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From Dodger Thoughts comes word that right-hander Jason Schmidt will miss the remainder of the 2007 season following surgery to repair, heck, just about everything. Jon also points us to an excellent article by Will Carroll (written in ’04 but still very relevant) on the nature of labrum tears and recovery rate from them. It’s not terribly encouraging.
One of the problems with the way the current Dodgers roster is constructed is that there are several key players with significant injury histories. Schmidt is the first to succumb, but it shouldn’t surprise anybody if at least one of Nomar Garciaparra, Luis Gonzalez, or Randy Wolf spends time on the shelf during the season. In the case of Garciaparra, it might not even matter, because he’s busy showing the world that last year’s second half was no fluke. Since July 1, 2006, he’s hitting .263/.317/.377 in 491 at-bats. I think the fact that Juan Pierre is outslugging him over that stretch tells you all you need to know.
The Brian Sabean influence has been evident since Ned Colletti became the Dodgers’ general manager. As a fan of the Padres, it’s something I’m not sorry to see and a good part of the reason I fear the Diamondbacks more in the short term and the long term.
Yeah, it’s so hard to judge value given the general wonkiness of last winter’s market. Viewed in light of what guys like Lilly and Suppan were getting, Schmidt’s deal didn’t seem unreasonable to me. Questionable probably is the right word. Then again, that describes most free agent signings…
I thought his velocity was down last year. To me, it seemed like they paid too much for him at the time that they signed him.
It’s not questionable to take a chance on him, it’s questionable that they spent $47 million on him.
Honestly, I thought it was a pretty decent signing at the time. Apparently his arm was in worse shape than we’d realized. The Dodgers are on the hook for two more seasons, and at this point, I’ll be surprised if they get much of anything out of him.
Boy — that Schmidt signing was a bad one for the Dodgers. What a terrible job. They had to know that he had issues when they got him.