January 22, 2008

Breaking news: Don Mattingly will NOT be the Dodgers' hitting coach

Not in 2008, anyway. Due to an undisclosed family matter he says requires his undivided attention, the heir apparent to possibly take over for Joe Torre as Dodgers manager in 2011 won't even be on the staff this year. He'll move into a role as special assignment scout, which will allow him to stay home in Evansville, Ind., most of the time, although he IS expected to be in spring training. Mike Easler, who had been slated to be the hitting coach for Triple-A Las Vegas for the second year in a row, will now be the major-league hitting coach. This sounds like a temporary thing, with Mattingly possibly moving into the big-league hitting coach's job in 2009, but I haven't talked to anyone in the organization so far except for Josh Rawitch, who is letting everyone know about the development. More info as the day goes along, hopefully.

Posted by Tony Jackson at 1:11 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2008

Proctor signs

Scott Proctor agreed on a one-year, $1.115 million contract this morning, avoiding arbitration. The figure they settled on was exactly the halfway point between the numbers the two sides exchanged on Friday, when Proctor filed at $1.3 million and the club filed at $930,000. Proctor more than doubled his 2007 salary of $445,923. That leaves Joe Beimel, for the second year in a row, as the Dodgers' only pending arbitration case. He filed at $2.15 million, the club at $1.7 million. Beimel's agent, Joe Sroba, said Friday that he has to be prepared to go to a hearing just as he did on Beimel's behalf last winter. But if Beimel settles at the midpoint, he'll get $1.925 million. That's still a raise of more than $1 million from last year's $912,500, so it's hard to imagine this will get to a hearing.

Posted by Tony Jackson at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008

Arbitration numbers

Joe Beimel filed at $2.15 million, with the club coming in at $1.7 million. Scott Proctor filed at $1.3 million, the club $930,000. At first glance, these look like fairly manageable gaps to me, so I'm guessing both players will eventually agree to terms and avoid going to hearings. Beimel went to a hearing last year and lost, getting the club's figure of $912,500. He's a five-plus, meaning he'll be eligible for free agency next winter unless he agrees to a multi-year deal. Proctor is a three-plus, meaning he is eligible for arbitration for the first time and the club controls him through 2010. Hearings will take place Feb. 1-21 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Posted by Tony Jackson at 1:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

Angels: Follow me

There is a new address for the Angels blog and it's about time. It finally does not have to share a spot with Dodgers news. It can be found at www.insidesocal.com/angels. The first entry is up as the starting rotation was made official today.

Keep checking back all season for all the updated Angels news. Or should we say, updated as fast as we can get to it.

Posted by Doug Padilla at 1:47 PM | Comments (3)

Dodgers: New blog address

Just got word from base camp that the web address for this blog has changed to www.insidesocal.com/dodgers. If you want to read Doug Padilla's Angels blog, go to www.insidesocal.com/angels. Don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't mean Doug and I couldn't play nice and had to be separated, or that we each developed such large egos that we DEMANDED our own individual addresses. It's just a simple technological advancement, and nothing more. .. We're about to do our daily pregame with Grady, but I'm guessing this is going to be a slow news day, especially after yesterday. I'll update after the meeting.

Posted by Tony Jackson at 12:20 PM | Comments (2)

Dodgers: Deja vu

Fernando Valenzuela has arrived in camp after yet another winter of pitching for Mexicali in the Mexican Winter League, where he went 6-3, according to the daily notes released by the Dodgers' PR staff. All this hoopla surrounding Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is pitching against Pittsburgh on the television here in the media room, has been eerily reminiscent of Fernandomania back in 1981, with one major difference: Fernandomania didn't take hold until after the lefty with the strange windup had actually won a few games, and it just took off from there. Matsuzaka might have a solid track record in Japan, but he hasn't won anything here yet. The Dodgers faced him here in Vero before rain washed out that game last Friday in the third inning. When asked what it was like to face Matsuzaka, one Dodgers player shrugged his shoulder exaggeratedly and said, "He looks like a pitcher to me." Translation: "I don't understand what the big deal is."

Posted by Tony Jackson at 11:40 AM | Comments (226)

March 20, 2007

Dodgers: Another reason to go

It's one thing to have a decidedly pro-Boston crowd at a Dodgers home spring training game against the Red Sox. But tonight, in what officially went down as the largest crowd of the spring at Holman Stadium (the Boston game was rained out in the third inning), the vast majority of the 6,835 on hand were rooting for St. Louis, and the most prevalent color in the stands was red. Times change, and so do demographics. Sadly, the Dodgers now appear out of place in the spring-training facility they have called home for almost 60 years. The Arizona desert never looked so inviting.

Posted by Tony Jackson at 7:32 PM | Comments (4)