that is the best quote ever.

Besides anything said by Rickey Henderson

The guy who made Super Size Me gave a talk at my school today.

Bah dah bup bap baaaaahhh...

Did Steve Henson lose his job? Is Jerry Crowe the new and permenant guy on the beat?

Did you get your snow Marty? The NY Times has a nice front page photo of some kids throwing snowballs in Joshua Tree Nat'l Park, complete with Joshua Trees and all.

This article on the Nick Johson extension has two things you don't see everyday in baseball articles.

1. A quote from the player's mother assessing her son's emotional closedness: "'He tends to internalize his emotions,' said his mother, Paula Graf. 'It's not that he doesn't feel things. It's just that he doesn't really show them.'"

2. A reference to OPS (well, to OBP and SLG right next to each other).

(and also, the article informed that Larry Bowa is Nick Johnson's uncle; hadn't known that.

http://tinyurl.com/gezny

missing a word here and a closing parenthesis there.

what do the intellengstia at dodger thoughts put as guzman's realistic odds of winning the starting lf job on opening day?

in his favor:

1. we can't have every top prospect break in next year.

2. we evidently need "another big bat."

3. with lofton/drew in cf/rf, cruz would get a lot of starts anyway.

4. cruz was a depo guy.

5. little seems to like guzman.

against him:

1. he hasn't played above AA.

2. beltre memories?

3. cruz is far more accomplished.

4. cruz makes more $.

5. five man outfield is already set with cruz/lofton/drew/ledee/repko or [ross].

if i were guessing, i'd say guzman right now has about a %35 chance of breaking camp as our starting lf . . .

Sam, no snow, but eveything in the yard is frozen. The snow got down to about 2000 feet I'm guessing. I'm at 16-1700.

My gut feeling is that JtD is in Vegas in April, but is in L.A. in the summer.

Henson's been covering some WBC games, and also needs days off here and there.

5 - We got snow in Scottsdale. The hills above my house were covered and people were pulling over to take pictures.

I think Joel is just angling for an endorsement deal early in his career.

it's not like the risotto

Sorry to seem dense, but can someone explain "JtD". Thanks.

Joel the Destroyer. We started that on one of the Suns Thoughts mini-threads last year.

I highly recommend the (admittedly slightly saccharine) essay linked below to all the scrappy would-be two guards among us. It accompanies a beutiful slide show of black and white phots of out-of-the way but still alive basketball hoops and boys and girls having at them taken by a photographer named Brad Richman.

http://tinyurl.com/q966p

If Joel Guzman makes it, I think he'll make it over Repko. I doubt Cody Ross or Repko have much of a chance at making the team if the Dodgers are convinced Guzman is for real.

I just dont know what you can expect out of Guzman his 1st year. Probably something along the lines of Juan Encarnacion (which really isnt an improvement over Jose Cruz Jr).

Guzman is so much more likeable playing shortstop.

Guzman will be much better off hitting 58 home runs in Vegas this year.

LA has enough veterans who "know how the game is played" to get by.

I saw some pictures of snow in Phoenix/Scottsdale. That's nearly unbelievable. I remember a brief snowfall in Tucson back in 1971 or thereabouts (not up in the mountains; down in town), but it lasted about long enough for one snowball fight on fraternity row.

17 Thats true.

Quick update on Nomar today.
1 error in the 1st (dropped a pop up).
Ground out to 2nd base.

He's 2-21 now on the spring. Still searching for that elusive 1st walk.

19

To be fair, he did follow his error with a great play to start a DP.

Sounds like his shortstop arm may work out at first after all.

With Furcal out, maybe his SS arm and SS bat would work out at SS.

21

I'd have no problem with that.

Nomar just singled.

Drew triples in Nomar.

8 My estimate has been 20% which is just fine by me. He's a special talent, but not quite in the Pujols/Cabrera territory, so babying him just a little bit is a good idea, especially since he's changing positions.

Even after the first injury, I'd rather have Ethier get the first shot since he's a more polished player at this time. I don't want to see JtD up for good until at least July.

Even after the first injury, I'd rather have Ethier get the first shot since he's a more polished player at this time. I don't want to see JtD up for good until at least July.

Agreed. As long as Ethier is healthy and keeps hitting, he should be in LA.

He's already 24, isn't he?

Not to dwell on next year but IF we keep our all of our prospects and not sign any FA's we will have a really fun team to watch.

SS Rafael Furcal
C Russell Martin
RF J.D. Drew (assuming he doesnt opt out)
LF Joel Guzman
3B Andy LaRoche
1B James Loney
CF Jayson Werth
2B Cesar Izturis

Bench:
IF Olmedo Saenz
IF Oscar Robles
IF Bill Mueller
OF Andre Ethier
Delwyn Young or Willy Aybar
C Dioner Navarro

SP: Lowe, Penny, Perez, Seo, Billingsley
RP: Gagne, Brazoban, Broxton, Tomko, Kuo, G.Miller

i am going to invoke the small sample size mantra on oldbear in reference to nomar.

ethier turns 24 in about a month, april 10th or something.

delwyn young turns 24 end of june.

re 26

dodgers arent going to put out a team with that low of payroll- fans would crucify mccourt. if martin is the starting C, navarro will be package with someone to get a impact bat.

25 Turns 24 next month.

Anybody have a link to that one article where Penny said he got in shape this offseason?

Ethier just got his second hit of the afternoon.

I was confused by the JtD thing, too, since we already have a JTD playing outfield...

If you think snow in Scottsdale looks weird, try snow in Marin County, and the hills near San Francisco. We even got hail that looked like snow (or slush) here in SF on Friday night. Weirdness.

there was snow in southeast orange county yesterday- rancho santa margarita area. my lawn was covered in ice and snow.

if martin is the starting C, navarro will be packaged with someone to get an impact bat.

Shawn Green?

if navarro the prospect was worth shawn green alone, then navarro the established 23 yr old catcher + orenduff should be worth tony womack.

35

I'd so do that deal, but only if you replace Womack with Michael Tucker.

Ethier has 2 hits on 2 first ball swings. I guess he's getting that "oakland thing" out of his system.

27. I really think Nomar does have a SS caliber bat. He's a free swinging slap hitter that hasnt hit for power in like 3yrs. I think he's a definite potential steroid abuser.

Look at the drop off Valentin/Beltre had.

I just thought Valentin's dropoff was because he got old and he wasn't overwhelmingly good to begin with.

I just thought Valentin's dropoff

What dropoff?

38. He had hit a career high in home runs (30) the year we signed him. Of course he did play in Comiskey so you gotta take that into account. However, he had SLG'ed .500+ against RHP the 3 previous years.

I know this isn't in the plan but i'd like to see martin starting as a catcher vs righthanded pitchers(2/3 of the time or more) and as a 1b platoon with choi vs lefthanded pitchers(1/3 of the time or less).

Navarro catching vs lefthanders.

I'm expecting martin to be an obp machine.
And i'd like to keep both martin and navarro, because i hate seeing the sandy alomars of the world starting sometimes and catchers need more days off than any other position.

Both choi and martin are perfect #2 hitters.

I want to clarify that i'm NOT saying move martin to 1b, i'm saying martin at catcher vs righties (2/3 or more of the games) and martin at 1b vs lefties (1/3 or less of the games).

I completely agree MB23 but that would require Sandy Alomar getting cut and Russ Martin hitting somewhere other than 8th.

The last game I saw Martin play, Grady had him batting 8th.

Not sure why.

And then he's had the free swinging Nomar batting 2nd. Considering Furcal's skills are that of a base stealer, wouldnt you want a guy in the #2 spot with the ability to take a few pitches that would allow Furcal the chance to steal?

I still like Saenz though at 1st against LHP. We dont have much power to begin with, and if you stick Martin in there, along with the Lofton, Navarro, Furcal, Mueller...Thats just not enough power IMO.

Valentin had four seasons with an OPS+ of over 100 with the White Sox from 2000-03. Then in 2004 it dropped to 88. Last year, it was 62.

Valentin's skill set doesn't give him a big margin for error since he Ks a lot and doesn't draw many walks. So once he starts missing on home runs, then he becomes mostly useless.

speaking of power, Kent just hit one out...

my lawn was covered in ice and snow.
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow?

/Led Zeppelin in suburbia

As far as the odds of JtD breaking camp with the big club, if he's kept at Las Vegas until May or so doesn't that greatly affect is service clock? Might be wise to do without him for a month now so we can have him for an extra year later.

/hangs self at mere mention of the name Jose Valentin

Old friend alert:

Giovanni Carrara pitching for Venezuela now against Cuba.

Brian Kenny and Steve Phillips are perplexed as to why Carrara is pitching when Venezuela has about 10 different pitchers who are better.

47
And yet he's not on the list...

/hangs self at mere mention of the name Gio...

Oh, never mind.

Sometimes managers want to bring in relievers who present a different look from the previous pitcher. In this case, Venezuela was switching from a good pitcher (Santana) to a bad one (Carrara) and a 1-0 Cuba lead has turned into a 5-0 Cuba lead.

No one go read me my second round WBC preview where I said Cuba wouldn't win a game in the second round.

Actually, it's 6-0 Cuba now. There was another home run before I hit submit.

Carrara is finally out of the game.

Carrara is the Venezuelan Al Leiter.

Sometimes managers want to bring in relievers who present a different look from the previous pitcher.

You mean like different arm angles and such?

Venezuela was even kind enough to sacrifice twice

49

What you get from a guy like Carrara is an experienced pitcher who knows what needs to be done when certain game situations present themselves.

You send him out there because you know what you're going to get from him everytime, and that type of consistency is what affords a team the ability to work as a cohesive unit.

55

Carrara was really, really, really awful.

Horrible.

The ESPN guys couldn't believe Carrara was pitching.

Carrara is awful. Final line of 5 ER / 1BB / 0 SO in .2 innings not to mention back to back jax and a rediculous era of 67. hah awful

Vizquel was bunting for a hit on one of those sacrifices.

Venezuela is having serious hitting problems.

Wasn't Luis Sojo one of the candidates to manage the Pirates?

If so, they are a lot better off with Tracy.

Damn i wish Carrara wouldve signed with the giants!

Carrara could have gotten out of the inning with less damage but a Cuban batter hit a grounder that bounced up into Vizquel's shirt and kept him from turning a DP.

You can't stop Repko. You can only hope to contain him.

Two-run triple on an ill-advised OF dive.

I finally have something in common with y'all - we had snow here too last night. Of course, I'm in Slovakia...But I heard from my parents as they were driving from Hollister to Monterey this morning and the hills were covered with snow. Must look amazing.

I keep hoping to read that someone (anyone!) is unexpectedly competing for the starting cf job with Lofton...Anyone see an update on Ethier's injury diagnosis?

64
Good thing Steve already hanged (hung?) himself.

65 I assume he's fine since he played today. He hasn't been overly impressive this spring though, he was 2-11 going into today's game (both hits were for extra bases). Ethier's not supposed to be a CF anyway.

57 That was truly spooky

thnx overkill. Is there any one who's looked good in CF so far?

Carrara was really, really, really awful

There's a reason I refer to him as Done Giovanni.

Why are Lakers games never in HD?

71 - to get to the other side

72

Jerk.

71
People still watch Laker games?

Any TV for US/Japan today?

73 - you expected mother teresa?

75
It's supposed to be on ESPN2.

Hmm... my Tivo says Pacific Life Open Tennis on ESPN 2 from 1-5pm.

76
Maybe not, but at least Jim McMahon...

At best, I can do don rickles

69 Repko? ducks

But seriously folks...

I'm not sure any of our outfield prospects are natural CFers. Kemp is the closest, but I keep hearing he's more of a corner outfielder. Guzman and D. Young are definite corner guys. Ross has hit pretty well, but I think he's a corner guy as well. Can either Raglani or Ruggiano play center? The only guys I can think of are Trayvon Robinson and Sergio Pedroza, but they both played mostly rookie ball last year.

78
I was just going by what the ESPN announcers said. I've seen THREE different things listed as being on ESPN2 right now.

I can't watch now. But Ichiro homered to lead off the game.

74

They've been decent lately. Turiaf looks like a good player.

83
Victories over Detroit and San Antonio were certainly a surprise. I haven't seen Turiaf play yet, but he seems like the kind of player they could use.

Duh, never post when you're undercaffeinated - I'm glad people ignored my "JTD" instead of "JDD" which is who was I confusing the new Joel Guzman nickname with and I... I... need one more cup of coffee.

Anyway, Bruce Jenkins in the SF Chronicle said today that, Bonds or no Bonds, the Giants shouldn't worry too much about winning the weak West:
http://tinyurl.com/nvvkv

Actually he doesn't quite say that; it's that the Giants should be a contender in the West, which is your "duh" moment of the day. However, he doesn't really give the complete picture of the Dodgers - no mention of their prospects, their deep bullpen, solid bench. In short, he's dismissive of a team that should on paper be equal to the Giants, Bonds or no Bonds.

thoughts?

Apparently, my blackberry skills need some work.

86 More than just that.

87
Daniel - What part of town did you live in when you taught at UofO?

87 -- That's the only thing everyone here agrees on.

85 Sounds like a normal homer article. I guess at least someone has to be blindly optimistic, might as well be your hometown writers.

91 and 92 I'm convinced this is oldbear complimenting himself under a different name

93- I do that sometimes. Haven't been caught, yet.

Is everybody else getting like a reverse echo on the WBC broadcast? The muffled echo coming before the thing is actually said? It was worse when they were interviewing the coach, but it's happening to the announcers, too. It's not enough of a lag for them to be time delaying it intentionally, I don't think. Irritating.

I created a perfectly good Game Chat for you on the Griddle and this is the thanks I get!

81 Ross is a CF, but not really much of a prospect. Ruggiano can play CF, although he's hardly a gold glove there. I believe Jamie Hoffman is the most advanced pure CF prospect, but he'll be starting in Vero, and he's not that good of a hitter (but he was signed as a hockey player, so he's "tough"). All of these guys strike out a lot (they combined for 352 Ks in 1307 ABs, to 144 walks)

93. I only post as oldbear here. I post as BTTE on Dodgers.cc I do not post on dodgers.com under any name.

There are trolls that copy and paste posts and pretend to post as me on dodgers.com

Jon Weisman is gonna have to clean up this blog. Thinkingblue has advertised it on dodgers.com...

The trolls might be out of control now.

So it's like a baseball version of "Peer Gynt"?

Sometimes I post under different names in order to take cheap shots at Bob.

14 or Marty
Thanx.

88 Southeast Eugene, in the hills above Churchill High School. D4P -- are you planning to move to Eugene sometime soon?

UCLA plays Belmont in the first round of the NCAA tournament. 2 vs. 15

WWJDD-What would J.D. Drew Do?

UCLA is also seeded ahead of Gonzaga.

Someone's cat was going to dance to the Hall of the Mountain King if the D's won a road trip last year--that Peer Gynt.

I really hope Japan wins now. That's total BS.

Dodger pitching impresses immediately as compared to last year. It is early enough so that this could be luck, but it's certainly much better than the other way around. Does anyone feel this is real?

102
I grew up and lived in Eugene until I was 29, when my wife and I moved to North Carolina a few years ago. I went to UofO for undergrad and masters. I had a good friend named Christian Martin who minored in computer science back in the late 90s. Don't know if you had him in class or not...

I was always told that professor salaries at Oregon are notoriously low.

He definitely did not leave early. What a bunch of BS. These umps are trying to rig the game.

It seems Digger Phelps picked his tie out to match the pen he's holding.

Good to know that non-MLB umps are just as terrible as MLB umps.

109 Don't remember a Christian Martin, and if he minored (rather than majored) I probably didn't teach him since I taught upper-division courses there. Salaries [u]are[/u] notoriously low there, and there was a period where many faculty were leaving for other places. In some departments where they tried to remedy this by brining in faculty at higher salaries, then compression would be a big problem (younger faculty earning as much or more than older faculty). Just as we would all prefer with our baseball team owners, I am convinced that with public universities it is best to hire good administrators and then let them decide how to best spend the money. Unfortunately, you end up with lots of administrators that run things about as well as the KC Royals.

So, the new Sopranos is supposed to have a big/surprising ending tonight, which is rare for a first episode. I'm predicting Uncle Junior goes tonight. Though Janice needs killing.

I can tell I am not following basketball nearly as much as when I was in the Pac-10, since I actually forgot today was Selection Sunday.

114

No talking about it until Wednesday, when I'll have had the chance to watch.

112- actually some of these guys are current/former major league umps

113
Oh well, no job is perfect. From what I gather, most faculty members are unhappy with the administrative aspects of their schools and their jobs, nevertheless often think they have the best job in the world.

118 Absolutely. Being a faculty member means you essentially have no boss, and you can explore whatever crazy research projects you want, regardless of whether they will lead to a product. There's also the bonus of making a difference in the lives of your students. Great job.

119
I'm always happy to hear that. It's intimidating, though, to think about having to bring in research money and design your own courses.

120

That last word of your post is going to get you run Mr. Doe.

johndoe, cut out on the language. It's not accepted here

John Doe- Pay attention: no profanity on the site. Get it?