Last night, Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley held the Cubs to four hits over seven innings en route to the club's 6-1 victory at home. With Cliff Lee reportedly off the market and Ted Lilly perhaps out for the season, Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com writes that the Dodgers will have to bank on more solid pitching out of the 28-year-old. Here's more out of the Western divisions..
- Before the trade deadline, the Giants offered Nate Schierholtz to the Yankees in an effort to land veteran Eric Chavez, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The Giants presumably pursued Chavez prior to acquiring Marco Scutaro, who has been plugged in at third base. Chavez, 34, is hitting .269/.332..486 with ten homers on the year.
- After trading for Joe Blanton and putting a claim in on Lee, the Dodgers continue to show that money is no object, writes Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports. GM Ned Colletti seems to be happy with his newly-found flexibility, but it seems unlikely that the Phillies will part with Lee.
- Catcher Kurt Suzuki was surprised to hear that the Athletics traded him to Washington but the veteran believes that the trade will work out for him as he will play every day, write John Shea and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Why on earth would the Yankees trade Chavez for Shierholtz, when they got Ichiro and ARod is out? DeWayne Wise is a better player than Shierholtz, and the Yanks CUT him!
Congratulations Dodger fans !
Now if only a sililar group would buy the O’s ?
Well , at least I can dream 😉
Nate Schierholtz for Eric Chavez…
give me what San Fran is drinking, “I wannna get loaded too!”
As much as I want to believe this is the pitcher Billingsley is going to be for the rest of the year, I’m not buying it……yet. He’s definitely capable of being that guy but it’s too early to tell. It’s only been three starts. I’m keeping my fingers crossed though.
I never even liked Schierholtz but it’s an unwinnable argument saying Wise is better than him…
you’re right, this year is all that matters. the 34 year old career .222 hitter is definitely better than the 28 year old career .270 hitter. care to bring something better to the table? “but Wise made a perfect game saving catch” that’s about the only thing you can say about him
and i’m not saying Schierholtz is anything special, he’s a platoon/4th OF, but Wise is awful
in all fairness to nate, he’s been good, but bochey really hasnt given him a chance at consistancy
Disagree. Next to Posey and Belt, there hasn’t been a position prospect come through the Giants minor league system as hyped as Nate Scheirholtz in the last ten years. He was expected to be a .290/25/90+ guys with a rocket for an arm and great instincts in the field, basically a better fielding Hunter Pence. Year after year, the Giants penciled him in as a starting outfielder but the offense never came(basically a league average outfielder offensively) so his playing time dwindled to a platoon role by mid season. His big loopy swing never filled in and he couldn’t figure out right handed pitching. His defense and ability to field a tricky right field a AT&T is likely what kept him in SF for so long.
Schierholtz was never hyped particularly much. Giants position player prospects more hyped than Schierholtz in those 10 years you mentioned:
Posey, Belt, Sandoval, Crawford, Hector Sanchez, Bowker, Velez, Frandsen, Ortmeier, Niekro, Linden
Those hyped about as much: Ford, Gillaspie, Ransom, Minor, Lewis
Great analysis. I’d probably add Gary Brown to your hyped prospects list too.
Also, I think that was what they were *hoping* Schierholtz would produce, but I think they were more realistically expecting a .275/15/75 line.
Brown has turned it around. He’s really turned it up since the start of June to bring his numbers to an overall respectable level. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him as a September call-up (bad idea, but I wouldn’t be shocked by it) this year. He’ll probably be mid-season next year if he keeps it up.
Agree with most of those, with the exception of Ford. Darren was a salary dump (Durham) pick up from Milwaukee, who’d been a lifetime .250 hitter in the minors. Fairly one-dimensional guy: speed.
I’ll give you the hype about Todd Linden and you could add Ishikawa to the list as well, but the remainder of the names you listed didn’t generate near the buzz that Schierholtz did. Eugene Velez and hype in the same sentence? That just made my morning.
But you have to admit, he certainly was hyped for it!