Kuzul

Getting elected to an All-Star team in Major League Baseball means one thing: You had a stellar first half of the season.

Having good timing is everything for potential All-Stars. 

Fast starters are rewarded for their spring preparation. Those slower to come around are unfairly judged at midseason, likely costing themselves extra money in future negotiations and potentially hindering part of their hall of fame candidacy in the process.

A gigantic second half can go a long way towards awards balloting. After all, Jimmy Rollins won the MVP in 2007 despite not making the All-Star team.  

But other than adding brownie points to your reputation for the next season, second half stats have no impact on All-Star consideration.

You’d be surprised to find out that Mark Teixeira, the Yankees first baseman with five different 30+ home run, 100+ RBI seasons has made just two All-Star teams. 

Big Tex owns a career .874 OPS prior to the All-Star break. Post break that number climbs to .957. He’s also hit 11 more second-half homers in 76 less games played. 

Making an appearance in the All-Star game does not necessitate that a player is even that good; just ask stat heads about Omar Infante’s selection last year.

A player who makes at least two appearances, however, has probably solidified his status among the best in the game. 

What follows is a list of 10 players who will each be vying for their first all-star appearance in 2011. 

Though they haven’t yet made the Midsummer classic, each of these players is talented enough to get there on multiple occasions. 

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With spring training now at its peak and Cactus League play in full gear, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in the national spotlight of the sports media in regards to a number of popular storylines.

Team ownership is obviously at the forefront, as Frank McCourt was anticipating a $200 million cash advance from Fox until the transaction was blocked by MLB commissioner Bud Selig late last week. It’s unclear exactly where the overall finances of the club lie, but the fact that McCourt was involved in plotting such a deal doesn’t sound encouraging.

In the meantime, the divorce ordeal between Frank and Jamie continues to trudge along. Frank’s gun is loaded with the intention of new trials and appeals, while Jamie continues to express interest in gaining some type of control of the organization. However, the team, the fans and Major League Baseball itself would love nothing more than to see this tedious affliction become resolved.

As for player news, the absence of reliever Ronald Belisario from his third consecutive spring training start also captured its fair share of headlines. While Belisario continues to offer excuses about being separated from the team, he still remains in his native Venezuela. Most analysts around the league seem to agree that he’s already seen his last days wearing Dodger Blue.

Vicente Padilla, re-signed by general manager Ned Colletti to bolster the bullpen and provide insurance to the starting rotation, has already been under the knife to fix a recurring wrist injury that has been bothering him for more than a year. According to various opinions, Padilla may begin throwing again in as little as three-to-four weeks.

The passing of Dodger legend Duke Snider, who could arguably be known as the greatest player the franchise has ever seen, brought a somber moment of sadness to Dodgers fans far and wide. Without a doubt, for his contributions to the Dodger legacy, the Duke will be remembered for eternity.

As all the aforementioned news made headlines nationwide, a number of storylines which are critical to the club’s success continue to fly under the radar. The following slides highlight 10 such stories, as well as offer a brief commentary about each topic shown.

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Heading into the upcoming season, new skipper Don Mattingly and the Los Angeles Dodgers have not been hit with a slew of injuries.

However, that’s no excuse for not being concerned with what injuries they do have.

There are only four of note:

1. Pitcher Vicente Padilla’s elbow surgery.

2. Outfielder Jay Gibbons with the flu.

3. Pitcher Tim Redding with an illness.

4. Pitcher Dana Eveland’s strained hamstring.

Spring training has just begun; therefore, Dodger fans, let’s hope this is as bad as it gets.

Here is a breakdown for each injury/illness and what else to look for as time progresses.

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Duke Snider Was a True Dodger Legend

Duke Snider, the famous Dodger center fielder, passed away yesterday at the age of 84. 

Known throughout the 1950s as “The Duke of Flatbush” (Flatbush was the section of Brooklyn in which the Dodgers’ home park, Ebbets Field, was located), Snider was one of the greatest players in team history.

Here’s a quick look back at the man who hit four home runs in the 1955 World Series, the only championship in Brooklyn Dodgers history. 

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Baseball season is finally here!

With the first spring training games played this past weekend, fans got to see the first look at what their 2011 team will look like. From getting to see their team’s big-time prospects to the veterans, everyone is starting to make their predictions on everything from how a particular player will perform in 2011 to the which team will in the World Series this season. 

Although not all teams played this past weekend, most did, and thus, we can start to get an idea of who we should keep an eye on this spring.

With that, based on this weekend and the talk about them this winter, let’s take a look at some of the players you should be keeping an eye on as spring training progresses. 

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The Dodgers have gone through a tough patch. 

After a year of ownership conflicts, down seasons and traded stars, some might forget that the Los Angeles Dodgers were the best team in baseball for much of the 2009 season, and that their core—Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Andre Ethier and Jonathan Broxton—remains intact and young.

Joe Torre’s gone. Manny Ramirez is gone. But the team remains talented.  

Ned Colletti spent this past offseason trying to supplement LA’s core and return the Dodgers—who finished below .500 last year—to the top of the division. While the team made few major additions, it retained some key pieces and supplemented that talent with bench players.

How did Colletti do?

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Clayton Kershaw is not only quickly becoming the face of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise, but he’s also arguably on the fast track to being one of the premiere starters in all of baseball.

Among the larger criticisms of the Dodgers pitching staff is the lack of a true ace, however Kershaw’s performance during his first full two years of service indicates that it’s only a matter of time before he fills that void.

Kershaw, who will turn 23 in March, finished the 2010 season at 13-10 with a 2.91 ERA and 212 strikeouts in just over 204 innings of work. His number of wins could have easily been much higher if it weren’t for the Dodgers’ sluggish bats, who incidentally provided the lefty phenom with a mere 3.9 runs per game of offensive support.

One of his most impressive performances of last season came on May 9 when he outdueled Colorado Rockies’ ace Ubaldo Jimenez to lead Los Angeles to a 1-0 victory. Earning the win, Kershaw threw eight innings of shutout ball while striking out nine, having only surrendered two hits and three walks. Notwithstanding, he topped that effort with his first career complete-game shutout against Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants on September 14. During that affair, Kershaw yielded no walks and only four hits as the Dodgers clinched the 1-0 win.

Although he doesn’t yet have the track record to prove so, some fans across Dodgertown have already began discussions that rank Kershaw among the greatest left-handed starters in Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers history. It may sound absurd, but Kershaw may become known among the Dodger lefty greats sooner than many would expect.

Surprisingly, amidst the Dodgers’ rich pitching heritage that spans 127 years, very few southpaws have experienced any type of dominating, consistent success. It’s not difficult in the least for the common Dodger enthusiast to list upwards of 35 right-handed starting pitchers who have proven to be elite, however the task of naming only 10 lefties is extremely challenging.

The following slides highlight 10 of the most successful southpaws in Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers history, as well as offer a bit of commentary regarding their careers as Dodgers. For those reading this piece who know of any die-hard Dodger fans who claim to be historical scholars or statistic addicts, feel free to challenge them to name 10 starting left-handed starting pitchers who deserve to be among the Dodgers elite—the task can certainly make even the most well-informed Dodger enthusiast seem feeble-minded.

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After a very successful first four and a half years to start his major league career, Los Angeles Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton had a miserable second half in 2010.

Broxton was an All-Star in 2010, putting up great first half numbers with an ERA of 2.11, as well as 19 saves in 21 chances.  

However, after the All-Star break Broxton proceeded to post an ERA of 7.13 with just three saves in eight opportunities, and Broxton had more walks than strikeouts.

By mid-August, the Dodgers were falling out of contention and essentially went with a closer by committee over the last month and a half of the season, with Broxton, Hong-Chi Kuo and Kenley Jansen splitting the closer duty,

Broxton’s struggles came as quite a shock, considering he had done so well prior to the second half of 2010.

He still has a career ERA of 3.11 and a great strikeout to walk ratio of 3.2, but with Broxton expected to be the primarily closer in 2011, the Dodgers have to be ready to take action in case he struggles.

Here are 10 potential alternative plans the Dodgers can make if Broxton is ineffective in 2011.

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Following in the footsteps of his father, Tom Gordon, 22-year-old Dee Gordon is currently on the fast track to play in the major leagues for one of baseball’s highest profile teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Gordon is currently ranked first on Baseball America as the Dodger’s top prospect.

Widely considered as a tremendous hitter and fielder, Gordon may also be the best all-around athlete in the highly talented farm system.

With the hype surrounding Gordon, there is a great chance that he will be starting at shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers by the end of the season.

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Jonathan Broxton is really good. A year ago, few would have disagreed with the statement that Broxton was the best closer in baseball, and it seemed inconceivable that the Los Angeles Dodgers would let him go anywhere. Broxton struggled down the stretch however, and even lost the closing job for a while.

With Hong-Chih Kuo’s emergence as an elite reliever, the Dodgers’ ownership issues, and Broxton’s soon-to-be expiring contract Jonathan Broxton could be on the move. Despite a few blown saves in 2010, he’s still seen as an elite closer in Major League Baseball, and his age makes a long term contract feasible.

Where might Jonathan Broxton be headed? And will he be moved now? This summer? Maybe not at all? Let’s take a look. 

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