www.bluethoughts.com

Fever and all, I stand ready to forgive Colletti so he can admit the Pierre Mistake.

to = too.

Otherwise, I agree and do hereby forthwith thusly sign.

Thank you Jon, for leading the way.

I think one less not and we are good.

LogikReader (with care)

If you are attempting to bash the Beastie Boys for not being musical, I hate to tell you that you have no idea what you're talking about.
The "Check Your Head" album marked the Beasties return to actually playing their instruments rather than relying on sampling full time. Every album after CYH has featured the Beasties playing instruments. And depending on musical your musical ear, all are actually above average musicians.

(Is that font called "Pierre"?)

That literally made me laugh out loud. Funny stuff.

*

To "Cauleys:

You were dead on about Sheets and LA? Then you must not have seen my blog this morning in which Doug Melvin says the Dodgers never asked about Sheets.

You are wrong on so many things I don't have time to address them. It is sad just how wrong you are but when you take every rumor as gospel, that's what you get.

As far as telling me what my primary job as a reporter is, you're a joke. My primary job is not circulation and selling papers. My primary job is integrity and reporting the facts correctly. Any journalist would tell you that. It shows just how little you know about my job. As a matter of fact, every time you post a comment it shows how little you know about my job. You say you're a respected, successful businessman. Well, you certainly didn't get that by spreading the garbage you've been spreading. And you must be retired now because you apparently have 24 hours a day to read nonsensical reports and post comments. You post about 50 comments a day. When exactly are you working at this successful job? As for the prospect you keep asking me to identify in the Rolen talks, who the hell said one name in particular was discussed? I certainly didn't. But your "sources" know all. You are the expert. I know nothing. I've been a reporter for 31 years. What the heck do I know about journalism, compared to you, the master?*

For the whole thing go here:

http://tinyurl.com/35dyxv

If it is going to stand the test of time, it needs to be perfect.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/text.html

And may I add: please oh please oh please: Keep Ethier(my favorite Dodger) and Kemp (who stings the ball so much that he is a joy to watch in a way I haven't felt since Piazza)

-Vishal, true blue dodger fan since his age 6 season

I really appreciate the layout of our comments section after reading that.

By my count, there are a number of teams still looking for a CFer: Texas, Atlanta, Chicago (AL), Minnesota, SD, and possibly Philly (Victorino and Werth are possibilities), Milwaukee (Bill Hall again?), and StL (Edmonds is risky, Rasmus is not ready).

With only Cameron and Rowand still available, I can see a number of those teams willing to play Pierre (for the right price).

this from ITD:

Some key points from his talk with the media:

He said that this doesn't necessarily mean we'll have to move an outfielder and he likes the depth it creates in the outfield. He also said it allows us to be more focused in our quest for pitching.

He also said this makes him a little bit more comfortable about the in-house options at third base. If something comes up that is a really great option, we would do it, but pitching is the greater priority.

Ned reached out to Juan Pierre last night to talk about how this affects him, but wasn't able to reach him. And when asked if he regrets signing Pierre, he said he absolutely does not. He can't re-write history, but he implored everyone to look back at the circumstances that we were in when we signed him (only one outfielder with more than a month of experience in the Majors - Ethier). He pointed out that Juan did exactly what we expected him to do and that he has never said that Juan was a franchise player. He's a very good player on a winning team and the reason we didn't win last year was not Juan Pierre's fault.

Humma Kavula
Bride of Kavula
Spawn of Kavula

The often paranoid Bruce Galler and family

P.S. If you trade Mr. Pierre, I will gladly present you with my Slappy McPop-up t-shirt to hang in your office.

And with that, I add my name to this noble cause.

To the consternation of all, Juan Pierre will now lead the Dodgers to the World Championship from LF. Much like David Eckstein who wears two rings as the unlikeliest SS in the 21st century, Juan Pierre will be wearing two rings in the 21st century. First as a starting CF and secondly as a LF. Years from now baseball historians will note that the Podboy and Pierre rewrote the expectations for left fielders as they led their respective teams to the World Championship within a few years of each other, even as their own fans heaped ridicule on their derringer like guns. Being fleet of foot was the only skill that was decipherable as they both had an arm that would have even embarrassed Rudy Law, plate discipline that didn't exist, and power that only manifested itself in postseason. These two denizens of the left field tundra had something that couldn't be measured by algorithms or scouts. They had IT and that is all they needed.

Granted I would prefer Pierre was not on our team, but what are you gonna do?

Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier could platoon in right, if Kemp is not traded... The next step for the Dodgers, if they are smart, would be to trade Kemp."

53 Did Rosenthal get anything right in Nashville? Anything?

~GMac In The 909

P.S. Please keep both Ethier and Kemp with the Dodgers and in the starting lineup.

P.P.S. Give LaRoche every opportunity to win the third base job (with the Dodgers).

Now, let's print out 94 more of these and nail them on the front door to Dodger Stadium.

Wily Mo Pena just signed a two year deal, and here is how the mutual option works in that contract: "Pena will get $2 million in 2008 -- thus avoiding arbitration and getting only a slight raise from his $1.875 million in 2007. But he'll have a mutual option for 2009. If the club picks it up, he'll make $5 million in 2009. If the Nationals decline, then Pena can pick up the option for $2 million." http://tinyurl.com/ywhx3w

Very interesting. So if he performs well and the Nats want him, they have to pay $5M. If he is exposed and they aren't willing to pay that much, he can go to the market or elect to stay with the team at a pretty low salary of $2M. Seems like a smart away to get some certainty for both sides and to balance out the risks.

AND maybe I'm a conspiracy theorist, but...

Does anyone else think this is actually Ned being a little bit shrewd? If Ned had gotten rid of Pierre first Boras would have known the Dodgers needed a CF desperately and would have jacked up AJ's price.

However, now that the Dodgers have their CF, I think Coletti is going to get rid of Juan Pierre. Saying "Pierre is moving to left field" is a smoke screen to not let other teams in on how much we want this guy gone.

Any chance this is correct? Maybe now I'm the one being shamelessly optimistic.

I knew Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine was a friend of mine. Jon, you're no Thomas Paine.

Paine, I think, would be in favor of playing Pierre. After all, in the Crisis, he wrote:

The NL West, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

In short, he's all in favor of over-priced contracts because the handicap engendered makes ultimate victory all the sweeter. Imagine the joy of winning the division in spite of having the worst left fielder in the game.

70- I think you might be right--for those reasons, and also to give AJ the idea that Pierre would bat in front of him "so that he could drive in more runs."

I think we're both being shamelessly optimistic, but hey, it's hot stove season.

Even if Ned and company admit the mistake, Pierre is our problem unless he's traded, an unlikely scenario unless we find a matching problem with a contract issue. The type of trade that could work would be something like Juan and Andy for Rolen. The Cards would be rid of their guy with issues and we trade bad contracts with them.

I think if we really need to simply accept Juan as a left fielder and hope that Torre considers the old notion of American League's second leadoff man being the guy who hits ninth.

The compromise for the start of the season would be Juan in left, batting eighth. He's never been on the DL, maybe that will catch up to him this year. Addition by subraction.

D4P you've been very negative about A Jones. I think some of it is your bias about Boras being his agent. I've already got a few bets on future Dodgers performance. If A Jones does not post an OPS > 840 as a center fielder in 2008 I won't post at all in Oct/2008.

Sincerely,

Jason in Canada.

ToyCannon, I know I have an outstanding bet with you, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is. If you don't remember, I'll search the archives.

I remember the payoff is a 2009 DT Day ticket.

Boras doesn't help, but my concerns would be the same regardless of the identity of his agent (unless, of course, it were me).

I probably wouldn't have many clients.

M. le dzzrtRatt

All the way in.

First he says this:

The next step for the Dodgers, if they are smart, would be to trade Kemp and other young talent for one of the top available starting pitchers — Orioles lefty Erik Bedard or A's righty Dan Haren.

But then he says this:

Jones, 30, is coming off the worst offensive season of his career, but should help a team that finished 10th in the National League last season in runs and next-to-last in homers.

But isn't he implying (as everyone is) an element of risk in signing Jones? No one knows if his 2007 is a fluke or the start of a trend toward decline. While I have high hopes and would've signed him if I were Ned, there's a chance Jones might turn out to be Pierre with a stronger arm (and bigger head). Until we know, would it be prudent to trade an offensive force like Kemp? It would not.

If in June, the Dodgers are losing a lot of 8-7 games, then the Dodgers can look at the option of trading one of their young offensive studs for a front-line pitcher. If Jones is back to mashing, we'd have more leeway to do that. Right now, there are too many unknowns to justify such a move.

Another point: We don't have a lot of OF depth. If a top prospect must be traded, shouldn't it be an infielder or a pitcher?

-Ears of Gob

I marched a mellophone, which is the illegitimate child of a cornet and a french horn, or something like that. I could play it pretty well and even almost in tune, but I sounded a ton better on french horn, back when I was in practice. The point is that while I