BLUE THINK TANK

There was an article in the Washington Post a few weeks ago where DePodesta was quoted as:

"When I first got here...looking at the roster, the bulk of our team was free agent eligible in a year...I thought, 'Let's see if we can be proactive about it.' We said, 'Let it be over in one year.' We wanted to build a foundation and then move forward. Once we started doing that, there was no going halfway. The most perilous position to be in is halfway."

It could be strongly argued that the success of the 2004 team was mostly sheer luck, as demonstrated by the 2005 stats of Finley, Beltre, Lima and others who have since departed. The house was going to fall no matter what. However, the new foundation is already showing cracks. The only thing "halfway" might be for Bradley's anger management very soon.

There was a sense that the Dodgers were in a panic during the last offseason, as DePodesta belatedly snatched up Drew and Lowe, the last of the major Boras clients not named Beltran. Blame it on lack of foresight or inexperience; most of DePodesta's maneuvers have not paid off so far. The upcoming offseason probably won't be another major reconstruction job like the last one, but it'll take more than a coat of paint to fix this mess.
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Dodgers.com is reporting that 2 prospects will be called up as the rosters expand this Friday, and that the likely duo is Broxton and Donovan. Shouldn't a catcher such as Rose or Martin be called up as well? Tracy has frequently started Navarro and Phillips at the same time. From a matchup point of view, (and Tracy LOVES matchups) it's hard to maneuver PHs and double-switches in the later innings when both catchers are in the lineup near the bottom of the order.

Yesterday, Tracy yanked Phillips for Choi at 1B as part of a double switch in the 6th inning. Werth probably was the emergency catcher and would have come in the game had Navarro been forced to leave. The last thing I want to see is the emergency catcher make an appearance, a la Trinidad Hubbard a few years ago.

(I could go into a rant on Choi's playing time despite a superior OPS compared to Phillips', but others have covered that thoroughly. Tracy probably believes that Phillips makes more consistent contact, while Choi does so less consistently, albeit with a lot more power. I don't find the notion of a "professional hitter" convincing, but whatever. )

I say call up Martin. It would be a good way let Martin know that he is very much part of the future, even if Navarro is hogging the limelight as of now.
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Let's pretend that there is a singles bar called the "NL West", and there are exactly 5 girls inside. Each team is represented by one of the girls.

The Dodgers girl just stumbled of the hospital and can't put 2 words together.
The Giants girl is the 40-something divorcee applying a thick coat of makeup.
The Diamondbacks girl just fell on her face after tripping over herself.
The Rockies girl is the fugliest of them all, beyond all hope.
The Padres girl is the prettiest only by default.

Too bad one of them has to go home with you. Sorry, Bud.