Week of 2006-11-18 17:00 to 2006-11-25 16:59

Michael Garciaparra, that is. The younger brother of Nomar, Michael used to play for the 66ers back when they were a Mariners affiliate.

Former first round draft choice Michael Garciaparra and three other minor league players were added to Seattle’s 40-man roster Monday.

Garciaparra, who was the club’s top pick in the 2001 draft, had a slow start to his career, prompting speculation the Mariners had overestimated him.

But the younger brother of Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Nomar Garciaparra went from suspect to prospect this year. The infielder hit .311 overall in a season split between Double-A San Antonio and Triple-A Tacoma.

Now being on the 40-man doesn’t mean he’ll be in the bigs automatically, but he’s continuing to work his way up the ladder. Having seen Michael play locally, it’s one of the things I’m looking forward to next year — being able to go to 66ers games and see potential Dodger stars.

And amidst all the other Garciaparra headlines this week comes the news (via this LA Times story on the potential Juan Pierre signing) —

“I was hoping to be back and wanted to be back,” [Nomar] said. “I didn’t entertain other offers. My intention first and foremost was to work out a deal here.”

Garciaparra’s wife, former soccer star Mia Hamm, is pregnant with twins. Knowing he will remain in L.A. the next two years — his contract has limited no-trade provisions — is comforting to his entire family.

“I believe in the organization and I really enjoy putting on that uniform,” he said. “The Dodgers are the team my family cheers for. This is a thrill.”

So apparently, Michael will be an uncle soon. ;D Congrats to Nomar and Mia! I anticipate the twins to be ruling the world soccer scene in 2026.

Assuming the Juan Pierre deal is legit, which seems likely pending a physical With the Pierre deal official, here is the active Dodger roster as it stands right now. You will note a dearth of pitchers, only 9 at the moment, which will need to expand by 2 or 3. Couple of names missing from the official roster, who will be in the mix: IF Ramon Martinez, recently resigned, and OF Matt Kemp.

Pitchers

• SP Chad Billingsley
• RP Yhency Brazoban
• RP Jonathan Broxton
• SP/RP Mark Hendrickson
• SP Hong-Chih Kuo
• SP Derek Lowe
• SP Brad Penny
• RP Takashi Saito
• RP Brett Tomko

Catchers

• C Toby Hall
• C Russell Martin

Infielders

• 3B Wilson Betemit
• SS Rafael Furcal
• 1B Nomar Garciaparra
• 2B Jeff Kent
• 1B/OF James Loney
• IF Olmedo Saenz
• IF Wilson Valdez

Outfielders

• IF/OF Marlon Anderson
• OF Andre Ethier
• OF Juan Pierre
• OF Jason Repko
• OF Jayson Werth

Who will the other pitchers be? Among starters, Barry Zito would be awesome of course, but who knows if the money can be worked out, or if he even wants to come to LA. Jason Schmidt has been mentioned as a likely name, and while I still don’t know if I could get used to seeing him in a Dodger uniform after all those games against him and the Giants, he would continue the “Jason” theme of recent years. ;) Resigning Greg Maddux might happen, if the years/money can be worked out (and perhaps this is contingent on the Zito situation), and there’s youngsters coming along that might contribute more during the 2007 season. And heck, Jeff Weaver is available again. Ted Lilly has also been mentioned, who I’ve seen described as Barry Zito without the name; I would counter that the former’s full name — Theodore Roosevelt Lilly — is pretty dang awesome all by itself.

While a legitimate #1 starter is the biggest priority, relievers are still important, if a bit trickier to identify. Joe Beimel is reportedly a possible resigning despite letting the team down during the playoffs. And whither Eric Gagne?

What’s missing assuming pitching is handled? The big bat that Ned Colletti has been talking about since the off-season began. We just missed out on Alfonso Soriano, but likely had little chance with Aramis Ramirez. That leaves three names out there among the free agents, two of whom we certainly will not be considering (Barry Bonds and JD Drew), and the third (Carlos Lee) said he didn’t want to come to the west coast even before he was signed by Houston.

There’s always trades, and based on what Colletti said in comments about the Pierre situation on Monday, he might try to trade pitching for that big bat. Might we see Brad Penny (et al.?) moved for a guy who can hit 30 or 40 homers? Well, the Yankees need pitching. ;D In those comments, Ned also said they might be able to make up some of the homers with existing guys stepping up, so perhaps that big move won’t happen.

Can this team win? It’s way too early to predict anything, but anything is possible.

Oddball: Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?

Moriarty: Crap!

(from Kelly’s Heroes)

In a move that was making stat-heads apoplectic even before the deal was confirmed, the Dodgers have signed center fielder Juan Pierre for 5 years, $44 million dollars as a replacement for the outgoing Kenny Lofton.

Why the anger? His line from last year was 292/330/388 (that’s Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, and Slugging Percentage), which are red flags for the stat-inclined. While not what you want to see in a leadoff hitter, I think he compares favorably to Lofton, our number two hitter, at least at the plate:

Now, there’s no getting around the awful walk numbers — only 32 in 699 at-bats — not to mention the anemic OBP, but in virtually every category, Pierre’s 2006 hitting numbers are at least vaguely comparable to Lofton’s numbers. Again, we theoretically would be putting Pierre in Lofton’s hitting slot, behind Rafael Furcal.

Obviously, the baserunning will be an adventure. Nearly twice as many stolen bases in almost twice as many attempts, but also thrown out a lot more often. In the field, from what I’ve scanned today, he reportedly has a poor arm, but makes up for that somewhat with great speed. Will his skills translate well to the Dodger Stadium outfield? Only time will tell.

So those are some of the potential drawbacks. On the plus side, he has missed exactly zero games the past four seasons, is 29 years old (a decade younger than Kenny), and apparently is a character guy with a positive influence in the dugout.

Part of the stat-dude anger has to do with the five years, as well as the potential blocking of younger players. No one knows what other moves might be made this off-season in an effort to bring us a big bat or front-line pitching, of course, but in any case, I don’t think the deal deserves the hyperbolic rage being displayed, nor the calls for Ned Colletti’s head on a platter. And even if this has the potential to be a mistake, it also has the potential to be a success. We shall see.

The official Inside the Dodgers blog has more now that the the announcement has been made, including discussion of the stats-folk reaction.