http://crookedtimber.org/2006/02/21/email-from-students/

Meanwhile, back in offtopic land, from today's Washington Post chat with Os beat writer Jorge Arangure, Jr., we get this nugget:

Brad, Pa.: What have you observed with Leo Mazzone as the pitching coach? Are you seeing miracles occur right before your very eyes? Despite my sarcasm, I am a big O's fan. Just curious to hear how you see the pitchers responding to him...

Jorge Arangure Jr.: Like i said, it's WAY too early to notice any type of change Leo Mazzone brings. THe one noticeable difference is that he makes the pitchers hit. Ray Miller didn't do that. And how that will make a difference who knows.

Two observations. One, this writer certainly does bring a healthy does of informality (and that's putting it quite charitably) to his interactive work. Two, interesting that Mazzone has his pitchers hit in the American League. Wondering if he does that because he thinks it helps for ptiching or just because he's only done tha. Do pitchers take batting practice on other AL teams?

Baseball America has ranked the Dodgers #1.

YaY!

Question: I'm a huge Vin Scully fan and I was wondering how long his contract is with the Dodgers?

laguest:

We are truly blessed to have Vin Scully returning as the Voice of the Dodgers for the 57th year. Did you know that he was recently named the 2005 California Sportscaster of the Year for a record 27th time by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association? That's an incredible tribute to him and his work.

Let me give you a little sneak preview of what I'm going to be announcing tomorrow at a press conference at Dodger Stadium: I'm going to announce that we're extending Vin's contract through the 2008 season. He's the glue that keeps generations of Dodger fans together and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be making this announcement tomorrow.

Base_Ball:

What do you think of the job that Ned Colleti is doing and did you have any influence on this acquistion?

laguest_2 I'm thrilled with the start that Ned is off to. It makes all the difference in the world when the owner is on the same page as the general manager and vice versa. His experience, leadership capabilities and his overall ability to communicate a clear vision is paying huge dividends in a short period of time.

Just as an aside, some questions are answered by "laguest" and some by "laguest_2" though Frank McCourt is the only identified guest.

"Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, entering his 57th season as the "Voice of the Dodgers," will call all televised Dodger home games and road contests against the team's National League Western Division opponents (San Francisco, San Diego, Arizona and Colorado) as well as this year's June Interleague contests against AL Western Division teams.

"For Dodger road games against non-NL West opponents, the broadcast booth will be manned by Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Charley Steiner and former Major Leaguer Steve Lyons, who is returning for his second season."

This is from the dodgers blog from Roy Smith about another dodger prospect.

"In response to the post about Justin Ruggiano, we were very pleased with his progress last year. Justin hit a combined 15 home runs and drove in 66 between Vero Beach and Jacksonville while hitting over .300 at each stop. As to why Justin's name doesn't get mentioned as much, we in the organization like to think it is because we have a deep system and some of our players just get skipped over. However, the organization is aware of Justin's play. We expect him to start in Jacksonville this year."

Also, Scully's contract extended through 2008, no mention if Rick Monday will also be given the same treatment.

Charlie Steiner must go!

He will go..................to Chicago, to Philly, to St. Louis :)

Please, say it isn't so. Not only can't I take Rick through 2008, I can't take Rick's good friend Bobby and his cars for causes, or what ever it is.

re 13:

i feel bad for ruggiano. he should be promoted to AAA, he did have an OPS of 950 in 150+ ABs in AA last year.

i guess the dodgers dont believe 150 ABs are enough ABs to truly guage where hes at. it might be a good move to keep him at AA, but i still feel bad for him.

If Ruggiano is the goods, he'll make it to the majors and figure out how to stay there. Going back to AA could be good for him. He's far from a finished product. He'll get his shot -- if he's good enough. Several Dodgers OFs could be hurt by August. There's plenty of slack in the chain.

Considering Vin has put in 56 years behind the mike and has only seen 3 complete games, I hope now Steve will realize how important middle relievers are.

http://tinyurl.com/g3f3r

The hardest hitting question, I think, was:

cjordan13: We attend the same church in Tampa, Fla. We've never met but, I want to say God bless you Mr. Strawberry!
Strawberry: Thank you very much.

Justin will be partnering with Matt Kemp along with Hu and Tony Abreu so that should be something to watch.

With Ethier, Delmon Young, Joel Guzman, Cody Ross (okay not a big prospect but he will be in Vegas), Justin and Matt will get the chance to play full time.

Justin sounds a little like Jason. Same initials. Could be trouble. This is how I now pick player. Its a proprietary formula known as the "Anti-Jason Aapproach to Scouting." It is required for all MLB personnel, except the Pirates.

http://tinyurl.com/hwqh4

Cause I know you love me!

I am too young to recall Vinny's NFL work in the 1970s. Anybody who does recall care to comment on how he did?

Sean Burroughs clearly belongs as well.

Do you mean young, fat, but good Sean Burroughs, or older, fit, yet lousy Sean Burroughs?

future dodger positional stars all together. beautiful sight.

also, kemp looks just as tall as guzman. so is guzman really 6'4 or is kemp really 6'7?

In Vero Beach, Fla., Jeff Kent said the tense atmosphere in the Los Angeles Dodgers' clubhouse last season shouldn't be used as a reason for the team's 71-91 finish.

"That's not an excuse. Me and Barry fought all the time and we went to the World Series," Kent said, referring to his former teammate in San Francisco. "Just because we can't all always get along doesn't mean we shouldn't win. It still shouldn't have affected the way we played."

Another vote against Chemistry.

The way he phrased that makes it sound as if the "tense atmosphere" did affect the way they played.

what, i dont get it.

so basically, he named his kid J.D. drew.

Why can't Frank just say, "taking the names off the unis didn't work and we will be putting them back on in '07." Instead he says we are "looking into it." Frank, tell your proctologist to "look into it" and he might just find your head for you. Not to mention, hopefully next year we will need the names to figure out who the kids are. (excluding Nate who knows them on sight)

Reading between the lines in the Kent article, one could infer Kent played some role in Depo's departure. (Although I think, Brutes, I mean, Kent was Depo's first FA signing.) I wonder if Gurnick meant to convey that, and if so why?

The pictures from todays' ST Gallery are disturbing in that they show Tommy is allowed to speak to people other than the media and the guy stocking the buffet table.

BA just came out with the bottom half rankings of their top 100.

needless to say, the dodgers are well represented. in fact, the dodgers have the most players in the bottom half of the top 100 with 5.
in order:

55- scott "makes quick bates look like palm trees through penut butter" elbert

63- jonathan "a bigger bartolo colon but with a better body" broxton

82- blake "i let the ball get real deep but i drive it the other way and have easy pull power" dewitt

89- Andre "you have to throw everything and the kitchen sink at me to get me out" ethier

96- Matt "i can throw, run, steal a base, hit for average and hit for power" kemp.

so basically this means martin, laroche, guzman and billingsley will be in the top 50 barring no unforseen suprises. this means we will have 9 dodgers in BAs top 100.

has that ever been done before?

Nationals are trying to sign him to a minor league deal.

They also doubled their offer to Sosa -- $1 million non-guaranteed -- but he declined.

http://tinyurl.com/gyryj

that is who i want in the 2006 draft. sadly, he wont last til the 7th pick.

Somewhat funny, and (credit where due) good sportsmanship of Simers not to nix the line.

kemp does have the significantly higher cieling and BA usually goes with the higher cieling in these types of scenario though.