"About J.D. Drew, whose injury history clashes with Colletti's philosophies?"

How does an injury history clash with someone's philosophy? Are some people morally opposed to injuries? Are some GMs never going to sign anyone who has been injured?

Should I just go to bed?

I'm not even sure Colletti would buy into that assertion.

It's not called the DL for disabled. According to the terms of the Basic Agreement, it's called the Drew List.

Sheesh...

So there is a Plaschke column, where he admits he likes Colletti personally, Mike Downey admits the same in the Chicago Tribune.

I'm a nice guy. At least one sportswriter in America likes me. Maybe even two.

Who taught guys like Plaschke, Mariotti, and Bayless to be numbskulls when they were coming up? I want someone to blame!

I write the songs that make Lasorda sing
I write the songs for teams that don't have rings
I write the songs that get the GMs fired
I am Plaschke, and I write the songs

A lot longer if you win it, apparently.

Now that's good PR.

Steve would enjoy the names Colletti gets called. Every possible way you could join Colletti's name with Neifi Perez'.

On a hopefully unrelated topic, anyone else worried that Gagne in 2006 is not going to be quite the guy he was in Game Over years?

I say the Dodgers go all out on this traditionalist's thing. 8 Neifi's out in the field 5 Russ Ortiz's in the rotation and 72 fingers in the bullpen.

If you guys want to check it out, i've created a new blog.

http://zedwords.blogspot.com/

"To do my job and do it well, I need to tune out criticism," Frank McCourt said. "I can't be persuaded by being pulled and tugged in different directions."

Cut to a storefront in Van Nuys. The door opens.

"I am Frank M."

"Welcome. The first step is to admit you're powerless over Plaschke, and that your life has become unmanageable..."

"I hate that the Giants have such front-office depth, one of baseball's smartest guys--Ned Colletti--is only their assistant general manager."

Look, his moves in SF may look pretty suspect, but let's remember 2 things:
1) He was not the head honcho. He may have had philosophical issues with Sabean that he had to compromise on more than one occasion.
2) The SF philosophy the last couple of years has been "win now while Bonds can still play". Bonds is such a force that SF had no choice but to attempt to win now... and don't think Bonds didn't have anything to say about it.

I guess what I'm saying is that the paradigms between SF and LA are quite different and Colletti is probably not only aware of this, he may just use it to his (our) advantage. Time will tell and I'm inclined to wait-and-see before hitting the panic button.

22 - You sly devil :)

I always thought Sabean was as much a master of the July-deadline dealmaking process as Beane. The Giants seemed to look at the entire season as an opportunity to make shrewd trades--which cost them prospects, but got them 90+ win seasons year after year. Their FA signings were less consistently successful, but the Giants were forced to mostly go after second-tier talent--the Vladdys and Sheffields were beyond their reach. At the second-tier, the chances for disappointment are much higher.

The Dodgers chess pieces are in a completely different alignment. This guy doesn't seem like he's so dumb that he can only build a team one way. The problem is not him; it's who he works for.

Jim Fregosi would be a whole lotta worse than Jim Tracy.

Let's hope he knows he only answers to the McCourts... if he thinks he works for Plaschke, Simers, et. al. then we're in even bigger trouble; hopefully he's adept at managing the MSM. Feed 'em enough to keep them content. They're as smart as goldfish so a few fluffy flakes now and then and they'll be happy.

And, if he can manage to relegate Lasorda to the background...

There has never been a World Champion San Francisco Giants. Never. Not. One. Time.

There have been only three NL Champion San Francisco Giants. Just. Three.

By comparison, the Dodgers came to Los Angeles and won the hearts and minds of the town by brining four NL Pennants and three World Championships in their first 9 years. Added three more pennants by to close out the first 20 years. Added two more World Championships in the next 10 years.

My expectation as a Dodger fan is the Dodgers will win it all. Expectations of Giants fans is that they will be disappointed. (This was fed continuously for 8 or so years where they dangled 90+ win seasons in front of the fans and just missed or exited from the playoffs in the first round).

Northern Illinois Univ. is a good school with students mostly from the north (upper middle class) suburbs of Chicago.

At least the Giants' farm system produced young players that other teams were willing to trade for, unlike the Dodgers until very recently. LaTroy Hawkins is no ones answer, but you'll grow old waiting for Jerome Williams to be a star.

Can't say I care much for how the Giants were constructed, and I care even less about Bonds, but they DID go to the World Series in '02, and they DID finish ahead of the Dodgers 8 of the last 9 years.

Brown's Times article puts to rest speculation about the return of Dusty Baker, and the candidacy of Ron Wotus.

I didn't see Colletti's press conference, but I've seen a few comments disparaging him for not saying much. Really, though, did you expect him to? The common approach these days seems to be to spew vague platitudes so as to avoid giving your enemies any ammo. Considering that the press ran his predecessor out of town, that might be a wiseplan.

And I'll remind you, DePo took much the same approach, as far as I noticed. I rarely saw him give an interviewer anything of substance after he came to LA.

As to Colletti, it's the first day. We should do what so many didn't do for DePodesta: cut him some slack and give him a chance.

Now, help my memory. Years ago, someone asked the then-manager of the top farm club--the Albuquerque Dukes, or as Vin once called them in one of his greatest moments, the Albukookie Derks--why so many of the younger players who went up to the Dodgers didn't do that well. The manager blamed it on Lasorda. And I have to agree that if a young player came up and wasn't his type of guy or not quite ready (anybody remember his misuse of Pedro Martinez and John Wetteland?), Lasorda couldn't deal with him.

Now, that manager was either--drumroll, please--Kevin Kennedy or Terry Collins. I am almost sure it was Collins. And if so, I wonder if that played into the recent melodrama. If it was Kennedy, that might explain why he may be the best manager who hasn't managed lately.

I goofed with my note about Fitzsimmons, I was just looking at the list of players who played ONLY for the Dodgers and Giants.

In addition to Maglie, both Chief Meyers and Casey Stengel played in World Series for the Dodgers and Giants.

This could, of course, be true, but it would be like asserting that Bill Plaschke is the best columnist at the LA Times.

Collins' winning percentage as a manager was .506 and he never won a division, but did finish 2nd 5 out of the 6 seasons he managed. New front-running respected baseball guy Jim Fregosi's winning percentage is .484, he did win the division twice but only finished as high as 2nd one other time in his 15 seasons. Plus, he was fired 4 times.

I don't know how well Fregosi got along with his players. But since they finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th most of his years, I'm guessing not all that well. But he is 7 years older than Collins, so I guess he's seen a lot more baseball in his time (sarcasm). And he also won that last game. Oh wait, no he didn't, Joe Carter did.

I'm not saying he should hang it up anytime soon. But he's far and away my favorite sports announcer, and I just don't want to see him become a shadow of his greatness. I watched it happen with Chick, and I don't want my impressions of Vin to be similarly tainted.

There, I've criticized two LA broadcasting icons in one post. Let the floggings begin!

You're a Dodgers fan, so you're allowed to gently criticize Vin. If you were an Angels or Giants fan, you wouldn't be.

Chick was a different story. For a while every player who touched the ball was Sedale Threatt.

Can't imagine that McCourt would go for Fregosi, though. Lot of irony in the Angels being led by Scioscia and Hatcher, while former Halo icon Fregosi is in Dodger Blue.

As good as Fregosi was, the best thing he did for the Angels was get traded for Nolan Ryan.

This is all facetious, by the way.

- The only things I have to go on are his public statements, like this interview with Baseball Prospectus, and the results of his contract-fu. Based only on that, you can grab the Crayolas and start coloring me Not Impressed Pink.
-A strategy that seems common in Colletti negotiations is to offer one more year than the competition, hoping to quickly secure a deal. Frankly, just in terms of negotiating veteran contracts, Colletti scared the bejeepers out of me. Every offseason was a slow-moving slasher flick, with a three-year deal to Craig Counsell creeping up as you showered.
-As a Giants fan, it warms the heart to hear an incoming Dodgers G.M. saying he looks for "overachievers", and "character players who had something to prove."
-but you have to hope he approaches Dodger acquisitions by looking at "character", trying to get the guys with "something to prove", and trying to nab players like Neifi Perez because, "(Perez) knew how to play the game." Vague, meaningless aphorisms masquerading as legitimate talent evaluation? It makes me want to stare into Frank McCourt's eyes and say, "no backsies."
-The Giants have been successful during Colletti's tenure, and while it's tempting to ignore that as he ventures to the land of the unwashed Hessians, it has to be one of the boldest points on his resume. I have no idea if this is a good or bad move for the Dodgers.

"He is gregarious and outspoken. Unlike DePodesta, he will be in the clubhouse daily and nightly, taking the pulse."

I guess that's how their going to test for amphetamines next season.

We can't expect him to go on forever, though. Nor should we want him to. That's all I'm sayin'.

And to 31--Colleti only said he was going to talk to Collins about remaining in the organization, not as a managerial candidate.

Based on Colleti's comments, i would assume the top managerial candidates are: Lee Elia, Jim Frey(is he dead? Shouldn't cost the McCourts much $ then), and Dallas Green. However, if we want to go all retro 80s, we have the perfect candidate in-house--Tommy Lasorda!

but;

To the long suffering Angel faithful, he WAS the face of the organization in its first 10 years;
1)six time All Star,
2)team captain (and surrogate Autry son),
3)the career leader in most offensive, categories when he got traded for Ryan,
4)first manager to win ANYTHING for the Angels

None of which has anything to do with whether he has any business being considered as Dodger manager.

http://tinyurl.com/7sq7l

Here is the intro:
Expect commitment toward chemistry, not a spreadsheet. The Dodgers have clearly embarked on a new way of doing things --which happens to be the old way of doing things. Wednesday's introduction of Ned Colletti as the team's new general manager more or less completed the repudiation of the Paul DePodesta era. This means the Michael Lewis best-seller, a textbook on how things were done in baseball's stat-driven new age, is now no more relevant than, say, a Dodger media guide from 1968. Actually, the old media guide might be more relevant, because it, like the 50-year-old Colletti, represents old-school baseball values.

Because the inmates are running the asylum, and hiring Jim Fregosi would be crazy?

Do they forget that the Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent hated each other, yet they still made it to the WS?

Join me in a look into the future. I will show you why the Ned Coletti hiring is a good thing for your Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ned Coletti inherits a Dodger team that will win the western division in 2006. The other teams in the division stink and are getting older (although the Cameron pick up is a good one). The return of Eric Gagne, Odalis Perez and JD Drew will be tremendous.

Following the division championship the Dodgers will start to implode. JD the introvert will be traded for character reasons or if he has a good enough season, which I expect, he'll walk. He didn't help the Dodgers win the championship anyways; it was all the doing of the sparkplug Jason Repko. Speaking of Repko, he will get a Baldelli type contract making him your centerfielder for years!

Oh Joy!

Jeff Kent will either retire or walk; it will be mutual and very happy. What a good PR skills you have Mr. Coletti. I won't be so cliché' as to say he will be replaced with Niefi Perez but it will be someone with the ability to hurt you at many different positions. By this time Choi has already been long gone, which is a good thing because whichever former Angels first basemen we get will have character'd us into the playoffs. These are just a few examples of the decisions that will shape this franchise.

Luckily, this will send the Dodgers into a downward spiral for at least 3 years. It is possible that they lose 300 games. Attendance will plummet and the value of the franchise will drop. Forcing Mr. McCourt to get out before its too late.

This is where things start getting better.

Confirmed stat head and innovative executive Mark Cuban will step in and save the franchise. Cuban will immediately put the team back in the right direction. He will turn the reigns back over to Paul Depodesta. It will take Depodesta a year or two to get the team back in order, prompting the L.A. media to out do its typical ignorance. However, Mark Cuban provides the resilience the team needs to follow out Paul's plan.

The team then goes on to win 10 straight division titles and 4 World Series rings. By the time Paul Depodesta decides to retire, sabermetrics has become common practice. This leaves Depodesta's successor with little or no advantage over the other teams in the league.

I had to look it up.

Fregosi is the only player to ever hit for the cycle in a game at Dodger Stadium.

Got to run, and tend to my shrine for Rick Reichardt.

Of course, it's being used by one of the few coaches who didn't leave for Pittsburgh.

The difference with the Giants is that they've been in no hurry to push Bonds out the door. In fact, they've known, up until arguably last year, that they've got to milk it while they can.

The similarity is that they think, based all the 90+ win seasons, that they've made all the right moves, and have got it all figured out. I've waited and waited for them to learn the hard way. I like Lance Niekro in the role of Eddie Curry. Now I'm worried that when the Giants get re-educated, that we, with Colletti, are along for the ride.

You mean like, "Moneyball"? That's a pretty good introduction. It's a little out of date--Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg are gone, as is this stat-geek who worked with the GM, who disappeared somewhere. But Nick Swisher's in it, and Beane's approach is still pretty much what it was.

I doubt Fregosi could pry that number away from Mota. If he did, there would be a lengthy Plaschke column about Fregosi disrepecting Mota's history with the Dodgers. And Plaschke will write a long column about how much Fregosi meant to Angels fans when he didn't even live out here during the time that Fregosi played in L.A. and Anaheim.

And Mike Downey will write a column saying that Fregosi is a nice guy.

Don't buy this for a second. The media needs an angle (as opposed to actually enlightening people), so here it is. But the real DePodesta legacy, as opposed to the caricature, is the team is no longer burdened by a bunch of bad contracts, and he resisted the temptation to spin off the emerging prospects for immediate gain. These were brave things for DePo to do, brave but foolish for his long-term survival; but Colletti will quietly thank him many times in the next four years.

I don't think it's fair, however, to judge Colletti as the antithesis of everything DePodesta allegedly stood for, just because some bad writers say he is. Maybe DePo was a poor communicator. But that's not a "Moneyball" principle, that's a character trait. The logic of this writer is that DePodesta's shyness discredits the use of statistics. Huh?

Just say no to lame sportswriters.

The combined work of our last 2 GMs left a situation that's fairly hard to screw up. That's something that either of them might want to mention in their next interview.

88 - That deal looks too good to be true! Four years for only $18.25m? Sir Sidney will probably be earning more than that over the next four years.

Anyone else notice there is an ad for a Scott Stapp album as one of mlb.com's top stories? Is this not very, very disturbing?

Kruk:.430
Dykstra: .420
Stocker: .409
Daulton: .392
Hollins: .372
Eisenrich: .363
Milt Thompson: .341
Ricky Jordan: .324
Ingaviglia: .318
Morandini: .309
Duncan: .304

Yeah, i'd take that team.

I would love for the Dodgers to be restored to sanity.

Atheletics Nation blog, the link is listed on Jon's sidebar. They tend to talk alot of sabr stuff. Latest rumor is Beane is shopping Zito. vr, Xei

There is a thing or two to be learned from the pitching that year also, from the reverse-Gagne that Fregosi and Johnny Podres (where is he these days?) pulled with some punk kid named Schilling, to the playoff experienced starters that Lee Thomas brought in (Terry Mulholland, Danny Jackson), the scrap heap but undervalued relievers (Dave West, Larry Anderson) and late-season additions (Donn Pall, Roger Mason, and Bobby Thigpen), with a VERY deep bench (Jordan, Kim Batiste, Thompson/Incaviglia/Wes Chamberlain, Todd Pratt).

If that team signs Larry Walker instead of Gregg Jefferies in the '94 offseason, it's quite possible the Atlanta streak ends in 1995 and that team never wins a WS, we see a slugfest for the ages between the Indians and Phils in the '95 Series, and who knows if the late 90s Yankee dynasty ever emerges?

Ahh, hindsight...

In additon to the reasons above, its becasue they are not boring. Even when losing everyone stops to watch Barry and to a lesser degee Schmidt. With the exception of one late-inning when the bullpen door swung open, the Dodgers have been extremly boring to follow for at least three years (if not longer). Even when they were winning in 2004, they were like watching grass grow. 2003 was the most boring season ever and 2005 was only interesting to count how days on the DL we could rack up.

Of course I would rather win, but I would like a little excitment as well. Maybe Drew can provide that if he can stay healthy in '06.

"I believe in character, work ethic, coachability, how badly someone wants to win," he said. "Statistics don't tell the whole story."

Which is why we just loved Barry Bonds in SF.

Huh?

When Bonds returned last year, it was the Giants that made the last run at the Padres for first place, but after the Jeff Fassero meltdown and the JT Snow error, the Giants faded into third.

What I found boring were the 90s teams.

Yeah, that's the boring 90's as defined by Eric Karros.

On the other hand, Jason Repko is very fast and one of the fastest players I've ever seen on the Dodgers.

(Yes, I know he said "like DePodesta")

Dodgers and players I'd be interested in are highlighted.
Type A
[Wilson Alvarez (LAD)], Brad Ausmus (Hou), A.J. Burnett (Fla), Jeromy Burnitz (ChC), Royce Clayton (Ari), Roger Clemens (Hou), Jeff Conine (Fla), Johnny Damon (Bos), Octavio Dotel (Oak), Erubiel Durazo (Oak), Scott Eyre (SF), Kyle Farnsworth (Atl), Rafael Furcal (Atl), [Brian Giles (SD)], Tom Gordon (NYY), Mark Grudzielanek (StL), Ramon Hernandez (SD), Trevor Hoffman (SD), Bob Howry (Cle), Todd Jones (Fla), Paul Konerko (CWS), Matt Lawton (NYY), Braden Looper (NYM), Kevin Millar (Bos), Bengie Molina (LAA), [Matt Morris (StL)], Bill Mueller (Bos), Mike Piazza (NYM), Joe Randa (SD), Al Reyes (StL), Kenny Rogers (Tex), B.J. Ryan (Bal), Rudy Seanez (SD), Julian Tavarez (StL), Ugueth Urbina (Phi), Billy Wagner (Phi), Larry Walker (StL), [Jeff Weaver (LAD)], Rondell White (Det), Bob Wickman (Cle), Tim Worrell (Ari).

Type B
Antonio Alfonseca (Fla), Rich Aurilia (Cin), Paul Byrd (LAA), Hector Carrasco (Was),[ Elmer Dessens (LAD)], Cal Eldred (StL), Juan Encarnacion (Fla), Shawn Estes (Ari), Carl Everett (CWS), Julio Franco (Atl), [Nomar Garciaparra (ChC)], Alex Gonzalez (Fla), Todd Greene (Col), Chris Hammond (SD), Scott Hatteberg (Oak), Rick Helling (Mil), Roberto Hernandez (NYM), Jason Johnson (Det), Jacque Jones (Min), Al Leiter (NYY), [Esteban Loaiza (Was)], Kenny Lofton (Phi), Brian Meadows (Pit), Jim Mecir (Fla), Jose Mesa (Pit), Dan Miceli (Col), Kevin Millwood (Cle), Jamie Moyer (Sea), Mike Myers (Bos), Rafael Palmeiro (Bal), Todd Pratt (Phi), Felix Rodriguez (NYY), Reggie Sanders (StL), J.T. Snow (SF), Sammy Sosa (Bal), Russ Springer (Hou), Frank Thomas (CWS), Brett Tomko (SF), Michael Tucker (Phi), Daryle Ward (Pit), Jarrod Washburn (LAA), Bernie Williams (NYY), Preston Wilson (Was), Eric Young (SD).

Type C (first-time free agents only)
Joey Eischen (Was), Scott Elarton (Cle), Abraham Nunez (StL).

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_34_bat.shtml

Also, here are the extra bases courtesy:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Year----2b--3b---HR
2005---284--21--149
2004---226--30--203
2003---260--25--124
2002---286--29--155
2001---264--27--206
2000---265--28--211
1999---253--23--187
1998---209--27--159 (johnson replaces piazza)
1997---242--33--174 Zeile
1996---215--33--150 Blowers

Maybe there were more enjoyable moments than I am remembering. Perhaps the events of the last year, culminating in the last month, have left such a bad taste in my mouth I have forgotten the good times. A little more consistent offense and a lot less front-office drama is all I'm asking for.

"I'm a believer in kids," Colletti said. "And in this park, pitching and defense. They (Dodgers) had good infield defense two years ago when they won the division. Last year it wasn't so good."

He quickly confirmed he was less infatuated with Hee Seop Choi and J.D. Drew than DePodesta had been.

No quote on the last one.

(This is where Jamesian principles have infused the whole game, whether Joe Morgan wants to admit it or not. It wasn't so long ago that the draft-choice impact of a FA signing was considered trivial.)

As bhsportsguy says in 125, the Dodgers would not face that liability if they signed a FA, but isn't that rule also deterimental to FAs? Bottom-tier teams are the ones least likely to have the budget for a FA. For those teams, it's better to lose a FA than gain one.

So--what happens to Type A's and B's if no one signs them? At what point can you sign, say, Mike Piazza without penalty?

Steve, make is a double why your up

...for their farm system is absolutely loaded(dodgers); however, the players you mentioned are not the ones we should go after in a trade.

If we could pull something like this: Zito + someone else for Billingsley, Andy LaRoche, Edwin Jackson (why not take a chance), and Milton Bradley.

When I saw your comments about Whicker's article, I emailed him to see what made him make the comments about Drew and Choi.

This is what he answered back:

"Because he said, on the podium, the Dodgers needed help at corner infield, and later he said he put a premium on healthy players. When asked how that affected JD Drew, he said, "I have my thoughts about JD Drew and I'm going to tell them to JD Drew first." Which I didn't take as an endorsement."

It might be that Ned wants to alter the rather one-sided contract DePo signed him to. He probably wanted to get Scott Boras' heart rate up a little.

By the way, if I call Colletti "Ned" on this website, does that mean I'm an "old-fashioned baseball" geek? I've been rolling my socks over my pants legs since Tuesday night, so maybe I am.

But the folks that really knowed him.

Knowed that beneath them two dirty shirts he always wore

There beat a heart as big as all outdoors

As big as all outdoors.

Can't. Hold. Back.

Poor Ned is dead
Poor Ned Colletti is dead
He's lookin oh so purty and so nice (and so nice)
It looks like he's asleep
Its a shame that he won't keep,
But its summer and we're running out of ice.

So someone else had a parent who was addicted to singing songs from "Oklahoma" too?

My father had a home karaoke machine which he used for this purpose.

I don't really believe myself when I say that.

As revisionist history WHAT IF;

1)Instead of bargain shopping for Henderson and Burnitz, Evans had rolled the dice and sent hot prospects Jackson and Hanrahan to Pittsburgh (as rumored) for Brian Giles;

2)With Giles in the lineup, the Dodgers eke out a playoff berth and their superior pitching takes them deep into the postseason;

3)Evans keeps his job(temporarily of course) and is hailed for his shrewdness,

4)Giles is in the lineup 2 years in exchange for two prospects who haven't developed; no DePo,no Choi, in fact most of the topics on Dodger Thoughts are wiped off the table.

Isn't hindsight great.

I was going to change the phrase to "Just another walk for Willy" and they could make t-shirts.
-Willy Ay-Pod cases
-Willy Ay-Ware (sunglasses)
-Willy Eye-bars (someone else's suggestion)- they would be powerbar substitutes

Any other Aybar suggestions?

If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

JD Drew for Ryan Freel.

Hee Sop Choi for Kenny Lofton.

Antiono Perez for Juan Castro.

Next years team:
C Benito Santiago
1B J.T. Snow
2B Jeff Kent
SS Rich Aurilia
3B Bill Mueller
LF Jose Cruz Jr
CF Kenny Lofton
RF J.D. Ghost

SP
Lowe
Penny
Tomko
Rueter
Ponson

Anyone here think there is a way doesnt opt out of his contract after next year? I guess he could always tear a hamstring but anyways......

""About J.D. Drew, whose injury history clashes with Colletti's philosophies?"

The philosophy of not getting hurt apparently.

I'm upset at my parents for clashing with my philosophy of not wanting them to die.

142 Using that left-to-right diagram, if Drew can still play centerfield, shouldn't he play there until he can't? I don't recall having any issues with Drew's defense, and I am led to believe that RF is harder on a bad knee than CF. Leg angles I guess.

Drew is in the catbird seat. I don't know what Colletti's leverage is. You don't add a year to that contract. The only good news is if Drew looked at '06 as his walk year, and repeated his '04.

Do you like the smell of raw eel and kimchi?

Very good signing.

If we must replace Choi, we could do a lot worse than Overbay, and I wanted Nomah anyways. The only thing I don't like about Overbay is that he's a doubles hitter, although a little more power and he has a few more homers. And he's a good bet for 80 walks

Eyre has signed with the Cubs. Supposedly, all 32 clubs had interest in him, so he narrowed it down to 4 clubs yesterday (the Dodgers were not one). It's a two year deal, which surprises me as he could easily get 3 years. Guess he signed for more than just money...

Colletti's San Francisco house of cards...tumbling down!

just kidding.

Martin followed up his 0-4 performance in game 1 with a 2-5 performance in game 3 of the Olympic qualifying series. He also was hit by a pitch, and stole a base

# of crashes into walls (+)
# of basemen taken out by hard slides (+)
# of years spent in minor leagues (+)
# thickness of dark stuff worn under eyes (+)
# height (-)
# HBPs (+)
# being white (+)
# being named Ja(y)son (+)

Anything else?

If only JD Drew could have gotten out of the way...

182
Wouldn't have mattered. His knees would have given out anyway...:)

If you don't let the batters reach first on HBPs, then you'd have a bloodbath on your hands.

Or you can look at it this way? Why should a pitcher be rewarded for being so wild that they hit someone with a pitch?

There are obvious exceptions to it, such as Mike Kinkade.

You could just as easily argue that it's the pitcher's fault that a batter walked too.

http://www.japanesebaseball.com/players/player.jsp?PlayerID=919

JapaneseBaseball.com has a link to the official story, but it's in Japanese. The other site mentioned, which has it in English, says he's poseted, whereas the Japanese article says he's released to follow his dream, similar to Iguchi last year. The people on that forum believe he may be no better than a AAA pitcher. I don't think signing him to compete for the 5th starter would not be that bad of an idea (he's 34 next season)

And yes, much of the "fault" for a walk goes to the pitcher. It's impossible for a hitter to draw a walk unless the pitcher throws at least 4 pitches out of the strike zone per at-bat.

Ever slid headfirst?
Ever slid into first?
Ever caught a line drive in your bare hands?
Ever slid into the dugout to catch a foul pop?
Ever kicked dirt on an umpire?
Ever taken out the guy at second on a double play ball?
How many infield hits did you get?
(Managers only) Ever punched out someone in a bar who criticized your team?

Tiebreaker:
How fast do you run to first on a BB?

The above sentence will NOT be on Craig Biggio's Hall of Fame plaque.

However, unless you're Craig Biggio or Ron Hunt, HBPs don't affect your OBP very much.

Washington led the NL (and tied with Toronto in the AL) with 89 HBPs. That represented 1.4% of the team's plate appearances that year.

I can't find 2005 figures, but the batter who reached base the most on errors in 2004 was Miguel Tejada: 18 times.

On the 2004 Dodgers Cesar Izturis led the team by reaching first 10 times on errors.

Overall, right handed batters reach first on errors more often than lefties for some reason.

In 2002, Dave Roberts played in 122 games and reached first on an error just once

In 2003, Roberts played in 107 games, but reached first on an error 14 times.

Anyhow, I love Choi, but (barring giving up a gem of a prospect) his ceiling could be that of a guy like Overbay. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing Choi getting respect in an Oakland uniform, while at the same time reaping the benefits of a guy like Overbay. As for Nomar, I thought I saw him driving on my way to work in Whittier the other morning. What he can do now is probably similar to Aybar's ceiling, no matter how well Willie played at the end of last year.

From mlb.com

And what do you guys make out from the last 2 paragraphs? Wedding, or Piniella/Fregosi, or both?

If Aybar's DWL stats are included with his MLB stats, he's hitting .254/.354/.366 in 142 ABs

Do we have to?

I think this is part of McCourt's Donald Trump complex. He wants a glitzy name. That's why Nomar's coming too, I bet. To McCourt, Nomar is a superstar because he was on the Sox.

I guess I'd prefer Lou, just because I do think his TB and Seattle jobs were similar to what the next manager will face here. A lot of young guys. But unlike the Rays, the Dodgers can pay at least a few big salaries--Lou got tired of it being kids and kids only in Tampa Bay.

It is interesting to reflect on how much worry there has been for nearly a year now over how we were going to have to trade prospects in 2005 just to avoid getting slaughtered in the up-coming Rule 5 draft. Or perhaps "worry " is not the right word. People who have been wanting us to jettison prospects for "proven" major leaguers have been argiung that we might as well trade a bunch our prospects because we would just lose them for nothing anyway in December 2005's Rule 5 draft. Hogwash. Every single one of the prospects on my list of Top 30 Dodger prospects who needs to be protected from the Rule 5 draft IS protected, and we did not have to make a single trade. Oh, I'm sure we will lose some minor leaguers in December, to either or both the major league and minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, but non-Top 30 prospects are not guys who could have got us anything in trade anyway.

I would love to see him get a shot also, but I think Dan Johnson will be their 1b for the next several years.

to be sure, though i figure choi, who is only a few months older than dan johnson, could have quite the similar career path. maybe DH?