Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
In a bit of a turnabout, the 2008 Dodgers ranked in baseball's top 10 in defense based on one measure, David Pinto's tongue-twisting Probabilistic Model of Range at Baseball Musings.
Basically, for each fieldable (non-inside-the-park home runs) ball put in play, six parameters are used to determine how difficult it was to field the ball. A probability of turning the ball into an out is calculated, and those probabilities are summed. That gives us expected batted balls turned into outs. We turn that into a predicted DER (defensive efficiency record), compare that to the actual DER and calculate a ranking. ...
Note that a team can post a poor DER during the season, but do well in this model if the balls put into play were extremely difficult to field. ...
Basically, Pinto's system finds that the Dodgers performed better than expected on the balls in play against them. The Mets, for example, had a higher DER, but mainly as a result of an easier group of balls to field.
Over the coming weeks, Pinto will break down individual performances so that we can see where the strengths of the Dodger defense were under his system.
I thought for sure the White Sox were responsible for the buyout of Ozuna's option. Ozuna became a free agent when he refused an assignment to AAA after being DFA in July. The Dodgers were only on the hook for a pro-rated minimum salary for Ozuna (making him more expensive, money-wise, than Berroa or Blake).
This should be similar to when the Dodgers released Tomko in 2007, they were still responsible for his 2008 option buyout, even after he signed with SD (for pro-rated minimum).
Or, perhaps they won't reject the option, for the reasons you cited?
Dream Scenario:
-CC, Hudson, Furcal
Nightmare Scenario:
-Dempster, Cabrera/Wilson, Crede
On the Fence Scenarios:
-Manny for more than 3 years
-Any combination of one or two of the dream scenario guys with one or two of the nightmare guys.
Prediction: We get Manny for 3 years, Furcal at a reasonable cost and a Dempster-esque pitcher that winds up being a bust ala Tomdrickson circa '07.
I thought the option was rejected once he was released, and the buyout became responsibility of the releasing team (White Sox).
It would be different if Ozuna was claimed off waivers or traded to the Dodgers.
Hu you gonna call.
If Peter Gammons wants to postulate that Martin is available because he heard from a Dodger scout that management was unhappy with him, he can and should report it. If he made it up, that is a different story but I don't think anyone is saying that Gammons made the story up. Only that the head honcho of the Dodgers has denied it as though that means anything.
This is baseball which falls under entertainment which means it gets the same reporting requirements as actors do. Are you offended when Brad Pitt is rumored to be attached to Captain America based on what an agent said or offended when it doesn't happen. Come on, this is baseball. A game
Renteria isn't much with the glove these days (anyone have +/- numbers handy?), but his bat could really pick it up in the NL.
Bobby Valentine has a good chance of becoming Seattle's Manager.
Dodgers and Padres trade talk re Peavey is heating up. (could Martin be part of discussion?)
Dodgers do not have a budget yet because of the unknown affect of the economy on 2009 revenues.
Peter Gammons doesn't write for MLBtraderumors. He writes for ESPN.com.
Any entertainment journalist who is regularly wrong, I would stop taking seriously and I would hope (though not expect) others to as well.
"It's always been this way" is not a very convincing argument for me. Meanwhile, neither you nor anyone else answered my question in 55 of the last thread.
I get no satisfaction from rumors, I just find it pointless to rail against them as Canuck did. I will rail against an organization that does nothing to combat the rumors that impact the value of your players. Someone is leaking information, the question is are the leaks planned? Gammons is simply the messenger of the misinformation being leaked by someone within the organization.
On occasion I have made rude comments about Rosenfeld but that is because he comes across as a creepy oil salesman and not so much about what he says but how he says it.
Jon, let me be annoying by answering your question (As readers, I would just ask yourselves, what do you gain out of this? Say one were to concede that false Hot Stove rumors do no real harm. What do you gain from them?) with a question, "What do you gain from spending 3.5 hours watching a baseball game?
Conversely, you don't need journalists to spitball about a possible trade. Watch:
"Hey, the Dodgers might trade Chad Billingsley. They were unhappy with his NLCS performance. What do you think about that?"
There you go.
Good journalism provides something that can't be replicated by any guy on the street. Spreading rumors is something anyone can do.
Okay, Buzz.
;)
http://tinyurl.com/6r4xeg
"I love Nate Silver, and his website -- www.538.com -- but what puts me over the top for him is that he looks like he's on the GREATEST METH EVER MADE."
It was funny to finally see Silver, whom is quite the admirable statistician both for sports and politics, in person. Looking crazed. But interesting.
Transcript:
Boras: For my iconic player, I'm going ask for 4 years $100 million. For Manny I'm thinking 6 years $180 million.
Colletti: Wait...Who's the iconic player?
Boras: Oliver Perez or Varitek...take your pick. Both will, after all, pay for themselves.
Colletti: You really should wear a hat to hide those three sixes on your forehead.
http://tinyurl.com/5u657e
Colletti said the Dodgers were interested in both Manny and Lowe. Boras called it a "kick the tires" meeting.
C Molina
1B A.Gonzalez
2B Phillips
3B Wright
SS Rollins
OF Beltran
OF Victorino
OF McLouth
P Maddux (#18)
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3684696
NL MVP: Ramirez 8th, Martin 28th, Ethier 34th, Billingsley 40th, Furcal 42nd, Kemp 47th, Loney 51st.
CY: Billingsley 11th, Lowe 14th, Kuo 20th
ROY: Kuroda 5th, Kershaw 7th, DeWitt 9th, Young 19th, Wade 20th
MANAGER: Torre 3rd
Winners were Pujols, Lincecum, Soto, Piniella.
The catching Molina is Yadier.
Guy is always whining about something.
http://www.insidesocal.com/dodgers/2008/11/pennys-option-d.html
1B A.Gonzalez -6 (25th in MLB)
2B Phillips +17 (4th)
3B Wright +3 (16th)
SS Rollins +23 (1st)
OF Beltran +24 (2nd in CF)
OF Victorino +10 (7th in CF)
OF McLouth -40 (35th in CF!!!)
I hope Canuck and Camino are right about this but I think this will bite us in the butt. Man our starting pitching is thin, and the cost of pitching is expensive in either dollars or players.
We have now lost our number 1 and 2 pitchers that we entered the 2008 season with.
Man...Isn't that 13 now?
Berroa
Ozuna
Penny
Lowe
Kent
Garciaparra
Furcal
Sweeney
Bennett
Ramirez
Blake
Biemel
Park
Wow...the sheer volume of Colletti's job is just setting in. We're in deep doo doo.
The Dodgers may re-sign Manny and Furcal. And of those on that list, only Lowe, Manny and Furcal, and Beimel, are the ones I'd miss at all. Most of those guys can be replaced by worthy in-house minor league/young options. Not that Ned won't try to replace a few of them with less worth, out-house options, mind.
We'd better get CC.
lol I hope the draft is not the highlight of our year.
1. C.C.
2. Bills
3. Kuroda
4. Kershaw
5. McDonald/Schmidt/Stults
I'm officially onboard the bandwagon. At least he'd provide some LH pop.
Not that we care a whit about Berroa, Ozuna, Kent, Nomar, Sweeney, Bennett.
Replacing the others will be a sweet task.
Lowe - McDonald
Penny - Stults until something better comes along
Maddux - Schmidt until something better comes along
Furcal - Hu, in 2007 wanted it, now we got it.
Ramirez - Juan Pierre or Andruw Jones
Blake - Abreu
Biemel - Elbert
Park - Orenduff
Deep Do Do doesn't begin to describe the current team but it will get better once real players replace the fill ins.
One has had two surgeries in the last 24 months the other hasn't had any. Of course that does not mean he won't be having his own surgeries. I just have little faith that we ever make the right decision when letting players walk but that is probably just Nov talking.
So we need CC and Manny?
Well I guess we are about to bust.
Only Kent, Repko, & Brazoban stand in his way.
Yes
He is Motorhead approved.
Crap you're right, Maddux makes 14...
I actually worry about quantity now. If we go with that lineup, we have ZERO minor league depth to address any injuries. Even with us signing Hudson and one of the Cabrera/Furcal/Renteria crowd, our organization is dangerously thin.
Looks like we are going to need all of those picks...
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