Welcome to the Blue, Will Venable!

This news came out of nowhere.  I know the Dodgers had been without a left-handed bat off the bench since they DFA'd Carl Crawford, but I didn't expect them to fill that void through free agency.  I figured they'd look from within and bring up infielder Micah Johnson or even longtime minor league veteran/journeyman Corey Brown.  Instead, the Dodgers signed former Padres outfielder Will Venable.  Per a Dodgers press release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced the signing of outfielder Will Venable (#25) to a one-year contract.

The 33-year-old has a .251 career batting average with 81 home runs and 307 RBI in 955 big league games during eight seasons with the Padres (2008-2015) and Rangers (2015). The left-handed hitter has appeared at all three outfield positions, with 555 career games (385 starts) in right field, 322 games (252 starts) in center field and 91 games (52 starts) in left field. Venable opened the season with the Phillies’ Triple-A Lehigh Valley club, batting .205 with seven doubles, two homers and 19 RBI in 41 games prior to being released on June 10. Venable was originally selected by the Padres in the seventh round of the 2005 draft out of Princeton University.

To create room on the roster, the Dodgers optioned catcher/infielder Austin Barnes to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Barnes has gone 2-for-19 with an RBI in 10 games with Los Angeles this season.

A Final Roundup of Dodger Draftees from Round 3

I thought I'd finish of my series of blog post on the 2016 Draft by passing along a complete list of Dodgers draftees.  As you know, this past Saturday the Dodgers, as part of day three of the draft, selected 30 more players.  Per a Dodger press release:

On the draft’s third and final day, the Dodgers picked eight players with California ties in University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Lincoln (CA) High School pitcher Dean Kremer (14th round), Golden West College and Fountain Valley (CA) High School graduate Dillon Persinger (17th round), California State University, Long Beach pitcher Chris Mathewson (19th round), University of California, Santa Barbara pitcher James Carter (21st round), University of Southern California and Santa Barbara High School graduate Jeff Paschke (22nd round), Texas Tech University and Yuba City (CA) High School graduate Chandler Eden (25th round), Santa Clara University catcher Stevie Berman (31st round) and Chabot College outfielder Cal Stevenson (36th round).

Berman is the son of former UCLA infielder Gary Berman, who was drafted by the Phillies in the 38th round of the 1986 First-Year Player Draft. Darian Tubbs, the 16th round draft pick and an outfielder from the University of Memphis, is the son of former big league outfielder Greg Tubbs, who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1993.

Overall, the Dodgers appear to be happy with how the draft went.  Via Cary Osborne at Dodger Insider:

2016 Draft - A Look at the Cards for Draftees Peters, Smeltzer and Robinson

Over the past few days I shared pics of some of the cardboard that already exist for two of our early draft picks - Gavin Lux (1st round pick) and Jordan Sheffield (3rd round pick).  See those post here and here.  I now take a look at some of the cards and memorabilia available for three more prospects who were drafted within the first ten rounds.   Below are some collectibles for DJ Peters (4th round pick), Devin Smeltzer (5th round pick) and Errol Robinson (6th round pick).  If I failed to include any other cards of these players please let me know.  Also, I am not aware of any more cards being available for anyone else drafted by the Dodgers in the top ten rounds.

The first player I take a look at here is outfielder DJ Peters.  As indicated recently, he has already signed a contract to play for the Dodgers.  Per WNC at KOLO TV/ABC8: 

"It was a very exciting time for me to share with the people that mean the most to me," Peters said. "I'm just grateful I got my name called because most kids don't get to hear that. I'm really happy with the spot where I went; that's something I'll never forget."

Very few players wind up being selected by their favorite team. Peters has bled Dodger blue since early childhood, attending as many games as he could.

"I can't wait to get in there in that organization and impact them with my tools and the way I play the game of baseball," Peters said. "I'll keep on working. Signing isn't when all the work stops; it's when the work begins."

I think I love this kid already!  

D.J. Peters

2013 Leaf Perfect Game

Base Card

#266 D.J. Peters

2016 Topps Tier One - The Dodgers Scarcities

Here is my final post on the 2016 Topps Tier One set.  Featured below is a checklist (and some pics) of the Dodgers scarcities that can be found.  Most of the cards indicated below are either numbered to one or ten, so they are all hard to come by.

Prodigious Patches (#/10)

• #PP-CK Clayton Kershaw

Autographed Prodigious Patches (#/10)

• #APP-AG Adrian Gonzalez
• #APP-CSE Corey Seager
• #APP-NG Nomar Garciaparra

#APP-AG Adrian Gonzalez

#APP-NG Nomar Garciaparra

Blog Kiosk: 6/14/2016 - Dodgers Links - Some Odds and Ends

The kid continues to mash!

Corey Seager has been fantastic.  In last nights game he had a hand in both runs the Dodgers scored.  He came home on a double by the recently resurgent Justin Turner in the first inning, and then tied the game in the fifth when he homered off Grienke.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to defeat Zack and the Diamondbacks.  The Dodgers lost 3-2.  BTW, last night was the first game the Dodgers played against Greinke since he skipped town.  Via Doug Padilla at ESPN:

“It was probably a little more [fun] than normal,” Greinke said. “But I’ve played on several teams, so I’m used to facing former teams. That really wasn’t much. But the fans were pretty loud today, so that made it more so of an intense game.”
...

“The first couple innings, the first time through the order they were swinging a lot early,” Greinke said. “And they were taking the pitches I wanted them to swing at. The first couple innings was a combination of me not pitching real good and them taking quality at-bats. The last three innings I thought I pitched better -- besides the home-run pitch to Seager.”

Photo above via Jon SooHoo on the Dodgers twitter.  Go here to check out more pics by Jon from yesterdays game.  Below are more links to check:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1993 the Dodgers play their first ever game in Colorado.  They defeat the Rockies 9-4.  In 1995 Hideo Nomo set an Dodgers all-time rookie record for strike outs in a game at 16 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Happy Birthday, Don Newcombe and Greg Brock!  Newk turns 90 today!