Baseball Toaster: Dodger Thoughts : Reduced to a Talking Head

Reduced to a Talking Head

2006-01-19 16:21

by Jon Weisman

Firmly establishing myself as someone who will answer the phone when called, I chit the chat today on AOL's Sports Bloggers Live. You can catch a replay of my segment here; I followed right behind ESPN's Buster Olney, much the way the Grandma with the potato chips that looked like Nixon followed right behind Nipsey Russell.

Comments (59)

Show/Hide Comments 1-50

2006-01-19 16:34:50

1. D4P

I can't get the video to play. I've tried it in Firefox, IE, and Netscape, with no success. Any ideas?

2006-01-19 16:37:47

2. D4P

Nevermind. I got it to work on the laptop. I thought there was video, but I guess there's only audio.

Jon: If this kinda stuff keeps up, you may be headed for "Hollywood Mediumwig" status...

2006-01-19 16:40:08

3. Bob Timmermann

So Jon made Buster move to the far end of the couch?

2006-01-19 16:55:59

4. deburns

I couldn't get it work on my laptop. I clicked broadband, and the dialog box reappeared with nothing checked. Could the fact that I rejected the cookie from aol be the problem?

2006-01-19 16:56:02

5. Jacob L

Good interview, Jon. I feel like I'm going to have to reconcile the fact that Steve Yeager is my "All Time Favorite Player"(tm) to the fact that his "swing hard you might hit something" approach might not be the best coaching method.

2006-01-19 16:56:40

6. D4P

4
That happened to me in Netscape, but didn't happen in either Firefox or IE.

2006-01-19 16:58:16

7. jasonungar05

so Theo is back in Boston and the chat with little today had no Hee Sop Question. what gives!

2006-01-19 17:21:50

8. Bob Timmermann

Jose Offerman is batting .196 in the Dominican Winter League and lost his starting job.

I can't believe they gave him one to begin with.

2006-01-19 17:33:49

9. trainwreck

Theo rejoining the Red Sox angers me, because they do not deserve him after their stupidity. They have three GM's basically now (not even counting Lucchino who has a big say in things). Theo you should have made us all happy and come to the Dodgers.

2006-01-19 20:07:21

10. Andrew Shimmin

Don't know if it's still an open question, but I just got an email from Ken Gurnick in response to my question about the Baez contract: "[Baez] is a free agent after the 2006 because of the terms of the free agent contract he signed with tampa bay after being released by cleveland, even though he falls short of the six-year service time normally required for free agency. basically, tampa bay bargained away the control of his final year."

Pretty cool that the guy answers email from nobodies. Homer Simpson never does.

2006-01-19 20:26:32

11. caseybarker

Rob Neyer will answer your e-mails...

2006-01-19 20:30:40

12. deadguy

That comparison is really unkind to Nipsey Russell.

2006-01-19 20:50:23

13. Bob Timmermann

Rob Neyer will then find out you work in a library and ask for favors so be careful.

(However, he's very nice about asking for favors.)

2006-01-19 20:58:22

14. caseybarker

Ha, ha...

I just told him I downloaded a bunch of stats off baseball1.com and I wanted some ideas on some new or unique analyses. He didn't respond.

2006-01-19 20:59:03

15. D4P

If Rob Neyer finds out that I work in a library, I'm gonna be very confused.

BTW: Anyone watching Australian Open tennis? This youngster Maria Kirilenko is fun to watch.

2006-01-19 21:04:59

16. Steve

That Chuck LaMar was one shrewd wheeler-dealer. Good on ya, Chuckie-Baby.

2006-01-19 21:19:47

17. LAT

Wow. I was in a mediation all day and missed a busy day here at DT.

My 2 cents (actually worth far less.):

Clothes shopping with Mom was the worst. Especially when I was dragged to Orbachs, except they did have that cool circular ramp in the parking lot. Much better use of the building now. Thanks Mr. Peterson.

They have tons of great food in Toronto, esp. deli. My college roommate who is from TO is coming to visit this week.

As for MB its not a matter of "if" he will lose it but when. Having said that I wish he were still a Dodger.

Do D4P and Bob work in the same library?

2006-01-19 21:47:44

18. D4P

I don't work in a library. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure Bob works in a library either...

2006-01-19 21:56:35

19. Andrew Shimmin

18. http://www.lapl.org/central/business.html

Now you can prank call him at work.

2006-01-19 22:04:11

20. LAT

"Do you have Prince Albert in a book?
Well let him out!"

"Is your card catalog running?
Well you better catch it"

Not as funny as when I was 10 and called Thritfy.

2006-01-19 22:08:21

21. trainwreck

When I was younger I use to look up bars in the phonebook and try to be like Bart calling Moe's... it never worked out as well as it did on the Simpsons.

2006-01-19 22:10:13

22. Steve

I wish the Devil Rays would stop prank calling Ned Colletti.

2006-01-19 22:14:48

23. natepurcell

holy crap, kobes made like 47 straight free throws.

2006-01-19 22:16:19

24. natepurcell

how the hell did brad miller make that 3 pointer.

2006-01-19 22:17:22

25. trainwreck

4.1 seconds for some Kobe magic.

2006-01-19 22:18:58

26. trainwreck

Alright time for some overtime. Kobe needs to calm down sometimes, no hissy fits over not getting the ball.

2006-01-19 22:23:11

27. natepurcell

odom and mihm are out. this sucks. they are going to lose.

2006-01-19 22:24:38

28. trainwreck

Be positive Nate, not like Flanders is the Lakers GM, they have Mitch Kupchak... wait, scratch that last comment.

2006-01-19 22:26:57

29. trainwreck

Kobe is just being stupid now. This 4th quarter and beyond has been the bad side of Kobe's aggressiveness.

2006-01-19 22:27:01

30. natepurcell

blah. they just totally gave that game away. unbelievable.

2006-01-19 22:27:42

31. Vishal

[10] i wrote to gurnick about the idea of moving izturis to 2nd base. he never wrote back.

2006-01-19 22:29:34

32. natepurcell

walton sucks. seriously. why does he play so much.

2006-01-19 22:30:52

33. trainwreck

Because he can pass well for his size and makes good decisions with his passing, which is the type of player Phil loves for the triangle.

2006-01-19 22:32:16

34. trainwreck

Yeah, keep going crazy King's fans. Beating the Lakers at your home is nothing special and your team still sucks.

2006-01-19 22:32:39

35. natepurcell

Because he can pass well for his size and makes good decisions with his passing, which is the type of player Phil loves for the triangle.

but he sucks at everything else. he cant shoot. he cant defend. he is super slow.. arghhh. kenny freakin thomas has totally owned him tonight!

2006-01-19 22:34:24

36. trainwreck

Sadly, Lakers do not have much else to go with. Devin Green is the other alternative. You can blame that on Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss.

2006-01-19 22:34:45

37. natepurcell

the blame goes to odom and kwame.

odom for being a moron and not running the clock down.

kwame for not rotating fast enough on those pick screens.

2006-01-19 22:35:49

38. natepurcell

well, i guess its the bynum/shaq clip in repeat about 20 times tonight to take the sting out of this lost.

2006-01-19 22:36:53

39. trainwreck

Yeah stupid move by Odom, but he seems to have problems when knowing to be aggressive and when not to be because the ball does not run through him enough. Kwame simply just does not have a high basketball IQ.

2006-01-19 22:38:24

40. natepurcell

Kwame simply just does not have a high basketball IQ.

and big enough hands. about 4 times tonight he should have dunked the ball with one hand but went up with two because his hands arent big enough and blow the layup.

2006-01-19 22:39:20

41. trainwreck

True, but he should be smart enough to know he does not have big hands and make the adjustment. Kobe does not have large hands either and he does fine.

2006-01-19 23:03:37

42. Linkmeister

For anyone who comes in late, I'm using FF 1.07. I had to accept the Mozilla ActiveX control (left of the AOL screen), then I had to pay attention to the top of the screen, because FF told me it had blocked a download. Click the "Edit options" button and accept the video.aol software as an OK source for a download and it'll drop the ActiveX control in; then you can listen.

If it worries you, presumably you can go back in and delete AOL as an accepted source of software, and probably delete the ActiveX extension, too.

Was it really 1988 the Dodgers got Murray? For Bell? Man, I'm even older than I thought. I just noticed some golfers who become eligible for the Champions Tour this year are guys I remember watching when they were wearing polyester slacks in weird colors.

2006-01-19 23:21:03

43. Xeifrank

15. Yep, Kirilenko was fun to watch for obvious reasons. At first I was thinking that looks an awful lot like Kournikova. How do the Russians come up with all these stunning blondes. Anyways, nice to have some tennis on TV during my watching hours. I'm rooting on the local boys (the Bryan twins) to win the doubles title.

vr, Xei

2006-01-19 23:34:42

44. das411

35 - Kenny Thomas vs Aaron McKie in an ex-76er Scrap-off? That would be almost as painful as the dreaded Phillips vs Molina footrace...

32 - Wasn't Luuuuuke the only other player Kobe let score any points in that Finals a couple years ago?

2006-01-20 00:34:27

45. Uncle Miltie

No mention of Luc Robitaille's hat trick and passing Marcel Dionne for most goals by a player in Kings history?

The Sacramento Kings look like they're back. They've had so many injuries this yet they've beaten the Suns and Clippers twice. If the Warriors get Artest then I think they will make the playoffs. Otherwise, I think it will be the Suns and Kings. Golden State is falling apart, the Clippers can't win without Maggette, and the Lakers are a one man show. Lamar Odom really hasn't improved much since he came into the league. What a waste of talent.

2006-01-20 07:19:48

46. Sam DC

Nice article on the the front page of Washington Post today about the lifetime pass given by mlb to the Americans held hostage in Iran, and a how different folks used or didn't use the perk.

http://tinyurl.com/bjlvp

2006-01-20 08:13:54

47. D4P

43
In addition to the obvious reasons, I also like her composure and her service motion.

2006-01-20 08:28:27

48. Bob Timmermann

Sam, the tinyurl doesn't work, but I posted the full link in the Griddle.

2006-01-20 09:17:23

49. Sam DC

48 hmmm, wonder what I did. seems like a good griddler to me anyhow (and nice headline).

2006-01-20 09:20:07

50. caseybarker

me too.

Prosportsdaily.com has a Steve Finley for David Wells rumor. So we went from Billingsley, LaRoche to Broxton to Finley in a little more than a month? Makes a case to be a patient GM.

Show/Hide Comments 51-100

2006-01-20 09:29:18

51. Goiter

Not sure if anyone posted this yet, but apparently the Dodgers are interested in signing Ramon Martinez to a minor league contract. At least that's what this article says:

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_3420109

Not sure how accurate it is, though.

2006-01-20 09:38:27

52. Jon Weisman

51 - http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martira03.shtml

It's the other Ramon Martinez - the Pennsylvania Ramon Martinez - though the older Ramon Martinez might be just as valuable at this point.

2006-01-20 09:41:50

53. caseybarker

third time's a charm. maybe Nomo comes back, too.

I really liked Martinez when he was here. I thought there was talk of him becoming a pitching coach.

2006-01-20 09:43:43

54. caseybarker

Oh, the infielder? Former Giant.

2006-01-20 09:46:03

55. Andrew Shimmin

52- I dunno. Look at his fielding rate as a firstbaseman, last year: flawless. He'd be a good insurance policy, behind Nomar, Saenz, Kent, and Choi. Is there any way we could trade some unreliable prospects for him?

2006-01-20 09:50:31

56. D4P

55
He'd be a good insurance policy, behind Nomar, Saenz, Kent, and Choi.

I bet Ned is kicking himself right now for letting Phillips go. He could have had a 1B depth chart of "Nomar, Saenz, Kent, Phillips" instead. Maybe Alomar Jr. will get some PT at 1B this spring...

2006-01-20 09:55:18

57. Andrew Shimmin

56- If that happens, I predict Fire Grady Little will get a little more attention from its proprietor than it has, yet.

2006-01-20 10:04:30

58. D4P

57
Hmmm...now I kinda want Alomar at 1B...

2006-01-20 10:18:08

59. Jon Weisman

New post up top.