Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Ned and Diamond Make a Talkie

title inspired by:

Diamond Leung has been talking to Ned Colletti:

Dodgers think less is more with Russell Martin
Call Dodgers GM Colletti the Big Fundamental

Some highlights:

"We did talk about our catching situation to see if there was a way of improving it," Colletti said. "We did talk about Russell's versatility. I think it would benefit Russell to not play as often behind the plate as he did. Sometimes that's easier to be said from someone who's not making out the lineup card.

Asked if he was more open to having Martin play more third base or signing a stronger backup catcher, Colletti said, "The best scenario might be both."

Could we be looking at a regular Loney-DeWitt-Martin-(maybe) Furcal infield? Might the Dodgers be adding a catcher to their off-season shopping list?

- Blake DeWitt will be among those expected to come to Dodger Stadium in January to work on his infield versatility, as he could end up the starting third baseman or second baseman.

Joe Torre has been thinking of DeWitt as a third baseman. Guess DeWitt will be working out at second and third. And why not? Flexibility is good.

- The Dodgers want arbitration-eligible closer Takashi Saito back next season, but aren't really sure what they have with his balky right elbow.

Hopefully no balks! Ha ha!

- The Dodgers training staff has been checking in on Andruw Jones. "He's working out, doing a lot of cardio work," Colletti said.

Uh-huh. Sure.

- Asked to name some minor leaguers who might have a major league impact next season, Colletti listed Tony Abreu, Chin-lung Hu and Ivan DeJesus Jr.

Hu is still a minor leaguer?

"The little things in the game have been put aside and put away," Colletti said. "It drives me crazy watching games and small intricacies of the game are overlooked. For years, you would look at this organization, and you were in for a tough three-game series. I don't think any team is saying it right now about us. I know teams for a long, long time held us to that excellence."

The Cubs beg to differ. Apparently Ned no longer has playoff fever.

UPDATE:

Hey, other reporters were there too!

Colletti has full plate for offseason (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)

Dodgers' Ned Colletti says club hopes to talk to Manny Ramirez's agent soon (Dylan Hernandez, LA Times)

Colletti photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate him so much.

He makes those comments with a straight face, yet the only reason he's still employed is because he was gifted the acquistion of a player who was the exact anti-thesis of the player he describes as ideal in regards to minor league player development.

I mean, hey, why mention stuff like plate discipline when you can take a not so subtle swipe at the existing youngsters on the team that weren't a part of his new player development "plan".

Ugh.

Kim Ng wants to throw up at the thought of losing the job to this douche.

Steve Sax said...

Let me join in on the commentary, Orel:

Asked if he was more open to having Martin play more third base or signing a stronger backup catcher, Colletti said, "The best scenario might be both."

Does Colletti know that Martin can't play catcher and third base at the same time? Sorry, Ned, you can't free up payroll dollars that way!

The Dodgers training staff has been checking in on Andruw Jones. "He's working out, doing a lot of cardio work," Colletti said.

One-arm curls don't count, Ned.

"For years, you would look at this organization, and you were in for a tough three-game series. I don't think any team is saying it right now about us. I know teams for a long, long time held us to that excellence."

Hmm, so Colletti's perception is that the Dodgers are no longer perceived as a worthy and difficult opponent to play? And who, exactly, should be at fault for that? The GM who constructs the team with dead weight like Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, and Jason Schmidt, perhaps?

Eric Karros said...

Oooh, I like the new commenting mechanism!