What'd Ned get in return for Cody Ross again...?

Hard to believe Juan Pierre is worth $45 million and Ross is worth nothing.

I don't think many felt Ross was worth anything. Same with the CF on Philly at the time.

They both start with "K".
They both have four letter names.
They both shoot their mouth off.
They both disrupt their team.
They both want to win.

But that is where the similarirties end. One is the best player on his team if not in the league. The other is not even the second best player on his team. One is in his prime and the other is closer to social security benifits than his rookie year. I hope Kend's bat holds up like last year. But at age I'm afraid the odds are much against it.

FWIW, I ran into the Bison at Bob Hope Airport on this past Monday. Most of the folks in the terminal didn't recognize him so I got to take my son and chat with him for a good 10 minutes. He couldn't have been nicer though his demeanor felt alot more like a teen than a twenty-something. He introduced him to my son with a simple, "Hi, I'm Matt." My somewhat audacious father had the nerve to ask him, "Is Jeff Kent gonna show you young guys more patience this year, or what?" Bison just smiled sheepishly and said, "hope so." Wanting to end the conversation happily, I added, "Don't worry Matt, the real dodger fans know where the future lies..." to which he added an audible chuckle.

Not sure if I contributed to the clubhouse divide or not with this chat, but it was fun nonetheless. I even got a great photo out of the encounter which I'll gladly bore any of you with if you want visual proof of this encounter.

dt

I can't remember what we got for Ross, so it couldn't have been much. I think we traded him soon after one of his amazing outbursts, when whatever value he had should have been up. It seems kind of shabby to me to trade the guy when he was helping us, for nothing,
mainly because he didn't look like a ball player. Its the kind of move that often seems to bite you down the line.
I know we probably needed his roster spot, but with a few of the guys on the roster then (and at least one even now), I'm inclined to be sentimental.

4. I'd love to see that picture. I'm totally jealous you got to meet him.

Choi1 - shoot me your email; dakdiesel@yahoo.com

4 - Thanks for that story, and love your screen name.

U.C.L.A. vs. B.Y.U:

With Karl Dorrell, Bruins win.

Without Karl Dorrell, Bruins lose.

YDTM

8. - You're welcome. And for the record, I've been lurking w/ DT since pre-toaster days. Thanks for upping the IQ of dodger fandom Jon!

dt

We got Ben Kozlowski for Ross. I had no idea he was that good this season.

I understand where Jon is going but like LAT, I do think there are a lot of differences. From reading through the all the stuff, for the Dodgers, there was frustration from the following: the front office not making moves to acquire anyone at the break and also labeling the younger guys as "untouchable"; Grady's lineups; lack of acknowledgemet of veternaness and the work habits of the younger guys. For Kobe, his frustration was with Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak's failed attempts or non-attempts of getting him talented player to win a title. Now he had a YouTube moment with Bynum but he's been pretty consistent in recognizing that the Lakers are a young team.

Also, I don't think Kent ever failed to recognize the talent of younger guys.

In the end, if the Dodgers compete for the NL title, you will hear lots of things on how Joe got them all to work together. Whether or not its true, that will be the party line.

I wonder if the Reds lament losing Cody Ross too?

First it was Tower Records on Sunset closing, now the Virgin Megastore at Sunset and Crescent Heights. Will my kids even know what it was like to browse a record store?

I here you Jon, the Tower record store near my house has closed down (it is now a walgreens) there disappearing before our eyes...

kent, even if content, is not going to befriend or even engage with the young players. he's not going to devote his time to helping them develop. he's a grumpy old man.

kobe is competitive as heck, but he's not grumpy or old.

9 they may have won with dorrell, but they were a mere inch or two from winning without him as well.

Your kids won't care Jon. It'll be like trying to tell them about rotary dials, pay phones. transistor radios, etc.

Jon, thanks for finding a way to talk Dodgers when nothing is going on.

15 true, but does it matter if he befriends the young guys. I don't really care if he is grumpy. Kirk Gibson was pretty grumpy.

While this isn't the point of the post, however it was mentioned. The Blazers aren't really rebuilding. They are ready now. Winners of 10 in a row. Only 1/2 game out of first behind Denver whom they have beaten twice.

Who might have been Torre's Pierre last year? Sort of a: Torre was to X as Little was to Pierre.

16
Last night, I had a dream that Al Golden was named UCLA's new coach. I knew it before other people because Dan Guerrero made me go buy the man's favorite ice cream for a reception for him at UCLA.

The ice cream had apples in it.

But when the coach was named, there wasn't just one guy in the room. There were the three main candidates and it was announced as if they were giving out an Oscar.

The Yankees had five hitters (at any point) as bad or worse than Pierre, last year. They combined for 152 at bats. Torre didn't have a Pierre last year.

20 The only thing I can think of is letting Minky get first crack at first base instead of Josh Phelps, but that worked out for him.

And it's not like the Yankees needed more offense anyway, so the decision is probably justifiable.

15 wrote what I would've written, in far fewer words.

Now, about that criticism of Arcade Fire...

I know I am not in the main stream on Kent here. But I have said all along that Kent was just the one who said something, and that I thought good would come of it. Maybe he didn't handle it the best way, but sometimes ANYWAY is better than no way at all, in life. He had the huevos to say something. I still believe that, and for that he will get an amount of respect from me. I refuse to take part in the constant Kent, and or Pierre belittling. Thank you for an article that tries to move on, Jon.

The Jaguars are a TOUGH team. If there's one team in the AFC with a shot at beating the Pats or Colts, it's certainly them.

JAMARCUS RUSSELL ALERT

Kent was just the one who said something

You seem to be assuming that

1. There was a real problem
2. Kent was on the "right" side of the problem

I'm not sure I accept both of those. Either there was no problem (and people started nit-picking (see, for example, the trash can incident) because the team was losing), or there was a problem, and the vets (Kent, Lowe, LuGo) played a big part in it.

The Bears-Packers game is more fun to watch as it is hellaciously windy in Chicago today. I thought there were snow flurries, but it may just be garbage blowing around.

30
I've always thought of Chicago as a windy city.

In other news, Andrew Bynum has dramatically cut down on his fouls in the past few weeks.

But Oregon lost to Oakland in basketball. When my brother spoke to some people at Oakland before an appearance in the NCAA tournament, their athletic director said the best thing about their school was that all the parking was free.

Oregon is not nearly as good this year as they were last year, nor was it reasonable to expect them to be. Whatever they added this year was unlikely to offset the loss of Aaron Brooks.

They're only ranked because of last year's team. They haven't done anything this season to warrant national respect.

34
Oregon will be fine until trainwreck asks for their removal from the Pac-10 after another loss.

Nothing is usually the right thing to do. Sometimes there's something that would be better than nothing, but there's never any time when anything would be.

Sloth is the most underrated of the seven deadly sins.

14

I remember going to the corner market & playing arcade games, you just don't see that anymore.

37 was meant to Marty's 17 , oopsy!

30 My main interest in pro football these days is watching games being played in bad weather.

Although watching Fred Taylor make Oakland's defense look like they were all on Ambien was entertaining.

I think those are snow flurries in Chicago after all. Mixed in with garbage.

The last time I looked, the Lakers were up by 22 points. Now they're up by 6.

I will gladly take a losing Oregon team in the Pac-10.

42
That's what the Beavers are for.

41
Move along. Nothing to see.

All the Pac-10 teams still have winning records. Oregon State is 6-5.

39 That is exactly how I feel about the NFL too.

Jeff Kent's "role" as upholder of baseball's dignity has been usurped by Joe Torre.

I wouldn't want to be Kent's dog or his motorcycle next season, but I don't think he'll have the same ability to mess up the Dodger clubhouse as he did in '07.

nice article by Dayn Perry on FoxSports website...he loves Andy LaRoche...

48

He also like Kuroda.

The Raiders should have gone for 40 after their last TD.

50
Is that when if you do not convert, then someone has to die?

Off topic, but interesting.

Came upon this article on the "All-Overpaid Team" for current players it seems. Pretty solid list.

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2007/12/23/the-all-overpaid-team/

30. Don't forget about the subzero windchill. That is especially nasty with 50 mph gusts. The worst is that all the doors on my car were frozen shut since the temperature dropped from 40 to 18 in about an hour this morning.

48

the 2 sides of Daybe Perry. There is the cool one here [ http://tinyurl.com/2b43bu ] & this one [ http://tinyurl.com/26yaqg ]

52 what? no pierre?

25 okay, recommend me some arcade fire songs. i'm open minded enough to give them a second chance.

The other night, my wife and I were driving and talking about artists who shamelessly imitate Bob Dylan. Then came on the radio an interview with John C. Reilly. He played a song from the movie "Walk Hard" called "Royal Jelly". Let me tell you, absolutely hilarious. It's a must for any Dylan fan. I bought the album and have listened to it a million times.

"Let me touch you, let me touch you, let me touch you, let me toooooouuuch you where the rooyyyyallll jelly gets made."

56 Oh yeah, and at the end he yells "You're a liar!"

The other night, my wife and I were driving and talking about artists who shamelessly imitate Bob Dylan

Weird Al's "Bob" is worth a listen.

56 I also like the Dylanesque parody "Dear Mr. President."

The funny (or apropos) thing is that the Dylanesque stuff for Walk Hard was written by songwriter Dan Bern, who is one of those artists that sounds a lot like Dylan (on his original stuff).

My personal favorite songs on the Walk Hard soundtrack are "Let's Duet," of course, and "Guilty as Charged."

Hmm. I guess we'll see how powerful the neo-cons really are. Bill Kristol picked the Nats to win the NL East in 2008.

60 I'll have what he's having.

60
He probably just likes their name. No doubt he picked the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.

So transparent.

It appears in the NY Times, but, yes, the writer is a regular for Slate.

Against Wheelaboards!

My favorite Dylan impersonations...

Joan Baez
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dD191qnqkI
(skip forward to 9:30 mark)

Loudon Wainwright:
http://tinyurl.com/yt7a95

Josh Ritter:
http://joshritter.com/historical/

63
Which writer are you referring to?

If any of you are interested there showing a really nice documentary about "the 7 ages of rock" on VH1Classic right now.

Did anyone see the Wiffle Ball article over at Baseball Prospectus? They ran an experiment to see if a major league batting champ would also be a dominant Wiffle Ball hitter. They matched up Freddy Sanchez against one of the best Wiffle Ball pitchers in the country.

Sanchez went 1-for-19 with a double and 18 strikeouts.

67
I read that article. Freddy Sanchez's high school coach sits in front of me at the Rose Bowl for UCLA football. He speaks highly of him. But I guess he didn't do enough wiffle ball practice.

However, I still can't find the NYT article.

I think every player has individual stats they'd like to acchieve, especially the young and less experienced. But what a team needs is for everyone to want the team to win.

I think every player has individual stats they'd like to acchieve, especially the young and less experienced. But what a team needs is for everyone to want the team to win.

I'm anti-whiffle ball, play the real thing darn it!

I also like Paul Simon's Dylan impersonation, "A Simple Desultory Philippic." Simon doesn't exactly impersonate Dylan so much as write a Dylan song and then perform it...

Here's the version with the original lyrics. I been Walt Disney'd, Diz Disley'd...

http://djallyn.org/archives/83

Seems noteworthy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD0GHx980CU

73
Yes, it was ...
http://griddle.baseballtoaster.com/archives/890419.html

I checked the Griddle first! How did I miss it?

Oh. I have flashblock, so I didn't see the screencap; the title should have been enough.

75
My operatives will be visiting you soon. There will be three men who look like James Taylor knocking on your door soon.

Somewhere up I there I forgot this link.

http://tinyurl.com/2ru5gd

So, James Taylor, Philip Roth, and Michael Gross? I think I could take them.

I learned today that I could take 23 five year olds. Though that seems low, to me.

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

Before any of you guys start making fun of Freddy Sanchez for getting dominated by a whiffle ball pitcher, watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMk-ZXEhpOE

78 Dang, apparently I can only take 19 5-year-olds. I think my lack of fighting experience hurt me on that one.

80- On the bright side, 19 is a more easily tested hypothesis. Stupid class size reduction, making it much harder for me to find out how many 5 year olds I could take in a fight.

78 I can take 25 five year olds. Must be my long arms. More importantly, I got a great laugh for the night. Doesn't take much to amuse me.

82 they gave me a 30, 'cause i fight dirty.

I'm worse then 81 & 82 I can only fight 17 5 year olds.

52 "All overpaid Team". Outrageous Reality.
And it is so satisfying because the Red Sox are paying the worthless Lugo and J.D.Drew amazing amounts while Baez gets multi millions for years. It manages to be absolutely hilarious without even including Pierre's contract. It actually makes the Dodgers front office look smart.

Record and video stores, that's so 80s.
vr, Xei

52 Decent list but still lots of problematic specifics with that article. For one, the Atlanta Braves should not be on the hook for Mike Hampton's contract. Secondly, Denny Neagle should be on there. Also of note is Bobby Bonilla who apparently will still be paid by the Mets until 2035 - http://tinyurl.com/ds5ev

86 Record stores, that's so 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s.

I managed to get through this entire Christmas buying season without even stepping into a Borders or Barnes & Noble. The only time I went to malls was to help my mother.

Viva Amazon!

I learned 2 things tonight -

1) Be nice to people because I can only beat up 15 5 year olds.

2) Never play whiffle ball with college kids.

89 Any of us could take an infinite number of five year olds as long as there's enough supply of sour worms to distract them. Don't agree to take over their Sunday School class without the worms. It took me a number of painful weeks to learn this lesson.

88. Yes, thank goodness for Amazon dot com and free shipping. Our new LCD TV bought on Amazon dot com with free shipping arrived last week and was $150-$200 cheaper than what all the local electronic stores were selling it for. vr, Xei

Wiffle Ball might be the greatest game ever invented.

christmas eve here in Australia.

Merry christmas to all the DT'ers, and thanks Jon for such a great site.

92 Hear, hear.

A 44-year old man is rocking out to M.I.A's "Kala" at 2:06am PST. He is hours away from a marathon skateboarding session with four young kids who know how to skateboard which is more than can be said for him and he has to prepare a family meal.

Will someone slap him in the head, very hard?

Thank you. And Happy Holidays to the greatest group of commentators on the net.

Jon, there are plenty of good record stores out there that put big chains like Virgin and Tower to shame. Take your kids to Amoeba Records in Hollywood - fantastic store and you won't get ripped off.

92 I agree. I hadn't played in about 15 years until this summer when I joined a game with my neighbors kids. It's still a great game.

95 Fair enough, but then you'd have to deal with the disapproving glares from their rather insufferable employees.

97. It's those kinds of people that put me off music for a long time.

I never worked in a record store, but I like to keep alive the tradition of publicly disdaining people's rotten taste in music on an amateur basis. Nobody listening to music made by white people who weren't dead before the Civil War is safe.

95 97 98 I hate those people. I hate them with the heat of a thousand suns. Last time I was being "helped" by the jazz jerk,