And could I have been more self-involved? It all seems so slight, so wrong in a way because of Robinson and Butler. Bill Robinson was one of my favorite ESPN commentators because the guy was completely off the reservation, so much so they had to replace him. He was doing baseball tonight with John Saunders one time and to say he was off the script... well, he was talking about how he wouldn't try hard for a pitcher who didn't throw at people after he got hit. Then, a commercial break. I swear, ESPN broke from the commercial break to extend Baseball Tonight so Bill could go on a three-minute rant about he's a winner, not a loser and always played to win no matter who he played with or for. Thing is, he spoke with such passion I agreed with everything he said, no matter how much he would contradict himself. The beanball bit? I about fell out of my chair. I'll miss him.

Brett Butler got caught stealing 50% of the time and had no power at all. He still scored a hundred runs a season. Were my son to model after a player, he could do a whole lot worse than Butler. Get well soon, Brett.

(sigh)

One of these days, I'm going to do some research before I post.

I think somehow this got translated into "Logan doesn't have input," when the implication was quite the opposite - Logan and Ned are enough in sync on the prospects that Logan's input goes without saying.

We'll see what happens over the next 40 hours.

along these sames lines, given the lack of quality pitching out there and the quality prospects a team would have give up to get a mediocre pitcher, shouldn't orenduff or even mcdonald be given a chance to see it they could make it now (orenduff more than mcdonald)? are we really that shaken up by the edwin jackson thing?

That said, I'm sure having ERAs higher than they might be can't help a pitcher's confidence, and sometimes it does seem their reluctant to bring their best pitching prospects to AAA (but Billingsley did pitch there, for one), or at least they don't like leaving them there for long. But there are too many other positives in having a team in Vegas, or the PCL.

And I do agree, there are pitchers in AA that might deserve a look sooner rather than later.

A lot of teams prefer to have their AAA affiliate close to the parent city to make it easier when you have to call someone up in an emergency.

this would be the perfect time to roll the dice. wolf, kuo, schmidt have gone down. tomko and hendrickson have done nothing to earn their spots. lowe might be going down. the dodgers' playoff chances for this year are slipping away. the fans are willing to let this year slip away because of what they see on the horizon. so even if orenduff, meloan, mcdonald, (heck, even kershaw) bomb, they're given a pat on the back and told, "not yet, kid. but don't worry, your time will come."

{beating the drum}

I need to go watch TV and crawl into bed.

Hasta luego.

Riverside would also suffer from the problem that a AAA team there wouldn't get many fans.

Realize, not time to panick, yet, but, with our Starting Pitching hurting, I believe Ned is looking very hard at SP's...but what is available out there is no better than what we have in Tomko or Hendy. Any SP's that is worth a lick, would cost us a bundle in terms of young, cheap, and controllable talent. Trying to find a diamond in the rough. If the Cardinals found a savior in Weaver last year, there might be hope out there.

Hopefully, not in the Phaeton sense.

The advantage can come if some teams don't pay attention to such park factors. We can dump subpar hitters putting up good numbers in Vegas, or subpar pitchers putting up good numbers in Jacksonville, and perhaps get a better return. I don't imagine there are many teams that can be taken advantage of in such fashion, but it's worth a shot.

Of course, if the Dodgers aren't using park factors (I think they are) then we are in trouble.

Emil Brown shooting a reporter in the eye with a pellet gun. Yeah, that's the best story of the year, hands down, not doubt. Baseball, pellet guns, eyes, well-liked female sportscaster, Kansas City Royals...These are stories that make it all worth it.

From the 2006 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, four of their analysts listed their Top 50 prospects as of December 12, 2005. While their lists are fairly consistent, there are a few differences so closer to 70 prospects (I did not count them) were listed altogether.

Of those 70 players, only 3 are not with the organization on those lists. Those three players are Andy Marte, listed as a Red Sox just prior to being dealt to the Indians later that off-season, where he is he playing in Buffalo, their AAA club; Jason Hirsh, formerly of the Astros, dealt in the Jennings off-season deal, was pitching for the Rockies until going on the DL in early July; and Joel Guzman, dealt at last year's trade deadline, now in his first full year for Tampa Bay's AAA club, while he had a .861 OPS in June, he has a .420 OPS after their All-Star Break and has struck out 19 times in 52 at bats.

Now, there are other prospects who were traded prior to being put on this list, Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez, Francisco Liriano, Bobby Jenks and Chris Young are the five that stand out to me, Jenks was the only one not traded, while the others were part of packages that included major league players in off-season deals.

But my point is that teams are becoming very, very cautious when dealing with high profile prospects, when I first subscribed to Baseball America, probably 18 or so years ago, I am pretty sure a lot of teams did not have a lot of information about other team's minor leaguers, now with all the third party information, plus their own scouting, teams are going to be careful when dealing their own players.

While I admire Billy Beane and the like, their success is really a function of other people's stupidity. I think GM's are just better informed now. Of course, GM's today are more reluctant to dish young, affordable, not-even-arbitration eligible players today. They are not as flat out dumb as they used to be.

Steve Phillips was a General Manager. Wrap your head around that one.

I guess that was kind of my point though I was also trying to say that both Marte and Guzman, who were both at one time the number one prospects for their teams and in Marte's case, a number one prospect in the game, there is still no guarantee that highly rated prospects are going to be able to succeed at the MLB level. Teams are constantly trying to figure that out.

BTW, of the top 30 Dodger prospects listed in 2006, 6 were dealt after Ned became the GM, Steve Schmoll, currently on the Mets' AAA club; Blake Johnson, now on KC's High A team; Julio Pimentel, dealt with Johnson in the Odalis Perez deal, also on KC's High A team; Chuck Tiffany, injured in 2006, listed on Tampa Bay's AA team roster; Willy Aybar, remains on Atlanta's suspended list; and Joel Guzman.

Also, with baseball being flushed with cash, free agent contracts are insane. You're much better off getting the Roy Oswalt hometown discount than you are signing Barry Zito. Or do what several teams are doing now and expanding the Indians model. Don't just lock up the young guys but get a couple of their FA years too so you can be paying Johan Santana the same amount per year a guy like Jeff Suppan is making. Also with more teams locking up their young talent, it means less guys available in FA, which is also driving up the price. It's much cheaper to build from within.

It was the American Association that got carved up and split between the PCL and the International League.

The altitude thing could be worse. Las Vegas is at 2000'. Albuquerque, where the Dodgers AAA team was before Vegas, is at 5000'.

http://tinyurl.com/28gsvh

http://tinyurl.com/327azu

I'll write something tonight.

http://news.sawf.org/Gossip/40614.aspx

As for the Dodgers, I still think they're being very secretive but are pursuing another starter. That's my gut feeling...

I wonder why players don't choke up on the bat more after seeing the success Bonds has had in doing so.

At this time in Loney's career he needs to hit second in the lineup. Another reason to give Pierre less playing time.

I'd love to see some analysis on that, because I'm not sure it's the slam dunk you think it is. I don't have names off the top of my head, but how often do you hear about a "can't miss" prospect who never pans out? (OK, Dallas McPherson, Joe Thornton, Edwin Jackson and Andy Marte come to mind, but they could still pull it together.) I think we forget about some of them precisely because they never do anything.

I think the Yankees in particular got the reputation for pumping up their prospects to make them better trade bait, knowing that they may never be any better than they were in AAA.

So what if they throw lawn chairs onto the left field grass.

"It would be poetic justice for him to do it in L.A.," McNamara said.

Giants diehard Gary Haedrich of Seaside (Monterey County), a charter season-ticket holder at the China Basin ballpark, predicted even the Dodger faithful would have to acknowledge the significance of a Bonds home run, should the Big One hit there, with at least some polite applause.

"It's OK with me if it's Chavez Ravine," Haedrich said. "Barry will get some kind of response there -- and more power to him if he hits it there.<<<
http://tinyurl.com/3yoyds

I get the impression that the Braves really really want to make the playoffs this year, with the Jones boys. They have a small window.

I still think it's a bad deal for the Braves.

Nate's gonna hate me if I keep talking this way.