Gambling

Though I (like most) was against the signing of Orlando Hudson at the time, I must admit that any player would be hard pressed to replicate the dynamics he has brought to the Ravine. He's arguably been the Dodgers most consistent day in day out player thus far this season. He's exceeded all expectations, and as evident by today's article by Dylan Hernandez, even those in the Dodgers front office...

"It's beyond my wildest expectations he's doing what he's doing," assistant general manager Logan White said.

Conte doesn't disagree.

The Dodgers were well aware of how Hudson dislocated his wrist playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks last August. And, like the other teams that asked to see his medical records, they knew that his wrist would never fully recover.

Hudson didn't deny this. He still isn't denying it.

"It's not going to change," he said. "It's not going to change next month. It's not going to change when I'm 85."

The player who turned down an offer for a reported four-year, $29-million contract extension from the Diamondbacks was relegated to looking for a one-year, incentive-laden deal in the off-season.

Even at the sharp discount, the three-time Gold Glove Award winner and former All-Star had trouble finding takers. So in January, Hudson came to L.A. and worked out at Pepperdine in front of Dodgers GM Ned Colletti, Colletti assistant Rick Regazzo, White and Conte.

Workouts like these are rarely observed by both baseball and medical personnel, but this was a rare case. Conte said he had uncovered no records of any baseball player returning from such an injury.

The first workout raised concerns.

"His timing was off fielding and hitting," White said.

Conte was even less sold.

"My assessment was that his range of motion and strength was very down," he said.

Conte's recommendation to Colletti: Don't sign him.

Conte estimated that there was an 80%-90% chance that Hudson would land on the 60-day disabled list early in the season.

White feared that Hudson, then a career .282 hitter, would return as a .240 or .250 hitter.

Still, they had one message for Colletti: Considering the upside, it's worth it if you can sign him at a reasonable price.

Colletti sealed the deal with Hudson for only $3.38 million. The guaranteed one-year deal included another $4.62 million based on plate appearances.

The Dodgers' expectations were modest.

"I don't think any of us really believed he would be ready on opening day," Colletti said. "If it would've been April 20 or April 25, we wouldn't have been surprised."

Again, I'm thrilled to have Orlando Hudson playing second base right now, but this sure sounds like dumb luck on behalf of Stan Conte and Ned Colletti to me.

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America)

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I'd also like to point out that Fire Ned Colletti Now has moved to a new location, and can now be found at Memories of Kevin Malone. Some of this site's traffic comes from FNCN, so I doubt he needs any publicity; however, the information on that site is top notch, and if you've never read anything Kensai has written you're missing out on valuable Dodger information.