"Intimidated by talking"
--Wow, now it's fear of silence expressed with hyperkinetic verbosity. And still not saying anything of substance.
/rant

1 - Explain how that his hyperkinetic verbosity. And explain how there isn't substance there, considering that there is a thought, a point of view, information, clearly expressed.

Sorry, more referring to current-day Fox-style telecasting, not in any way denigrating Vin's presentation or style, which I admire greatly.

3 And I understood you that way. (Probably I just couldn't imagine you meant to include Scully in that description.)

From another Times article, on Derek Lowe:

"Torre and his coaching staff wanted Lowe back but that sentiment wasn't shared by owners Frank and Jamie McCourt, with whom the pitcher had personality conflicts."

There's more in the bottom half (or should I say "last half", as I've been fascinated to hear all the old broadcasts on MLB.com, right up to one in 1991, refer to the bottom half of innings) of a current Times article by Dylan Hernandez.

2 -- I think Scully's anecdotes, when told over and over again, might qualify as "hyperkinetic verbosity." Honestly, there is a reason why the one-man booth in baseball is dead. I like the way Scully calls a game, but when the action stops he has nobody to talk to, so out come the well-worn anecdotes, just to keep silence from casting a pall over the broadcast.

5
The McCourts didn't seem to get along well with any of the players Depo brought in.

On a related note, I don't think "personality" was high on his priority list.

On another related note, I tend to think the McCourt's hired Ned at least in part because they thought he'd care more about such things.

So I've seen Annie Hall 15 times, Eric, you have some catching up to do. ;-) Grammy Hall would disapprove.

---

Seems odd that personality conflicts with an owner would be more important than how one gets along with the manager, with whom they interact with on an every day basis. But whatever. Better to cut ties a year early than too late.

Seems odd that personality conflicts with an owner would be more important than how one gets along with the manager

I assume this varies by owner, some of whom probably don't care about player personalities.

The McCourts care about personality. And the children.

3- ah, gotcha.

7
they liked jeff kent

10
Again, sorry,normally I resist the urge to rant, BUT I find I'm ENDURING current baseball telecasts-esp WS fare-as opposed to the telecasts as I'd grown accustomed to enjoying since childhood w/ my grandfather.Seeing the perfect game recently just brought that to the fore.

Oh, and thanks for this site, love peeking in here for the humor and perspective even though I'm not a stats guy.

7 -- Look at the players DePo brought in: (1) J.D. Drew (famously disliked by a lot of teammates, and Tony LaRussa, as a "soft," selfish player); (2) Derek Lowe (played a key role in Boston winning a World Series for the first time since forever yet the revered Theo Epstein made no effort to re-sign him because he was a drunk malcontent much of his time in Boston); (3) Brad Penny (another guy with a me-first attitude whom we didn't learn till he was gone would just blow off pitcher meetings); and (4) Milton Bradley (do I even have to go into it?). Every one of those guys is/was a talented baseball player who did some great things in a Dodger uniform. But McCourt not getting along with that crowd doesn't reflect badly on McCourt at all. He's in a lot of company.

Benjamin Hill from mlb.com (via milb.com) is calling for more minor league blogs. There are a lot of talented writers/bloggers on this site; I thought someone here might be interested in contacting him.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090113&content_id=495199&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

But McCourt not getting along with that crowd doesn't reflect badly on McCourt at all

I wasn't commenting on that issue either way.

15 -- You didn't comment on the fact, just noted it. And since your feelings about DePo are well-known, the commentary practically writes itself.:)

13

Excellent post.

It reminds me of how I have a Pollyanna vision of how the locker room works. I see it through the eyes of a little league boy that loves baseball all too often, and I seem to forget that 25 grown men that are competing for playing time and long term salaries can make for an interesting locker room situation. I wonder what it is really like in there.

6 Not everybody watches every game. In fact, I'd wager most fans don't watch that many games at all, especially compared to most of us (myself included). So "well-worn" anecdotes would be only "somewhat familiar" or "unfamiliar yet interesting" to the majority of viewers.

Bison roaming free once again:

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11450860

18 -- But you know what? I live in Canada so I RARELY get to see Vin Scully doing a Dodger game, and if I'm hearing him tell the same anecdotes three or four times, what must it be like for people that see Scully broadcasts a lot more often that I do, but aren't disposed to cut Scully slack for sentimental reasons?

The bison, which have had minimal human contact, behaved as expected in the chutes, snorting, bucking and staring wide-eyed at anyone who approached. Domesticated, they're not.

This might explain the trash can incident.

20 Must be the cold weather. ;)

18 - I would guess that most Dodger fans watch a lot of games, especially now that pretty much every game is televised. It gets pretty annoying hearing him tell the same story about a player 2-3 times per series.

I now await the inevitable lightning strike.

Darnit, Taylor Mays is going back to school. Good news for Trojan fans. But I was secretly hoping the Broncos could get him in the draft, though he likely would've been gone before #12. Oh well. Maybe next year.

23

I can understand where you are coming from on the stories, but I guess his voice is much more soothing than others that I don't let it get to me. I always am comforted to know he won't be spouting off nonsense like Joe Morgan.

Not to defend the McCourts, but a lot of people here decided that they didn't want Lowe back last spring when word got out that he had been saying ugly things about Scully. Lowe's tawdry little affair didn't help either, I suspect. My only regret is that we didn't move him two years ago when we could have had a good return.

25 - Oh I still would rather hear Vin than anyone else (though a little variety via Extra Innings is nice; I enjoy Sean McDonough and Dan Schulman quite a bit too). I think you can still appreciate Vin while acknowledging his short comings.

22 -- What, saying something negative about Vin Scully is the fault of cold weather? How many times can you hear Scully ask you, "Hey, do you know that Miguel Batista writes poetry?" before you throw a sofa cushion at the TV?

I watch a good 70% of all Dodger games on TV every year and I don't feel that Vin repeats himself very often from game to game. It could be that I just don't pay close enough attention.

28 When was the last time the Dodgers faced Miguel Batista??

I also get annoyed with my Grandpa telling me the same stories and the same jokes for the last 20 years. But he is 83 and I have respect. Like Vin. What am I going to do, tell them to shut up?

To answer my own question, I guess 2 years ago when he was on the Dbacks? I had forgotten about that second Dback stint. I do see what you mean about repeating the same "facts" about players... but I'm not sure if that's the same thing as telling "stories" over and over again. Perhaps I'm overanalyzing.

28 Isn't it the nature of the task though? Calling a three hourish game with long droughts of action would seem to birth the need of repetition in some form, -not- because "he doesn't have someone to talk to." I can't think of a two man booth (who seem to rarely actually talk to each other) that doesn't meander, repeat or exhort grammatical white noise.

You can be a critic all you want, but I find the idea that anyone who likes Vin as much as most of us do only does so by 'sentimental reasons.' I was probably 15 when I first connected who was calling his game, so I find this interjection impossible for me.

I think most of us just takes Vin for what he is: still probably the very best at what he does, an act so born to knots and warts that we do not expect holistic perfection.

The sweaty, cramped Dodger Stadium clubhouse was chilly for the kid, and it got even worse a couple of days later when he was booed off the field after giving up three runs in 2 2/3 innings in the Phillies' clinching victory.

I would like the record to show that I was there, and I did not boo Chad off the field. I cheered him on.

24 - I have a pretty reliable Raider's source who says they informed Taylor he'd be the pick at #7. That may have had something to do with him coming back.

35
If true, that is a cool and rare instance of my favorite NFL team helping my favorite college team. :)

27 - Extra Innings is great, I usually listen to another team's broadcast for an inning or two. I've learned that Vin is is still the best, in my opinion the Giants have the best overall crew of radio and TV, and most team's announcers are simply not very good.

34 I don't know if I've ever been more upset at a game than Game 5. I went with an old friend and my mother, and were around ravenous drunks who were calling for Maddux from the first hit Chad allowed. I was already in a lingering bad mood from Matt Stairs, and just couldn't understand what joy those people derived from the game with such negative attitudes.

I was not a good person to be around, to say the least.

37
I really like Kuiper and Krukow.

Also, I don't get to hear them as much, but the Astros TV duo (Bill Brown and Jim Deshaies) are excellent. They have good chemistry, a good sense of humor, and are generally informative. Also, they are open to new stats and often the production team shows OBP in their graphics. Even better, if a "new" stat is shown, the duo will explain it to the audience.

Buster Olney seems to think Chipper Jones runs the Braves.

I missed the Manny topic from earlier, but it looks like that one was shortlived anyway.

What does everyone think about this alternate reality:

Late September, 2009 -- Manny swings the Dodgers into the playoffs, the wigs are selling like hotcakes, "Manny! Manny! Manny!" chants are causing fans to forget their timing on the wave. Boras -- God forbid -- decides to try something that goes completely against his orthodoxy -- he calls up Ned and Frank and tells them that Manny is very happy in L.A. and would like to discuss a contract extension before he reaches free agency.

Do Ned/the McCourts jump on the offer, and if so, how much are we on the hook now for Manny?

With the market depressed, it seems like Manny and his agent could have made a lot more money discussing an extension during the height of Manny-mania. It would have given the illusion that Manny thought L.A. was right for him and maybe we were getting some kind of a "hometown" "discount".

Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but sometimes it seems like Boras takes these stances for the benefit of his entire body of clients and the detriment of one or the other. It's like the amateur draft prospects he advises: does it make a ton of sense for them individually to bypass a couple hundred thousand dollars to go back to school, play another season, weigh injury on one hand, a slightly larger payday on the other.

Maybe it does makes sense for some of them, but it sure does a lot more good for Boras, letting the teams know he's willing to pull stunts like this in the future.

I'm not the world's most spiritual person, but it seems a bit much that many media outlets are reporting Jodie Meeks' new Kentucky basketball record of 54 points in a game last night with some variation of "the Meeks shall inherit..."

36 Eric, it boggles my mind that a guy of your obvious class and intelligence can be a fan of the Trojans and Raiders. You're messing with my world view, man. Stop it. Either pick less odious teams or turn into a jerk to calm my cognitive dissonance!

With Lowe and Penny gone, are there any players on the 25-man roster that were here when Colletti took over? Broxton, maybe? Any DePodesta players left?

40
That's a weird article by Olney. He acknowledges Peavy is better and younger than Lowe, and notes that Lowe will cost more than Peavy over the next 4 seasons. But he completely glosses over the cost of the players in a deal to get Peavy.

I'd rather have Escobar than O.Cabrera at SS, as Olney suggested, even if the cost was the same.

44
Just Broxton, Kuo and Repko

43
I can't help it. I liked both as a kid, and it takes a lot to change those childhood bonds. I have no doubt though that if I went to a college with D-1 sports (unlike UCSD) I would have broken up with USC.

And if the Raiders would have drafted Brady Quinn in 2006 I would have left. Other than that, I'm stuck with them.

I've been meaning to stab more people, if that helps. :)

38

Game 5 was surreal for me. I believe Chad gave up a leadoff home run. I just tried to enjoy the game, but the excitement was sucked out of that stadium early on, and it did not feel like a playoff game at all.

46. Thanks. Though I bet Repko won't be on the 25-man.

I've long thought that Colletti was doing everything he could to dump DePo players. I can't remember a single report of him even trying to re-sign one whose contract was up. Oh wait - Jeff Kent would be the exception.

I've been meaning to stab more people, if that helps.:)

Yeah, it would. Get right on that, please.

49
Repko still has an option year left, so he'll most likely earn his $500-600k or whatever while in Albuquerque. (Unless Pierre is traded of course)

No one knows more than me how by game 3 of series, Vin will often say something about a player he has said in the prior games. But I have also heard from many broadcasters that they have to think about the person who has not watched every game this season. So if they feel there is something interesting to add, they will do so regardless if they said it the previous night.

47 - You could make like Roberto on Futurama.
"Now stand back, I gotta practice my stabbing."

35 So Mays was told he'd be pick #7 in the 2010 draft then? or 09? If this year then why would he go back? I can't imagine he'll be higher than that next year. If they meant next year, then there's the risk he'd get injured or have a poorer season, in which case making a statement like that seems kind of off. Ah well, I'm always in favor of players staying in school. Presuming they're getting an education though, of course. ;-)

Who are the other top safeties out there in this draft?

The only players on the 40-man roster that were on the 40-man at Colletti's arrival are:

Broxton*
Repko*
Kuo*
Martin
Young
Loney
Miller

Only the first 3 saw major league action in 2005. All were drafted or signed as an amateur (Kuo) by the Dodgers.

53 Getting drafted later by a good program isn't the worst thing in the world. Troy Polamalu might not be Troy Polamalu if he had to go to the Detroit Lions instead of Pittsburgh.

54 So when Logan White or Kim Ng takes over, they'll do another purge? =P

I did not realize that Troy Polamalu was having an existential crisis.

49 Well there were not that many players, he only had the keys for about 20 months. And if you look at Kent (he's retiring), Drew (opted out), Lowe and Penny, completed their contracts and declared free agency, I don't think Ned went out of his way to "get rid" of any of these players.

41 Like Anton Chigurh, Scott Boras has principles.

Huh. Polamalu was a center fielder in high school.

58 Milton Bradley and Hee-Seop Choi were DePo pets, and both were thrown under the bus the instant Colletti took over, for a variety of reasons. You could also say that Luke Hochevar was a DePo project that Ned pulled the plug on as soon as he could.

61 How did NedCo affect the Hochevar negotiations?

61 Logan White wasn't going to recommend signing Hochevar after the signing debacle.

Bradley/Perez (another Depo player) netted Ethier and HSC isn't in the major leagues.

61
I don't think it mattered if Colletti was GM or not on any of those 3 players:

1) Bradley was a PR nightmare, which of course is the McCourts' biggest fear. His throwing the bottle at the feet of a fan may have been overblown, but from a PR standpoint it was a killer. There were also allegations of domestic violence, which made him poison to the McCourts. Any GM would have had to get rid of him at their behest

2) The misuse of Choi was well-documented but I don't think it was anything personal that ousted him. Colletti didn't do anything 25 or so other GMs wouldn't have done. Factor in the fact that Choi hasn't seen an MLB plate appearance since 2005 and it's hard to see how this was personal

3) The Hochevar thing was bizarre, with switching agents and backing out of deals. The Dodgers simply refused to budge from their $2.98m offer (which Hochevar accepted) on a matter of principle. Logan White was heavily involved in this. I doubt it was anything personal in regards to DePo.

59 Looking forward to reading TJ's blog entry the day Boras creeps into Ned's office and tells him to "Call it"

Boras wouldn't come right out and say it, but it would be strongly implied that if Ned got it wrong Manny would be heading north.

61 Yeah, I do blame Ned for Choi not being good enough to play at the major league level.

64
Milton had already survived the bottle throwing incident. That occurred in the heat of a pennant race in 2004. His undoing was crying to the press after the Kent incident when it was requested by both Tracy and Depo to keep it in house.
Tracy was Milton's biggest backer in the organization, I had to listen to him rant for 20 minutes in the spring of 2005 about how Milton was just misunderstood.

61
Blaming Ned for getting rid of Milton because he was a Depo player is just an inaccurate portrayal of what happened. No matter who the GM was his 1st order of business in the fall of 2005 was going to be unloading Milton. History can't be rewritten unless you have deal with a publisher.

67
History can't be rewritten unless you have deal with a publisher

That has to be your new tagline. :)

Well there were not that many players, he only had the keys for about 20 months.

Well, I didn't necessarily mean players that DePodesta had acquired - just the guys who were there when he departed. Other than Broxton and Kuo, it looks like 23 of the 25 players on the squad never played under DePodesta. Sure, quite a few came up from the minors, and it was Colletti's good luck to be in charge when they were ready, but he has traded away or let walk every other player he inherited.

I'm not even criticizing here (though I could and have in the past). I'm just noting that that's a lot of turnover in a short time. Let's hope the core young talent is allowed to stick around (and is good enough to merit it) so that fans can grow attached to them a little. I too am nervous that not one has signed a long-term deal buying out arbitration years. Not panicked, but concerned.

I just watched a short clip from the Lost premiere. I am pretty excited.

61
The best decision Ned may have made was pulling the plug on the Hochevar fiasco. It he didn't we wouldn't have Kershaw and we'd be stuck with a very average pitcher who cost a boatload of money.

Depo was our GM during our worse draft under Logan White. Since moving to San Diego, their drafts have been very light but we don't know how much weight he even carries in the SD drafts.

We shouldn't be complaining that we got rid of Milton Bradley anyway for Andre Ethier, who you can argue is the type of player that DePo would have loved bringing in.

71 How much of our scouting direction changed under DePo to Ned Coletti? We kept the same scouting director, and its not as if DePo committed a great purge of scouts under his reign.

Tot Holmes is doing some great writeups about our prospects. The detail brings these players to life. This latest one is a great story.
http://dodgers.scout.com/2/830031.html

73
Probably only the influence. The only time Logan White has ever drafted a college pitcher with his first pick was under Depo. The scouting director works for the GM, not the other way around.

I'm not saying that Colletti made purging DePodesta players his top priority. But it is odd that almost nobody survived. And actually, since some of Colletti's head-scratchers were not so much to dump inherited MLB players, but to acquire new ones at the cost of prospects, it might be more fair to say that Colletti was focused on building a team of Colletti acquisitions, and didn't really care who had to go for that to happen. Yet another angle is that Colletti is just obsessed with PVL, and didn't find much on the roster when he arrived, so he had to go get some (with the kids filling out the roster at low cost).

The comment above about how Lowe didn't get along with the McCourts is interesting. I don't know if it's substantiated or not, but it does remind us that Colletti is not fully in charge either. Some of these moves (I'd say the Bradley move was "Exhibit A", and Nomar perhaps "B") have been mandated by ownership. Can't blame the GM (as much) when his boss gives an order. We have no way of knowing how often that's been the case. Colletti doesn't seem like he's very good at his job in any case, but I can't imagine a meddling owner makes it any easier, if that's in fact what he has to deal with.

76 Is there more PVL on the roster now than there was on Depo's last day.

Q: You do realize that J.D. Drew will be the highest-paid Boston player in '09. That's a bad omen for the coming season, right?
-Hefe, Manchester, N.H.
SG: Short of chicken blood squirting from the Green Monster, yes, I'd say it's about as bad an omen as you can have.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3829660

78 No because they all retired.

RIP Patrick McGoohan

81
That should have been comment #6.

81
"McGoohan spent some time working for Disney on The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. "
As a kid the three lives of Thomasina made we want a cat for a pet ( my population varies from 6-10) and the Scarecrow made me want to be a terrorist for good. Back in those days the Disney station would air the Scarecrow as a three parter. At least that is how I remember it. I loved that series. I wonder if I'd still like it, I hadn't thought about it in over 35 years.

24 - I've often wondered about guys who come out early that project to be drafted in the top half of the first round. I get the money factor, but really, why would you make the choice to go from a winning team (USC) with a chance to win a national championship to a professional team that just isn't very good? I tend to envy the guys that get drafted late in the first round. Picked up by a winner and getting paid.

79 - there are worse omens for Boston than chicken blood and JD Drew's contract, like Big Papi taking one in the chin during the WBC from Dice-K (who blows out his elbow on the pitch).

84 the difference between late first round and early first rounds is in the tens of millions.

84 And with the parity of the NFL, are teams with high draft picks likely to be bad teams for very long? (not including the Raiders of course =P)

Man, talk about a bad day at DT. I log in and see people criticizing Vin, talking about old DePodesta stuff, and reading the names "Bradley", "Drew", and "Choi".

:logs off until 11:51 AM PST tomorrow ...

Can't blame the GM (as much) when his boss gives an order

This is the only possible reason I can really accept for why Brian Sabean has kept his job.

87 - 2008 picks #1 (Miami) and #3 (Atlanta) both made the playoffs this year.

I think my post in 61 was a bit misunderstood. I wasn't faulting Ned for getting rid of Bradley or Choi, both of those were clearly the right moves. But both of those guys were acquired and supported by DePodesta. Bradley was let go for PR reasons (mostly), and Choi was let go because the change in GM also brought about a change in player evaluation philosophy. I don't think it was a vindictive purge of all DePo players, nor do I think DePo wouldn't have eventually seen the error of his ways and shown Choi the door himself.

As for Hochevar, I thought it was pretty well established that DePodesta was the one who made White draft him in 2005, over White's objections. After DePo was removed from the picture, the Dodgers kept their offer out to Hochevar, but they certainly didn't break their necks making sure he signed.

88 Man, talk about a bad day at DT.

Starring Spencer Tracy?

But, yeah, had the same sorta feeling.

But then I'm kinda grumpy since today's been kind of bad anyway and now I've misplaced my cell phone somewhere in the midst of all the craziness. :-( Sigh.

{goes back to hide under covers til Friday}

92
I feel for ya, underdog, but I'm consumed with apathy.

Hang in there, people. It's exactly one month until pitchers and catchers report.

88 What about Werth, Navarro and Cody Ross?! I'll have to re-post this tomorrow morning for you.

I never thought I would see the day where Base-ketball makes the front page of ESPN.com.

I think Taylor Mays, but it would not surprise me one bit if Al wanted to draft him. Forget the fact that we need to build the offensive and defensive lines. Let's get more defensive backs!!

*I think Taylor Mays is good...

92 Give me your phone #, and I'll make a crank call.

86 - sure, but if you end up performing for a good team, you're going to get a great deal, see Tom Brady, sixth round draft pick.

87 - Ultimately, it comes down to how an organization is run. The Raiders and Lions have been terrible because their front offices are a mess. Same could have been said for many years about the Rams, Cardinals, Bengals, and Browns. One could make that argument about the 49ers now. The teams that are well run (Steelers, Colts, Patriots, Cowboys, Giants, arguably the Eagles) tend to make the playoffs most years.

RIP Ricardo Montalban.

RIP Ricardo Montalban

And that is what happens when you preview your comments.

Hopefully his casket is lined with fine Corinthian leather.

I guess Sanchez's choice to leave school early is a little better now that Bradford is staying in school.

Van Johnson and now Montalban, I wonder if there are any surviving cast members from "Battleground."

Considering my moniker elsewhere on the net usually has 'roarke' some where in it, this is a very sad day for me.

Dangit. Dungy, and now this.

Pipe dream: I wish we could sign Pedro as a closer.

102 "Revenge is dish best served cold. And it is very cold in space."

I wonder if acting schools use the "Star Trek II, The Wraith of Khan" as an example of how not to act. Though after the first Star Trek movie, it along with Star Trek IV, are the best of the ST movies.

108 I don't think Pedro has demonstrated he can pitch once every week let alone on consecutive days.

I wonder what the script writers were on for Star Trek IV.

The future can only be saved by whales!

109 Khan was a terrific sci-fi villain. He was one of the few actors who could out-ham Shatner.

111 The future can only be saved by not letting species die off, even if we don't know what they're good for right now.

That and Transparent Aluminum.

He was also beyond excellent in short lived kids cartoon Freakazoid! (which is why I adopted the round-a-bout name)

IV was the whale one? I HATED that one. Too cute by half. "Remember where we parked." Feh.

The only one with the original cast that wasn't horrendous in my opinion was Wrath of Khan. And that's a low threshold. If you made me watch a different one I'd pick Search for Spock, but I might bite my own tongue and pass out instead.

109 I saw the director of Star Trek II, Nicholas Meyer, speak in a Q&A at the Egyptian.

He said that his job in directing that film was to control two actors who were both singing arias.

114 Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun, Freakazoid, Freakazoid.

115 Star Trek II is remembered for using the line "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of one." Or.

KHAN!!!!!!!

109
Sometimes you have to overact and he did it extremely well in Wrath of Khan. Would it have been the best of the series if he hadn't dominated it?

Kirk Douglas to my surprise has outlasted so many. With his son being married to Zeta-Jones he may outlast him as well.

Freakazoid was a great cartoon.

114 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-je6hkGoL0

I miss the old KidsWB.

Now they sold the block to 4kids, who somehow survived, despite making horrible shows.

116 Yep, that Chekov always trying to steal scenes.

One of the debates you don't have much anymore is the ones between fans of the original series and fans of Star Trek TNG (I'll leave out the 3 series that came after that for now)

But with the movie coming out this year (I guess its a prequel of the first series), I am sure it will raise itself again.

I liked DS9. It shown the Federation that it was as corrupt and even more hypocritical than everyone else was.

Has-Been by Shatner is such a great treat. His treatment of Common People ranks as one of my favorite tracks but everytime I read/write about someone whose lost it, the song Has-Been jumps into my mind.

Hal Bodley calls for wider expansion of Hall of Fame vote to Internet writers.

http://tinyurl.com/a8unhg

126
There is still the 10-year waiting limit. And that's a bigger problem.

Not that I want my brother to vote on the Hall of Fame. I only trust him with one upstate New York sports hall of fame and that's in Oneonta.

Random Question:

Does anyone use an online only checking account?

126
The demise of papers may make this happen sooner then later. Wouldn't you expect that as some of the old guard get transitioned from newspaper to web they will still want to vote but would not be able to under the current rules.
Would not surprise me in the least to see Jon Weisman HOF voter having to defend his reason for voting for Pedro Guerrero as a write in.

127 - Per the link, they'd like to see that waiting limit shrunk.

129 - Think about it: There would be three Pedros on my first ballot!

128 Yes

The real test would be if guys that run mlbtraderumors, and cot's baseball contracts are allowed in.

128 I use a online only ING account that has a debit card though no checks. But I only write checks to my gardener nowadays anyway.

125 I second his treatment of "Common People."

Shatner and Jarvis need to make an album together. It's destiny.

131 133

Do you find it hard to deposit cash?

135 No, you set up transfers from other accounts. Or set up direct deposit from your work.

135 You still should have some sort of liquid account for easy access to personal checks (hi, Grandma!) or random influxes of cash (Hello, lucky diamond on the river), but I do most of my savings (or try) on my ING account.

The best thing about Star Trek II? William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban's hair! Even as a a boy, before I understood things like toupees, I knew that it was not right that Captain Kirk's hair had been light brown and wavy on the original series, and was now black and curly.

Speaking of transparent aluminum I used to be a materials guy. Several years back there was an article in Scientific Am. about amorphous metals and I traded in a few shares of the only public "Liquid Metal" company( a mistake by the way). But I have a neighbor who is a prof at MIT and involved in the research. He told me the work looked unlikely to lead to "transparent aluminum".
Oh well.

138 So was Star Trek II really a battle of the cloaking devices?

So was Star Trek II really a battle of the cloaking devices?

And those mind-control cockroach things that go in the ear.

132
I expect that both could hold their own in any baseball knowledge test. Expanding the voting can only be a good thing. The voting would be preceded by a month long debate on the merits of all the candidates hosted by the MLB Network. The debates would have a series of three pro/con debates. For those who cannot find anyone debating on their behalf no time would be wasted. MLB.Network has a future even if no one in South Pasadena can see it.

UCLA or USC fans -

What would be the fairest and most useful trade of a UCLA basketball player for a USC football player?

I figure a USC quarterback would be involved.

They gave Manny's old number on the Red Sox to Saito.

141
I always wondered who would win out if the star trek mind control bug ran into the Babel Fish from Hitchhikers guide. They both entered via the ear, so the pathways were the same. For all we know the Babel Fish had some deep fish type of teeth. But now I'm babbling.

143
Off the wall question but I will bite.
I would rather send Kevin Craft for Taj Gibson but I guess it would have to be Jerime Anderson (a prospect who can play right away for USC) for Mustain

143
Marques Johnson for Charles White?

Nobody wants Kevin Craft.

148
I like to think UCLA quarterback and USC pt guard are similar in depth and quality at this point but Hacket is a good player just not a real pt.

149 But Tim Floyd personally recruited Lil' Romeo for point guard duties!!!

Or he met him for the first time at DeMar DeRozan's press conference, either one.

145 If someone who already had a babel fish in their ear used the Federation's universal translator technology, I wonder if it would come out similiarly to using the internet's babelfish to translate from English to Russian to Spanish and back to English.

I am thinking would if eat a fish as steadily as the universe perhaps tomorrow.

So Lowe's a drinker eh?

Order a case of whatever he was drinking for Billingsley, McDonald and Stults. Not Kershaw though. Too young to imbibe.

We'll miss Lowe, no matter how good the youngsters turn out to be in '09.

Making the trade fair is what makes it hard.

I will just go with Jerime Anderson for OL Tyron Smith.

Clayton Kershaw is 21.

155
Not until March.

156 I see.

Is Marc Sanchez currently projected to be the first QB taken in the NFL draft?

This thread makes me feel like I'm at a Galaxy Quest convention.

157
I believe he is. Stafford is an underachiever.

Scouts Inc. has Stafford > Sanchez

Chris Moretensen is reporting Sanchez to turn pro tomorrow. On the bright side, Mort is often wrong.

Both players played with a lot of talent and both did not play in complete gimmicky offenses.

Sanchez has better stats, including a very high completion percentage, which is the most important stat to judge quarterbacks entering a draft (according to a study I read). In favor of Stafford is that he has started more games, which is also important.

160
Actually, Sanchez grades as 95 on Scouts Inc, while Stafford grades at 94.

158
I'm not sure if I've seen a movie in the last ten years that made smile as much as Galaxy Quest. The dweeby but lovable kids still kill me everytime I see them. Maybe that is why I like BBT so much. If they would only drop the obnoxious laugh track I'd like it more. They are funny, they don't need to tell us how funny they are.

Top Chef Thoughts: Somehow, Ariane is the one of the better chefs in the group. I thought she would be this season Nikki or Lisa, but that is Carla.

Also, we are denied Tim Tebow in the green room for another year.

164
Yeah, quite the turn around. After the first two episodes, I was already wondering why she was still around.

162
I was looking on ESPN.com's draft page, with lists the Top 32 via Scout's Inc.

160 - don't think he's wrong on this one. Mark would have to change his mind, all the USC sources are reporting the same thing as Mort.

166 It helped that the show got rid of the 3 worst chefs right off the bat. People with who were either starting out, or had no drive to excel. Who picks noodles that you never cooked with!?

167
lol well this is weird, because I am looking at same thing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft

ESPN.com must have updated it. Sanchez score was 85 when I looked at it, and then it was changed to 95 afterwards.

170
I mixed up Bradford and Stafford! D'oh.

I'm excited Mark is leaving. We'll win the Pac 10 w/ or w/o him, and we'll have a 2nd year starter now in 2010, when our defense and schedule sets up far better for a title run. No way we were winning it next year with our brutal road schedule and the cupcake walks that UF and Texas have.

173
No way we were winning it next year

I refuse to believe that.

173
No way we were winning it next year

I refuse to believe that.

He double refuses.

Is anyone in a keeper league? I'm thinking of starting one with my friends and am looking for some successful tips.

How many players should I keep?

Should I "black-out" the first 2 rounds of picks, making them ineligible for picking (we do this in football, which keeps the top players available from year-to-year)?

How do keepers slot in next years draft? I've read some leagues put a two-round penalty on keepers (your keeper drafted in the 10th round becomes your 8th round pick next year, and so on).

Thanks in advance...

USC is going to beat OSU at Ohio? While I think OSU is over rated, they're going to play their best against USC due to the really bad loss they took this year in L.A.

I thought I heard a ton how less than impressive Corp and Mustain were at practices?

158 yes, I started it skeptical, but smiled more than in a long time. The final with the kids I may have laughed more than in a long while. And when the rock-creature was chasing Tim Allen, I almost needed dry clothes.

174 - I don't see it. We barely ran that schedule in 2005 with Leinart and Bush, etc, and lost twice in 2007. Now, you throw in At Ohio State into the mix. I don't believe it would have happened with 9 new defensive starters.

Right now, I think our schedule is easier in even years.

177
I am in keeper league and we keep it far simpler than that. Certain number of keepers with limits on certain positions. Then draft from worst to first.

177
Successful tip: Make it an auction league instead of a draft.

182 - How many players can you keep? In my football league, it's up to 3 players. It seems that baseball leagues vary a lot, from 2 or 3 up to 13.

We'll win the Pac 10 w/ or w/o him

Seeing as how USC needed Oregon State to lose on their last week of the season just to win the Pac-10 this year with Sanchez makes me think your confidence in winning the Pac-10 next year a bit premature. Oregon and Oregon State return basically everybody and should at least compete with USC next year (particularly with Sanchez gone.)

I think that $c QBs will almost always disappoint in the NFL because they had it too easy in college. With the O-lines, RBs, and WRs they get to play with (relative to the talent trying to stop them) they don't have to learn how to read defenses or throw under pressure, or even throw all that accurately. That's not to say that they necessarily lack those abilities (Carson Palmer turned out to be a LOT better than I expected he would be). It just means that their college stats are not much of a guide to their abilities. I'm never surprised when a U$C QB tanks in the pros after a great college career. Nor am I surprised when a QB who played with worse talent in college and against better teams (and HAD to learn pro skills just to get by) "exceeds" expectations in the pros.

So if you want to make the case that Sanchez really is that good, you can't just look at the stats. This isn't baseball, after all.

184
4 in football and in baseball it is 8.

USC would rather seen Oregon St. win the Pac-Ten championship. It would have sent Oregon St. to the Rose Bowl, USC to the Fiesta bowl against Texas, and knock Ohio St. from the BCS.

And 4 in basketball, but it is a league that does not start many players.

187 - How many players overall does each team have during the baseball season?

186
But most of the QBs from top programs play with tons of talent. Not just USC.

186 Sanchez was one of the most accurate QBs USC had.

185 - not saying they won't compete, but I have to like our chances after winning 6 in a row. Oregon loses a lot, I think Cal can be a real player next year. Oregon State should be solid but they have are At everyone next year, they have USC, Oregon, ASU, and Cal all on the same rotation.

191 Jay Cutler, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers all played college football with considerably less talent then the Mark Sanchez/Matt Leinarts.

USC 2009 Prediction:

Sept. 5 San Jose State W, 64-7
Sept. 12 @ Ohio State W, 24-21
Sept. 19 @ Washington W, 48-3
Sept. 26 Washington State W, 34-6
Oct. 3 @ California W, 21-9
Oct. 10 Arizona W, 34-21
Oct. 17 @ Notre Dame W, 14-3
Oct. 24 Oregon State W, 27-21
Oct. 31 @ Oregon W, 17-13
Nov. 7 @ Arizona State W, 21-7
Nov. 14 Stanford W, 34-17
Nov. 28 UCLA L, 17-14

Also, its not like going to USC automatically gets you rated and draft higher than you would normally would. Booty was drafted in the 5th round because that's what his talent was graded at. People like Sanchez as a prospect because he is talented, but because he goes to USC.

190
26.

179 - many people thought Corp outperformed Sanchez and Mustain last year in spring and summer. QB is the one position at SC where the best guy isn't necessarily playing, they really value time in the program. That's why there is no chance Barkley is playing next year.

Either way, next year is not the worst time to break in a new qb with all 5 OL starters back. All in all, still a good offseason, mainly b/c of the coaching staff changes, IMO.

194
I do not see what listing 4 players proves though. I am just saying that players should not be discounted, because they play with good players. Each player has to be judged independently.

I wounder who told Mustain that it would be a good idea to transfer to USC.

21 and 104 both hysterical.

Top Chef Thoghts. I haven't figured out who to pull for now that wiley regular guy Eugene is gone.

I'm more rooting against at the moment . . .

It seems like a while since they had a really constrained/gimmicky challenge -- they've had a lot of freedom the last few shows to buy and cook whatever they wanted.

I'm looking for a "make me souflee using a loaf of bread, a snickers bar, and an acetylne torch" type challenge.

Have to mix the scouting with the stats. Leinart always had bad fundamentals, especially with his foot work.

Sanchez actually has a higher QB rating than Leinart did.

200
Pete Carroll. He convinces tons of players to do it.

195 - that would cause a meltdown of epic proportions.

186 - that seems like a pretty sweeping generalization. QB success in the NFL has to do with 1) your own physical tools and work ethics, and 2) the organization you go to. I think the college you went to is much further down the list.

I believe you when you say that Sanchez is very accurate, unless you just infer that from completion percentage. If you conclude that from watching him, I'll take that.

But most of the QBs from top programs play with tons of talent. Not just USC.

True, and most disappoint in the pros. But the level of competition matters too. One thing that has struck me watching Pac-10 football, especially in the Carroll era, is the huge disparity in talent (and size and speed) between $C players and most players on most other Pac-10 teams. Of course, other teams get some serious talent, but not across the board, and sometimes the differences (especially on the lines) are just absurd. $C-Cal this year looked like men vs. boys in the trenches, just from size alone.

So if other top QBs are also on teams that dominate the talent pools in their conferences, you'd be right. That doesn't seem as clear to me.

199 Ya, I don't really see what listing 4 players proves either (and I'm the one who posted it.) I guess I was agreeing with the point made in 186, and pointing out that these recent draft picks who have excelled in the pro's came from "competitive" but not dominanant programs, though their collegiate stats are probably inferior to Matt Leinert, Vince Young, etc.

200 - I'd imagine Damian Williams had more to do with it then anyone. With Cassel's success, maybe it's better he holds a clipboard for the next two years.

For instance, scouting reports loved Jamarcus Russell, because of all his physical abilities. But the stats showed that he was not completing passes at as high a rate as an elite QB should.

And that has basically been proved so far in the NFL. He can make all the throws, but he stinks at going through progressions, locking onto receivers, and just general decision making.

195
I would be very surprised if UCLA came anywhere close to USC at the Coliseum this coming November.

208 You should blame that on Les Miles and his Offensive Coordinator then on Russell's poor QB skills.

204. You're missing my point. I'm not saying that going to U$C makes a QB worse. I'm saying that his built-in advantage will inflate his stats (esp. W-L record) so you can rely on stats to predict NFL performance (or they mean even less for those guys than for guys in more competitive leagues. IT's an argument for scouting over stats.

Someone said that Leinart always had bad fundamentals, etc. But the point is that they didn't matter in college. He could be mediocre and enjoy ridiculous success. That's my point. It doesn't mean that Sanchez is necessarily the same - just that you can't know from the stats/wins.

210
Jamarcus Russell got benched at LSU during his career, so I am definitely going to blame him. He frankly is not a hard enough worker.

209 - I agree, that game won't be competitive, and I'm not saying that as an SC guy.

I think people are starting to realize that the UCLA turnaround will take a little while, most rebuilds do. He's won a couple recruiting battles this year, next year he'll win even more, and etc. Dorrell really left them in bad shape. I really think Rick will turn things around, and I hope he does. It's just gonna take a few years.

200

Matt Cassel

201
I am definitely pulling for Leah, which means she is probably screwed.

Guillermo Mota completed his physical today, and the Dodgers have signed him to a one-year, $2.35 million contract. Mota could make another $300,000 in incentives, getting $75,000 for reaching 30, 40, 50 and 60 games finished.

Wow. Just wow.

http://blogs.pe.com/prosports/mlb/dodgers/

216
I guess everyone should have bet on the over on that one.

215 I'm still on Team Euro's bandwagon, if only because one of Stephen's secondary goals is to piss off everyone else in the house.

211 - Ok, I do agree with that. As a die hard SC and Raiders fan, I wanted no part of Leinart in our draft in 2006. From people who know far more about football then I do, I always heard that Leinart was the perfect QB for our team b/c he could play well with more talent then the other team - he could read defenses and do the cerebral things to keep us ahead, and just let his playmakers go from there.

I think Sanchez is much more like Palmer in that his physical tools are very strong. I think he is pretty accurate, I question his decision making, not accuracy. This is where I think he should have come back. I throw his stats out, shredding Big 10 teams and the Washington schools doesn't mean much to me.

208 Did scouts say he was a great QB, or just a physical specimen. Scouts (or GMs) in all sports sometimes fall prey to the lure of the uber-athlete, and fail to consider whether they have the fundamentals/smarts to actually play the position. I know next to nothing about Russell, so I'm not saying that's the case with him. But Michael Vick was a #1 pick.

I will root for USC even if Lil Romeo is quarterback.

Man, I thought I was on the high end with $2m. Boo.

"Guillermo is a power arm that can stabilize the back of our bullpen," General Manager Ned Colletti said in a statement. "He's had plenty of success in L.A. before and we look forward to seeing that again." - Diamond Lueng.

220
I think the scouts just got caught up in his physical abilities. Plus, he improved his footwork a lot before the draft.

Never improved his brain though.

By the way, I think this applies big-time to WRs too (particularly U$C WRs). So many guys in college who are just bigger, stronger, and faster than the secondaries they face never have to learn to run good routes, or get position, etc. They just outjump guys. A very small share of those guys (Moss, Owens) thrive (for a while) in the pros, but many suffer when they run into NFL defenders who are as gifted as they are.

Who was the last stud $C WR to thrive in the NFL? Keyshawn had a good career, but as a possession guy. I admire that he was willing to play that role, but it wasn't what was expected out of college. Lynn Swann comes to mind. But there were a lot of busts too (and yes, I realize I'm talking about Tailback U.).

Did I link a few weeks back to Malcolm Gladwell's bit on college QBs transitioning to the pros? I think I did.

So basically if you combined JaMarcus and Leinart you'd have a great QB? Make it happen, Science!

226 If you did, I blinked and missed it.

225
USC has too many big possession receivers. That is how they like a lot of their WRs. I think Williams could be their best WR prospect to come out in awhile.

{duck}

229
I should add it obviously works fine in college.

225
Hey, Steve Smith caught a touchdown pass this year!

And Keary Colbert caught a TD pass also.

What a horrible deal. Mota is not good.

Wasn't Kelly Colbert released twice this year?

Mota is not good

Try telling that to trainwreck and Greg Brock.

Clifton confirmed that the Dodgers sent assistant general manager Logan White to watch [Kris] Benson in a long-toss session last week in Arizona

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/

Clifton confirmed that the Dodgers sent assistant general manager Logan White to watch [Kris] Benson in a long-toss session last week in Arizona

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/

BTW: Do physicals for pitchers actually involve throwing pitches, or just stuff like coughing while turning one's head...?

235

What am I missing?

Ah, baseball news.

This deal makes me think that Colletti is bad at his job.

Oh, I guess that wasn't news after all.

As you were.

Yeah, I have no idea what D4P is talking about.

Unless he thinks Mota is like Yoda?

BTW, one more day until the Dodgers officially release Andruw Jones.

239,241
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mota

241

Oh, that must be it.

Feh. Unless Mota can channel his former self, it seems like a waste of money. Maybe he'll drink from the same waters that kept Gio Carrara coming back to LA and being decent while stinking everywhere else, and Mota was a better pitcher than Carrara. But otherwise, seems like kind of a desperate move to put a "veteran" in the 'pen without much more to offer. Frankly, I would've been happier with Scott Proctor. (Though he's probably happy to be gone.) Ah well, I like all our young arms.

125 . Is it as good as his "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"?

236 - Tony Clifton?

PS: I take it you two don't watch "Weeds"...

I almost prefer Depo/Vin Scully Bashing thoughts to USC QB thoughts.

Almost.

247 Gregg Clifton.

248

I actually have seen every episode. And I am no stranger to either Mota. One of those things, I guess.

Sing it: Mr. Mota risin', Mr. Mota risin'
Got to keep on risin'...
LA Pitcher! Sunday afternoon
Drive thru your suburbs
Into your Blues, into your Blues, yeah.

248
I have not watched it since Season 2, but I have never heard that slang before. I usually go with doj or doja.

251
As you might now recall, Guillermo typically calls it mota.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty ironic.

Maybe the Irony Committee even thinks so...

I usually go with "sea monkeys" or "plant life."

254

Ah, very good.

So our pen will look something like:

Broxton as the closer
Wade as the 8th inning set up man
Kuo as the quasi-fireman
Cluadio Vargas a long relief type
Troncoso, another long relief type
Mota as potentially the 7th inning set up.
With Shawn Estes, Greg Miller, and Eric Stults fighting for the last bullpen spot.

I love USC thoughts it so rarely happens here. The commenters here are pretty heavily weighted toward that school on the west side. There also seems to be an inordinate number of Cal supporters. I don't get it.

Makes me think of the slang South Park created for robo-tripping.

Tigger yum yum was my favorite.

258 - there's a decent number of us, but we're out numbered for sure. Fight on.

Marty used to call it "tea."

We called it dope.

258
UCLA has more students.

And we're all slackers.

Cal students doubly so.

Bob Timmermann
UCLA '87, UC Berkeley '88

262

At some point that became slang more often for heroin. Like the term bought into a higher real-estate bracket, or something.

I had friends who also called it hooch, which was always a booze term to me.

257 Mota or no, that's really a pretty decent 'pen, no?

264
If Trailer Park Boys has an accuracy at all, they still use it in Canada. Canuck can possibly let us know.

264
In "Deadwood", heroin is called "dope."

That's about all Rule 1 will allow me to reference from that series.

Maybe I was actually doing heroin then. Hmmm...

Speaking of naughty HBO/Showtime shows:

We started watching "The L Word" maybe a month or so ago, and are now part way through season 5.

Overall, I would say it's not as good as Weeds, but it's entertaining and has its moments.

269

Suddenly, everything makes sense.

It's $2.35 million, with another $750k in incentives which would take it to $3.1 million. Still not sure how those incentives break down, but hoping to find out.

It would have cost the Dodgers about $3 million to keep Beimel. Even if you think Beimel couldn't produce near the level he did last year, he would still be a better bet than Mota would this year. The Dodgers lost on this one.

http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/

270

I wonder which will be legalized first?

273

Not really a question.

273
You mean marijuana or same-sex marriage?

275

I was aiming for more of a subtle comment than that.

272
Per Hardball Times:

Beimel x-FIP
2006: 4.83
2007: 4.47
2008: 4.77

Mota x-FIP
2006: 5.73 (Cle) / 3.36 (NYM; "enhanced")
2007: 4.32
2008: 4.40

The depression ended prohibition on alcohol. Maybe this recession will end another one.

Beimel does much better than Mota on Fangraph's Value stat.

The Great Depression ended Prohibition?

Wow, I need to get a new history degree.

278

You mean I'll be able to show baseball games in public without the expressed written consent of MLB?

281
You can always dream.

I wonder what would happen if someone actually asked for MLB's expressed written consent.

Would they actually respond?

280 What doesn't a Great Depression do?

283
MLB has an office that grants clearances. I'm betting that your request would receive a favorable response if you enclosed a check.

And I always thought that Prohibition ended because most people in the country found it to be completely unenforceable and created more crime than it prevented.

277 That's only a predictor though, and his actual FIP is full run less than his x-FIP. There's something about Biemel that the Hardball Times isn't accounting for.

I would give them fake money with Bud Selig's picture on it.

286 State and Local government also wanted and needed the tax revenue they could acquire from Alcohol sales.

286
Gee, that sure similar to something else.

sure sounds...

The chances of Mota having a bad year are about the same as Joe Beimel and Takeshi Saito. Relievers are a gamble but Torre stopped using Beimel in critical situations towards the end of the season and again Saito had an injury that usually requires TJ surgery.

285 You would also have to buy a commercial package from your content provider. Because Direct TV and Time Warner want their cut too.

A Great Depression does cause a landscape altering change in the balance of parties. The Democrats repealed the prohibition that the Republicans had passed.

So while the Depression did not cause the repeal directly, it certainly set the stage for rapid changes, including the repeal.

PS: Hopefully this is not considered a Rule 5 violation. The two parties of 1918-1933 barely resemble those of today about which I have no opinion (here).

But if Saito elbow ends up fine, then that opens up an interesting debate about the process he used to fix it.

295 Do you want to wager money on that? Jon did a post a couple of years showing the effectiveness of relievers and pointed out that it is more likely that a reliever coming off a bad year will improve versus one to continue pitching well.

Joe Beimel and Takeshi Saito were very good from 2006-2008, could they make it 4 years in a row?

Right now, Mota fills the veteran cap in a pen full of kids. We'll see how he will be used as we get closer to the start of the season.

296
I was talking about how he used stem cells to try to fix his elbow.

For fans of Pavement and fantasy basketball:

http://tinyurl.com/8gcbz7

298
Interesting.

It seems that the Mota signing and money he is being paid is the result of Ned literally hoping that Mota inherits the Gio Carrera effect (as someone else previously noted) and can pitch like he did when he was with the Dodgers previously. Doesn't Ned KNOW he was on PEDS?

300
Maybe Ned hopes he is as good as Gary Bennett.

271 Suddenly, everything makes sense.

Sounds like Icaros is the one who is smoking something.

271
If everything makes sense,that just means the universe has been destroyed and replaced by something even more bizarrely inexplicable.

just got an email from dodgers.com that we signed mota. Makes it seem like this must be the deal we've all been waiting for.

304 Wait a minute... I thought it was the deal we've all been waiting for?

According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the Dodgers are expected to officialy release Andruw Jones Thursday morning.

Did Ned do a radio interview today?

307 I know about the one with Tony Bruno on KLAC from 1/13, but was wondering if there's another.

Getting Mota on a 1 year deal under 2.5M is a decent signing IMO, the bullpen was looking alittle thin outside of Wade and Brox, gotta protect your 8th/9th innings guys with vets that can get it done, especially with a questionable rotation right now.

307
Diamond has the summary on his blog.

Direct MP3 download here: http://tinyurl.com/8rgz3w

Or go to the KLAC homepage and play from here: http://tinyurl.com/a57ygy

308
D'oh! I'm not sure of another non-Bruno interview.

Good God what a waste of McCourts money, and Frank is as big an idiot for signing off.

Ned hasn't learned jack, at that price no way to spin this as an intelligent move. Just another mediocre move from mediocre man. Dodger fans will be so pleased to know they can count on Mota be give them a completely mediocre performance in the 7th inning for the same kind of performance I could pick from any number of unemployed relief pitchers. I kid you not.

Bleah

I'm off to watch Eric Gordon turn an ankle or rip a ligament.

I like it when the ToyCannon goes BOOM.

313
He is on my non money-league fantasy team, so he should be fine.

Did everyone take their screenshot of the NBA Standings tonight?
vr, Xei

316
I think I asked this before, but do you type "vr, Xei" every time or do you have a macro?

312 It seems to me that Mota's salary is based on the market:

2005: $2.6
2006: $3.0
2007: $1.8
2008: $3.2

With his second goal of the night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Alex Ovechkin just tied Joe Carter as NHL goal leaders so far this year.

He scored the goal when a crossing pass in front of the net bounced off a defender's skate straight into the goal.

319
Has he gotten into a fight with Malkin yet?

Touch 'em all, Joe Carter. You'll never score a more important goal in your life!

Joe Carter, aka Jeff Carter.

Angels avoid arbitration for Chone Figgins last year at $5.7 million. Will Figgins beat Juan Pierre's contract in '09?

Ooops. Is there a top scorer on Colorado named Joe something.

I only pretend to be a hockey fan.

320 Hard hitting game, and Ovechkin's been flat on the ice quite a bit, but nothing between him and Malkin.

323
We should start hearing either contract announcements or salary arbitration figures for Martin, Broxton, Ethier, and Repko soon. Deadline is tomorrow to file for arbitration (not sure of the exact time).

Right Sakic though obviously he's no Jeff Carter in 2009.

Nice T Hosea.

312 -- It is another in a long line of Colletti moves that can be described as transactions I would not have made if I were in his shoes but that I can't get too upset about because if the deal had not happened it is possible a worse deal would now be in the offing. I doubt we will be hearing any more about Juan Cruz being pursued. If we had lost the #17 pick in the draft for that guy, you would all have an angry Canuck to deal with. Angry, I tell you.

(no spoilers, but did anyone else see what he was wearing in that breakfast shot?)

Sam DC lives in the future. Or the east coast.

Shootout in San Antonio:

Spurs 63, Lakers 61 @ halftime

FG%:
Lakers 63.4%
Spurs 58.1%

I feel like last time I got wind of LA folks watching the east coast feed.

I have to watch UFC Primetime with BJ Penn and GSP tonight. So I should probably stay away from here until midnight.

332
Since Time Warner added Bravo HD, I record the East Coast feed. The Laker game is preventing me from watching Top Chef right now though.

Wow, the Bruins look good now. Could I get back into hockey, which I forsook in the lockout year although it was my favorite sport?( I gave my good dictionaries to my children at school) All I have is a small 1946 Oxford Concise Dictionary that doesn't have the forms of "forsake". No--I won't do it yet.

I have noticed that some pitchers who come back to the Dodgers do well, seeming to recapture some of their promise. Think Chan Ho Park, and a few others I can't recall. Oh Mota----be one more!

334
Eric lives in a magical world where Time Warner adds HD channels. In my Time Warner world, they just tell me my town is too small to worry about.

317. Sorry, I don't have a witty comeback for that at the moment.
vr, Xei

I find it hilarious the way advertisements describe the Super Bowl™ without saying the words "Super" or "Bowl." It's usually something like "Big Game" but it cracks me up.

338
Don't mess with the NFL's intellectual property. I know one guy who did and his body was only found after further review.

339
Drowned by contact?

339 In the local tar pits?

Just came in from the Auburn game, and am stunned at how much money a worn-out reliever jettisoned by the Brewers can fetch from Ned Colletti.

Guillermo Mota is only like one of the early verses of The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll. We can take the rag away from our faces, because now ain't the time for our tears.

If one of the uninspiring three starting pitchers (Garland, Wolf, Looper) is signed to a 3-year deal, or if we sign no more outfielders, that would be the equivalent of a 6-month sentence for William Zantzinger.

Freaking, Ginobili.

343
Thank you for an analogy that is understood by about five people.

Spurs playing out of their minds tonight. Too bad for them this is not May. Only down eight to start the 4th.

343
I have no idea what you are talking about, but I agree. : )

Aww, now I get it.

Vujacic is hurt? Oh, well.

345
I was going for that Dennis Miller ratio. It would have been understood by 6 people but one of them died almost two weeks ago.

I'm afraid i would prefer Looper to the other two, of Bill Z. for that matter. Do you think we could get a six mo. sente....I mean contract.

My aunt moved to San Antonio a couple years ago. She has become a big Spurs fan. For all I know, she could be at the game as her son-in-law has access to corporate season tickets.

Although I imagine that for the Lakers, an executive would be expected to do some schmoozing of clients and not entertaining his mother-in-law.

350
The Dennis Miller ratio also applies to the number of people who regularly read the Griddle.

353 /raises hand/
The Griddle is the sole reason I understood 343 without a google search.

The Chicago Sun Times beat writers are bored and make up a rumor of Orlando Cabrera to the Marlins.

We're all-stars now, in the Powell show.

Spurs blogs must be going. "Josh Powell???" right about now.

What does +/- mean in basketball? Turnover ratio?

Derek Jeter : Jump Throw to First :: Kobe Bryant : Passing After Going Up For Jumpshot

358
Just like hockey. Team point differential with that player on the court.

Mota's numbers from last year are interesting, in 3 inning's last year he gave 17 earned runs, the other 54 innings he had a 1.50 ERA. I don't know how much stock to put into blown saves but he had three, one at Coor's field and another against the Dodgers. Did we overpay? sure, but it's alittle tacky to nitpick over a 1 year deal under 2.5M.

That was a fortunate shot for Mr. Duncan

360
With the exception that in hockey, there is no +/- figured when teams are in power plays/shorthanded.

Not that many people care, but in 1970-71, Bobby Orr had a +/- of +124. Larry Robinson gave him a run in 1976/77 at +120.

How does Duncan do this crud against the Lakers at the end of games?

Kobe.

holy snikes kobe is a god!

and he just juggled his brass ones.

wowee, this has to be one of the best regular season games I've seen in quite a while. Kinda worried how it could end though.
vr, Xei

Kobe doing the Tanaka!!!

Duncan's shot had no business going in.

Kobe.

Where have I seen that before? What Kobe did after the three pointer.

Oh man, not good Fisher
vr, Xei

Unreal. We need some Derek Fisher-esque magic now.

Great game, Spurs with a crazy comeback.

Kobe is going to go kill something.

Hey the Pacers won guys! Let's all talk about that.

371
Major League II.

"You have no marbles!!"

Refs swallow whistle, Lakers lose.
vr, Xei

What a great game that was. Oh well.

376 I wish Ron Artest was back on the Pacers.

How do you foul Derek!!!? Argh!

The Spurs didn't really have much of a comeback. They were never down by more than 3 in the fourth quarter, right?

382
I was referring to the Spurs getting snake bit on that 3 pointer and being able to bounce back and get a Win.

382. Who are the Spurs?
vr, Xei

It's my fault -- I called my to make sure she was watching.

Now she's mad I made her turn it on.

384
They are an English football squad that goes by the full name of Tottenham Hotspur.

384 A team in the English Premier League.

Rematch January 25th on ABC from Staples. It may be impossible to match tonight's game.

Lawler's Law is too tough to be broken two nights in a row by the same team.

385 It's intriguing that way, isn't it.

I called my mom to make sure she was watching.

Kinda amazing that Bill Walton was able to go national while Lawler remained with the Clippers.

391
Well, it's not like Walton was only known for his announcing. He had a little bit of cachet from his playing days too. :)

392 Lawler would work so well on ESPN though. Like a better version of Dick Vitale.

And now I shall duck.

2009 Guillermo Mota = 2007 Roberto Hernandez
Ned strikes again.

I predict that the 2009 Mota will be better than the 2007 Hernandez.

This is not exactly going out on a limb though.

Somebody help me out here.

The Angels seem like a pretty bright organization yet they are giving almost $6 million next year to Chone Figgins, who had an OPS+ of 82 last year and a SLG of .318 to play 3B.

I know he steals some bases but he doesn't seem like much of a value to me.

Feel free to disagree but I don't get it.

I hate to blame refs, but the Lakers really got hosed on that call towards the end. I think it was Fisher on Mason. Fisher didn't even touch him! Love those Spurs... more flops than Ben Affleck and they get away with it.

396 Figgins was hurt last year, and missed time due to injuries. But check his on base percentage, .367 in 2008, despite a .276 BA. He's a top of the order guy who gets on base, and can steal bases when healthy. He shouldn't be playing 3rd base but he's a much more productive version of what Juan Pierre should be.

Having Chone Figgins isn't the problem, playing him at 3rd base or starting him at Left Field is. Angels should get him to play some 2nd base when Howie Kendricks is out.

Opie - I gotta know -
should the Dodgers sign Manny Ramirez Mr. Ultimo?

"We've probably got a lot of friends and people we know real well that are struggling to make a mortgage payment, are struggling to pay for school, are struggling to put food on the table because they've lost work and they can't really find it right now. We deal in a world that it's add $5 million to the deal, and we have a deal. You know? It's bizarre."

Colletti, as quoted on Diamond Leung's blog.
http://blogs.pe.com/prosports/2009/01/dodgers-gm-colletti-on-giants.html

Ned is showing how he keeps the organization aligned top to bottom, faintly echoing Jamie McCourt's musings on baseball salaries vs. the current economy.

Sounds like it's a good thing I missed the end of tonight's Lakers game, and was watching Some Like It Hot instead.

Oh well, nobody's perfect.

--

Btw, on another subject, this irritated me for some reason (in that story on Mota coming and Jones going). Grrrr:

>>For what it's worth, Jones attended the Duke-Georgia Tech basketball game Wednesday night wearing an Atlanta Braves cap. <<

401
Didn't Don Cheadle star in The Andruw Jones' Story recently?

402 Hah, you mean Traitor? I see what you did there. Nice.

Or is "Hotel for Dogs" the Andruw Jones story?

And come to think of it, what the heck is Cheadle doing in that movie by the way?

Wow, that Frank Williams story (see Griddle) is really sad.

403 The movie was written with Denzel Washington in mind but he refused. I guess the producers panicked and picked the first black actor they could think of that they had a good chance of picking up. Of course they picked an actor that played a surgeon with Parkinson's on ER for a couple of episodes.

401
Bye-bye Jonsey

Hi jokah - be seeing you in beautiful New Mexico.

We deal in a world that it's add $5 million to the deal, and we have a deal.

So does that mean 2y/$50 mil gets us Manny?

Good ol' Boras is using the airwaves to pump air into the flaccid Manny-to-the-Giants raft.

>>On the day Fred Lewis staked his claim to the Giants' left-field job, the agent for left fielder Manny Ramirez used the local airwaves to sing the praises of his high-priced and still unsigned client.

Scott Boras did not address the Giants' pursuit in the Ramirez sweepstakes during his nearly 15-minute interview on KNBR on Wednesday. But when asked if Ramirez would like to play for the Giants, Boras said, "I think Manny wants to win, and Manny wants to play for a team that wants him."

Boras went on to say "the Giants are a team that has just an extraordinarily young nucleus of pitching. They remind me a great deal of the 2003 Florida Marlins. ... There is a potential there to, if he were on that team, make it a winner. When we were looking for potential suitors, it was clear Manny felt that the Giants were a team that had a chance to go somewhere."<<

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11457335

408 Looks like Fred Lewis isn't going to hire Boras as his agent anytime soon.

NPUT