Welcome back, Brad Penny?

Apparently, the Red Sox have released former Dodger (and Marlin) Brad Penny, and two of the three National League teams interested in him are in the West. I say let the Rockies or Giants have him. Welcome back, even. Apart from a couple of great Opening Day starts, he was worthless, and I wouldn't mind the Dodgers facing him a few times down the stretch. If I had to make a list of my least favorite Dodgers since 2002, he'd hold a pretty high ranking on it. In fact, now that I've mentioned it, here's the list:

A Sporting Blog's 10 Most-Hated* Dodgers Since 2002:

• Tie: 1. J.D. Drew: Give a crap for once, and stop looking at strike 3. Jerk.

• Tie: 1. Andruw Jones: @#$%&!!

• 3. Jeromy Burnitz: I like to remember him as "No-Hitz Burnitz." To be more exact, "No-Hitz-Except-for-Solo-Home-Runs-After-the-Dodgers-Have-Already-Fallen-Irreparably-Behind" Burnitz.

• 4. Shawn Green: Was it the bleach-white batting gloves? Was it the penchant for grounding into double plays? Or was it the refusal to get his uniform dirty, all of his outfield dives punctuated by a sort of weak fall forward accompanied by a grimace?

• 5. Brad Penny: Get everyone's hopes up with a great Opening Day/Week start. Get injured and suck (in interchangeable order). Repeat.
  

• 6. Mark Sweeney: How can one make an entire career out of pinch hitting when one never actually gets any hits as a pinch hitter? On top of that, he called out Matt Kemp and some of the other youngsters for not deferring to his veteran presence? I'm sorry not everyone wants to listen to you talk about how to have an OPS+ of 12. To top it off, I still have to see his bald mug on the Dodgers post-game show.

• 7. Juan Pierre: Five years. $9M per. Vin Scully once said of Pierre's arm during a game, "He tries, but he just can't do it." When will it end?

• 8. Daryle Ward: He slugged .193 with the Dodgers and always looked like he was hungry for cheeseburgers. The day he hit for the cycle with the Pirates ranks among the most high-incredulity moments of my life.

• 9. Odalis Perez: Two or three near no-hitters ruined by Shawn Green's unwillingness to make a play aside (see #4 above), no Dodgers pitcher in recent memory has come up smaller in big games, and then had the gall to blame his teammates anyway. He would define "Clubhouse Cancer" if not for Mark Sweeney (see #5). Getting released by the Nationals for not showing up to spring training seems a fitting end to this career.

• 10. Randy Wolf: He might be the most irrational item on this list. Maybe it's the resemblance to Ron Howard, but I don't feel comfortable relying on him in a big situation, even though he's pitched better than anyone else on the Dodgers' staff for the past month or so. He always seems to slip up just enough not to win. Wolf's slew of no-decisions aren't the same as Derek Lowe's slew of no-decisions the previous four seasons. It's a qualitative judgment based on my own observations, but I'll stand by it.
  

Honorable mention:

• 1. Brent Mayne: Dodgers were supposed to swing a 3-way with Arizona in the LoDuca trade in 2004 to get Charles Johnson, but he didn't want to come back to LA, so the Dodgers got stuck with Brent Mayne. What a black hole.

• 2. Ex-Rays: It's not their fault Ned Colletti was dumb enough to trade for them in 2006 (only to re-trade many of them only a few months into the season), but good grief. Toby Hall, you didn't play because you weren't better than Russell Martin at the time. Danys Baez, no one liked you because you sucked.

• 3. Luis Gonzalez: D-back pinhead.

• 4. Ricky Ledee: He sucked and had the face of a burnt lobster to boot.

*I say most-hated rather than most-disliked because, while I generally try very hard to like people and not throw around the word "hate" lightly when it comes to people (vs. things), these guys made/make me irrational to the point that "hate" is a better description. For example, I feel like if I were to meet Andruw Jones on the street, I'd kick him in the face.