Thursday, August 20, 2009

Five Reasons I Like Vicente Padilla on the Dodgers

Vicente Padilla, surrounded by DodgerTalk co-host Josh Suchon and translator Kenji Nimura, meets with the media before last night's game.

1. We have a bad citizen. The Dodgers are sorely lacking in nastiness, and the plunk-happy Padilla gives them some. This isn't like the days of Jeff Kent bringing down the clubhouse with his sourpuss ways. Kent was an everyday player with seniority; Padilla is an additional starter new to the team. Plus, part of the reason Joe Torre is being paid $13 million is to handle players like this.

2. He gets the NL bump. It's been proven: Pitchers who migrate from the AL to the NL have better numbers after the switch. Although Padilla is re-entering the pressure of a pennant race, the Dodgers aren't asking him to be an ace, just a serviceable fourth starter.

3. Less pressure on Kuroda. Hiroki's a tough mofo, but the last thing we need is him hurting himself and the team by trying to come back too early after suffering that concussion. He needs his rest, and Padilla gives him a good reason not to try to rush back.

4. He's cheap. True Blue LA estimates the Dodgers will be paying Padilla $83,060, while the Rangers owe him $13.75 million. That almost makes up for the Andruw Jones debacle!

5. We need some new blood. Let's face it: George Sherrill is clutch, but he wasn't the starter we were hoping for. Neither is Padilla, but an infusion of new talent is the first step to busting this damn slump.

photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

21 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

i mentioned it last night in the GT but I think Vicente is the love child of Bobby Abreu and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords. And one of them was cheating on the other with Benicio Del Toro

Wesley Vento said...

Vicente Padilla = Battletoad

Neeebs (The Original) said...

I have no problem with Vicente coming in as a back-end starter.

The problem in the last 6 weeks has been the lack of clutch hitting, situational hitting, and killer instinct. Vicente will not solve that problem.

I would hate for the Dodgers to be the Speed horse in a 1 mile race that tires in the stretch and loses to the closing horse.

Josh S. said...

How will signing with the Dodgers affect his stand-up comedy career?

Greg Zakwin said...

Bad move, Elbert and McDonald both have higher ceilings and would have cost, oh let me see, nothing. Even Weaver would be better.

Kyle Baker said...

Weeeeellll...Jon Garland just cleared waivers.

Sorry, that's all I got.

rbnlaw said...

I like your enthusiasm, Orel.

Alex Cora said...

I didn't know he needed a Japanese translator.

Nostradamus said...

HLACK,

If he were the Hypnotoad, then we might really have something.

Ryan said...

@ Fred's Brim: HAHAHAHA!!!

I'm worried about the Vicente Padilla signing. Down the stretch we don't need to give opposing pitchers any incentive to go headhunting one of our batters.

What if Matt Cain did to Manny Ramirez what he did to David Wright...only this time it wasn't on accident - he was retaliating for Vicente's bean-ball.

Does this sound reminiscent to anyone else of our signing of David Wells a couple of years ago, oi our signing of Esteban Loiza? Not quite the band-aid on a bullet hole it was then, but certainly not the Cliff Lee or Roy Hallady that was on the block this season.

I think we'll be fine in the end, and I'm not sweating the NL West...I just worry that Vicente's game antics could hurt one of our position players.

Matt said...

This signing makes me want the Dodgers to face the Phillies in the NLCS again...and have Padilla hit Victorino over and over again...

Fred's Brim said...

I worry about us fans putting too little emphasis on playing the NL West in the next month or so. Past performance does not guarantee future results - the red sox got a taste of that medicine a couple of weekends ago.

Raintes said...

Watch out for that swine flu! It's a m*thaf*cka!

Wesley Vento said...

Mr. C,

Combine them. The head of hypnotoad on the body of battletoad. Now THAT's an amphibian I'd want pitching for my local baseball squadron.

Josh S. said...

Holy shnikeys! Giants lose on a walk-off homer by Drew Stubbs!

Paul said...

Any relation to Franklin?

Josh S. said...

No idea, but it was his major league debut.

Paul said...

The fans at the stadium must love Padilla, it looks like they already tried to rip off his shirt.

rbnlaw said...

@Paul and Josh the Shipper:
No relation. At least at first glance; if you know what I mean.

Paul said...

@Rbn

Yeah doesn't look like there is a relation, but if you put the Stubbs stache on him that might change things...

rbnlaw said...

Ah, the memories of Franklin "Ticket" Stubbs.
His 'stache. His mighty homers, all 5 of them. His uncanny ability to strike out with the bases loaded.

Just one in the long line of first basemen to come out of Albekracky hitting monster home runs, only to discover the air at sea-level is as heavy as my heart after a 10th inning walk-off loss. Sort of the way Giants' fans feel today.