There has been one Dodgers signing that was reported after my last post, and thus I have yet to talk about it. Luis Gonzalez was signed to a 1 year, $7 million contract to play left field. This means Andre Ethier will move to right field, and Matt Kemp will move back down to AAA. Honestly now, what is Ned thinking? I know he loves getting veterans with playoff experience, but Luis Gonzalez? For $7 million? Last year he put up a line of: .271, 15 HR, 73 RBI, and a .795 OPS. Are you telling me that if you put Marlon Anderson in left field full time that he couldn't duplicate those numbers? In his 25 games with the Dodgers last year, Anderson hit .375 with 7 HR, 15 RBI, and a 1.243 OPS. He won the starting job from Ethier and was the Dodgers' best hitter over the last month of the season. Now you're telling me he's gonna be sent back to the bench for a 40 year old guy that we vastly overpaid? This is unthinkable. Granted, you can't expect Anderson to keep up last year's pace over a full season, but I'm guessing he would have ended up with similar numbers as Gonzalez will next year, and without the wasted money.
Celebrity sighting of the Day: Went to the Lakers/Spurs game tonight and sat right next to the Lakers tunnel. Surprisingly, the celebrity scene was much more toned down than at the Clipper game I attended last week. The only person I saw was that freckly red head from Grey's Anatomy. The one who was in Old School. Other than her, didn't really see anyone. No Jack. No Denzel. Apparently Eva Longoria was there, but I didn't catch a glimpse. Very sad.
Some things I noticed about the Lakers:
1) Kwame Brown still has small hands and still can't finish any of his post up moves. This is pretty much what we can expect from Brown for the rest of his career. There will be no more talk of him developing his raw athleticism and becoming a decent big man in the NBA. His hands are simply too small and not soft enough. There were at least 3 passes from driving Lakers in this game that Kwame straight up muffed for a turnover. Kwame will be firmly entrenched for the remainder of his career as a hustle big man. Someone who plays good defense and gets all his buckets off of second chance put-backs and easy assisted dunks. If the Lakers actually want a decent post up scorer, they will need to look towards (dare I say it) Andrew Bynum.
2) Vladamir Radmanovic was a completely wasted signing this offseason. The Lakers rotation seems set with Kobe, Kwame, Lamar, Smush, Luke, Farmar, Maurice Evans, Brian Cook, and Bynum as the nine guys they will play every game. This pretty much leaves out Sasha Vujacic (who's jersey inexplicably takes up a whole wall at the Team LA store), Ronny Turiaf, and Vlad Rad. You can see Turiaf sticking around because of his attitude and energy. He's our new Mark Madsen, only bulkier and a better dancer. Vujacic and Vlad, however, are completely expendable. Sasha just isn't that good a player, and Vlad, who was supposed to help the Lakers this season with his outside shooting, will rot on the bench. There just isn't any room for him to play. He doesn't bring anything to the table, really, other than his shooting. He's a big man who can't rebound or play defense. I just wish the Lakers would have realized this sooner before they blew their whole mid-level exception on him.
3) The Laker Girls are much hotter than the Clippers' Spirit. They just are.
4) I'm still doing a double take every time I look at Kobe and see 24 on his back. Don't know why, but it just weirds me out. I know we should all be somewhat used to it by now, but I'm just not. And I don't know if I will be any time soon. Over/under on me getting used to Kobe's 24: 2.5 seasons.
5) The Staples Center seems a lot darker during Laker games than it does during Clipper games. I think they leave some of the lights off that illuminate the seats. It makes for a different ambiance. Clipper games are much brighter and seem more happy and family friendly. Laker games have a vibe that you're watching a drama unfold at the theater. Neither one is better than the other, they're just different.
If you can't get what you really want, then get what you kinda want. This is how Ned Colletti has been operating this offseason, and understandably so. After the new collective bargaining agreement was signed and assured more revenue streams to the teams, the spending has run amok. Alfonso Soriano for $136 million? Carlos Lee for $100 million? It seemed for a moment we might have gone back to the early 2000's when monstrous contracts like A-Rod's and Manny's were signed. Only, in this offseason's market, there were no surefire future hall of famers like Manny and A-Rod to throw money at. Thus, J. D. Drew gets $70 million over 5 years. Julio Lugo gets $36 million over 4 years. Gary Matthews Jr. gets $50 million over 5 years. You get the picture.
So with the overwhelming bull market raging, the Dodgers couldn't help but overpay for their players. Since the Juan Pierre and Randy Wolf deals, Colletti has made two more signings worth noting. The first is inking Mike Leiberthal for 1 year, $1.25 million to be our backup catcher. Personally, I think it's ludicrous to give a contract of over $1 million for a backup, unless he's a valuable and frequently used backup like Olmedo Saenz. But this is not the case. Last year's backup catcher Toby Hall was like the living room in my house: expensive and of good quality, but rarely used. Also note that Hall is still on the roster. So until he is inevitably traded, the Dodgers have 3 catchers on the roster, and the two backups both make more than the starter Russel Martin.
The second signing is the huge acquisition of Jason Schmidt for 3 years and $47 million dollars. This move was more predictable than Britney and K-Fed's split, considering Ned had already brought over half of the Giants' players and staff in his short time as GM. This deal finally remedies the Dodgers problem in recent years of having multiple number 2 or 3 quality starters, but no true ace. Schmidt is absolutely a true ace, having gone 78-37 with a 3.36 ERA in his last five and a half years with the Giants. He is 33 years old, however, and will be 37 at the conclusion of the deal. With a fastball declining in velocity, it is questionable how much longer Schmidt can actually pitch like a number 1. At a little over $15 million a year, the deal is comparable to the one Roy Oswalt signed just before last season ended, so I don't feel like we overpaid for Schmidt. We got him at a fair price, and he should help our ballclub tremendously next season.
So now the rotation stacks up like this: Schmidt, Derek Lowe, Brad Penny, Wolf, and Chad Billingsley, with Hong-Chih Kuo, Mark Hendrickson, and Brett Tomko either relegated to the bullpen or traded away before the season starts. Joe Beimel looks like he's going to be welcomed back as our lefty reliever, and with Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito both returning as well, our bullpen looks solid. The Dodgers are now one of the few teams in the league with a surplus of pitching, so maybe Ned can actually get the power bat he wanted. Someone like Vernon Wells, perhaps? Either way, the Dodgers will probably have the best pitching staff in the National League next year.
Celebrity Sightings of the Day: I went to the Clippers vs. Heat game last night and was treated to some wonderful first row seats right next to the tunnel. Unfortunately it was not the players' tunnel, rather the tunnel the Clippers' Spirit uses. At least I got some close up views of some lovely ladies. The random celebrity sightings of the game included: Al Michaels, Mary J. Blige, and Michael Clarke Duncan. I was also really excited to be sitting a mere 20 feet or so directly behind Elgin Baylor. Sadly, however, Frankie Muniz and Billy Crystal were not present that night. We also got to take a picture with Clipper Darryl, the black guy who wears a blue and red suit and yells uncontrollably at the top of his lungs, "Let's Go Clippers, Let's Go!" It was a fun night.
What a day it was for Los Angeles sports yesterday. UCLA spanks USC, the Lakers top the Clippers, and perhaps most important of all, the Ducks beat the Kings.
We'll start with the most shocking of the bunch: UCLA overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to topple the USC football juggernaut. This was easily the biggest win of Karl Dorrell's coaching tenure, and the most exciting thing to happen to Bruin football since I've been here. Even though record-wise, last year was Dorrell's best, this win vaults this season of UCLA football over each of the last seven seasons. The running cliche at UCLA is you can lose every game, but if you beat SC, it's a good season. That saying came to fruition this year, where the Bruins went a disappointingly mediocre 7-5. All of the low points of the season were thrown out the window after yesterday's game.
I actually didn't get to tune in til the start of the second quarter, when we were up 7-2. When halftime came, we were down 9-7 and I was fully expecting a 2nd half collapse from the Bruins. But the exact opposite happened. The defense clamped down tighter than a virgin's vagina and held the potent SC offense scoreless. Justin Medlock, the best college kicker out there right now, stopped driving drunk into telephone poles long enough to kick two field goals and we took the game 13-9.
As the final seconds ticked down, the screaming started all over Westwood. Then came the burning of furniture and setting off of illegal fireworks. And finally, to complete the cycle, the police, firefighters, and paramedics came around to douse the flaming sofas littering the streets. It was a crazy scene, reminiscent of what happened when the 2000 Lakers won it all, but on a more toned down scale.
Speaking of the Lakers, they beat the Clippers again last night, to take a 2-0 lead in the season series. Weren't the Clippers supposed to be better this year? How are they under .500? They were supposed to be contenders. This is completely unacceptable, and there's only one man to blame - MDS himself, Mike Dunleavy Sr. The Clippers' only problem at the beginning of the season was that they had too many good players and didn't know how they would get minutes for everyone. They're maybe the deepest team in the league and Dunleavy somehow has them vastly underachieving. I haven't trusted the guy since the whole "stick a cold Daniel Ewing on Raja Bell in the most important play of the series" disaster last year.
Instead of giving MDS that 4 year extension last week, Elgin Baylor should have just waited for his contract to expire and given the job next year to the best coach the Clippers have right now: Sam Cassell. It's likely that this is Sam's last contract before he hangs up his kicks anyway, and he would make a great coach. It worked for Avery Johnson and Dallas, why couldn't it work for the Clippers? But alas, now I'm dreading the thought of having the Charlie Brown look-a-like stroll the Clippers sideline for the next four years.
Packaging Kudos of the Day: I was strolling the aisles at Ralph's today, and I noticed that now both hot dogs and buns now come in packages of 8. Props to the packaging people who finally realized the 2 bun disparity was ridiculously retarded. I credit most of this change to Steve Martin and his original rant on the subject in The Father of the Bride (coincidentally filmed in my hometown).
Oh. What? You actually expected me to talk about the Kings/Ducks game? Oh. My bad. Sorry.
