DeWitt is one of my favorite prospects because he was apart of the first MLB draft that I actually bothered to watch, along with Elbert.

I definitely think he can be our future second baseman. He has to start taking those tools and turning it into production, but he definitely has the capability to be a star.

Cool, apparently Ethier helped him out in spring training last year.

That reaffirms my choice for favorite current Dodger position player.

DeWitt is at Athlete's Performance in Arizona with Russ Martin, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young. I know Kemp was still playing winter ball as well as Tony Abreu, I think the only position player prospect who took off some time in the winter was Hu.

Is the interviewer a high school basketball announcer? He sure did his homework.

On another board, a poster received his Baseball America 2007 Prospect Handbook in the mail already. Overall, the Dodgers' farm is ranked #6 (only that low because of all the talent that graduated to the majors this past year, the book says). Here is BA's list of our Top 30 prospects:

(01). Andy LaRoche, 3B
(02). Clayton Kershaw, LHP
(03). Scott Elbert, LHP
(04). James Loney, 1B
(05). Tony Abreu, 2B
(06). Ivan DeJesus, Jr., SS
(07). Jonathan Meloan, RHP
(08). Blake DeWitt, 2B/3B
(09). Josh Bell, 3B
(10). Preston Mattingly, SS
(11). Chin-Lung Hu, SS
(12). Bryan Morris, RHP
(13). Delwyn Young, OF
(14). Justin Orenduff, RHP
(15). Zach Hammes, RHP
(16). Steven Johnson, RHP
(17). Greg Miller, LHP
(18). Brent Leach, LHP
(19). Cory Dunlap, 1B
(20). Mark Alexander, RHP
(21). Mike Megrew, LHP
(22). Ramon Troncoso, RHP
(23). Carlos Santana, OF/3B/C
(24). Cody White, LHP
(25). Kyle Orr, 1B
(26). Xavier Paul, OF
(27). Casey Hoorelbeke, RHP
(28). Miguel Sanfler, LHP
(29). Josh Wall, RHP
(30). Wesley Wright, LHP

Parts of this list are really surprising to me, like how high Abreu and DeJesus are ranked. There are six players on the list that didn't even make my own Top 30 list: Leach, Troncoso, White, Orr, Hoorelbeke, and Sanfler. I am shocked that Eric Stults didn't break the Top 30. It isn't that I can't imagine what the arguments against him would be (limited upside, a bit old, completely blocked at the MLB level despite a year spent in Triple A), but those arguments can also be used to indict Delwyn Young, yet Young is all the way up at #13. Five other players who made my Top 30 but were passed over by BA are RHP James McDonald, RHP Jesus Castillo, RHP Javy Guerra, LHP Marlon Arias, and everybody's favorite name, LHP Alberto Bastardo. No Bastardo! Andrew Shimmin is going to have kittens!

My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw [Baseball America] forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.

Embrace the future, Bob:

http://tinyurl.com/2mmzmq

[shakes fist] Embrace it!

7
There would be a lot of waived fines if I were doing that.

That was a good interview. It has seemed to me that Abreu has jumped ahead of Dewitt and could get some playing time with the Dodgers if Kent goes down. But I like the way Dewitt is thinking and will be pulling for him to do well.

With all the veteran players Ned has signed I think he will find that managing the 24/25 man roster will be difficult. If Vets stay healthy and perform satisfactorily how will Ned find a spot on the 25 man roster if a young player tears up the minor leagues?

5 Intuitively, I would move Miller into the top ten in place of DeJesus and also move Mattingly above Bell to create my top ten.

9 - "If Vets stay healthy and perform satisfactorily how will Ned find a spot on the 25 man roster if a young player tears up the minor leagues?"

If that's our biggest problem ...

Ugh, 10:30 and I am already sick to death of my co-workers talking about the Bears, I'm really not sure if any of them realized that there was another game yesterday. I'm so torn, since these people and my neighbors are annoying the crap out of me, yet I find Peyton's losing so much fun, oh well.

For the record, it's Lovie Smith, but Lovey Howell.

The interviewer works in the school's administration. I'm honestly not sure if he teaches or volunteers with their radio/TV department, or if it's part of his job.

11 Good point. It would nice to have that problem, but just the same, Ned won't be able to send a veteran down to hte minors to bring a player up. Someone doing OK would have to be dropped or traded. If traded, Ned would not have that player available if the young guy quits hitting or pitching well.

Ned likes options and promoting a young guy and trading a vet eliminates an option. Ned doesn't have as much flexibility as it would seem.

Zing!

Goose (Chicago): What are the Angels doing? I think the Matthews and Hillenbrand signings are the worst of the offseason. When will they let the kids play?

Gary Gillette: (1:16 PM ET ) Other than spending money without any apparent plan? I dunno. Both Matthews and Hillenbrand signings were bad moves, although it's hard to label them the worst in an offseason that has seen so many awful contracts.

Gary Gillette: (1:17 PM ET ) When will their prospects get a chance to play? Not till Disneyland freezes over, apparently...

You know what Game Show is due for a revival/reimagining? Name That Tune.

I was terrible at it, but man I loved that show.

And I'll be very impressed if anyone knows how I got from this post to that thought.

(Actually, I'll bet Steve at least knows.)

Donny Osmond. Though it's hard to be accused of dabbling in minutiae when it's Shimmin worrying about Juan Pierre's "range." What next? The effect of the banana trade on Grenada's GNP?

Donny Osmond?

My thought process keyed off the Post title. For some reason, I had you down as most likely knower of '50s game show hosts.

I thought everyone knew what all the Osmonds were doing all the time.

http://www.donny.com/announcements.pl?cmd=view&aid=238

Hah! I had no idea, but Donny is certainly a fine choice.

12 I was listening to the Herd this morning and on his Spanning the World segment, he had host of a local show in Chicago and the homerism of that segment made me switch the channel. I can only imagine all the talk of how they were disrespected, now an underdog in the Super Bowl, how all Rex Grossman does is win, how they will rush off the edge and knock Peyton down, etc.

If I lived in Chicago right now and wasn't a Bears fan, I could not listen to sports talk until after the Super Bowl.

On the other hand, I like Lovie Smith and its great for him that they made Super Bowl.

Thanks to Terry and CanuckDodger for that good info so frequent at DT.

I'm still missing the 'Name That Tune' link process. The title should have been "Any relation to Marie... Must be the original host was a DeWitt?

24b: George Dewitt!

I only go back to Jim Lange.

24 I ordered both the BA and Sickels prospect books, I do find them interesting, obviously subjective.

For the Dodgers, Sickels was always high on Martin, most were skeptical though had a good feeling about Ethier, BA was higher on Kemp and I think Loney's development surprised them a little, though they will still question his power potential.

Now I'm wondering if George Dewitt is Joyce Dewitt's dad.

If I were on Name That Tune, I could get the Three's Company theme in three notes.

What is it Little Richard shouts in that GEICO commercial--WHOA!!! LOOKOUT!!!--

Excerpt from Denver post (link below)==

"With Lawrence in the fold, the Rockies will increase their pursuit of reliever Dan Kolb. Not having a 40-man roster spot available could hinder their chances. The team also likes Rudy Seanez as a fallback plan, but Seanez is progressing in talks with the L.A. Dodgers."

http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_5057859

30 Hey as a non-roster invitee, why not.

oh #1

31 - I'll now rescind my #1. That doesn't sound too terrible. Did he have any injuries last year or the previous offseason, because he had a pretty decent 2005.

Hey, thank your chosen Deity it's not Dan Kolb.

Can I thank Donny Osmond?

34 - Yeah. That was frustrating for my dad in 2005 when Smoltz went back to the rotation and Kolb became the new closer.

I would rather invite Donny Osmond to Spring Training than Dan Kolb.

A coworker of mine won the Newbery Medal for her children's book, The Higher Power of Lucky.

http://tinyurl.com/yrmobr

I know the author, but not the illustrator.

23. No, it's nothing like that, people are too nice to say such things when not on talk radio or the internet, which are pretty easy to avoid. I just really want to wipe the dumb smirk off their faces and hope to god that if the Bears do win, there is freezing rain in Chicago so that my idiot neighbors don't shoot off enough fire works to wake my kids up like they did all through the playoffs so far and through the White Sox playoff run two years ago. It's almost enough to make me wish I lived in one of those bland Northside suburbs.

Rudy Seanez, unsung hero of the 4+1 game.

The first Super Bowl I remember watching was the last one the Colts were in, Super Bowl V.

The NFL Films highlight film of it shows people walking up to the box office at the Orange Bowl asking if there were any tickets available. Or if there were any will call tickets not picked up.

I wonder if the ticket booths at Dolphin Stadium will be staffed on Super Bowl Sunday this year.

41 The first one I remember seeing was Super Bowl VII (why do we buy in and used the roman numerals)[?], Miami vs. Washington. I think it wasn't until the Steelers and Raiders won in the mid-seventies, that I really started to pay attention.

I will always remember the Rams being ahead after 3 quarters in Super Bowl XIV.

In '05 Seanez gave up only 4 HR over 60.3 IP.
Also only 49 H, 84 SO, 22BB, 2.69 simple ERA.

Has 471 career SO in 446 IP, good. But a reputation for throwing hard but straight, not so good.

Haven't seen anything about his breaking stuff...?

A no-risk look might not be so bad.

I saw superbowl I.

My parents had a friend who rigged up the antenna or whatever was needed to get the blacked-out broadcast.

Just read Peter King's column in CNNSI.com, it is the best weekly sport-specific column on the net.

That's it, nothing else to say.

I use the Roman numerals for the Super Bowls because I am afraid to run afoul of the NFL marketing team.

That is one of the most powerful groups on earth. They can make people disappear if they want.

45. It was okay, but I didn't care for his non-football observations. The meatballs at Carmines on Rush St. are great? Get out of here, Carmines exists solely so that people can sit outside in the summer, the food is slightly better than adequate, but I would never say that anything there is great, much less better than any porterhouse in Kansas City, that's just stupid. Plus, Chicago cab drivers are pretty average in terms of their speed. I swear, the guy must just plug the city name into a macro to come up with these observations.

The most recent Griddle post has me thinking about GMs.

Looking at the list of current GMs, is there anything they have in common? For the most part, they don't appear to be former players. Do they share some other background (e.g. education, professional experience, etc.)? Are they business people or lawyers or something? And just what are the qualifications for a general manager?

1968- First Black coach (Bill Russell) to win an NBA Title.
1984 - First Black coach (John Thompson) to win an NCAA Division 1 Basketball Championship
1992 - First Black manager (Cito Gaston) to win a World Series
2007 - First Black coach (Tony Dungy or Lovie Smith) to win a Super Bowl

Still no black head coach to win an NCAA Division 1 football championship.

47 Not so much this week's column but as a consistent product of interesting information from week to week.

49
Time for Karl Dorrell to join that list!

OK, stop laughing.

48
You need to be dumbstruck when someone pushes a glossy folder under your nose. It is a unique qualification that GM's from Harvard graduates to life long scouts seem to have.

Confidential to ToyCannon:

http://cardboardgods.blogspot.com/2007/01/jim-wynn.html

You need to be dumbstruck when someone pushes a glossy folder under your nose

I guess you also need enough flexibility to be able to bend over and grab your ankles

The most important qualification for being a GM is to "know a guy."

55
Then my cynicism is justified

53
Thanks Jon. I have often looked at Wynn's 76 season in amazement. When the Dodgers traded Wynn they traded my 2 favorite Dodgers at the same time(Lacy and Wynn).

56
But a lot of jobs in life are based on "knowing a guy."

58
And my cynicism applies to a lot of jobs in life

With the Colts and Bears making the Super Bowl, the Raiders now will have the hardest schedule in the league next season.

That seems totally fair.

59
I will remember that when you ask me for a job reference.

This might have been talked about before but I just went to BP to take a look at what Jimmy Wynn's Vorp's were during his heyday and I find Don Drysdale ranked 29th in 1965 in Vorp for HITTERS with a 24. Maury Wills was the only positional player to have a higher VORP. For a World Championship team!
His translated slug% was 610 and he would never slug over 300 again. Talk about a peak year.

60
Something like: Able to perform routine tasks satisfactorily.

61
My cynicism doesn't extend to my job, silly...

What does Kathy Lee Gifford have to do with this thread?

I just have to mention that after reading King's article, I clicked over to Jon's archives. On the right hand side was a panel stating "The most compelling images in sport" and then flashing a sultry female tennis player (Sharapova, I think).

62 Drysdale batted seventh that year and Wes Parker hit ninth. That was before Parker wound up being a decent hitter.

After looking at the Baseball America list, what happened to Josh Wall? I heard he was very talented and was going to be a good prospect for us.

D4P, just got back from Oregon. The school exceeded my expectations.

The school exceeded my expectations

That's great to hear! Tell me about your trip. Where'd you go? What'd you see? Where'd you stay?

How many mushrooms did you eat?

Tip of the hat to Sam DC

If you meet a girl from Williamette named Kalia stay far away. I have higher expectations for her then some DT poster:)

Thursday night - flew into Portland and drove to Eugene.
Friday- got up early and walked around campus before the tour. It was pretty cool outside (about 40). My first impression of the school was that I loved the brick buildings. It reminded me a lot of University of Maryland. The gym is excellent; very modern. They have five basketball courts, a rock climbing wall, and a pretty decent sized indoor track. Then I went on the tour. The campus is pretty much the perfect size. Big enough to make you feel that you are at the state's public flagship school, but also extremely manageable. It's very easy to get around campus. There are signs are everywhere. The campus is beautiful and is by far one of the cleanest I've ever been to. Bikes are extremely popular on campus and in the town of Eugene; it reminded me a lot of Davis in this sense. The student union was pretty nice, though not as impressive as Arizona's.

The Lillis Business complex is one of the most impressive buildings you'll ever see on a college campus. Fantastic architecture gives it a very modern look, but the design is also very practical. The large glass panels allow for a lot of natural light to enter the building, thus less electric light is needed. It is also the only green building on campus.

I was surprised by how much I liked the town of Eugene. Public transition is great and you can walk to most places. My sister bought me a beer at pub and grill. For a light beer, it was excellent. It's definitely a college town and there is a decent amount of stuff to do.

Saturday- went back to campus to see the Knight Library. The library is huge. They have the second largest collection of books in the Northwest (I'm guessing that UW is first). The inside was recently remodeled; it looks like an Embassy Suits – upscale and classy. I also checked out some of the off campus dorms and apartments. Most of the dorms were for freshman, but I think they have a few floors for transfer students.

Sunday- spent the day in Portland. The city is very clean, but they have a fairly large homeless population. Still not a fan of Portland. It's a very nice looking city, but it's too small for me; I like Seattle a lot better. Stopped by Reed College because my dad loves the place. Looks like an Ivy League from the outside. As for everything else…..no comment.

Sports are huge on campus and there seemed to be a lot of school spirit. Everyone appeared to be genuinely happy to be there. The students that I encountered were very friendly.

It does rain a lot in Eugene and the sidewalks weren't in great conditions. I won't be able to longboard nearly as much as I would like to. For regular skateboarding, they do have some indoor skate parks in town.

There are tons of running trails in town and the cool weather makes for very good running conditions. They call Eugene "Tracktown USA" and Steve Prefontaine isn't the only reason why. One a pretty cold Friday morning, I saw a lot of students running around campus in jogging pants and thermals. The students are very active.

One thing I was worried about before coming to the school was an overwhelming hippy population. This is not the case. I talked to some people there and they said the most of the hippies are people who live in the town (I saw a few, but not as many as I expected). They told me that the students who think they are hippies usually don't go to class and end up dropping out.

Overall, I really liked the school and could definitely see myself going there.

I have some pictures. I'll see if I can get them uploaded later tonight.

Bikes are extremely popular on campus and in the town of Eugene

Stealing bikes is also very popular in Eugene. I had my bike stolen, and had no fewer than 10 friends who had bikes stolen. It's annoying.

My sister bought me a beer at pub and grill

At the corner of 19th and Agate, next to the video store...? We used to live less than a block from there.

Most of the dorms were for freshman, but I think they have a few floors for transfer students

There are a couple of dorms designated for upper class students/graduate students.

One thing I was worried about before coming to the school was an overwhelming hippy population

Eugene certainly has that reputation, but it has changed a lot over the past decade or so. There has been a big influx of the "Wal-Mart, SUV" crowd. Besides, a lot of hippies are good people and good to live around, which I didn't realize growing up.

There is a hippy population in Isla Vista. I think it is a benefit because you get food co-ops, more healthy eating, and hemp stores and festivals and such. Plus, if you talk to them they are really nice and also hilarious.

Per L.A. Times website:

Dodgers signed Rudy Seanez to a minor league contract, he will make $700K if he makes the team and an additional $100K for every 5 appearances he has over 45 to a maximum contract of $1.2M.

And we get that much closer to never speaking of Joe Beimel again.

78 I was thinking that every reliever we sign, no matter how mediocre, means we're that much further from Gio.

New post up top.

74
I used to watch UCLA basketball and USC football when they came to Oregon State or Oregon. Before the improvements to Oregon State's football stadium, Oregon was much better to see a game. Now, OSU has a great stadium.

Corvalis is a much better town than Eugene will ever dream of being. You owe it to yourself to visit the Oregon State campus in Corvalis if you want to go to school in Oregon.

Kathy Lee was the singer on Name That Tune.

79
I was thinking similarly, only it was Kio.