"Ned Colletti is a Chicago guy who once had his dream job, working for the Chicago Cubs, and he's a man of great ambition. This isn't as shocking as Juan Marichal pitching for the Dodgers or Duke Snider winding up with the Giants, nor does Colletti's move harbor any elements of betrayal ... Some people in L.A. have expressed concern that Colletti was never a scout, but take our word for it: He sees the game as well as anybody. And that's the key: He sees it. He'll take statistics into account, but Colletti is the kind of guy whose first impression of a prospect might be, "There goes a ballplayer" -- and he'll be right. "To me," he says, "how a player approaches the game, how he approaches life, far outweighs what the stat line looks like." For Dodger fans weary of Paul DePodesta's computer-generated philosophies, there is palpable relief ... Along those lines, such mercurial talents as Juan Pierre and Carl Crawford are reportedly available in trade. The "Moneyball" guys can forget them. Way too fast and disruptive. Too much imagination. Too much of a threat to manufacture runs ..."

Eek!

As for Carl Crawford, I know the Yankees were interested in him. His home run totals have been increasing each year. He hit 15 last year and he's just 23 years old.

Juan Pierre is the iron pyrite of center fielders.

will we see russ martin catching at shea circa 2011?

Here's Sickels: http://tinyurl.com/b9v5d

Sickels puts his finger on it: Crawford is an organization's dream about how a "tools" player pans out. When these players do develop, they become good, even great players. If I understand correctly, this type of player does not pan out as often as one who practices plate discipline.

The NL is trending downward recently.

Look, I'm not the world's biggest Carl Crawford fan, so I can't believe I'm harping on this... but I hate it when good players are lumped in with bad ones so that bad writers can attack strawmen. Burns me up.

http://tinyurl.com/dq4xq

http://tinyurl.com/afn7e

It took me 5 seconds. But maybe Jenkins is another guy who refuses on principle to use a computer.

What's the best book on the Dodgers? I need to pad my amazon wishlist.

But I take back "weeney." His site is thoughtfully put together. Maybe he's jealous-not too many of his posts get any comments.

Not sure why any of this would come as a suprise to that guy. Do more people read People magazine or Scientic American? Do more people eat at MCDonalds or cook fresh food. Do more people watch Arrested Development or Nightline? (Just kidding on that last one :)

People want to be entertained whether its Movies or baseball. This isn't exactly news.

As you can probably tell, I'm a huge Carl Crawford fan. The Devil Rays aren't going to trade him unless they get a young superstar in return.

Baseball books recommended or mentioned by Dodger Thoughts readers (April 21, 2005)
note -- some of these were liked, some were loathed, search the April 21 game thread for more info

Voices of the Game
Moneyball
Boys of Summer
I Never Had it Made
Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy
Baseball Before We Knew It
National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer
Game Time
The Last Great Season
Rampersand's Jackie Robinson: A Biography
A Whole Different Ball Game
Stolen Season
Willie's Time (warning Giants-related)
Nice Guys Finish Last
Bums
Nine Innings
The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract
The Great American Novel
The Natural
True Blue
The Glory of Their Times
My 30 Years in Dodger Blue
Prophet of the Sandlots (spoiler alert -- if you read the thread on this there's a surprise ending giveaway)

Of individual biographies, I liked Jane Leavy's bio of Koufax.

"The Dodgers Move West" by Neil Sullivan is pretty good as well as "The Last Good Season" by Michael Shapiro.

I would stay away from the works of Roger Kahn. I think they are overly sentimentalized looks back at the Brooklyn teams that have created the myth that all the people in Brooklyn were wonderful creatures who loved the Dodgers and that Walter O'Malley really had a tail and owned a pitchfork.

Anything by Mark Langill is usually pretty interesting too.

My favorite novel: "Rabbit, Run."

My two favorite short stories: "Babylon Revisited" (Fitzgerald) and "The Happiest I've Been" (Updike)

How Gil Hodges Saved the World

Walter O'Malley and his Anti-Semitic Dismantling of the Dodgers

The Borough That Loved The Greatest Team

Life Ends at the Eastern Terminus of Roebling's Bridge

A baseball book list isn't complete (at least in my opinion) if it doesn't have "Lords of the Realm" on it. It gives you wonderful insight on the labor struggle and the power structure in baseball (ie, Walter O'Malley and his cronies being the real power in baseball).

I also have "The Pitch that Killed" but I haven't motivated myself to read it yet. The last baseball book I read was "Weaver on Strategy" which gives a bit of insight to the "bunts are bad" type of strategy.

http://www.librarything.com

Alas, I'm falling down the list of largest libraries as fast as Joe Thibodeaux's career did.

the last bb book i read was "ball four", about 3 years ago. i read it for the first time, and liked it more than i expected to. smoke 'em inside!

i also enjoyed george will's "bunts" - a series of short essays, which featured brett butler on the cover, probably because it was a mindless read. my fave piece from that book was one on pete rose that retold the story of turbulence on the reds plane causing pete to say to the teammate next to him: "we're going down, but at least i have a lifetime .300 average. what do you have?" classic.

"You are invited to help select a former Dodger player to the 2005 edition of the Dodger Fans Hall of Fame."

http://tinyurl.com/9pc3k

The Leahy bio for Sandy is one of my current favorites. Willie's Time is a great book if you want learn about the era and baseball. The Giants never beat the Dodgers other then the beginning and 62 so the pain is bearable for Dodger fans.

The Bill James abstracts are a must read for any serious fan. JMO

My favorite line from the site: "And if the buzz page doesn't convince you, you cannot be convinced. Go away."

For fun, just guess, don't use the internet for research.

Bob, you probably know this but can you take your time before answering. Thanks

I just buy books and shove them into an open spot on the shelf. If I'm out of room, I throw something away.

I try to make my home not be like work.

If you came to my home now, you would find LPs all over the floor as I spent much of my Sunday figuring out how to transfer them to my computer.
That was a lot more involved than I thought it would be.

Some of us are old enough that we actually bought LPs. And listened to music that had cracks and pops in it. And we liked it that way!

I have some cassettes too that I need to transfer. That may be easier to do since my tape player can move around more easily than the turntable.

Basically, I want to jettison the turntable and the LPs and free up some space.

And we liked it that way! Thank you grumpy old man.

I am old enough to have purchased LPs. I also bought quite a few 45s in the mid-late 80s. I must admit, however, that I never attempted to transfer them to my computer.

My kids are 17 & 14 and my wife is getting me a DVD recorder for Xmas so I can take the 300+
video tapes of our family and transfer them to DVD!!!! I soon will feel your pain!

I have roughly ~300 of those vinyl things, and one of those new combo cd/turntable-in-a-box thingies. I hooked up my old 80-watt speakers to it, and it works fine; all the crackles and pops are amplified!

Oliphant is a Pulitzer Prize winning political correspondent who writes for "The Boston Globe". You have to like the guy because there's a picture on the book jacket of him as an adult in his Brooklyn jersey and cap. He's got his baseball glove, and looks like he's ready to go to a game to catch a foul ball with his dad.

Nice try, MikeB, but the answer is Molokai. At least, it is if I read it correctly as one of those "Who is the bus driver?" trick questions.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2232211

No officials involved in the talks would confirm the identity of the mystery team. But an executive of another club said Monday he believes that other team to be the Dodgers.

The Marlins, the executive said, extensively scouted the Dodgers' double-A team in Jacksonville -- and Florida is said to like a number of that team's best pitchers. That group of pitchers includes former No. 1 picks Chad Billingsley and Justin Orenduff, as well as 240-pound smokeballer Jonathon Broxton. Because of their vacancy at shortstop, the Marlins also would be likely to have interest in the Dodgers' much-hyped double-A shortstop, Joel Guzman.

Is Colletti drooling, all starry-eyed? Let's hope the Dodger GM collective evaluates any deal very carefully.

Well the answer to the question "Who am I?" is indeed Molokai but the answer to the implied question "who won the AL home run title at age 20 with a total of 32 in 1965?" is Tony C of the Red Sox good job Mike B

1. The Dodgers have not exactly made successful trades with the Marlins.

2. The last time Lasorda was general manager--oops, there's my cynical side--he gave up Konerko for Jeff Shaw without knowing he had an escape clause in his contract. So I hope Colletti doesn't trade away for the future for the sake of being the anti-DePodesta and making Lasorda happy.

Now to a couple of earlier posts.

Tom Oliphant also is married to Susan Spencer of CBS News. Better still, at least we can be fairly sure that HIS book about being a young Dodgers fan is in his own words. Let's just say that while I admire Doris Kearns Goodwin enormously, I'm a little nervous about whatever she writes!

And I still have lots of LPs! Now if only I could listen to them somewhere ....

BTW: Did anyone know that Kevin Brown's first name is actually James, and that his name is actually James Brown?

no or at least I don't. Re sign Weaver. while I'm not a big fan of his he eats up innings and with some decent run support could win 15 games next year. NO MORE INJURY PRONE STARTERS!!!

yes I knew that about Brown. But can you name the fourth Alou brother????? Hint.... he played first base for the Orioles????

And good news...maybe the Dodgers will be able to afford some free agents after all. They have announced that ticket prices will go up next year. Letters are being sent soon to season ticket holders.

IMHO, any deal that gives up Billingsley, even for Beckett, has issues. Assuming Weaver doesn't re-sign, there are two holes in the rotation. I'm already pencilling Billingsley in (tho he'll have to earn in the spring)... replace him with Beckett and there are STILL two holes to fill.

Others -- nate? -- who know Billingsley's status/progress better than me are will have a better opinion on the likelihood that he makes the starting rotation.

http://tinyurl.com/ddtkq

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=citadel-2_469013_283&prov=citadel&type=story

Top of the story is Hershiser...very bottom is about ticket price increase.

My only question: What's an executive director do, on a baseball team?

http://tinyurl.com/csea5

Sorry all for the false alarm.

Everyday brings a new reason to hate the McCourts.

We'd have the Marlins whole 2003 post season rotation.

Beckett
Pavano
Penny
Lowe
Perez

If those 5 are healthy, and Kent/Drew are still on the team, wow.

While is numbers look decent, to me he was always known as the only guy who had worse splits between the first and second half than Lo Duca.

I'd do that deal. Would any of you?

well next week im going to kidnap all of them. take them to safe house in the montana wilderness and then release them once ST starts...

whos with me? its the only way to preserve the future.

GM: Promote Ng.
Get Ned.

Manager: Promote Oral.
Likely get Fergosi.

DS: Promote better seating.
Get worse seating for more money.

PR: Promote "Dodger Values."
Get a souless owner.

Everyone says, including Steve the most, how much the Dodgers rotation sucks.

Short of landing Johan Santana, is there a better pitcher out there than Josh Beckett?
A WS experienced, 25yr old, flame thrower.

I'd trade 2 of the Jax 5, and take Lowell (his deal is only 2 years), if it meant Beckett was long termed.

Lowell could still bounce back. But really he's just an expensive throw in. The centerpiece is Beckett.

personally, i think becketts going to be the next great texan pitcher. he has the stuff and build for it. his arm is healthy and does not have all strain on it if he didnt have those blister problems.

either way, im still kidnapping the jacksonville squad.

thats my final offer florida!

I think your undervaluing Beckett's potential, and overvaluing the short term effects of Lowell's contract.

If the plan is to win big in 2007 anyways, why would Lowell's deal, and the parting of 2 prospects, really impact that?

Especially if in return, you got the next Roger Clemons in his prime.

If they're throwing in Lowell, Colletti has to throw in Phillips to make it even, right?

Where is Logan White in all of this? This is why I like the 4-headed GM theory, it gives me hope that the prospects won't disappear. Unless White is now locked up in a closet with Collins assuming his role

Beckett has now thrown four seasons, and never pitched more that 178 innings or started more than 29 games.

As for is there anyone better, I would rather have the following pitchers over Beckett:

Santana
Oswalt
Peavy
Carpenter (I'm a believer now)
Harden
Sheets
Prior (if you want to go young and injury prone)
Patterson

And that's just off the top of my head.

#1. Joel Guzman- i still like him the most bc finding power hitting SS's is hard to do.

#2. Chad Billingsley-- #1 starters are hard to find.

#3. Jonothan Broxton-- ditto above

#4. Russ Martin-- love the OBP. Hate the lack of power. Plus we've got Navarro.

#5. James Loney--lacks power, OBP, etc...

I've got no problems parting ways with any of these guys, minus Billz/Guz.

But Beckett is worth at least as much as 3 of them collectively IMO.

1. Adrian Beltre (942)

lol.

Grow. Your. Own. It's not like we don't have candidates. And treat yourself to a disaster well-avoided by spending another quarter-mil or so to get Hochevar signed.

Harden, Santana, Oswalt is the class Josh Beckett is in.

But thats just my opinion.

His lack of innings actually in my opinion are a good sign at this point. His arm should be healthy for his prime years.

To acquire Beckett we have to do better then Blalock and Danks or Diamond. Blalock is already a solid 3b and Danks or Diamond are solid pitching prospects but below Billingsly and maybe not even above Orenduff.
What does Florida need:
1. SS - Alex Gonzalez is a free agent
2. C - if they trade LaDuca
3. 1st - if they trade Delgado, they might go with Jeff Willingham as an in house answer.
4. 3b - if they trade Lowell they will either need to replace him with a 3b or move Cabrerra back to 3b and find an outfielder
5. rf - if they trade lowell and move Cabrerra to 3b.
6. cf - if they trade Pierre
7. Relief Pitching - Todd Jones is a free agent and Mota was a disaster.
8. Starting Pitching - losing Burnett/ Beckett / Moehler from 2005 rotation but adding Vargas and Olsen to Willis means they need at least one starting pitcher in return.

What do we have:
1st - Choi - They traded D Lee for him, they might be interested in acquiring a cheap option for 1st base. When they traded him to us it was not so much to dump Choi but to get LaDuca and Mota.
- Looney - maybe

SS - Izturis - cheap and will be ready sooner then people predict but who would be our SS (Robles, Abreu, Nomar, Clayton)

3b - LaRoche - might be as good as Blalock in a few years but certainly not next year.

C - Navarro or Martin

OF - Guzman
Milton
Werth
D Young

Pitching -
Billinglsy - no no no
Broxton - perfect fit
Yhancy - perfect fit
Orenduff - maybe
Tiffany - to far away
OP - to expensive

I would expect any deal to include either Guzman or Laroche as the centerpiece. I like Beckett enough you could trade anyone not named Billingsly and I'd probably be for it.JMO

"I ain't done nothing yet," Beckett said. "But I think one day, I'll live up to all of that. If someone told me different, I'd call them a liar. I think I'm going to be better than all those guys."

Beckett is already thinking about Cooperstown.

"Hopefully, I'll join them in the Hall one day," he said.

"I think I can get there in two years or as fast as Kerry Wood did," Beckett said. "I've got a couple of things to fine tune. After I get that taken care of, I'm ready. I think I can compete right now."

He has repeatedly predicted he'll pitch in the major league All-Star Game by 2001.

"You have to have some arrogance to be a pro pitcher," Beckett said. "My time has come and it's time for me to go as quick as possible if I can.""
Well, Josh still hasn't been an all star. When healthy, he's very good pitcher, and still has ace potential. I don't know if he'll ever be any better than Kerry Wood. I definitely wouldn't give up Guzman and Billingsley. In 2 years, he'd probably leave as a free agent to go to one of the Texas teams.

And even if Lowell is completely done, who cares? His deal is for 2 years.

So his deal prevents us from signing Jacque Jones or Royce Clayton, or a dozen other mid level non difference making pay check collecters for 2006.

Doesnt sound bad to me.

Am I wrong to think the same about Sanchez and Ramirez as I do about Wang and Cano?

As to other pitchers more attractive than Beckett, I'd say that Dontrelle is another that hasn't been mentioned. Beckett isn't in the same class as Santana or Peavy or Oswalt or Sheets or Beurle (or Willis) just yet. He hasn't done it yet. Harden is probably the best comparison. They both have similar profiles in terms of their potential greatly outweighing their accomplishment thus far. I prefer Harden at this point, by the way.

I like Beckett. Alot... but Billingsly and Broxton I'd rather keep. Hochevar is not a sure thing, and really, I'd trade him over the others. But I think the Marlins won't be interested in the many of chronologically challenged Dodgers. So it's scary to think of what could happen.

Anyone notice a trend. Very young pitcher increasing his innings every year.

Joel Guzman hit a grand slam off Eude Brito yesterday to lead his Dominican Winter League team to a victory.
Brito gave up the slam before he recorded even one out, but he bounced back to shut Estrellas down over the next five innings and strike out nine in the process. Guzman is hitting .338/.416/.597 in 77 AB

rotoworld.com

plus 5 years and 50 million should at least buy you someone with a winning record.

funny quote in todays paper, non baseball related. Some russian goalie:

"stats are like bikinis, they show alot, but not everything".

Im all in favor of getting Beckett, provided it doesnt cost guzman AND billingsley. I think the dodgers could get a deal done without billingsley, but i would be ok if thats what had to happen. Beckett is among the top young starters in the game, something the dodgers havent had their hands on since the mid-90's.

124. Santana and oswalt are the only guys id want before beckett. Peavy has yet to throw an entire season without missing time to injury. Carpenter is older and unlikely to ever match 2005, although he will probably be better than beckett for the next year or two. Harden is basically in the same situation as Beckett, excellent but has yet to throw an entire season. Sheets is like Carpenter, solid career with one outstanding season. You wonder if Prior will ever recover from Dusty Baker. Patterson is largely a product of a great hitters park, he is also one of most fly-ball oriented pitchers in the game.

Beckett has almost everything you want from a pitcher; K-rate, groundball stuff, control, youth. The only concern is durability, and its not due to any serious malady, just blisters, that have actually kept his arm fresh.

Acquiring Beckett would be a good move, which is why the Dodgers wont do it. Are we sure that the Dodgers even have the payroll to accomidate both Beckett and Lowell in exchange for minor leaguers. That would be adding upwards of $15 million that McCourt probably doenst have.

In other words, Bizarro Dodgers will probably sign Kenny Rogers or Esteban Loiza.

In other words, even if McCourt had a $200 million payroll, Mike Lowell's presence on the team would still be a profound negative.

Except, of course, for the fact that Lowell costs significantly more than Edwards.

I hope the Dodgers don't go after Brian Giles or Adam Dunn.

anyways, back on topic with beckett.

even though beckett has had injury problems, he isnt going to be the next driefort. heres why.

beckett's injuries are not internal and not dealing with the shoulder or elbows. Its just blisters, some adominal strains, petty stuff like that. His arm is healthy, his shoulder is probably pristine, and most importantly, hes built to be a workhorse.

the blisters have limited his IP through the injury nexus years therefore he should more than good to go through his prime years of 27-32.

That said, i still wouldnt give up billingsley for him. and i would have a very hard hard time with some of our elite positional players.

i would let them pick between one of our catchers(hoping they choose phillips), +jackson + one of our relief pitchers (brazoban or broxton).

I think people get too attached to the prospects we have. As I said, while I would love for them to all come up with the Dodgers and be starts, baseball has become a win now game, and the Dodgers are not going to wait until 2007, 2008, 2009, for these players to POSSIBLY develop. I think we have the balance keeping some prospects and trading some prospects, and I think Lowell/Beckett is a good gamble.

Also, digging up the stats involved changing the 2005 to 2004 in the Licey stats URL

wow, i guess this improvement is for real. i cant wait for next year. especially when the 51s play in tucson!

My money's on John Lackey, though Kerry Wood still has an outside chance if he can stay healthy and find another pitch besides his fastball. Nah.

http://www.dallasnews.com/

Texas is out of the running according to Daniels

You guys are letting this one slide?

169 - Is that Mike Blowers now or 1995?

Honestly, how much worse would the Dodgers be for the next two years if they let Aybar and Perez play 3B and sign a Jeff Weaver inning-eater type at $5 million a year instead of paying almost four times that amount for Beckett and Lowell?

If Beckett could be signed to a 4 year deal instead, then I'd be for it.

#8 Auburn vs #1 USC
#5 VA Tech vs #4 LSU
#7 Oregon vs #2 Texas
#6 Ohio State vs #3 Penn State

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13227318.htm

hanley is overrated, and sanchez has only pitched 57 innings above A ball.

Florida can't decide if they're willing to do it for Sanchez rather than Lester, but it's essentially done

I don't think Lowell is truly tied to Beckett. The Fish are just floating out options for teams, trying to pick up as many cheap prospects as they can.

yeah, i think Hockey Goalies are all about rink-adjusted save percentage.

By the way, anyone hear anything about Broxton's role next season? Is he an MLB reliever now or have the Dodgers thought about letting him work out as a starter?

Not even sure who would know about that now that Depo's gone. Collins and White I would think.

boooo.

And the Padres acquired Bobby Hill from Pittsburgh too.

They are stacking up the infield depth there.

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/178950.html

"the Dodgers will remain in Chavez Ravine and stay in the hands of the McCourt family for at least the next 25 years."

By the way, Darren Dreifort is a free agent. I bet he could be had for cheap. He's got loads of potential!

What is an LA sports fan to do. Although Clippers are much improved, in the end they will break hearts. After all, they are still the Clipers and still owned by Sterling.

While the Lakers have a good owner, they have made some huge recent mistakes and they are an awful team (can one guy and four stiffs be considered a team?).

The Dodgers now have the worst owner in the history of professional sports. Sterling should send Frank a nice cheese basket.

They can call themselves whatever they want and while I appreciate thier efforts to gain market share, for me the Angels are and will always be an Orange County team.

NFL. This new agreement to maybe agree to maybe bring a football team to LA if maybe they can find a place to play, may not be worth a damn.

The Knigs are hockey and on this point I agree with Simers: Who cares? Moreover, after a strike I can not pick up the NHL mantle, offensive zones or not.

I guess its the Galaxy or nothing.

hanley ramirez in the FSL last year:
310/.364/.389 1hr
BB/PA= .066
K/PA= .152

chin lung hu in the FSL this year:
313/.347/.430
BB/PA= .039
K/PA= .081

take into account Hu's defense is reportly tons better than ramirez... i dont see that big of a difference. Hu also showed way better pop.

Georgia Frontierre?
Marge Schott?

ESPN's Peter Gammons is reporting that the Red Sox will acquire Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell from the Marlins for Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and a player to be named.
If only Beckett could be counted on to throw 200 innings, it might be worth it for the Red Sox. As is, with Lowell's salary included and two of the 50-best prospects in baseball being surrendered, it's probably too much to pay. The Red Sox should try to spin Lowell on to another team, though they'll have to eat maybe half of the $18 million he's owed over the next two years. The Twins are believed to be interested. Nov. 21 - 7:23 pm et

The Bidwill family has owned the NFL Cardinals for decades and they've been a disaster for nearly the entire time.

Even among baseball owners, the McCourts have a long way to go to match people like Bob Short, C. Arnholt Smith, Horace Stoneham, Claude Brochu, etc.

Presumably this means Colletti returns Stark's phone calls.

hanley is overratted and is blocked by renteria anyways. Sanchez has good numbers, but he has a throwing motion that is prone to injuries down the road. At least they could do is include shoppach to even it out a bit.

As to the McCourts being awful, they have a ways to go to catch up to Fox, much less the other incompetents Bob mentioned.

In fact, some wonderful baseball history. Feel for Phillies fans. They had an owner who took payoffs under the table in trades, then sold to a guy whom Judge Landis banned for betting.

http://tinyurl.com/cnbwb

I guess Olbermann has a blog at MSNBC.com, but I haven't read it.

(I post this as a former ESPN announcer note, not a political note.)

Carl Pohlad, Marge Schott, and David Glass would have issue with that.

I would also point out the Pac-10 All-Academic football team was headlined by Kevin Schimmlemann of Stanford and Troy Bienemann of Washington State.

Behold the awesome power of the double N.

Anybody know in which movie all the bad guys have a double n at the end of their names?

The farm system hasn't been decimated. Dodger Stadium hasn't been turned into The Grove Chavez Ravine. The team is not planning to move to Portland or Las Vegas.

You are guilty of bad deeds committed, not guilty of bad deeds we project will happen.

The worst owner is the owner of the Washington Nationals.