6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

I Want My MLB TV

15 days until pitchers and catchers report.

Dodgers End Voluntary Seismic Refit

Dodgers Win Nakamura Negotiation Rights

Some Love For Ross Porter

For now, it won't include the Dodgers, not even for a night. They have asked if he would come to a game, where they would honor his 28 years with them. Porter shook his head slowly. No noise. No spotlight.

"I really think we're past that," he said. "I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. That's over. We will just go on."

Doug Miller Twists The Knife

What ever happened to the Angels first-round pick in 2003, Brandon Wood? Is he still with the organization? -- Steve C., Arizona

Steve, Brandon Wood is most definitely still with the organization and is still viewed as a potential big league star at shortstop. Wood spent the entire 2004 season at Cedar Rapids and hit .251 with 11 homers, 64 RBIs, 65 runs scored and 25 stolen bases. Expect him to begin 2005 there or with Rancho Cucamonga.

Angels Calendar

// posted by Rob @ 11:28 PM link  //  3 comments

It’s almost too bad that the Dodgers have done well since they moved from Brooklyn in one of the more craven line items in the ledger of treachery by baseball teams. A New York sportswriter covering the Dodgers named Mike Gaven fell ill at the ball park and later died. Gaven said “Well, at least I covered the Dodgers when they were a great team. They’ll never be that great again.” Dick Young wrote an eloquent piece for the New York Daily News that ran the day Gaven died, in which he talked about how the team, having turned on their home, turned also on the sportswriters long close to the team favoring the sycophantic Los Angeles press “who are writing the kind of stories that will sell tickets where tickets are being sold", and Young’s opinion that it was those small wounds that brought down and killed Gaven.

1. O'Malley isn't the evil ogre he was portrayed to be. I don't deny the effect of what he did to Brooklyn, but at the same time, you can look up the attendance figures as well as I can; they drew a million six in 1949 in a ballpark with a capacity of 32,000 a game (theoretical capacity over a 154-game season, 2.5M*) and never again came close. Moving the club was a necessity; the neighborhood was becoming dirty and decrepit. People simply stopped coming to the games.
2. With regards to the team favoring the local Los Angeles press, what, exactly, did he expect? Of course the Dodgers were interested in using the press to help them sell "tickets where tickets were being sold". Is it any different in Seattle now?
3. Certainly, somebody would have come out west, and given the way things were, it was likely to be at least one of the New York NL teams. Both had aging stadiums in declining neighborhoods. Unlike the clubs with newer stadiums designed for automobile traffic, neither could pocket parking revenues in addition to the gate.
4. O'Malley, who pretty much felt he could do anything he wanted to after the 1955 title and 1956 pennant, was aghast that Brooklyn wouldn't pony up (and badly misunderstood his ability to get things done within the borough). Moving certainly wasn't a first resort; he had in mind expansion elsewhere in Brooklyn, but building his franchise came first, before even the fans.
5. Finally: this is merely an opinion, but given how conservative baseball has been, I think it has at least the ring of truth to it: Seattle does not have a major league team unless the Dodgers and Giants -- or name two other teams -- first get started in California. They were the logical precedent to all else that followed.

// posted by Rob @ 3:48 PM link  //  7 comments

Schoolchildren learn the Pledge of Allegiance, memorizing it without knowing much of what it means or its origins, and are as likely as unwitting about learning naked capitalism from the Yankees, but it is the Dodgers, not the U.S. Steel Yankees, who get taught in American history classes. Students might not know the origin of the name Brooklyn (it's Dutch!), but they know where the end of baseball apartheid took place. They know Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers and was the first black player in the major leagues as surely as they know Washington crossed the Delaware.

... In the American League, on the East Coast, the West Coast Dodgers were always present, representing that shadowy, foreign National League, because they always won, which meant they were always on TV in a time when being on TV mattered (everybody is on TV today). They were the personality of that league in the 1950s, the '60s (along with the Cardinals), the '70s, and the '80s (along with the Cardinals -- a theme is emerging here). They were the Anti-Yankees, clean-shaven Good Guys. They were identifiable by the little fat guy named Lasorda, who, like Los Angeles, fooled everybody.

When power is considered today, it is done so under the rubric of names like Steinbrenner and Selig, but baseball didn't move unless O'Malley offered an affirmative nod. He was kingmaker and puppet master. Robinson provided the Dodgers the moral plane, O'Malley the biceps.

Jon listed the positives and negatives associated with Frank's ownership thus far, but I know what we really want. We want the National League's answer to the Yankees back in Chavez Ravine, the teams of the 70's and 80's that, between 1974 and 1988, won seven division titles, five pennants, and two World Series.

So, unspoken in that wish is the desire to have a forceful owner of vision running the team. That is, we want Walter O'Malley back.

While Bryant, a journalist formerly working for the San Jose Mercury News, might see O'Malley as perhaps a bit more powerful than he actually was, neither was he terribly far from the mark, either. O'Malley had bigger dreams than the borough of Brooklyn would invest in, and on making good on his threat to leave, he spawned a generation of haters. That is, his interest was building the franchise first, and if the fans became an impediment, they were ultimately expendable. Los Angeles Dodgers fans could do well to remember that, too.

Walter O'Malley was larger than life, Peter merely a caretaker of his legacy. Marvin Miller, the former MLBPA chief, said of Peter, "His father was unusual. And he is not." So where does McCourt rank alongside the two? His early behavior is discouraging: Frank dissembles and evades, running from public scrutiny like a thief before the cops, provoking ill-feeling among Dodger fans who expect gods, not petty criminals, in the owner's box. It's far too early to tell which we have; the odds favor the latter, but making good on his payroll promises bodes well, as does his hiring of the mostly capable (but still learning the ropes) Paul DePodesta as GM.

Watch and wait. It's all we can do.

// posted by Rob @ 11:47 PM link  //  2 comments

Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.

Don't want demolition,
Don't want your compensation,
It's not just bricks and mortar,
We are lambs to slaughter.

-- "Ball And Chain", Colin Moulding, XTC

The other two pickups weren't so enticing, either:

• RHP Dave Crouthers: Crouthers increased his ERA by over a full run in 2004, this in a fairly strong pitcher's league. Baseball America in its 2005 Top Ten Prospects list said of him that he tends to melt in pressure situations by stressing too much on the mound. The O's were thinking of converting him to relief before the 2005 season, and he was scheduled for a third trip through AA.
• Similarly, 2B Mike Fontenot doesn't look that exciting, either, and would once more suffer from the same problem he did in the O's system: being blocked by multiple candidates at second.

Update 2: Rotoworld passes on a Chicago Tribune story claiming the Cubs are about to sign former Dodger Jeromy Burnitz. As Throws Like A Girl put it, "Exactly what question are you asking if the answer is Jeromy Burnitz?"

// posted by Rob @ 6:55 AM link  //  2 comments

OT: AOL Abandons Usenet

Anyway. What some call a lackadaisical attitude -- more currently, "slacking" -- Hughes in those days thought of as being conducive to broad, expansive thinking. Part of this was participation in the fledgling computer networks of the day, the then-hardly-impressive Internet, and its cousin-in-suffix-only, Usenet. But Hughes was an archipelago of little divisions and groups, and not all shared connectivity alike. Ours was a tiny desert island of less than 200 in the huge sea.

About that time, management in our group funded a complete upgrade of our workstations to the soon-to-be-orphaned Sun 386i, the only Intel-based machines Sun would produce (unless I'm mistaken). Somehow, we also convinced our bosses that we hadda -- positively had to -- be connected to Usenet, and if we could manage it, the Internet, eventually. Miraculously, they agreed to cough up the thousand dollars needed to get a Telebit 9600 bps modem this would entail. Oh, sure, you're containing a giggle, but in those days, it was the Porsche of modems; it was so famous at one point, its distinctive negotiating tones were a dead giveaway to techheads that you were in the presence of someone with both a big wallet and taste.

Fast forward a couple years: I had assembled a Linux box of my own, and connected to a friend with a connection of his own. In those days, there was no such thing as a legal ISP. The National Science Foundation, which underwrote the ungainly but wildly successful Internet experiment, didn't want anybody to make money off it. So, you cribbed a link from a company with access and a friendly administrator, didn't write anything that even remotely looked like a "for sale" notice, and went about your business -- which was mainly using Usenet. Usenet, a distributed bulletin board system, was initially set up by two Duke University students with more time on their hands than good sense -- and probably less after they set it up.

But, like all creation stories, this one has a snake in it; in this case, it was the introduction of AOL and its enormous user base into the thing. This immediately caused a huge increase in the number of postings, and the number of clueless users, and the amount of junk. AOL took the blame for generally polluting what had been a congenial space for discussing like interests.

Eleven years later, they're pulling the plug.

It's probably about time; I doubt if a tenth of their membership even knows what Usenet is, let alone how it works. 9600 bps modems might not be coming back, but if an effective answer to spam can be found, Usenet might once again be, well, useful. In the meantime, this timeless, modest proposal, as useful then as it is now. All hail Leader Kibo!

OT: The Bubble Bowl

Sosa Deal Near Completion

Pittsburgh Owner: You Spend Too Much

McClatchy, who serves on baseball's executive council and long-range labor committee, is promising to be more outspoken in future owners meetings.

"I've think they've created a hawk," he said. "A lot of us are concerned and are definitely going to speak up."

Despite McClatchy's glum financial talk and the Pirates' 12th consecutive losing season in 2004, the team's annual Fanfest opened Friday to what was expected to be record crowds. Attendance was way up during the first week of the team's winter caravan, which featured Wilson and promising pitcher Oliver Perez.

Season ticket sales are up about 30 percent, partly because buyers who keep their seats the following season get the opportunity to buy 2006 All-Star tickets.

// posted by Rob @ 11:00 PM link  //  0 comments

Q: True/False: You, Paul DePodesta, came to this job with an evil plan to dismantle the Dodger dynasty?

A: (Deep breath) Absolutely true. (Laughs) I think actually, the plan is to do everything we can to recreate it, in all honesty. I mean, you look at those teams from the mid-to-late '70s and the early '80s and all the tremendous success they had. We want to follow that model to a certain extent, even though the rules in our industry have changed. But our goal is to ultimately create a team that doesn't just win one year, but has a chance to win every year.

Q: Has the prevailing "Chicken Little" reaction from the media and some of the sports-radio fans surprised you?

A: No, it hasn't, and I appreciate it. I love that there's passion like that - it's much better than apathy. ...

Q: How do you make the determination that a player is irreplaceable, and why didn't Adrian Beltre make that cut?

A: That's a tough one to answer. We no longer have [Sandy] Koufax and [Don] Drysdale, and we're still here, and we won Divisions and World Series without them.... By the same token, it's really hard to turn the page on a player you really like and think will get better. Adrian is a terrific player, and we would have loved to have kept him. It was truly hard to see him go, but you really have to look at the team in the aggregate, and not just one person.

// posted by Rob @ 7:31 PM link  //  0 comments

Nakamura's player page at japanesebaseball.com is here.

Update: Here's an old article at Baseball Prospectus talking about Japanese league translations that mentions Nakamura, noting he's one of the league's best power hitters. Finally, here's a three-year-old Clay Davenport article about translating Japanese League stats to MLB; he figures Japanese league EqA's to be about .948 of MLB, so guestimating, that makes him good for just under two wins or so by VORP. Also, take a gander at this December 4, 2004 post from Mariner Musings. White observes that "[s]ome team could get a real bargain with acceptable risk by signing him."

Nakamura also attended spring training with the Dodgers in 2004, something I had forgotten.

// posted by Rob @ 3:28 PM link  //  0 comments

And so, even as Major League Baseball proceeds with its background investigations and credit checks, we can offer a pretty safe short-term assessment of the new owner even before he is the new owner.

And that would be: If you liked Schott and Hofmann, you're likely to love Lewis Wolff.

Meat.

// posted by Rob @ 1:41 PM link  //  0 comments

Why is he here? Because Benjie Molina is fat and slow... and extra weight takes something out of your joints.

// posted by Rob @ 7:31 PM link  //  0 comments

• 28,000 season tickets sold, a goodly number to scalpers. That's better than half capacity, and only 600 dropped because of the name change, many of them mini-plan holders.
• This is the last year of the mini-plan. Probably just as well, it was lame when I had one because you could never guarantee a particular pair of seats, just a section.
• Arte's pushing his own season ticket exchange, apparently in conjunction with Ticketmaster, and I have to believe that can't be good. As evidence of this, consider this thread in the Angels forums describing how one season ticket holder got his threads deleted when he started talking about doing ticket swaps.
• In the rumor category: Aramark is gone after this season. I'm not sure how that could happen; isn't that an MLB-wide contract?
• The Gene Autry suite was demolished and subdivided into two $15,000 per game suites, "which are almost completely sold out for the season. That is $2.4 million a season folks."

// posted by Rob @ 7:38 PM link  //  9 comments

Thus far, Wolff's efforts in finding a new park have yielded only a proposed site in the parking lot of Network Associates Coliseum. Wolff has stated publicly that he would like to see through the A's efforts to build a park in Oakland and that he will not try to find a site in the Santa Clara County. Any attempts to do the latter would hurt his chances for approval because Selig repeatedly has said the territorial rights to Santa Clara County belong to the Giants.

The A's lease with the Coliseum runs through 2007, and the team has three one-year options it can exercise for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

// posted by Rob @ 3:52 PM link  //  2 comments

             O F F E N S E
       AL                    NL
Team      VORP     Team            VORP    
==============     ====================
Oakland  399.6     San Diego      302.2
Anaheim  306.6     San Francisco  237.4
Texas    277.3     Colorado       236.3
Seattle  239.7     Los Angeles    224.5
                   Arizona        168.2


           P I T C H I N G
       AL                    NL
Team      VORP     Team            VORP    
==============     ====================
Oakland  345.1     San Francisco  268.6
Anaheim  289.0     San Diego      235.4
Texas    271.3     Los Angeles    235.3
Seattle  214.7     Arizona        210.4
                   Colorado       178.8

       AL                    NL
Team       VORP     Team            VORP    
===============     ====================
Oakland   744.7     San Diego      537.6
Anaheim   595.6     Sam Francisco  506.0
Texas     548.6     Los Angeles    459.8
Seattle   454.4     Colorado       415.1
                    Arizona        378.6

• Look at that split between Oakland and Anaheim. Again. The big difference is a lot of little contributors for Oakland offensively, and the huge advantage PECOTA assigns to the uninspired but far more consistent Oakland starting rotation. K-Rod is expected to have a higher VORP than any other pitcher in the Angels' rotation save Kelvim Escobar.
• Similarly, Eric Gagné is expected to outperform (32.5 VORP) every single Dodger starting pitcher.
• Jason Schmidt (56.8) will be the best pitcher in the NL West.
• Kelvim Escobar (33.9) will be the AL West's best pitcher.
• Extreme naïveté alert: I assume the players listed in the spreadsheet are all the ones who will appear. This could be extremely naive, and as a result some teams will get far more VORP than will actually occur. I'll have to whittle the lists and refine this later.

// posted by Rob @ 1:35 PM link  //  6 comments

My knowledge of these players mostly stems from two years worth of the College World Series, but thanks to Rich Lederer, I feel like I have a handle on Weaver more than anyone else. I have argued with Rich a lot about Weaver’s ceiling, which will be dependent on his fastball velocity and strength of his slider. Control is not a problem at all for Jered, and he could probably immediately step in and have some of the best on my top 75. If pressed I would likely put Weaver somewhere in the 25-30 range, between Gavin Floyd and John Danks.

I think [Casey] Kotchman is a bit of a lost prospect at this point. Is he Sean Casey or Todd Helton?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? Actually, either way, I think the Angels would be happy. Or maybe not the Angels, maybe whatever team they trade him to. It’s hard to see the Angels resolving their glut at first base by moving Darin Erstad, a 2004 Gold Glove winner, and the love of Mike Scioscia’s heart. Instead, Kotchman will be resigned this season to either landing in some Juan Rivera/Tim Salmon platoon in the DH spot, or to continue raking in the Pacific Coast League. You think Dan Johnson and he are friends?

Anyway, on to your question of comparison. His numbers look pretty similar to Helton’s, my reservations about Kotchman’s power developing make him sound like Casey (for both, I linked to their Baseball Cube account in the question). If you want more possible comparisons, people have thrown out both Will Clark and Mark Grace in the past, but still, I don’t find any of those to be quite perfect. One thing I look for in a comparison is what type of school the player was drafted from, college or high school. All four veteran players were collegiate athletes, while Kotchman started pro ball in his teens.

So, I think I’ve found the comp that I’m happy with, despite not having his minor league numbers on hand: Keith Hernandez. Both struggled as 21-year-olds in the Majors in a little over 100 at-bats, and come with good defensive reports. Keith started his greater-than-100 OPS+ streak the next year (which I think Kotchman could do), and did not stop until he was 35: fourteen straight years. His peak years, ages 25-27, all included 140 OPS+ years, a number Eric Chavez has yet to approach.

The only problem with this is that Casey doesn’t yet have the plate discipline that Hernandez had, only totaling 31 walks all season long. If the Angels preach this, then Kotchman can be like Hernandez, if not, then I’m not sure.

// posted by Rob @ 9:41 AM link  //  0 comments

• "My best move? Hiring Paul DePodesta." Heh.
• About bloggers: "... that's what I love, for lack of a better word, about the blogger's world. There is a tendency to really analyze things in detail. Ultimately, because there is so much conversation and investigation on a site like yours, people may not ultimately agree with it, but they stumble onto what you're trying to do. Someone emailed me something written on a Cardinals' blog, and they had nailed all the things we were talking about. The economic reasons, the personnel reasons and the reasons we made the exchange. The world of a Web log will lend itself to a lot of investigation. And you will often stumble across the answer more than someone who has to write in two hours to meet deadline just to make sure something is out in the paper the next day."
• "The most valuable resource in this game is 0-3 (years of service) players who are good players on your major league team. Those are the most valuable guys you can have because that allows you to do so much more because they fill out a critical role."
• On trades: "[W]e're more likely to go into camp with this team than we are to make too many changes to it."
• Worst move of all time: "I was the assistant GM, me and J.P. decided Ariel Prieto over Todd Helton. That was it."

// posted by Rob @ 9:30 AM link  //  0 comments

The franchises most likely to relocate to Las Vegas are the Florida Marlins, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Devil Rays. All three teams are searching for a new stadium and could be warming up to the idea of a home in the desert.

• Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria sent three of his top aides here to meet with Goodman on Dec. 8. If it was a negotiating ploy, it backfired, because Florida state lawmakers reacted angrily. The Marlins are working on a new stadium deal in the Miami area, but if it falls apart, Loria is reportedly interested in Las Vegas.
• Los Angeles developer Lewis Wolff, vice president of venue development for the Athletics, plans to announce within three months whether he will exercise an option to buy the team. If Wolff goes ahead with the purchase and doesn't get a new stadium, he is expected to attempt to move the team out of Oakland.
• The Devil Rays have not publicly expressed interest in Las Vegas, but fans in the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla., area have shown little interest in the team, making for an unstable situation. The Devil Rays averaged only 16,139 fans per game at Tropicana Field in 2004, down from 30,942 for their first season in 1998.

Despite long-term lease agreements those teams have with their current stadiums, Goodman said a team will be on the move by 2008. "Everything I hear would suggest that," he said.

One baseball source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Devil Rays are the odds-on favorites to land in Las Vegas.

// posted by Rob @ 7:40 AM link  //  1 comments

... you take a career American Leaguer and throw him into the NL, where he cannot take days off at DH, where he faces all new pitchers and a league ERA half a run lower, and in a lineup that will hinder his chances of ever approaching 130 RBI again, and Delgado must drop on our preseason rankings.

// posted by Rob @ 4:15 PM link  //  11 comments

General manager Paul DePodesta said he hopes to begin negotiations soon on a longer-term contract for the five-year veteran.

"I don't think (it will happen) this week, but we know he's a free agent at the end of this year, and I think we would certainly like to have discussions long before that becomes a reality,' DePodesta said. "We wanted to go ahead and get this (one-year deal) out of the way, but I think we would all have some interest in making this a long-term relationship."

// posted by Rob @ 7:58 AM link  //  0 comments

I spent time with Chick Hearn chatting before games about rings, kids and the Grocery Store Bagger, sat next to Red Smith in Fenway Park covering the Bucky Dent playoff game between the Yankees and Red Sox and talked well into the night at Billy Goat Tavern with my inspiration, Mike Royko, the great Chicago newspaper columnist.

I also had the privilege of dining, listening to his stories and working alongside Jim Murray at a couple of Super Bowls.

Sunday was another day for the memory bank.

It was a lucky Sunday, beyond the weekly opportunity of spending time with the daughter who these days prefers to be called Miss Radio Personality, because on this Sunday Vin Scully agreed to appear on the father/daughter radio show on XTRA Sports.

Scully, I'm told, almost never makes himself available for these kinds of interviews, but right from the start, after asking Miss Radio Personality to send him an 8x10 glossy, he was as gracious, engaging and funny as you might expect, talking about Barry Bonds, Murray, his reluctance to write a book about himself, chair covers, and the nickname his family has given him, "Clouseau," you know, he said, "Inspector Clouseau, because that's my ability around the house."

Right to the heart of the matter, when asked about the possibility of retiring, he said, "I have two years to go, this year, '05, and '06, and I always remember a wonderful line: If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans. My contract goes through '06, and after that we'll just see."

But would the only voice that most Dodger fans know — with apologies to Rick Monday — ever really consider retirement?

"I don't think I could retire," Scully said. "After all these years it would be pretty hard to turn the key in the ignition and just shut it down…. There's an old story, when you're sitting in a hotel room you can actually hear the meter of your life ticking away and you say to yourself, 'What the heck am I doing in Cincinnati?'

"So those are the things that haunt you as the years go by, but at the same time I don't think I could ever just sit looking out the window guessing whether I'd see a Ford or Chevrolet."

Miss Radio Personality, obviously her father's daughter, then asked, "Do you think the McCourts can keep paying you? Because there are a lot of questions about their money," and Scully said, "Bless your heart, Tracy and T.J., it was wonderful talking to you."

Sure was, but then why no book to bring it all together?

"I feel after all these years I've said enough," Scully said. "I just feel I've emptied out pretty much and don't have anything else to say. In fact, the older I get, the more relaxed you get, and the more I've realized the only thing I want to do is follow the ball between the lines. Whatever opinion I might have I'd just as soon keep it to myself."

Scully and Murray were pals, of course, and Scully once introduced Murray by saying if he ever had to be stranded on an island with a man, he would have probably liked it to have been with Murray.

The daughter then asked, "So if you were stranded on an island with a woman, who would it be?" And Scully said, "Well, of course, with my wife. You knew that, Tracy." I would've been a little worried had he said Salma Hayek. I don't need competition like that.

"Jim Murray gave me one of the great compliments of my life," Scully said. "They were publishing a compilation of his columns and he asked me to do him a favor and write the foreword. I said, 'Oh no, Jim.' And he said, 'You promised,' and so I did.

"The whole foreword was a salute to Jim Murray and his incredible ability to handle just about every emotion and every scene. Vic Hunter was a mutual friend and he asked me twice the same day to play golf with him, and I couldn't do it. That day at Riviera he dropped dead on the second hole. Jim Murray began his column: 'Yesterday my friend Vic Hunter picked up on No. 2 at Riviera.'

"That was the punch line of my foreword, and they sent me a letter telling me the foreword was wonderful, they published the book and I couldn't wait to read the foreword. I get down to that knockout line, and somebody changed it and the line said, 'Yesterday my friend Vic Hunter picked up a No. 2,' which meant absolutely nothing.

"When I saw Jim after that, I said I tried to write for years, I was a correspondent for the [New York] Times, when I was in college I was the sports editor, but I never felt like a writer until they damaged that great line."

There were some more stories, not enough time, but lots of laughs after I reminded him he owed me $957 for advising me to go along with the wife and paying for chair covers for Kelly's wedding to the Grocery Store Bagger.

"Tracy, are you listening?" Scully said. "When the day comes, be sure to give me a call."

---

WHEN HE hung up, the calls began coming in from folks who wanted to share their warmth for Scully, the way he broke the news to them of Don Drysdale's death and how important it was to hear his voice year after year.

And a caller named Mike offered this interesting tidbit: "When Vin came here he challenged himself not to call them the Brooklyn Dodgers, and charged himself a quarter every time he did. And he did for about half the season, and what a class guy, he paid the money to a charity, something like $470, I believe."

I'll give him that, and deduct the charitable contribution as a good deed, but then he still owes me $487 for the chair covers.

// posted by Rob @ 7:32 AM link  //  0 comments

• Joe Thurston and Chin-Feng Chen have cleared waivers and will be outrighted to Vegas.
• The Dodgers are trying to add RHP Scott Erickson to the NRI list for spring training. "Erickson was a 20-game winner in 1991 and one of the most prolific innings-eaters of the 1990s, but has been plagued by arm problems the last five years, missing two seasons entirely. He pitched 27 innings last season with the Mets and Rangers."
• Other NRIs are: "Right-handed pitchers Buddy Carlyle, Aquilino Lopez, Ryan Rupe; left-handed pitchers Mike Venafro, Kelly Wunsch; catcher Mike Rose; infielders Jose Flores, James Loney, Tony Schrager, Joe Thurston; outfielders Chin-Feng Chen, Mike Edwards, Tydus Meadows, Brian Myrow, Henri Stanley and Jon Weber."

// posted by Rob @ 4:56 PM link  //  2 comments

5. Dallas McPherson

... Mike Scioscia is going to have to accept a few things about his third basemen this year. First of all, he’s going to strikeout…a lot. Second, his defense is a far cry from what Troy Glaus offered in his prime, and signiciantly closer to Chone Figgins’ offerings in the playoffs. And third, that Dallas is going to tear the cover off the ball, making the Angels decision to let Glaus go the right one.

6. Casey Kotchman- 1B- Anaheim Angels- 22

If nothing else, you have to respect Terry Ryan . In the middle of the season, and the middle of the pennant race, he dealt his most vocal leader in Doug Mientkiewicz. Replacing him was Justin Morneau, a first base prospect with huge power, even a surer bet than Kotchman. So to even out a Nomar Garciaparra trade that just could not get agreed to, Ryan traded a valuable player for a pitching prospect. A bold move, no doubt, but in a system with this much depth, not too gutsy an opportunity. It looks as if Kotchman, ready for the Majors in every facet of the game, will start the season in AAA, before moving to the Majors later in the year. This will take a Terry Ryan-like move from the Twins, not likely given their conservative front office, along with Anaheim’s love for Erstad. Darin should switch positions or teams by year’s end, literally putting the ball in Casey’s court.

// posted by Rob @ 2:56 PM link  //  0 comments

According to a report in The Register, a Romanian couple who dated online for three months before marrying have named their first child Yahoo, after the search site that brought them together. Good thing they didn't meet on Dogpile.com.

// posted by Rob @ 1:36 PM link  //  2 comments

Simers Endears Himself To The Dodgers Front Office

It's A Different Kind Of "Connect"

Dodgers Print 'Em Yourself Tickets

No Love For The LAAoA

Cubs Talking To Robb Nen

// posted by Rob @ 10:04 AM link  //  0 comments

Neither agent Scott Boras nor Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman would elaborate, but Boras confirmed Friday that they had spoken by phone several times this week and would have face-to-face meetings "shortly."

// posted by Rob @ 2:31 PM link  //  0 comments

The facts we hate
We'll never meet
Walking down the road
Everybody yelling, "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
But I'm waiting for you
I must go slow
I must not think bad thoughts
What is this world coming to?
Both sides are right
But both sides murder
I give up
Why can't they?

I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts

-- X, "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts"

In comments at Mariners Musings you asked whether my perceptions of Bavasi have changed. As this post indicates, yes - they have.

When Bavasi was hired, the hiring gave every appearance that the Mariners were firmly in the baseball camp that believes everything you need to know about running a baseball team was known 30 years ago, if not earlier. While the Mariners might not have left that camp, they've certainly come to the conclusion that there other feasible camp sites.

I don't see Bavasi as being a lights out GM. I do see him as being no worse than a "middle of the road" GM, and very likely will actually prove to be a cut above average. Coupling an above average GM with a large market resources ought to provide a team that is a consistent power in it's division.

This is what happens: yesterday's find becomes today's star becomes tomorrow's castoff. Eckstein became expendable, but only by the end of the season will we know whether the Cardinals or the Angels made the right decision, or both. So for the Dodgers: between the start of 2003 and the present day, DePodesta unloaded or failed to re-sign virtually the whole of the starting Dodger lineup: Cabrera, Cora, Green, Hundley, LoDuca, Martin, Mota, Nomo, Roberts, Shuey, and probably a half-dozen others I'm forgetting besides. DePo knew -- and said -- that one playoff win for a generation of fans wasn't enough. He is right. For now, the pain is over, but remember this: with David Ross released from Licey, and DePo's ruthlessness, nobody on the current lineup is safe. Catcher remains a hole. Blood could flow again tomorrow just as readily as it did in December and January.

// posted by Rob @ 2:05 PM link  //  2 comments

Maybe He Should Bleed On The Damn Thing, Then

Curt Schilling could make a legitimate claim to the sock he wore when he pitched in the Series: Although the sock was the team's, the blood was his.

"It's his blood that makes it valuable," Abrams said. "Mientkiewicz doesn't add any value that made it unique to him."

Ken You Believe This?

M's Go SABR?

More on this from U.S.S. Mariner; the guy's apparently done some interesting published work.

Signings

• The Angels signed infielder Lou Merloni to a minor league contract. RHP Von Stertzbach and RHP Bob Zimmerman have also signed minor league contracts, and all three have been invited to spring training.
• The Rangers have extended the contracts of manager Buck Showalter (through 2009, with a club option to 2010) and GM John Hart (through 2006).
• The Padres have signed 39-year-old knuckleballer Steve Sparks to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
• The Astros signed Roger Clemens to a record $18M/1 year deal, the highest single-season salary for any pitcher. Update: Leone for Third has an entirely plausible theory as to how this happened.

The Story Of Coma Man

// posted by Rob @ 5:21 PM link  //  2 comments

If you're wondering what the inning is
and other baseball facts (la la la),
Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a game,
So why do I want to axe
The Dodger Broadcast Team, 3000?"

Okay, so I really don't know how these guys are gonna be, but the early returns aren't good. And with that, I remind the reading audience that it's unfortunate we cannot legally hire Ross Porter to announce the games over, say, the Internet, seeing as how the Dodgers own the video and other descriptions of the game. Pity, because I have a feeling I'm going to be throwing things at the TV during the 52 or so games when Vin isn't working.

// posted by Rob @ 2:36 PM link  //  0 comments

As Arte Johnson used to say, verry interesting.

// posted by Rob @ 4:35 PM link  //  4 comments

Would it be wrong to suggest that adding barcodes to cadavers is not likely to dispel fears of more of the same in the future?

// posted by Rob @ 4:17 PM link  //  0 comments

• Former Angel Aaron Sele has signed a minor league contract with the M's, according to Sports Network. ESPN reports he could earn as much as $1.1M on a one-year contract; he will earn $700k if he makes the big club.
• Former Dodger Brian Jordan has signed a one-year, $600k deal with Atlanta. He played last year for the Rangers, hitting .222/.275/.363 in 212 AB. Jordan has not played in over 100 games in two years. Jordan will play left field, while former Dodger Raul Mondesi will play right.
• The little glove of concrete, Shane Halter, somehow found a home in Tampa Bay, on a minor league contract. If he makes the big club, he'll get $550k.

// posted by Rob @ 5:47 PM link  //  2 comments

• About the pain of having to unload his best two pitchers: "It was the two toughest phone calls I've had to make since I've been here"
• About the Kendall acquisition: "Jason Kendall was an exchange of Mark Redman and Arthur Rhodes for Kendall. No disrespect to those two guys, but I'm going to make that deal every time."
• About the club's chances now that they're minus Hudson and Mulder:

  A few years ago when we lost Giambi, that was supposed to be our downfall. There's always going to be something out there and there's always going to be someone who's going to find a reason that isn't the real reason why an organization is successful. It usually someone who hasn't quite had the success they've expected themselves.

• Is Oakland threatening to use the "r"-word -- "rebuilding" -- in public?

  I'm not sure it's good management as a GM to rebuild, rebuild probably isn't the right word, but to start to make changes only after you've hit rock bottom. Because it takes five, six, seven years to get out of that in a small market.

// posted by Rob @ 9:42 AM link  //  0 comments

The Angels submitted what they called "the proverbial smoking gun," a copy of a lease draft dated April 17, 1996. In a memorandum of understanding dated April 3, 1996, Disney — then owner of the California Angels — agreed to change the team name to "include the name Anaheim therein." That language is identical to what appears in the lease, dated May 14, 1996.

The draft filed by the Angels includes a handwritten notation — allegedly on the city's behalf — scratching out that language and substituting "the Anaheim Angels." That alteration, rejected by Disney, is "exactly what [the city] wants from this court," the Angels argue. In the absence of such language, they contend, they can change their name from Anaheim Angels without breaching the contract.

The city disagrees, arguing neither Anaheim nor Disney ever discussed identifying the team with another geographical area. In previous court declarations, city officials have acknowledged Disney's unwillingness to approve the restrictive Anaheim Angels name in the lease, and one expert said the draft is far from a smoking gun.

"I don't think it's anything dramatically new," said Carl Bjerre, who teaches contract law at the University of Oregon. "The fact that Disney was wanting some flexibility does not establish that Disney was wanting enough flexibility so as to call the team the Los Angeles Angels."

// posted by Rob @ 7:25 AM link  //  2 comments

Got one we know. Brought back a name to rally behind, someone who actually feels familiar.

The Dodgers, who had been hemorrhaging recognizable players all offseason, finally discovered a pressure point in closer Eric Gagne on Tuesday.

Gave the team a face, an entity that shrieks something that precious few of their other moves had -- Dodgers.

Inked him to a two-year deal for $19 million, with a mutual option for a third year, avoiding those antagonistic and silly arbitration hearings for the next two Springs.

It would have been nice if it were longer, if Dodger fans could feel assured their most valuable asset would be around for three or four more years.

But Gagne can become a free agent after 2006. And his agent is Scott Boras, so you know he's not going to pass on the big payday.

Yet in an offseason that has seen the Dodgers lose Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green, Steve Finley, Alex Cora, Jose Lima, Jose Hernandez, Robin Ventura and Brent Mayne, and almost Brad Penny and Yhency Brazoban, Dodger followers can at least take comfort in knowing "Game Over" won't be going to war with his own team in arbitration the next two seasons.

...

"A lot of the things that came out of Oakland seemed to be taken very black or white," DePodesta said. "In reality, I think I've shown repeatedly over the course of the last year, that the world in which we operate is very gray.

"We're not Oakland down here. That isn't meant to be derogatory toward Oakland, but I do think some of the philosophies they have, haven't necessarily been accurately depicted."

Gagné's made the ninth inning a special place for Dodger fans, never exactly comfortable, yet richly anticipated. We're lucky -- lucky to have discovered him, lucky to have him now, lucky to keep getting to see him in a Dodger uniform for another two years.

Welcome back, Eric. Bonne chance.

// posted by Rob @ 6:27 AM link  //  0 comments

[Baseball America's] credibility isn't worth a damn to me," he said. "I don't know what they use for a formula to decide what's a good organization and what isn't. Detroit was their No. 1 organization for three straight years, and obviously Detroit was getting an opportunity to draft at an excellent spot. However, none of those people have helped them win any games. So how do you feel about that organization being No. 1 now?

// posted by Rob @ 11:29 PM link  //  0 comments

• The Dodgers signed Eric Gagné to a two-year, $19M deal, avoiding arbitration.
• The Angels signed Jose Molina ($725,000), Scot Shields ($925,000), and Jerrod Washburn ($6.5 million), all to one-year contracts.

  Update: ESPN provides the dollar figures on these contracts. Josh Paul has been offered $335k, league minimum, in arbitration.

• The A's signed Octavio Dotel (1 year/$4.75M) and Bobby Kielty (1 year/$875k).
• The M's signed Ron Villone to a two-year contract. Rotoworld tags the dollars at $4.2M.
• The Cubs signed Corey Patterson ($2.8M) and Kyle Farnsworth ($1.975M) to one-year contracts, according to Rotoworld. Update: ESPN gives the values on these contracts, and also reports the signing of Michael Barrett to a 3 year/$12M deal.
• The Rockies signed Jason Jennings (2 years/$7M) and Joe Kennedy (1 year/$2.2M).
• The Padres signed Sean Burroughs to a 1-year, $1.675M contract.
• The Diamondbacks agreed to a 1-year/$330k contract with RHP Brandon Lyon.
• Former Dodger Alex Cora signed a two-year deal with the Indians, dollars unknown.
• Former Dodger Guillermo Mota signed with Florida, for one year and $2.6 million. Do you think that, combined with Paul Lo Duca's $18M/3 year payday, the Dodgers would have been better off?
• A little old, but better late than never: the Rangers came to terms with 2B Alfonso Soriano, for $7.5M and one year. Texas Rangers Blog is not appreciative, but these things happen.
• Update: The Dodgers and Brad Penny are close to a contract. Penny wants $5.7M, and the Dodgers are asking for $4.7M, presumably for one year.

// posted by Rob @ 2:28 PM link  //  1 comments

We’ve acquired some really popular players and we’re going to make sure the public knows who our new players are. It’s a good way to deliver the message. People are always excited to meet the players.

// posted by Rob @ 2:05 PM link  //  0 comments

Year  Player         AB    Avg/OBP/SLG    VORP  Rate2
======================================================
2002  Cora          258  .291/.371/.434   24.7   95
2002  Izturis       439  .232/.253/.303  -12.5   93

2001  Cora          405  .217/.285/.306   -4.8   91
2001  J Reboulet    214  .266/.367/.397   14.3   56

2000  Cora          353  .238/.302/.357    5.6   94
2000  K Elster      220  .227/.341/.455   15.6   82
2000  J Vizcaino     93  .204/.283/.247   -3.9   93

1999  Grudzielanek  193  .326/.375/.436   42.7   93
1999  Vizcaino       94  .252/.295/.297   -3.6   92

1998  Grudzielanek  193  .264/.282/.326    4.2  111
1998  J Vizcaino    237  .262/.300/.338    4.7  103
1998  J Castro      220  .195/.236/.255  -12.4  105

• In 1998, the Grudz-Vizcaino-Castro trio were all decent defensively, but Castro in particular was horrible with the glove.
• In 1999, Grudz had an outstanding offensive year, but neither he nor Vizcaino were especially good fielding.
• In 2000, Alex Cora got his first real taste of near-full-time starting. While not so much with the bat, he was -- barely -- the club's best shortstop.
• In 2001, Jeff Reboulet was simply atrocious with the glove, and only a win and a half above replacement, while Cora slumped badly offensively.
• In 2002, Cora had a career year (his 2004, best remembered for the incredible 18-pitch at bat, was only a 19.4 VORP by comparison), but preference was given to new shortstop Cesar Izturis.

// posted by Rob @ 1:50 PM link  //  0 comments

Don't forget, the list of Cuban defectors is littered with forgotten names, beginning with the first, former St. Louis Cardinals SP Rene Arocha. Other much-hyped Cuban imports who've turned out to be disappointments include P Rolando Arrojo (40-42 lifetime, with a 4.55 ERA), Chicago Cubs SS Rey Ordonez (career .246 BA, although superb defensively), 3B Andy Morales (never called up) and Chicago White Sox SP Jose Contreras (a Yankees-inflated 20-11, with a 4.85 ERA). And considering the struggles of the New York Mets' free-swinging Japanese import SS Kazuo Matsui (97 Ks in 460 ABs last year), one has to wonder why no one has praised Morales' patience at the plate.

In the end, though, Morales may have some advantages over those flops. He seemingly doesn't have the family worries, a la Contreras. He'll join an Anaheim clubhouse full of Latin players, in a city where the population is 47 percent Hispanic. Perhaps OF Vladimir Guerrero, a noted shy guy who also struggles with English, will ease Morales' transition.

// posted by Rob @ 7:17 PM link  //  0 comments

WTNY Catches A Dodger

I found the handling of Navarro, who prior to the 2004 season was universally regarded as their top prospect, laughable. It’s hard to blame a player’s performance on upper management decisions, and I’m not doing that here, but any choice that could slow the development of such a talented player is ludicrous. There is a reason this farm system has been in the dumps for the past few years, and blaming it on their trades is not sufficient."

More WTNY: Top Prospects, 1-75, and Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mentions

Angels: Erick Aybar, Johnathan Broxton, Jeff Mathis (with an extended discussion of what went wrong here), Steven Shell
Dodgers: Andy LaRoche, James Loney, Dioner Navarro

75-61

61. Angels: Ervin Santana
74. Dodgers: Mike Megrew ("a September debut should not be ruled out")

Neyer Revisits College-vs-Prep Draft Fracas

The Unscientific Dipstick

Signings

• Erubiel Durazo, and the A's, for one year and $4.7M.
• Chad Fox and the Cubs, to a minor league deal with a spring training invitation. Cubs fans seem enamored of Jim Hendry for picking up guys like Aramis Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra, but when the team's biggest problem -- the bullpen -- goes unfixed two offseasons running, something's fishy. Does the "o" word -- overrated -- begin to apply?
• Roger Clemens and Johan Santana have accepted arbitration.
• Finally, Rotoworld executive editor Matthew Pouliot has a nice review of the offseason's free agent movement, including projections for those not yet landed. Looks like the uptick in player salaries caught him by surprise, too.

// posted by Rob @ 9:34 AM link  //  0 comments