Nomar to Third After All?

Dodger manager Grady Little has not ruled out moving Nomar Garciaparra to third base, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Though it's possible that this is a typical overreaction to one week of Spring Training, it's also not exactly an idea out of the blue (pun not intended but graciously accepted).

So the question basically is, would you rather see James Loney, Wilson Betemit or Andy La Roche in your starting infield?

Personally, I'm most excited about Loney, though not because of anything that has happened this month. I do worry about the Betemit bandwagon (decended from the Willy Aybar bandwagon) being abandoned too abruptly.

As problems go, this isn't a bad one to have. Better to have these options than to have to turn to Oscar Robles or this year's equivalent, Wilson Valdez.

And certainly, by June, it could be Loney at first, Betemit at second, La Roche at third, and Garciaparra and Jeff Kent on the disabled list.

Comments

[Sam DC]

1.  New comments in the thread below.

[Uncle Miltie]

2.  I'd like to see Nomar stay at 1st because I don't he can stay healthy for an entire season as a 3b. I'd give Betemit the job out of ST. There's a good chance that La Roche (not LaRoche), will be called up part way through the season.

The fans have stormed the court! Oral Roberts is going to the tournament!

[Jon Weisman]

3.  Nobody drives in Japan.

Yet it has horrible traffic.

Discuss.

[trainwreck]

4.  I am going to disagree with Gurnick that having Nomar at third is great for our defense. Nomar cannot move around to well anymore. That is why he is at first base in the first place.

[Steve]

5.  I am going to disagree with Gurnick

Don't go out on a limb or anything

[Sam DC]

6.  3 "Nobody drives in Japan" is factually incorrect.

Discussion over.

[Jon Weisman]

7.  6 - Wow, my premise was completely wrong. I'm really embarrassed that I came up with it.

[trainwreck]

8.  Well all the traffic is in the major cities and because there are so many people, just having a fraction of the population driving causes a lot of people on the road. It is just like New York.

[Sam DC]

9.  7 You've earned a mulligan or two around this place.

[Andrew Shimmin]

10.  If Nomar platooned with Betemit, and played part time at first, that would be almost as good as Loney playing 1B full time, and La Roche playing 3B full time, and Nomar having gone somewhere else for a couple of draft picks. Well, maybe almost overstates the case.

[Jon Weisman]

11.  And speaking of premises!

http://www.kithfan.org/work/transcripts/one/premise.html

[D4P]

12.  Nobody drives in Japan. Yet it has horrible traffic.

Nobody goes there anymore because it's too busy

[trainwreck]

13.  10
Remember when we thought we were going to have so many draft picks this year, boy those were the days.

[goblue1]

14.  I think if this move happens its because Grady wants Loney's bat in the line-up (one that may NEED runs) more than a move based on anyones defense. Betemit, La Roche, Nomar may all be about the same- avg defensive 3Bs.

[trainwreck]

15.  La Roche is a pretty good defensive 3rd baseman. 2 errors in spring training does not mean anything.

[stopthebeachballs]

16.  I don't drive in Japan. Therefore, no one drives in Japan (which makes the traffic all the more surprising).

[Vishal]

17.  i would be very pleased to have nomar at 3rd, loney at 1st, and betemit spelling kent and nomar frequently at 2nd and 3rd. give the old guys plenty of days off. if kent and nomar give us 120 games with betemit playing the remaining 80 or so and pinch-hitting, that sounds good to me.

[Vishal]

18.  (la roche can spend the year in AAA unless he dominates and a spot opens up)

[trainwreck]

19.  Why give Betemit the job over La Roche?

[Marty]

20.  19 Because Boom goes the La Roche isn't as catchy.

[Marty]

21.  I bet Sam was plotting 1 for days.

[Vishal]

22.  i'd rather have la roche play full time, wherever he's playing.

[GoBears]

23.  From the last thread (and above):

100. Bob Timmermann
Nobody drives in Japan.
Yet it has horrible traffic.
Discuss.

Thanks, Yogi. But actually, I've found the Japanese view of things to be the opposite of the one YogiBob were trying to express. One of the many summers I've spent in Japan, I was working with the local development bureau of a big research institute. We were on a beautiful coastline, with a nice beach, a couple hours north of Tokyo (which is close, by Tokyo standards). The weather was beautiful, school was out, and the beach was completely empty. I asked whether it was private land, or restricted in some other way, and was told no, it was empty because this isn't the beach where everyone goes. I said, "yeah, clearly, but why?" The answer was that people want to be where everyone goes, even if it's too crowded to sit down. "A day at the beach" has little to do with the beach.

Not that "making the scene" is an exclusively Japanese goal, by any means. But it seems to be taken more seriously there than most places.

[ROC]

24.  "Third and first are similar positions, just opposite." - Dusty Baker

[Sam DC]

25.  We won't be hearing from Brock for a while I'm afraid, because CNN is releasing snippets of dirty emails the non-diaper-wearing corners of the love triangle exchange from space.

[Daniel Zappala]

26.  Speaking of places east of LA, I'll be in Hong Kong all next week. Anyone who has been there, especially Kowloon, have any recommendations for places to eat?

[Andrew Shimmin]

27.  22- Me too. I'd rather it were in L.A., too, but I'm willing to embrace the Vishal part time plan for the old guys. It give Betemit a chance to take the 2B job, next year. Which is good, since he shouldn't have the 3B job.

[Daniel Zappala]

28.  Umm... that's west of LA ... but in the Far East. I hope I make it there OK.

[D4P]

29.  Anyone who has been there, especially Kowloon, have any recommendations for places to eat?

We used to order Chinese food from Kowloon in Eugene

[Andrew Shimmin]

30.  I'm pretty sure television weather guys like to get their suits at the brothel gift shops in Hong Kong. That's not a recommendation, though.

[Marty]

31.  Every place is east AND west of where ever you are if you think about it.

Unless its north and south.

[Uncle Miltie]

32.  We used to order Chinese food from Kowloon in Eugene.
Chinese food made by hippies?

[D4P]

33.  31
That reminds me of one my favorite Rumsfeld quotes

[Bob Timmermann]

34.  Trainwreck,
Email me your predicted score for the Pac-10 final.

It's up to 31 entries.

[Daniel Zappala]

35.  Hippies are totally into vegetarian. Never saw so much tofu until I lived in Eugene.

[Dodgers49]

36.  "Been five months and two days ago that I quit drinking."
... Joe Beimel

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10043412

[Daniel Zappala]

37.  34 Drats, my odds of winning the coveted prize are going down even farther.

[trainwreck]

38.  34
Done.

[Uncle Miltie]

39.  Hippies are totally into vegetarian. Never saw so much tofu until I lived in Eugene.
They also have good taste when it comes to beer :)

In a hippie Chinese restaurant, you would find Hemp Seed Chicken.

It's funny how my environmental science teacher loves to talk about the many uses of hemp.

[D4P]

40.  Ironically, after spending the first 29 years of my life in Eugene and never once eating tofu, I have started eating in within the past two weeks here in North Kakalaki

[trainwreck]

41.  I have had hemp beer. It does not taste like I expected it to.

[Andrew Shimmin]

42.  Further proof that east coast writers are better than west coast ones.

http://tinyurl.com/3yw9ay

[Bob Timmermann]

43.  37
Your chances would be better if two other people hadn't matched you pick for pick.

[Steve]

44.  We throw the term "writer" around here really lightly.

[Daniel Zappala]

45.  43 But I was first with those picks, wasn't I? Doesn't that have to count for something?

[Bob Timmermann]

46.  45
No, no it does not.

[D4P]

47.  After the deadline for submitting brackets has passed, will we be able to view all of the submitted brackets?

[trainwreck]

48.  They're dancing at Wright State.

[Bob Timmermann]

49.  Does somebody have a way to view an Excel spreadsheet online easily?

I can use Google, but you can only view the list if it have a gmail login.

I think I can toss the spreadsheet on my .mac webpage.

[Xeifrank]

50.  Did anybody listen to the junk (steers clear of rule 1 violation) on espn710 radio this afternoon with Steve Mason? I thought his take was pretty tasteless. He ripped on JD Drew's ethics based on his religious views.
vr, Xei
http://www.espnradio710.com/article.asp?id=363246

[Daniel Zappala]

51.  49 I use gnumeric, which can read Excel spreadsheets and save them as HTML files. I can host either the HTML version or the Excel spreadsheet if you want.

(Yes, it's true, open source software is often more powerful than proprietary software.)

[Xeifrank]

52.  49. What are you trying to do? Take data from an excel spreadsheet and convert it to HTML tables? vr, Xei

[LAT]

53.  Sam, USA today has a feature on the Nats and their prospects. For some reason I am not able to link the story but the title is "Nationals Planting Seeds On The Farm" and can be accessed at USA Today's site.

[Bob Timmermann]

54.  I put the spreadsheet into Google and I will just link to the html version. I think that will work.

I'm not going for elegant here.

[LAT]

55.  I just flew down from SF (actually Oakland) and was on the same flight as Cal's basketball team. I was sitting next to coach Braun. Nice guy. Too bad that the reward for beating Oregon State tomorrow is facing UCLA. He was very nice. Rest of the team was polite. They flight crew was very taken with having them on the plane. I'd be lying if I said sitting among them was not cool.

[Andrew Shimmin]

56.  USA Today story:

http://tinyurl.com/2jy78j

[trainwreck]

57.  Hopefully they will not be beating OSU (need it for the Griddle pool).

[Bob Timmermann]

58.  55
And you got to feel very short too. Nothing makes a 6'5" like me feel short faster than being around a group of top level basketball players.

[LAT]

59.  56. Thanks Andrew

[Fallout]

60.  3 and 7

Didn't you just break rules 3 and 7? :)

I would like to see Loney at 1st, Garciaparra at 3rd. I don't see Kent living on the DL. With Garciaparra you never know. He could go on the DL just as easily at 1st as playing 3rd.

[LAT]

61.  58 Actually that is Cal's biggest probem, there was only one really big guy. A few 6'6"ish guys but only one who had to duck walking into the men's room.

[Xeifrank]

62.  54. Ok, sounds like you have it under control. I was going to offer some help if needed.
vr, Xei

[Bob Timmermann]

63.  62
Actually that plan didn't work, but I'll figure out something I'm sure.

[Samuel]

64.  61

Only one? I hope we didn't lose another big man to injury...technically we're have 2 guys who are still healthy who are supposedly 6'10". But yeah, the rest of the team is on the small side. Calbears.com lists our backup point guard as 5'10", when I'm pretty sure that he's closer to my 5'7" than 5'10".

[LAT]

65.  26 Daniel, I did a semester at the Hong Kong School of Law a few hundred years ago (really 1989). Spent a lot of time on the Kowloon side. My then girlfiend (now wife) came over for three weeks. Thanks to her employer, Esprit, we spent three weeks living in the Koloon Hotel. A nice break from the dorms. I'm sure most of the dives we ate in are gone but but there area million of them and the food in Hong Kong is great. Its not like chinese food here. Its much blander but extremly fresh. It is not uncommon to see them carry in live chickens and have them served a few minutes later. Or to go into a resturant and choose your whole fish from a live tank. We picked resturants by noticing which ones were crowded at mealtimes and coming back later. Shark fin soup is a big deal and expensive. If someone offers it to you do not refuse it may offend them. It is bland but is supposed to make you strong and virile.

I don't know the circumstances under which you will be going but the fanciest meal I ever had was there. Le Plume at the Regent Hotel was as elegant as any resturant anywhere in the world. Too formal for my taste but my wife and I still remember that night.

There is no place in the world like Hong Kong. Its NYC on steroids. You'll have a blast. Try everything. The City is set up for the 1% Ex-Pats so its not like you can get into trouble unless you go looking for it.

One other thing, no matter where you are shopping, negotiate. After you have negotiated, negotiate a little more casue there is still more room. But be sure to open and check the contents of whatever you bought. People walking out of stores with empty boxes or something lesser than they paid for is not unusual.

[Samuel]

66.  64

Apparently the ability to preview my comment before posting still doesn't stop me from writing comments with horrible editing/typo errors.

[LAT]

67.  Maybe someone is injured. I only saw one true big man. He had a full Ben Wallace 'fro going on. Looking at the Cal. site I'm pretty sure it was Jordan Wilkes. They have Taylor Harrison listed as 6'10". I don't think so. Standing next to him I would have said 6'7" or 8". I'm 6'5" (like Bob) so I have some frame of reference and he was not 5" bigger than me.

[trainwreck]

68.  Jordan Wilkes never plays anyways.

[Xeifrank]

69.  65. Yes negotiate like crazy, but if your skin is white and you don't speak mandarin/cantonese (for hong kong) you are going to be paying atleast double the price locals pay for anything. When I go to China, my wife does all the negotiating and I try to pretend like I don't know her, otherwise she might not get great deals. We bought all our curtains for our living room in China and brought them home in a suitcase that my wife negotiated down to US$4. The curtains cost us about $200 US dollars and would've cost us easily $2000 had we bought them in the US and had them hand sown. Have fun. I will be in China in a few weeks myself... can't wait. vr, Xei

[Bill Crain]

70.  67
All Cal's bigs are injured, but they'd still be travelling with the team, wouldn't they? Lack of depth is going to hurt against OSU.

It's after 11:00 PM and Bob has just processed my Pac-10 tourney entry and responded within seconds. I now suspect that he's fully animatronic. He doesn't sleep; he researches. How can this man call himself a City employee? He ought to be sued for defamation of character.

[Bob Timmermann]

71.  UCLA is known for producing very hard-working alumni. And I have to study 100 times as hard to keep up with the people who went to the school where all the rich and powerful went to:

BYU.

[GoBears]

72.  How can this man call himself a City employee? He ought to be sued for defamation of character.

Shouldn't that be "Famation" of character?

[Daniel Zappala]

73.  Actually, Bob, I graduated from USC. :-O

[Vishal]

74.  [72] apparently some people don't hold the notion of public service in very high esteem.

[JoeyP]

75.  So the question basically is, would you rather see James Loney, Wilson Betemit or Andy La Roche in your starting infield?

LaRoche at 3b
Nomar at 1b.

(For 2007).

LaRoche at 2b.
Dunn at 1b.
????? at 3b.
(For 2008)

Betemit/Loney should be traded for something good this season while they still have trade value.

[Bob Timmermann]

76.  74
They certainly don't hold public service in high esteem when I do things like spend Columbus Day going to the movies.

Cesar Chavez Day is coming up in a few weeks too.

[Benaiah]

77.  75 - I disagree pretty strongly. Nomar is the one with the highest value (I assume, I mean he batted over .300!), and the biggest risk. Trade him.

I prefer Loney, but I don't want to get to down on Betemit who is a good utility player this year and an above average replacement for Kent next year. Laroche, who I love, seems to be the easiest one to send down to AAA, what with the surgery and not having any big league experience to speak of.

[Bumsrap]

78.  I will admit its the Mustangs and not the Broncos but at this point I don't care because its freaken Cal Poly being mentioned in the same sentence with NCAA tournament.

The 49ers and the Mustangs are seeded first and second, meaning they don't play until Friday and need only two victories to win the conference tournament and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Oh yeah, how good is it that Nomar will be playing third and Loney playing first on opening day? Veeeeeeery good.

The next bit of magic would be to put Repko in CF and Pierre learning to play second.

[JoeyP]

79.  I dont think Nomar has more trade value than James Loney bc as you said--he's the bigger risk. High salary, on the downside of his career, and an injury risk.

Betemit has never played 2nd base on a consistent basis, and he's been playing for 10 years. While I could care less about defense anyways, I just dont see him playing it. He's like 6'3. Betemit is a pretty good utility player, and I think Loney is a spare part...so I'd rather trade a utility player/spare part--for a starting caliber player that the team could use everyday in the lineup or in the rotation.

Betemit+Loney for Dunn.

[Bumsrap]

80.  I have said this a few times but Betemit should be shagging fly balls in the outfield this spring. If Kemp needs another full year at AAA, Betemit could spell Gonzo in left this year.

[Daniel Zappala]

81.  As Steve would say, if Pierre plays second, there is less chance of him running into a wall.

[Bumsrap]

82.  79
With Nomar at third Loney's glove has to be at first. Nomar throws a natural sinker and Loney will be catching quite a few short-hops at first. Dunn would be piling up quite a few Ks at first and at home.

[Bumsrap]

83.  Nobody drives in Japan because all the Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, and Infinities are in the United States.

[Bumsrap]

84.  If Pierre plays second on balls hit up the middle he can toss the ball to Furcal who can rely it to first. It will look like a smart play and he won't have to make a long throw.

[underdog]

85.  If they're considering a trade for a power hitter at some point, I really think the Dodgers should be trading from their surplus of pitching rather than trading hitters. They may have to package a pitcher plus a hitter, but I really hope it's not Loney.

Andruw Jones I wouldn't mind seeing in a Dodgers uniform but at this point I'd rather they have acquired him as a FA at the end of the season and with Pierre we know that... oh never mind that again. But anyway, I'd rather them trade a pitcher (preferably not one of the youngsters) to get hitting.

[Benaiah]

86.  85 - I don't see why we would make a trade right now, we are short on hitting, but the only position that are really bad, we just signed someone to a five year contract. Trade Pierre, include a prospect if you have to, and then sign Andruw. But that is my pipe dream. Juan Pierre will be with us for 2-3 years, at the very least.

[old dodger fan]

87.  26
Sorry to get in so late on this one.

If you want Western Food there are lots of chains (predictible but safe), there are some Irish Pubs (Delaney's on Peking Road near Nathan Road is OK but nothing special except for good cold beer). There are lots of restaurants on Ashley Road north of Peking Road but they go out of business pretty quickly but the food is often good. The Western hotels have decent restaurants but are pricey. If you want Chinese you will need to stay in the Western areas as the real Chinese places don't have English menus and they don't speak a lot of English unless you are comfortable pointing at stuff on other peoples tables and asking for it (I have done that and gotten some great meals). I speak a little Mandarin but zero Cantonese and my Mandarin does me less good than my English.

In Kowloon as you go further north (away from the harbour) you find more local and less Western. Jordan and Mongkok sections have great night markets and street food that is really cheap. Just be sure to get cooked stuff.

Have a blast. Hong Kong is great fun. If you will be there the 1st week of April I would be glad to have dinner with a fellow Dodger fan.

Be adventerous. Just find a place that looks clean and go in and use your charades skills and have fun.

[goblue1]

88.  79
Wow, zero interest in Dunn.

Loney is far from a "spare part"- id love to know how you back up giving him that label?
Please advise.

[underdog]

89.  Not to bring up this old chestnut again, but here's one more take on the Drew-Boras-Dodgers-RedSox story:
http://tinyurl.com/2dvpop

86 I think I suggest a trade is a possibility in part because the Dodgers figure to have a surplus of pitching by the end of Spring Training and there will be teams desperate for pitching inquiring about some of those guys (hopefully it would be of the Tomko-Hendrickson-Dessens variety or maybe even Penny...) Who knows, they could make a trade for minor leaguers instead.

[underdog]

90.  Yeah, I think Loney is clearly a starting caliber player who doesn't currently have an opening in the lineup. That could change in a flash. I hope the Dodgers keep him for the future he promises as both a fielder and a hitter.

[Benaiah]

91.  From Rob Neyer's ESPN Chat:

Jeff (Eagle Mountain, UT): Can you think of any good reason why the Dodgers signed Luis Gonzalez, when they have Matt Kemp and James Loney both ready to play in the majors? And remember, I said a GOOD reason.

SportsNation Rob Neyer: Dumb dumb dumb dumb. Ned Colletti's infatuation with grizzled veterans, which apparently he inherited from Brian Sabean, is perhaps the best reason to pick the Padres.

[goblue1]

92.  In Neds defense, Neyer is an idiot and even admitted he knew very little about the NL West in that same chat.

[Penarol1916]

93.  92. I can see calling Neyer smug and condescending, but I'd at least like to know why you would call him an idiot, and one doesn't have to be an expert on the NL West to think that that Luis Gonzalez signing is dumb.

[LAT]

94.  I agree with Neyer's comments re Ned's infatuation with veterans but he didn't trade Kemp or Loney. If the vets fail or get hurt Kemp and Loney are there to pick up the slack. All Ned did was waste Frank's money. That is no reason to pick the Pods.

[Steve]

95.  So as to avoid wading into this again (Pierre = Bad, LuGo = who cares?), has anyone noted the irony of replacing 0-9 in Spring Training Wilson Betemit with 0-8 in Spring Training Nomar?

[goblue1]

96.  Well- lets not even go any deeper than this thread. How can you call someone Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, then later say you have no feel for the division that person operates in? What is the Oppinion based on the way LuGo dresses?

[Terry A]

97.  79 - What is the preferred height for second basemen? Is there a Lemke Line?

You say Betemit is too tall (at 6'3"). Jeff Kent is listed at 6'1", Alex Cora at 6'0".

So maybe 6'0" is the magic number after all. I know Steve would agree.

[Benaiah]

98.  96 - I think Neyer more or less is obsessed with baseball, he gets to be for a living. Thus, I am sure he is pretty aware of what is going on in baseball in general, but still has his own biases (he is a Royal's fan) that ensure he knows less about the NL West than say the AL Central. Still, he brings certain analytical skills to the table that we lack (he was Bill James's assistant after all) even if we might have more Dodger specific knowledge. And signing Gonzo was dumb, dumb, dumb (really dumb).

[old dodger fan]

99.  Eric Gagne on his bullpen session yesterday:
"It was a huge day, the best I've had the last two years," Gagne said after unleashing nearly 40 pitches from his familiarly violent delivery. "Physically and mentally ... all last year it never felt as it does now."

[Steve]

100.  Juan Pierre is a terrible dresser.