DODGERS: The Spring Training Thread

You ain't gotta lie to kick it Aaron.

I sure hope he's right though.

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Sexy beard time

 

hahahahaha

Leeeeeeeezzzgooooo

 

i love it but would insert uribe as the bad, el gordo

 

Mattingly Names Spring Training Rotation​

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On the day of the first full squad workout at Camelback Ranch, manager Don Mattingly set his rotation to start spring training. Chad Billingsley will open Cactus League play on Monday, March 5 against the Chicago White Sox, and will be followed in order by Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano, and Clayton Kershaw.​

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Kershaw will throw a simulated game on March 4 as well, as his schedule was tweaked a bit as he will be in Los Angeles on March 15 to receive the L.A. Sportsman of the Year Award from the L.A. Sports Council, and the Dodgers wanted to also keep him on schedule to pitch on opening day on April 5 in San Diego.​

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Mattingly stressed that this isn't necessarily the rotation order to start the regular season (beginning with Kershaw), saying that he was a couple weeks away from deciding that.​

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Notes​

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Harang has a foot injury of some sort that kept him out of running drills Tuesday morning, but it is nothing that will keep him from throwing.​

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Asked about how the Angels were doing after their busy offseason, Mattingly said, "It's kind of like the Mets and the Yankees. The Yankees are the team. No matter what the Mets did, they're going to have their years that they play well, but the Yankees are the team. I don't want to bad mouth the Angels at all, and I know Mr. Moreno does a great job down there in Anaheim and Mike [Scoiscia] does a great job, but we're the Dodgers, and that's not going to change."​

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General manager Ned Colletti said he thinks Juan Uribe will be back in camp by Wednesday.​

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-Eric Stephen TrueBlueLA​

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Seeing as how he's still young and hasn't had much of a chance, it seems like he'd be prime trade bait for Ned. We could probably get a 38 year old ping-hitting middle infielder for him.

An Update on Chris Withrow

A perennial top Dodger prospect, Chris Withrow is looking to finally advance out of AA Chatanooga and fulfill his potential as a pitcher for the major league club. Withrow was the Dodgers first round draft pick in the 2007 amateur draft out of Midland High School in Midland, Texas and battled arm injuries early which limited him to only 4.0 innings pitched in 2008. 2009 was a breakout year of sorts for Withrow. He played most of the year in the very hitter friendly Cal League (Dodgers A+ affiliate at the time was the Inland Empire 66'ers) and even though the ERA was average at best (4.69 in 86 innings) his FIP was very impressive at 2.96. Withrow managed the extreme offensive environment by attempting to strikeout every batter he faced and ended up posting a K/9 of 10.95 as a starter. The Dodgers brass noticed the dominance and promoted the 20 year old to AA Chatanooga. Withrow certainly held his own after the promotion and posted a FIP of 3.68 in 26 innings as a starter with the Lookouts. The solid showing was noticed by Baseball America as well as Withrow was rated the 48th best prospect in baseball after 2009.

As 2009 was a big year for Withrow, one can imagine that the Dodgers were looking for an oppurtunity to fast-track the young right-hander. Withrow would start his 21 year old season again in Chatanooga, unfortunately there was little improvement over the prior year (if even a bit of a regression.) 2010 saw Withrow struggle through an entire year in AA posting an ERA of 5.97 and a FIP of 4.50. Worse was the fact that his K/9 dropped and the BB/9 increased. Withrow would again spend the entirety of 2011 in AA Chatanooga and while the K/9 rebounded, the BB/9 continued to get worse (at 5.25 per 9 innings.) This brings Withrow to a crossroads in 2012. One expects the Dodgers to again leave Withrow in AA. Should Withrow continue to show signs of improvement (as he did from 2010 to 2011) it will encourage the Dodgers to keep Withrow as a starter. If not, the Dodgers might elect to Ethan Martin/Scott Elbert him, turning him into a hard throwing reliever, ending the days of Withrow as a top Dodger prospect.

Trivia
Even though Withrow was the Dodgers first selection in the 2007 amateur draft, he was actually a compensation pick for the Dodgers losing Julio Lugo in free agency. The Dodgers actually surrendered their first round pick the prior winter by signing type-A free agent Jason Schmidt.

Contract Status
As Withrow was only added to the 40 man roster for the first time this past winter, Withrow has 3 option years remaining and 6 seasons of major league service time which would be under Dodgers club control.

Previous Dodgers Player Profiles
None

Stats
Year Age IP BB/9 K/9 ERA FIP
2009 (AA) 20 27.1 3.95 8.53 3.95 3.68
2010 (AA) 21 129.2 4.79 8.33 5.97 4.50
2011 (AA) 22 128.2 5.25 9.09 4.20 3.85​

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2012 Projections - Age 23 Season
Source IP BB/9 K/9 ERA FIP
PECOTA 41 5.00 6.6 5.15
ZiPS 120 5.78 7.13 5.33 4.89

2012 Outlook
Entering 2012, the Dodgers will again likely assign Chris Withrow to AA Chatanooga. Considering his poor to decent results the past two years, judging exclusively by statistics, I would consider Withrow a very long shot to contribute in 2012. Looking outside the statistics however and there's a bit more hope. According to resident prospect expert Brandon Lennox who ranked Withrow the 3rd best Dodger prospect entering 2012, "Withrow has a fastball that can reach 98 mph, and he also has the makings of a plus curveball. He also throws a fading changeup and as mentioned by [DeJon] Watson he’s added a slider to his repertoire." Considering the excellent scouting report, it's certainly possible that Withrow can make a jump in 2012 where all the tools suddenly click. If so, I wouldn't rule out a late season callup as a starter.​

 

how about a new number for Sands

 

Taking Blakes number, nice

 

Now a Cockie

 

Much better number for Sands. Let's hope he will now transform into having Kirk Gibson or Eric Karros Dodger-type seasons.

 

I think we will always miss Beard. He was so much the everyman player. He and Jamie brought so much to the table beyond just their baseball skills. Lets hope their energy is demonstrated by some new blood this year.

 

And the big question is whether the new and improved, slimmed down version of Juan Uribe can hit the fucking baseball. If he still sucks, then the top priority is to find another asshole who can.

 

Merger coming.