Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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TV and more ...
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
Last week, John Manuel of Baseball America had a long profile on the difficult high school career of local product Nick Akins, who was drafted by the Dodgers in the 13th round Tuesday.
In search of a better school in a calmer neighborhood, Akins transfered from L.A. High to El Camino Real - perennial home of great baseball teams and academic decathletes - in Woodland Hills before his junior season, according to the article. But Akins was not rewarded for his two-hour bus rides each way.
Akins' 2005 season came to a head in an ugly melee during a game against Sun Valley Poly High. The Akins family says the Poly team taunted Nick with racial epithets and intentionally beaned him during the game, making a pitching change and bringing in its hardest thrower for the task. No one disputes that after Akins was hit with a pitch, he trotted to first base while his father approached the Poly High dugout.
"I walked in the dugout. I was wrong for doing that," Damon Akins said. "I'm bigger than the average guy. When I walked in, one of their assistant coaches grabbed me, and it started. Only when the players started swinging at me did Nick leave first base. He came to get his dad's back."
Another area of agreement: Everyone wishes the fight, which resulted in several injured Poly players, hadn't happened. ...
(El Camino Real coach Matt) LaCour agrees that Akins is still paying for his dad's mistake. When informed that two scouts had predicted Akins could go as high as the third round, however, LaCour sounded surprised.
"Nick just has to learn the work ethic that it will take for him to be successful," LaCour said. "He's a nice kid. He's not disrespectful. He has the tools; for him it's about controlling the beast in terms of his swing."
* * *
Here's a different kind of draft trauma, as reported by Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. (Deadspin provided the link.):
Picking up a phone to answer a call from the Seattle Mariners, highly regarded pitcher Brandon Morrow suffered an injury to his pitching elbow Tuesday that may have to be repaired by "Tommy John" ligament replacement surgery.
"I don't know what happened," said a distraught Morrow, a right-hander from the University of California. "I just reached for the phone on the table and all of a sudden I had this sharp pain. I heard a little pop. Honestly, I didn't do anything unusual."
The call was to tell him that the Mariners selected him with their first-round pick, fifth overall, in the amateur baseball draft. Club general manager Bill Bavasi cautioned that nothing about the injury was definitive.
"We know a little bit about pitching injuries, and there's always a possibility it's just a cramp," Bavasi said. "He told us he can't pick up a can of soda without severe pain. But you know how kids exaggerate."
If this had been a story on The Onion, I would have been less surprised. (I should probably be more clear that the article has been reported to be a spoof, though I think it practically begs to be taken seriously and misread.)
* * *
Dodger scouting director Logan White is chatting online at 3 p.m.
Hope we sign him and give him a chance.
It's not like all of the best football players in Los Angeles all happen to live within walking distance of Taft High.
Man, the Toaster is really borked today. Seems like that's been happening a lot lately. Time for a hardware upgrade maybe, fellas?
I hope we sign him too. I think he is committed to play for tony gywnn at SDSU. We need to dip into the hochevar fund to sign Orr, Akins and Alex White. White is an absolute beast. 6'4 2 spot star with great athleticism, 90+mph with a plus slider and only 4 walks in 58 or so innings this year. Unbelievable control for a prep pitcher.
For example, I know right now that Jon's blood pressure is 120/74. I'm a little concerned about Mark's HDL levels though.
vr, Xei
Mets 2 runs on 5 hits
Dodgers 8 runs on 10 hits
Highlights:
Beltran clubs 2 run HR to give Mets a 2-0 lead in the top of the 4th inning. Matt Kemp hits a 3 run HR in the bottom of the 4th and Nomar does the same in the bottom of the 5th, as the Dodgers go up 6-2. Dodgers ended up winning 8-2 and Odalis Perez (I know this isn't too likely) pitched a complete game. vr, Xei
The Washington Nationals today named former major league manager and player Davey Johnson as Special Consultant to Vice President/General Manager Jim Bowden. Johnson, 63, will contribute to player personnel matters, including the evaluation and scouting of major and minor league players.
http://tinyurl.com/msxko
Should note I got this from a nationals' minor league focused blog, Nats Farm Authority. http://www.farmauthority.dcsportsnet.com/
sorry (you were right, though, about it begging to be misread!)
Actually, it wasn't. And I've been snarky enough today. I added it in after lunch, after getting fooled myself on first read.
Couldn't you remove Perez after 4 innings to make it more realistic?
The Dbax have put Russ Ortiz back in the rotation, activated Terry Mulholland, had to put Juan Cruz on the DL, and last week they optioned Enrique Gonzalez.
Dbax will come back to the pack if those types of things keep happening.
They may bring back Enrique Gonzalez with Cruz injury however.
...activated Terry Mulholland
Left handed pitchers can hang on forever. I thought that Jeff Fassero would be signed by someone after being released by SF.
natedogge7 = our little Nate?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060607
You'll never wash those fingers again...
First and foremost, he's like a lot of our past picks. He has outstanding makeup, a great heart and he's a fierce competitor on the mound. Now for his physical ability, he's big, strong, athletic and has a power pitcher's frame with a fastball from the 92-96 range and a good overhand curveball.
That's OK, as long as the GM does not do so...
You're not suggesting that White uses his computer to evaluate players by some Bill James formula are you? :)
Everyone uses a computer...
That's all I've been trying to say.
it probably wont get through the filter.
come on dodger fans!
expand!
Realistically, the timetable is 3-5 years. We all know it's exceptional for a player like Matt Kemp to be playing at the Major League level with only two and a half years of minor league experience. It's possible that a pitcher such as Morris or White might be able to meet those expectations.
http://tinyurl.com/rpooq
A very bad contract? Harumph.
Logic and Logan White's safety tells me that I should not tell Nate that the call in number for the show is (866) 652-6696. There are supposed to be two guests on the show and Logan White was the second guest that was mentioned, plus you have fans that want to know who is better between Matt Morris and Ian Snell, but I am sure that when Logan is on, they will want specific questions about scouting and the Dodgers, so go ahead and flood those lines.
But for some reason, Hochevar feels that he needs to blame someone for what happened last year so he blames Logan White and his short termed agent for possibly duping him into a bad deal.
Matt Sosnick did not take kindly to being called a young inexperienced agent and so he felt free to blast away at Hochevar. I have not seen any write ups about it but it was interesting to hear.
One thing about Grady, he has played the kids and sat his veterans because he knows that the veterans know how to prepare themselves and get adjust to playing time issues better than the kids.
I was reading the Yanks toaster material and they were talking about wanting Dioner back. One poster wondered if the Dodgers would bite on an offer of Aaron Small, Terrence Long and ....Scott Erickson. That made me laugh a lot.
By the way, my opening comments were in no way a slam on Dodger Thoughts. This is my favorite place on the web.
That is why Joel Guzman will go down first when Kent comes off and hopefully he will perform like Loney has been doing so he will be even more ready when he comes up again.
Isn't it interesting that Kotchman, McPherson, Mathis, and Kendrick(limited 20 ab's) all failed to live upto expectations and then Napoli of all people is putting life back into the team. Jered Weaver is doing his part.
That would be a diservice to the memory of HSC.
And, thanks.
I still think that Russ Martin, Willy Aybar and Broxton have had the greatest impact because they are now out their doing their jobs on a regular basis. But Matt Kemp has become the most exciting young player since Lasorda's godson came up back in '90s.
latimes blog has a good interview with logan white on the draft.
While the Angel rookies haven't wowed like the Dodgers' rookies, I think they will be very good next year and the years to come. The long term view is still quite rosy.
They also have their starting rotation locked up for 3 years.
Yes, I am the Angels apologist on this blog.
LOOGYs shouldnt even count as baseball players.
A quick update on Eric Gagne for you all. He did have some discomfort in his elbow last night after the game, so we got a precautionary MRI on him today and it showed no structural damage. There was some swelling though, which they hope they can control in 2-3 days. He won't pitch tonight and will be reevaluated on Friday.
Lineup out as well. Drew sits again. Kemp and Guzman in the 4 and 5 spots, respectively.
Kemp - should be interesting to see how he does vs. Glavine, who is probably too smart to throw him anything not offspeed tonight.
I wish one of these games was on ESPN this week. Sigh.
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