the culture," building a winner, and working for a team that doesn't give one sh*t what idiot Bill Plaschke thinks?

Who came up with the term 'manufacturing' to describe squeaking out a run or two through bunts, steals, and sac flies? Shouldn't 'manufacturing' describe a team that scores 6, 7, or 8 runs on a consistent basis? 'Manufacturing' to me connotes assembly-line mass production, not individual hand craftsmanship (despite the etymology).

I think the bigger question to ask is why DePodesta should have been expected to ask to interview someone who was under contract to the Angels and was in the process of getting a contract extension? If DePodesta had called up Bill Stoneman to ask for permission to interview Scioscia, he would have been politely told to go take his evil math books and Ayn Rand novels somewhere else.

Teams that score 6 or 7 or 8 runs don't need to manufacture them, it's just part of their nature. Teams without big bopping need to make factories to produce runs, otherwise they won't have any. It's like the Red Sox live on Earth and the Angels are terraforming the Genesis Planet. The Red Sox already have trees and stuff and the Angels have to create them using science. Of course, eventually the Angels will explode.

SHouldn't we start posting random fantasy trades with the Dodgers?

Ryan Church (plays so hard he gets concussions) and Carlos Delgado (wears his socks high) for Ethier, Kemp and Loney.

Never heard that one before. If true, it's retarded, of course, because why the hell would Scioscia want to leave after going to the trouble of "changing the culture," building a winner, and working for a team that doesn't give one sh*t what idiot Bill Plaschke thinks?

Plaschke and Simers ran DePo out of town on a well-greased rail of the purest newsprint. What's really interesting is to listen to Flanders flail about his own culpability for the 2008 Dodgers:

Q: What, if anything, would you change if you could?
...
But as we try to make it as good as we can as soon as we can, sometimes you'll have that mistake [of signing guys like Esteban Loiaza]. I think I'm accountable for it, but I've never done nothing here on my own. I've never just gone out and everybody said, "Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it," and I go do it. I trust scouts. I trust people who watch the game and understand it.

Clearly, that would not include Ned, but more importantly, I find it interesting that just as soon as he mentions that he's accountable, he turns and mentions how this is a group effort, etc. So is he responsible, at the end of the day? He doesn't seem to think so, anyway, or at least, he's unsure that responsibility for the team's construction rests with him.

Dodger youngsters liked by the media:
Blake DeWitt

Dodger youngsters disliked by the media:
Russell Martin
James Loney
Matt Kemp

I'm detecting a trend.

Andy LaRoche and Andre Ethier, being Latino, fall into the same demographic problem that the U.S. Census Bureau faces. Torre has compared Ethier to Paul O'Neill, so that probably should count in his favor.

The media don't talk about LaRoche because he rarely plays.

The media here doesn't like Russell Martin????

Ethier is Latino?

Someone in the Dodgers organization leaked to either Rosenthal or Gammons that Martin needed to be knocked down a peg or two. And there was the brief infatuation with Danny Ardoin and his supposedly superior game-calling abilities.

Andre Ethier's mother is Mexican. His father is French-Canadian, although Ethier grew up in Arizona.

Well, I'm not sure that either the organization or Rosenthal or Gammons count as local media.

That is a good point. But I would hate for a fact to come in the way of a point I was trying to make. After all, I'm channeling Plaschke hear.

I guess you didn't specify "local". It just seems that Martin gets a lot of (deserved) praise from all quarters. Baseball America had an off-hand reference to his being the best catcher in baseball, for God's sake.

Yes, I know where Ethier grew up and attended school.
But that's the first I've heard of Ethier being regarded as Latino. From your description, he's about as Latino as me (mother's side goes back to Cabeza de Vaca) - it's in the blood but that's all.

Again people trying to use facts to get in the way of my point. The nerve!

This would have never happened if Paul DePodesta had tried to tamper with Mike Scioscia's contract!

It's hard to think of another media-team dynamic where the local columnists have so much pull within an organization.
Look at Chicago - Mariotti may roast Ozzie, but no one within the White Sox takes Jay's "advice" seriously.

And the worst part is that the LA Times is dying out faster than the whale oil industry. Writing for the times is as much of a growth industry as typewriter repair.

That would be a good wager: Who lasts longer? The Dodgers' kids or the Times?

Oh, the Times will still be around in some form or another probably in 2050. It is the main newspaper in the area, after all. It'll continue to have some market as long as there's a lot of people in LA.`

Heck, they still publish Racing Form. And Grit.

The Dodgers have the best ERA in the NL. Clearly that isn't good enough.

The Dodgers are also 14th in the NL in runs scored, 10th in BA, 11th in OBP, and 15th in SLG

They're 15th in home runs. With Martin, Kent, and Ethier hitting 9.

Blake DeWitt has an 83 OPS+, which means that clearly he's a (s)crappy white guy who needs to play every day.

Andruw Jones appears to be a very shitty signing too. You take a guy who doesn't hit very well, and you put him in Dodger Stadium? What the ####? I guess when Jones comes back, you can try out the shittiest platoon in history with Jones and Juan Pierre. (on further checking, Pierre might need a RHB to bat for him against RHP)

Granted, that might stop Pierre from stealing 70 bases.

So why do the Angels win? They hit more home runs. Vlad, TTO Catcher Mike Napoli, Torii Hunter (amazing how the Angels get a good CFer, and the Dodgers get a shitty one), Kotchman.

"Blake DeWitt has an 83 OPS+, which means that clearly he's a (s)crappy white guy who needs to play every day."

I'll never forget Plaschke's great basketball column when Bill was a student at Columbia, "Trotters need to play the Generals’ brand of ball."

Blake DeWitt has an 83 OPS+, which means that clearly he's a (s)crappy white guy who needs to play every day.

Does anyone else get the feeling that DeWitt is going to take his 2008 May and parlay it into a decent 5 year career? He's done absolutely nothing since, yet he's got Torre trotting him out there every day while LaRoche sits.

Just because Plaschke like him doesn't mean DeWitt's a problem -- of all the kids on the Dodgers, he's the youngest at 22. And by stepping up and filling a gaping hole, and filling it well for the first two months, he earned the position until someone can take it from him.

And as bad as DeWitt has hit the past month, LaRoche hasn't hit well at all since returning, has not hit well yet at the ML level. You want to replace 83 OPS+ with 73?

"Knock Martin down a peg or two" -- and I thought management in my workplace was the worst.

Heh -- LaRoche started and had a good game in SF today, with a home run (his second HR and second RBI), two walks and two runs scored.

Better yet for the Dodgers, Nomah returned with two doubles at short.

If they can string together a few games like that (and not break a leg), they might be in business.

On the down side, Andruw returned to go 0-for-5 with 4 Ks.

Move along people... there is nothing to see here. Plaschke is just doing his Ellsworth Toohey impersonation again.

Better yet for the Dodgers, Nomah returned with two doubles at short.

Wow. He hadn't played shortstop since August 21, 2005, with the Cubs. I thought I'd see Rick Ankiel pitch again before I'd see Nomar at short.

The first thing I noticed as well was that Nomar played at short? Wow

Dodger youngsters disliked by the media:
Russell Martin

Yeah, damn those Canadians.

I found the Martin reference. It was in a Rosenthal column of June 9.

Growing pains continue in L.A.

On the surface, the Dodgers' young position players appear to be doing fine: Catcher Russell Martin and center fielder Matt Kemp both boast on-base/slugging percentages over .800 and third baseman Blake DeWitt, right fielder Andre Ethier and first baseman James Loney are not far behind.

Team officials, however, are growing frustrated with the inability of the youngsters to react properly to game situations. DeWitt shows a knack for making adjustments, but Kemp, in particular, can look brilliant one moment, awful the next. Even the highly regarded Martin is "flattening out," one club official says.

Martin's game-calling came under scrutiny when the Cubs' Kosuke Fukudome hit a go-ahead single off Takashi Saito on Thursday after smacking a home run off Chad Billingsley earlier in the game. The next night, Kemp failed to grasp that Cubs lefty Scott Eyre was trying to pitch around him to get to the left-handed DeWitt — and struck out to end a first-and-third threat.

So Martin didn't need to be knocked down a peg.

The next night, Kemp failed to grasp that Cubs lefty Scott Eyre was trying to pitch around him to get to the left-handed DeWitt — and struck out to end a first-and-third threat.

I bet if he walked he would have been criticized for not swinging the bat.

Why do you think J.D. Drew packed up and left L.A.?

And as bad as DeWitt has hit the past month, LaRoche hasn't hit well at all since returning, has not hit well yet at the ML level. You want to replace 83 OPS+ with 73?

I guess there's the whole thing about LaRoche having 39 PAs this year while DeWitt has 263. I mean, I can totally see evaluating a guy's ability on 40 PAs.

48,
Those 40 PAs aren't all LaRoche has played this year, don't pretend like they are. He is coming off an injury and hasn't really shown he is healthy yet. He had a weird 119 at-bat stint in AAA where walked 37 times in those 119 at-bats. I know plenty will say this is a stupid objection, but for a third baseman whose calling card is his power 37 walks in 119 at-bats is too much when you have just two doubles and 5 homers and a .277 average while playing in a hitters paradise against weak pitching in Las Vegas. He hasn't struck out too much, so it isn't like he is just watching every pitch go by. I'm thinking these odds numbers are probably an indication that his shoulder is still bum, and hence he can't drive the ball.

Does anyone else get the feeling that DeWitt is going to take his 2008 May and parlay it into a decent 5 year career? He's done absolutely nothing since, yet he's got Torre trotting him out there every day while LaRoche sits.

You say that like May is all DeWitt has done in his career overall. Hes a 22 year old ex-first rounder who has been a solid, if unspectacular, minor leaguer since then. This isn't Bo Hart or something. If he has a good MLB career it will be because he is a good ballplayer.

And it is not as if LaRoche is being blocked by Olmedo Seanz or something. They are playing kids, it might not be the one you prefer but from what we have seen of LaRoche this year it isn't like it is a clearly wrong decision and I'll take Joe Torre's ability to evaluate talent over anyone here.

You say that like May is all DeWitt has done in his career overall. Hes a 22 year old ex-first rounder who has been a solid, if unspectacular, minor leaguer since then. This isn't Bo Hart or something. If he has a good MLB career it will be because he is a good ballplayer.

I would hardly call him a solid minor leaguer at this point. Solid for an organizational player, maybe, but he's not a middle infielder and the only place in the minors he's put up an .800 OPS is the California League, where an .804 isn't exactly beating the doors down. He's certainly not on the majors on merit, he hasn't even shown he can handle AA pitchers yet.

You're overlooking the fact that Blake DeWitt has, in the words of Joe Torre, "gumption."

And he takes instructions well.

Unlike Matt Kemp, the most evil force in the Dodgers clubhouse since Darryl Strawberry apparently.

Remember, nobody walks in LA.

Those 40 PAs aren't all LaRoche has played this year, don't pretend like they are.

So, which cherry picked stats are we using? You used major league stats to "prove" that DeWitt is better than LaRoche, and when I point out LaRoche hasn't even had 20% of the PAs that DeWitt has, you point out LaRoche's minor league stats (which are decent). I'm not saying his stint in AAA for rehab was great, but it's not terrible either.

How about Andy's AAA numbers from last year where in 304 PA's he had a .988 OPS? I'm sure DeWitt's .793 OPS spread between HiA and AA is better because he's a "gamer".

I'm not saying anything about "gamer" right now. Jesus. I'm not Bill Plashke.
And how is using all of his numbers from 2008 "cherrypicking" anyway?

And I never used any stats to "prove" anything about DeWitt.

ALL I was saying was that it doesn't look like LaRoche has recovered from his injury too much right now. His bat is punchless at the moment. Torre's the one seeing him close up right now if he doesn't think LaRoche has anything in his bat this year the combination of that and LaRoche's injury and subsequent poor return would leave me to believe that, right now, DeWitt is a better ballplayer

MM1f is completely right here. You can't take away a guy's job after he does better than expected, and give it to a guy who is theoretically better but is currently worse, especially if the other guy is worse because he's injured, which is probably the case. I think we should have some faith that DeWitt has not transmogrified into a "trusted veteran who cannot be dislodged by a better young guy" after two months on the job, since he was clearly not the team's first choice ahead of LaRoche as recently as three months ago.

DeWitt's only better now defensively - LaRoche's "poor" minor league translation this season of 350/350 and his limited "disappointing" 333/424 is better than DeWitt's hitting this season. DeWitt's not having a surprisingly good season, he's having a suprisingly only-moderately-crappy season.

I also see no reason to trust Torre's observation of hitting ability. That was never his forte in any managerial spot. He also witnessed Juan Pierre being a better hitter than Andre Ethier and Tony Womack being a better hitter than a mailbox.

If LaRoche isn't healthy, he should be on the DL. If he is healthy, there's absolutely no good reason DeWitt should be playing over him.

DeWitt might make good trade bait.

LaRoche would be more likely to be traded than DeWitt. But Kemp may just be the first one to go since he has been branded as "uncoachable."

I'm not talking about just the pure statistical translation. I'm talking about the picture of his current abilities that it paints (since I have not seen LaRoche mark III play). A would-be slugger who can't, or won't, swing the bat and when he does can't make the ball go anywhere (even in LV) doesn't really sound like a good bet to do much vs. MLB pitching.

LaRoche has two more home runs than Juan Pierre and the same number as Andruw Jones.

WTF!? So?

Is LaRoche competing for the CF job now?

I'm just pointing out that by Dodgers standards, LaRoche is quite the power hitter.

At least they don't have Juan Pierre playing third.

Some of us say a prayer of thanks that Juan Pierre grew up to be a lefthanded thrower.

Of course, one of LaRoche's homeruns was yesterday, after the article was written.

The sense I get of the situation is that LaRoche hasn't been buried on the bench, but rather is being given opportunities to show that he is ready for an everyday job, starting about half the time the past two weeks. As he does better, he should get more playing time. Unless DeWitt starts hitting again and soon, I would expect him DeWitt to be sent down as more Dodgers come off of the dl. Unless LaRoche doesn't hit either, of course.

. A would-be slugger who can't, or won't, swing the bat and when he does can't make the ball go anywhere (even in LV) doesn't really sound like a good bet to do much vs. MLB pitching.

Except the alternative is a good who also isn't doing much vs. MLB pitching and further, hasn't done much against AA pitching.

DeWitt had a contact lense problem that was corrected last year. If I know that, then I'd hope Torre or whoever makes decisions in the Dodgers org knows it.