Great, great movie, highly recommended.

Back to the normal headlines and the rumors behind them...

"A source told the Boston Herald another team that was interested in Andy Marte turned away after the Braves acknowledged the player had a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of an elbow.

A Red Sox official said the team reviewed his medical file and declared him healthy. If Marte has a tear in his UCL, he might someday need Tommy John surgery. It's not as big of a concern for him as it would be for a pitcher, but it could leave the Red Sox without his services for a year."

- Rotoworld

It certainly is not "Straw Dogs." I can't even think about that movie without feeling a bit unwell.

Furcal
Mueller
Drew
Kent

is a good start to a lineup. It's who comes next that is the important decision.

I believe Steve Yeager is still affiliated with the Dodgers. Why wouldn't he be a good mentor?

9 Please, please not this again. Seems like every three days, we get 150 posts on what we could get if we traded Kent and/or Gagne. Got it. If this was a fantasy league, great idea. In the real world, you could not replace the value of either one of them with anything the Dodgers actually would need because as soon as they were gone, you'd have created a big new hole. And, in the real world, Colletti is not stupid enough to trade the team's most (only?) marketable players.

Mueller...Tomko
Tomko...Mueller

I think I like the stability that Mueller brings, rather than the below-average innings Tomko would chew up.

I think it's a good signing, if it's short, and more-or-less reasonable. (If it is at all, in fact.) It's not always a good idea to leapfrog prospects, especially if the team is so filled with holes there'd be a greater chance of feeling an oversized expectation.

Go Mr. Ned. The more holes he fills short-term without giving away the farm, the happier I'll be.

"(Speaking of insane, not only did the Dodgers hire Grady Little as their manager, they gave him Steve Garvey's old number. Way to tick off the diehard Dodgers fans coming out of the gate, guys! Just wait until he's trying to figure out double switches and stuff -- this was a guy who managed to lose his No. 1, 3 and 4 hitters in extra innings of a must-win playoff game; I can't even imagine what he'll be capable of with pitchers batting. It's almost sounds like a sociological experiment. Thank you, Comedy Gods -- you have put me in the same city with Pete Carroll AND Grady Little.)"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/051209

1- is billingsleys change up more of split finger insteas of a true change up? if so, can he polish it enough to make it another out pitch for him?

If Dodger fans can survive Brent Mayne wearing #6, I somehow think that we're not overly attached to it.

I think Rotoworld is turning out to be about as reliable a source as the CIA before the invasion of Iraq.

I don't know. It's all part of my campaign to slow down the rush to judgment here.

And, of course, he's never been much of a bunter. :-D

5- Offensively, what mlb comp would be accurate for matt kemp?

6- Why is everyone at BA down on tiffany now? last year, BA rated him as having the best curveball in the org. this year in a chat, callis said he has average pitches across the board. whats the deal?

7- what do you make of laorche's lack of power in the AFL? was his power display in the FSL a fluke due to his home stadium?

40 Besides, the number isn't just a Garvey exclusive anymore...

They gave him Jason Grabowski's number! What will the Grabowski fans think? And what will the Furillo fans think? (he was #6 right?). oh wait, they didn't give Grady #6. Duh.

Three years from now, if Hochevar can pitch, no one's going to care about what happened that one week in 2005.

let both sides sit low for a while, revisit negotiations back in ST and get a deal done by draft day.

i cant think of anymore questions!

This is where Boras needs to earn his money. He needs to eat some crow on Hochevar's behalf with Colletti. The fact is, the situation has changed dramatically, and if Hochevar would show some humility, I bet he could be signed tomorrow.

Boras doesn't do humility, I guess. He's a tractor with one gear.

Yes, I would say there is ZERO chance of Guzman playing SS, entailing the move of Furcal to 2B, Kent to 1B, and trading Izturis.

letting him re enter the draft, get drafted in the 5th round and sign for 250K by the rockies isnt in his clients best interest.

So far, if we go by confirmed reports, we'd have Saarloos and Soriano.

If we were in the same room right now I would have you in a head lock until you took back that comment. So the answer is Yes Dodger fans do care.

I am pretty fired up for this if it happens.

I think a solid 1-2 at the top followed by Drew and Kent should be really good for us. Hopefully they can keep Bradley at the 5 slot.

Sounds like most of the pitchers will either stay in Jax or move up to LA.

you might be right but it is foolish to say zero chance. I still don't understand why there is a rush to diminish his value when his range isn't suspect. the only problem that I have read has been inaccurate throws. I don't get it. You guys would have moved Magic Johnson to forward coming into the NBA.

And I say this as someone who roots for Antonio Perez and Willy Aybar.

The Rockies intentionally did not draft him even though he is a local boy precisely because of his "representation". I suppose if Boras were to grovel and accept $250K then the Rockies might reconsider...

I've gotta run; call from Hell; it's freezing over.

Side question: Adrian Beltre dabbled at shortstop on an emergency basis. Is Guzman a worse shortstop than Beltre?

As for Rotoworld, they fall under the "don't shoot the messenger" clause most of the time. In their blurb about Mueller they simply say that it was what CBS4 was reporting, rarely do they get the inside scoop themselves.

His OPS+ (park-adjusted stat) has been above average the last few years and he gets on base.

my garvey bobblehead started spewing pea soup and rotating, not bobbling, it's head, so i had to check and see what was going on.

the blasphemy in post 49 set it off. no more, please.

Except the company being traded didn't have 610,000 shares outstanding.

Much hilarity ensued.

And large fines.

Alan Matthews: Alvarez owns a devastating changeup, a high-80s fastball and can spin a breaking ball. His overall command and feel for pitching are rudimentary.

Alan Matthews: They both have live arms and suspect injury histories. Rodriguez, a lefty, has good bite on his slider but is undersized and has had elbow and shoulder trouble. Diaz has one of the best fastballs in the Dodgers system, but has already had TJ surgery and with his max-effort delivery, might not maintain his health.

For anyone who enjoyed it, I'd also recommend Kurosawa's "Heaven and Hell" (silly Americanized title: High and Low), which is even better -- one of the 15 or 20 best films I've ever seen.

J.C. Romero to the Angels.

But they take a very long time to do this. There is a lot of talking and folderol and what not. It could be done in about 5 minutes.

They've budgeted NINETY!

Sounds like the NCAA selection show. That, or a Merchant Ivory film.

Career Rate2 at 3B:
Mueller 99, Perez 97

James 2006 projections:
Mueller: 283/365/421/786
Perez: 284/345/412/757

Mueller's projections include Fenway park factors, Perez is for DS. What affect will switching from Fenway to DS have on Mueller's production? It will hurt his average (and OBP somewhat) from both sides, tank his double and triple production from both sides, decrease his right-side HRs and keep constant or increase his left-side HRs.

Overall you have basically comparable players at Dodger Stadium, except Mueller is a higher injury risk and gets paid more.

Could he be wrong? by 10%, by 20%, by 25%.
In which direction? On both, only one or the other?

They're locked in some kind of cosmic mutual orbit, I think.

1-2 record and a flight back to the States.

Could he be wrong? by 10%, by 20%, by 25%.
In which direction? On both, only one or the other?"
--------------

I suspect the Mueller projection is a lot more reliable than the Perez one. This is because Mueller has had more playing time (bigger sample size), and also because his projection doesn't involve Las Vegas in any way, shape or form, which Perez's presumably does.

BTF's ZiPS projections for 2006:
Aybar .260/.321/.376
Perez .269/.342/.423
Mueller .289/.369/.441 (projection is for Fenway Park)

It's the only European nation vs. former colony matchup. Technically, Togo was controlled by France, but that was a much different setup politically. Togo was actually colonized by the Germans and then given over in part to the French and British after World War I.

That's Timmermann family country. Flat and boring.

Argentina, Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire, and Serbia & Montenengro.

It's a good year for &s in the World Cup with both Serbia & Montenegro and Trinidad & Tobago.

"the last time Portugal and Angola met in a friendly match in Lisbon four years ago, four Angolan players were sent off for brutal tackles and dissent and the game was abandoned with 20 minutes to play."

123. The Swedes are idiots, after Argentina's and Italy's group, I'd call that one the strongest with T&T the only weak link.

The Swedish media loves this because England's coach is Swedish, and their stories will all write themselves now. Plus, Sweden hasn't lost to England since 1966, so they can write all kinds of curse stories, too.

"Third base should require less effort. Garciaparra would be ideal, but the division rival Padres are one of several teams courting him. Free agents Bill Mueller and Joe Randa also are possibilities, but the Dodgers don't want to make a lengthy commitment as they prepare for the arrival of Andy LaRoche, Adam's younger brother. They contacted the Phillies at the end of the winter meetings, saying they wanted to revisit a deal for David Bell."

http://tinyurl.com/afcdr

Baseball: I'm just pleased with Mr. Ned's patience and appreciation of the LAD's farm system, and wariness of trading those guys for a quick fix. I'm really happy. I'm sure we'll end up trading a couple of players, but glad it won't be CBill or LaRoche or Guzman.

PS: Etanislao? How'd he get Tony out of that? I'm gonna call him E-Tan for now. Until he's traded somewhere.

Comment #124 was object #300000 in our system. Congrats, Bob, for hitting that milestone!

Standing ovation, flowers, gifts, curtain call, etc.

OK, now back to the game...

Blue Jays GM. J.P. Ricciardi said he's not interested in the rumored Milton Bradley-for-Miguel Batista trade.
Bradley talks with the Cubs have also reportedly cooled, though they remain the favorites for the troubled outfielder. Dec. 9 - 3:46 pm et
Source: Toronto Sun

Good, neither am I.

a) it would be Bob Timmerman;
b) it would have nothing to do with baseball.

No more mentions of Togo or T&T until May I promise.

However, I reserve the right to comment on Tunisia.

The Modesto Nuts.

And Glenallen Hill is batting coach.

He had to have been one of the worst outfielders I've ever seen. And he played a lot of games in the outfield. Most players as bad as he in the field (like Todd Hundley) are moved away to spare them embarrassment.

I do remember watching Hill playing for the Giants and I believe he got a 9 UDP in a game against the A's. He kept pump-faking throws in and eventually tagged out the runner.

The first game between Mexico and Iran is going to get huge ratings in LA. Two underrated teams too.

Of all the possible scenarios, this one makes the most sense to me right now.

155 "Of all the places Bradley might land--I think Oakland makes the most sense."

Or Mars.

(But yeah, and they would have the most surplus of pitching to offer us - but we've already gone over the ideas of Sarloos, Kennedy, et al. Zito is the only one I'd want, and he's only gone if they get another SP, and only to us if we also throw in a top prospect.)

romero wanted out; gardy wanted him out - i don't think the twins had too much leverage. plus he sucked (iirc) with inherited runners. but still, i know what you mean.

Ah well, too bad.

Snow looks to future after Giants
First baseman mulls retirement, interest from Dodgers

In the article, there's just a line towards the bottom that says, "The Los Angeles Dodgers have expressed interest in Snow."

God, however, has declined the offer, citing low supplies of snow shovels at area stores and a conspicuous lack of tire chains.

http://tinyurl.com/96y3q

Q. How specifically can it help a player like Jason who recently has signed with you guys long-term and talked about wanting to step up in a leadership role?

"You know, can we chase them in 2006? You know, why isn't there every reason to think that you can do that if you play baseball the way that it's supposed to be played and with regard to some of these previous questions that I was asked, everybody understands what the hell it is they have to do in order to remain in that hunt."

I think it's very important that, you know, in our case right now, we have two lefties in our pen in Grabow and Gonzalez. I think that's a very nice number to have from a situational pitching standpoint at different points in times in the game. Right now, Ryan Vogelsong, his name is there. You'd like to have what you would consider to be two lengthier guys because I'm not a big proponent of overusing people that end up being a part of a game that you have a real chance to win.

Huh?

There is a model right there within your own division that if you have any doubts as to how winning baseball on a regular basis gets played, just look, just look, and it doesn't -- you know, it can be as little as moving a man from second to third in the latter part of the game that's going to put you in a position to win. And when you look over there at that side of the field, they don't give a damn if it's Pujols or Edmonds or Scott Rolen or Larry Walker or going back to the last couple of years' clubs that have played in St. Louis. And as a result of that, they are going to win. They do it. When you create and develop that type of a mindset within your clubhouse -- I experienced it in 2004 -- it's a very infectious thing. There's no one specific individual that's going to walk in there and try to tear that back away from you when you know how hard it is to influx it and keep it there.

"I think it's very important that, you know, in our case right now, we have two lefties in our pen in Grabow and Gonzalez. I think that's a very nice number to have from a situational pitching standpoint at different points in times in the game"

When will Tracy learn that being a lefty and in the bullpen doesn't mean you're a LOOGY. I'm not sure if Tracy could handle a situation where someone like Billy Wagner was cosing. And for the record, Gozalez is very good against lefties, but can get righties out too

Q. Wells had a really, by all standards, a miserable year last year?

JIM TRACY: Yeah, he did

Q. Tracy had a really, by all standards, a miserable year last year?

I thought the Q in 169 was funny because I was imagining Jim running through all the Jasons in his mind before answering.

177 He has to interview better. He's certainly got a better sense of humor, even if it is a bit folksy. More self-deprecating, too, it would seem.

c

Ol' JT may have lost his Grabowski, but he's gaining a Grabow.

I'd like to propose a moritorium on suggesting that major league Dodger SS be turned in to 2B. Bad enough that the Izzy to second rumor is out there, we really have to entertain moving the $13 million dollar man there? There are women and children reading these things. . .

I don't understand aquiring Sandy Alomar instead of just keeping Jason Phillips. I don't like Phillips, but if Martin starts the year in the minors, isn't Phillips a pretty good back-up? Better than a 39 year old catcher with an OPS+ of 55 and 67 over the last two years?

It was supposed to be Bako but so much for that...