the raul mondesi trade legacy

of the 5 straight rookies of the year that the dodgers boasted from 1992-1996, raul mondesi was my favorite.  dude was an athlete.  the 1994 nl rookie of the year was the first dodger to go 30/30 - he did so in both 1997 and 1999 - and the only dodger in that club until matt kemp joined him in 2011.  this is mondesi's 1998 topps tek card, by the way

mondesi was signed by the dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1988, and he worked his way up the minor league system until he hit the big time in 1993.  alas, mondesi wore thin with the dodgers and was traded to the blue jays following his productive 1999 campaign.

the dodgers received shawn green in exchange for mondesi.  green got a dodger topps tek card of his own in 2000

he and mondesi both hit 24 home runs in their first year with their new teams, however mondesi played in less than 100 games while green suited up for all 162.  after that, the trade was clearly lopsided in the dodgers' favor.  green went on to hit over 40 home runs in back-to-back seasons, including a franchise best 49 in 2001.  green played for the dodgers through the 2004 season, with his final act as a dodger coming in the 2004 nlds where he hit 3 more home runs in a losing effort.

following the 2004 season, paul depodesta realized that he needed a catcher, having traded away jim tracy's heart and soul, paul loduca, during the previous season.  he dealt green to the diamondbacks for a few players, including dioner navarro, who had been acquired by the diamondbacks from the yankees that same day in the randy johnson trade

that's navarro's 2006 upper deck card, which also happens to be the year that the dodgers traded him away to the devil rays.  with the emergence of russell martin, navarro was expendable, and ned sent him and jae seo to tampa for another catcher (toby hall) and big bird - mark hendrickson - seen here on a 2006 topps turkey red card

hendrickson had left his nba career behind to pitch in the majors, and he did so for 10 seasons.  his dodger tenure lasted through the 2007 season, after which he left the club as a free agent.  thus ended the raul mondesi trade legacy.

random cards from the scanned folder are like a box of chocolates

look deep into scott erickson's eyes on his 2005 topps total card

he'll make you forget that this is a post of cards thrown together with little to no thought or common theme.  just a bunch of cards i have scanned over the years, but not posted for one reason or another.  as an aside, i forgot all about this card when i went to a signing that erickson attended three years ago when the twins celebrated the 1991 world series team.  that's ok - his wife was there, and i forgot all about baseball cards for a moment.

now it's time for some edwin jackson.  this is a 2005 topps turkey red card

and this is a 2005 upper deck all-star classics

jackson made his big league debut on his 20th birthday (9/9/03), squaring off against randy johnson and the diamondbacks.  the dodgers made him a winner that day, and again a couple of weeks later in san francisco (a game that i attended).  jackson was wild in that game, walking 8, but he struck out barry bonds and allowed no runs and only 2 hits in his 6 innings of work.  jackson was back with the dodgers for a handful of games in 2004 and 2005, but was traded to the devil rays prior to the 2006 season.  in his 12-year career (so far), jackson has pitched for 8 teams.

2005 upper deck espn cesar izturis web gems

izturis won a gold glove in 2004 which largely explains his appearance in an insert set

2011 panini playoff contenders chris reed

reed was the dodgers' first round pick in 2011.  he was born in london, but attended high school in socal and went to stanford after that.  he's currently a double-a chattanooga. 

2011 bowman andre ethier gold parallel

and 2011 bowman ted lilly gold parallel

ethier only gets one parallel in this post, but lilly gets three.

2011 topps ted lilly diamond anniversary platinum parallel

and 2011 topps update ted lilly cognac parallel

i still prefer lilly's 2013 topps card.

here's a few more from 2011 topps update.  remember javy guerra?

who comes in cognac form

and platinum parallel fashion as well

guerra was picked up on waivers by the white sox earlier this year, so he and ronald belisario are making it deja vu all over again in the chisox bullpen.

one more from 2011 topps update - it's matt guerrier

guerrier was dealt to the cubs last year for carlos marmol, but signed with the twins prior to this season. he was just recently dfa'd by the club, although aside from his last outing he hadn't pitched that poorly.  i was a fan - as much as one can be of a non-closer reliever.

in other news, chris capuano is now a yankee.  here's his 2012 topps update card

and his 2013 topps gypsy queen white framed parallel

he had started the season with the red sox after two years with the dodgers, but was released on july 1. after a short stint with the rockies' organization, capuano had his contract purchased by the yankees and made a start for them just the other day.  he turned in a quality start, but didn't get a decision.

dodger red white and gray?

2005 topps turkey red is almost perfect for today's celebration of america's independence from tyranny with its red

and white

bordered parallels.  sadly, there is only gray

not blue.  enter 2010 national chicle

happy birthday america.

the evolution of the center fielder, part 3

it's been a while since the last post, so here's part 1 and part 2 if you want to catch up.  i'll wait.

the dodgers were looking for a new center fielder in 1999 so raul mondesi could move back to right field.  enter devon white.

devon white (1999)

white, shown above on his 1999 topps stadium club card, was coming off a pretty decent year in arizona, although his best years were well behind him.  still, kevin malone signed him to a 3-year, $12 million contract.  white started 121 games for the dodgers as their center fielder, and hit .268 with 14 home runs.  known for his glove, white made just 4 errors in 280 chances, although his range factor was down.  white began the 2000 season as the dodgers' man in center once again, and was playing pretty well through april when he was injured and forced out of the lineup.  as a result, todd hollandsworth wound up leading the team in center field starts in 2000.

todd hollandsworth (2000)

holly, seen above on his 1999 keebler dodgers card, took over for white in early may and made a total of 55 starts for the blue in center.  he was hitting just .234 for the dodgers, and they bundled him in a trade deadline deal that brought tom goodwin back to la from exile in colorado.  goodwin took over in center, but did not eclipse hollandsworth's number of starts.  for the dodgers in 2000, their center field merry-go-round had hollandsworth at the top with the aforementioned 55 starts.  next was goodwin with 46, white wound up with 35, fp santangelo had 22, and the field had the rest.

prior to the start of the 2001 season, the dodgers traded white to the brewers for...

marquis grissom (2001)

that trade was interesting in hindsight, because white and grissom are essentially the same player (grissom is 4th on white's baseballreference most similar list).  grissom, shown on a 2001 topps traded relic card, played in 135 games for the dodgers in 2001, including 83 starts in center.  he hit .221 with 20 home runs, and while he stayed with the club for the 2002 season, grissom wasn't the answer.  after the 2001 season, the dodgers brought in another guy to play center.

dave roberts (2002-2003)

dave roberts is enjoying his re-signing with the dodgers on his 2003 upper deck vintage card, but that's getting ahead of ourselves.  in 2002, roberts played center in 115 games and hit .277.  he also stole 45 bases.  as the card above indicates, roberts was back in center for the dodgers in 2003.  that year, he hit .250 and stole 40 bases as their main guy, but he was not seen as the long term solution.  he played all three outfield positions for the dodgers in 2004 before they traded him to boston and he went on to postseason glory. the dodgers bucked their trend and went for a younger player to man the position.

milton bradley (2004-2005)

the dodgers acquired bradley prior to the start of the 2004 season, and i immediately embraced him.  i hadn't cheered for the name on the back of the jersey (figuratively speaking, as the dodgers removed the names from the backs around that time as seen on the above 2005 topps turkey red card) as hard as i did for bradley during his dodgers' tenure in a long time.  in '04, he played all three outfield positions but started 91 games in center.  he hit .267 and scored 72 runs with 19 homers and 67 rbi. he even had 8 outfield assists. he helped the dodgers get back to the postseason for the first time since 1996 and hit .273 in the nlds against the cardinals.

in 2005, he started all 73 of his games in center and hit .290 but the dodgers fell to 4th place and they grew tired of bradley's outbursts.  they went back to their old ways of acquiring a veteran center fielder for the 2006 season.

kenny lofton (2006)

the 2007 upper deck card above is actually a rangers card, but you get the idea.  lofton had a great year for the dodgers in 2006.  he hit .301 with 32 steals in 129 games (114 as the starter in center field).  the dodgers made it back to the nlds, but lofton hit just .077 in 3 games against the mets.  he was allowed to leave as a free agent after the season and had a comparable year for the rangers and indians in 2007.  his departure opened the door for ned to give the starting job to one of the youngsters in the fold - the only question was whether it would be andre ethier, who had been acquired for milton bradley, or dodger farmhand matt kemp.  ned tricked us all when he went out and signed juan pierre.

juan pierre (2007)

pierre, shown on his 2008 topps card (with mariano duncan lurking in the background), continued his consecutive games played streak for the dodgers in 2007.  he played in all 162 games, including 160 starts in center, and led the league in singles with 164.  overall, he hit .293 but the team underachieved, so ned and frank mccourt made some changes. 

out went grady little, in came joe torre, and for no good reason whatsoever, in came andruw jones.  pierre moved to left to make room for jones, who stunk it up pretty badly.  i still don't know how he managed to make 55 starts in center.  saner ideas prevailed, and the bison wound up being the dodger's primary center fielder in 2008.

matt kemp (2008-present)

matt kemp is my baseball salvation.  so far in his career, he is averaging 23 home runs and 86 rbi with a .285 batting average over 162 games - and he's only 26!  there has been no doubt as to who the center fielder for the dodgers is the past two years, and i hope kemp reigns in center longer than the duke. 

so, there you have the end to 60+ years of dodger center fielder evolution.  maybe next i'll look at the third basemen the dodgers have employed over the years.  that should take about a dozen posts.