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Dodgers Waive Goodbye to Stults and Repko

March 31, 2010 By

While it seemed inevitable in both cases, I was sad to hear of the sale of Eric Stults’ contract to the Hiroshima Carp of the Japan Central League and the release of Jason Repko.  Both players were solid, but just not great enough to crack the Dodgers’ roster and land any significant playing time once there.

As for Stults, he’s optimistic about the move to Japan, and stands to nearly double his salary while the Dodgers also recoup a few hundred thousand as well.  Stults was also out of options, so some sort of move was inevitable.  Stults talked to Ken Gurnick, who has a nice story on the pitcher’s state of mind before his overseas move:

“I enjoyed the Taiwan and China goodwill trips, but I’m a little more excited about this,” said Stults. “Japan is a lot more westernized, there are more Americans there. I talked with Hiroki Kuroda, who played for Hiroshima, and he told me some of the basics and said if I had any questions when I’m there, just to e-mail Kenji Nimura [Kuroda's interpreter] and he’d get back to me. He said they have a great stadium, great fans, a manager he respects and they treat the players well. I think I’ll enjoy it.”

As for Jason Repko, the 29 year-old outfielder was waived by the club today.  I was reading Steve Dilbeck’s column on the hard-charging outfielder, and hadn’t realized he had been with the Dodger organization for 11 years.  Pretty amazing stuff.  But given the arrival of Reed Johnson as the team’s #4 outfielder and the plethera of young talent waiting to replace Manny Ramirez next season, it just seemed like Repko no longer fit into the Dodgers plans, no matter how much they like him.  As Steve notes, there’s always a chance Repko could end up back with the Dodgers if he doesn’t catch on elsewhere, but I’m hoping he earns a slot on a major league roster – he deserves it.

Thanks Eric and Jason for all you gave to the Dodger organization and best luck in the season ahead!

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

Filed Under: 2010 Spring Training, Eric Stults, Jason Repko

Dodgers Pitcher Stults A Refreshing Change

June 26, 2008 By

Dodgers Pitcher Eric Stults
OK, I admit it – I was worred that we were going to be seeing the 2007 version of Eric Stults when he came up from Las Vegas to cover for Penny and Kuroda. That Eric Stults was not up to 2006 form and was quickly forgotten as the season wound down.

Instead, we’ve got the guy who was in control back in AAA Las Vegas and who has carried that poise and control back up to the Majors. After notching a win where he pitched six innings and gave up three runs (only one earned) against the Cincinnati Reds in his first outing of the season for the Dodgers, Stults delivered a four-hit shutout against the AL Central leading White Sox and notched another win for the boys in blue.

In addition to his stellar pitching of late, Stults also has contributed offensively during interleague play. In the game against Chicago yesterday, Stults manaegd a sac fly to earn his first major league RBI. Not bad for a pitcher with only nine major league starts and 21 games – all of them with an NL team. He’s 8 for 22 with a .364 batting average by the way.

What did the White Sox have to say about the shutout delivered to them by a 28 year old recently up from AAA? Basically, they whined that no one had any experience facing him so they didn’t know what to expect. If only that theory held true for all pitchers – with all of the injuries that Dodgers pitching roster has faced recently, the team could simply raid the minors and deliver wins!

Some on the White Sox team gave Stults due props though – catcher A.J. Pierzynski indicated that the Dodger pitcher deserved a little respect after his latest outing. “That guy pitched pretty good,” he said. “He used all his pitches and kept the ball down. We really only had one chance, and that was in the first inning. Other than that, he really didn’t make too many mistakes.”

Update: Looks like Stults has ensured himself as a fixture for at least the next three weeks. With the move to a six-man starting pitching rotation, Torre has confirmed that Stults will remain until the All-Star break, if not longer (according to the Los Angeles Times). The Dodgers’ lefthander is currently 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA.

Filed Under: dodgers pitching, Eric Stults Tagged With: ,