Four Little Words

I guess the biggest concern besides the possible lack of power is the middle relief. As pointed out in the last thread, if the starters can go further this year, that would help a lot.

Maybe Tomko, who seems to like relieving now, will have a good year starting in the pen and stay stronger with not having those starter innings he had last year.
I'd like to see Ned acquire one more veteran middle reliever. It could make a huge difference down the line, and be worth giving up a prospect to get.

And as for power, Grumpy mentioned the pre steroid/HGH baseball days, 25-30 HRs was a good year. It's a good point and we may be going back that way.

Speaking of Jack Clark anyone know how he is doing these days? That was a horrible accident he had. As much as he was hated as a giant and that HR with StL he was a great ballplayer and really did good things as the Dodgers hitting coach...

I never read anything about him...

I have a very fond memory of on spring training I was in Phoenix on business and had a day to myself so I took in a double header between the Angels and the Padres. Reggie was with the Angels then and Garvey with the Pads...it was a beautiful day and not hot yet. I spent the entire day just watching a double header and being in the "cheap seats" about 30' from the field. It was really a fun day that I will always remember. Nothing special happened or anything it was just a different game then we get to see during the regular season.

Something that did strike me was how big Reggie was in his upper body. That never really comes across on TV. But the dude was HUGE and all muscle. Made Mr. Gravey look like the "girlie mon". And Garvey was not a wimpy guy either.

Also got to see Gwynn play that day too...like I said it was a really memorable day. Wow, I just looked up Gwynn's stats and I did not realize that other then his first season where he played in 54 games he NEVER hit under .309...that is 19 years of well over .300 BA. That is really impressive!

Plus it was like $8 for the double header!! I am cheap so that made me very happy...hehehehehe

BK:

speaking of autographs I still have autographed pics from Jack Youngblood and PHIL Olsen (Merlins younger bro who died in a car accident). They were in our small ditchwater town when I was a kid around 9 or so...they were here to open a furniture store. Both were rookies that year too, I think, it might have been their sophmore seasons. I got to spend like a half hour talking to them. Of course I was playing little kid football then and was a defensive linekid. So I loved talking to Youngblood. The pics are old and creased but I still dig them out now and then just to remember the fun of something that simple.

I was really bummned later that year when Phil had is car accident. He had been so nice to me and they both had treat us kids so well.

Thanks for reminding me to dig up those memories!!

Boy if Penny is being honest in Henson's article in today's Times, he looks GREAT...and it sure looks as if he lost waaaay more then 10-lbs.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodrep18feb18,1,4997959.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true

I almost gagged on my coffee this morning after reading Bill Shaikin's article on Eric Gagne. It verifies that no fan should ever invest too much love and loyalty on any one player. Besides driving home the point that most MLB players are only about the money -- PERIOD -- it also makes the rare guys like Tony Gwynne and Cal Ripken Jr, who were willing to give hometown discounts to stay with their teams all the more special.

Gagne on leaving the team after getting $20M over two years for 15 innings of service: "I never felt I owed (the Dodgers) something."

Game over.

Len

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-gagne18feb18,1,1727993.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

Gagne should be shot. What a liar. "It's not about money..."
He had his 19 mil for 15 innings. For 4 million instead of 6 this year he could of proved it. What a bunch of crap.
He misses the fans, but owes them NOTHING!.

I rarely wish ill on anybody, but I hope this moron fails miserably this season. I hope he sets a new low for futility.

On a positive note, it looks like Little and the coaches are pretty organized going into the season.
And I like Penny's attitude. He's not making excuses and wants to help the team win. I'll go along with that.

Len,

You got it, dude. What a disappointment to hear crap like that from Gagne. I know it is just business, nothing personal, but......

It wouldn't have happened there anyway since the team sucks, but would the fame had fallen to Eric had he been pitching in Kansas City?

The even better thing, Len, is that how he goes out of his way to point out on the first page that he, "wishes he could have done more for the fans, and teammates, and McCourts." but then on pg. 2, "I never felt i owed the Dodgers something".
It's just clear that he didn't care too much, and talking about "wishes" just makes him seem ridiculous, because it wouldn't have taken a wish. Respect for Gagne might be at an all time low.