As a regular lurker and only occasional poster, allow me to wish everyone here a very Merry Christmas. My following of the Dodgers, now almost fify years strong, has been enhanced by your comments and community.

if it's the dodgers, then surely that must've just been an oversight rather than an intentional slight. surely....

McDonald made tremendous strides during the '07 season, but it's hard to believe that BA thought so little of him before the season.

Oh..Merry Christmas...!

I love seeing some of our best commentators over there too, giving some fine insights on our guys, and Logan White's drafts... Peace.

http://tinyurl.com/2uzmc9

I've been very fortunate to have two kids, who both enjoy singing, so I've heard lots of these sorts of renditions live over the years. My daughter happens to be in one of the choirs represented here, too. Enjoy.

Seriously, great list. I can't think of a better Xmas present than the secure knowledge that the Dodgers are hip-deep in prospects.

Okay, I can think of a few but I'm just sayin'...

Hopefully this time next year the Doyars have an '08 NLCS trophy on the mantle next to the Tree!

That's not something I figure would spark a jihad in the average person.

It was the arrival of many Yankee fans of the loutish variety (such as inhabit the many mlb.com message boards, you know the type) to Sickels' blog when his Yankee list appeared immediately following his Red Sox list that went over the top in incivility and seem to have precipitated a mini nervous breakdown on Sickels' part. I'm pleased to note that, so far, Dodger fans have behaved themselves nicely, although there was one post from some other team's supporters that slipped.

http://www.classical89.org/

Merry Christmas everyone.

Live and learn.

Merry Xmas everyone!

The only other club that must pay the competitive-balance tax, as it is formally known, is the World Series champion Boston Red Sox, who owe $6.06 million.

As for me, I'm debating making it out to see "Control," the new Ian Curtis/ Joy Division documentary or staying at home to enjoy the Lakers play the Suns.

I really can't decide.

Yes, I do...far too much. I will be back on after the new year. User name is "Lyle Hutz"

COD4 is probably the best multi player game I have ever played on Xbox live.

if you don't catch it on t.v. you can also see it on there website.

I think it's VH1 OR VH1Classic (not sure) hey Vishal how did you get your nick? (pretty cool, always liked it)

It's a shame I don't show them here.

two top drafted players missing

Josh Wall (2nd rounder)- Don't write him off yet. He made strides last year and still has a ton of projection left in him.

Preston Mattingly (Supp 1st)- I realize his last season was absolutely horrible, but players as raw as Mattingly need more than one year before any judgment can be made. He still has the tools to succeed and shoot himself up prospect lists.

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2007/12/25/luxury-doesnt-pay-for-the-yankees/

Have a great Boxing day everyone!

The Zappala Family Orchestra, now appearing at the Hollywood Bowl.

This will be repeated next week. Except I won't be working on January 2.

I'm going to go out tomorrow and perhaps see if there are hungry peasants and bring them flesh and wine and pine logs. Then we'll dine together.

Everybody will be happy and sing about it years later.

And PPT presentations. Lots and lots of them.

I am a temp, so I have no idea when I work again, but I will be spending this weekend drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

Yeah, like you won't wondering what is Dan Guerrero doing and who will be wearing various types of "Adidas" hats next season at the Rose Bowl?

I have become numb to UCLA football coaching search.

No matter the coach, it's a new day. And with it comes hope.

Though I think we can all assume Rick Neuheisel is the next coach.

http://tinyurl.com/386plu

Being tiger food is not a good way to spend Christmas.

You probably got Lutrell and Rhodes, right?

I only remember because a Jared Hughes discussion a few years ago on another board and under a different name somehow prompted a very short SM-email, as I recall.

Clayton Kershaw A-
Andy LaRoche A-
Scott Elbert B+
James Loney B+
Chin-Lung Hu B
Jonathan Meloan B
Blake DeWitt B
Preston Mattingly B-
Tony Abreu C+
Josh Bell C+
Ivan DeJesus C+
Cory Dunlap C+
Kyle Orr C+
Delwyn Young C+
Brian Akin C
Mark Alexander C
Matt Berezay C
Justin Fuller C
Zach Hammes C
Casy Hoorelbeke C
Eric Hull C
Bridger Hunt C
Stephen Johnson C
B.J.Lamura C
Brent Leach C
Andrew Locke C
James McDonald C
Greg Miller C
Bryan Morris C
Justin Orenduff C
Xavier Paul C
Anthony Raglani C
Ryan Rogowski C
Eric Stults C

I believe his wife went all through town collecting money to make up the deficit in the building and loan. Mr. Martini busted open his jukebox and Mr. Gower collected on all his charge accounts too.

MR GOWER CABLED YOU NEED CASH STOP
MY OFFICE INSTRUCTED TO ADVANCE YOU UP TO TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS STOP
HEE-HAW AND MERRY CHRISTMAS SAM WAINWRIGHT

Best of luck. I'll send good thoughts and prayers.

I demand an investigation.

Neither he nor I know details.

I am working this week too so I will leave it to Greg Brock to tell us who is going to win the NCAA basketball championship via PSIII.

It's not a real mystery, although the later machinations of legal appeals is.

http://mlbfleecefactor.com/2007/12/26/prior-chooses-san-diego/

The Padres are still more likely to dip down into their 6th, 7th and beyond starters through the 2008 season than the Dodgers.

In 2004, a company I worked for came under the scrutiny of the LA Times, the city controller and eventually the U.S. Attorneys' office. The investigation started as "pay for play," and then evolved into my company's billing practices with respect to city of LA clients, of which we had a few. It was a combination of things that created the circumstance, especially the upcoming mayoral election, but there were also a number of personalities involved. My office, and the company's relationship with that office were "toxic." From the moment I started working there the dysfunction was apparent, but I persevered, foolishly.

To make a long story short, the US Attorneys needed a "win," and my company needed scapegoats to avoid going the Arthur Anderson route, i.e. indictment leading to immediate dissolution of the company. So, rather than fighting what were ridiculous charges -- which was their first plan, and for which there was ample evidence to work with -- the company decided to concede everything the government was saying, so long as all the alleged misdeeds could be blamed on a small handful of people all in Los Angeles. I was one of those people. And then, basically, "I fought the law and law won." I did not agree to plead guilty to a felony in return for lenient treatment because I wasn't guilty, and I wasn't willing to say I was. Not that it would have changed my decision, but I went into the trial naively believing the government had to "prove" its case. In reality, the prosecutors' job is to sway the jury using whatever works. I was convicted in May 2006.
This slow process had reached a point in late 2006 where sentencing was imminent shortly after the holidays.

Now, fast-forward a year, and my case and my sentence are on appeal, with the appellate court having ruled in June that I would not have to serve my sentence pending appeal. Under federal law, the vast majority of federal convicts must wait out the appeal process in prison, even non-violent and "white-collar" cases, so it was a massive relief plus a good legal augury for the ultimate outcome that the appellate judges decided to keep me out.

So, besides the egg-nog, what motivated me to post that probably too-personal comment was realizing how nice it was to spend Christmas with members of my extended family, and not feel like I was weeks away from a year away from home. My wife, my son, my parents and my siblings were able to enjoy the holiday without that anxiety, and I realized what a difference that made. Freedom is wonderful.

I think that's generally true for defense attorneys as well. Neither side is interested in "the truth" or "justice" per se, but rather with "winning".

The thing is that cases often turn on the credibility of the witnesses and the believability of each side's version of what happened. Unless you have that rare "open and shut" case, you are never going to know what exactly happened and unlike TV/Movies, you don't get to see the crime take place so you know that right person is being convicted.

Good luck to you dzzzRatt and I hope that you will always be able to breathe the air of freedom.

And this is kind of off-topic, but what is it about Petco that makes it such a pitcher's park? Is it just the huge outfield dimensions? I'm still coming up to speed on some of the sabermetric-y stuff, and I've yet to see (from a reliable source, such as you people) what types of dimensions actually contribute to different park factors.

Petco's park factors will probably in the near future deter a player like Andruw Jones signing with them for a short term deal because of its affect on offense but then again, Petco is perfect for ptichers like Wolf and Prior who are looking for one-year turnarounds.