Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Jon's other site:
Screen Jam
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
Welcome back, Tom Martin. From Josh Rawitch at Inside the Dodgers:
Today we signed two more non-roster invitees to Spring Training and you will recognize both names. Mike Myers and the former Dodger, Tom Martin will both be coming to Spring Training. For Martin, this is his second time in camp as a non-roster guy and I still remember the first time he showed up at Dodgertown in the Spring of 2003. He was sitting at a table in the clubhouse and none of us had any idea who he was or what he was doing there. I was about to go over and ask him for his media credential when our clubhouse manager told me that he was a friend of Paul Shuey's and he had just tried out for the team and made it. A hard-throwing lefty, he was going to be with us throughout camp.
* * *
Quick advertising note: Dodger Thoughts accepts political advertisements. They are unsolicited, and they do not necessarily reflect my own opinions. As far as the guideline against discussing politics on the site - that still stands. The fact that politcal ads can exist here isn't an invitation to political debate.
I still don't want partisan political discussions in the comments of Dodger Thoughts, although for the time being, I am allowing nonpartisan political comments.
Carry on!
Anyway, better to have the left-handed arms in the pen come out of NRIs than to trade something useful for them. As it stands we don't have much in the way of lefties - Beimel, Kuo (if healthy, and never good out of the pen), Miller (I'd love for him to get it together), and Stults on the 40-man. That's it. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if a Martin/Myers type guy sticks in Vegas for emergency callups.
Eric Gagne - 82.1 IP, 1.20 ERA, 335 ERA+ (Cy Young Award)
Guillermo Mota - 105 IP, 1.97 ERA, 204 ERA+
Paul Quantrill - 77.1 IP, 1.75 ERA, 231 ERA+
Paul Shuey - 69 IP, 3.00 ERA, 134 ERA+
Tom Martin - 51 IP, 3.53 ERA, 114 ERA+
Awesome.
And to drive home the point of bullpen volatility, all five of the above were toast within two years!
I assume Mike Myers was invited because Torre is familiar with him.
It's somewhat the equivalent of showing up as a favor for Mitch and Murray.
he was throwing serious heat back then also, I think mid-90's gas topping out at 96-97MPH.
Anyway, I was going through the Baseball Reference minors database a few weeks ago to see what other future major leaguers passed through the Cal League during those years. I was surprised to find a 23 year old Mike Myers made his pro league debut as a starter for the 1992 San Jose Giants.
I forgot about the inherited runner stat! I looked it up and Martin only allowed 5 of 42 inherited runners to score (11.9%).
He must have had, like, the greatest pickoff move ever. ;)
Everybody prepare for a Nelson Muntz laugh.
German TV viewers zapping around the dial at midnight on Jan. 20 got a rare treat on pubcaster ARD -- a live American football game: the NFC championship between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants in freezing-cold Wisconsin.
They also got a chilling glimpse into just how much TV advertising disrupts the flow of the game.
German regs ban pubcasters from airing ads after 8 p.m. So during the time devoted to countless commercial breaks for American TV, ARD showed viewers endless lingering shots of shivering fans and frozen football players standing around looking bored.
It was a view that American viewers, of course, would never get to see -- unless they went to a game.
I could never American football on German TV. But I stayed in hotels where my only English language programming was CNN International.
Sometimes Eurosport would be in English. It showed a lot of snooker.
http://tinyurl.com/2upjdq
(Diane) Franklin sang the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium on June 1, 2004, a nod to her Better Off Dead character's love of "ze Brooklyn Dod-zhers" and her desire to visit their stadium, which she fulfills at the end of the film.
"I want my two dollarrrrssss!"
They must expect Red Sox Nation to invade LA that weekend. And who knows, they might just do that.
Raiders also denied the report that they were going to fire Art Shell last year.
I am still expecting something to happen.
http://tinyurl.com/3da8hx
Doesn't sound good, does it?
Standing room at the Coliseum promises to give someone a view where they can see almost, but not quite, nothing of the game.
Makes some of the turmoil surrounding the Dodgers the last few years look like nothing.
People still around from Tom Martin's last stint in LA:
Josh Rawitch
Vin Scully
Manny Mota (although not in the dugout anymore)
Technically, Brady Penny was acquired one day before Martin was traded in 2004, but of course effectively they weren't teammates.
Sadly, I did not get to watch Dodger games and hear Vin until I went to school in SB.
http://tinyurl.com/2tu5uj
(Though it seems their new GM is much more intelligent about how to go about things...)
Okay, off to brave the rain. Ciao, people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoiFGva_JoY
It's quite something.
https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/337369.html
The man knows how to sell himself, I'll give him that. You can substitute a different verb if you like.
A: No.
Is it really the case that any given NRI is only invited to spring training by one team and one team only? It seems to me that many players would likely be invited by more than one team, yet the media never presents it that way. You never hear, for example, that Player X was invited to spring training by Team A and Team B, and that Player X chose one team over the other. You just hear that one team invited the player.
What gives?
I guess the soul of Bill Walsh can finally rest, knowing that D4P has pardoned him.
A lot of people are tied with Mr. Sharapov.
Yeah, I like her more than Sharapova.
Ms. Ivanovic is likely a slightly cheaper date than Ms. Sharapova.
You better be able to measure up. Sharapova is 6'2" and Ivanovic is 6'1".
A: Yes. Maria Sharapova.
of all storms headed our way sat evening into sunday. I am sure Bob is already on Storm Watch 2008.
vr, Xei
They don't look that tall on TV!
There goes my dream (I'm 5'11-6'0ish)
All at Staples:
1-25-2008 – Friday 6:00 PM
1-25-2008 – Friday 10:00 PM
1-26-2008 – Saturday 1:00 PM
1-26-2008 – Saturday 5:00 PM
1-26-2008 – Saturday 9:00 PM
The guy is a machine. 3 shows on Sat. Is anyone out there crazy enough to go to all three just so they can say they did it?
One media outlet reported that Dye did so out of anger with Williams. Dye, however, said that was not the case.
''I was calling to ask him what happened with Torii,'' Dye said.
Dye and several other Sox players had been involved in trying to lure Hunter, a free-agent outfielder from the Minnesota Twins, to the South Side. The last they'd heard, the five-year, $75 million offer from the Sox was good enough to land Hunter.
The Angels' five-year, $90 million offer changed that.
''I'm not sitting here feeling like Kenny deceived [me and Buehrle] into staying,'' Dye said. ''Guys like a Torii Hunter were going to command outrageous money. The Angels came from nowhere. Torii told me that it was down to the Dodgers and Sox, and [he] was leaning toward us. Then ...''
Williams' Thanksgiving nightmare.
Please go away.
Sincerely,
caseybarker
Is that a new ad? I only noticed it today.
I hope you get a bunch more. I would love to see you make money on this thing. I am a self-confessed capitalist.
Maria is one of those tied with her father.
And guess who has a brother who has extra tickets for the Lakers-Cavs game this Sunday at 12:30?
And do you wish to take a stab at whether or not this is the Sunday I have to work?
Doesn't the library respect The Sabbath...?
But I have spent the past 10 minutes deleting all the comments in order to satisfy your opinion of what should be allowed on this site.
This site is a ton of work to run and keep current. It is also one of the best and most intelligent sites on the web concerning the Dodgers (and other subjects). This fact is borne out by the respect it has received from other outlets such as the Dodgers themselves, SI and even Peter Gammons. It is better run and more informative than most pay sites, yet Jon keeps it free with equal access to all. I learn far more from this site than the LA Times which I pay $20 a month for. Given the analysis, humor and thoughtful discussion this site provides Jon should be charging a fee. Therefore, if Jon can make a few bucks off of some political ads during election season to offset the time and energy he puts into this forum I am all for it. Jon, charge away and I hope you get more ads than you have space for.
http://sportsblogs.latimes.com/sports_baseball_dodgers/2008/01/audio-leftovers.html
Wait. Right? That's still cool, isn't it? The Future of the World may depend on it. . .
I hope Jon runs as many ads as he likes to keep that from ever being a consideration.
The baseball insight I bring more than makes up for it.
I echo the feelings expressed at 98 .
LaRoche is talking about being a "dirtbag" and "going out there and getting dirty".
You'll have to expect a few expressions of surprise in comments to future posts as well from people who won't have read your statement today. You may get tired repeating yourself, unless you put something similar right above the blog ads.
The only Sunday the library is closed is Easter Sunday and that's mainly because it's hard to get staff to come in.
We're also closed on Sunday if some immovable holiday ends up on Sunday such as Christmas or Independence Day.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/tennis/la-sp-usc26jan26,0,5754515.story
109 - I did expect some reaction. That's why I updated my blog post. Since my message appeared about 12 hours before the blogad did, I figured that would be sufficient.
But again, this is nothing new. I have run ads with political content before. What I wrote up top was a reminder/clarification. And nothing about the rules changed. Don't discuss political views.
It really shouldn't take me saying this a bunch of times for it to register.
Jon, thanks for creating such a great place to talk about the Dodgers. I appreciate your work every day.
Andrew has a name for people like you
This may be true for me on AOL as well as I've never seen an ad at this site and had no idea what anyone was talking about. But I'd welcome anything that would help Jon make a few bucks and keep this site going. My first act upon signing on is to find Dodger Thoughts.
Same here. I never miss a comment. Whenever I sign off I write down the number of the last comment I read and start there the next time I sign on. As a result, I almost never return to the top unless pointed there.
Jay is much more then a chess set pitchman he is the best man I've ever met.
http://www.truebluela.com/story/2007/9/12/20214/4304
If any of you live in the Santa Clarita Valley and your child learns how to play chess, they will be the better for it only because Jay was involved.
This should give you everyone you need.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/sbd4
I had to go plant a peach tree for my grandmother.
I take it you didn't enjoy the fruits of your labor...
I think we need a constitutional amendment to prevent this.
Insulatation has nothing on peach fuzz when it comes to overall itchiness.
BTW is a peach tree that doesn't bear fruit a capitol offense. Actually I guess its not a peach tree if it doesn't produce peaches. Never mind.
Then there was an ... incident.
Could you tell a lie...?
86, but I am not even sure if she cares about peaches. She can't read stuff, so I am not sure she even knew she was getting a peach tree.
As I recall, the peach tree produced something along the lines of 1-2 peaches per year.
We have the same problem with our lemon tree Bob, your not alone.
I've never seen Max Headroom look so good!
:D
Revisiting the Past in Vincent's Book
>> "We Would Have Played for Nothing," volume 2 of Fay Vincent's oral-history project. Scheduled for publication in April by Simon & Schuster, the book has 11 stars from the 1950s and '60s talking about their careers and their competitors. <<
## Robinson discloses another aspect of his historic managerial venture. When he agreed to manage the Indians, Robinson said he was actually paid a $20,000 salary for his role. ##
http://tinyurl.com/2j6v3m
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