ddain's Blog

I can honestly say that I read the L.A. Times and ESPN.com each day, and have been a Dodgers fan for about 27 years. And I can't really comprehend what their plan is for 2009.

Instead of building on a successful year, they (and by that I mean owner Frank McCourt) seems intent on letting several stars walk away and save a ton of dough. It's one thing to be grateful to be out of some bad contracts, or to not keep players who are injured and might not return to form, but to have so many holes in the team and no real plan to fill them is mind-boggling right now.

Firstly, should he keep Manny Ramirez? Most fans will say yes, realizing that nobody since Fernando has brought so much excitement to Dodger Stadium. So far they offered a 2-year deal knowing he wouldn't take it, and they're allowing him to test the free agent market. Where could he go? The New York teams come to mind since they have the dough to pay him what he wants, but if the Angels don't get Mark Teixeira, don't you think they would go after Manny? And that would be the 2nd time that Arte Moreno has signed a big-name player the Dodgers should have, the other being Vladimir Guerrero.

The pitching staff right now has three starters. Derek Lowe will probably sign elsewhere, and Brad Penny was not kept. So who are they going after? You hear that they have a passing interest in CC Sabathia, but he is being courted by several teams who seem to be more serious about signing him. You really don't hear about the Dodgers going after an AJ Burnett, Ben Sheets, or even re-signing Lowe, who was pretty good in his four years here.

I guess you could argue that they're set in the outfield with Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Andruw Jones, and Juan Pierre. But is anybody glad the last two guys are still on the team?

I don't think Rafael Furcal will be back, since he's seeking a four-year deal and the Dodgers won't give him one. He was hurt for most of the final two years of his three-year deal that he signed to play here, but they only have Angel Berroa to possibly fill the void. They might make a play for Orlando Cabrera, who played for the White Sox last year.

James Loney is at 1st, but that's about all that's set there. Russell Martin could be the catcher again, or he could be moved to 3rd, and Blake DeWitt would play 2nd. But you still have no catcher if you do that.


I guess the bullpen is about set...although who knows if Takashi Saito will come back?

So what do you think? Is Frank McCourt going to spend some money? He's cut over $60 million from last year's payroll by not keeping Lowe, Penny, Greg Maddux, Ramirez, Jeff Kent, Nomar Garciaparra, Furcal, and Saito. So you would think he would take a few bucks and reinvest in the team.

Who would you sign and why? And are you frustrated about any of these developments?

So the Dodgers made a HUGE trade Thursday, picking up Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox for two prospects (Andy LaRoche and some guy that nobody has ever heard of).

As a Dodgers fan, I love the deal. He's their best hitter and ensure Andruw Jones never sees the light of day again.

As a Red Sox fan (I know, I'm all over the place), I'm glad he's gone because he's become a major pain in the butt.

What do you think?

Excuse me while I whip this out.

Here is a rap that was released this week that you might interesting.

We're aware that the Celtics beat the Lakers to win their seventeenth NBA championship. Kobe Bryant, the league's MVP, didn't have a great series for the Lakers who were making their first trip to the finals since 2004.

Meanwhile, back in 2006 Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat won the NBA title. Shaq has four rings, Kobe has three (all won while playing with Shaq on the Lakers).

Since their acrimonious departure, Shaq has won one NBA title, Kobe has zero. So Shaq felt the urge to hop up on a stage somewhere and freestyle rap about that. He claims to have done this in jest, but considering how the two guys didn't like one another all that much when they were teammates, it's hard to believe him.

Have a listen.

 

The NBA has enjoyed an entertaining season. After moving away from the referee scandal that plagued the sport last summer, we saw some exciting and interesting developments this season. To wit:

Some major trades that saw future Hall-of-Famers change teams (KG, Kidd, Shaq).

Races for the playoffs (especially in the West) where a top level team (the Warriors) missed the playoffs entirely as all entries had 50+ wins.

The re-emergence of the Boston Celtics as a legitimate title contender for the first time in 19 years.

A close race for the MVP Award (Kobe, LeBron, Paul, KG).

But now, with four teams left, we're looking down the barrel of perhaps a very boring NBA Finals that will put anyone who watches the game to sleep.

If we have another Spurs/Pistons series, get ready to catch up on your sleep. Not only have these teams played for the title a few years ago, but they are both really boring and predictable. I'm not advocating for a Celts/Lakers Finals (although that would be the most interesting), I'm just hoping we don't get Spurs/Pistons again.

I'm a Mavs fan, and so I don't really care who really wins, but I'd like to watch the NBA Finals without falling asleep, so I'm pulling for the Celts and Lakers to make it.

I recall several years ago when I worked at Fox Sports when a former New York Met legend was on Jim Rome's TV show. Unlike most sports celebrities who walked in and out of the building, this guy had no entourage and when he stood outside of the building waiting for his limo to pick him up, nobody was standing with him. Armed with a pen and paper and a desire to get his autograph, I strolled outside and approached this man, who was crouching down out of the wind, lighting a cigarette.

"Hey Nails! How about an autograph? "

This World Series champion looked up at me, blew out some smoke and said, "Sure."

That was my only experience interacting with Leonard Kyle Dykstra, known as "Lenny" to many. But for those who know him, calling him by his nicknames of "Nails" or "The Dude" is acceptable. Check out his baseball stats here to refresh your memory of his late 80's, early 90's, steroid-enhanced numbers. As you can see, Lenny loved to chew, in fact, Pittsburgh Pirates center-fielder Andy Van Slyke often called the outfield a "toxic waste dump" when he played against Dykstra's teams.

But this blog isn't about his numbers, but more about his fighting attitude. It seems that when Lenny hung up his cleats in 1998 his investment adviser didn't do right by him, and so Nails lost a ton of dough in the stock market. And that's where this story gets interesting.

Lenny rebuilt his fortune by purchasing car washes and is now an astute investor in the stock market. You seek advice? Find it here on this website where you can ask him a question. I just sent him one about whether it's a good idea to invest in China.

Today, Dykstra is a columnist for TheStreet.com, manages his own stock portfolio, and serves as president of several of his privately held companies, including car washes; a partnership with Castrol in "Team Dykstra" Quick Lube Centers; a real estate development company; and a new venture to develop several "I Sold It on eBay" stores throughout Southern California. Dykstra has helped bring to the forefront an investment strategy called "Deep in the Money Calls". He has also appeared on Fox News Channel's "The Cost of Freedom" business show. And he is publishing a financial magazine to help ballplayers invest their money better.

But this pales in comparison with his interview on HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel." The idea that Dykstra is so wealthy, and can clean up to look somewhat business-like in a suit is contrasted with his grungy look he had as a player, and his liberal use of foul language. You can take the man out of the locker room, but you can't take the locker room out of the man.

So Frank McCourt promised to spend some dough after the Dodgers fell apart in September last year and put their season in the toilet. So did he bring in the right guys?

McCourt opened up the checkbook and brought in Joe Torre since it was apparent Grady Little lost control over the clubhouse and couldn't get the veterans and rookies to like one another. Torre should keep that from happening.

He signed Andruw Jones after he had the worst year of his career to a two-year contract. Let's hope Andruw uses the next two seasons to redeem himself at the plate and hit 40 homers and knock in 100+ runs. Ironically, as bad as his season was last year, he would have led the Dodgers in homers and RBI. That's how bad the Dodgers offense was.

And McCourt went to Japan to sign a starting pitcher named Hiroki Kuroda. Not much is known about him, but if he can be somewhat successful this year in the 4th spot in their rotation, that would be fine. Let's hope he's about as good as Daisuke was for Boston last year.

The question marks are at 3rd base (although Nomar seems to have the job for the next couple of months because Andy LaRoche tore a ligament in his thumb. They also have three outfielders for two spots (Matt Kemp, Juan Pierre, and Andre Ethier). Who starts, and who sits?

So? What do you think of this team? Are they good enough to beat the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies, all of whom finished higher in the standings than the Dodgers did last year?

Good to see the karma gods show up on time, right? You can't get away with taping other teams' practices and get away with it forever, could you New England? Not only did you score fewer points than what Plaxico Burress predicted, but you lost you chance to be the best team in league history. No, you're not the 1972 Dolphins (the best team ever) and you're not a champion. You're a runner-up, and an afterthought in history.

I think this Sports Illustrated cover with Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick sums it up best. Larry shows who really is #1.

Is there anyone out there, other than Roger Clemens' family, that think he's innocent, then please don't vote or drive a car because it's apparent you're out of touch with reality.

I love how Clemens is denying this until he's blue in the face, and now his attorneys are hiring private investigators to determine Roger's innocence. Is Thomas Magnum available? In his day, he was a good private investigator. I guess this trainer injected somebody else's ass with steroids and not Roger's.

Of course Roger's pal Andy Pettitte has already admitted that he took them, but he of course did it to help the team. Like most of these guys, they all did it to help their team because these chemicals were supposed to help them come back from injuries faster.

Funny how Roger's career numbers made a major upward turn in 1997 when he arrived in Toronto and allegedly starting taking the juice. If you don't believe me, here's his stats page.

Don't you find it odd how his 1996 season, and his 1997 season are so different? He won more Cy Young Awards after he began juicing than he did before.

It would be better if these athletes simply fessed up to what they did, said it wasn't illegal at the time but did it to either get or maintain an edge, and apologized for doing it. It's constantly denying it, or passing off these contrite apologies that pisses off fans.