Whoever transcribed that chat should have been willing to cut the, "you know"s. If not for Tracy's sake, at least for mine.

I used to hate the McCourts, but with this Romney hiring they've brainwashed me into liking them.

(Test your knowledge of U.S. history by identifying the allusion in that.)

There's something wrong with the Tracy transcript. It looks as though the members of the press are asking Tracy questions, not Tracy himself. Please advise.

2 - at long last, have you no decency, sir?

I've never taken my own topic off topic so quickly, but I had nowhere else to put this: Ricky Gervais podcasts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais

3.04% of the words Tracy used were: "you know." That's a YK+ of 206.

2 Counter-trivia question: who commented "I would have thought a light rinse would have done the job."

3

It's not an allusion to Joseph Welch or Joseph McCarthy.

2, 3 and 8. Wrong McCarthy

Before we get all confused, 2 refers to former Michigan governor George Romney and 7 refers to former Minnesota senator Eugene McCarthy.

Tagg Romney? Who's next? Bunt M. Over?

During the 1981 strike, NPR sponsored a program where various celebrities came on and posed trivia questions for people to call in on. Eugene McCarthy had a bunch of very hard questions.

And now I have a Google Ad "Mitt Romney for President in 2008".

Is the slogan "Win Mitt Romney"?

this thread straddles my joint passions: baseball and politics. It appears that at least the Senate is putting steroids aside in favor of that other pressing national emergency: the BCS.

I clicked on the Mitt Romney ad. I nearly went blind.

If there are any Romney daughters, I shudder to think what their names are.

11 - LOL

Tagg really would be an interesting name to have as a boy.

Actually, with most of the Democrats now claiming they were tricked into voting for the Iraq war, Bob's allusion to former Michigan Governor George Romney is quite timely. Romney was running for the GOP presidential nomination in 1968, and with his rugged good looks and background as a successful president of American Motors, was considered a front runner until a reporter quizzed him about why he was now critical of the Vietnam war when he had, in the past, supported it. (Early in 1968, protesting the Vietnam war was much in fashion due to the North Vietnames Tet Offensive, which prompted Walter Cronkite to editorialize against the war.) Romney answered that he had been "brainwashed" by the military and Pentagon leaders into supporting the war. With that one stupid comment, his candidacy collapsed, paving the way for the comeback of Richard Nixon.

Former Gov. Romney is the father of Massachussets Gov. Mitt Romney and thus the grandfather of the new Dodgers' marketing exec.

In those days, many voters well remembered the stories of U.S. servicemen being brainwashed while captives of the North Koreans. It was thought that the North Koreans and Chinese Communists had diabolical techniques they could turn our soldiers into robotic spouters of Communist dogma. So the word "brainwashed" had a more powerful impact on Romney's reputation then than it would now.

One other note: The Romneys are Mormon. If grandpa had won, he'd have been our first Mormon president. Dad is now expected to run in 2008, so that honor could fall to him.

See if there's a political ad on the site, we have to violate Jon's "no politics" rule.

We have to post a lot of comments about Bill Mueller or else I will continue to riff on the merits of the Croatian World Cup team.

I listened to a Gervais podcast the other day. Pretty Funny.

13 - well, he knows he'll be fired before the year's out, freeing him up to run for governor or something. Working for the McCourts is kind of like working a summer job: extra cash, and you get to meet fun new people.*

*Offer void when discussing Jeff Kent, Milton Bradley, Frank McCourt, Drew McCourt, Jamie McCourt, etc.

22
I don't think Shannen Doherty qualifies as "fun" either.

I didn't notice if there was comment on the fact that the last utterance of Colletti did not mention 1B as a pressing need. Maybe Hee Sop will get a real shot at at least a Saenz/Choi platoon, with most of the AB's going to Hee Sop.

Let's see. I think the only way that Google ad goes down is if I...

Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton Hilary Clinton.

Okay, now...

Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Cuthbert

Hope that fixes everything.

We're analyzing every utterance by Colletti like the CIA tried to decipher what knews was coming out of the Kremlin.

Maybe if we see where Choi is standing in relation to Little and Colletti atop Walter O'Malley's grave during the Dodger Day parade, we'll know the situation better.

Elisha Cuthbert would make a good president if it weren't for the fact that she's not 35, she's Canadian, and her campaign would be stalled after she got caught in a cougar trap.

A Mitt Romney ad and a Cubs jersey ad. Perhaps I'm not the right demographic for this site :)

I wonder if Bob has a theory as to whether proximity to many books creates a polymath, or is it necessary to read some of them.

Probably there is some Mitt Romney RSS news aggregator that will now pick up on Dodger Thoughts.

26 - LOL

24 - https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/298148.html

28 - Yeah, explain the Cubs getting in there instead of the Pirates or Dodgers. Or Reebok.

29

It's that fancy UCLA education.

My plan was first to reverse the Republican curse by throwing some Democratic voodoo into the mix, and then to undo that with crass appeals to ogling sexy young actresses. I figured the Google ad spider would figure out that we don't want any Mormon Republicanism around here, or really any politics at all.

So far it hasn't worked.

Of course, I am a stockholder in the Cub's holding company, so maybe I AM the right demographic.

By the way, the mention of Romney in my post was decidedly not to break out a political discussion. So let's not say things like "Republican curse" or "evil Democrats," if'n you don't mind.

After all a Republican won the election the last time the Cubs won the World Series.

36 I thought it was the Whigs.

27
lol Elisha Cuthbert in a cougar trap. Man, that girl has caused more trouble for Jack Bauer than any terrorist with a grudge and a nuke could ever think about doing.

36 Wasn't Taft the first President to throw out the first ball on opening day in D.C.?

I think Taft actually threw up the first ball.

40 Taft was the ball.

are we allowed to make jokes about the whig party?

I think Tagg Romney calls them the Whigg party.

Maybe Tagg would find a way to bring back Ross Porter? Not only was that the most asinine move that Lon Rosen made when he was the resident expert at winning over the hearts and minds of fans (there's another historical allusion, and a most appropriate one) ... but Porter's first name ends in a double consonant!

Of course, they'd better get Vinn Scully's approval.

Check out this graph of Furcal's performance over a season: http://tinyurl.com/24m. Betty Davis would probably say that we are in for a bumpy ride with this guy.

A guy I go to school with worked for the props department for 24 and he said Elisha Cuthbert was a complete snob and treated everyone like crap and Keifer loves his Jim Beam.

I'm disappointed in Keifer. There's so many bourbons better than Jim Beam

Maybe if he changed his name to Rossss Porter.

I thought of Ms. Cuthbert because it came out this week that she's a LA Kings blogger. She seems pretty cheerful in that guise.

A starlet a snob to a props guy....? C'mon..

Well, it would make sense she's a King's fan if she's Canadian. That sport is ridiculously popular up here (Canada).Being from the San Fernando Valley I can't compare anything to it in the states (well exept for the rabid expectations of the posters at the Dodger MLB board)

Well, congratulations to the Rainbow Wahine on a terrific season. I don't remember who it was on here that follows Hawaiian women's volleyball (and from what I do remember, there isn't much choice out there), but that was a tough loss to end the season on tonight.

And our Lady Lions now know how it feels.

i'm still proud of myself for noticing elisha cuthbert like 5 years ago before she was this major pinup girl.

Bob, I read of a hepatitus A outbreak at the Cafe Pinot next to your library. Watch what you eat there.

The Whig Party suffered from the problem of not really standing for much of anything that the whole party could agree on. And it was pretty much a one man party: Henry Clay. Except nobody wanted Henry Clay to be president except Henry Clay.

The Whigs succeeded in getting two military heroes elected president: William Harrison (the black Mike Ramsey of presidents) and Zachary Taylor (the white Mike Ramsey of presidents) and they both died. And Harrison was succeeded by John Tyler, who pulled a Geena Davis on him and went against the party. And Taylor cashed out after a year and was succeeded by Millard Fillmore, who existed solely so we could have a president with a funny-sounding name.

Clay really wanted a national bank. And Andrew Jackson didn't. And a lot more people liked Andrew Jaskson than Henry Clay. Hence we get to see Andrew Jackson's face when we use an ATM and not Henry Clay's.

And if you're choosing a party are you going to pick "Democrat" or "Whig"? What did "Whig" mean to the average schmoe?

I didn't write essays like this when I was in college.

53

Fortunately, I can't afford places like Cafe Pinot too often. Channel 11 News was outside shooting some video. It looked like Rory Markas was the reporter. I guess he needs some extra cash.

I really like Cafe Pinot but it's been months since I've been there. Guess I'll stay away for awhile.

53 - That's where my wedding rehearsal dinner was.

You can eat at the hot dog cart on 5th Street instead. It's probably safer.

When I took a friend to Cafe Pinot once for dinner she found out that she really like Kobe beef. I told her that we were paying $24 for each 1 oz slice.

We also waited in a long line for my car, but Rob Schneider got to park right on the street.

Oh the ignominy!

When I took a friend to Cafe Pinot once for dinner she found out that she really like Kobe beef. I told her that we were paying $24 for each 1 oz slice.

We also waited in a long line for my car, but Rob Schneider got to park right on the street.

Oh the ignominy!

Sorry, some food made my finger get stuck on the track pad there.

59, 60 Wow, Rob Schneider. Has to be in the top 5 list of "people with no talent yet are successful"

The NY Times had to run a correction this week after they ran a long Op-Ed piece by someone bemoaning the lack of roles for Asian actors in Hollywood and mentioning how Rob Schneider got a role playing an Asian in "50 First Dates".

However, Rob Schneider's mother is Filipino and would be considered Asian by most people. At least the Census Bureau would.

A Canadian Snob? There is no such thing. too cold to be a snob

Same ads BTW.

If you want to pay an obscene amout of money for really really small portions, try Patina in the Disney Hall. Same owners as Cafe Pinot.

66. Oh and imagine they decided to create an all-star team of the most pretentious waiters and hostesses in Los Angeles and that would be your staff at Patina. Yes for about $100 per person, you can have the privilage of being pissed on and condecended to by a bounch of out of work actors and failed fasion models.

I had a nice meal and good service when I was at Patina, so YMMV.

I'm being treated to dinner at Napa Rose at the Disney Grand Californian tomorrow.

Bob, we are about the same size. I can't believe it was enough food for you. I wanted to stop at Pink's on the way home. I like Cafe Pinot, especially on a nice summer day, so I was disappointed in Patina.

I had dessert. And the cheese course.

What do Bob Timmermann and Barbara Streisand have in common?
vr, Xei

Neither of us have been in Howard Fox's kitchen.

Bob, St Bonaventure is about to win the CIF title game tonight. 27-7 in the 4th quarter. You aren't covering any championship games this weekend? vr, Xei

Nope, I'm not important enough for that. I'm watching the City Championship. Crenshaw leads 14-0 at the half in a big surprise. Taft's starting QB is out with a hand injury.

74. I thought USC won the City Championship last week :) Barbara Streisand cancelled her subscription to the LA Times over the firing of the Times most liberal editorialist. I Babs has been in Howard's kitchen a few times. Not sure about the garage. vr, Xei

I believe the Taft-Crenshaw game is officially the final of the Los Angeles City Section Championship Division.

There is an NIT of sorts among these schools called the Invitational Division. Eagle Rock won that 36-35 over Marshall.

63 Really? I didn't know Rob Schneider's mom was a man...unless you meant Filipina. ;-)

A random question: Why are 'F'ilipinos from the 'Ph'ilipines?

Because the word for the nationality was leftover from Spanish. Which is why you can bring up the difference between Filipino and Filipina.

In Tagalog, the word is spelled Pilipino.

To be more precise, Filipino is an adjective describing people who live in the Philippines. Pilipino is the language that many of them speak.

But there are a lot of ethnic groups and languages in that country.

Yeah, when I was in the Navy, I was surprised to learn from the many Navy enlisted guys from the Philipines that there is no "f" sound in Tagalog at all.

There is some classic Tracy buried in that transcript:

So can Gorzelanny come up and make a little bit of a statement for himself? Sure, he can.
Can Sean Burnett come back from his surgery and be another very positive force for us as we get into the season? Sure, he can.
Can Kip Wells rebound? Sure, he's capable of that.
Can Oliver Perez put together -- is he capable of putting together a hell of a season as a left-handed pitcher in the National League? The stuff I've seen from the other side of the field would strongly suggest that.

Bob, what's your take on the Title IX article here?: http://midvalleynews.com/

The "f" sound was imposed on the people of the Philippines by Europeans.

But Americans have learned to embrace the ñ sound and the "ll" too.

Just with far less acrimony.

82

Title IX affects high school sports now? Wow. I wouldn't think there was enough money in that to make it worthwhile.

84 The problem is that it has never gone to federal court at the high school level and no precedent has been set. Districts are quick to settle rather than fight it. So the lawyers win and the student-athletes and coaches lose. It's pretty disgraceful.

51 Tomorrow the Wahine will say thanks for the thought, I'm sure. The coach (Dave Shoji) was really worried about this match, because Missouri plays the same kind of ball control game that the Wahine do.

UH should have hosted, but that'll never happen again. The NCAA just doesn't get that 10,000 people in the stands at $20-$25 per seat will pay for the travel expenses for three teams.

The Wahine lead the country in attendance every year, drawing over 100,000 for volleyball. It's amazing.

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann have five kids and only his eldest got a weird name (Tagg). The others are Matt, Josh, Ben, and Craig. All five sons are married and two are married to women named Jen.

So, why Tagg?

Ok, Tagg is short for Taggart according to a Google search, so it's a family name. Not surprising with a Mormon family to have a pretty well spelled out genealogy.

No force, so Tagg is necessary. Tagg with Mitt.

68 Hey! My friend is one of the cooks there. The food is terrific.

I've been away from downtown for awhile, but if I was still there I'd've been eating at Pinot. Another bullet dodged.

We are not getting Mueller, unless we want to give him a three year deal. We might get Bell in a trade in which we'd have to give up Duaner and prospects. But it hasn't happened, so don't jump down anyone's throat! The Pirates want Bradley and might give up a lefty reliever for him. We've made an offer to Snow, as have the Pads.

That's the latest from Steve Henson.

Gillick must be really angry at the Dodgers if he wants prospects AND Sanchez in exchange for David Bell.

Are Aybar and Perez so bad that we need to trade prospects or Duaner Sanchez for a washed third baseman like David Bell?

If the Dodgers can get Bell and Snow and maybe sign Reggie Sanders, they can recreate the 2002 Giants squad.

Minus the good players.

91 Oy vey. I was willing to be optimistic about Mueller, but JT Snow is awful. Other than his freakish post-AS stats, he's been done for about 5 years. If he's here with Saenz, there's no place for Choi any more. And I'm pretty sure I've seen some defensive metrics that show that he's pretty overrated with the leather too. One of those guys with great hands, but not much range, so you see a lot of diving stabs that shouldn't have been so hard.

Bob has Russ Ortiz. I have JT Snow. To me, he's the biggest fraud in the majors. Now that I've ranted, I'll go look at his stats.

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but did anyone just hear FSN West say that the Dodgers are reportedly pursuing Johnny Damon?!

96. Hopefully, just to raise the price tag for the Yankees.

Why in the world would anyone want David Bell? How much is he getting paid for how usless he is in such a hitters' park?

We are becoming the Giants/Red Sox

Please, no JT Snow. Does the team really need a late inning defensive replacement for 1st base? What's the attraction?

96

Boston herald is reporting that the Red Sox won't go more than $40 Million for Damon so the dodgers are now in the mix. This should be fun to debate. here is a bit of the article.

"During this week's annual winter meetings, there was some indication the Los Angeles Dodgers have entered the bidding for Damon. Dodgers officials have not addressed the topic, but they could be waiting to unload Milton Bradley before they can confirm their involvement in the Damon sweepstakes."

86 - WOW, 10k for women's NCAA volleyball is absurd! The record at PSU is 6,500-some vs Minnesota last season, and I suspect with the renovation this year that number might never be broken.

I actually talked to a woman from Hawaii (I know there should be a few 's in there somewhere) while waiting at the food stands. We were both impressed with how well Mizzou closed, the Wahine stayed in it until the very end of game 4 and just could not close the gap in time.

Then I told her to stick around and she would see another great vball match. I'll summarize that one by saying this: I am almost glad I'm a Philly fan, losses that painful have become depressingly easy to deal with.

Tune in tomorrow for more Women's NCAA Volleyball Thoughts. Goodnight to all!

Well, at least Damon > Snow.

If we sign Damon I will wear the biggest fake beard ever to the next home game I attend. I already have my fake moustache lined up.

103 Well, yeah, but who isn't? I just fear that Damon is going to command a long-term deal. He won't be worth it after a couple more years. Granted the Dodgers don't have a lot of OF prospects, tho with Kemp and Guzman, I'd just as soon avoid any long-term entanglements with Boras clients.

J.T. Snow? David Bell? Son of Mitt? Why are the Dodgers doing this to me?

Tagg can pray that Colletti is too distracted by the shiny things in his office to follow-up on either Bell or Snow.

Bob, have fun at Napa Rose. It's a really good restaurant. I've had a few great meals there.

Would people rather have Damon for seven years at 15 million or JT Snow for one year at 2 million?...

or Milton Bradley from his age 28-33 seasons at 4 million or so per.

Milton, when healthy, could very easily put up similar numbers as Damon, give you better defense (assuming Damon starts breaking down as he reaches his mid-30s), and better power.

Damon steals bases at a much better clip, something that should greatly decline in the coming years. I wouldn't hate Damon and he would help us next year (especially if we were to keep Bradley, which we won't) but his contract will probably be back loaded and screw us when he's 37 .

I'd take Bradley and even Snow for two or three years over Damon. Though a Snow/ Saenz platoon would blow and it would be pointless to employ three players who can't play anything but first, so unless we're trading Choi, I don't see us signing Snow.

David Bell Has a career OBP of .318, his career high in HRs is 21, he OPSed .671 in a Hitter's park last season.

Duaner Sanchez showed lot's of promise last season and showed improvement from 2004. Especially the last couple of months of the season.

This is one of those trade rumors that makes me mad even though it's only a rumor. I hope it's not true that colleti is even considering making that move.

I beleive both Aybar and Perez are better options than David Bell; and we don't have to give up Duaner, or prospects, or both.

[68] i have a very good friend who works at napa rose. that place is excellent.

(and apparently lasorda eats there regularly)

95 J.T. Snow is a worthy member of anyone's "list".

I really hope Lasorda is not in the restaurant while I'm there.

[90 hah, i didn't even see your post the first time around. i bet our friends know each other.

95
JT Snow is awful. Other than his freakish post-AS stats, he's been done for about 5 years.

Actually, his 2004 stats are excellent. But the drop off from 2004 to 2005 is astounding.

Considering the word out of the meetings was that the Phillies were basically trying to give Bell away, I don't see how we'd have to give up anything significant for him. I have a very hard time believing the rumor, but if it went down it would be a horrible deal.

Would a Damon acquisition be a way of dealing with the Drew opt-out situation a year from now? Although the opt-out is often referred to as Drew going somewhere else if he has a very good '06, it seems more like a no trade clause, in that it merely gives the player a right to renegotiate his deal. So if we have Damon, it lessens Drew's bargaining position (at least vis-a-vis LA). Given the relative dearth of OF prospects in the system, that would enable LA to use Guzman in '07 at a corner OF spot and either keep Drew or find someone else for some or all of the $11 M he is paid.
All this is of course pending what Boras can extort from LA or other teams, and what kind of season Drew has next year. Maybe what Little said was true: Colletti only gets 30 minutes sleep a day. Maybe it is insomnia induced by thoughts of Snow or Bell in his infield.

117
Maybe it is insomnia induced by thoughts of Snow or Bell in his infield.

It's not as if those are somehow his only options. If Snow or Bell are in the infield, it would be because Mr. Ned chose for them to be there, not because they were imposed upon him against his will.

Assuming Ned doesn't go to 3 years on Mueller, I still wouldn't mind getting in on the Nomar talks.

I think he's in line for a bounceback year, and would help soften the blow of giving Milton away.

If we're willing to take David Bell from the Phillies, especially for Sanchez and/or prospects, they better include Abreu as a throw in. Bell wouldn't be bringing us to the WS anytime soon, but he has a year left at $4.5 mil, which isn't as much as I thought. It's better than guarunteeing Mueller 3 years. Although I have no reason what Colletti has against Aybar and Perez

Tracy seems convinced that Mike Gonzalez is a LOOGY. Maybe he could convince Littlefield that they should trade him for Bradley

I fail to understand how Damon solves anything, unless we truly are a speed and defense team now. We could be like 2003, but without the pitching, especially if we sign Snow for some crazy reason

I'm not a big fan of Mueller, and Bell and Snow would be even worse signings. But right now they are just rumors. One thing Mr. Ned has done that I like is that he had put feelers out to tons of players, which results in many (often contradictory) rumors. This gives him the smokescreen he needs to negotiate deals. So for now I'll chalk up all the rumors for expensive retreads to Mr. Ned's negotiating haze.

120
Although I have no reason what Colletti has against Aybar and Perez

I'm getting the impression that Neddy wants to replace "Depo's guys" with his own.

121 - Yeah, Ned sorta freaked me out there at the beginning, but I'm starting to realize that he's not Steve Phillips or Jim Bowden. I'm interested to see which moves he does end up making.

122 I've wondered about this before. But as others have pointed out, it's probably less about Neddy wanting to put his stamp on the club than it is McCourt's desire to fire certain player emblematic of the past (Depo) regime. This wouldn't be good news for Perez (who McCourt may see as part of Depo's failed experiment at 3B) and Choi (because of Depo's (in)famous Lo Duca trade). Aybar is just a farm guy who isn't so tied to Depo, so he might be OK.

124
I guess Kent is viewed as a Depo success. It's interesting that he has seemingly emerged completely blameless in the Bradley incident, with all of the blame placed on Bradley, even though it wouldn't have been an incident if Kent hadn't initially confronted Bradley in the first place. While it might be the role of a "leader" to confront players that you believe are not giving 100%, Bradley's history and situation probably dictated a different approach.

Tom Boswell has an article in todays WP headlined that Bowden is the best thing the Nats have going for them. Particularly in the light of the Soriano/Wilkerson, Sledge deal, what does that say about the state of the Nats? And does that make McCourt's signing of Colletti instead make our feeling that we dodged a bullet even stronger?

122 Why would he do that? If Perez were to bloom somewhere else--always a risk--he would look terrible, not good.

To me, Perez is sort of a hangover of last year. The context was: Izturis and Valentin were injured, Mike Edwards sucked, Nakahura was worse, Robles was so-so, and we hadn't seen Aybar yet. So, the reasonable question was, Jim Tracy, why aren't you playing Perez?

Hopefully, the context next season will be very different, and Perez will be seen as a bench player or trade bait, which is what he really is.

I doubt if Ned has any agenda other then putting the best team on the field. He might be under unders to move MB but that would be the extant of any marching orders. His opinion of the best team will not match ours but to think he's going to move players because Depo brought them in is absurd. He might move Depo players because he doesn't believe in them but he's not going to move them just because they were brought in by Depo.

Yeah, I guess it makes more sense to believe that the bias against Depo leftovers comes more from the McCourts than from Ned.

Hmm, Rommey managed his father's succesful campaign for Governor, and we also have Camille Johnston, who worked for Gore. There can only be one conclusion to make--

FRANK MCCOURT FOR PRESIDENT!

Or

JAMIE MCCOURT FOR PRESIDENT!

Dodgers are thinking about Bradley for Mike Gonzales, says 6-4-2.

LHP Mike Gonzalez of the Pirates:
2004 43.1 IP 6 BB 51K
2005 50 IP 31 BB 58K

Weird?

A fine essay: http://tinyurl.com/yets

It seems like Cal rewards students for producing convoluted sentences and stale metaphors. Maybe I'm just complaining because I can't get an A...

or . . . the McCourts for anything other than owners of the Dodgers

Does anybody on here know where I can find a database or other info of MLB players based on ethnicity or national background?

I am trying to write a sports econ paper along the lines of "Are [Black/Hispanic/Canadian/etc] players paid less than other races?" but I am having trouble finding solid info about where players are from.

Yes, I already tried looking at the World Baseball Classic page and any list that can have Mike Piazza as being from Italy is just a little too loose for this project.

The paper is due on Tues, thanks for any help! :)

134
I can't help ya, but I'm curious to know which factors you're controlling for.

I'm pretty sure that "Canadian" isn't a race. It's a nationality.

It may be helpful to use an index system in which baselines are established for experience, position, performance, year in which a contract was signed, etc. Otherwise, any conclusions you draw would be pretty weak.

For example, are Korean players underpaid relative to Latino players? It's tough to know, because (1) the sample size of Korean players is super-small, and no statistician would consider it to be significant (2) Have any Korean players even had a chance to hit free agency yet, other than Chan-Ho Park? In this case, it's difficult to separate the service time characteristic from the ethnicity characteristic.

If you do find any statistically significant results, it would be an example of a market iniefficiency that can be exploited.

I've learned to ignore the rumors that are about the Dodgers "considering X" or "talking to so and so," but whoever cited Henson on the JT Snow thing said that the Dodgers have "made an offer" to Snow. If that's correct, then Colletti has already decided on Snow (at a particular price, of course) and it's now up to Snow. If the "made and offer" bit is wrong, well then it's just mroe press speculation that Colletti can't think past SF retreads. What did Henson actually write?

the only way i would be ok with snow is if he were to be used as a pinch hitter, and if he comes dirt cheap.

btw, congrats to bob for his leap to official bloggerdom :)

138 Well, I guess we can anguish about this if and when it Snows in Chavez Ravine, but at the very least, I'm marginally more confident that Snow wouldn't be as addictive for Little as he would have been for Tracy (ooh, double double entendre - nifty).

But honestly, why keep Choi if you have Snow/Saenz? I mean, other than that he's better. If Snow drifts southward (stop me now!) I'd say it'll be Mud for Choi-ville (OK, that's enough - tried too hard on that one).

OT, but mentioned yesterday here: RIP, Gene McCarthy, and also Richard Pryor.

Breaking news -- Utah Valley State College (UVSC), the other school in Provo, just beat Arizona St., 75-71, in Tempe.

135 - That's the problem, there is really nowhere near enough data to control for all of the factors one would need to.

136 - Any conclusions are going to be weak anyways, and that is where I keep running into walls. Free agency requires a player to stick around for 7 years, but are the ones who last that long automatically the players who get the Pedro-level contracts? (or at least Kris Benson or BJ Ryan-level contracts).

Maybe I should just email Beane himself and see what he is after these days...haha, Mr. DePodesta, if you are lurking here, might you have a thing or two to share?

138 Huh? Where might that be?

[143] according to the fairpole blog, the illustrious mr. timmermann will now be responsible for "the griddle" here on baseball toaster

If the Pirates are willing to offer Mike Gonzalez for Bradley, I'd personally be very interested. The guy is a good reliever against righties, and kills lefties. Over the last 2 years in the majors, he's struck out 113 guys in 93.1 IP, with a 2.03 ERA. This is someone Tracy wants to make a LOOGY. He started in the past, but he's pretty much a reliever now. At 28, maybe Colletti could convince the Pirates we need more than Gonzalez for Bradley. Gonzalez and Craig Wilson would be very nice. John Grabow however, not so interested (maybe if he was packaged with Wilson)

137 'made an offer' were Henson's words.

That said...I'd still apply a grain of salt. It appears to always be the case, and especially now, that Winter Meeting/hot stove rumors are almost always the result of someone with an agenda trying to create perceptions to help advance that agenda. The more specific they are, the more credible. Also if the rumor appears in two independent places (not an echo chamber), then it gains credibility. The Mueller contract everyone thought was a done deal was only in one media outlet.

Baseball is starting to resemble Hollywood. The execs and agents will lie without remorse to reporters, under the cover of anonymity, and no one calls them on it because they don't want to lose access (to the next lie).

Bob Timmerman, 'bout time. Congratulations.

I'm also looking forward to reading the Rockies blog guy. What, did they draw straws?

145 According to RotoWire, Wilson is available. He can play left, right, first, and even a little catcher. Useful guy to have.

It's official.

Sandy Alomar Jr. is a Dodger.

140 If I'd been asked to list my heroes when I was 13, Eugene McCarthy and Richard Pryor would've been on the list.

I was first exposed to Pryor when he would sit in for full week as the co-host of the Pat Boone show, a daytime talk and variety show. He was, of course, much tamer, but still hilarious.