Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
The car accident that robbed Roy Campanella of the ability to walk also prevented, on a less significant note, the brand new fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers from being able to see a future Hall of Famer play catcher right in front of their eyes.
Campanella was 36 when the accident occured, and his bat was starting to slow down, so who knows how long he would have worn a Los Angeles uniform. Nevertheless, in the 48 years since Campanella's tragedy, the legacy of Dodger catchers has been a proud one. For 36 of those 48 years, the Dodgers relied upon the toolsmanship of only five men: John Roseboro, Steve Yeager, Mike Scioscia, Mike Piazza and Paul LoDuca. Los Angeles also received nice cameos from Tom Haller, Duke Sims (121 OPS+ in 1971), Joe Ferguson and even at certain moments Todd Hundley, who hit 24 home runs in 299 at-bats in 2000.
From August 2004 to August 2005, the catching position in Los Angeles lost its mojo. But with Dioner Navarro and Russell Martin rising fast, Dodger catching should soon be returning to a position of pride - as has been customary, despite the horrific preamble, for the team in Los Angeles.
Someone should cut this out and send it to Navarro; what a nice vote of confidence.
*
I know this is sort of a hobbyhorse of mine, but it seems that now that Brad Wilkerson's neck is out from under Frank Robinson's boot, he is a little less sanguine on the requirement that real men play through pain: "[Last season], injuries were the new problem for the guy who was arguably the best player ever to play baseball at UF. A sore forearm turned into a sore hand and eventually a chipped bone in his hand, which led to a sore shoulder. Instead of resting his original injury, Wilkerson kept playing through the pain and made things worse. 'The biggest thing I learned from last year,' he said, 'was that sometimes you just have to sit down.'"
It's an interesting article from The Gainesville Sun. Wilkerson also not-too-subtly rips Nationals management.
http://tinyurl.com/c2b6s (or find at www.gainesville.com).
(thanks to dcbb.blogspot.com for the link)
I'm surprised that Oscar Thoughts hasn't taken hold. For me, this is sort of a watershed year in the decline of my moviegoing -- I haven't seen a single movie or performance nominated in the top 5 awards.
That guy must have done a lot of public appearances in his life.
And yes, I've met Steve Yeager twice at SABR events. Once when he was the hitting coach for San Bernardino (he told us Chin-Feng Chen was going to be a star) and another time when he managed the independent league team in Long Beach.
No, not that one, the utility infielder. Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, and Rotoworld is hypothesizing that it would bump Choi to either being released or to the minors.
From the Denver Post:
"The Rockies, meanwhile, lost out on signing utilityman Ramon Martinez, who chose the Los Angeles Dodgers."
Brett Tomko didn't stink enough, so Colletti wants someone even stinkier.
OPS+ in the last three seasons for Ramon Martinez: 86, 67, 68
Thus, I think Martinez will be around should either Robles of Furcal gets hurt. I really doubt he could beat out Choi in ST
-- BR
On another note, John Sickels Prospect book and Baseball America's prosepct book both arrived in mail box in the last few days. For you Hochevar fans, John grades Luke just behind Billingsley (A) at a B+ with Elbert and Broxton, ahead of Orenduff and Greg Miller.
He also hopes that Chad can handle the Las Vegas affect on pitchers but predicts Loney will hit a lot of home runs there.
"The Rockies, meanwhile, lost out on signing utilityman Ramon Martinez, who chose the Los Angeles Dodgers."
Should read:
""The Dodgers, meanwhile, lost out in signing utilityman Ramon Martinez, who chose the Los Angeles Dodgers."
After making the great play, Ferguson led off the bottom of the 8th. He flied out to center. The Dodgers got two on with two outs in the inning, but pinch hitter Von Joshua grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the 9th, Wynn homered to make it 3-2 and Garvey singled with two outs (and Tom Paciorek pinch ran for him!) and Oakland manager Alvin Dark brought in Catfish Hunter to relieve Rollie Fingers and Hunter struck out Ferguson to end the game.
Ferguson did hit a home run in Game 2. Yeager started at catcher in Games 1, 2, 4, and 5.
on 20, where do Tiffany and EJ rank, I am just curious?
Here ya go:
≠
[ducks]
6. Sam, I have seen only one BP contender, Crash. It was ok. Matt Dillon was good. He kept you guessing. Just when you hated him, he became sympathetic and just when he became sympathetic you hated him. Really want to see Capote. Don't care so much about the others.
Also, an earlier Callis column that is still up on the page has Ethier projecting as a fourth outfielder. Sheesh.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/columnists/askba.html
Jackson does not qualify due to his MLB stats but since he is 22, there is some optimism but he is not the top prospect he was, at least in their opinion, even going into 2005.
Tiffany ranked somewhere between 12-15 (I think 14 but I am going off my memory) in Baseball America, their concerns is his conditioning, he was behind Chad, Elbert, Broxton, and maybe Orenduff (and Hochevar if he signs). Sickels grades at a C or C+, I think, same concerns, weight being the main one. I think both of these sources would say that the Dodgers have a pretty good idea of what they got in the trade and that both Jackson and Tiffany have some questions and Tiffany is certainly going to be in AA this year and Edwin could be there too(I think this is his last option year though).
Ethier was graded a B prospect, (Sickels states that he is tough grader, I will say that there are very few A grades, his B+ grades include Dodger prospects such as Russ Martin and Broxton, Orenduff is a B.)
BA had Ethier as the A's 4th best prospect going into 2006. You have to note that most of the A's top prospects are already up except for Daric Barton. Realistically given his ceiling, in this year's Dodger top 30, he would probably been where he was last year for the A's, somewhere between 13-16. Only the lack of true OF prospects (Guzman, D. Young, notwithstanding) keeps him as high as that. But that is also a result of the number of top prospects the Dodgers have.
1977 World Series Game 3 - Yankees 5, Dodgers 3 (Mike Torrez goes on my list forever)
1978 World Series Game 6 - Yankees 7, Dodgers 2
(the less said about that the better)
1981 Division Series Game 4 - Dodgers 2, Astros 1 (Yea!)
1981 NL Championship Series Game 2 - Expos 3, Dodgers 0 (with the most obnoxious human being sitting near me, that man is likely cavorting with Judas and Brutus in the last circle of hell)
1981 World Series Game 4 - Dodgers 8, Yankees 7 (messiest World Series game ever!)
1995 Division Series Game 1 - Reds 7, Dodgers 2 (OJ verdict came out that day and the crowd was very weird and extremely drunk)
1996 Division Series Game 2 - Braves 3, Dodgers 2 (Oh, Ismael, why did you have to give up three home runs in one inning?)
1995 Division Series Game 2 - Reds 3, Dodgers 2
2004 Division Series Game 3 - Dodgers 4, Cards 0 (Lima time)
Also, as I recall it, there was a shooting in the parking lot. My dad and I were about 20 feet away from having parked inside the police line.
But based on Ned's clandestine ways, you never know what he is doing until the deal is closed.
Ainsworth's most similar pitcher according to BR is DJ Houlton!
There was some sort of incident in the parking lot for that game. My oldest brother was an usher then and he had to spend the whole game out in the parking lot helping to shoo people away from the scene. So he didn't get to see the game.
Besides his '74 WS throw (he was originally an outfielder) , and '80 homer against the Astros, Fergy as a rookie callup in '71 hit a late inning HR to break up a perfect game against the Dodgers (by the Pirates Luke Walker).
Best of all, Campanis convinced the Cardinals to trade Reggie Smith for Fergy in mid '76.
I wonder how long it will be before the Dodgers trade Navarro to the Marlins who will later ship him to the Mets.
25 -- In addition to !=, ~= also works for "not equal to" (at least for a few programmer types out there). But D4P's "not equal to" in post #26 easily tops either of those...but how did you do that, D4P ???
-- BR
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