Many players start out in one team’s system, and for some reason, they do not make enough of an impression. They are then either released, traded or lost in the rule 5 draft.
This has happened a few times with the Dodgers but I am going to profile three who ended up being pretty good for their new teams.
One of those players was John Franco. The Dodgers selected Franco in the 5th round of the 1981 draft. Less than 2 years later, in May of 1983, the Dodgers traded Franco and Brett Wise to the Reds for former Dodger, Rafael Landestoy.
Landestoy hit .200 that year and retired. Franco made his debut with the Reds in 1984 and for much of the next two decades, he was one of the top relievers in the game.
He helped the Reds to four straight 2nd place finishes in the west. He was the Rolaids relief man of the year twice 88 and 90. He was traded to the Mets on Dec 6th, 1989 and would spend the bulk of his career there.
He led the league in saves three times and pitched in the 2000 World Series for the Mets. He finished with 424 saves, a 2.89 ERA and a 90-87 record. He got less than 5 percent of the vote in his only year on the HOF ballot and dropped off.
The next player who comes to mind is John Wetteland. Wetteland was drafted twice, once by the Mets, 1984, in the 12th round. Then the Dodgers took him in the second round in 1985.
He was originally a starting pitcher. He got his first chance in 1989 and made 12 starts in his 31 appearances. He had a 5-7 record and one save.
He had a couple more brief shots with LA in 90 and 91. The Dodgers had actually lost him to Detroit in the 1987 rule-5 draft, but he was returned. In Nov of 1991, he was shipped to the Reds along with Tim Belcher for Eric Davis and Kip Gross.
Two weeks later, the Reds flipped him along with Bill Risley to Montreal for Willie Greene, Dave Martinez and Scott Ruskin.
In Montreal, Wetteland became their closer. He would post 37, 43 and 25 saves over the next three seasons. Then in what has to be considered a bad trade, the Expos sent him to the Yankees for Fernando Seguignol and cash.
Wetteland would spend two seasons with the Yanks, 95-96. He had 31 saves in 95 and led the league with 43 in 96. He would help the Yankees with the World Series in 96 when he saved all four wins. He also had three more saves in the playoffs.
On the move again, he signed with the Rangers as a free agent after the 96 season. Over the next four years, he was the Rangers closer. He saved 31, 42, 43 and 34 games. He pitched in two games in the postseason for the Rangers, logging two innings of perfect baseball.
After the 2000 season, he was granted free agency but he did not sign with anyone. At the age of 33 he was out of baseball.
The last player I will look at is Shane Victorino. ” The Flyin’ Hawaiian”. Victorino was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round in 1999.
He spent the next three seasons, 2000-2002 in the Dodger system. Then the Padres took him in the 2002 rule-5 draft. He debuted with the Pads in April of 2003.
Oddly, he got his first AB against the Dodgers on the following day. After 31 games and a .151 BA, he was returned to the Dodgers.
He played the rest of the 03 season in the Dodgers system and all of 2004 reaching AAA. In the winter of 04, he was again selected in the rule-5 draft, this time by the Phillies.
He started the season in 05 with the big club. Again he was offered back to LA after 21 games with the Phils, but this time, the Dodgers declined and he was sent to Wilkes-Barre Penn, the Phillies AAA affiliate.
In 2006, he finally came up to stay. He appeared in 153 games for the Phillies hitting .287. Over the next 6 seasons, he was the Phillies primary center fielder.
He would play in 10 postseason series and help the Phillies beat the Rays in the 2008 World Series. At the deadline in 2012 he was traded to the Dodgers for three players, Josh Lindblom, Ethan Martin and Stefan Jarrin.
He got into 53 games for the Dodgers and hit .245. He then signed with the Red Sox as a free agent that winter. He played two full seasons for the Red Sox and then went to the Angels in a trade for Josh Rutledge. Victorino retired after trying to make it back to the majors with the Cubs in 2016.
Three players, all drafted by the Dodgers who went on to much success with other teams. Two of them became very good closers for their teams, and Victorino was a Brett Butler type leadoff hitter.
How about doing a look back at Frank Howard when you have the time? He was my first favorite baseball player. Huge guy. Was nicknamed “Hondo” and later “The Capitol Punisher.” I wish the Dodgers would have kept him. He would have hit all those homeruns for Los Angeles.
Phils had 2 of our castoffs: Victorino and Jayson Werth on those 2 pennant winning teams in 2008-2009.
Looks like LADT has been closed down….again. Too bad. Hopefully, there will be some migration over to LADC. Although many of the posters over there post here as well. Interesting times.
I am not sorry to see him go. I enjoy this site very much and I thank Jeff for his views, backed up with facts and being respectful to all posters.
With Mark closing LADT I will do all I can to help Jeff keep this site running. Mark gave me my chance to share baseball experiences and my love of Dodger history by becoming a writer for the site. We lost some excellent writers over the last couple of years. Mark basically kept the site floating and viable on his own. I did what I could, but sometimes story lines are hard to come by. I love doing this and I will continue for as long as I can. If you have a favorite player or era you might want written about, I will do my best.
I like LADC very much. I also enjoyed LADT but could never understand why the need to be bombastic and confrontational.
A blog is designed to exchange ideas/comments some that make sense while others seem absurd and bizarre. Who cares it’s a freaking blog where bored Dodger fans post ideas and suggestions some factual some emotional.
I’ll continue to read here and thanks Jeff and Old Bear.
Thanks Jeff and Bear for running this site. You guys both do a great job and provide great information. It looks like LADT is shutting down, and I appreciate the insights that are offered on both blogs.
Andrew Friedman was on MLB radio this morning with Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette. He indicated that his biggest remaining need is a RH bat that can hit LHP, either in trade or as a free agent. Bowden asked him specifically about Teoscar Hernandez but AF had limited comment on him, just that he has admired his game from afar.
Walker Buehler was discussed, and AF called him an ultimate competitor and said they are really confident he is ready but they may need to limit his innings to make sure he is available for October.
AF said Dustin May is progressing well but not sure if he will be available this year yet.
A short segment with AF but he is obviously very pleased with the offseason additions.
My guess is that Mark’s site will be back shortly after baseball is back. This is the perfect time for his hiatus — during the off season. And I believe the main intent is to make people miss the site so much, that when he returns, people will be more appreciative and more accepting of the way things were: “Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it is gone!“
Some of you may know the story. Shortly after Mark started LADodgerTalk, our son, Andy, suffered a stroke, late January 2017. I do not know if it was providence or what, but late February, Mark called me and asked if I would write with him on LADT. I never fashioned myself as a writer, but I loved doing research, and it was a perfect antidote to the depression wafting over me. Mark promised he would never edit anything I wrote, and would never tell me what to write. He kept his word.
I believe my first post was in March 2017. I consistently published with LADT from that time until December 2021. I have told Mark why I stopped writing, and while the name calling got to me, there were other reasons. Those reasons will remain between Mark and me. Suffice to say, amongst other issues, there were a couple of commenters on LADT that will never be allowed on LADC that pushed me over the edge.
I cannot count the number of times I have disagreed with Mark on issues. However, we never had a cross word towards each other while I was writing there.
While I have never agreed with the name calling, I will always have a great deal of respect for what Mark did for me and my family. He was gracious to me when I started LADC, and even gave it great preferential spot on his Dodgers Dashboard section. It is listed right below Dodgers MLB site, and Dodgers Insider. For a startup blog, I could not ask for more. LADC is not on included as a site to visit on anyone else’s blog. Mark personally purchased two other LADodgerChronicles domains and transferred them to me, so nobody else could snatch them up.
When I started, I had two genuinely great writing partners: Harold Uhlman and Rob Schelling. Both wrote for Mark at the time but came with me (with Mark’s understanding and blessing). Unfortunately, Harold passed away last year, and Rob has since retired from writing. Fortunately, Bear has come to assist me at LADC while also writing for Mark at LADT.
I am not a mind reader, and I have no idea how serious Mark is this time about shutting down LADT. I do know he has other endeavors he wants to tackle. If he does permanently shut it down, it was a terrific run at 20 years. I do not believe many here understand just how difficult it is to try and publish something every day, and try to make it interesting to the readers. I have only been writing for 7 years, and it wears on you.
Mark is welcome here at any time. If he wants to occasionally write a column, I will not say no.
For any of Mark’s regular commenters that choose to comment here, you are also more than welcome. I am not naïve, I understand that if Mark does decide to call it a career, LADC does seem to be in a position to benefit. My only admonition is that there is no name calling. I have never had to ban anyone from the site, and I hope I never will.
All opinions are welcomed and respected. Some of us may not agree, but we can
disagree respectfully. I know it can be done, because we have been doing it here for two years. And no Mark, we do not all sing kumbaya. 😍
Now can you two please put your heads together and figure out which RH LF is close to signing with us?
I think you both do a great job on the prospects. I enjoy Jeff’s scouting angles and Mark’s more intuitive takes. Both are interesting and equally valid.
Per Passan:
BREAKING: Outfielder Teoscar Hernández and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a one-year, $23.5 million contract, sources tell ESPN. Hernández joins Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow on the new-look Dodgers, who add another All-Star bat to the lineup.
Another high priced signing for the Dodgers. Paying Hernández a $23.5 million salary for a corner OF with iffy defense who had a 741 OPS last year. Seattle didn’t even give him the qualifying offer for $20 million. Clearly the Dodgers have a lot of money to spend on external players. Hopefully, they also pay Buehler, Smith, Gonsolin, and Kershaw who have already helped them win a WS and several division titles.