AGRI Biz

Or something like that. 8. Dodgers Prospective rotation: (1) Randy Wolf, (2) Clayton Kershaw (if healthy), (3) Hiroki Kuroda, and (4) (pick one) Chad Billingsley, Jon Garland, or Vicente Padilla. Every time we asked one of our panelists about the Dodgers' rotation, we got a variation of the same response: "I don't even know what their rotation is," said one NL scout. Uh, that's OK. Neither do they. Wolf, to even their surprise, has ...

Well, ironically, maybe he would have a chance with the Kansas City Royals. Zack Greinke didnÆt really impress me last night. He pitched well and maybe I caught him on a bad night, but to me he didnÆt seem dominant. Greinke has may have the lowest ERA in the AL since Pedro Martinez in 2000, but he doesnÆt strike me as the dominant force that Pedro was during his statistical peak. ...

After today, the Dodgers have clinched at least a playoff for a playoff berth, but nothing short of a division title should satisfy them. á Matt Kemp On The Verge Of HistoryIf he manages to keep his .300 batting average over the next nine games, Kemp will be the first player in Dodger history to put up a line of .300 AVG/25 HR/100 RBI/30 SB. Hell, he even has an outside ...

Minor League Life: Giants minor leaguer Garrett Broshuis gives his take on the Angel Villalona case.Minor League Life: Another great post about pitching to score and using wins as a performance measurement. I wonder how a guy who hates "stat nerds" would argue to him that he's wrong?"I know you play the game, and this is a well-reasoned post, but...you just didn't know how to win before!"True Blue L.A.: ...

Chad Billingsley's start certainly didn't end the way anybody wanted, but unlike some who want to use this performance as further evidence that he's unreliable, I find it extremely hard to take away anything negative from this showing.The Nationals are a solid offensive team, and the fact remains that Billingsley absolutely dominated them. Was it perfect? Of course not. I was as frustrated as anybody that he ...

Chad Billingsley looks to prove his doubters wrong and get back on track. Since the All-Star Game, in which he allowed one run in one inning, Billingsley has posted a 3-6 record and 5.49 ERA. While his overall numbers on the season still look fine on paper (12-10, 4.05 ERA in 31 games, with 165 strikeouts in 184 1/3 innings), they haven't looked quite as rosy in real time of late. While ...

Found this interesting graph and analysis by Walter Fulbright over at Beyond The Box Score. The top 3 contributors on this team in terms of WAR are Matt Kemp, Casey Blake(!), and Clayton Kershaw. If Blake weren't having the second best year of his career and were closer to his career norms, the third would be Chad Billingsley. This is the most prominent example we've shown (so far) where the top ...

Due to the Dodgers not playing today, I guess a lot of people are making a big deal about this article by Jim Peltz about Joe Torre starting Ronnie Belliard over Orlando Hudson. It appears Orlando Hudson might no longer be the Dodgers' starting second baseman.Manager Joe Torre sounded non-committal Sunday as recent acquisition Ronnie Belliard played in place of Hudson for the second consecutive game. I believe a large portion of ...

This actually isn't funny, but I admit I sort of chuckled. Then again, I'm probably a bad person. :o A baseball prospect for the San Francisco Giants is the main suspect in the killing of a 25-year-old man in the Dominican Republic, police said Sunday.Angel Villalona turned himself in 12 hours after the man was shot at a bar in the southern coastal city of La Romana, Col. Adrian Urbaez ...

...Whatever you felt about Vicente Padilla before yesterday better be the same as today.He's the same pitcher.Since coming over, Padilla has faced the Rockies, the Giants twice, and the Diamondbacks twice. Just saying.So it doesn't matter whether you saw him as an ace, a third starter, or a fifth starter. The bottom line is that he's still the same guy he used to be, and he'll continue to ...