First place here we come.

Matt LaPorta, age 22: 115 AB .304/.369/.696 eight walks, 30 strike outs between rookie ball and A.

Carlos Santana, age 22: 463 AB .326/.431/.568 89 walks, 85 strikeouts at high A.

One of these guys was the number 23 prospect in baseball and center point of a deal for CC Sabathia, the other one was dealt for Casey Blake so we didn't have to pay his salary. LaPorta has the pedigree of being a seventh overall pick so Santana probably won't be a top 25 prospect next year, but Santana did have a much better age 22 season than LaPorta.

I'm not saying Santana is a better prospect than LaPorta, but imagine what would have been said if the Brewers traded LaPorta for Casey Blake. Right now it's not looking much different than what we did. I didn't really mind the move at the time, but it's looking more and more like we'll really miss Carlos Santana.

Chris Dial has updated his offense plus defense numbers. These use a linear weights based system to determine offensive runs above average, and a zone rating based system to determine defensive runs above average.

Manny Ramirez 21.8
Rafael Furcal 18.3
Russell Martin 13.6
Andre Ethier 10.6
Matt Kemp 8.3
Blake DeWitt -2.6
Casey Blake -4.2
Jeff Kent -5.6
Andy LaRoche -6.0
Luis Maza -6.8
Nomar Garciaparra -7.0
Angel Berroa -7.1
Juan Pierre -8.3
Chin Lung Hu -8.6
Delwyn Young -10.5
James Loney -10.7
Mark Sweeney -10.7
Andruw Jones -20.10

The two most valuable players on the Dodgers have played on the team for a little more than two months combined. Pretty sad. Nothing is too surprising about the list, our only good players that have been around all year are Martin, Ethier, and Kemp, our non Furcal shortstops have been pretty equally horrible, and Andruw Jones has managed to use his time off to not be the worst player in the NL. There were a few interesting things though:

-Manny Ramirez is the 18^th most valuable position player in the NL despite only being here a month. He's already passed up Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, and Ryan Braun to become the second most valuable left fielder.

-Andy LaRoche as a Pirate -7.4 runs, only 3.2 less than Casey Blake. Even though LaRoche is doing an amazing job at making me look like a fool by hitting .143/.233/.299 since leaving, Casey Blake's defense means that he's not all that much better.

-James Loney has hurt the team as much as Mark Sweeney. Since these numbers count double plays, and Sweeney isn't allowed to touch a glove, Loney has contributed just as much as the hated Sweeney. Good contact, no speed, and little power might be a terrible combination. If Loney doesn't improve his power and defense, he's going to be a hole for the Dodgers.

Interestingly, three of the top 20 players in OPD this year were obtained for free. Ryan Ludwick, Jody Gerut and Jayson Werth were all taken off the scrapheap and have been far more valuable than anyone that's spent the season with this team.  With the huge amount of holes the Dodgers have next year, we need to watch the guys who get non tendered, DFAed, or released this offseason and see if we can pick up someone like this off the scrap heap. Yeah, there's risk involved, but we need all the cheap talent we can get.

Kershaw XVII: Conviction

I'm kind of glad I'm too busy to pay attention to these games.

It's safe to say this is an important game.