A Crosstown WS feaseable; 2006

[Andy]

Also, all that champagne can't be good for his "personal problems"

Didn't he almost end his career because he got wasted and almost burned through his forearm with a lit cigar? That was him right?

 

Something with him and putting fire to his pitching arm, I'm not sure of the specifics.

I don't think you need specifics when you start a sentence with "Something with him and putting fire to his pitching arm". :lol:

[Priorknowledge]

Yeah and LoDuca's emotional leadership did lead the Marlins to get hot down the stretch and win it all....no wait their record was worse than the Dodgers.

 

Lo Duca obviously didn't have the same emotional connection to the Marlins that he did have to the Dodgers and that should be quite evident to any outside observer. I never said it was a good trade for the Marlins either. You don't trade for a catcher and assume he'll immediatelly assume the same role he did on his previous team. Obviously, he doesn't know the staff as well and team doesn't know him well enough to rally around him. It can take years to earn credibility as a leader. Plus, it was obvious he didn't like the trade at the time, which couldn't have gone over well with his new teammates.

 

So with LoDuca, the Dodgers weren't going to "sleepwalk" against the Cardinals (the best regular season team in 2004)?

 

We'll never know. But perhaps they play 4 games better in September and end up hosting the Astros, which would have been a better matchup. And if they did play the Cardinals, you never know. You change one thing about that series and it could have been a completely different result.

 

Listen, I know Lo Duca isn't a world beater and that the Dodgers likely weren't championship material, but I didn't like the trade at the time for either teams, especially for the Dodgers. You don't normally get better by removing your team leader. I am sure the Dodgers would like to have that deal back and positive that Lo Duca's former teammates would have liked the chance to go into the postseason with their catcher and leader still behind the plate. Instead, their GM used statistics to justify a trade that just didn't work for both teams.