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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
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3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Baseball America spends some time at Dodgertown today, with Chris Kline writing up his interview with Dodger vice president of scouting and player development Roy Smith as well as offering a few notes on some of the team's less heralded prospects.
Here's Smith on Edwin Jackson and pitching in Las Vegas:
You have to make your pitches and you have to be aggressive in that league. You're going to give up some home runs and sometimes the scores are going to be sometimes a little higher. But there are places to pitch in that league. You can't use it as an excuse. I don't know if that was the reason that explains Edwin Jackson. He was a converted guy who didn't have a lot of experience. And when you hit a bump in the road and there are high expectations, it's magnified. This kid's still a young kid and the story has yet to be written on him. We didn't trade him with the idea, 'Hey, he's a flop;' we got value for him and I think it was a good baseball trade.
You have to take into account when you're evaluating guys out there that they're in an environment that's tough to pitch in. We don't use that as an excuse in the organization. It's not like the next level's going to be easier because you're not in Vegas. You have to be aggressive and you can't beat yourself. If you develop that mindset, you're benefiting from the tough conditions because it's even more reinforced that you can't walk people. And that's what we're drumming into our guys.
And, Smith on first baseman Cory Dunlap, who played at Vero Beach last season (and whom Kline writes is closer to 260 pounds than his listed weight of 205:
Cory can hit, but he has to get in shape. ... I was with Walter in Pittsburgh, and he's one of the nicest kids in the world--one of my favorites. But you can't play at 300 pounds. You can't. There's a reason why he's bounced around. You just can't do it.
But with Cory, we have hopes with him. We're contracted with API (Athletes Performance Institute) and we've had them talk to him about nutrition and having a consistent approach with his diet. We're going to do our best to get the most out of this kid, because we think he can hit. We're going to try to show him that we care. He just has to get in better shape.
In other news from Baseball America, Jim Callis writes that "I can't come up with a farm system that had as many highly regarded position players as Arizona has right now. If the Diamondbacks can come up with some pitching, they should be battling the Dodgers for National League West supremacy for years to come."
Callis also predicted that Joel Guzman will be in the Dodger lineup before the All-Star break.
* * *
Here's a billboard from the Dodgers' new marketing campaign. The "Think Big, Think Blue" slogan isn't bad - it encourages you to dream without making any promises. My favorite part of the billboard is the atmospheric look of the sky, the change of pace from a lazy summer day. This year, something's brewing.
One could quibble with the inclusion of Grauman's Chinese Theater, but perhaps the most amusing part of the billboard is the inclusion of Jeff Kent, whom by some accounts you couldn't get anywhere near a ballgame he wasn't playing in.
Anyway, I'm rooting for the upcoming TV campaign to have some of this stir-the-pot feeling.
1. Dewitt has officially moved to 2nd base
2. Kemp is staying in CF until he plays himself out of it and while his AVG has been low he has impressed everyone with his ability.
3. Denker is moving from 2nd to 3b.
4. They mention Ruggiano and Raglani as outfielders under the radar who they still have high hopes for. Glad to hear that they are thinking about Ruggiano as he's my choice for Bay Lite.
Good stuff anyway--thanks
1 kiely 1 , t. kiely 150 (15-1)
2 Weatherman 1 , D. Weatherman 140 (14-2)
Carter 4 , A. Carter 140 (14-2)
Willig , A. Willig 140 (14-2)
http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=93221&entryIDFrom=592311
I'm way, way back at 10-6. Seeded teams are 12-4.
I'm expecting 2006 production from cruz somewhere around .255 .345 .460 .805 22 hr's in a full season
And 2006 production from lofton somewhere around .268 .340 .385 .725 5 hr's in a full season
Hopefully ned and grady choose the right guy to sit.
I was only questioning the Chinese Theater's relevance. Visually, I think it works.
What an incredible shot to knock off a 3 seed.
Pac 10 has been very impressive so far. I had both Washington and Arizon out after the 1st round. Big 10 not so impressive.
Natchitoches
And since it's in Louisiana, I'm sure I don't say it correctly.
Great morning, good basketball, rain, fire in the fireplace, BP 2006 to fill in during the timeouts. Life is good:)
Why is Natchitoches pronounced [nak'utäsh]
Is Natchitoches in NorthWest Louisana?
South Florida isn't all that far south in Florida.
When opposing coaches want to discomobulate a free throw shooter or field goal kicker, they call a timeout to "ice" the guy.
But when said guy steps up and calmly hits the shot (kick), he's said to have "ice water in his veins."
So, uh, what's the deal here? You can't ice an iceman?
Sorry, this is what happens when I forget to mute the announcers.
23 Sounds like you gotta wear a hat.
And pronounced
[năk"udō'chis]
It's the home of Stephen F. Austin University.
Which is in the same conference as Northwestern State.
I hope the dodgers get back into the international scouting scene. I was kind of nervous that McCourt might cut back on that.
anyways, dodgers on mlb.tv today at 4, pretty pumped up for that... even though only tomko, houlton, meadows, beimel are scheduled to pitch.
I never thought I'd live to see the day when Jeff Kent was the "face" of the Dodgers.
Ugh...
Thats disappointing but it doesnt surprise me.
No, I just thought the name looked wrong. But I only found it in Google after it suggested the correct spelling to me.
I have never pronounced either city name correctly before.
I also found out this week that I have mispronounced "Boricua" all my life. The accent is on the i not the u. Fortunately, I don't go to Puerto Rico much. Or ever.
Then again, I can't figure out how English (even pronunciation, to say nothing of grammar) gets so butchered by so many for whom English is (supposedly) their first language. You'd think that TV and radio would have homogenized things more thoroughly.
Fortunately, I never said it out loud to anyone.
completely agree. I don't think a lot of people realize how good the A's are going to be. Not to mention, all their players are young and under contract for the forseeable future.
I'm not a Kenny Williams fan at all, but he did upgrade. Getting Thome should be huge for them...plus they still probably have the best overall pitching staff in baseball..adding Vazquez isn't going to hurt either...
Rafael Furcal, SS; Kenny Lofton, CF; J.D. Drew, RF; Jeff Kent, 2B; Nomar Garciaparra, 1B; Bill Mueller, 3B; Jose Cruz Jr., LF; Russell Martin, C; Brett Tomko, P
I like a lot of Ned's moves but after reading his column I wouldn't put us above Oakland or the White Sox. Or even the RedSox. Or even Cleveland.
If we had that lineup in 2001 we'd been killer.
"Ayala will miss the 2006 season with an acute ulnar collateral sprain in his elbow suffered in the ninth inning of Mexico's 2-1 victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic."
I think Martin would be a problem if that was the 2001 lineup.
"Ethier's a solid outfield prospect, but Bradley's already a solid major-league outfielder who's in the prime of his career."
"The Dodgers had to trade Bradley because of his issues while he was with the team, but he only gave them 283 at-bats last year, so that's not a huge loss."
((shrug))
In the summary of the Dodgers' apparently amazing offseason, he only points out one positional upgrade, and notes that they've increased depth overall. I just don't see how one upgrade and more depth constitutes the best offseason in baseball.
I'm not really saying his summary of the offseason was wrong. In fact, I actually agree with most of it, but how is it the best in baseball?
Ayala must have been overworked from the 1 1/3 innings he pitched.
The Nats pitchers are cursed!
Maybe if the Great Danes win, they'll crack The Egg!
www.theegg.org
2run homerun for kent.
Smith's formative years as a scout/development man were spent with the Pirates. Give that some contemplation. The Pirates are about as clueless as any franchise at teaching hitters to work the count and differentiate good pitches from bad ones. It's like their idea of hitter tutorials is to show each prospect footage of Manny Sanguillen hacking at pitches in the dirt. The Pirates' last winning season came about 14 years ago. Check out their walk/run/OBP totals the last 14 years. Dead men could do better. On the development spectrum, the Pirates live on the dumb end, somewhere near the Royals.
Smith's mentor was Cam Bonifay. That's like apprenticing under Malone or Lamar. Smith survived Bonifay's firing and then gleaned wisdom from Littlefield, the genius who just gave $20 million to Jack Wilson.
If the Dodgers' patient, good-approach hitting prospects such as Russ Martin and Aybar become good major-league hitters, it'll be despite Smith-sonian principles, assuming this man, in fact, is applying what he learned from the mighty Buccos.
Sigh.
In our rational dreams, the guy who can hit the best will play there. Meanwhile, we will have to suffer through trite discusions about whether or not a tall guy can play good first base defense.
and repko made a stupid play in the outfield
smith was hired by depo. wouldnt it be safe to assume depo and smith shared similar beliefs to player development and player personel?
I don't know what Depo saw in Smith -- there were accounts that Smith wasn't Depo's first choice, that at least one Oakland official turned down Depo.
Nate, I respect your prospect reports and suspect you're probably bullish on the pitching, but I don't see a "wealth" of pitching prospects. A nice batch, maybe.
And doesn't the franchise's weak recent track record demand more caution? When you read some of EJ's quotes about too many people (i.e. Lasorda) telling him what to do, there's further reason to wonder what's going on. Terry Collins was a lousy manager. Who's to say he knows squat about developing pitchers? And in the last five years, here are some of the young pitchers given away by the Sabean/Ned/Giants: Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano (the Twins stud), Scott Linebrink and Clay Hensley.
i dont either. ive actually been on that line of thought for the good portion of the winter now. Thats why im looking at a lot of pitchers in this years draft, particularly high cieling prep arms to restock our lower minors.
i think sending him back to AAA to man 2b everyday and play with the all prospect team will be better for his overall development.
I'm an Aybar backer and agree with you. Another season in Triple-A could do him good.
I'd prefer he were at 3B. I think that's his best spot (I know his bat plays better at 2B).
I actually think Laroche should start the year in Double A. He spent only half a year there. It's a better place to build a hitting foundation. But I'm probably the only one who says he should go there to start.
League ID: 245831
Password: scully
hitter stat: HR, SB, BB, OBP, SLG
pitcher stats: IP, HR, BB, K, ERA
For more info see http://tinyurl.com/zoa7t
If Aybar does begin the season in Triple-A, I hope he bats leadoff.
He's not fast, but the leadoff position is the one most conducive to maximizing his talents (and I think his power numbers actually would go up because he'd see even more pitches).
Here's the makings of an interesting AAA lineup:
1. Aybar
2. Ethier
3. Laroche
4. Guzman
5. Loney
6. Martin
But later in the game Milledge hit a ball that Nomar couldnt field...Was that called a hit also?
I thought we had a shortstop playing first base.
True. A shorstop bat at 1st that has had more errors in 12 preseason games than Choi made all of the regular season last year. Its sad.
to nomars credit, hes made a couple of very nice plays at 1b too.
dsfan, i like that AAA lineup. id probably do something similar to that. dont forget about delwyn young either. he should be part of the 51 prospect discussion.
The Orange comes from William of Orange or William the Conqueror to the English. The British King who conquered Ireland and converted them to the Protestant faith. To this day Protestants identify themselves with the colour orange. So make sure to stick to the green to honour St. Patrick else you might run into a pissed mic ready to thump your head in.
juarez has average stuff and if his control is off, he wont have a good outing. beltran perez was the best arm we got in the green deal but i think hes moved on to another org.
Looks like your George Mason/24 joke flew under the radar. At least I got it and I don't get too many of the jokes on this board...
I actually picked A&M. But I had Seton hall in the Sweet 16, and Iowa in the Elite 8.
Thanks. I make a few "24" jokes, but it doesn't seem to be the show of choice among DTers.
They have no stomach for gaping plot holes and Jack Bauer's remarkable ability to avoid having to pee.
Missouri State 76, Stanford 67
The only ones that I haven't picked correctly today are:
Northwestern St over Iowa
George Mason over MSU
Bradley over Kansas (almost over)
I don't know who's left in that program now. Hard to believe we were ranked No. 1 (however much you want to put that down) only about two or three years ago.
Whatever happened to Tim Young and the guy with the afro?
Josh Childress was good, but left school early to enjoy life as an Atlanta Hawk.
"Are these guys always white?", you ask? Well, it does seem that way...
to UC Irvine.
And it really wasn't even all that surprising since Irvine had Scott Brooks, Johnny Rogers, and Tod Murphy.
And UCLA had Jack Haley starting.
"The most favorable comments by Little recently have praised Saito, Osoria, Broxton and Kuo. "
Do you think a manager in Grittle's position has no choice but to include Carter (and, to a lesser extent, Baez) on the roster, regardless of whether there might be other pitchers he prefers?
""He knows how to play the game of baseball. He's been doing it good for a long time. He wouldn't get out there until he was fully ready. He's a pleasure to have around."
"The Dodgers continue to look for a veteran corner outfielder, a move that would enable Jose Cruz Jr. to spell Kenny Lofton more regularly in center and allow for the demotion of Jason Repko to Triple-A. Repko, 25, was rushed to the majors last season, and another 500 minor-league at-bats would give him the chance to develop into a better hitter"
He also notes the Dodgers were close to signing Yeung-Seop Lee two years ago, but decided to use the money towards Vlad. That worked out real well
Why not use Drew to spell Lofton?
Cruz is a mediocre CF. Drew is a good CF and says it's easier on his bum knee.
Imagine if he had 5,000 minor-league at-bats. He'd be an unstoppable force.
134- I thought about that, but I knew that Hassan Adams was returning and I figured that he'd be in for a big game after the DUI. I also looked at Wisconsin's roster and nobody really stood out. Lute Olsen being a heck of a coach doesn't hurt either.
Speaking as someone who has misspelled the man's name repeatedly, aren't you referring to Seung-Yeop Lee?
136 - Bringing in Slugger Lee (how's that Bob?) before and/or instead of "The Trade"? The ripples outward from that move could have been very interesting...
zot!
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