Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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Screen Jam
TV and more ...
1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
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
To give him a new set of challenges before the season is over, the Dodgers promoted 19-year-old lefty Clayton Kershaw, that ace we don't want to talk about lest the fates conspire to take him away from us, to AA Jacksonville, reports John Kennett of the Midland Daily News.
Kershaw has struck out 134 batters in 97 1/3 innings, but he has also walked 50.
"Obviously, (the Dodgers') goal was to get him out of here and give him a taste of Double-A before the season was over," said (Great Lakes Loons manager Lance) Parrish. "I think he is ready for that. (Is he) completely ready? I don't know. He still needs to get better command of his pitches.
"He certainly has the stuff. Maybe moving up to a team in first place and being able to pitch against Double-A hitters will help him focus a little better," added Parrish.
Loons' pitching coach Glenn Dishman agreed.
"At this level, he knew that he could sit there and throw fastballs by people, and (he) sometimes didn't have command of his fastball the way he needed to," said Dishman. "(At Jacksonville), he will rise to the challenge and know that he needs to hit his spots and still throw a 96 mile-per-hour fastball when he needs to."
In his story, Kennett paired Kershaw's step up with another player's step out. Catcher Parker Brooks, 26, has decided to retire from baseball to return to his Georgetown alma mater, having been accepted there for law school.
Knowing the timetable of these kinds of decisions as far as applications and acceptances, one assumes Brooks has had this plan for months, but it still had to be a melancholy moment. Brooks had an .811 OPS with Georgetown in 2005, but only 32 hits in three minor-league years.
"The irony is that they can both end up being extremely successful in different fields," said Parrish. "I have a feeling that Parker is going to be somebody special, and obviously I feel the same way about Clayton.
"Time will tell, but I feel that both of them are going to do pretty well in life," added Parrish.
* * *
Farewell, Hal Fishman. Another Los Angeles icon leaves us.
Kershaw pitched in Gulf Coast League and until yesterday, the Midwest League so he has not faced similar competition like Chad's until his first start for the Suns.
Scott Elbert had pitched in the Sally League for the his entire second year, moving to Vero Beach for half a year until being called up to Jacksonville in the middle of his third year of pro ball.
Meanwhile, Eric Hull's thrown well since being sent back down. Dude deserves another chance in the 'pen.
The Suns start a five (!) game series vs. Carolina tomorrow. I wonder which game Kershaw will make his AA debut in?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur
7 - Which was not Hal at all. Brockman is more like Fishman in style than substance.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/georgetown.shtml
Most played a long time ago. Sean Maloney is the only recent one.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/brandeisma.shtml
*Smile, Los Angeles — you're on Google Maps!
By Alex Pham and Joseph Menn*
The site is using street-level photos from L.A., San Diego and parts of O.C. Privacy advocates freak out.
---------------
I find that language a little surprising on the front (online) page of a major newspaper.
......please read us. Times are bad.
http://ktla.trb.com/extras/ktla/60th/museum.html
https://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/archives/755407.html
I wonder how many players from my grad school made it to the bigs? Let's see... {looking up California College of the Arts and Crafts on Wikipedia} Huh... None? That's disappointing!
It is believed that Arizona is going to announce an agreement to extend Eric Byrnes contract for 3 years/30 million dollars (otherwise known as "Pierre money").
For fans of Carlos Quentin and Carlos Gonzalez, one wonders if their futures lie elsewhere.
Up until this year, he was pretty much the Holy Grail in the minors. With absurd isolated stats and almost as many walks as strikeouts.
It should also be noted that Byrnes has been pretty good this year at .303/.365/.497 with 28 steals at 82% success and very good defense. I said on Sunday that if Gary Matthews gets 50 million, Byrnes should get at least 80, so I don't think it's a terrible contract.
FIRE!
But seriously, Zito's contract bugs me nearly as much as Pierre's. One difference, however, is that Zito isn't the in the lineup everyday, batting 2nd.
But Sunday's game proved otherwise: Runners on 1st and 2nd, fly to center, and Juan throws home (cut off by Penny). Luckily, the runner on 1B was the only person not to receive the "Run on JP" memo, and held up at 2B.
Not that it mattered in the end result, but please, Juan: a man's got to know his limitations.
Why no one has homaged Dr. George, I'll never know.
While there were no teams, there was an intramural soccer thing that was fun. Some of those painters can really boot the ball! When they're not stoned.
I love FOTC. Nothing about JFC? I'm dying to know what people think of the last episode and to hear/read thoughts of next weeks finale. I am thoroughly confused by that show!
The Griddle watches JFC out of sheer stubbornness.
I really hate it now. I'm so glad it's over. I hate the show on the same level as "Huff." And I watched ALL the episodes of that monstrosity.
Thank you. Good to know....
Were you over it? Couldn't wait for the "answers" anymore? Cuz I'm about at that point...
I think we spoke about this before at Screen Jam......JFC has hooked me like 'The Riches' did. I didn't particularly enjoy most episodes but for some strange reason, I couldn't NOT watch.
I just know CCA is the best art school in the Bay Area, and probably second in the state with CalArts, with a ton of talented, well known alums and great teachers. But again, it's pricey.
I gave up on JFC. I feel like I needed to be smoking weed to understand it; instead I'd rather just watch Weeds. Better for my health and funnier.
38 I've already rewatched it three times since yesterday but, still, I'm tempted...
Hey, Tony Jackson's only complained a little about the humidity so far.
I love SCAD's "campus"
I've watched it since the begining I'll be damned if I don't watch it till the end.
51. Actually, CCA was the cheapest option, they offered to pay for everything, while Cleveland said that they best they could do would be to pay for half.
(Obligatory homage to "Adventure," aka "Colossal Cave")
I remember when HBO was a fancy shmancy channel. It was on 'Select TV' at my house, and at the neighbors it was on 'On TV'....... oh the dark ages........
I'm don't wanna keep my hopes up on us signing A. Jones but it shore would be nice having 'em man CFeild.
SCAD has a hodgepodge of non-contiguous buildings scaddered throughout the "historic" part of Savannah. Many (most?) of them are buildings that were originally used for something else (e.g. jails, homes, etc.) that were purchased by SCAD and converted for their use. It's fun to walk around and encounter random SCAD buildings.
Kent back With Ethier 7th and Loney 8th everything else remains stagnant.
If you ever make it to the southeastern portion of The Mainland, you should swing by Savannah and Charleston, SC. They make a great combo.
I agree. He bites.
65 Well, here we go, time for the Dodgers march toward the playoffs to start now. Time to wake up. Time to put up or shut up.
I just hope the very end of the Dodgers' season isn't like the end of "Easy Rider," with Grady Little crashing his motorcycle, mumbling "We blew it" before going unconscious.
I expect that Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton will be driving the truck in that scenario.
And UFC
Well, feh, I could just as easily see Byrnes crashing his motorcycle.
Mere child's play. Durham is at 98.2 degrees, heat index of 108.
With a heat index of 79.
And don't speak of the Minotaur.
Don't forget; this is where our hot streak started last year.
"Dear Mr. Colletti, What are the chances of Juan Pierre being our everyday CF for the next 4 years? Is there any possibility that the Dodgers try to sign Andrew Jones, Torii Hunter, Mike Cameron or Aaron Rowand in the offseason?"
It sure was! Did it get any better than the Haggler, Hearns, Sugar Ray days? I think not!
John Heyman is reporting that Eric Byrnes cleared waivers. First, I can't believe that no team would want him. Second, if no one wanted Byrnes at 4.8 million, why would you reup him for 10 million.
I would dispute that Chad was wasted in the pen, once he got settled in, he did a really good job in a tough spot and with Tsai and Brazoban going down, they needed his innings. Now if you want to say that he should have been the starter instead of Tomko, that is a valid question but I think those decisions are more the coaching staff's than Ned's, he just puts the pitchers on the roster.
vr, Xei
I think MLB 2K7's online roster has Loney batting 8th and playing 1st...and they had Ethier batting higher in the order.
DodgerThoughts.Com - Love it, Live it, Learn it.
vr, Xei
I have not seen any of the Q&A from Ned's chat.
I would think it would make it easier to trade them away.
For example, any Juan Pierre questions would be answered by saying how hard of a worker he is and how he's hitting almost .300 since April.
Hardly a rousing endorsement. If he's not happy with what Pierre has done this far, it's unlikely his happiness will increase in the future.
What you see is what you get.
Did you have second thoughts regarding the Proctor trade after Betemit hit a homerun his first at bat with the Yankees?
and
Do you read online blogs such as DodgerThoughts to get an idea for how the fans are thinking?
You know what, I really respect that answer you wouldn't even get that from some GM's, did any body ask why on earth Jonathan Meloan is still rotting away in Vegas?
I did. But in a nicer way.
Betemit could have gone 4-4 with a grand slam and that would not make Ned think he made a mistake.
Josh R answered the second question at DT Day, there are people in the organization that do review blogs like DodgerThoughts but they are not necessarily the people in the front office.
If ever you needed evidence that Colletti does not know HOW to evaluate players, that's it. This is what I said when Pierre was first signed. He can meet everyone's expectations, and still be among the worst regulars in all of baseball.
... and his response was, "it compliments my other attributes while giving me 200 extra strands while stealing 50 years off my age. It is exactly what I expected it to be."
Isn't "it's too early to fully evaluate..." essentially a non-answer that you can use in response to just about any question about a move you've made where the players involved are still active major leaguers? I mean, there's always a chance the move will look better in the future, right?
That being said, there's not much point in asking Ned a question about whether signing Pierre was a mistake or not. For one thing, the fact that he signed him in the first place is an indication that he didn't/doesn't understand why the very idea of signing Pierre (for 5 years no less) is a colossal blunder of colossal proportions.
I know that is a hard pill to swallow for some here but that is what he said when he signed him, and he has continued to say that during this season.
Also, even if you think Eric Byrnes is a better player, if I asked you before this season started, that starting in 2008, Eric Brynes was going to make 10 million a year for 3 years, I am sure many here would have thought that was crazy. That's the market which will make Hunter a 13-15 a year player and Andruw Jones get a Soriano type deal.
Although, if Betemit slugs around 500 the rest of the season with the Yankees maybe he should feel some remorse.
His back ground is in PR.
I know that is a hard pill to swallow for some here but that is what he said when he signed him, and he has continued to say that during this season.
Like i've previously mentioned I'm a Ned supporter but MAN reading stuff like that I don't know what to think. 5 YEARS!!
vr, Xei
Also, I think we established earlier that Ned is terrible at estimating what actual production relates to from the numbers he comes up with off the top of his head. I think he unwittingly predicted something like a .340 slug for Gonzalez at the beginning of the season.
A. 3 years at $27mil, traded for scrapheap with the Dodgers eating half of his remaining contract... which is equivalent of 3 years at 3 years at $36mil
-OR-
B. 5 years at $45mil, starting in CF for most, if not all of that time?
My point is, yes it was a bad signing, but the reality (hopefully) is that he won't be here for all of that time. Colletti panicked finding a CFer, and Pierre was the only thing left that Colletti felt could be a difference maker and he had to bid that 5th year to steal him from the Geeants.
vr, Xei
Seems to me, it might have more to do with the drop in production from Martin(718), Loney(693), and the continued lack of production from Pierre(628), and the complete drop off the earth production from Gonzo(549), in combination with a pitching staff that isn't shutting down the opposing team enough to make up for the anemic offense.
But hey, Nomar has a 650 OPS for the season so that must be the problem. It is August, not May, things have changed. The team is struggling, Nomar isn't.
What was the Q&A re: McDonald & Meloan?
to defend Ned Colletti at least he's a hard nose/great negotiator with contracts at least that's what I hear.
vr, Xei
>>Dismal air quality, meanwhile, could threaten the performance and health of thousands of elite athletes, and some are already saying they will stay away until the last minute because of pollution concerns.
Australian IOC member John Coates said after meeting Tuesday with other Olympic delegations and Beijing organizers that he'd be telling his athletes to stay away from Beijing until four or five days before their events.
He called Beijing's choking pollution "a prevailing worry for most of us."
Whether or not you think he'll be this productive going further is an exercise best left up to the reader.
But the rotation remains a major concern.
Not that that's really any new idea here.
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