MVN - Most Valuable Network

DA BENCH!

Today I’m going to take a look at the Dodgers bench for next year.

Olmedo Seanz - Seanz was a point of contention for me last year. I disagreed with the amount of playing time that got Seanz in relation to other “bench” players. He was rarely asked to spell Nomar even after Nomar hit the wall. He was never platooned with Betemit at third even though he was OPSing almost 1.200 against lefties. No lie. And yet Seanz played in only 16 games all season at the position. Now granted Seanz is a doesn’t a have a good glove and his range would be about the same if he was playing in a wheelchair, but I would like to see him get more cuts than he did last year. He is another reason why I’m not too worried about Nomar’s health.

Three Year Averages

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.276 13 11 .341 .850

Marlon Anderson - Marlon was nothing short of “magic”, if I may quote Vin Scully, after he joined the Dodgers last year. He picked up the slack after Ethier tanked and probably could have hit clean up the last month of the season. He hit .375 with 7 home runs as a Dodger last year. I look for him to get a lot of work this year giving vets a rest and backing up Either should he get lost along the way.

Three Year Averages

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.267 12 9  .315 .747

Mike Lieberthal - Lieberthal replaces Toby Hall as second fiddle to Russ Martin. While his best days are behind he should make an excellent back up for Martin and proved a little pop off of the bench to boot.
Three Year Averages

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.268 23 12  .332 .772

James Loney - Loney didn’t do to well in his first call up with the Dodgers. The second go round proved to be a different matter. Loney posted an OPS of over a 1.000 including his 4 for 5, 9 RBI night against the Rockies. He flashed gold glove defense at first and despite his time in the majors posted the highest batting average for all of the minors. Loney should make the team out of camp and should Nomar sneeze too hard he might take over first and not give it back.

2006 Stats

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.284 6  4  .342 .901

Ramon Martinez - I’m am really at a loss to understand exactly why the Dodgers saw fit to resign Martinez. He was very useful during the first part of the season. As the season wore on and other players were acquired, Martinez got buried so deep on the bench that the bat boys saw more action. Given the depth on this team so far he isn’t likely to rise above the rank of late inning glove.

Three Year Average

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.263 8  2  .320 .669

Jason Repko - Repko was off to a good start last year until he injured his ankle climbing a wall. It took forever to heal and by the time that he got back others were in line before him. A lot of playing time for Repko this year would be very bad news for the Dodgers.

Three Year Average

BA   2B HR OBP  OPS
.232 7  4  .302 .684

Matt Kemp - Kemp is likely to start the season in Vegas but he might not stay there very long. Kemp hit .328 in Jacksonville and then .358 in Triple-A. I think that either Gonzo, Ethier, or just Kemp’s numbers will have him in LA before the end of May.

Andy LaRoche - LaRoche’s only issues will be (a. how his shoulder has heal and (b. how he does in spring training. Another player likely to have a starting job by the end of the season.

Oscar Robles - He didn’t hit at all in LA and only a little for the 51’s. He isn’t hitting well in winter ball and I hope not to see him in a Dodger uni at all this year.

Delwyn Young - Young had decent power last year in Vegas (but who doesn’t). He might make the team out of training.

Synopsis: The Dodgers have plenty of pieces for the bench and are likely to be good as well as deep unless, as two years ago, the bench players all get forced into the starting lineup. Still it’s not bad looking and you never know what might spring up in training camp.

I finally have most of my links back up. Just click on the friends section to check them out. A special thanks to Rob McMillin for not only updating my link but also giving me a shout out.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 5th, 2007 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.