This past Thursday Adrian Gonzalez rewarded 200 academically achieving students in under-served communities with Nike shoes. The photo above is via Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2014. Go here to check out more photos from the event. Via Yvonne Carrasco at Dodger Insider, "Adrian Gonzalez rewards academic achievement with a special holiday gift."
“This holiday season, my wife Betsy and I wanted to connect with high school students who have focused on their studies all year long,” said Gonzalez. “Education and access to college is incredibly important, and I am grateful for any opportunity in which I can encourage students to achieve their academic goals.”Below are some links to check out:
- Via Nathan Masters at KCET, "The View from Dodger Stadium in 1877." You've read that right, 1877.
- Via Matthew Moreno at Dodgers Nation, "Nick Young Not Pleased With Dodgers Trading Matt Kemp (VIDEO)."
- Via CBSLA.com, Jim Hill spoke with Matt Kemp and shares his interview in a video. Check it out here.
- Via Mark Saxon at ESPN, "Trading Kemp all about restoring functionality."
But what this really was about was restoring functionality, to the roster and to the atmosphere around the team. That last part is so nefarious as to invite ridicule. The players don’t have to hold hands and engage in group therapy before every game. They also probably shouldn’t curse loudly, throw equipment and demean a teammate when they’re told to get ready to play another position, as Kemp did -- according to team sources -- when the Dodgers decided he could no longer play center field and moved him to left.
- Via Jayson Stark at ESPN.com, "Winter meetings winners and losers."
Love the new DP combination of Kendrick and Rollins. Love the upgraded up-the-middle defense of Kendrick, Rollins and Joc Pederson. Love how the ground-ball, funky-contact approach of Brandon McCarthy fits that defensive upgrade. Love how they cut payroll, added to their prospect depth and injected life and leadership into their clubhouse so decisively. Just don't love their lineup without Kemp and Hanley Ramirez. But there's more activity coming, in the probable addition of a free-agent starter (James Shields?). And maybe much more. So no one won the week like the Dodgers.
- I sure hope you're right. Via David Golebiewski at the Daily Gammons, "L.A. Might Have Landed Gem in Yasmani Grandal."
- Via Pedro Moura at the OC Register, "Grandal is a gamble for Dodgers."
There’s a case for that, certainly. He is a catcher, one with a superb ability to frame balls so they look like strikes, and he has a .350 career on-base percentage, seventh-best among active catchers. He has hit 24 home runs in the equivalent of a season and a half of work – and did it playing half his games in Petco Park, one of the most homer-suppressing stadiums in the sport.
But the second school of thought is that Grandal is barely an average hitter for a catcher, with questionable skills behind the plate. The case for that: Grandal’s offensive statistics after his 2012 rookie season look a lot different than they did during it, and, beyond pitch-framing, his defensive numbers have never looked all that great.
- If you are interested in group-breaks then this is for you. Chris Olds at Beckett put together a list of 50 group-breakers you need to know, here.
- Tim Federowicz sends his thanks to the fans, via twitter:
I would like to thank the dodgers organization and fans for everything over the last couple of years.
— Tim Federowicz (@FedX19) December 12, 2014
- Newest Dodger reliever Chris Hatcher is already making friends with fellow Dodger fans. Check out this tweet of him signing a Dodger cap below:
Met Chris Hatcher @handlebars41 new Dodger via trade with Marlins visiting the troops in Southwest Asia. Great guy! pic.twitter.com/FI4GQY8YnN
— Ruben (@rubpez74) December 12, 2014
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