Raffy Furcal in the house!!!

spam filter stinks....

If Furcal does have an injury free season and returns to his 2006 form then my guess is that his price tag in free agency will be pretty steep... maybe too high. Especially considering the Dodgers might feel that they have a strong replacement in the wings in Hu. He did OK in September, and unless he's part of a trade deal the Dodgers will have a chance to look at him in spring training and perhaps during the 2008 season as well.

Here are the highlights benzojones:

On the 12/17/07 game, Jose Lima had a no hitter 'till the 7th when Kendry Morales broke it up with a solo home run; Lima was taken out following a single by Brad Nelson. Lima's team "Las Aguilas Cibaeñas" the Cibao Eagles won 8-3 over the Giants (its a good day when the Giants loose even in the Dominican). Rafeal Furcal made his debut for Las Aguilas and went 4 for 5.

Relief Help?????

Several have mentioned possibly trading for relief pitching or have emphasized the need to acquire bullpen help. After reviewing who we already have, I think I'd have to say--where would we put them? Assuming that you have an 11 man pitching staff (the argument's the same even if it's a 12 man staff) and 5 are starters then obviously you only have room for 6 relievers. By letting Hendrickson go last week, here's who we have available to relieve at the moment:
Saito
Broxton
Proctor
Beimel
Loaiza
Brazoban
Houlton
Hull
Kuo
Stults
Meloan
(n/r invitees)
Park
Sturtze
Falkenborg
Shakelford
Koplove

This list doesn't include several other guys on the 40 man roster, some non-roster invitees, and minor leaguers who aren't on the 40 man roster yet. I know Meloan is going to be groomed as a starter and that Kuo and Brazoban are coming off injuries, but you'd think out of this partial list you could find one more body for the pen. They've also talked about resigning Seanez. I say all this to say--do we really want to trade for relief pitching? Why trade your surplus to add to your surplus? And especially why would you trade talent like Ethier for relief pitching unless you need a solid closer or set-up man--we've already got both. Proctor/Beimel in the 7th, Broxton in the 8th, and Saito in the 9th is pretty solid. Loaiza is your junk man (assuming Schmidt is healthy and he's supposed to be). That leaves room for one more body and 11 names above to draw from already. Unless someone gets hurt, I think were fine and regardless, I'd wait for Spring to find out how healthy we are before considering a trade. And, after Spring Training ends, there are usually 100 relievers that are looking for jobs anyway so I don't see the need to rush things.

Does anybody knows the score at that point when Lima-time was pulled out? I mean, if that was a close one, may have sense.

Mike T,

Schilling didn't "twist his ankle." He had a ruptured tendon sheath and the blood was coming through sutures the doctors stitched on the fly so he could pitch.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6948862/

I'm not saying you should bow down to Schilling or anything, but the story is certainly quite different than you're presenting it.

AK

Michael,

If only Clemens (an obvious 'roid user for years) and Holier-than-thou Schilling would return to the National League where they'd have to hit! That would be a confrontation worth seeing.

OK, AK,

I see the light on this one. But the guy still needs to shut-up!

mike

Mike T,

I agree Curt Schilling needs to chill with his sanctimonious stuff. He is so ready to throw a fellow player and former Red Sox guy under the bus. How can he "clear his name"? The evidence is Clemens story versus his trainers story. The investigators work like this: they want the big fish. They don't want the trainer, they want the headline baseball players. The investigators were not going to let the trainers off the hook until they named names. So how legitimate are these allegations. Schilling, how does a person clear their name to this? Any hall of fame voter that does not vote for Clemens, is a fool.

Samo,

But I really like the way our pitching staff is shaping up for 2010... especially the middle relief.

Unrelated, but does anyone else think we may have a "Curse of the Lima"? Maybe we need to sign the guy to break it.

Mike T,

Have to agree about Schilling zipping it. The guy called Canseco a traitor and back stabbing liar back during the Congressional hearing that he and Canseco were a part of and now that it turns out that Canseco was right, the hypecrite Schilling is commending Canseco for coming forward and outed the whole steroids issue. Schilling is a meathead and the only reason people even listen to him is because he talks out of his donkey. The guy is entertainment at it's worst... shock value no less.

Clemens might be guilty but he isn't on trial. And I thought one is PRESUMED innocent until proven guilty... I didn't realize that you're guilty if your trainer says so and you have the burden to prove otherwise??!!

I think Schilling needs to give back any awards he has received because he is an idiot and unless he can prove that he isn't an idiot, he shouldn't be allowed to talk in a public forum..... actually by not talking he might be able to prove that he is not an idiot, but surely if he speaks, we'll all know that he is.

There is some press that suggests Schilling is exacting revenge upon Clemens for a dressing down given while Schilling was a yung-un

Personally, I think they are both full of Crap.

I'd like to see if there is anything Schilling doesn't have an opinion about.

Clemens and his midseason fleecing has got to stop... it's BS and takes away from the actual season. Maybe this will make the owners thing twice.