I like how he breaks the unwritten rule about baseball writers not criticizing other baseball writers. If more people did that, we might be getting somewhere.

A) 1955
B) 1963
C) 1965
D) 1981

since we're talking about vinny... if people want, i can post what i wrote to mr. neel back in august. i know some people posted theirs a few months ago but i didn't get to it. shrug jon?

That puts him in an elite group with writers like Steve Henson and Jon Weisman.

I've been at one game with Jon.

I did a lot of games with Steve Henson.

And we tended to view each other in profile. And if you ever talk to me long enough you will realize that I rarely make eye contact with anyone.

It was nothing personal. :-)

But, everyone knows a SABR convention is the ultimate "meet market".

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askba.html

"Meet market" makes it doubly punny!

Seriously though are many female SABR members, but they are just outnumbered by a serious margin. At my very first SABR convention, I found out, after about 15 minutes, that I was seated next to Dorothy Mills, the widow of Harold Seymour, and purportedly did the bulk of the research for him.

Cecilia Tan is a great writer and at the Denver convention when she mentioned what her day job was to the rest of the people at my table at the banquet, it was a mass Danny Thomas-like spit take.
In 2003 she got me, through her brother, some incredibly good seats for a Dodgers-Rockies game at Coors.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/index.jsp?sid=l119

Laroche batting 3rd, Kemp 5th, and Abreu 9th (and playing SS)

I am looking forward to the day when I see Jon post a long entry from his interview with Vin. For that matter I would like to see Jon write a Vin biography. Include a CD of excerpts from Vin's broadcasts with the book and I think Jon would have a best seller.

Stan from Tacoma

I think the Dodgers are committed to keeping Saenz until some AL team offers him decent money to DH.

-----------------------

Scully, Vincent Edward (b. 29 November 1927 in New York, New York), literate baseball announcer who, in more than 50 years with the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers, used evocative descriptions and an eye for detail to establish himself as the most outstanding and influential broadcaster in the game's history.

The son of Irish immigrants, Scully grew up in the Washington Heights area of northern Manhattan, just across the Harlem River from the Bronx. His family was poor, but not destitute. Scully's father, a traveling silk salesman, died when Scully was five, and he was raised by his mother Bridget and her second husband. He frequently attended baseball games at the nearby Polo Grounds, and by the time he was eight, the red-headed youth had formally declared his intention to become a sports broadcaster. He attended Fordham Prep School, graduating in 1945, and entered Fordham University on a partial scholarship that fall. He earned spending money during his summers by delivering mail and milk, and by polishing silverware in the kitchen of an upscale hotel.

After his freshman year at Fordham, Scully joined the Navy, in which he served a year before returning to the Bronx campus. Scully was active on campus, where his activities included singing in a barbershop quartet, writing a sports column in the school newspaper, and covering Fordham football games for The New York Times. He also played center field on Fordham's baseball team. After graduating in 1949, Scully found work as a broadcaster with WTOP, a CBS affiliate in Washington, D.C. He was soon introduced to Red Barber, the famed Brooklyn Dodgers broadcaster and sports director at CBS, who agreed to give Scully a tryout broadcasting a college football game. Barber was impressed by Scully's performance, and in 1950 he offered the 22-year-old a $5,000 salary to join the Dodgers as an assistant broadcaster. Barber, known as the "Ol' Redhead," quickly took the young redhead under his wing. "Red was my teacher… and my father," Scully recalled. "I don't know— I might have been the son he never had. It wasn't so much that he taught me how to broadcast. It was an attitude. Get to the park early. Do your homework. Be prepared. Be accurate. He was a stickler for that."

The new position afforded Scully the opportunity to witness baseball's integration drama firsthand, as Brooklyn won four pennants during the 1950s behind the baserunning exploits of Jackie Robinson. In 1955, Scully broadcast the clinching game in Brooklyn's only World Series triumph, a moment he would always cite as his most cherished. In 1957 Barber, Scully's mentor, left for the New York Yankees, leaving the 29-year-old Scully as the Dodgers' head broadcaster. By then, Scully had blended Barber's folksy style with his own talent for detailed description, creating the unique broadcasting style for which he would become famous. The most intellectual of baseball announcers, Scully's broadcasts were marked by frequent literary references, as he aptly applied the words of William Shakespeare, Cole Porter, or Eugene O'Neill to explain some aspect of baseball. ("A humble thing, but thine own," he might say of a weak infield hit.)

Scully accompanied the Dodgers in 1958 when they left Brooklyn for Los Angeles. The team spent its first four seasons there playing in the Los Angeles Coliseum, a colossal football stadium ill-suited for baseball, which left many of its 90,000 occupants straining to see the distant action. To remedy this, fans soon began bringing transistor radios to games, and Scully's vivid description of the action made him a cult figure of sorts among Angelenos. Even after the team moved into the more intimate Dodger Stadium in 1962, the practice of bringing radios to the ballpark continued, and it later spread to other major league stadiums. The Dodgers, meanwhile, won three pennants in the mid-1960s, with Scully artfully describing the exploits of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Maury Wills. The most famous broadcast of his career came on 9 September 1965, when Koufax pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs. "There are 29,000 people in the ballpark, and a million butterflies," Scully announced as the ninth inning began. "I would think that the mound at Dodger Stadium right now is the loneliest place in the world." Scully's work during that game is considered by many to be the best radio broadcast in baseball history.

By 1969, Scully was so popular that some mentioned him as a possible candidate to succeed the embattled William Eckert as baseball commissioner. That never happened, but Scully's increasing fame enabled him to dabble in other areas of broadcasting while simultaneously working for the Dodgers. He hosted an NBC game show, "It Takes Two," and a short-lived variety show, "The Vin Scully Show," which lasted 13 weeks on CBS in 1973. He also broadcast occasional football, golf, and tennis events on CBS from 1975 to 1982. In 1983 he left CBS to become the top baseball announcer for NBC, where for seven years he broadcast showcase events like the World Series and All-Star Game to a national audience.

In the 1980s and 1990s, as the baseball broadcasting industry changed to cater to the shortening attention spans of its viewers, Scully refused to budge. While most broadcasts featured teams of two or three announcers, Scully usually insisted on working alone, arguing that it made for better communication with the audience. "My approach to broadcasting has always been like I'm talking to a friend," he said. And though he was a loyal company man off the field, while on the air Scully steadfastly refrained from the home-team rooting engaged in by most broadcasters. "The fan is seeing things with his heart," he said, "but my responsibility is to see things with my eyes." In 2001, Scully broadcast his 52nd season of Dodger baseball and earned a reported $2 million annual salary.

Scully married Joan Crawford, a model, in 1958. They had three children before she died on 26 January 1972, at age 35, from an apparently accidental overdose of prescription medication. The next year, Scully married Sandra Schaefer, a secretary with the Los Angeles Rams, with whom he has one daughter and two stepchildren. Although he frequently complained of the loneliness of baseball road trips, Scully enjoyed filling his off-seasons with exotic vacations, including trips to Europe, China, Australia, and Egypt.

Scully has received virtually every award a sportscaster can win. The most prestigious came in 1982, when he was given the Ford C. Frick Award, a lifetime achievement award for broadcasters presented annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame. Scully's other honors include four citations as the national sportscaster of the year, a Peabody award, an Emmy award for lifetime achievement, and an honorary doctoral degree from Fordham, where he delivered the commencement address in 2000. In 1982, Scully earned the ultimate sign of acceptance in Los Angeles: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Scully's 52 years with the Dodgers is by far the longest term of service any announcer has ever had with a team. Through 2000, Scully had broadcast 25 World Series, including 12 on network television, and 12 All-Star games. He also had called 19 no-hitters, believed to be a record. On 3 and 4 June 1989, he set a record of another sort: Due to his dual duties with the Dodgers and NBC, Scully broadcast three extra-inning games, a total of 45 innings, in a span of just 27 hours. In addition, he was behind the microphone for many of the most significant moments in baseball history, including Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run in 1974, Bill Buckner's infamous error in the 1986 World Series, Kirk Gibson's dramatic World Series homer in 1988, and the first major league game played on the West Coast on 15 April 1958.

Scully's name is held in reverence among sportscasters nationwide, many of whom have imitated his style of broadcasting. Millions of baseball fans, though they have never met him, think of him as a treasured friend. In his half-century in baseball he has reported on many significant changes in the game, including the designated hitter, free agency, and corporate ownership, all while maintaining an impeccable sense of balance and perspective. His dual talents for observation and oratory, and his respect for his audience's intelligence, have won him nearly universal acclaim as the greatest broadcaster in baseball history.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: No books have been published about Scully; however, an impressive collection of news clippings is contained in the archives of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library in Cooperstown, New York. Significant articles appeared in TV Guide (28 February 1970), LA Weekly (7 August 1992), the Newark Star-Ledger (27 July 1995), and Inside Sports (April 1998). In addition, the media guide published annually by the Los Angeles Dodgers contains a wealth of factual information.

ERIC ENDERS

It was Scribner's "Encyclopedia of American Lives."

Then again, we have a lot of biographical sources. Public libraries like them. The tend to be pretty looking books that take up a lot of space.

But I liked your article Eric.

The key is the pretty leather binding that induces librarians to pay $400 a volume for them. ;)

I didn't sell the script but it did get me hired on another show - which then failed to get on the air and left me mostly unemployed for a year. I went to 70 Dodger games that year.

And now you know about 1/19th of the rest of the story ...

Stan from Tacoma

"Honey, get me some coffee will ya"

They do, not all of them, of course, but a pretty good number. You can request whichever game you want from the reference librarian (which used to be me). They have a listening/viewing room where you can plop down in a chair and listen to Vinny all day.

I've listened to all nine innings of the perfect game broadcast, the rest of which is as lovely as the ninth inning.

One noteworthy aspect of the job was when Jimmy Carter made a guest appearance on "Home Improvement." I was told to send back his I-9 because he failed to check the box saying he was a U.S. citizen.

Disney used to let you build up vacation days without limit, but after they realized they owed my boss two years of vacation, they changed the rule.

Mr. Enders: For some reason, I have it in my head that Scully worked for the New York Giants at some point before joining the Dodgers. Is it a common misconception, with any basis in reality? Perhaps he grew up rooting for the Giants?

I spotted Vin in the Dodger dugout and called out to him to ask for his autograph. He walked over to me, took the autograph book and signed his name. The reaction from the other kids was what I remember most. They looked at me like I was crazy for getting an autograph from some guy who looked like their father.

Sometime around the same time (it may have been the same day for all I know) #32 came out of the dugout. If no one other than myself knew Vin, the same was not true for Sandy. Everyone was yelling to Sandy for his autograph. There was a young girl who had a big cast that Sandy spotted and he went over to her and signed her cast. Sandy did not sign for anyone else and as he was leaving for the field, an adult yelled, "Hey Koufax, if I want your autograph I guess I have to wear a skirt."
Sandy looked up and said, "She's got a cast." Sandy then let out a laugh when he realized the guy was just razzing him. (Imagine a Philadelphia fan razzing a player).

It is odd what you remember in life. The Scully autograph and the Sandy encounter are both etched in my mind even though they happened more than forty years ago.

Eric, the answer to your question is either b or c. Vin had a sportcoat on when I got his autograph. Vin's sportcoat did not look out of style to me, and the year was sometime around 63 or 65.

Stan from Tacoma

It used to be a good plan until a couple years ago when they stationed somebody there to watch the door (though only during the summer, and you still might be able to sneak past them anyway).

Actually, all you have to do if you want to go to the Hall of Fame for free is simply walk through the front door without buying a ticket and act like you know where you're going. The 16-year-old kids at the turnstile will automatically assume you're someone important and let you go without questioning.

Boston has 6 innings standing between them and a very long off-season.

About ten years ago a company called "The Miley Collection" sold a lot of complete game broadcasts on cassettes, including games by Vin, Mel Allen, etc. They got bought out years ago, I think by MLB.

Laroche has swung at the first pitch twice, outs both time. Had an Olney in his other AB

Kemp has seen the same number of pitches in 2 ABs (7 pitches). Hasn't done anything of note

Abreu has seen 5 pitches in 2 ABs, but has a hit

Still no Dodger pitchers in the series, despite having 4 ofthem there

By the way, I agree with Jon's guidelines about no politics and hope that my comments don't unleash a bunch of folks who want to bash Republicans in general and George Bush in particular. I would have been as equally aghast had someone from the Hall injected a liberal political agenda into the Hall.

Stan from Tacoma

65 - Does anybody ever point out that the alternate strategy of "snowblowing money into smallball" is exemplified by the Mets, a team nobody in their right mind would emulate?

But my q was about Russell Martin vs. Navarro and where he sees that shaping up for the Dodgers next year. His answer was basically, Martin's unquestionably the better prospect, one of the best in baseball, but he could see Navarro starting until Martin is called up. But he said it better than that. It's really not an extremely interesting question, frankly, but it's all I could come up with and was sorta curious.

C

Pretty good stuff. Finally McCourt calls attention to the $144M spending on FA's that no one seems to notice outside of this site.

SportsNation Jim Callis: Martin might need a little time in Triple-A, but he's the clear starter of the future. I see Navarro as more of a backup. The Dodgers may need a stopgap, or they could let Navarro start and see what he does.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/051007milbas.html

Arizona had two second-teamers: Conor Jackson and Andy Green.

Jacksonville was team of the year.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/051007toy.html

My 15kb of fame.

73. I guess Navarro, though my preference would be 3) Jason Phillips. [g]

I'd really prefer to have both guys, they will both have value for the club and if someone gets hurt they are covered. I'd trade someone else and also spend $ome money on free agents. But I'm not GM, thank God.

Since I was somewhat dozing off when Ortiz and Martinez hit their home runs, I would tend to agree.

Garcia's sweating so much he's starting to resemble a plaster saint.

73 - Having watched the Mariners trade Jason Varitek because he couldn't throw out baserunners like Dan Wilson, I am exempting myself from this discussion for health reasons.

Meanwhile, I remain a Konerko champion... still prefer him to Hee Saenz Choilips.

Whatever happened to manager's named Smith? It would be so much easier...

Navarro I expected to be more awesome than it seems he was in this regard, although I really didn't get to see many Dodger games.

Bengie Molina

Andy Laroche said that Martin has a "Hose" which can be taken a number of different ways.

Is Konerko really worth 9-12 million more than Choi though?

OT, are Pierzynski, Everett, Garcia and Guillen character guys? I can't remember any more.

Doesn't throwing with Pierzynski stealing have a pretty high success rate?

Uribe swung at ball 4 methinks, but I need to see it again

Seriously, though, Martin was rated the best defensive catcher in the Southern League. Says BA: "An intense player with strong leadership skills, Martin calls a good game behind the plate, handles pitchers very well and always backs up bases, even late in the game. His catch-and-throw skills are outstanding. He still can get better at blocking balls, but he has made a lot of progress with the help of Suns hitting coach Steve Yeager, who caught in the majors for 15 years."

Grrr.

Hell of an at-bat by Mueller.

He is not worth one cent more. In fact, they're basically the same hitter, except Choi is a little bit better.

Performance in neutral ballparks (i.e. road parks), past three years:

Konerko: .248/.324/.432/.756
Choi: .242/.346/.424/.770

Add that to the fact that Choi will be 27 in 2006 and likely to improve, while Konerko will be 30 and is likely to decline, and it's no contest. Choi is the better player, even if salary is no object.

Laroche: 0-4, saw only 9 pitches, 5 of which came when he Olney'd
Kemp: 1-4, thrown out trying to extend a single, saw a more reasonable 15 pitches
Abreu: 1-3, error, saw 7 pitches

Miller: 1 IP, 1 hit, ER, BB, 2 Ks, 25 pitches
Dannemiller: 1 IP, 2 hits, 3 ERs, 2 BBs, HR

This is what the Dodgers need to spend money on:

Outfield
Pitching

If we could get a Delgado, that would be a different story.

plus, cutting off throws from CF while playing in LF...

oh and leaving the field of play during a coaching visit to the pitching mound..

2005-2006 free agent market=garbage dump.

Jacque Jones = Mike Edwards, only more famous

These are not the kinds of players we need to be adding, folks...

How much would DT GMs pay for the cream of the FA crop this year? How much would you offer Matsui? Giles? Burnett? (Player of your choice)

Would you be willing to go 4 yrs/$40 million for Matsui? Would that be enough, do you think? What about $3 yrs/$30 million for Burnett? $3 yrs/$30 million for Weaver?

I tend to think all of those guys might cost more -- I'm just throwing numbers out there.

Personally, when a club has a significant amount of money available to spend (as the Dodgers apparently do this off-season), I don't mind over-spending on a player, provided that player is a guaranteed star and that the over-payment is not too ridiculous.

Dustin Mohr (option declined)
Joe Mays (option declined)
Terrernce Long (even KC realized he's worthless)

PASS (x3)

Maybe we should get rid of the manager who never gave Choi much of a chance and... Oh wait... okay, check that off the list.

Anyway, definitely would like to see what Choi can do as a full-time player. 1 OF and
1 3rd base, and one more frontline starter, are likely will DePo will focus his money so this is prolly a moot discussion. (Unless Delgado...)

---
Why are the Dodgers still giving Dannemiller a chance, a look?

matsui: i would go 4 yrs 40 mil

burnett: 3 yrs 30 mil. i wouldnt committ to more than 3 yrs.

giles: 3 yrs 27 mil

like most have said, i would look to improve through trades.
zito
wilkerson
dunn
manram

are some of the players off the top of my head. i am sure others will be on the block as well.

Burnett I would not make a serious offer to. I'd give him about 2 yrs/$18 mil, which wouldn't come close to getting it done.

Matsui's real good, but old, like Giles. I'd offer him about 3 yrs/$28 mil. Which probably wouldn't get it done.

Hull on the other hand could be in Arizona to get an extra look, as his Jacksonville numbers were pretty impressive. I believe he's a few weeks older than Dannemiller (they're both 26 in December). Both are likely roster fillers, but you never know

Also, on another board, I have read comments from a Dodger fan who saw the final game of the Southern League finals, the game that the Suns won to clinch the championship. This poster had for some time been an advocate of trading Martin, on the grounds that Navarro is already with the Dodgers and is doing a good job. After watching that final playoff game, the poster basically said he had been a fool. He was extremely impressed by Martin, at the plate and behind it. He said every throw Martin made to second was a laser beam precisely one foot off the ground and one foot to the left of the base. During the game, a guy tried to steal second on a pitch that was a curveball in the dirt, and Martin still nailed him. The poster now believes that Martin has the potential to be a superstar. I don't think anybody who has seen Navarro sees superstar potential there.

120 - I just got a sinking feeling Manny in Dodger Blue would give a lot of people Daryl flashbacks.

AHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA I love the offseason.

Which is why I'd offer Matsui a longer contract. But I'd offer Giles more money, because he's better.

Giles, though older, has put up better stats than Matsui. His numbers away from SD are terrific. 3/$36M?

This game will break your heart.

(Johnny Cash version lyrics to keep it PG)

Canuck i always enjoy your posts at La Dugout, one question i have about your post. You say Martin has the potential to be a superstar, now do you mean a defensive superstar or an all around Mike Piazza type superstar?

We all know he can hit but not to the level of stardom and even the most prolific defensive players arent really considered superstars.

Stan from Tacoma

And I'd suppose it's hard to predict how superstar-like Martin will be, as we're not sure if he'll develop any power

http://www.hs.ttu.edu/hdfs3390/hothand.htm

It might be about short-term streaks, but you might find it interesting.

I don't think the Yankees will let Matsui opt out, and I don't see anyone outbidding NY if they want him back, which they certainly will.

The Dodgers should focus on a trade for the likes of Dunn, Ramirez, Abreu, etc.

russ martin: canadian mountee of walks... and heart... and hoses.

Respectfully disagreeing with nate, Martin will not hit for anywhere near the average that Piazza did. His OBP might be comparable however because of a higher walk rate.

But Piazza is a pretty darned high, and unfair, standard to hold him to. We're talking about the greatest hitting catcher of all time here, without a close second. It's no shame for Martin if he doesn't reach that level. (And with his power, he won't.)

I'll stop when nate stops. I must reveal all jokes on the off chance they were not intentional

When I was at The Sun, Paul O. had paid his own way to the World Cup. He had a major man-crush on Landon Donovan. He was a sort of mentor for me that summer. Glad to see him supporting Depo.

Stan from Tacoma

i have totally forgotten how much of a force in BA piazza was.

this is what i think of martin:
-will have a BA like lo duca, with one or two years with a big spike in homeruns.
- will always walk a lot and play excellent defense.

but one thing is for sure:
martin's hose> piazza's hose

im sure the ladies will agree as well.

Stan from Tacoma

For two easy payments and one complicated one, The mailman will get shot to death, The envelope will not seal and the stamp will be in the wrong denomination. Oh, and the last payment must be made in WOMPOM! - Mitch Hedberg

They are down 1 run with an inning and change left and they are talking about the fat lady.

Red Sox ball girls are hot!

104 runs scored
200 hits
40 hr
32 doubles
124 steaks
.362 AVG
.431 OBP

sheesh, u guys are so pessemistic. LOL

I remember telling my friend who was with me to see the Dukes not entirely in jest that the Dodgers should sign Piazza, Roger Cedeno and Mondesi to 15 year contracts and play them in the outfield. I missed on Cedeno; I expected him to be a star. I do wonder if Piazza would still be a premier hitter if he had not gotten so many years of getting beat up behind the plate. If he had been a good catcher I would have kept him behind the plate, but he was not a good catcher. If I had been running the Dodgers, Piazza would have been in left field.

Stan from Tacoma

yea but, how was his hose!?!? yea, thats what i thought.

When a guy has speed and a great hose, he can do these things.

And only 3 first place MVP votes that year. Ah, the ignorance.

I'm not sure how badly I want him, he'd be nice, but I tend to doubt I'd like what we'll give up. And there's always the chance that those road stats are more meaningful than I tend to think

a question for the ages, if martin was stealing on himself, would the hose or the speed win the battle?

So Dunn should come up a little from his 805 road OPS, and Giles should come down a little from his 1008 road OPS.

Brace yourself for more smallball quotes...

So says Chris Berman.

Wow.

Or is that only when they lose?

Stan from Tacoma

Stan from Tacoma

all of them could figure into the red sox plans sometime next year.

LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!

Those ball girls are all college softball players. They have to go through a baseball tryout before they're hired.

------------------

"I remember seeing Mike play in the minors when the Dukes visited Tacoma. I could not believe he was the last player drafted."

That's because he wasn't...

One day someone will give the Phillies some dice to play with. :-)

At least they've got Edgar ".718 OPS and 30 errors" Renteria locked up for $30M over the next 3 years.

Stan from Tacoma

They are in pretty good shape.

The 5th White Sox run was scored with a double, then 2 sacrifice bunts? Say it ain't so!

Then again, they don't have to deal with the FCC.

Do we give Ozzie credit for widening that strike zone the last few innings though?

207 - And Renteria has made the last out of Boston's season each of the last two years.

208 - No!! Bob and I want the Astros to play the Chisox!!!! It will be like a real-time trivia contest :)

Stan from Tacoma

with papelbon and lester waiting in the wings?

Schilling still has another 2 years on his contract, for $25M. I think he'll gut it out.

pretty good average if you ask me :)

Not the last round, however. 62nd of 70 rounds.

Stan from Tacoma

Stick to nicknames, Chris. For $200, what nickname would Berman have given Arnold Rothstein in 1919?

217 , 219 - Bob is just picking on me because the Abreu deal fell through! But the Tues game is scheduled for 8pm so by my thinking, any day you can sleep until after noon is definitely a day of rest :)

227 - NYTimes sports today: "Any doubt about where this division series (SD/StL) stood in the pecking order compared to the others was painfully clarified by the Game 3 starting time on Saturday: 11:09 p. m. Eastern time."

ESPN.com Daily Quickie: "How badly does MLB want this series to be over? So badly that they've scheduled Game 3 for Saturday night at 11 p.m. ET.

And so badly that they've scheduled Game 4 (right: "if necessary") for 1 p.m. PT the next day."

Jon: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/quickie

He didn't allegedly say "allegedly".

I have no idea whom Berman was trying to protect. It's not like anyone is going to sue him or ESPN. Who would be wronged?

Off to go watch the Icers play while the rest of my campus is working on their 4th day of tailgating for tomorrow...

223 - Wasn't Hanley part of the big 3 way Mets/Bosox/DRays trade this summer?

Of those three teams I think I'd actually take Tampa's future of any of 'em.

"They have turned seven double plays in the first two games, proving that defense up the middle is key to any winning team."

I might have to question your logic, Ryne...

If Anheuser Busch didn't just curse the Cardinals' chances this year, I'll be surprised.

Victor Santos

There are plenty of others that have been designated/released/whatever, I'm just posting the ones that have a chance at making a team. Mays, Mohr, and Long were the earlier ones today (and maybe Lecroy, I don't really understand the process very well)

It is really amazing to see the huge contrast of opinions that posters here have, regarding certain players, as compared to those Dodger fans over Fan Forum.Dodgers.com.

Right now there is a big push by some, for GM to pick up Konerko as a FA. Convinced that he would solve much of our power-bat issues and end what some call: The Choi Experiment.
True, Konerko has established himself as a steady, productive slugger, getting better each year, and you could say this year he has truly come into his own, having his best year ever, both offensively and defensively, along with contribruting greatly to the Sox rise to the top of their Div.

But, there is also a big difference between 10 to 12 million or more.....and the measley $350 thou that the Dodgers pay for Choi services. I personally believe that Choi has made improvements this year in both hitting and fielding, though he certainly has been inconsistent....while acclimating to a new team, adjusting to a new stance and approach at the plate he was given in spring by Tim Wallach, making him more aggressive, while putting more power in his stkroke.....dealing with getting benched for long periods of time by Tracy and relegated to a PH status, while prevented from facing lefty arms. Aong with the other RBI bats, He had to cope with hitting in a erratic line-up, that gave the few (very few) big power-hitters they did have, poor protection behind them and when hitting opportunities did present themselves, more than not, there wasn't anybody on base to drive in, since the team was near anemic, in the OBP% Dept.

Though many critisize Choi's glove and lack of mobility at 1B, he showed that he is a lot better than his critics by turning in fielding numbers like, coming in 3rd among NL 1B in fldg range 10.23 and 4th or 5th in Fldg % with a .998 among players with 500 or more TC's.
Though he was 25th in TC...27th in PO in NL, due to lack of playing time, he jumped up to 14th in Assists with 62, indicating he is able to turn a fair number of DPs and can throw runners out, when the ball is initially hit to him.

He may or may not become a starter with steady power and production, learn to hit lefties adequately to warrant not being platooned, although I think his 1B glovework at this point, warrants him being rated as an asset to his team, rather than a debit.

And though I can't say if he will ever reach the great potential that many coaches and fans, myself included, see in him, but 3 season with a little over 900 abs, is not nearly enough playing time and exposure to come to any solid conclusions on the Big Lefty First Baseman.

I hope the Dodgers are smart enought to keep him and find another big bat in a solid glove at 3rd, Left, or possiby in cf, if they dump Bradley just because of the Kent-Bradley Affair, which I personally think would be a bad move on their part, both economically and loss of a good player on the team.

Thomcat