The "Hey, what about that guy?" Guy of the Day
With the appealing rotation toppers off the market, perhaps it's time to concentrate on the other end. And with that in mind, I present:
Braden Looper. Former reliever, now a decent enough (read: average to a little above) starter who threw 199 innings last season for St. Louis and could probably be had for a reasonable price. Positives include: Better trends in his second year as a starter than his first (lower ERA, better K/BB ratio), 14 starts of seven or more innings in '08 including nine after the all-star break, a tendency not to singlehandedly lose games for his team (an appealing quality for a back-of-the-rotation guy), a VORP (24.6) that exceeds higher-profile names like Javier Vasquez, Justin Verlander, Brett Myers and Oliver Perez, and a funny name. Negatives: Homer prone (tied for team lead in HR allowed last season), allowed 33 more hits in only 24 more innings from '07 to '08, tends not to singlehandedly win a lot of games for his team, and if memory serves, a really big head. Literally. Could be a problem for the equipment guys.
Put the package together and I'm sold. He won't excite a lot of folks or provide a great postseason presence (should the need arise), but Looper would be better than the average fourth or fifth starter L.A. would be seeing across the league, and likely better than most alternatives when effectiveness and innings load are factored in. That's worth a couple wins, I think.
BK
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i would pass and give mcdonald or stults a chance. we'd have to pay looper at least a million and there's a good chance he wouldn't do any better than our rookies. pass, pass, pass on looper.
Posted by: HI Dodger Fan | January 14, 2009 at 11:22 AM
I agree. I would also like to add that statistically speaking, Dodger Stadium is on the lower end of all ballparks in terms of homers allowed, and specifically it is well below the new Busch stadium. Lowe was considered "homer prone" in Boston, and he may be the best example of a guy whose stuff seriously benefits from being in a lower-altitude, deep-dimension ballpark.
So if the Ravine trims his homers, yeah, Looper's a decent back-end guy.
In addition to Garland and Wolf (who have been mentioned on here before) I think Chuck James and our old friend Odalis Perez are two more low-cost, decent upside, back-end of rotation dudes we should be looking at.
Now queue the outrage from at least a dozen readers who state the obvious fact that there are no clear #1s or #2s still available.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | January 14, 2009 at 11:39 AM
I'll buy that argument.
What I would have liked to have seen, though, is the Blue make a run at Carl Pavano. Yeah, he's had that injury history, but for even a little more than the cutout bin price the Indians got him for, he would have been a bargain worth the risk. His upside seems to outweigh the injury risk and cheap price tag.
Posted by: Eric B. | January 14, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Great Title=) - I'm over it. After having glimmers of greatness dangled in front of us at the end of last season, only to have a cloak tightly twisted over our eyes by the past few months of debauchery, I say: Just pluck 'em out already! If we are truly planning to let this young rotation show us what appears improbable, then let 'em do it. Adding anything other than the top FA's at this point wouldn't serve any purpose. We should be able to scrounge garbage from our own trash cans.... at least we'd save the money, and "The Power Couple" could save a little face..IMO
Posted by: Tryin2LuvtheDodgers | January 14, 2009 at 11:47 AM
You recall correctly. I specifically remember talking to him last season and noting that his melon was way above average in size. He's the Bizarro World Juan Pierre.
AK
Posted by: kambrothers | January 14, 2009 at 11:51 AM
I was including McDonald in there. I just think over the course of a season, Looper would be more reliable than Stults. Either way, Stults is likely to pitch. Someone will get hurt.
BK
Posted by: kambrothers | January 14, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Great piece about Vin and Larsen's perfect game in the Times and congrats to Vin for being named #1 Sportscaster of All Time by the American Sportscasters Association.
I'll be following and commenting on Vin's 60th season this year at http://listeningtovin.mlblogs.com/ and posting video interviews with ML baseball announcers at http://www.balltalkdvd.com (where my DVD Ball Talk is also available).
Looking forward to the 2009 season!
Posted by: Kevin Bender | January 14, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Great piece about Vin and Larsen's perfect game in the Times and congrats to Vin for being named #1 Sportscaster of All Time by the American Sportscasters Association.
I'll be following and commenting on Vin's 60th season this year at http://listeningtovin.mlblogs.com/ and posting video interviews with ML baseball announcers at http://www.balltalkdvd.com (where my DVD Ball Talk is also available).
Looking forward to the 2009 season!
Posted by: Kevin Bender | January 14, 2009 at 12:41 PM
You think McCourt is going to pay this guy $1M bucks when he can get Odalis Perez for $500,00?
Posted by: SteelMohawk | January 14, 2009 at 12:51 PM
Boy, I can't wait until The "Hey, what about that guy?" Guy of the Day is Jesse Orozco. it will be like finding out the 12th Cylon is Kirk Benedict...
Posted by: DodgerBlueBalls | January 14, 2009 at 12:56 PM
With the current economy in the toilet Looper, who earned $5.5 mill. in '08, would still cost at least $3-4 mill. Money better spent elsewhere...save it for the draft picks the Dodgers will get from the Giants for signing Manny.
Posted by: A Scanner Darkly | January 14, 2009 at 01:24 PM
There IS a clear #1 SP available--Ben Sheets. Yes, he's coming off injury and is a risk, and that's the ONLY reason he's available for non-AJ/Sabathia/Lowe money. The team should take a risk on him--it can't be any worse than the Schmidt signing.
Posted by: Valmont | January 14, 2009 at 02:04 PM
Why bother? There are no more aces out there. The Dodgers can cobble together a #4 and #5 out of some combination of kids, Vargas, and Schmidt.
Besides, when's the last time you heard of a pitcher who got BETTER after leaving Dave Duncan's tutelage? No slight to Rick Honeycutt, but Duncan made a World Series champ out of Jeff Weaver, something nobody has been able to do before or since.
Posted by: SaMo | January 14, 2009 at 03:04 PM
Frank McCourt should've never invested with Bernie Madoff.
Posted by: A Scanner Darkly | January 14, 2009 at 04:10 PM
Valmont--I've come around to that thinking too. Try to move him as far into incentive-land as possible, but up and ink him; the upside is huge, so suffer the risk.
I am usually not one to get crazy angry about not spending money, but considering where our payroll is now and the fact that we have made no move towards any of the other not-quite-ace-but-still-very-good pitchers out there... I guess I have to admit at this point that I will be frustrated if we make no legitimate effort to sign Sheets.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | January 14, 2009 at 04:13 PM
Valmont
You are right! It can't be any worse than signing Schmidt. That was a terrible signing. Sheets hurt is not worth the risk. I am tired of the Dodgers paying players who are hurt(Schmidt). Unless Sheets is all incentive, he is not worth it.
Va Blueblood
I figured you would want to sign Dunn and pitch him. HaHa.
Package
Posted by: Package | January 14, 2009 at 06:29 PM
I fully expect the Dodgers to sign J.T. Walsh.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yanjpq
Posted by: SaMo | January 14, 2009 at 06:35 PM
I was hoping this post was going to be about Pedro- sparking some intriguing debate. If we can take a shot on a Vargas or Estes,(minor league or not) why not bring in Pedro on a one year deal and let him try to re-establish himself. Food for thought.
Posted by: Mike G | January 14, 2009 at 07:18 PM
Because Mike G, Pedro hasn't been healthy in 3 years and even when he was pitching last year, I didn't see him hit better than about 86 on the radar gun. At least Sheets made it through 190+ quality innings last season.
Posted by: VA Dodger | January 14, 2009 at 07:23 PM
Are we ready to strap on the "let the kids play" mantra again?
Mickey Rourke is making a pretty big comeback, is colletitus eying him.
Posted by: benzojones | January 14, 2009 at 07:51 PM
Mike G--not a chance. Dude's arm is done.
Package--technically speaking, his WHIP is 0.00. That's a number I could get behind.
Posted by: VA Blueblood | January 14, 2009 at 08:24 PM
What about Pedro for closer? The guy can be dominant for an inning every other day. Is he so different from Mariano Rivera? He certainly has the temperament.
Posted by: SaMo | January 14, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Suckers.
Posted by: Hollywood dodger mark | January 14, 2009 at 10:50 PM
i just saw mota's contract figures. isn't this more than what saito got from the sox? i would take saito over mota any day of the week. $2.35M for mota is highway robbery. why is ned being so fiscally conservative with manny (who will, by the way, pretty much pay for himself) and then go nuts on guys like blake, furcal, loretta, mota and a slew of minor league retreads? this is madness!
Posted by: HI Dodger Fan | January 14, 2009 at 10:57 PM
Looper would be fine as a 4th starter, followed by McDonald or Schmidt, although it's tough to even type Schmidt's name in a sentence that refers to starting pitching. The Stults/Vargas/Estes three-headed monster is minor league insurance, if you ask me. I'd love to see them go for both Juan Cruz and Dennys Reyes as well, and Manny, of course. Get Nomar back on the bench and that'd probably be good enough to take the Weak West. Then after the All-Star game they can make a run at a "real" #1 starter!
Harold Albert
Bangkok, Thailand
Posted by: HM Albert | January 14, 2009 at 11:03 PM