Whew. We can still wear the Tshirts.

Now I can sleep at night.

I seem to remember him as better than his stats showed. Here's to hoping he becomes unhit-able, and makes a bullpen of Saito, Broxton, Proctor, Beimel and Brazoban unbeatable.

I'll go out on a limb and say if Brazoban earns all $660,000, he's going to get to tack on a playoff share too!

Did we get Braz in some wierd trade with the Yanks, or am I thinking of someone else.
Whatever--I remember he was good when he had "it", whatever that was.

5- Kevin Brown.

Yhay!

5- Not too weird. Kevin Brown for Yhency, Weaver and Brandon Weeden (that one I had to look up).

7 - B-R says we were the ones that got cash in that trade. Is that true?

Stupid fractions of seconds.

That's a Bob (or somebody else with access to newspaper archives) question. I always assume BB-ref is right, though.

I still wear my Ghame Over t-shirt.

Other t-shirts I'd be interested in wearing:

1) Russell Martin the Golden God.
2) The Bison (with 1 Matt Kemp fact printed per t-shirt).
3) Alyssa Milano = Smurfette.

8 - http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/10556.html

Saito, Broxton, Brazoban, Proctor, Beimel in the pen, and Penny, Lowe, Billingsley, Kuroda and Schmidt in the rotation, given health.

And that's not even getting into Kuo, McDonald, Kershaw, Meloan, Miller, Wade, and other guys we have that haven't cracked the majors yet.

Wow, we have a lot of pitchers that are better than Esteban Loaiza.

Interesting post from the same day:

http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/10558.html

Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports Weekly told me in an e-mail that he thinks the Dodgers' acquisition of Nomar Garciaparra for Odalis Perez is "done" if the Red Sox complete their proposed Manny Ramirez for Alex Rodriguez trade.

Nightengale had reported in this week's issue that "the Red Sox hope to finalize the trades by the end of the winter meetings" Monday.

As far as the Dodgers were concerned, Nightengale added that "the tip-off that the trade could be consummated is that the White Sox were informed by the Dodgers that Perez is off the market." The White Sox had been preparing to send Paul Konerko to the Dodgers for Perez, the merits of such a deal notwithstanding.

In fact, there is the possibility that Garciaparra-to-the-Dodgers could happen no matter what. There's this from Rumor Central at ESPN.com:

.......

Dodger Thoughts linking to Rumor Central. That's one for the ages.

Advantage DT archives. Free, fast, and with a link to speculation that Nick Johnson might have been included in the deal. That would have been something.

12 - It tells you how much the Nats are hurting that Brazoban played more than Nick Johnson last year.

And we got Jeff Weaver's 2 best years. And 2 draft picks.

I'm afraid the "pitching rich" D's team that traded Brown (not that I didn't want to trade Kevin, the walking health risk ) probably included O. Perez and D. Driefart.
Another string that would make the D's pitcher shy for at least a decade.

So what are expectations for how the bullpen will look on opening day? I think we started out with seven men in the pen last April, since the starters weren't expected to be up to throwing many innings right away.

The top four guys are set: Saito, Broxton, Proctor, and Beimel. As long as he is healthy I imagine Brazoban is in the pen for sure, regardless of spring training performance. Kuo is out of options, so that probably gets him in too regardless of spring training performance. If Schmidt is healthy he will be in the rotation, which would make Loaiza the seventh man in the bullpen. However, if Schmidt opens the season on the DL, Loaiza will be the fifth starter, and that leaves an opening in the bullpen that I would like to see filled with Eric Hull, pretty much on the merit of his season in Vegas last year. Meloan will get consideration, but he probably didn't pitch enough in Vegas last year to satisfy the front office, and things didn't go all that well for him in his brief taste of the majors. But I just have a feeling Hull is going to get screwed, and I am expecting NRI Mike Koplove to get that last spot in the pen, if Schmidt starts the season on the DL.

I've always thought it would be interesting to review all the old "Just about complete" trades and trade proposals from the past.

One of my favorites way back when was Randy Johnson to the Dodgers for Hideo Nomo or the never dying Ismael Valdez for Jim Edmonds...

18
I think your analysis is spot on. Brazoban (6th inning over!) & Kuo are in if they're healthy.

Meloan probably starts in AAA, especially if he's a starter. If he's still in the pen, it will be because he "failed" as a starter or got hurt, which would send him down anyway.

I wouldn't mind a 6-man bullpen, because it allows for the 6-man bench, which could presumably include both Young and Repko.

I wouldn't mind Otsuka in the pen either, but his salary demands (the reason he got non-tendered in Texas) are probably too high for someone with his injury risk.

19 Could you imagine an outfield of Sheffield-Edmonds-Green earlier in the decade? Too bad we signed Devon White the previous year and ended up trading Valdez and Young for Terry Adams that off-season. I guess Malone was more attached to his scrappy centerfielder than Ned is.

7 Weeden is now the third string QB for my Ok. State Cowboys. The yankees are paying for his degree.

I wouldn't mind Otsuka in the pen either, but his salary demands (the reason he got non-tendered in Texas) are probably too high for someone with his injury risk.

Otsuka is having elbow surgery and is out for 2008.

23
Well, I'd say his injury risk is quite high then! :)

If the Clippers can hold on to this 4th quarter lead vs the Suns, the Lakers would have the best record in the Western Conference all to themselves. If that happens I will take and save a screenshot of tomorrow's NBA standings.
vr, Xei

25 We used to clip out newspaper articles for that. I still have copies of the LA Times from 1988.

Lakers play 26 games over the next 8 weeks, the amount of time Bynum is scheduled to be out. If they can go .500 over that span, they will be 39-24 (which is above where I thought they'd be before the season).

The Western Conference is so tightly bunched, they could finish anywhere from 3 to 6 (by record; top 3 go to division winners).

18
I also completely agree with you.

I am expecting the "magic" of Beimel to wear off soon. Perhaps that causes them to try Miller or Adkins at some point.

Beimel's assist totals are so amazing, I think he might be able to sill be effective. Is there something he does to put himself in great fielding position (a la Maddux) or is there something about his pitches that induces weaker contact and all those back to the box grounders?

25
Woo hoo, Clips! Time to take that screenshot!

What was up with Sam Cassell tonight? I thought he was finished.

Not sure how interesting this is, but old friend Chris Gwynn was in the jury pool for a trial Im currently chained to. He didn't make the final jury pool, but it was fun to see his name in the transcript. I checked his numbers on B-Ref and noticed he had a career high 101 OPS+.

32 - I've got to call in for a 1/28 jury duty appointment. It was originally for 11/26 - dead on my 40th birthday - but I postponed for the sake of my sanity.

I've had three interesting trials, so I don't dread it like other people.

Im on the working side of trials and the amount of hours that goes into it is heinous. Im here until about 1-3am every night, and I get to wake up around 7-8 to get to court if I need to be there. Oh yeah, no weekends off either. Its my second trial in two years (last trial went on for 4 1/2 months).

29 Beimel does appear to be quite the spry fellow on the mound, but I suspect his assist totals have more to do with the movement on his pitches. That, or a sample size issue.

We should ask that YouTube guy. I'm sure he'd know the answer.

Not to violate Rule 5 or anything, but it's always humorous when candidates from the ruling party run a campaign of "change".

If your party and its policies are so great, why do we need change? And if we want change, why shouldn't we vote for the other party?

Being a teacher my wife gets to postpone jury duty until her breaks. This year she tried using the Christmas break and it worked like a charm. Every day she called in they didn't need her.

Took a while for Sam to get his shot back but if he'd had it a little earlier the Clips probably beat the Mav's and Spurs last week. Anybody see the story on how Kaman was misdiagnosed with ADD and actually has a different condition that is being treated with biofeedback which he credits for his turnaround this season?

Big Ned is on ESPN 710 (Steve Mason) at 3 p.m. today.

didn't yahncey have a torn labrum?

The new LA Times poll on the sports pages is sorta fun, and hard. Which LA sports person would you have dinner with? That anyone, let alone 3%, chose TJ Simers is disturbing to me, given some of the other choices. David and Victoria Beckham might be a fun evening, especially if David took ill and had to bow out. I chose John Wooden. Joe Torre was tempting too. Who would you choose?

Last season, I was at the game where we were up big and Yhency came in to pitch the ninth. I had moved up to even with the on deck circle on field level, and the ball was smoking into Martin's mitt.

Yhency struck out the side and looked unhittable. Then he got hit hard the next time out and was soon done for the season, yet again.

I like his potential. I fear his health history though. Rudy Seanez couldn't stay healthy until he was older, his best years when he threw really hard were spent in rehab, not Britney rehab, but rathter Repko/Jayson Werth rehab.

40 Russell Martin

37 Nice finish last night, do you think Sam will be with the Clippers past the trade deadline?

Trainwreck, is it possible that Norm Chow will come to UCLA?

And where in Europe is Bob?

I've never had to serve on a jury. I've only even been called for jury duty once, and then I was moving out of state so I couldn't serve. I want to serve. Heck, I thought I wanted to be a judge before I was old enough to know better (see the comment from still bevens). But I really do think it is important to be a part of this process. I just don't think they'll let me volunteer. So I sit and wait and wonder if it will ever be my turn.

36 Walking the line carefully here, but it is possible for a candidate from the ruling party to be disillusioned with how his/her party has been running things and want to change. It would be more convincing if his/her proposed changes actually were changes compared to the status quo, but I can see the argument being made.

43 can't imagine chow going to ucla, seems like RN and chow will butt heads they're both offensive guys i would see somewhat of a power struggle there

37 I saw that story about Kaman. It made me think because I have a son on ADD medication. It does wonders for him, but you do want to be certain you have the right diagnosis, and apparently a lot of parents go down that path just because their child seems a bit "wild" or undisciplined.

43 We could start a new game, "Where in the world is Bob Timmermann?" and teach kids about geography and trivia. Maybe even make a TV show about it. Who's with me?

48 I thought about that but I did not want to endur any grief about any physical likeness and I have never seen Bob wear a beanie.

On the subject of our bullpen, I wonder how Stults is perceived as a reliever. I've basically given up on Houlton, but I see Stults as a potentially valuable long man who just happens to pitch from the left side. His making the club hinges on the health of Schmidt & Kuo. If Schmidt is disabled, Loaiza likely takes the 5th starter spot, opening up the long man role. If Kuo is disabled, we need a second lefty. I like the thought of Hull getting a chance, but I think a bullpen with Stults might be even better.

50 i'd bet 5 boxes of honey buches of oats schmidt isn't on the opening day roster

50 Just curious, why do you think Houlton is done while Stults is useful?

42 Russell's not one of the options, alas. Mike Scioscia is, but that's about as close as it gets. Tom Lasorda, Vin and Joe Torre are the Dodger-related options. I thought about Vin but I had a feeling I'd have heard most of his stories well before we met for dinner.

I would bet on Schmidt not being ready till at least May.

54 i'd be thrilled with that

jason schmidt= west coast version of carl pavono

I've been called to jury duty three times and still haven't made it to voir dire. The last time, I got to at least sit in the gallery watching other people get voir dired. I even got a number (thirty-one, I think). So I'm getting close.

40 Vin Scully is not on that list? Then I suppose I would choose Bob.

Closest I got to being on a jury was the last time I was called, last November. I was in the gallery and had to come back the next day. When we got there they announced the trial had been continued and we were all excused.

58 The McCourts are last in voting. Heads may roll. Me, say what you will, it would be Tommy.

44. Actually in CA you can volunteer to be a judge pro tem if you are an attorney and complete the Temporary Judge Program. For years I served as a judge in Traffic Court presiding over traffic trials in Santa Monica. (Before I catch any flack from you guys, I was pretty lenient, except on people driving without insurance or even worse, car seats.) Eventually, I graduated to Small Claims Court which was a lot more fun. I used to sit in West LA and occasionally in Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills was always wild because it included West Hollywood so you had these overly dramatic folks from West Hollywood fighting with their Middle Eastern neighbors in Beverly Hills over car accidents, rental disputes, nuisance claims, etc. Talk about two cultures that had no understanding or tolerance for one another.

56
No way, Pavano wouldn't pitch if a pimple showed up on his butt, while considering the damage they found in Schmidt's shoulder he was to macho for his own good and should have shut it down much sooner last year.
I do agree that Schmidt starts the year on the DL.

43
I hope not. Games like this only increase his value. It will be curious to see what happens. Hollinger keeps saying they will just buy out his deal and let him sign with anyone, but I think he has value and can net us at least a 2nd round pick. Boston looked vulnerable when Rondo wasn't playing.

Vin Scully is indeed on the list, and that's who I chose. I was tempted to choose Scioscia, and that's who was leading when I voted.

61
Night Court Larry

My wife's mom lived in West Hollywood for 35 years right next to Astro Burger. She lived in a duplex and had some very intreresting neighbors over that time. The highlight of each visit was the Astro Burger lunch. Astro Burger rules.

Yah, I mentioned Vin in 53 , but forgot the McCourts. Wishful thinking?

I say again... TJ Simers?? Sigh.

61 If I come back for another lifetime, I will be a lawyer.

62 totally agree with you, i'm just saying he's the west coast version of a $40+ million dollar man who will probably not get double digit wins for his team during the duration of the contract... Schmidt i'm sure is doing everything he can and taking his rehab very seriously, but there's only so much he can do with have major shoulder surgery on 3 different parts of the shoulder

47. I too have an ADHD child and the medication is a God-send for her, both academically and socially. We are fortunate to have a family member who works in the area so it has made our diagnosis easier but I often wonder/worry about the kids who go undiagnosed and their parents think they are just lazy or stupid.

BTW, apparently you haven't heard, Tom Cruise and his Andrew Morton hating friends can fix our children. Thank goodness for Tom!

ned colleti will be on 710 from 1-2 and i'm sure some questioning will go to about how the schmidt rehab process is going, i'm sure we'll got a stock, "there are no setbacks everything is on schedule" but maybe we'll get some insight on what ned thinks schmidt's status will be for april

52 Houlton, to me, is someone who has had enough opportunities to prove his worth. I view his stuff as rather ordinary, and I just don't have much faith in him as anything other than AAAA insurance. Stults has looked impressive at times, and I don't feel he's reached his potential yet. I'll be the first to admit it's a largely subjective/non-statistical evaluation, but it's mine!

Man, RIP Brad Renfro. :-( Poor, messed up too-short life.

If I come back for another lifetime, I will be a lawyer.

Unless you come back as a public service attorney or a Supreme Court Justice don't do it! Spending your life shuffling paper or fighting over money on behalf or against some behemoth corporation is no way to spend your second life. In my second life I'm coming back as a chef, fishing boat captain or MLB person.

68 It's pretty amazing stuff. I can't respond about Tom Cruise without violating several rules of the site.

72 The Supreme Court Justice part is what I'll take. Or I would run my own B&B.

Statistically, Houlton and Stults are pretty much the same pitcher. They are also the same age, the only big difference is one is right handed and the other left handed. If the Dodgers get desperate for a lefty in the bullpen then Stults would get the nod between the two.
vr, Xei

What is the realistic bullpen depth chart for lefties? With W. Wright out of the mix, we don't don't have many in-house options.

1. Beimel
2. Kuo
3. Stults
4. Miller
5. Elbert

Is there an NRI or other name I'm forgetting?

70
Other then his Rule 5 2005 season which shouldn't count, he's had fewer opportunities then Stults, Tomko, and Hendrickson. He didn't even get to pitch in 2006 and in 2007 when he did pitch he posted an ERA+ of 109. His minor league season in 2007 was stellar for AAA Vegas.

75
How is the guy with a 7.56 ERA and a whip of 1.90 the same statistically as the guy with a 3.65 and 1.376 whip in the same league?

76
Matt Riley is a NRI but I'm sure he's just going to be Vegas fodder. At one time he was a stud but 3 TJ surgeries tends to take the starch out of the arm. Where did they find the ligaments for the 3rd surgery?

77 Point well taken. Do you think Houlton deserves more of a chance at the major league level?

69 No, I read he'll be on starting at 3 p.m.

79 Matt Riley is the one pitcher Darren Dreifort is allowed to make fun of. BTW, whatever happened to the billionaire LH NRI from last year. I forget his name . . .

80
I do but it won't be with us. I'm not a big fan but I just think he should have been given a chance before Stults, and after Hendrickson/Tomko both failed.
It is clear the Dodgers don't think much of him and I expect he'll be toiling for someone else sometime in 2008.

82
Matt White - I think he's in Japan

61 Maybe Paul Haggis can get a movie script out of you, LAT...though he is a Scientologist.

64 I wonder if they were related to the Astro Burger in Inglewood (on La Brea)?

Only Marty could find you a better pastrami.

Matt White - I think he's in Japan

Cause Goshen stone is big in Japan.

64 85 They are related with similar menus (not exact), although different owners. There are lots of Astro Burger joints around the greater Los Angeles area. Although many are owned by different individuals and offer their own unique style. My friend's father owns the one on Santa Monica in West Hollywood, along with two others scattered around LA. The West Hollywood location is by the far the most famous and a hot spot for celebrities looking for late night fast food. Recently Hilary Swank put it on the map after dinning there after receiving both of her Oscars, became a tradition.

I have little faith in Stults and Houlton. They are AAA insurance guys from what I can tell, guys who make an emergency start if we need one, and guys who are September call ups to mop up some games.

I don't see Stults on the roster out of spring training even if he is a lefty. Geez, I sure hope we don't need him to break with the team, that would mean bad news for us.

78. Let's take a look at their 2008 ZIPS projections, as we don't want to base this off of small sample sizes.

Stults:
K/9: 6.31
HR/9: 1.29
K-BB/IP: 0.31

Houlton:
K/9: 6.37
HR/9: 1.50
K-BB/IP: 0.32

Well, there you have it. Except for Houlton's tendancies to give up a few more long balls, these two pitchers are very similar statistically. In fact, using these three rate stats, they are the most similar pair of pitchers the Dodgers have. On top of that they are the same age. I look at these rate stats as opposed to the WHIP and ERA stats you used.
vr, Xei

I'd lunch with the McCourts to make a connection that might work, Vin would be the guy I like the most.

I'd eat T.J. Simers notepad before I'd sit at a table with Tommy. His ego alone fills up three seats.

I have been chosen to serve on two juries; both hung. In one we voted after an hour or so and were at 11-1 for conviction. Two days later, we found that the one was an employee of a law firm representing accused persons. She said there was no evidence that would convince her other than an eye witness. Another time, I had to tell the judge on voir dire I would never credit psychiatric testimony to get out of serving on a jury for a sexual slavery case that took nine months to try. PS, I'm a lawyer; why anyone would want a lawyer on a jury I can't imagine.

Just leaving the media-open workout at Dodger Stadium. Will have a post about it tonight if not sooner.

One of the best ways to avoid getting chosen to serve on a jury is to claim unemployment. They have their own box for bums summonses.

92. Cool. Did you get in via your SI credentials or DT credentials? :)
vr, Xei

93

The last jury I was on... a guy got excused from the case by saying he did not consider Domestic Violence should necessitate a criminal case. He felt it should just be handled in therapy or a divorce.

He was let out rather quickly

Please forgive me for the horrible grammar in the last post.

Since it's Jury Chat Day :) let me chime in by saying that I've been on three juries, all of the civil court cases. All three times the plaintiff lost badly. Due to my employer, lawyers/judges love to have me on their juries. The last case was very boring. A teenage boy slipped and fell in the boys bathroom at a middle school in Slimy Valley and sued that his already broken leg was further injured. They brought in experts who discussed bathrooms and bathroom floors and measurements of slipperyness and what the industry standards were. I was also on a jury where many of the other jurors were obviously biased and had made up their minds before the trial even began. Kind of sad.
vr, Xei