2010 Dodgers Preview: Shortstop

By Benjamin

Los Angeles Dodgers Shortstops for the 2010 Season

The Starter: Rafael Furcal

Uniform Number: 15

Former Dodger to Wear #15: This is the part of the column where I take the opportunity to describe the Dodgers legendary infield of Cey (10), Garvey (6), Russell (18) and Lopes (15). The infield that my mom still refers to as the “golden years.” Instead, let’s talk Shawn Green. A member of the Orange County Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and having hit more home runs by any Jewish ballplayer not named Hank Greenberg, we thought Shawn Green was “The Chosen One” when he signed a marquee deal with our boys in blue back in 2000. He even set a great example for the kiddies, sitting out a game during a heated pennant race back in 2001 so that he could observe the most holy day on the Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur. But no amount of atonement would make up for his sins at the plate. Oy! Expectations were too high. He was too close to home. He made far too much money and he never lived up to his million dollar billing. But it sure was fun those few instances when we were lucky enough to see him hit one out in person and we’d rise to our feet ringing out, “Light the menorah and spin the dreidle! It’s a home run!”

Bio/Fun Facts: In 2000, Rafael Furcal jumped from Single-A to the The Show after Braves starting shortstop Walt Weiss went down with an injury. All he did was win the Rookie of the Year Award. The next season, he bunted for a double during a game against the New York
Mets, rolling the infield two-sacker past third baseman Robin Ventura. Two seasons later, he would complete the 12th unassisted triple play in baseball history. With the game tied at 1 and runners at first and second with no outs, Furcal leaped to snare a line drive by Cardinals
pitcher Woody Williams, stepped on second base for the second out, and tagged out a runner for the third. With the count 1 and 1, Cardinals Manager Tony LaRussa lifted the bunt sign and let the pitcher swing away. “It’s a bad memory,” LaRussa said, “so I don’t think about it much.” Wonder if that’s his policy on McGwire too. Ironically, it was a brain fart by Furcal that put the runners on in the first place. With a runner at first, the batter attempted to sacrifice, the runner headed to second but looked slow, a chance for a double play was in the mix. But Furcal failed to cover second, no throw was made, everybody safe.

Strengths: As exemplified by the inning in which he completed the unassisted triple play, Furcal is a dynamic defensive infielder with a flair for the dramatic. He is an excellent leadoff man with the ability to set the table and even create his own runs, ala another Dodger shortstop and base stealing guru Maury Wills.

Achilles’ Heel: As exemplified by the inning in which he completed the unassisted triple play, Furcal is known for his occasional mental lapses that cost the club base runners. He’s also been bitten by the injury bug over the past few seasons, missing almost all of the 2008 season after opening like gangbusters. At 32, his body is aging, and his stolen base numbers have dropped considerably since signing with the Dodgers. It makes you think the next two seasons in which he is under contract will likely be the last two we see him in a Dodgers uniform.

Best Shortstop Now: Hanley Ramirez. Dude’s got it all. A real 5-Tool All-Star. Finished 2nd in the NL MVP voting last season, won the Silver Slugger Award by hitting .342, has nearly reached 1.000 OPS each of his last three seasons as a Florida Marlin and is still rising. I know Josh Beckett led the Red Sox to their second world championship in four years after Boston suffered an 86-year long title drought, BUT, Hanley Ramirez is the elephant in the room ‘round New England. No one wants to say it, but 37 opening day shortstops later, you can cut the tension with a knife. In a town well known for revolting, I’m utterly shocked no one has hung Theo Epstein for the trade that brought Beckett but dumped what may turn out to be the greatest offensive shortstop in baseball history.

Best Shortstop Ever: It’s hard to admit, but if Alex Rodriguez was still turning double plays with Robinson Cano, it would be hard to leave him out of this conversation. But he’s a hot corner now and since packing up and moving to The Bronx. So you gotta give the nod to Honus Wagner. Tough old John McGraw once said of Honus, “I think he could have been the number one player at any position he might have selected.” Well known as “The Flying Dutchman” he once appeared in a film, providing batting tips for youngsters. The little boy Honus tutored? Went on to be “Moe” as in “Three Stooges Moe.” Honus was the first ballplayer to sign an endorsement deal with Louisville Slugger and his 1909 American Tobacco Company T206 baseball card is probably the most coveted item in all of sports memorabilia (outside of maybe a Red Sox fan’s desire for the bloody sock).

Wild Card: He and his baby boy were once photographed together with Andruw Jones. This may explain Furcal's dip in batting average over the past few seasons. Furcal's still got the Andruw Stink on 'em. As for the baby Furcal, radiation couldn't have been more damaging.

The Backup: It’s more likely that if Rafael needs to rest a spell that Jamey Carroll or even Ronnie Belliard and Blake DeWitt could fill in at the 6-hole. Back in ’08, when Furcal spent nearly the entire season on the Disabled List, the Dodgers filled the position with a cocktail of Angel Berroa, Nomar Garciaparra and the illustrious Chin-lung Hu. We’ve covered Carroll, Belliard and DeWitt extensively in our preview, so let’s take a peek at the shortstop in waiting, Taiwanese sensation Chin-lung Hu

Uniform Number: 60

Former Dodger to Wear #60: Got me there.

Bio/Fun Facts: Well, for one…he’s Taiwanese. He’s one of six big leaguers and the first infielder to hail from the newly independent nation. Half of those six Taiwanese big leaguers are Dodgers. There’s Hu, Chin-Feng Chen and Hong-Chih Kuo. In fact, in 2007, Hu became the first Taiwanese born position player in big league history to homer. The first Taiwanese player to go yard no matter what the position? His teammate and pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo, who did it earlier the same season. Which probably explains the Dodgers jet setting halfway across the planet to play exhibitions in Taiwan a third of the way through spring training. Just what L.A. needed less than a month before Opening Day… jet lag. After a 15-hour flight from Arizona, the Dodgers lost the first game of a 3-game series with the Taiwanese All-Stars. Hu plated two runs with a single in the 8th but no one in L.A. noticed because it took place at 3:26 in the morning pacific standard time. If a tree falls in the middle of Taiwan but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Game 2 was cancelled due to rain and Kuo, the Game 3 starter, was scratched due to injury. Was the trip worth all that lost sleep? At least McCourt piled up some miles to use on “business trips” to Europe.

Strengths: Playing after long plane rides.

Achilles’ Heel: The Chinese Government.

Wild Card: Totally dig the Taiwanese phenomenon of hyphenating the kids’ first names. Call me ignorant, but if it’s not their surnames placed first, I say we adopt the custom in the States. In fact, I say we start a game. “How do you determine your Taiwanese name?” It could be kinda like “How do you determine your Pornstar name?” Here’s how the game works. Take the first syllable of your first name and the first syllable of your middle name, then hyphenate it to create your Taiwanese first name. To determine your sur name, simply use the first syllable of your last name.

Por exemplo...

Benjamin Andrew Chamberlin = Ben-An Cham
Raymond Wilson McCormick = Ray-Wi Mc
Jose Alberto Pujols = Jo-Al Pu
Timothy Leroy Lincecum = Tim-Lee Lin
Barack Hussein Obama = Bar-Hu O
Allan Huber “Bud” Selig = Al-Hu Se (which oddly translates as “The Syphilis” in Taiwanese)

Postscript: Make the over/under 19.5 on James Loney Jimmy Jacks and I’m in.

Grand-Postscript: Five days after we previewed the 2010 Dodger centerfielders, the greatest Dodger centerfielder of all time, Willie Davis, died. He was 69. Davis holds franchise records in hits, extra-base hits, at bats, runs, triples and total bases. He had break neck speed. While in the minor leagues, he scored from first on singles a dozen times. Felipe Alou recalled a game at Dodger Stadium when Davis hit a hard single over first base that Alou chased down and threw to second and threw him out. "I saw the umpire call him out and I said, 'I finally got that guy trying to stretch a single into a double.' The next day I saw the newspaper and it said Willie Davis had a double. I said, 'I threw him out.' My teammate said: 'We tagged him out. He had passed second.' He was that fast." He was once arrested for allegedly threatening his parents with a samurai sword and ninja stars. Former Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi once said of Davis: "There was nothing more exciting than to watch Willie run out a triple. ... He could have been a Hall of Famer, but he had million-dollar legs and a 10-cent head." He may have had a 10-cent head and wandered the streets of Los Angeles with a sword, but he was photographed sliding into second base in what may be the greatest picture of The Stadium or any Dodger ever.

Great-Grand-Postscript: By now all Dodger fans in the universe (including Taipei) know that our beloved Vin Scully had a little spill while getting out of bed this week. He spent the night in the hospital, but was back on his feet and at Spring Training a day later, calling Sunday’s game as scheduled. The 82-year-old sportscaster claims that he got up out of bed too quickly, fell and hit his head. My brother, a health care professional with a bachelor's degree in nursing offers another opinion, “I hate to diagnose Vin Scully but I don’t believe that getting up too fast and falling is a reason for hospitalization. I get these exact cases on a daily basis. He is an old man, probably with heart, blood pressure conditions. He may be on a long regiment of beta blockers, diuretics, stool softeners, and BPH meds. He got dehydrated because of a Urinary Tract Infection and then passed out. Now the bump on the head could be as serious as a subdural hematoma. Who knows if he is on blood thinners? That is the real reason for the hospitalization. It’s time for Vinny to either have 24 hour care, which he could afford, or be placed in a skilled nursing facility. Don’t take this lightly. He probably has a mild case of dementia. Damn that divorce.”

Upon reading this, I didn’t know if my tears were from laughter or the sadness that our lifelong hero is fading fast before our eyes.