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About Jon
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
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4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
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Protection Promotions
2005-11-17 20:17
by Jon Weisman

With the Rule 5 Draft approaching, James Loney, Andy La Roche, Joel Guzman, Greg Miller and Jose Diaz joined the Dodger 40-man roster today to remain unpoachable, according to Ken Gurnick at MLB.com. For more on Dodger minor leaguers, revisit the Dodger Thoughts Comprehensive, Non-Definitive 2005 Minor League Report.

Here's a sample: the report on Diaz:

Jose Diaz, Vero Beach/GCL Dodgers, 6-4, 247, 2/27/84: Warrin' Onlys. Only pitched 17 2/3 innings this season, only allowed one earned run (although three others were changed to unearned by the official scorer). He had Tommy John surgery in August 2004, but was throwing hard one year later. Not to be confused with the Jose Diaz that went to the Mets in the Jeromy Burnitz trade.

The Dodgers have 37 players on their roster and three openings.

Comments
2005-11-17 20:22:33
1.   D4P
Any big names that weren't protected?
2005-11-17 20:41:45
2.   CanuckDodger
All of the prospects on my own list of Top 30 Dodger prospects who needed to be protected are protected, and that includes Diaz. Any guys we lose will be pretty small fish.
2005-11-17 20:47:33
3.   King of the Hobos
Luis Gonzalez is available right? I can see him leaving, considering the love for finding LOOGYs in the draft. Not much of a loss, just wanted to make sure. Anyone else have a chance to be taken?

Anyone think Colletti will take a player in the draft?

2005-11-17 20:49:23
4.   CanuckDodger
And by the way, the official measurements for Jose Diaz that are provided over Jon's comment on Diaz are inaccurate. Diaz weighed over 290 pounds at the end of the 2005 season. He is not called "Jumbo" for nothing. The Dodgers have ordered him to lose weight. They no doubt fear that the dimensions of the home team bullpen at Dodger Stadium may not be able to accommodate Jumbo, the Bull, and Gagne too. Or at least they could not sit on the same bench without breaking it.
2005-11-17 20:50:52
5.   King of the Hobos
Some more thoughts and questions...Why are Edwards, Grabowski, and Myrow still on the roster? Just in case Tracy tells the new manager how good they are

And I think we all need to agree to call Diaz by his nickname, Jumbo. Helps with the multiple Jose Diaz's problem

2005-11-17 20:56:04
6.   D4P
6
Why were Edwards, Grabowski, and Myrow ever on the roster?
2005-11-17 21:21:49
7.   still bevens
Anyone else see this in the dodgers.com article on Rule V?

---
On the manager front, Lou Piniella and Jim Fregosi continue to be considered the front-runners on new general manager Ned Colletti's short list, although the club would not confirm contact was made with either.

Colletti headed to Florida on Thursday to attend the weekend wedding of former boss and San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean, but Piniella and Fregosi both live in Florida.

2005-11-17 21:40:54
8.   Smitty
6
Shhhhhhhh... It was Depo... Don't tell anyone.
2005-11-17 21:44:44
9.   molokai
Still plenty of room to add more. Hanrahan / Grabowski and possibly Myrow and Ross.
2005-11-17 21:46:33
10.   Bob Timmermann
If there were no Grabowski on the roster, there would have been no Grabowski Principle and the 2005 season would have been unbearable.
2005-11-17 21:52:10
11.   CanuckDodger
Looking over our 2005 minor league rosters to see whom we could lose in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft, the striking thing is how virtually every guy we could lose is a pitcher. 2002 3rd round pick Mike Nixon, a catcher who turned into a rare Logan White high-round bust fairly quickly, is about our ONLY unprotected position player young enough to be even a nominal "prospect," and no MLB team would ever dream of taking him in the Rule 5 draft.

But when it comes to unprotected pitchers, the list is pretty long. The first column is lefties, the second is righties:

Mike Megrew
Carlos Alvarez
Eric Stults
Luis Gonzalez
Matt Merricks
Jonathan Figueroa
Ryan Ketchner
Glenn Bott
Marshal Looney

Brian Pilkington
Eric Hull
Jarod Plummer
William Juarez
Danny Muegge
Zach Hammes
Brandon Weeden
Steve Nelson

Mike Megrew is the best prospect on the list above, but I think the Dodgers are confident that his missing most of the 2005 season after Tommy John surgery, coupled with the fact that he is a finesse rather than a power pitcher who has yet to reach Double A, will keep other teams away from him.

The pitcher we are most likely to lose is Carlos Alvarez. Left-handed, throws hard, has a good curve and change-up. An MLB team could easily use him as a situational lefty in the big leagues in 2006 without being hurt by it. Ricardo Rincon is his upside long-term. He doesn't quite break into the Dodgers' Top 30 prospects, but he would be prized in a lot of other teams' farm systems, and I would definitely have protected him over Edwards on the 40-man roster, I can tell you that.

2005-11-17 22:01:17
12.   popup
Bob, the 2005 season was unbearable and the post season is even worse.

Stan from Tacoma

2005-11-17 22:02:11
13.   King of the Hobos
The rosters aren't necessarily set yet, maybe we can add Alvarez still. He seemed overmatched at AA after skipping Vero, so there's a chance he could stay. I don't really want him to be the next Carvajal, who was decent for the Rockies last year, and had 3 innings above low A
2005-11-17 22:04:06
14.   natepurcell
carlos alvarez could be this year marcos carvajal.
2005-11-17 22:05:54
15.   Bob Timmermann
I'm grasping at straws, Stan. Anything to remember fondly.

I'm sure Lou Piniella would love managing the Dodgers. They would remind him of Tampa Bay. Except with a nicer stadium.

2005-11-17 22:07:24
16.   natepurcell
dang, king beat me to it.
2005-11-17 22:34:14
17.   popup
Bob, Lou would have been an excellent choice to manage the Dodgers 12 years ago. If Colletti wants Lou, then something bad has rubbed off on him from his time with Sabean and the Giants. I will be interested in the explosion from other posters when I say this, but I would rather have Tracy and Colburn than what the Dodgers are likely to end up with as manager/pitching coach in 06. Did I say yet today that I think McCourt is an idiot? There I said it.

Stan from Tacoma

2005-11-17 22:35:00
18.   MikeB
15. I thought Lou left Seattle and went to Tampa Bay to be closer to his family. Would he be willing to take a job on the West Coast?
2005-11-17 22:40:22
19.   alexx
I read on Athletics Nation about a documentary that stars Scutaro at the Triple A level. I ordered it on Netflix and should get it soon...
2005-11-17 23:04:41
20.   oldbear
Scott Eyre to the Cubs- 4yrs 11mils
Eyre is a 33 yrd old middle reliever. Also gave up a draft pick to sign him.

This is the type of move that I fear Colletti making. That, and letting Werth, Bradley, and Choi go for nothing, and them hitting 70 HR's next year combined.

Is anyone less attached to the team after the hiring? I'm actually more detached now, than two days ago.

Depressing day to be an LA sports fan, aside from USC.

2005-11-17 23:07:39
21.   scareduck
20 - when were you not depressed, Oldbear?
2005-11-17 23:17:30
22.   Bob Timmermann
UCLA beat Temple in basketball.

The Kings beat Vancouver.

Now this would be a bad day:

From the LA Times prep football recaps:

Venice 37, L.A. Jordan 34
There were plenty of big plays when Venice met Los Angeles Jordan in the first round of the City Section Championship Division playoffs Thursday night at Venice, but one small mistake defined the outcome.

Jordan quarterback Jerry Jackson spiked the ball on fourth down at the Venice 11-yard line with 14 seconds left in the game, giving the ball back to Venice, which held on for a 37-34 victory.

2005-11-17 23:26:12
23.   Uncle Miltie
20- but we could lead the league in sacrifice bunts. That should make up for the lack of power.
2005-11-17 23:36:54
24.   Mark Linsey
Hey all,
I'm working on a little sabermetrics project for a Machine Learning class, and I have a quick question for those who use who are familiar with retrosheet.org: The program we are writing uses data from the play-by-play log files. Is there any database of basic player statistics (OBP, SLG, ERA, K/BB, etc) that uses the same player ID codes as the log files?

I know I can look it up all those stats on the website myself, but what I really need is a big data file where a computer program can look them up for itself using the same player ID codes from the log files.

It seems like this should be pretty simple and I just must be missing something somewhere.

2005-11-17 23:40:16
25.   oldbear
21. Probably up until 2 days ago i was optimistic. I honestly thought that the McCourts were competant, even after firing DePo bc they were better candidates out there. But man was I wrong.
2005-11-17 23:44:26
26.   oldbear
23. True, but that would require good bunters. I doubt Nomar, Jacque Jones, Bernie, Overbay, Joe Randa, JT Snow are even very good at that skill.

I guess I'll breathe easier once all those players have signed with other teams. Although Nomar wouldnt be bad as a stop gap.

2005-11-17 23:46:20
27.   Mark Linsey
I think I've answered my own question, that no states are stored so I'll just have to calculate all of them myself, which is simple enough although it seems a little inconvenient. Pity that player ID's haven't been standardized across all the different research sites.
2005-11-17 23:58:55
28.   Bob Timmermann
The IDs in the Lahman database aren't the same as Retrosheet's?
2005-11-18 00:06:04
29.   Uncle Miltie
"The Dodgers have contacted the agents for free-agent shortstops Rafael Furcal and Royce Clayton, both before Colletti was hired. Cesar Izturis is recovering from Tommy John surgery."
How many times have I said we are getting Royce Clayton? J.T. Snow/Travis Lee might be next!

Between general managers, the Dodgers have aggressively pursued free-agent outfielder Brian Giles, according to Giles' agent. Joe Bick said he'd had "numerous conversations" with Ng and Smith but would not characterize the Dodgers' chances of signing the 34-year-old native of El Cajon, Calif.

"The one thing that has remained consistent in that period is their interest in Brian," Bick said. He also said that although Giles has enjoyed playing near home, in San Diego, "to the best of my knowledge, it's not going to be the deciding factor. We haven't ruled out a number of the other markets."
Doesn't sound like Giles is coming here.

2005-11-18 00:31:04
30.   fanerman
29 - This week just keeps getting better and better.
2005-11-18 00:32:05
31.   Mark Linsey
28 - I didn't think so, but when I looked again more closely I noticed that there is a master table that matches Lahman ID's to retrosheet ID's, and for some reason this table isn't in the .xls version of the files, but it is available in csv.

This helps a lot, thanks.

2005-11-18 01:23:30
32.   natepurcell
ha, remember my first plan for our offseason, it had us getting furcal and giles... and resigning cruz.

looks like i am on the same page as Ng and roy smith.

2005-11-18 01:28:16
33.   natepurcell
tony jacksons article talks alot about our farm system. i am impressed. hes doing a good job at getting the names of some of those players out there to the average fan.

Colletti also allowed for the possibility that Logan White, the club's scouting director extraordinaire, might not be too far off in his belief that at least some of the Dodgers' coveted prospects - most of whom spent 2005 at Double-A Jacksonville - are ready for prime time.

The Dodgers are desperate for a power-hitting third baseman, and Andy LaRoche combined for 30 homers at Single-A Vero Beach and Jacksonville this year. They are just as desperate for a reliable first baseman, and James Loney swatted 11 homers and 31 doubles at Jacksonville while at times playing dazzling defense.

Even if such prospects are deemed too raw in 2006, they figure to stay in-house.

"We won't be afraid to trade young players if we know the exact quality and caliber of the player we're getting back," Colletti said. "But I also know if a young player has special ability, heart, determination and the ability to learn and adjust, we won't be moving him."

2005-11-18 01:31:44
34.   natepurcell
from jacksons other article:

White said no such overtures were made to him, but Colletti's repeated, glowing references to White and the farm system he has built made it clear that White - arguably the most valuable and indispensable member of the Dodgers' front office the past four years - is safe

excuse while i say..... damn right he better be saft Flanders. White should never leave. logan white should be given %1 of the dodgers ownership.

2005-11-18 01:33:21
35.   natepurcell
wow that sentence was terrible. its 230am, thats my excuse.

it should be excuse ME and at the end, it should read "be given 1% ownership of the dodgers.

okay off to bed.

2005-11-18 02:05:29
36.   fanerman
Thanks nate.

Too bad he didn't start saying this stuff earlier. Maybe all them writers were trying to "hide" the good news while DePo was at the helm. I guess that's conspiracy theory #184. Though it's 2:05 in the morning. That's my excuse too.

2005-11-18 02:23:15
37.   overkill94
I don't know how many of you read John Sickels' minor league blog, but one of his latest entries was for people to be the GM of the Padres. One guy had the nerve to say that the Dodgers would be willing to trade Bradley, Choi, and Jackson for (get this) RYAN KLESKO! I almost shat myself reading this, I figured I had to pass it on. It's pretty telling that the poster had a Giants-themed handle.
2005-11-18 02:37:21
38.   fanerman
35 - I'd be okay with 100% ownership.

I get the feeling that Logan White really takes pride in his picks and wants the kids to succeed as Dodgers. I hope and expect him to do everything he can to make sure they stay Dodgers or we make good trades with them.

2005-11-18 06:48:43
39.   Vishal
[32] is royce clayton on your list too, nate? :)
2005-11-18 06:52:39
40.   RELX
I yelled at some people about the Fregosi rumors yesterday--and I was dead wrong!

"Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti, moving quickly in his search for a manager, is scheduled to interview Jim Fregosi on Saturday and Terry Collins on Sunday, both in the Tampa, Fla., area, and was expected to speak to Lou Piniella as well."

God--Fregosi and Collins! They're both recycled crap. Could there be more uninspired choices. I have been defending Colleti the last few days, but if he hires either one of these clowns, he deserves everything he gets.

I joked about Colleti's thanking all those 1980's era people--Dallas Green, Jim Frey, etc.--during his press conference. Now i know why--apparently Colleti doesn't know anyone who entered baseball after 1980. I guess he avoided all those character-less stat geeks! Why not just bring back Lasorda so we can stop pretending about who is really running the show!

I am sorry to rant, but I had some hope that maybe, accidentally, we would get things right with Colleti. Now, i fear that everything negative that everyone has been saying on this site about him is true.

2005-11-18 06:58:38
41.   RELX
Just checked out Jim Fregosi's managerial record--first good thing is that he started managing back in 1978, back when all yuo needed was character and heart to win!

He managed all or parts of 15 seasons with four different teams--and had 5 winning seasons! And he'll be 64 when the season opens. As i said, bring back Lasorda--at least he has a winning record, and he's not that much older than Fregs--can i call him "Fregs?"

2005-11-18 07:00:48
42.   RELX
In addition, do you know how many times "Fregs" has won over 90 games? Drum roll please....ONCE
2005-11-18 07:00:58
43.   Vishal
[41] how about "fergie"?
2005-11-18 07:16:46
44.   SMY
Yeah, we're going old school all the way. If you've ever been called a "baseball man," you're in. It's gonna be great. Not.
2005-11-18 07:19:21
45.   RELX
It's a shame Monty Basgall just died--we could have used a "baseball man" like him! I assume Perranowki is coming back as pitching coach?
2005-11-18 07:23:48
46.   King of the Hobos
It appears White, Ng, and Smith all will help with the manager interviews. I can only view that as a good thing. It also appears Colletti is dedicated to making White a more important member of the front office, which I could hardly complain about

And about the Clayton comment, it says he was contacted before Colletti, so maybe Ng shouldn't have become GM. Or maybe she was trying to force Arizona to pay more for him (It'd be great if he got a Neifi deal from them)

And personally, the Giles part really didn't lead me to believe we won't get him, and possibly the opposite, that we're aggressively pursuing him. By the end of the day, our location is probably a huge factor whether or not his agent thinks so

2005-11-18 08:44:03
47.   bhsportsguy
46 - I think that is a very good start that he is going to have Ng, Smith and White go through the interview process. At least we are not hearing that Frank and Jamie are heading out to Florida.

Regarding Megew, the Dodgers probably believe like in the case of Kuo, that his injury will prevent him from being picked up.

2005-11-18 08:54:12
48.   Jon Weisman
45 - I'm not sure Basgall's circumstances eliminate him as a candidate.

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