So who wants to buy me one of these and receive a few 1988 Dodgers vs A's game 1 DVDs in return?

You know us college guys and our finances.

:)

vs RHP

ss Furcal
1b Choi
cf Drew
2b Kent
rf Abreu (you know it's going to get done,
this is what prospects are for)
lf Cruz
3b Mueller
c Navarro

Phillies receive OP, Bradley, Orenduff/Braz/ or Young.

is it ONLY going to be available via lulu, or will it be in bookstores, and are you going to do signings or in-stores, etc...?

Why is there no chapter on panic stricken rumor mongering- the essence of Dodger Thoughts.

Jon doesn't make personal appearances, preferrign to keep up his Thomas Pynchon-like persona.

Kevin Mench is quite the lefty masher:

2005- .296/.380/.600
2004- .319/.390/.646

but so was 2004 Werth-
.290/.377/.624

I like Mench as a Werth stand-in, but not for Broxton.

Breaking news: Red Sox trade Renteria to the Braves for Andy Marte. Leaving the Sox with no SS. Something bigger must be brewing ...

Does anyone know what Depo is doing. Seems the guy fell off the face of the earth. Lord knows the way he has been treated and trashed he may just take a year or two off. I'm suprised no one has gotten an interview with him even if only about his thoughts on some of the off-season moves. Maybe he's not giving them (can't say I would blame him). Amazing how you can be the fair-haired kid and then be trashed in less than two years. In the end the Dodgers and Frank McCourt will be the worst thing to ever happen to Depo professionally. Even if your not a fan of his you have to feel bad for the way he was treated.

Wait, is everyone over in this thread? Ok:

Steve Phillips said this morning it was the Dodgers who killed the deal that would've landed Manny in LA, Drew and Abreu in Boston (!), and Lowe and Nixon in Philly. Manny just didn't "fit" with the Dodgers.

6. return of Nomar.

In other breaking news: hell just froze over.

7 - He's having a kid soon. Beane mentioned that he might want to bring him back into the A's organization, either before or after this upcoming season.

If he takes an AGM spot with Oakland, does that nullify the contract with McCourt? Or does he have to take a comparable position (GM) elsewhere? Bob?

6 - Lugo to the Sox?

drew + lowe > manny

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go 'round and 'round....

I think, if I remember correctly, Depodesta is expecting a child soon. Ah, the important things.

Drew (11 million) + Lowe (9 million) = Manny (20 million)

That's a great trade for the Sox, but I bet Marte isn't around long. Didn't see anything about cash going to Atl to help with Renteria's contract, which surprises me.

Marte for Lugo now?

I wouldn't buy any of the "Drew + ____" rumors. And I really don't understand the idea of a Lowe and Penny trade, even if it is for Abreu or Ramirez. Trade your two current best starting pitchers?? When you currently need another SP? That makes no sense.

I hope it doesn't to Mr. Ned, too.

12 I am not sure Drew for Manny straight up would be a trade I'd make.

Both are elite hitters, Manny slightly superior, but:

Manny is nowhere near Drew's league as a defender.

True, Drew will miss games due to physical breakdowns (I'm not thinking of '05, which could've happened to any hitter). But Manny will miss games, too, due to flakiness. Drew's MIA days annoy teammates. Manny's enrage teammates.

Plus Manny gets paid a lot more.

Grady Little also weighed in, probably. He likely has a higher opinion of Lowe, and has a better idea how to manage him than Tracy did.

Lowe with Tracy = #3 pitcher
Lowe with Little = #2 pitcher

16- I was not Lowe AND Penny. The article named the 2 starters as available, where 1 might be dealt-not both...

17. I never heard of teammates getting enraged by Manny. What is your source? Also, how does Little magically turn Lowe into a #2 starter.

Moving on to things that have actually happened. What does everybody think of the two guys the Dodgers lost in the rule 5 draft. Is Megrew healthy enough to stay on the Marlins' roster all year? Would it even matter to them since they don't seem to care about 2006? Didn't he used to be some kind of stud prospect for us before he got injured?

We lost Mike Megrew? That's my name I use when I sign up for magazines and stuff online. I just like the way it sounds...

20. According to Baseball America he was drafted by the Marlins and Luis Gonzalez was drafted by the Rockies.

From Baseball Reference:

"Kevin Mench is known around the league as 'Shrek'. It has been reported that his head, hat size 8 1/4, is the largest in baseball."

Juan Pierre is believed to have the smallest. I believe that's why he wears a cap under his helmet. It helps the helmet stay on.

Some of us are old enough to remember when most batters had a cap on under the helmet and then would just run with the cap on.

And some of us are old enough to remember guys batting without helmets.

Neither pitcher is of little consequence. Megrew is only 21 missed a whole year to arm surgery and hasn't pitched above A ball. Hard to imagine him sticking all year on the Marlins, and if he does he will lose a lot of development time. Doesn't throw hard and needs to make up for his lost year. This move could be very bad for Megrew's career.
Just glad that Carlos Alveraz made it and they took Gonzalez instead.

2 - Right now, it's only available on Lulu. I have to invest more into the project to make it available in stores, etc. - which I may well do, though I don't want to end up sitting at a table with a pile of books and no one interested in buying them. To say my profit margins are small, especially given the time I've invested on spec, is an understatement.

I'm happy to sign a purchased book, though.

Is there anything wrong with getting it at Lulu, aside from having to make sure you don't order too many? After all, you can get free shipping.

Still in shock the RedSox were able to unload the Renteria contract and get a potential all-star 3b at the same time. They can now afford to trade Lowell to the Twinkies and pick up 1/2 the salary.
If Renteria and his bloated contract is worth Marte, what would a healthy Izzy be worth? I sure hope he comes back throwing strong because he might be worth some nice swag come July.

From BP Dominican Report:
"The Dodgers' Joel Guzman is continuing his steady development, a trend that started in 2004. Guzman is hitting .294/.370/.513 with 5 homers, 9 doubles, 26 RBI, 14 walks and 26 strikeouts in 119 at bats playing for the Estrellas. His notorious raw power has been on display more often in game action this year, and he's shown a much better understanding of the strike zone. Guzman has drawn a walk every 8.5 at bats and has struck out every 4.6, compared to 10.5 and 3.4 at Double-A during the summer. Joel told us at the season's start that former Dodger GM Paul DePodesta wanted him to concentrate more on his hitting and at bats, no matter where the Estrellas put him on the field. Guzman has played primarily at both infield corners, and recently was moved back to shortstop. He has committed eleven errors on the season."

Rotoworld was pretty far off in its Rule 5 preview. The two guys they gave more than a 50% chance of being taken were not (Brandon Sing and Kevin Howard) while a lot of guys were not even listed (like Luis Gonzalez). I doubt either player is ready to contribute yet, especially Megrew.

23 I remember when guys wore those chintzy helmets with no ear flaps. Wasn't Ron Cey wearing one of those when he got beaned by Goose Goosage in the 1978 (1981?) World Series?

More:
Dodgers RHP Yhency Brazoban is leading the league in saves with 12 for the first-place Licey Tigers. Brazoban has a 1.96 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 18.1 IP

Jeez, I've been offline for about 16 hours (you know, dinner, take care of baby, sleep - those sorts of things), and now dreams of Abreu and Manny have come and gone?

I hadn't even debriefed from the Soriano thing yet. Can I give my 2 cents? Is it too late? Hearing no objection - I think the 4 headed GM thing might be working. Under Sabean, there's no doubt Mr. Ned does that deal. Soriano roughly = Edgardo Alfonzo. Same nickname even.

Had the potential to be a redux of Wetteland for Kelly.

28
BP I think got 1 out of 20.

FJM on Plaschke on Little:

http://firejoemorgan.blogspot.com/2005/12/up-is-down-black-is-white.html

[25] i've got no problem buying it online, but i'm going to be flying home for a couple of weeks so if it was in a store it might've been easier to just pick it up. and if you were doing a signing it'd have been nice to shake your hand and thank you personally. over the internet works fine, though :)

34 - Well, if there is a commitment from people to show up and buy the book, I'll definitely do a signing.

Despite my elusive nature, I'd love to meet you all.

13

Nice Lennon reset on his 25th anniversery of his death. well done.

4,37 Remember when Pynchon was on The Simpsons? He had a bag over his head with a question mark on it. Not that I'm recommending that.

I found this via the link over at 6-4-2... a scarily accurate Plaschke filking:

http://tinyurl.com/ad4g2

I'm actually putting on a booksigning next week for Martin Dugard, author of the new book "Chasing Lance" about Armstrong's 2005 Tour. Well, I'm actually reading Dodger Thoughts when I should be working on that :)

In the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, the Dodgers took a left-handed pitcher from the Orioles' system named Alberto Bastardo. He only pitched in rookie ball this year. I wish he were MLB ready. Then if we are smart and don't trade away Broxton, we could have a righty-lefty tandem coming out of the Dodger bullpen known as the "The Bull and The Bastard." Hmmm.

I can only hope he succeeds. What a great name.

IF Bradley goes to the Cubs, Walker or Patterson are most likely coming back (Murton is a pipe dream, guys). So...would you rather have Walker, who doesn't necessarily fill a positional need but is a good hitter, or Patterson, who fills a positional need, just not very well?

Looks like they're both in the neighborhood of $2.5M - $3.0M next year.

43 Maybe Neddy is thinking of using Walker at 3B.

Jon - Just got the book too, maybe we can put together some type of Baseball Prospecutus pizza feeds gathering and put on glasses and porn mustaches and talk "LA Baseball..."

BTW - Is anyone surprised that there have been no rumours about any interest in Y. Brazoban, especially with today's L.A. Times note that Ned has been checking in Gagne about is progress.

"Mench has been involved in trade talks with the Dodgers, possibly for Cesar Izturis according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram."

I think the a BP feed with Jon doing a book signing for previously purchased books is a great idea. How about during the next Laker/Clipper game on Jan 7th? It is a Saturday night but I'm sure most of you guys aren't doing anything except reading your latest copy of BP 2006:)

37 Thanks, I was wondering if anyone would catch that...
39 that was hilarious. I loved Kent's response to the question and it's interpretation, too.
43..44, Why wouldn't you have Walker as part of the outfield 'platoon'?

46 Wow. That'd be a good deal for the Dodgers, but why would anyone trade for Little Cesar before they're sure he'll recover from TJ surgery well enough to play SS. And whither Michael Young?

Nah, I don't believe it.

47 - Walker hasn't played the OF in some 5 years, with very little experience out there.

48 - With Soriano out, they need a 2B.

Gambler is off the block.

49
No they have Kinsler

45, 46 - Yeah, a get-together sounds good, but I don't want to spend all the book revenues on an NBA ticket.

Sports Bar/Pizza Joint