Furcal says he wants to remain with the Dodgers

Then I guess we can expect a Hometown Discount™...

How shocking to see a post from Tony Jax complaining about: travel/the hotel/traffic while also expressing disgust that someone "butchered one of the greatest songs of all time (Journey's Don't Stop Believing)." I love it.

Then I guess we can expect a Hometown Discount™...

I'm not willing to give my employer a hometown discount.

I do get the impression from Furcal though that when he says he wants to stay he means it more than most guys up for a new contract.

4 I might be persuaded to give my employer a coupon to Hometown Buffet though.

5 The Hometown Buffet at the Lakewood Mall is absolute madness. I've got a few Samoan friends that go and eat like nobody's business.

2 He has embraced the true blogging path. The only thing missing is cat pictures. :)

When I say "I love you," you say "You better."

If Furcal gets a 5-6 yr deal with the Dodgers, I think Canuck's head will explode.

2 someone "butchered one of the greatest songs of all time (Journey's Don't Stop Believing)."

Yeah, and it was Journey.

If Colletti's still around in the offseason, Furcal will be re-signed. The writing's on the wall. If that's the direction we're heading, we'd be wise to trade Hu at some point this year.

10 By that logic, corndogs are one of the greatest foods of all time.

We'd still need a second baseman and a utility man next year. Hu would have to fill one of those spots, with Abreu (maybe) filling the other.

On the other hand, I think Hu becomes fairly useless if he's anything but a shortstop. His glove is enough to justify his bat at shortstop, but at another position, maybe not.

It it ever in the best interest of anyone to have someone end their career with that team?
Biggio killed the Astros his last few years because they didn't have the gonads to bench him. Bagwell killed them in a different way.
50 ways for your over-the-hill franchise player to kill the franchise.

14

Generally true, I must say. Imagine if the Lakers hung onto Shaq. oh wow...

It it ever in the best interest of anyone to have someone end their career with that team?

This was part of the gist of yesterday's conversation. In order to keep a player throughout his prime, is it worth having to also keep him (and probably pay him a ton of money) for multiple years beyond his prime?

I'd be curious to know if it's plausible for Ned to continue his "pattern" of short-term, high-value contracts. They certainly have their advantages.

In the last week, Tony Jackson has hinted at "Best Of" lists in his head that include Journey and "Varsity Blues"....

Tony needs to get out more.

12 I've never seen any proof otherwise.

14
I think you can throw the Red Sox into that group as well with the way they have kicked to the curb the likes or Roger Clemens, Johnny Damon, and Pedro Martinez. It should also be noted that those moves worked out, though for Clemens that could be interpreted either way.

At any rate, I would love to see a 4 year deal for Furcal. Something in the range of $65 million. Sign Oliver Perez, sign the kids to long term deals, and done. Core for years without a goofy payroll.

Man, I should be GM...

Abreu will be gone by July 31. I think he has worn out his welcome with the brass.

I made it through all 22 at Petco last nite. Quite an experience. We were told by some ushers that a 1am curfew was in effect. Then they started 22 at around 1:08am. If not for Khalil Greene pulling Clark off the bag with 2 outs and nobody on, we would have seen 23. No position players pitched. Randy Wolf pinch-hitting was about the only oddity on the field. Josh Bard caught all 22.

Kicking Clemens to the curb cannot be argued to have worked out for the Red Sox. When a guy wins four Cy Young Awards after leaving your team, it's hard to say you got rid of him just in the nick of time.

Mo Vaughn would be another case that did work out for them, though.

19 Clemens definately didn't work out, if Pedro has a good year this year, you can argue that wasn't a good idea either.

If Abreu really is gone, that will be a really big black mark for Colletti, I think. I know about baseball's macho culture and all that, but when one guy (Furcal) is praised for nearly killing our season by playing awful when he was hurt and refusing to go on the DL, and another guy is dumped for having the audacity to get hurt in the first place, then something is fundamentally wrong with the way the Dodgers react to injuries.

21
Thanks for calling me! I was doing nothing.

Maybe we can trade Hu for Maddux at the deadline.

I'm not sure Clemens and Pedro serve as useful examples of the "typical" case. For one thing, pitchers and non-pitchers are probably apples and oranges in this context.

8 C'mon, people. Are you all going to leave me hanging?

28
You better, you better, you bet.

Sorry about that.

28 I love you, Jon.

The Giants will end up having been well served by Bonds' last years, although that really only proves Toy Cannon's point, since they pulled the plug a year too early instead of potentially a year too late.

8 ,28
Perhaps Chin-Lung's new AB song?

14 You ain't got no more bat, Pat
Take the first pitch, Mitch
Get a shot for that strain, Lane
Just let the kids play
Hop on the pine, Brian
You don't need to play much
Try not to get hurt, Kurt
And let the kids play

with apologies to Paul Simon

I think Furcal does want to stay and would prefer it to other options (even for maybe a tiny bit less money) because Andruw is here now. He lobbied Andruw to come join him, and they wouldn't want it to be for just one year if they had their way.

As to the value of a player ending his career with a team, yes that has value to the fans. As long as the player knows when the end has come and leaves somewhat gracefully. If Tony Gwynn had gone to the AL and DHed for a couple years, how much less would he be revered by Padres fans and baseball fans in general? Running a baseball team is not 100% about winning games. It is also about strengthening the bond between team and fans, so fans will come and be supportive in future years (leading ultimately to more wins if the team takes advantage of the "support" to acquire & keep the right players).

Do we not wish Garvey, Cey, et al. could have finished with the Dodgers? How did we like Hershiser pitching for the Giants?

29 - Thanks.

So I'm up in Carlsbad today (normally work in San Diego right near UCSD), and a publishing company in my building puts out a cart full of books for anyone to take. I guess they do this every week or so, but I just scored 6 books, including autobiographies of Gary Carter and Billy Williams.

What's great is that I just bought some books yesterday and Barnes & Noble, and I was this close to buying the Carter and Williams books but decided not to. Advantage me!

Too bad I'm a slow reader. It's going to take forever to get through these things.

34
Gwynn wouldn't be any less revered in San Diego if he had finished up as a DH for a few years. He's loved for his contributions in SD, and the "whole career with one team" thing is good but only an ancillary benefit.

Are Braves fans less reverential toward Hank Aaron because of his last two seasons with the Brewers?

28 If you said something about momma and her squeeze box I would have been quicker on the draw.

Looking at signing Furcal whether it is a long tern contract six years or a three year contract has got to be balanced with the future of both 2nd and 3rd base and right now, assuming Kent goes next year, I don't believe Abru even healthy will approach anything close to 20 hommers, and sadly the 3rd baseman many think is the future power player on the Dodger also has had health issues. I am hoping for a reasonable 3 year contract for Furcal and actually keeping Hu and eventually moving Furcal to 2nd, don't know where the next Chase Utley is. Whatever many think of his range and personality Jeff Kent right now offers reliable power, I believe Kemp will eventually offer that as well but don't know how long it will take.

I want to see the Dodgers build a championship team and I believe Furcal can be a key cog in that pursuit, sadly we might have to overpay some in that area, when 2nd base changes.

Meanwhile...the Rays lock up Longoria for at least 6 years.

http://tinyurl.com/6k4kug

Have to love MLB scheduling gurus. San Diego had to fly out either late last night or early this morning to Phoenix after their 3 game homestand to play the Diamondbacks who finished a long 3 game road trip but at least the D-Backs had an off day to recover.

Colorado probably did fly out after the game so they arrived in their hotel probably around 8-9 this morning.

40
Quickest contract ever!

29 We might as well finish the song, no?

You better bet your life, or it'll, cut you like a knife.

Any takers for the next section?

There is a definite desire to retire with the team (meaning really the fans) you love. Players even sign these 1-day contracts just to retire with their favorite team. Fans appreciate the ability to send the guy off, but even better is when it's real.

Not only would Tony Gwynn be a little less appreciated, but I guess more importantly to my point, so would the Padres.

40

Brilliant!

The Rays will have Longoria for his 3 arbitration years at about $16 million. Pretty nice considering what Ryan Howard made this year.

40 Scott Boras is shaking his head in disgust.

45
I hope you're drinking a Guinness right now.

14 - there are certain occasions when keeping a player past his prime is advantageous. I'm thinking of Kareem, Wilt, Maddux, I would also probably throw Clemens into that group (PEDs or not), and there is a question as to what constitutes Bonds' prime.

I think it's a rarity, but that doesn't mean it never happens.

Also, if you consider the business side of the game, there is some advantage to keeping a guy around past his prime. It would have been a PR nightmare for the Lakers to trade Shaq if he didn't pull his "him or me" thing.

47 It's nice that Justin Upton's agent is Boras. He could be out of Arizona by the time he is 25.

There was some talk here in Nashville about how cool it would be for McNair to come back for one day.

Alot of us would like to have Piazza back, even now. Who's the most "Dodger" of Dodger's that started out somewhere else? Dusty Baker started in Atlanta. I guess I'd be happy with a long term contract, since Furcal's been pretty consistent and reliable. Maybe I'm a product of the time when shortstops were less offensively productive than they are now (seventies), so Furcal just seems so great to me.

40 In other news, no Dodger with less than nine years of service time is under contract for 2009. Kuroda doesn't count.

Just playing devil's advocate, assuming Shaq and Kobe could have still played together, Shaq did win another title within two years in Miami. I certainly like how the Lakers are positioned now, but this is the kind of situation where it's tough to say the Lakers were better off trading Shaq. The Lakers would be worse off now with The Deisel, but maybe they could have added another ring or two before the decline phase.

45

Sign a young player to an extension before arbitration... BRILLIANT!

Brilliant!

:::clink!:::

52
Dodgers under contract for 2009:

Jones (15m)
Schmidt (12m)
Kuroda (10m)
Pierre (10m)

For a total of $47 million.

10 Agree with Eric on Journey, and I'd like to take this opportunity to once again encourage him to move `Jessica' up into his top 100 :)

If Furcal has seven more years in line with his career numbers (even inlcuding some decline), is he going to the Hall of Fame? I'm thinking probably, but I'm not sure.

57 Doubt it. He's never been considered an elite player, never came close to leading the league in anything, no gold gloves, no top 10s in MVP voting.

JD Drew just loved it out in Pasadena.

never came close to leading the league in anything

DUIs...?

Penny & Furcal are basically the only players on our team who aren't under six years service time or on the downside of their careers. Our team is like a sandwich with no middle.

22 , 27
I see your point on Clemens, but I think that signing Pedro would have been bad for the Sox. He made just under $40 mil for the first three years and started 59 games and pitched 377 innings.

If you want to make a case for a pitcher they should have kept based on the money he has made, I think they could have used Derek Lowe, though he seemed to have tired of the media there.

54

You are absolutely right assuming Kemp really gets a chance to play and does most of what everyone thinks he can and Martin continues his success and Loney also, that should be the first move to lock those guys up, and then worry about everything else.

54 I still go back and forth on this issue, however right now, I think the leading candidates for this type of deal for the Dodgers is Martin and Loney.

Ethier won't put up numbers that are going to break the bank, Broxton either. Chad could but I think they will wait and see one more year with him since he won't be eligible until after 2009.

Matt Kemp, if he hits for power, than yes, but that is the one element that drives arbitration salaries so again let's see where he is in August.

62 I' positive that there's a joke to be made about the things he did with the media in LA.

57
I would guess no. Here's the list of SS with 95 OPS+ with over 5,000 PA. Furcal comes in 35th:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/PaqX

Furcal has 1,054 hits in the last six seasons, an average of about 176 per year. Seven more seasons of that puts him at about 2,500 hits or so. Here is the list of SS with 2,000 hits.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/kfeR

The only SS with 2,500 hits are Ripken, Yount (obviously played OF too), and Vizquel.

So maybe another 7 years does get Furcal closer to HOF status.

34

Hershiser never played for the Giants, got it? N-E-V-E-R.

/bitterness

61 Pierre also. Unless his whole career is considered to be a downside.

If Furcal really been the age he said he was when he was a rookie, he'd probably be a good candidate for the HOF. As it stands, he still has a shot at 3,000 hits.

34 "Do we not wish Garvey, Cey, et al. could have finished with the Dodgers? How did we like Hershiser pitching for the Giants?"

Not me. Garvey's decline years were really nasty and I'm glad we avoided them. He was basically like Nomar is now. And anytime the Giants want to give lots of innings to a crappy pitcher, it's fine by me, even if that pitcher is Orel Hershiser.

Furcal seems to have come into his own in the last few years (Again, ignoring last year's injury-depressed results). He needs to perform at the level we all see he's capable of, for several years, before any HoF discussion can start. He certainly has the capability to finish his career close to 3000 hits & 500 sb if he plays like he can for the next 5 years before any decline. He hasn't really put up the great seasons yet, but he clearly has a chance to have them starting now. (.900 OPS, 40 SB)

In today's paper, he attributes his recent increase in batting skill to watching Jeff Kent.

64 I would go with Martin then Bills. Next would probably be Ethier & Loney. (Kemp has to win the RF job before we can lock him up!) Broxton is a tough case because he's likely to change roles within the next year or two.

68 Pierre is sui generis and therefore difficult to put into any kind of sandwich.

67
I half jokingly contend that Hershiser's time with Los Gigantes is the reason his number isn't retired (although I know it's because he's not in the HOF).

http://tinyurl.com/5jql3m

70 Don't you lock Kemp up now specificially BECAUSE he hasn't completely won the RF job or proved he can hit over a full season? You get him at a tremendous discout that way. In the (increasingly unlikely) event he doesn't pan out, then you've wasted, what, one year of Kevin Brown money? So what?

70
Yeah, I wonder if the club could sign Broxton through his arb years now before he becomes a closer and drives up his price tag.

57 - he's pretty comparable to Paul Molitor and Joe Morgan, both in the Hall, as well as Biggio, who is likely going to the Hall, so I'd say Furcal has a better than even chance of getting in.

I forgot to mention: Darren Sutton (everyone's favorite Dbacks broadcaster) is on with Charlie on "The Beat," XM 175 right now

75
Furcal in no way is comparable to Joe Morgan, unless he's an annoying broadcaster.

Pretty good interview, it was. Darren happens to be much better in interviews :)

74 Maybe when Ng/White take over as joint GMs.

Tony Jackson's blog complains about the mess at the hotel because of the robotics tournament kids. Hey, my nephew is one of those "whiz kids"!

75
Just offensively, Furcal's best OPS+ seasons were 107, 105, and 102. Those are the only times he has been over 100.

Morgan's worst OPS+ in 19 full seasons was 103. As a 40 year old.

PECOTA's 7-year forecast expects Furcal to have 2,212 hits through 2014, and to become essentially a replacement-level player in 2013 at age 35.

I have to say, Furcal is comparable to Morgan, Molitor, and Biggio sort of in the same way Pierre is comparable to Rickey Henderson.

His top 20 Pecota comps are:
Omar Vizquel 1992 40 11 Eric Young 2003 33
2 Tony Fernandez 1979 36 12 Julio Lugo 1971 33
3 Harold Reynolds 1981 36 13 Steve Sax 1982 33
4 Maury Wills 1970 36 14 Len Randle 1960 33
5 U L Washington 1973 35 15 Horace Clarke 2007 32
6 Stan Rojek 1992 35 16 Bip Roberts 1975 32
7 Don Kessinger 1975 34 17 Tito Fuentes 1969 32
8 Mark McLemore 1975 34 18 Tom Herr 2000 31
9 Jose Macias 1957 34 19 Ray Durham 1979 30
10 Jose Vizcaino 1998 33 20 Kazuo Matsui 2005 30

81 If Furcal started to flap his arm, that would be the only thing comparable to Morgan.

The Hall of Fame should be reserved for the true stars, the best of the best, the most dominant players, yadda yadda, etc. Furcal's a fine player, but he is not what comes to mind when I think of a HOFer.

80 Did those kids step all over his USA Today, ruining one of the best newspapers in the world?

68 That's not true.
Garvey's OPS+ after leaving the Dodgers
124,91,109,91,36 (only 76 AB)

Cey's
118,107,94,138,107

Hershiser's ERA+ after leaving the Dodgers
121,116,104,91,97

All of them declined only from great down to average. None of them were hurting their team.

85 The thing is, half the guys actually in the HOF are not what comes to mind when you think of a HOFer. Unless you think a lot of Bobby Wallace, Rabbit Maranville, and Bill Mazeroski.

Joe Morgan represents the most annoying kind of player turned broadcaster because he was one of the best to play the game, not just an all-star or even MVP but if you put him on the field with Gehrig, Wagner, Schmidt, Williams, Mays, Ruth and Campanella, he would be right at home. So when he says something about how the game should be played, he does have the credentials to back it up.

However, he can still be quite annoying.

84
Ha! I would like to see the chicken wing arm flap return to prominence.

Did you get my email?

88 All the more reason to keep the bar nice and high.

88 What about George Kell, Enos Slaughter and Pie Traynor?

Despite a great name, if you measured Trayor against the average hitter in his era, he would not be a HOF.

I maintain that Furcal has a decent chance of playing at true superstar level starting this year and probably going on for 5 years. I am aware he has not played at superstar level for a full year yet. I do not see his performance in the second half of 2006 and this year so far as "lucky." It appears to come from a better approach at the plate. 2007, he couldn't physically execute on the approach.

90 Got it, I will follow up with you shortly.

68 Garvey was way, way, worse than average and was hurting the Padres tremendously, except for his first year with them. Keep in mind that this is a first baseman we're talking about. OPS+ compares you to the league average of all players, including pitchers, catchers, and shortstops. A first baseman with an OPS+ of 100 is hurting his team. And Garvey was even worse than that much of the time.

As for Hershiser, you only spoke of his one year with the Giants before, so that's what I was referring to when I said he was crappy. And he was.

I had a dream last night that Vin Scully was my grandpa. It must have been a Sunday, because we shared a warm conversation over beer and bowls of menudo down on Olvera Street, and he was wearing a worn leather jacket. When he left lunch, he did a poppa wheelie on his Harley Davidson and burned out.

I miss everything.

89
I agree with that. It's a personal disappointment that I don't like Joe Morgan as an announcer, because I like him so much as a player (after the fact; I never really saw him play during his career). I have tried to like him, but something about him is just grating.

It's probably his smugness (listen to how many times he says "Correct", as if he needed to validate a point by Jon Miller), or his unwillingness to experience or partake in humor.

88 Although to clarify, I have no problem with defensive standouts like Mazeroski being in the Hall. Defense may not be as integral as pitching and hitting, but it's crucial to the game and the absolute elite ought to be given their proper recognition.

92 Traynor is a weird case. He was almost certainly the best third baseman of his era. The only thing is, third basemen of his era were an extraordinarily awful bunch. So do you give Traynor credit for being at the head of a pack of losers? Or do you judge him by the standard of other third baseman like Mathews and Schmidt, who would squash him like a bug?

Is it a bad sign that I'm fairly confident both Ethier & Kemp will be in today's lineup? Against a [non-tough] RHP, we should also expect Nomar out there again, though I'd love to see DeWitt.

I shopped several Dodger stores over the past week, and was interested to find Pierre jerseys prominently displayed in all of them. I had a harder time finding a Kemp jersey. Los Angeles has turned into bizzarro world.

100 Nomar will probably get today or tommorow off (though if Glavine pitches tomorrow, Nomar may play then)

Why oh why did I forget to set my DVR to record today's Dodger game? I'll probably get home in the 5th inning or so.

81

Does that take into account the league difficulty for the era, would EqA be a good comparison?

I am just through the first few chapters of "Baseball Between the Numbers"

Is it unavoidable that we will need to trade one of our "star" kids to replenish our farm?

105 Isn't that Logan White's job?

95 That's not nice. 91 isn't way way below average. That's like calling someone with a 91 IQ really really stupid. They're practically as good as average, to within the limits of the measurement.

106 I mean replenish the farm. Not trade the kids.

In a deleted scene from last night's Office, we learn that Michael has been staying at Dwight's farm for a month, long enough for Jan to move out of the condo to her sister's in Scottsdale.

http://www.officetally.com/chair-model-deleted-scene

34 It's one thing for the fans to think that way, but a GM's duty is to build a winning team and he can't afford to think like that. Al Campanis understood this as well as anyone, and that's why he broke up that team after the '81 championship. "It's better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late" was one of his favorite bits of wisdom.

I thought it was sad at the time that those core players ended their careers with other teams. But Eric Enders is right: Garvey's last years were ugly. So were Lopes'. So were Baker's. Cey's numbers with the Cubs looked respectable mainly because he played half his games in Wrigley (like Leon Durham with more walks).

I'd like to see Furcal re-sign as long as the price is right, but given his age, anything longer than 3 years would make me uneasy. And he hasn't been with the Dodgers long enough to have the same sentimental value to the fans as Garvey and Cey. He's not even to Baker's level yet, I don't think.

103 I don't get today's game, but tomorrow and Sunday's games are nationally televised. I recommend "right now" as the proper time for us to go on an early season winning streak.

109 Ack: spoiler for me, who hasn't watched last night's episode yet, and didn't expect comment in the baseball thread!! :)

What, 100 comments and none referring to the 50th anniversary of the first game in L.A.?

I have to say, it has a strange duality for me: I have nothing but appreciation for the fact that there was major league baseball in the town I grew up in, and an exciting team to follow when I was very young. But, for me, the Dodgers were always in L.A. Brooklyn? Where's that? What's that got to do with Garvey and Lopes and Russel and Cey?

Nice milestone, but I didn't have any experience with the arrival or the move, so whatever...

Mayhaps the lack of comment reflects a similar ambivalence.

I'm not sure that Abreu will be gone, but I certainly can no longer count on him being a productive everyday player in 2009. Doesn't mean he won't be, but I think enough questions regarding his health have been raised to cause concern. Like I've said previously, before the year I was warm to the idea of a Hu-Abreu middle infield regardless of how Furcal performed this year. Now I think it's to big of a gamble for that to be the plan. So I'm still waiting to hear what the plan is if we don't sign Furcal. If you say we sign Ellis or any other FA I can almost guarantee we will have to overpay for them.

107
In 1984, there were 22 1B that played at least 100 games at the position. Garvey's 91 OPS+ ranked 21st.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/y2Es

In 1985, Garvey was 17th of 22 such 1B:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/82vJ

In 1986, Garvey was dead last of 21 1B:

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/zNPT

That's pretty awful.

72

My eyes!!! I was having pretty good morning too. I'll still choose to only remember the Bulldog that knelt down next to the mound after beating the Mets in game 7 of the NLCS.

89 I have to concur with your thoughts

113 If we don't sign Furcal, Hu becomes the SS and DeWitt is possibly shifted to 2b.

115
I'll still choose to only remember the Bulldog that knelt down next to the mound after beating the Mets in game 7 of the NLCS

"Hershiser looks in to make, what he hopes will be, his last pitch...FASTBALL GOT HIM LOOKIN'!!!"

114 But they retired his number! So he must be the greatest Padre first baseman of all time.

117 Until I see or hear that Dewitt is taking grounders at 2B, I refuse to believe his future position is not third base.

120 It would take a pretty impressive season from LaRoche for it to happen.

119
So he must be the greatest Padre first baseman of all time

One of the worst, perhaps not surprisingly.

http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/UfCj

(minimum 150 games at 1B)

117 I understand Hu being the SS, but are we really convinced the DeWitt can be our 2nd NEXT YEAR. I don't have a problem revisiting that expirement, but do you want to pencil in someone for next year who couldn't play the position previously and is still a 3rd baseman. If they play him at 2nd all yr in AA or AAA and he does well then I'm ok with that, but not right now I'm not. The other problem is if we wait till the off-season to lock up Furcal, does the price go up?

I would love for Furcal to stay but 4 years in the maximum.

After that, for a player heading into his mid 30s, the projections are just too hazy.

109

I wish they had kept that in the opening for last night. It would have helped with context and it was a funny scene.

123

I am not convinced at all.

don't know if it's been mentioned but furcal is #1 in vorp

I wouldn't object at all to locking Furcal up to a 4-5 year deal. It's not as though he's 35 and looking for a long-term contract. Especially with Kent leaving after this season, do we really want two middle-infield slots (plus the always malleable 3B) up for grabs?

124 right, most everyone probably (see what I did there) agrees 4- yrs is fine. I think if Furcal is fine with that then it's a no brainer, but as CodyS mentioned and maybe others if we don't have a viable solution for the next couple years then isn't it worth paying for an extra 1-2 yrs of garbage from Furcal for 3-4 years of exceptional play. Hey, maybe we can trade him to Atlanta at that time so he can retire a Brave.

127 hey are you starting to warm up to Jones yet? are you encouraged at all?

123 Good point about DeWitt needing time to adjust if we do move him.

I finally figured something out: The internet exists as a place to look around while you're waiting for Dodger Thought comments to accrue.

131 hehe no doubt. DT exist so we can avoid doing any real work. Let it be known that I'm fully clothed, sober and two stories above ground.

131 - That's almost Fanerman-worthy. Thanks.

131 Crud. "Thoughts". No sidebar for me ;)

130 he's putting a lot of goosd swings on the ball which is very encouraging. he's fouling balls straight back which is telling me that he's getting there, btu he did face guys who top out at 87-88. his bat speed is in question by many scouts, i'll be interested to see how he handles some good fastballs.

133 only if he added the 's'

135 I think just added confidence will help as well, but good point about the pitching/bat speed. I will remain encouraged until further notice though.

Assuming Furcal's trajectory remains where it is now through the 2008 season, you're dreaming if you think you can sign him for less than six years. Whoever signs him will have him for at least two years past his prime, because that's what his agent will insist on. With a player his age, you buy four years, pay for six. If you are very lucky, years five and six turn out to be good ones. But I wouldn't criticize any GM who made that deal. In the real world, that's how these things work.

If the Dodgers had more high-ceiling infield prospects in the system, I'd say let him go. But for at least the next two seasons, there is no better option at SS than Furcal (and moving Hu to second).

Those of you who would take a hard line, just ponder for a moment what Ned might do if he had to replace both Kent and Furcal in the same off-season. Maybe he'd pencil Hu in for one of those positions, but God knows what kind of Frankenstein's monster would show up for the other.

I like watching Furcal play, I think he's still peaking, and while the money he's going to be able to command will seem obscene and horrible, in the FA market, he's probably worth it.

I do agree, though, that locking up Martin, Billz, Loney and probably Kemp are even higher priorities.

Those of you who would take a hard line, just ponder for a moment what Ned might do if he had to replace both Kent and Furcal in the same off-season

2009 free agent shortstops include (among others):

David Eckstein
Cristian Guzman
Omar Vizquel

I'm not saying veterans should continue into the point of patheticness. Nobody wants to see that. Often these guys don't know when it's time to quit, and it would be better for all concerned if they did.

But if you can pay a fan favorite (and I mean real fan favorite in that city, not just any old guy) $7M to be average to the end of his career, you are probably coming out ahead long-term because of the deepened feelings between fans and team. It's not just about

For i=1:25, Max(E[WAR_i]/$_i)
with X < Sum($) < Y

I know this has been asked before, but can Dewitt really not play 2B at least as well as Kent? I ask the same question in relation to Delwyn.

OT - Privacy matters.

Former Monday Night Football sideline reporter, Suzy Kolber, had a baby last month. The father of the child according to Kolber's father, is a private matter. Kolber is not married.

The reason I put this up here isn't to make judgments on Kolber's life and her choices, its to ask the question, how much more to that story do we need to know.

Kolber is going to be covering the draft for ESPN next week and the decision to remove both her and Michelle Tafoya from the sidelines was made months ago and I don't think (though I don't know) that it had anything to do with her pending motherhood.

Just thought it was interesting that I found this out buried at the end of Tom Hoffarth's media notes.

how much more to that story do we need to know

Enquiring minds don't need to know: they want to know.

139 And that assumes he goes the free agent route. He might decide he has to work a trade.

How about this idea: Matt Kemp and Chin-Lung Hu for Derek Jeter. Jeter in 2009 is the perfect Ned trade target. Massively impressive bubblegum card. Torre's captain. A media star. Would love to get out from under A-Rod and date Alyssa Milano. And Ned would swoon.

Oh, yeah, I'll take Furcal for 7 years/$150 million over almost any other conceivable Ned move. You know I'm right.

I'm trying to figure out how many babies Jeter would have to murder for the Yankees to be willing to trade him. 5? 15?

141 I realize Kent is 40 years old and fielding is not why he is candidate to the HOF.

But if Dewitt can't play it at High A ball, how can we believe that he can play it up in the big leagues.

Its more than the range issue, can he make the pivot, can he throw against his body, its covering first on bunts, relaying signals with the SS.

I am not sure it is as simple as just grab your glove and stand by second.

138 exactly. the point was making or atleast trying to make.

The more I've talked this out I think I've convinced myself that resigning Furcal is our best option even it means (ouch) 6 yrs.

If we do re-sign Furcal for six years, that won't be the worst thing in the world, I guess. I'd just hope that whoever is our GM in 2013 understands the concept of a sunk cost better than our current GM does.

144 Jeter is a Yankee for life, A-Rod will always be A-Rod first, whatever team he is on, second.

I just looked at Orlando Hudson's career numbers, and I am not too excited about possibly signing him. Wouldn't we be better off seeing if Delwyn can handle second again?

150
O-Dog is a cooler nickname than Pee Wee.

151

You got that right!

150 Most of Hudson's value is in his defense, plus with his newly found patience he's probably a better hitter than Delwyn for the next couple years at least.

151 Sign Hudson to play shortstop. Then we can call the DP combo Dog Pee.

151 But only one of those names is in the HOF.

Jeter is a Yankee for life, A-Rod will always be A-Rod first, whatever team he is on, second

To be fair, Jeter started his career in New York, whereas A-Rod did not. If A-Rod had started there, there's a very good chance he would have stayed too. It's not as if Jeter has been playing for less money in New York than he would have made elsewhere. Quite the contrary.

If Ned is going to work a deal to keep Furcal, do we need to trade Hu while his value is relatively high? Is his value high right now, or am I just excited about him?

What could we get in return?

By the way, I would like to thank Extra Innings, KCAL, and the Padres' broadcast station for conspiring to prevent me from watching tonight's game.

Did we ever figure out whether there's a legitimate reason why Extra Innings can only carry games that are shown on cable, and not broadcast TV?

It's hard to fault a player for leaving a city for more money. Whole franchises do it almost routinely. Heck the Super Sonics are all but guaranteed to leave Seattle. Haven't the Mariners even made that threat?

Keeping Hu and moving him to second is off the table? I like him better than Young, Abreu or DeWitt, at least at this point.

By the way, look who they wrote an opera about:

http://tinyurl.com/583qbb

Its more than the range issue, can he make the pivot, can he throw against his body, its covering first on bunts, relaying signals with the SS.

The first two take some skill, but covering first on bunts means running to first, and relaying signals with SS involves little more than opening and closing one's mouth. If the guy has the arm for third, I don't see how he doesn't have the arm to turn a DP.

Did he have a full season at High A? He was reportedly a lousy 3B, too, from what I heard, but he already looks a ton better than Nomar.

I'm just saying it might be worth another shot.

157 I think we've got to keep Hu to play 2nd while Furcal stays at SS

158 Per Wikipedia.

Regarding MLB Extra Innings package.

As of the 2008 season, the feeds from both teams' broadcasts are available for each game, except if a team is showing the game locally on a broadcast station, because this package relies on satellite uplink paths. (For the same reason, the Philadelphia Phillies' feed is never available, as CSN Philadelphia also has no uplink path.) Previously, only one feed was available, usually the home team's.

158 - the Padres broadcast station worked out a deal w/ extra innings, they are on now, like 3 out of 4 nights so far. What game are you missing tonight?

156 I was just using Jeter as an example of the kind of empty-calories trade Ned is prone to get excited about. Fill in the blanks with, oh, Edgar Renteria. Or Miguel Tejada. They're out there: Ned-bait.

163
The Phillies pheed was avaialable on Extra Innings last year.

It's not like we were missing out on much.

Why did I think we were playing the Padres tonight? Must be wishful thinking after watching their bullpen get stretched to the limit last night.

maybe by 2010 we have a better idea whether or not DeWitt can play 2nd or somebody else comes into the picture and we can trade Furcal while still in his peak years.

San Diego and Atlanta are two American cities that are not often confused.

165
I was responding bhsportsguy, not to you. I was just trying to point out that it's not necessarily fair to credit Jeter for staying with one team while criticizing ARod for moving. It's not like Jeter started with the Royals or the Devil Rays.

165 maybe my memory is failing me, but what trades has made like that.

159 The Mariners were good as gone after voters kayoed a new stadium in September 1995. Of course, everybody was so giddy after they beat the Yankees in the playoffs the following month that the state legislature approved a stadium anyway despite the result of the vote.

I want to get some feedback from the bright minds here at DT on a fairly frivolous topic that nevertheless has been on my mind recently. I have noticed that, at least with respect to me and many of my close acquaintances who are rabid spectator sports fans, the age of 7 seems to be the magic age when a kid begins to "get" what's going on when watching a sporting event. Speaking for myself, prior to being 7, I frequently would sit down with my dad and watch a game for a few minutes here and there but didn't really have the understanding or attention span to become invested in the action. And my capacity to comprehend the ebb and flow of a playoff series was especially limited.

But then I turned 7, and suddenly, as if some sort of divine dispensation had been bestowed upon me, I could follow virtually any sporting event from beginning to end and was easily drawn into the drama of a good playoff series (the '77 NBA Finals between the Blazers and Sixers was the first one I really got into). In fact, I got so wrapped up in the 1977 Fall Classic that I ran into my room and cried when the Yankees clinched the Series.

Like I said at the outset, it's interesting to learn that a good many of my friends also point to the age 7 as the age when they really began to follow sports. So in order to test whether this is a widespread phenomenon, I thought I'd ask the DT community: when did you come of age as a sports fan?

131 133 Keyword "almost." =)

165 I know its a constant worry I suppose but again, the Dodgers just have not made those types of deals since Ned has arrived.

I don't suppose the fear will go away but reality is that most if not all of the players that some thought would be dealt for veterans, have not been moved.

And even with Nomar being hurt, ultimately, they went internal.

Againk who can predict the future but a deal with major league quality young players for a veteran just has not been a pattern and I don't think it will be one for the foreseeable future.

161 Isn't turning DPs a lot more about footwork and quick hands than it is about arm strength?

By the way, it's something that Kent is spectacularly good at, and receives relatively little credit for because he's so bad in other areas of defense.

157 Wouldn't Hu make a pretty good utility infielder if he isn't a starter?

173 That sounds about right, I was telling Marty that my first game at Dodger Stadium was when I was ten, I read the sport pages and books when I was younger.

7-8 years old may also be the time when parents feel like their kids will actually sit for a few innings or quarters or periods at games, though I have to only guess that for myself.

163
Unfortunately the ability to choose announcers/feeds is exclusive to DirecTV. Those of us with cable are stuck with but one feed of games on EI. As a result, all three games in Arizona last week were delivered to me via Daron Sutton & Mark Grace instead of Vin Scully.

Tonight's Dodgers-Braves game is not on EI for me (Time Warner), so I am no longer angry at myself for not remembering to record it. :)

174 ok, now you are just being cocky :)

173
Age 8 seems about right for me. I can remember going to a couple of games at age 6 or 7, but my cousin and I would crack jokes the whole game instead of paying attention to the action. I can clearly remember watching and following baseball in 1984, when I was 8. Baseball cards came into my life the next season, and there was no turning back.

I don't remember following the Lakers or basketball in general until the 1986-87 regular season, when I was 10/11 years old.

171 Trades? Not too many that fit that profile, but his FA signings mostly do. Pierre, Gonzalez, Garciaparra, Schmidt, Jones -- all of them were signed because of their highlight reels. Ned's a press guy. Being able to hand that Dodger jersey over to a name most fans recognize is how he knows he's successful.

Although, I do think he's having an existential crisis. The whole Pierre/Ethier/Kemp/Jones flap. He doesn't want to have to admit to himself that he wants a manager who'll play Pierre every day, despite all the better options. He doesn't want to admit to himself that he signed Jones out of some desperate twisted need to redeem the Pierre signing by turning Pierre into a left fielder. He resents that Ethier and Kemp have made him look foolish. But he knows he can't do anything about it. That's why I fear him most of all now. A smart GM could sidle up to Ned and say, "hey, I'll take that problem right off your hands. I've got this dynamite middle reliever, so good that no one will notice you sent me Kemp in return. His name...is Hoyt Wilhelm."

181
Watching baseball-->Baseball cards-->Baseball research-->Molly's love

182 sorry, just too much speculation for me to buy what your're selling

I think I was about eight and half when the baseball lightning bolt hit. Mid-1985. I was already into college basketball before then, though.

185
For some reason I thought you were older than that...

181
I went to my first major league game when I was 6 and I remember. My baseball memory dates back to 1971. I bought baseball cards for the first time then and I also remember events of the postseason and a nasty Dodger-Giants brawl.

I don't think I'm like other kids of that age because:
1) I had three older brothers who liked baseball and two of them liked baseball a lot.
2) My mom liked baseball a lot.
3) Unlike most 6 year olds who would be happy to play in the sand at Petco Park last night, I would have been keeping a scorecard. And I started keeping score almost as soon as I went to a game because my older brothers kept score and I wanted to be like them.
4) Since this bears repeating, I was an odd child. Now I'm an odd adult.
5) Did I mention that I was an odd child?
6) When I was six, I would go talk to preschoolers and bore them with anecdotes about kindergarten.

173 - August, 1975. I was 7 3/4. Just as you describe - I had been watching sports before then, even role-playing, but it was at that age - at a Rams exhibition rout of Dallas - that it all clicked.

186 I must talk about players like Pie Traynor too much.

It sure would be great to see a Dodger Thoughts wedding.

For some reason I thought you were older than that...

do you feel dirty now

190
There aren't a lot of options, unless it takes place in Vermont...

192
Can't we just take a boat out to international waters or is that just to marry a man and a cow?

I was about 9 or 10 I think. I was a casual baseball fan already (and big fan of basketball). It was the mid 90's and I always watched Fresh Prince of Bel-Air re-runs on channel 5. But during that summer lots of Fresh Prince episodes got replaced by Dodgers broadcasts. So I started watching Dodgers games and listening to Vin Scully more actively, and by the end of the summer I was hooked. I think in the years that followed we got cable, and I enjoyed watching Baseball Tonight at night with the air conditioner on before bed, and all of that.

183
Ha! Speaking of baseball cards, I'm going through a dispute with a guy on eBay. I won an auction for a 1984 Topps set over a month ago and still haven't received it yet.

195
That was you...!? Er, I mean, good luck with that...

187
Speaking of odd, I guess when I was the ripe old age of one I would read the newspaper. Just lay it out on the floor and read it. I guess the only toys I played with were those blocks with letters, and I'd spell out words from the newspaper with those blocks.

My Mom and aunt one day were getting slightly perturbed that I wasn't playing with any of my other toys like normal kids, so they hid my toys except for some Matchbox cars. Sure enough, within a few minutes I was arranging matchbox cars in the shapes of letters and making words, and my Mom just laughed and let me be.

Players in my first pack of baseball cards:
Fred Wenz
Don Money
Billy Sorrell

I don't remember the other seven.

Topps gave you 10 cards and a stick of gum for a dime back in 1971.

The cards were purchased at Cork 'N' Bib Liquor Store in a shopping center near the intersection of San Fernando Mission Blvd and Woodley.

Again, I was a weird kid.

Although Dodger fandom was hereditary in my family, I was aided in my quest by the fact that I grew up in what was almost certainly the only city in Texas to have both KTLA and KTTV on basic cable. Fernando was really popular around here at the time.

I cut my teeth on Topps chewing gum.

Literally.

Back to Garvey thoughts, we had Greg Brock during those post-Garvey years, who turned in OPS+ of 106,104,117,106. Not much better than Garvey did in those 4 years.
Continuing to use OPS+ for convenience, and calling everything within 5 points a tie for practicality, where would Garvey rank out of the regulars for the 83-86 Dodgers? second, fifth, and third before we got a little better team in 86.
Point being, Garvey would have contributed to those teams positively. And everyone could have felt better about Garvey and about the Dodgers and about baseball and about Los Angeles and about America.

I started paying attention to the Dodgers when I was 8 (Fernando, 1981). I have this coffee cup that I use to hold my toothbrush that is from the Dodgers 25th anniversary in 1983.
I realized only recently that I have been an LA Dodger fan for most of their existence.

198
The first baseball card I ever got was a 1984 Ralston Purina Rickey Henderson, which came via a cereal box. I can't remember the cereal.

http://www.beckett.com/images/pgitems/509830101.jpg

Who is our competition for Furcal? I can see the White Sox, Cubs, Cardinals, and Giants having interest. I think we have a favorable shot against those teams.

182 He did trade for Ethier too.

I was looking at two other teams with 4 outfielders and see how they are dividing up time, both are in the AL, one has the luxury of using the DH spot while the other can't because that spot belongs to Mr. Clutch.

Boston has started Manny in all 16 games in left, Drew has started 13 games in right, Crisp has started 10 games in CF, and Ellsbury has started 9 games at CF and RF.

Crisp, is hitting .325, his OPS though is only .724 but Ellsbury has gotten off to a worse start, .212/.386/.303

The Angels have pretty much done what was thought they would do, split time with Matthews and Anderson, let Matthews fill in for Vlad or Hunter when you give them an off-day. Whomever does not start in the outfield, usually is the DH unless he is hurt. Their problem is that all of their outfielders are signed (or will be extended in Vlad's case) through 2009 so that dance will continue until then.

Juggling their outfields will be daily task for Francona, Scioscia and Torre.

198

I remember well the very first baseball card I ever got: a 1975 Topps Tommy John. I bought it at a garage sale across the street from my house.

Still have it.

http://tinyurl.com/5uapus

Tonight's lineup from T. Jax

SS Furcal
RF Kemp
LF Ethier
2B Kent
1B Loney
C Martin
CF Jones
3B Nomar
RH Lowe

I somehow fell in love with baseball before even watching a game. I was five years old. It was the gift of a 1988 Donruss Orel Hershiser baseball card that did it (he was pictured with a bat, attempting to bunt.) I then sat down w/ my father to watch a game. At the end of an inning, Vin Scully said "Dodgers 1, Cardinals 0." I interpreted this as "Dodgers won," and got up and turned off the tv. So, clearly, despite my love for the Dodgers (mostly Dodger baseball cards), I did not "get" the game at the age of five.

There doesnt need to be any juggling for Torre though. All he has to (and should do), is play the 3 clear best guys---and Pierre isnt one of them.

Today's lineup, from Tony Jackson's blog:

1. SS Furcal
2. RF Kemp
3. LF Ethier
4. 2B Kent
5. 1B Loney
6. C Martin
7. CF Jones
8. 3B Nomar
9. RH Lowe

210 Beat ya by 20 secs!

207--Another good lineup out of Torre. As long as Joe picks the right players to play (no Pierre), he's done pretty well with lineup construction.

Having the guts to bat Nomar 8th is rather impressive.

212 He can play the "he's coming back from an injury" card and I doubt he'd get much flack.

212

Well, as fanerman says, its barely Nomar's second game back from a long rehab. I doubt anyone would complain about that.

How'd The Solution™ end up on the Dodgers.com home page?

It has occurred to me that McLouth might be a pretty good young ballplayer

Win Shares likes Steve Garvey a little bit better than OPS+ does.

Garvey was 9th on the Dodgers in Win Shares during his last year with the team. Worse than any of the regular position players except Scioscia.

In 1983, his first year with the Padres, Garvey's 14 Win Shares would have tied for 10th on the Dodgers. Brock had 15.

In 1984, Garvey had 15, which would have been part of a three-way tie for 5th on the Dodgers. The Brock-Stubbs platoon had 11.

In 1985, Garvey's 17 Win Shares would have ranked sixth on the Dodgers. Brock, Bream, and Cabell, splitting first base duties, had 22.

In 1986, Garvey's 10 would have been ninth on the Dodgers. The Brock-Matuszek-Bream cabal combined for 19.

In 1987, Garvey had zero Win Shares and lost his job after 27 games. For the Dodgers, Stubbs, Guerrero, and Hatcher shared first base, combining for 45 Win Shares, although obviously some of that came at other positions.

208
Is there a chance you got the 1988 Donruss Hershiser card a year later in 1989? Orel started against the Cards 3 times in 1988, and in none of the games was it 1-0 LA after 1 (although once it was 3-0).

I did find this game though, in July 1989:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN198907130.shtml

If that's the game, you can rest easy. The Dodgers held on to win 3-2. :)

170 with the money he got I would have stayed as well

216
Eric, are those Win Shares available online at Bill James Online? Or did you use the book? Or both?

217- Thanks. Perhaps I didn't want to admit to being six, and still not getting baseball.

103 Has nobody invented a remote programmable
DVR yet?

216 Exactly. For the first 3 years, Garvey is -2. Although it is not fair to compare a cumulative stat for one player vs. a combo. Garvey would have split time with someone too. But anyway. My understanding is Win Shares are something like 1/3 of a win. So in three years, we might have given up 1 net win.

For my money, which it in fact is, you might as well keep Garvey and make the world a better place.

221 I use software called Beyond TV that lets me schedule recordings over the web.

219 The book

220 When I was in tee ball (how old is that? 4?), I didn't understand that innings had halves. I thought one team batted in the 1st inning, then another team batted in the 2nd inning. I didn't understand why it was fair that one team always had an extra inning to bat over another team, and how anybody could stand for it.

158 Eric, do you have cable? The game tonight is on DirecTV channel 734 (sadly, it's the first game so far not in HD).

"Although it is not fair to compare a cumulative stat for one player vs. a combo. Garvey would have split time with someone too."

The reason I included the numbers for the Dodger backups & platoon guys is because Garvey had a long consecutive games streak and his games played for those seasons were 162, 100, 162, 161, 162, and 155. His playing every game makes his counting stats (of which Win Shares is one) look superficially more impressive than they really are.

226 No DirecTV for me, alas.

John Sickels at minorleagueball.com has a nice report on James McDonald.

222
So what you're saying is why not pay extra for production that is easily replaceable by just about anyone? Sid Bream, Franklin Stubbs, and Enos Cabell? Really? That's the whole justification for letting Garvey go. He was easily replaceable.

221 With the directv dvr we have we can program it through the directv site now. I was just on there trying to find the game for tonight but don't see it (other than in the pay package)

231 If you are in LA, its playing on Channel 9 (KCAL) tonight and Sunday.

232 alas, I'm stuck with what the bay area serves up.

230 Yes. Which do you feel better about and care more about, a Dodger team that wins 91 games with Garvey or a Dodger team that wins 91 games with Sid Bream?

How about a Dodger team that wins 92 games with Sid Bream?

At some point of course, we all prefer a Dodger team that wins 97 games with George Hendrick, but if that's not available, I don't want fan favorites replaced with nobodies, even if the fan favorites' contributions are replaceable.

This by the way, has nothing to do with any current players. It's not as if Luis Gonzalez or Juan Pierre fall in this category. Nomar is only sort of a favorite. If he still played for Boston, he would be in that category. But here, he's just some likeable guy that used to be a great ballplayer for some other team.

I am reserving this treatment for "true" Dodgers. Nobody can possibly rise to this status for at least 10 more years, so it's not exactly a burning issue here.

Why Tony Jackson is wary of elevators?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elevators

223

I have read wonderful things about Beyond TV. I have been using Vista MCE, but it really feels like it is missing something that would make it a fluid operation like Beyond TV. I think I will download the demo this weekend and give it a go...or, I can put together the crib.

176

Yes, it is more about footwork. From my experience, the footwork can be improved with repetition/practice.

And I agree that Kent doesn't get enough credit for turning a good DP. I think it's his defensive strength.

234 " am reserving this treatment for "true" Dodgers. Nobody can possibly rise to this status for at least 10 more years"

Russell Martin, alas, will have the status of beloved career Dodger entering free agency a mere three years from now.

I see where you're coming from with all this. But historically, teams that make their decisions based on sentiment instead of cold, calculated assessment of the facts, are usually setting themselves up for failure. Somebody already cited the example of the Astros over the last couple of years. After their WS appearance, they could have continued to be a winning team if only they'd had the courage to cut the cord on Biggio, Bagwell, and Ausmus.

234 i think you may be a hair off on Nomar only because he is a local boy. I live in Norwalk, and plenty of people around here played ball with him at St. John Bosco High School (or conversely agaisnt him in HS, Little League, etc.).

Also, the whole East LA Latin element shouldn't be understated, either. Every time I hear Low Rider played while he's walking up it feels like an LA thing.

Russell Martin, alas, will have the status of beloved career Dodger entering free agency a mere three years from now.

Winter 2012 for Martin.

240

Let's sign him now to avoid arb!

Oh, that's good, then. I figured his rookie year would count, but I guess not.

205 - Anaheim's juggling makes sense, and Boston's is intriguing. My guess would be that Anaheim's juggling ends next year, GA is either done or will be a full time DH at that point.

234 - I fully agree about replacing fan favorites, I'm not rooting for laundry... even if it feels like it sometimes

242 He gets 4 years of Arb because of his extended rookie year.

205 The four-man outfield in Anaheim is frustrating because at least two of the four are not very good players.

176 and 237 Really good points about Kent and footwork. I think that all the time about Kent. I thought I posted this but maybe not, if you look at how Kent almost always gets the ball to Furcal perfectly, you start to appreciate him more. No matter where either of them are he does it so well, so quick and smooth. It really is spectacular, more so when you realize how limited in range he is and how stiff he moves other times. He's also always backing up Loney, I've never noticed him forget.

245

I'd take Hunter and Guerrero over about anyone as CF and RF. I agree Anderson is past his prime and Matthews value is really as a defensive center fielder not in the role he is in. I still think that they may deal Matthews when another team gets desperate for a CFer and insert Rivera into that rotation (and have Anderson either sit or DH more), at least that is what I would do. They also have Willits in the minors now and he had almost a 400 obp last year in near full time duty.

Apparently a good Youtube video will outweigh your actual baseball talents.

The last two bobbleheads to be given out this year per Josh R. are Brad Penny (he will the third Bobblehead given out in July) and the Fan's vote Bobblehead winner is Joe Beimel to be given out in August.

248
I like how some of your posts have titles.

Anyone bring up the latest post over at Bad Altitude? I loved Mark's rant on Petco Park, and then Eric's response to same. That was well done.

I think we need Petco to balance out all the madness from Coors Field. It's great to finally have this "equalizer".

...and the Fan's vote Bobblehead winner is Joe Beimel to be given out in August.

Huh? Who'd he beat out?

So, is Troy going to come out for the game?

251 Just about anyone else who had a bobblehead night for the last few years.

What do we know about Jeff Bennett? Which Dodgers do we think will do well against him tonight? I've never heard of the guy..

"Apparently a good Youtube video will outweigh your actual baseball talents."

Hence the Ron Stilanovich bobblehead night on September 16.

Bennett's a survivor of both Tommy John surgery and the Rule 5 draft. Other than that, I know nothing about him. His Baseball-Reference page notes that he's among the league leaders in three categories this year: Walks, wild pitches, and hit batsmen.

It must have been agonizing for Torre pondering whether Bennett qualifies as a "tough righty" or not.

256- Brilliant rundown. I'm ready for a blood bath.

I heard Jeff Bennett injured his arm not by pitching, but rather while wrestling a grizzly bear for his last package of beef jerky in the Smoky Mountains hear his Tennessee home.

256 Hopefully they never figure out that he needs glasses with skulls on them.

don't be jealous Stephens

260 or

Stephens goes green!

ughh, sorry, lose the 's'

at least I didn't say Steffen :)

247 I suspect if this was an Angels blog, we'd have to endure many nights of ranting about Anderson and Matthews getting the nod over Rivera or Willits or even Morales.

can he do it

The owner of the company I work for (and his son) flew to Dallas Thursday to attend an auction of over 20 millions dollars worth of classic cars owned by a friend of his named Wayne Davis.

There's also a party tomorrow tonight, to be attended by Jay Leno and Nicholas cage.

Meanwhile, we sit and toil...

and DZ breaks it up

Actually, a completely YouTube-determined bobblehead schedule would be kind of fun:

April 29 - Joe Beimel
May 18 - Troy from West Virginia
June 26 - Ron Stilanovich
July 19 - Clayton Kershaw
August 24 - Matt Kemp. Pull a string to hear him say "That's why they call me The Bison."
September 18 - Jerry Reuss in his "Baseball Boogie" outfit.

Saw this on the Braves blog on the Atlanta Journal Constitution website:

In his past 200 games, since June 24, 2006, Chipper has hit .358 (273-for-763) with 61 doubles, 6 triples, 52 homers, 167 RBI, 113 walks, 104 strikeouts, a .437 OBP and a .658 slugging percentage.

And in 102 road games during that period he's hit .376 (153-for-407) with 36 doubles, 5 triples, 29 homers, 86 RBI, a .445 OBP and a .703 slugging percentage. That's a 1.148 OPS in his past 102 road games. Astounding.

268 Wow. He's still a stud. I had the impression that his injuries had caused his skills to deteriorate. Apparently he's gotten better with age.

237 246

I tend to notice that Kent, while solid at starting a double play, is quite enept at finishing them. He seems to always be falling away from first base and often bounces his throw. Perhaps I am only remember the bad times (mermories are not to be trusted). I wonder if the is any rate stats on DP (espically those finished). Also I recall remarking to a friend not long after we aquired him on how bad he looked on a double plays compared to Cora.

Chipper's probably cinched his HOF election with these last couple of outstanding years. He looked like toast after 2004.

268

That should be a fair warning. I have Chipper Jones on my fantasy team and he is RED HOT right now!

269 He just doesn't play every day due to the occasional injury. When he does play, he's good.

269 And the girls still like him. The last Braves/Dodgers game at DS I attended featured a young blond in a Chipper jersey who was roundly (if goodnaturedly) booed everytime she pranced up or down the field box aisle, which was about once an inning.

Then, in the top of the ninth, she caught a foul ball. Off the bat of Chipper Jones. She won us over with that one.

In one of my leagues I've traded Chipper straight up for Furcal (but only because I've only got Scutaro at SS and Longoria and Blalock). Now it has to be voted on by the league (ie it might happen in 3 weeks).

TJax says Kuo Hong Chih will remain in the rotation

Mbah A Moute is going pro.

In Europe. One hopes he realizes that.

Chipper does seem to have bounced back, I thought he was on the decline as well.

Bennett gave up the 2nd longest homer at Turner Field last year (Rickie Weeks, 467' on 9/20).

Andruw hit the 4th longest in Atlanta last year (465' on 6/5).

Sounds like a recipe to get Jones cookin' methinks.

You can add Luc's name to Roy Hibbert's on the list of players who made a big mistake by returning to school. He probably would have been a lottery pick two years ago.

Instead of asking for permission I'll beg for Jon's forgiveness for this tangent but I'm so angry with Verizon that I would like to cause them pain while at the same time helping everyone here...
If you have Verizon and are paying more than $30 for phone (including long distance) you are overpaying them. I was paying nearly $90/mo. When I called them to switch my phones over to cable, they offered to lower my bill to $30! So apparently being a customer of 10 years+ gains you a 200% surcharge. PLEASE, if you are with Verizon phone service just call them right now and say you are thinking of switching to cable and tell them they need to match the $30 price. Better yet, just leave them and go to cable.

281 - I agree. Once you have the buzz, you need to capitalize on it.

I'm not sure Collison should have come back either. I think Taj Gibson should have probably declared last year as well, now I think he needs to come back.

282 - I'm on Verizon, and I thank you for telling me.

some good pitching matchups tonight.

Haren v. Maddux, Hamels v. Santana.

282 Perfect! Please let me know how it goes for you and when it saves you a bunch of money (at their expense) shout it from the mountaintops!

286 I have it too but my contract doesn't end for another year so I don't know if the threat to leave would work.

226 & 158
I think I correctly predicted this Extra Innings non-HD game a week or so ago. The rest of the month should be covered (depending on if you get national/DNS L.A. Fox for Sat. games).

The month of May looks to be pretty complete EI coverage. Expect only the 5/4 game to not be in HD (and likely not on cable-based EI package like today).

287 . Verizon phone has contracts? This isn't for cell phones-- land line only. Should have been clearer on that but that's why a threat to go to cable matters to them.
If that's what you have, try it. Ask them how much it would cost to break your contract and tell them your seriously considering it since it will save you so much in the long run.

282 - Meh. We're on cable (Time Warner), and their service has gone something like this: Internet service fell apart whenever it rained, so I called the support line. They sent somebody out ... when it wasn't raining, and sure enough, told me everything was fine. Lather, rinse, repeat, so I complain about the obvious problem with this scenario, and they give me the number of a roving tech who is supposed to deal with level 2 type problems of this sort. Unsurprisingly, this person never answered his phone.

I call TW support again, and the tech asks me if I want to go through this monkey wheel again, and I tell her I want to talk to a supervisor. I talk to the supervisor, who says that basically they consider the internet account I'm paying for "entertainment", and if I want it to work when it's raining, I need to pay for business class service.

Sigh.

Okay, fine, I'll pay the extra $50/month, just get the idiots out here to fix the damn thing.

While I'm waiting for this nonsense to clear up, I canvass my neighbors, and it turns out several of them on my street are also having rain-related connectivity problems. Finally, the techs show up and it turns out there's squirrel damage to the line and they could have fixed it.

So while this was going on and I was haggling with TW support, I got Verizon EDO data service. 512 kbps or something like that, not terribly fast, but it still works whenever my router locks up ... which happens whenever I turn on my cable box downstairs.

So I'm getting a new router. And when I'm too lazy to run upstairs (like right now), I just plug my Verizon Kyocera adapter into my MacBook Pro, and voila, I'm connected to the Web.

277 Apparently Luc said he will only stay in the draft if he's going to be a first rounder. That says to me that he'll be in powder blue again next year.

251 shocking developments...

288 Funny, after viewing non HD games all my life, how immediately spoiled I got after going HD.

I will say that DirecTV really went a long way in improving MLB EI over last year. $12.50 x 4 for Superfan is well worth it.

Incidentally, I don't recommend switching landline phone to fiber. This is because cable modem phones require you to have a UPS on your side in case of power outages. Unfortunately that's the choice Verizon makes you make.

I'm watching the Dodgers pregame show, and I must say that Tommy Lasorda in HD is not an improvement.

I don't plan on switching service, just getting the discount. Sounds like it works a bit like the L.A. Times - threaten to drop 'em, and they'll practically pay you to stay.

Game thread is open up top.

Ugh. The Dodger game is blacked out here. Not being shown on Extra Innings for some reason, and TBS is airing Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.

Thwpt!

294 Tommy served up extra craggy?

296 I don't understand why the game will be on EI on DirecTV, and not other outlets.

There's some kind of perfidy at work here.

296
Not that I would want to thwart our burgeoning love affair, but I hate to be the one to tell you that TBS no longer carries Braves games.

They do have a national game every Sunday though, which this weekend happens to be Dodgers/Braves.

His organ donor card lists his beard.

Those Dos Equis commercials are hilarious.