Because I Can

Ok, time to divorce myself from reality altogether. I fantasize that the Dodgers will complete the turnaround and win the World Series, but will do it in a way that captures the character of the 2004 team where different people stepped up each day, and that it happens realistically, not by scoring 1000 runs or nobody getting injured or Cesar Izturis hitting 50 home runs.

So here's what's on my Dodgers wish list:

1) Maintain essential players. Basically the lineup is good, except that JD Drew doesn't stay healthy, Navarro needs work as a catcher, and LA really needs a starting pitcher. I trust, though, that Colletti won't do something stupid like trade off the guy who's the most productive hitter before the all-star break. Supposedly Boston is interested in dealing David Wells to LA, who was good for 180 innings, and the article seems to indicate that they would take Duaner Sanchez for him. Wells for Milton Bradley would have been a better trade for both teams (especially the Damon-less Bosox), but time will tell depending on what LA's prospect from the trade does. If Wells can keep holding up this would be an excellent move for LA if they can get away with Sanchez, rather than a starting prospect.

2) Hold most of their prospects. Especially pitching and anyone who can hit for power. If Los Angeles can hold their own with a solid lineup and develop their minor leaguers, then they can have half the team injured and still make the playoffs (although maybe, like the Braves, struggling to pass the first round).

3) Re-sign Jeff Weaver. Sure it'll be expensive, but that's what McCourt's been promising anyway. If they pull of getting Wells too, then they can easily dump a weaker starter midseason for whatever else they need in the middle of the season, for that extra added kick.

4) Keep Eric Gagne very happy. His contract expires next year, and if he can stay on for a 3 year contract, that will hold LA until their young guys are ready to move up.

5) Hail Cesar. Izturis won a gold glove at shortstop in the National League. At age 24. He (along with Alex Cora) helped shape the defensive presence of the Dodgers, which plummeted this year thanks to Jose Valentin. Izturis has an arthritic elbow, but isn't about to quit. If anything, his painkillers probably aren't banned by the league yet, and he's more liable than ever to hit 20 home runs. Realistically, though, moving Kent to first and Nomar to left field is a perfect solution, because if nobody's injured, they can rotate Cruz and Choi in enough so everyone can take a break (especially Furcal, since one of the requirements for being a Dodger now is being able to play shortstop). And if someone's injured, it will just balance Izturis' return, and you can pick up power wherever you want it by trading a pitcher.

6) Don't play the Cardinals in the playoffs. This is the key to success. Basically, they have to make sure that they or St. Louis have the best record in the NL. If Atlanta or the Mets have the top seed, then they have to play the Cardinals. The wild card will be in the NL east, unquestionably.

7) Don't let the Diamondbacks make the playoffs. El Duque. Need I say more?

8) David Kingman appearing with the Philly Phanatic.

9) Kirk Gibson coming in for one pinch hit home run. Or Frank Thomas.

10) Mike Piazza anywhere but the Angels. Maybe as Piazza's Godfather, Tommy Lasorda will get him to think twice about being an Angel.

11) The Angels going back to being the California Angels. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?That's a five word team name. Well, the Dodgers should just go ahead and call themselves the Boston Red Sox of Los Angeles. That or become an extention of Duke University so they can be the Blue Devils, and adopt the team slogan "You see, evil will always triumph because good is dumb."

12) Nine ladies dancing. Player's wives (or concubines, if Derek Lowe is starting) take the field.

Happy 2006 to me, I hope. Whoever signs Frank Thomas will be the most noble franchise of the 21st century. Are you listening, Mr. Steinbrenner?

Labels: Dodgers

Eric Gagne's call for McCourt to open his wallet has been heard, as this story confirms, with a projected payroll for LA over $100 million again. What this also reveals, though, is the signing of one Brett Tomko as the #4 starter. This is a move that makes me think either the Giants just sucked, or the Dodgers' front office wanted to get a crappy starter again.

Tomko went 8-15 last season for the Giants. He won games against the Pirates (twice), the Brewers, the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers (he was 1-2, and he lost those two games early in April), the Mets (with Kaz Ishii pitching), the Reds, and the Marlins (with a lot of run support, surprisingly, with Dontrell Willis pitching). He only won two games in his own division; he went 1-2 against the Diamondbacks, 0-1 against the Padres, and 0-2 against the Rockies. We can only hope that Edwin Jackson will finally be ready to come up to the majors.

That's not to say Tomko can't have a winning season. In fact, he's had a winning season in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004. He seems to do worse in that in-between season, and maybe Colletti figures that was this year, and so in signing Tomko to a two-year deal, he's getting the two good seasons. Once again, the Dodgers' GM is either a genius or a complete moron. But one has to admit that that is a pretty strange pattern for a pitcher to have.

He's 32, so he's established, but not too old. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was exactly 2-1 last year, which isn't bad, and is about where his career numbers are. I'll take a chance and be optimistic, and chaulk up last year's crappy season to the fact that the Giants suck. I still would rather see Lance Niekro, but we'll see how this plays out.

Labels: Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been making quite a few acquisitions this offseason. Their new players (and manager) all have one of the following in common:

1) They help Frank McCourt realize his dream of owning the Red Sox by slowly turning the Dodgers into the Red Sox.

2) They are people that Ned Colletti knew when he was with the Giants.

As it stands now, though, the Dodgers have a major need to fill in starting pitching. It seems like the only logical step is to combine these two, in a rather unconventional method.

One of the more popular, and older, players on the Red Sox, who has been on the team since 1995 is Tim Wakefield. Wakefield is best known for being a knuckleball pitcher, which enables him to have the most wins of his career this past season at age 39, and will allow him to play until he's about 60. The Dodgers do not currently have a knuckleball pitcher, and haven't since Tom Candiotti.

Enter the Giants.

Yes, the hated enemy in San Francisco has the nephew of a hall-of-fame knuckleballer, whose father was also a good knuckleballer. This would be their first baseman, Lance Niekro.

Yes, first baseman.

But as we will find out, this is actually advantageous. Clicking on Wakefield's biography reveals the following information:

Tim attended Florida Tech in Melbourne, and was named Panthers team MVP as
a first baseman as a sophomore in 1987 and as a junior in 1988.

A first baseman turned pitcher, eh?

The Dodgers just re-signed Hee Seop Choi for some unknown reason, but this may be the perfect oppurtunity to get a starting pitcher and get rid of Choi. All they have to do is trade Choi (and maybe throw in someone else they don't want) for Niekro. Then, they release their grand experiment. As Wikipedia reveals,

Like his father and uncle, Niekro can throw a knuckleball, although he has
not pitched professionally.

So we have a move here that would satisfy McCourt's desires as well as Colletti's tendencies. All it will take is a little bit of gambling. But hey, could he really be worse than Scott Erickson?

Labels: Dodgers

A story linked from Drudge revealed that New York Transit workers are striking, and that there is legal action taken against them. A New York Court has even issued a fine against them. The story reports:

A judge promptly slapped the union with a $1 million-a-day fine. State Justice
Theodore Jones leveled the sanction against the Transport Workers Union for
violating a state law that bars public employees from going on strike.

Now, a million dollars is a lot of money, if you are a single individual. If you're the government, it's one of those little squares of toilet paper, and that's if you get it on sale. So for the union, which is multiple people, it's a little more. How much?

The heavy penalty could force the union off the picket lines and back on the
job. Its 33,000 members are already facing individual fines of two days' pay for
every day they are on strike.

In case you are useless enough to not be able to do simple division, here's the easy way to think about it:

33,000 x $30.30 = $999,900

and

$100 / 33,000 = $1 /330 < $0.01

which tells you that each union member was fined $30.30 per day for striking, because unions get money from their members. The union workers were already being fined 2 days pay for each day of striking. A little bit of detective work (called reading the article) reveals:

MTA workers typically earn from $35,000 as a starting salary to about $55,000
annually.

Let's assume $35,000 for 50 weeks, which give us $700 per week, which is $140 per day. This means union workers are already being fined $280 per day for striking by the MTA (not to mention not getting paid $140), and this article would have us believe that $420 won't stop them, but $450.30 will.

It's not the fine, but the fact that the court would not ignore state law against transit strikes that is discouraging the unions. Strikes are actually useless tactics, whereas they cost the individual members far more than the protested party, who can easily close up, and cut down on electrical and other expenses, as well as not pay striking workers. The only power that a strike possibly has is to gain public support, which is easy when it does not affect them. When people are affected, though, they don't like strikes, and that is why transit strikes are counterproductive, and why in London, transit strikes only last one day.

Why would people do something like that, then? If transit strikes are so bad, why bother? Call it what you will. Clifford Geertz term would be "deep play," but I wouldn't label this as such, since it is such a rare incident and not really part of a cultural force. I think it's human nature.

Economists often state that voting is irrational since the expected impact is 0 whereas the expected cost is time and other activities (and being registered to vote means being eligible for jury duty). In attempting to resolve the economic implications with observed results, I would argue that anger breeds irrationality, particularly in small acts of irrationality. Examples of this include one-day strikes, mass voter turnout in the 2004 US Presidential election, and young children throwing temper tanturms when they can't get the candy bar in the checkout line. This is essentially an act of negative reciprocity, which will end when they come to their senses.

Labels: Politics

According to MLB.com, spending two days with Nomar Garciaparra helped the Dodgers to nearly secure a one-year contract with him, pending only a physical and other contract details (watch this include "writing it.") The Dodgers still will not have names on the back of the uniforms next year, and this will be good for them since Garciaparra is hard to spell. On the bottom of the article:

The Dodgers also are in pursuit of outfielders Kenny Lofton and Reggie Sanders to round out a renovated lineup.

Which is interesting, but begs the question, what will be of Cesar Izturis? The plan is, when he gets back, he plays second base (since he has an arthritic elbow and a shorter throw would be easier), Kent plays first (because he's old), and Nomar plays left field. Now if the Dodgers have Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders, JD Drew, and we'll go ahead and count Jose Cruz, will there be room for everybody, or will Nomar have to be on the bench?

The Dodgers are apparently counting on injuries, which is a safe bet with Kent, Lofton, and Sanders getting that old, not to mention Nomar's recent injury issues, or JD Drew's lack of sturdiness. If nobody is injured, they will likely be able to give some fielders a day off, maybe even once a week, allowing for an appearance in a pinch hit, maybe a double switch. Or perhaps Grady Little was planning on making Sanders the DH, which would be bad, since the NL doesn't have that, and that would signal that Little is stupid.

Still in the realm of the mediocre, though, is the catcher spot, which the Dodgers fixed by hiring a mentor for Navarro. At least they're keeping someone. Also, starting pitching does not look that much more promising. Jeff Weaver is in arbitration, and if the Dodgers do not sign him, they will be in need of 2 new starting pitchers, and I am far from convined that DJ Houlton and Edwin Jackson will be there. One or the other, maybe, but Jackson hasn't been stable, and has had more walks than strikeouts this past year. My prediction is that the Dodgers will re-sign Weaver, and they might make a trade later to bolster their starting pitching.

They will definitely be good in 2008, when their prospects are all ready.

Labels: Dodgers

Well I have to start the blog off with something, so I decided not to be creative, but instead to create a post that says absolutely nothing except that I have a post. Note the title of the blog.

As a preface, I will say that half the time I am joking around. If something seriously offends you, ask yourself "Is he serious?" before becoming offended. I'm a nice guy really. Let me know nicely if I can accomodate you, or just stop reading this blog. I want people to read it, so I'm happy to accomodate you.

I will likely refrain from the use of profanity, and if you are commenting, I ask that you do the same. I would like to think that there are still some standards of discourse left, even on the internet. Even if you don't like me, please show some self-control. Be better than me, if you want to think of it that way.

So what should you expect from this site? Well, often it will include links to thinks that I find interesting in the news or elsewhere online. I'm an active Drudge Report reader, so - hey, stop groaning! - you can expect me to find stories from there, perhaps just looking at the Washington Post or Richmond Times-Dispatch's page, or some other sources, and I'll generally own up to how I came across the page. From there, I will get political stories, bizarre stories, and other stories that just interest me.

I am also a baseball fan. My top two teams are the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals (hometown team at school). I'll likely pick an American League team at some point, despite the AL's inferiority; this will likely be the team that picks up Mike Piazza as the DH, even if it's the Yankees (ha!). I'll say good things, but I'll be fairly critical, and I'll also make suggestions, hoping that Ned Colletti doesn't do anything stupid, like lose Cesar Izturis.

Sometimes, I'll run across something in one of my classes, or on the internet, that's interesting that I think is worth sharing. This blog, however, is by no means one of those internet journal things. This is stuff that I am aware that I am saying in public, and is written to be insightful, informative, and entertaining.

Finally, a notification of biases. Politically, I tend to have more of a libertarian political philosophy, but that is a lower case l. I am more likely to side with Republicans, and yet be frustrated with them. Sort of like the Dodgers. Religiously, I am a Christian, and I would describe myself as a conservative reformed evangelical, and as such I am affiliated with the Presybterian Church in America (PCA). I typically won't post too many religious items, but I feel it's fair to say who I am and where I'm coming from. I am also a student at George Mason University, and am double majoring in Mathematics and Economics. Finally, as a Dodgers and Nats fan, I am generally opposed to the American League, and the San Francisco Giants in the National League.

That said, I now have a blog.

Labels: About the Blog