Vicente Padilla may not be the most inspired opening day choice the Dodgers have ever had. But hey, it could be a lot worse. From USA Today this morning, "Pitchers on mend get opening-day starts" (no link)
"I've had a bad spring," said Sheets, who signed a one-year, $10M contract with the Oakland Athletics as a free agent. "But I ain't fretting about it."Spring training numbers say right-handers Ben Sheets [17.28 ERA over 8 1/3 innings for Oakland this spring], Jake Westbrook [19 hits and 9 BB in his first 16 2/3 spring innings for Cleveland], and Shaun Marcum [8.10 ERA through 10 spring innings for Toronto] aren't where they would like to be after missing 2009 with wrist and elbow injuries. But each will be precisely where he wants to be Monday--pitching as his team's opening-day starter.
And we ain't fretting, either! Battletoad Padilla is clearly better than any of these questionable opening day options. And though we won't face any of these guys all regular season (save for the rare fluky interleague exception), so we can't take advantage of the opportunity--it's a nice reminder that sometimes the grass isn't greener over on the other side.
But their opening day pitchers sure seem greener, however.
20 comments:
Man, the LAT picked Plaschke to write the article for the dodgers opening day starter. That's quite possibly the most important article of the year! The LAT clearly has problems if their rotation of writers is that thin. They have no ace!
Seriously though, how many times can he write the same article and get paid for it?
Let me guess, Plaschke: we need an ace, right?
Don't you think it could be Billingsley? No? And you've written that article five times as well? Hmm.
Who needs an ace when you have a Battletoad, a Bison, an Ox, The Beard, and Blake DeWitt?
Plaschke, once again, you're fired.
Can we have a seance and try to communicate with Jim Murray?
Nice, Nic j.
What is the "your sweater is arygle" comment about?
Sometime SoSG reader KempKershaw has a blog:
http://plaschkethysweaterisargyle.blogspot.com/
So that's a few articles railing the dodgers, so should we expect the softy kissass article about one of the dodgers soon. That's typically how he rolls. Although JP isn't around for those anymore.
Sheets is better than Padilla if healthy. Obviously. And yes, "health and Ben Sheets" aren't always on the same page.
And Dusty, thanks for the plug. Though I read SOSG all the time.
Mr. F- On Around The Horn, Plaschke wears argyle sweaters. Which I actually have grown to like.
Wait, you've grown to like the argyle sweaters or Around the Horn? Wow.
Poor Stults.
Plaschke sucks. We've established that time and time again. The only thing that changes is just what out of date baseball adage he feels the Dodgers are no longer adhering to.
HE SUCKS!!
Clearly I'm sleep deprived. I'm going to bed now.
Oh, and
IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME THE KINGS BEAT THE FUCKING PREDS!!!
That is all.
i fully expected for the kings to continue their nosedive so that was a nice surprise. They are streaky as hell this year but its fun while they are on the good streak, maybe they can get hot and do a little damage in the playoffs.
Dusty- Not that Plaschke wears them, just that I could actually see myself wear one at some point.
I do like how all the baseball "cognoscenti" are jumping on the Rockies' bandwagon thanks to Ubaldo Jimenez.
From what I can remember, the Dodgers have a descent history vs. Jimenez. With the departure of Marquis, I see the same holes the Dodgers have at the back end of the rotation.
I also like how everyone is jumping off the Snakes' wagon. I guess they don't want to hear bout no motherf'in snakes on no motherf'in wagon.
Ah, I see. We'll become a little wary though if we hear you are considering argyle socks as well. ;-)
@RB-
Just reading thru some Tweets from Rockies reporter and scanning the names that I'm supposed to be intimidated by and who will help Rockies win the West. From the top:
Rockies rotation RHP Ubaldo Jimenez, LHP Jeff Francis, RHP Aaron Cook, LHP Jorge De La Rosa and RHP Jason Hammel.
Rocks likely bullpen: LHP Franklin Morales, Randy Flores and Greg Smith, RHP Rafael Betancourt, Matt Belisle, Matt Daley and Manuel Corpas.
Rockies likely catchers: Chris Iannetta and Miguel Olivo.
Rockies likely Infielders: 1B Todd Helton, 2B Clint Barmes, 3B Ian Stewart, SS Troy Tulowitzki and backups Jason Giambi and Melvin Mora.
Rockies likely Outfielders: LF Carlos Gonzalez, CF Dexter Fowler, RF Brad Hawpe, and backups Seth Smith and Ryan Spilborghs.
Coupla names in there, but...huh? This is the sexy pick for writers?
Pablo Torre at SI also picked the Rockies to take the NL West. His logic is so completely twisted, it made reading his column actually enjoyable. Great lines not taken out of context:
If division history is a guide, the team's reign will be over come October. No team has won the NL West three straight years in the wild-card era.
[Rockies] pitching coach Bob Apodaca [...] likes to compare his staff to the mid-'90s Braves.
Last year the Rockies caught fire in May,[...] and for the first time the club had a winning record (41-40) away from Coors.
Tough to argue with SI's logic here because final records over the past 15 years are totally a key predictor of future performance. And Jimenez, De La Rosa and Cook are always mistaken for Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine. And the Dodgers totally suck because they finished with road record of only 45-36.
Look, I get why no one's picking the Dodgers. If they do, then Frank can say, "See? The divorce isn't affecting things. People still think we'll be good."
Then you have to pick someone else. No one in their right mind would pick the Pods or DBacks based on last year. Despite how much I personally hate them, I'm surprised no one picked the Giants. They had just about as good a year as the Rockies last year.
Dusty- Well.....ummm.....I actually DO own a pair of argyle socks. Haven't worn them yet though haha.
Josh- The Giants have absolutely no offense outside of the Panda.
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