1. First Comment
2. Wilson Valdez is a nothing. He's a poor man's Ramon Martinez at best. If Repko starts on the DL, it will likely be Bigbie getting his spot.

Wilson Valdez?

Really?

Only a matter of time before Valdez starts leaking oil

Maybe that discussion wasn't irrelevant or distracting after all.

First-inning update entered above.

Back to back HRs for the Sox...?

Hello Mr. Tomdrickson?

That boggles a bit. If they are basing judgments off of good springs wouldn't Bigbie be an automatic replacement for Repko?

8
Because Ned has a shortstop fetish

9 - Is that like a footwork fetish?

Yeah Kuo is toast. Pack yer bags for Vegas.

More updates above.

Xeifrank will not be happy about this...

At all.

Oh, to have three million dollars worth of excuses and a hypnotist.

Looks like Kuo pulled a Shrewt...

Why on Earth are we doing all of this to protect Wilson Valdez? I might be able to see the logic in protecting him from the rule five draft, it's relatively easy to stash a utility guy on the bench. But it's becoming pretty clear that Colletti didn't think about the "out of options" thing and he's doing whatever he can to keep this guy on the team for some reason. I don't know why, no one would claim him off waivers.

If you're going to release Ramon Martinez, fine, whatever, but keeping two utility guys who can't hit and Wilson Betemit on the team seems like a terrible use of resources.

Keep in mind, Tony Jackson is just opining. Just like I was opining that Kuo would make the starting rotation in April.

15 Very nice.
16 And you're surprised because...

17 As long as there was no hint about this from Colletti, that's fine.

Anyone listening on radio? Has rain taken over?

I'm not listening, but the box score makes me think the game has been halted

They're going to give Kuo a do-over.

Yup, rain delay.

at least millers going to be starting in Vegas

23 MLB.com is showing the game as postponed.

16 I think keeping Valdez is a ploy to psych out the trade market.

If we trade Tomko to somebody, their fans will say "All you got is flippin' Tomko?" GMs will shy away from a trade like that. BUT: Offer Tomko and Valdez, then it's like, "we got two guys who can help us." Still dumb, but some fans will fall for it.

By keeping Valdez, we raise his perceived value, and we can do a 'more than the sum of its parts' trade with a gullible GM.

15 "Who knows where words...come from?

game doesnt count. give kuo a do-over.

26 - Maybe so. Although the inability to get anything for Cody Ross makes me think you can only boost Valdez so much. Can we convince people that he is the next Eckstein?

Pierre loses a sacrifice, but I have faith he can get that back

28. If only Valdez could shrink to 5-7

Saying that what happened in today's exhibition game "didn't count" because it was rained out is disingenuous.

Obviously, Kuo and Matsuzaka did something that their respective coaching staffs could evaluate.

It's not like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones walked up to Grady Little and Terry Francona and made them stare into a pen-like object that erased their memories.

I think the 40 man roster moves at the end of last year should not be viewed in the same light as years before because MLBPA and MLB changed the rules on how long you can protect players.

While I think some of the pitchers that were added would still have been considered, we would have had to put Abreau, Hu, Orenduff on the roster and I don't know if they would have risked losing Cory Dunlap, Brian Akin, Xavier Paul, or Mark Alexander.

Putting Valdez there was basically a move to keep him for ST but I don't think it will be as big a factor as others might speculate.

It's not like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones walked up to Grady Little and Terry Francona and made them stare into a pen-like object that erased their memories.

that's exactly what happened and if you don't follow the company line.. well, don't say i didn't warn you.

31 If they could, I think Will would be nice and say, Grady, its the 8th inning and you were just about to bring a reliever for Pedro when the phone rang and Theo told you to keep him in until his arm falls off.

34 That would be nice for Grady.

Sometimes I wish they didn't keep stats in Spring Training. Just go out and watch the guys you think will make the team. If Wilson Valdez were to make the roster based on ST, it would be very Ericksonish.

Ouch. On ItD somebody referred to him as "Bomkuo" (Bomguo?). I'm not going to get overly excited about spring training, but doesn't Hong-Chih need to show some good command at least?

Read an interesting article from Catfish Stew that says there may be correlation between hot Aprils and players who hit 5 homeruns or more and have good bb/so. Players who did not hit that many homeruns and had bad bb/so ratios tended to have bad Arpils. This was all based off numbers from last year. Most players fell in between.

Read an interesting article from Catfish Stew that says there may be correlation between hot Aprils and players who hit 5 homeruns or more and have good bb/so. Players who did not hit that many homeruns and had bad bb/so ratios tended to have bad Arpils. This was all based off numbers from last year. Most players fell in between.

Greg, thinking about what you said last night about liking some of the conservative writers I like, I wonder if you might want to check out something I published ages ago. Google the words "The Tempting Of Richard Posner Independent Review" and you will be able to access something you might -- or might not -- find interesting reading (you'll need Acrobat Reader to read it, though).

Has anyone addressed the story about Jonathan Meloan in yesterday's Press-Enterprise?

Headline: Dodgers reliever Meloan dumped Air Force for baseball

Most offensive line: "Besides the devastating sliders and curves Meloan throws, what set the 22-year-old on the path to becoming a top relief pitching prospect was reneging on a commitment to attend the Air Force Academy, where he would have trained to become a pilot while pitching."

Unless I'm misreading the story, Meloan didn't "renege," which implies he received some benefit for making a commitment and then didn't live up to his end of the bargain. (Like a prominent current president I won't name.) Nor did he "dump the Air Force."

Meloan had an opportunity to attend the Air Force Academy. And then decided not to go.

I think a retraction is in order.

P.S. Tiny URL won't let me make a Tiny URL of it, perhaps due to outrage, so here's the whole URL:

http://www.pe.com/sports/baseball/dodgers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_D_dodgers_15.405ff29.html#

40 - It makes me think of another much-debated "commitment" in the Dodger universe, but I don't want to go there.

40 It's that octothorpe on the end of your URL that's the problem.

Leung's e-mail is at the end of the column; you can write him. I don't think you have to have "received some benefit", not fulfulling a commitment is reneging. I don't know the fact on Meloan though.

40 -- Didn't the article state that the Air Force people told Meloan he was "too big" to be a pilot? It sounds like the Air Force didn't want to give Meloan the pilot training he was interested in in the first place.

I see value in trying to hold on to Valdez. Utility players are most valuable in extra-inning situations, where the Dodgers were abysmal last year. Ramon Martinez is also the emergency catcher, and who knows whether Anderson is going to have another setback?

Especially if the training staff has durability concerns about Repko and Anderson (and I think those concerns are justified), it makes sense to hedge by keeping Valdez around awhile, at least until we see how April shakes out on the injury front.

40 Ugh, I hate octothorpes, especially when they crawl inside your underwear!

I wrote Leung already. If Leung got someone at the AF Academy to say, "man, he left us in a lurch, we were one short all year thanks to Meloan," I'd see Leung's point. But there is nothing to indicate that.

Did no one else but Meloan win acceptance to the AF Academy then turn them down? Sought-after colleges depend on a certain percentage of their accepted freshmen to decide to go elsewhere. Is the AF Academy different in that regard? If my kid got accepted to UCLA, and then found out he got into Harvard (I can dream, can't I?), would he be regarded as "reneging" on UCLA?

The impression Leung leaves is that Meloan did something unpatriotic. Given the times we live in, I wish he'd've been been more careful.

42 Unless he had signed his papers, there is no commitment. Sounds to me like he thought about it, talked with the AFA people and decided it wasn't for him. That's not reneging. That's reconsidering.

40 Jon certainly knows better than me on this topic but the writer of the article does not choose his headline, that is the editor's job.

I thought it was a strange headline myself but once you read the article (which is the point of the headline anyway), you understand what happened.

47 The word "renege" is in the story. In this context, I think the headline ("dumped")is actually less objectionable than the story itself.

48 That is the important point. "Renege" has a very specific meaning, and accusing someone of not honoring a commitment, as opposing to choosing not to accept an offer, is pretty serious.

Anyone find the true story of Meloan and the USAF? I can't find one.

Guo bombed!? I'm not happy about this, not happy at all. vs, Xei

39 I will most certainly check it out.

And just to weigh in on this Meloan thing, if he applied and was accepted and signed his contract/commitment, he reneged. If he didn't, he simply changed his mind and Leung should issue a clarification/retraction. Accusing somebody of being dishonorable towards a service academy is not something one should just throw out there. Not cool.

Just think, you could get two Daisuke Matsuzakas for what is pictured here:

http://tinyurl.com/2komjy

I guess the crappiest thing about Kuos outing was that he walked Matsuzakas, even though it was well known he wasnt allowed to swing at a pitch.

Update to this post above - fun story about minor league manager John Shoemaker drawing a memorable flagrant foul while playing in March Madness.

Vlade Divac would be proud.

Looks like Kuo is only good down the stretch...

Was kuo pitching from the windup or stretch when he gave up those bombers?

57 The three-run jack had to be from the stretch, you'd think. The other two were solo shots, so presumably from a windup, but an eyewitness would have to testify.

i think the stretch for 1 of them

Steiner and Monday were talking about how Kuo was pitching from the stretch from the outset of the game..

60- that's interesting considering how everyone was making a big deal about how he abandoned that approach at the outset this spring.

While scouting another Houston-area star named James Loney, Dodgers assistant general manager of scouting Logan White also was impressed by the kid from Katy, Texas, challenging the Dodgers' eventual 2002 first-round pick.

i didnt realize meloan had been on white's radar since his prep days.

Bad start for Kuo.
Why wouldnt Larry Bigbie make the team ahead of Wilson Valdez?

I'd think they'd replace Repko with an Of'er.

no one else but Meloan win acceptance to the AF Academy then turn them down? Sought-after colleges depend on a certain percentage of their accepted freshmen to decide to go elsewhere. Is the AF Academy different in that regard? If my kid got accepted to UCLA, and then found out he got into Harvard (I can dream, can't I?), would he be regarded as "reneging" on UCLA?

It doesnt quite work like that with the US Military academies. IIRC, all students that attend a US Military academy, must be appointed there by their congressman. They basically need a very high ranking letter of recommendation to be accepted into any of the service academies--Navy, Air Force, West Point.

If MeLoan got appointed to Air Force by his congressman or another high ranking official, and then decided not to go--then yes that could be considered renegging. If you're serious about joining a military academy, and you get appointed there...You better not just decide to not go. It looks really bad.

There is also a difference between a high school kid reneging on a college commitment and an adult reneging on a commitment (no matter what goes into the application). Kids change their mind all the time. Trying to tie some larger meaning to it is a bit silly.

64
I think that is dumb to expect so much out of kids choosing colleges. They want to have as many options as possible. I could care less if they get into a service academy and then decide not to go. Maybe a dream school came along and finally accepted them.

Has anybody reported this at all here? Saw a mention of it over at DRaysbay:

"During a meeting with Korean reporters at the team's camp in St. Petersburg, Florida, on February 26, Choi Hee-seop revealed that, "If I am not able to make it to the big leagues this year, I will consult my agent Mr. Lee Chi-hoon and look for a place where I can play my best.""

http://tinyurl.com/ywnkeu

There's no good reason to guess whether he reneged. I'm sure he knows whether he signed papers or didn't. If only there were a way whereby someone, a reporter, say, could ask him whether he'd signed papers. . .

Poking around the AFA website, there's this: "When you arrive at the Academy, you'll sign an agreement. . ." I don't think this can be quite right, since cadets go through BT before going to the Academy, right? And there'd have to be some kind of contract before going to BT; it's never been my impression that basic training was a potluck sort of affair.

I guess everyone is "Griddling" today?
vr, Xei

More on Kuo - see above.

Hey, I even posted baseball material on the Griddle today!

It is my understanding that White has thought for the last several years that Meloan might wind up being the best pitcher in the organization.

I posted this before, that I watched Abreu play short in the AZ instructional league and he was exciting and very good with a strong arm. The guy can definitely play shortstop.

64 or really smart!

72 If Abrue can really play SS, he is very valuable.

On second thought, maybe the Dodgers shouldn't move to the Cactus League where all their division rivals play.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10064663

"I told him [Tony Abreu] to be careful, because a middle infielder can't get too big and lose his flexibility," Duncan said. "I want the kid to be a complete player. He should be stealing more bases, bunting more. He can be a perfect No. 2 hitter, but sometimes he tries to lift the ball and he needs to hit line drives."

Can we trade Mariano Duncan back to the Reds?

I told him, don't get big and strong. Those guys have power, and we HATE that. Run into outs. Bunt for outs. We value the out here.

What we really need out of Abreu is for him to not be very good. Mariano has been tasked with making it so.

"I told him [Tony Abreu] to try to hit bunt doubles, not line drive or fly ball doubles"

"I told him [Tony Abreu] that even if you hit 50 HRs, there's still going to be another 500 ABs where you don't hit HRs"

Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist.

Throw ground balls. They're more democratic.

Bunting aside, I don't see anything wrong with saying "hit line drives." That's a huge difference from telling him to be Juan Pierre. Are we that convinced that Tony Abreu should be aiming for the fences?

abreu has finally gotten my attention with his recent power surge (winter ball and ST). the last couple of years, i really havent given abreu alot of love and i might just have to eat crow for that.

i wonder if its for real. hopefully it is and he keeps improving his plate discipline. He could become a useful player.

who is scheduled to pitch tomorrow? since its going to be on tv and all...

I don't think it's a matter of aiming for the fences. Everybody tries to get the best swing plane to square the ball up and hit line drives. It's the base stealing and bunting that caught my eye. And "not bulking" up. Yeah, don't get fat, but putting an extra few pounds of muscle never killed anybody.

It's not like Pujols or Bonds try to hit fly balls or anything. The just square up and put line drive swings on the ball and it backspins into outer space. They're just really strong.

Maybe Abreu could get some flaxseed oil...

81

Line drives are great, and I don't think Abreu should be "aiming for the fences." In fact, there are very few players I would trust with that objective in mind.

But Duncan does seem to be discouraging Abreu's power development by telling him to instead focus on stealing bases (maybe if he's really good at it) and bunting (no thanks).

Next time I'll just hire Brock as my representation.

Scouting report from Vero today... Pierre was by no means bunting for a hit to move Furcal to 3rd with 0 out. And boy did he get a rousing hand for that 1-3 putout. Lasorda was in uniform- not a pretty sight. WM Pena's HR was an absolute rocket about 12 feet off the ground opposite field. Matsusaka from the stretch balked on every pitch he threw. I don't know why the umps didn't just call one to help the guy out. He comes set, lifts his left foot a bit, stops, then starts his motion. The Matsusaka walk was a riot- after the 4th ball he looked to the dugout like "uh oh, now what?" Ortiz waved him to first and had a huge grin. After he got a baserunning reprieve with the HR he was cracking up walking back to the dugout.

Funny fanboy story- Kemp signed a ball for me in Jupiter yesterday- on the sweet spot per my request. Got Loney on there too. Today I got LaRoche to sign, but first he started examining my ball. Then he shows it to Abreu and says something. I'm asking him what's the deal- he says "why did Kemp sign it right here?" So he calls Kemp over and says "why would you sign the guy's ball in this spot?" Must be an inside joke. So I asked Kemp why LaRoche is giving him crap and he said something to the effect "Man he just trippin." I advised Kemp that the sweet spot is the prime location and he should be flattered. End of fanboy story.

87 Sorry about that.

I misspoke. Not everybody tries to hit line drives. Some people slap or beat the ball into the five/six hole and scream down the line, praying for a single. Some of them even make 44 million dollars.

89

You have a lot of things to apologize for, but that's not one of them.

And I'm glad that I'm house-sitting and away from my NBA League Pass on a night when Kobe scores 65.

83 Tomko and Mays

92- You drop in for the first time in I can't remember how long, and it's for that?

85 - http://tinyurl.com/2ycs85

84, 86 - I was responding to 78.

It will be interesting to see how the Dodgers create experience for Abreu, Hu, Dewitt between now and the time Furcal leaves after the 2008 season and Kent after this year.

Could Miller be reminding everybody of Sandy Koufax by the end of this season? Good fastball and overhead delivery and wild in his youth. Operative word = remind not cloned.

If Wainright switches from closer to starter successfully for Cardinals, is it posible that Meloan becomes a starter along side Miller for the Dodgers? Or does Broxton get traded when the Dodgers believe Meloan can take his spot?

Just a reminder: while today's game will be on television, it doesn't count against the 810 games that will still be left on Juan Pierre's contract. It's a good news, bad news situation.

Vin's at the game!

Martin and Ethier out, Lieberthal and Loney in; other than that, it's the expected opening day lineup. Except for the pitcher. One hopes.

Re: Meloan

I got a very gracious note back from the reporter, Diamond Leung. I think it's okay to reprint it here:

Hi John, thanks for the feedback. I definitely see where you're coming from, and I probably should have done a better job of being more clear in what I meant. By the word commitment, I was referring to the "verbal commitment" term that is commonly used in college sports reporting. For example, Greg Oden verbally committed to Ohio State. If he had gone to Arizona, he would have reneged on that oral commitment. I should have realized that the lingo I used could be interpreted the way you did. Hope that explains it, thanks again for writing in.

Diamond Leung

----

In short, I think he's saying it comes down to semantics and context. He's acknowledging the military context loads the word "renege" in a way it wouldn't be if we were just talking about civilian colleges. I appreciated his reply.

That throw made me laugh. I expect when it happens in a real game, it will be less funny.

Vin just said the Dodgers have stolen 13 bases and "only" been caught 6 times, a "good percentage

Pierre doubles, the slacker non-bunt way, and Furry scores, even though he should have been out.

I see that MLB.com is giving Pierre a triple. Didn't he go to third on a throw to the plate...?

Ham and chicken skin, I think he meant.

Pierre is now hitting .483

If Pierre hits .483, he could almost cobble together a pretty good slugging percentage for a leadoff hitter.

Time for a 3-2 pickoff play!

first dodger telecast and we get stuck with tomko and mays. oh the joy.

Ooh! Hunter Pence comes in for the Astros.

110

Could be worse, you could be stuck in the Bay Area suburbs listening to Charile and Rick on MLB Audio, like someone I know very very well.

Wait, Charile just said the Dodgers are wearing green? I'm glad I can't see.

112- Yeah. It's not great. And the hats are a different shade of green from the uniforms. JP is wearing a longly sleeved blue shirt under his green jersey. It's just not great.

111

You know, I thought you'd have been a little more appreciative when I offered you A. Martinez's job the other day.

If it's about leaving the house, we can set you up with a satellite, so you can work from home.

114- I didn't read it until it was too late to revisit. Let's just say, I'm intrigued. Is he on the Dodgers' side of the ledger, or is KFWB paying his salary? I don't want to take any job that ends with my reading the weather six times an hour, forever, starting this winter.

66% of Carmax poll takers are dumber than the basic subset of people dumb enough to pay money to vote in a meaningless poll. Which is pretty impressive.

115

The beauty of having that job in LA, though, is that you can record the weather once and just replay it for the rest of the year.

Besides, do you really want to be owned by the McCourts? That could end with you rubbing lotion on Jaime's feet.

why is joe mays still on this team?
i'm already sick of him.

You don't be givin' [Frank McCourt]'s new bride a foot massage.

Kemp in for Pierre

Looks like Abreu hurt himself getting caught stealing.

Thanks, Mariano.

Still on the ground. Looks like a left shoulder dislocation.

so stupid, argh.

Oh nice, shoulder injury. There goes the power.

Now he can be that two-hitter we need so badly.

Well, at least if he hurt his shoulder he won't be able to bulk up by lifting weights. We don't need that.

greg and icaros, stop mirroring each other.

He's supposed to be distracted by college basketball right now. I don't get it.

The return of Wunschtime to DT!

128 I glanced over here and saw that Abreu got hurt on a steal. The joke wrote itself.

130
Sort of like when Maggie and Bart wrote an "Itchy and Scratchy"?

Everything in the universe is analogous to:

The Simpsons
The Godfather
Baseball

132 Don't forget Jazz and the Civil War.

So Ken Burns is going to do a long documentary series on "The Simpsons"?

134From the Simpsons:

Ken Burns: a film about Ken Burns...by Ken Burns

Ken Burns is a filmmaker and a jazz musician with a debatable haircut...

QED

134 Zoom in on pencil sketch of Bart Simpson.
[Voiceover], generic '80s pop music

It started innocently enough, Jim Brooks from the Mary Tyler Moore show and comedienne Tracy Ullman, were developing a sketch show and they wanted some animated shorts to break up the skits.

Jim brought in a cartoonist, whose work included a weekly cartoon in a Los Angeles paper known for its liberal views and kinky personal ads.

Houlton looks lights out right now. I wonder if he's figured something out. I know-small sample size. We'll see what we have at Vegas.

I don't know if I could watch a Burns documentary without the dulcet tones of John Chancellor.

I'm suspicious of this ST run of one run and 9th inning victories. I'm trying to rationalize this as a result of having a line-up that can hit all the way 1-8. Its likely, however we are using a run of lucky outcomes at a time of meaningless games.

132 - The Office

Noop oatsupped op!

138 - Eh, David McCullough will do.