I didn't start following the Dodgers until some point in the early '90s. We'd just moved to LA a few years earlier, and I was old enough to understand how to read box scores in the LA Times, and things just began to snow ball.
On this slow day before Xmas, I've decided to spend some time coming up with my all time Dodger team, but first, my criteria.
This team isn't going to be the best team ever assembled, nor is it going to have the greats like Jackie Robinson or Sandy Koufax. My rules are that these have to be guys on teams that I followed (so starting with the 1993 season), and guys I love for one reason or another. Maybe they were an underdog, maybe I saw them outside of the ballpark in LA one time and they were cordial. Whatever, it is my list and I'm picking.
I'm going to try to fill out a 25 man roster, and I'll give brief descriptions of why these guys made my team. So here we go:
Starting Fielders:
C - Mike Piazza: Is this any surprise. The most prolific catcher in baseball, won the rookie of the year with LA, was dominant, hit the longest HR I've seen in dodger stadium in person, then got dumped by the evil Fox empire. One word, mustache!
1B - Erik Karros: This was tough. Karros spent as much time hurting the team by playing through injuries when he wasn't effective as he did help it. His clout on the team made it impossible for any manager or GM to question him. Every September, we would finally hear about his season long back injury that had hampered his ability, and every March, we'd hear about some new revolutionary offseason core strengthening program he'd been through which would rejuvenate his career. All this being said, he manned first for 11 years, which is 2/3 of my years following the Dodgers. Plus, my mom always had a crush on him. A couple of years from now, James Loney will take this spot over in my mind.
2B - Eric Young: I was always a fan of his ability. He never got his due, but was a good fielder and an above average leadoff guy who would run. I have an affinity for leadoff hitters as you'll see in this list. He was one of our better ones, and the two tour stop with the Dodgers makes him unique.
3B - Adrian Beltre: What could have been, then what was. This guy broke in with the Dodgers at 20 years old, or was it 19? We ended up getting busted for signing him at 15 and falsifying his birth certificate, so I'm not sure how old he is, but he came up from AA young. Outstanding defender, and you could put him down for .260 with 20 bombs unless it was a contract year, in which case it was .334 with 48 bombs on a bumb leg. somehow, we convinced ourselves the bumb leg was causing him to be more patient at the plate allowing him to lay off the slider away in the dirt, but I think a pharmacist in Tijuana might disagree.
SS - Rafael Furcal: I love this guy. always have, always will. It started when we both resided in Atlanta for a number of years. Glad to see him back with us for 3 more. Switch hitter with pop for a little guy, and a fire hose for an arm. Again, a speedy leadoff guy who gets it done when healthy.
RF - Raul Mondesi: Did I say Rafi had a hose for an arm, well then Mondesi had a cannon. He even went so far as a tattoo one onto his arm. Vin Scully once said the Dodgers were lucky he grew up in the Dominican, because if he had grown up in the states, he'd be playing fullback for the Chicago Bears. Worlds of talent, 5 tools, a 30-30 guy in 1999. Good average, big pop, legs, subpar OBP. Vin also said the reason he didn't walk much was because Mondesi once told him no one walks off the island, you've got to hit your way to the bigs. He is now in politics in the Dominican so I've read.
CF - Brett Butler: My biggest man crush has to be on Brett Butler. The everyday guy who was lights out. This guy could bunt! He would say the difference between a sub .300 leadoff hitter and someone over was bunting. He added a dozen extra base hits a year with the bunt. He was a great fielder, good guy, great leadoff man, could run. My two favorite memories were one of him appearing on the home video show taking a whiffle ball off of his 3 year old son's bat to the groin, and that ridiculously long glove he used to snag fly balls in the OF. Cancer forced him to retire too early. He could have played for ever.
LF - Gary Sheffield: Another tough one. Never liked the guy, but he was the most talented guy the Dodgers had in my era. He could hit all of the good pitchers. Motivation and ego were his downfall. If he was mad, or ever got booed, or the game was on the line, he would deliver. Problem was only 10% of at bats fell in that boat. Coming in to replace Piazza was impossible, and he was always pissed Shawn Green made more than him. He never learned that attitude built a fan base more than numbers.
Starting Rotation:
#1 - Ramon Martinez (R): Ramon was a god for several years. I'll never forget his no-hitter, I believe against the Marlins. It was 1995 and I was driving around in Torrance listening to the game on the radio. As the innings wore on, I realized this was happening and had to pull off the road and find a TV. Piazza caught the game and said all they threw were fastballs and changeups, he was that good that day. Ramon was the oldest of the 3 Martinez brothers, all in our organization in the 90s. He is the last Dodger to have a 20 win season, and was always a good guy from what the fans could tell.
#2 - Orel Hershiser (R): The Bulldog had already solidified his place in Dodger lore before I jumped on board, but I did get to enjoy him first hand in 1993-94 as well as his return 2000. The guy was a saint, and I'll always enjoy my signed baseball I won in some swim meet raffle.
#3 - Hideo Nomo (R): Nomomania was almost as big as Fernandomania, and I enjoyed every minute of it. He extended the Dodger rookie of the year streak to 5 years, and contributed a No-hitter in Colorado of all places. His stats really are eye popping. In his first 3 seasons in LA, he was 43-29 with an ERA in the 3s, and 703 K's. Then we traded him to NYM right as the league was figuring him out. He nearly fell out of the league before recreating himself for a second life in baseball and a successful return to the Dodgers in 2002-2004 where he was almost as effective as he was in the 1995-1997 stint. He blazed the way for Asian players to come and be successful in the majors.
#4 - Chan Ho Park (R): Chan Ho had great numbers in LA, and was a more likable guy than Nomo was. He choose to learn the language and assimilate more than Nomo did. He was an enigma when he left our team, but with us, his numbers were great. And who can forget the Chan Ho double leg drop kick during a brawl with the Angels
#5 - Brad Penny (R): This was tough. I thought about Kevin Brown here but couldn't do it. The guy was lights out, but there was his horrible attitude and the obvious juice. I went with another guy I'd put in the hard ass category, but one I like. Penny is probably questionable in many people eyes, but I'm a fan. I like how he looks out there, I like the high socks, the audible grunting as he throws fastballs, and the 95 plus gas. Don't forget the All Star game he started where he was touching 98-99 and was unhittable. Dodgers fans turned blue in the face watching that just waiting for his arm to implode.
Bullpen:
Closer - Eric Gagne (R): Easy. This guy was the face of the Dodgers for 2-3 years. Welcome to the Jungle was his song, and he even had a caricature the Dodgers were throwing on T-shirts. This guy was nearly unhittable for 3 years (except in Allstar games) and pitched almost every night.
Setup - Jonathan Broxton (R): You gotta pick a guy named Bull. Conservatively listed at 6'4 - 240 but he is way bigger. Still he's got the baby face but the imposing relief pitcher look. He was great setting up Saito and hopefully there is more to come from him.
Situational Lefty - Scott Radinsky (L): Radinsky is a favorite of mine. He recovered from Hodgkins disease and was awesome for us. Three seasons with sub 3 ERAs. The best part was that he was the lead singer for a couple of punk bands my brother and I listened to Ten Foot Pole and Pulley. When I lived in Atlanta, I'd go to all 3 of the games when the Dodgers were in town. One season during game 1 or 2, I walked out near the bullpen and asked him if he'd sign my CDs if I brought them to the game the next day. Sure enough, the next day I handed him 3 CDs and a paint pen and he spend the rest of the inning drawing pictures of guys skating on the cover jacket of the CD. Cool guy!
Long man - Jose Lima (R): Lima Time! He sings, he throws, he dances, he wins post season games. He was with us for a short time, but I loved every minute of it.
Pen - Matt Herges (R): Matty Herges was good for us. Very versatile, and he was kind enough to take a picture with my wife and I at Vero Beach one Spring Training. I'll overlook the fact that he showed up in the Mitchell report for now.
Pen - Darren Dreifort (R): Filling this last spot was hard. Conventional wisdom says I should go with another lefty like Odalis Perez or Wilson Alvarez, but the Dodgers have not had many lights out lefty's in the pen that come to mind. Other guys in consideration for this last spot are Jeff Shaw, Mike Fetters, Jim Gott, Ismael Valdez, Pedro Astacio, and Todd Worrell, but I'm just not blwon over by any of these guys. Dreifort is one of those guys that had so much promise, but really under delivered, and yet, I seem to have forgiven him. He was partially misused and never should have been moved to the rotation. His body couldn't handle the load. But when he was right, he was devastating. Tony Gwynn never saw more movement on a fastball than he did from DD's two-seamer. I had the occasion to meet Darren in Torrance at a Dodger outing when he was in his early 20s, and he was a nice enough guy. So Darren gets my 11th pitchers spot.
Bench:
Backup Catcher - Russell Martin: I toyed with the idea of picking real backup catchers to occupy my bench spots, but at the end of the day, decided I wanted a mix of favorites. So apologies to Carlos Hernandez and Tom Prince, my favorite backup catchers, but Russell is getting this spot. Partly because he is a great ball players, and partly because he can serve as a backup 1B and 3B guy for me.
4th OF - Manny Ramirez: Is this fair? Picking a guy who has 187 ABs with the dodgers? It is and here is why. 1) Because no Dodger has ever had a more impactful 187 consecutive ABs, and 2) because it is my list. For the first time since Piaza and Sheffield, we had a guy on our team who I couldn't wait to see come up to the plate, and who could and did change the game entirely. Think about that. Sheffield had a great 2000 season, and a good 2001 season. But that is 7-8 years of hoping for a rally, or stringing together some hits only to be occasionally surprised by a shot. With Manny, I almost expected it. If he is back with us, and I think he will be, it isn't fair to expect it to continue, but I do expect it to be better than anything we've had in our lineup for years.
5th OF - Shawn Green: Shawn was magical for two season 2001 and 2002, then something happened and I'm not sure what. He began reaching for everything on the outside of the plate, trying to pull the ball which regularly resulted in beating the ball into the dirt just in front of his right (lead) foot to the 1B or 2B, often resulting in a DP. He was the poster boy of the organization, and that coupled with his salary really got under the skin of Sheffield. But he was a good ballplayer.
Utility IF - Chad Fonville: The little guy who could. He's listed at 5'6 155lbs, but I think that is generous. He could play a good second base, and I'm assuming he could play some shortstop if needed. He had wheels too. He didn't really put up good numbers and he only had about 500+ ABs with us, but he was fun to watch because he was so short. Honorable mention goes to Cesar Izturis and Alex Cora here. Had they not been pared together on Dodger teams, there offensive ineffectiveness wouldn't have stood out so much, and I might have liked them a bit more.
Corner IF - Olemdo Saenz: Olmedo the Tomato! This guy was clutch in a pinch hit role for us for years. And god for bid if he could play 162 games a year against the Pirates, he'd have put up Bonds type numbers. In 66 plate appearances against the Bucs, his avg/obp/slg was .429/.515/.857 with 7 HR and 22 RBI. He can't field, so I plan to use his bat off the bench and not the glove, but he can play the corners in a pinch
Mr. Everythign - Jolbert Cabrera: Jolbert played every position except catcher for the Dodgers, and he handled the bat well too for a guy off the bench. I've added him to my team so that I'm covered defensively in any possible circumstance that could come up.
I guess I need to pick a skipper and GM for this team too, so I'm going with Joe Torre to manage the egos, and will ask him to hire a pitching coach to handle all use of bullpen issues, as Torre clearly cannot. GM is tough. I think we have to credit Dan Evans with rebuilding the team after Fox tore it apart. He hired folks like Kim Ng and Logan White I believe, who are still with the Dodgers. Then there is Paul Depodesta who never got a fair shake. He made some good decisions and some questionable ones (Jae Seo and Hee Sop Choi). Fred Claire is also an option, but I think I'll have to go with Dan Evans. He signed my media guide at a Spring Training game once, and was cool about it. Come to think of it, I once had Kevin Malone sign a baseball of mine at Spring Training just after Fox hired him, and I distinctly remember thanking him for making the Dodgers "great" again after signing Kevin Brown. Oops. That ball is in my night stand, and I let my kids throw it around the house and stuff. Not much of a keep sake.
So there you have it. My 25 man roster.
