Kobe Bryant 40 point? Anti-Arizona Karma?

By dfunzy on 5/18/10 1:45pm
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Kobe BryantKobe BryantGame 1 of the NBA Western Conference finals, LA Lakers vs  the Phoenix, Arizona, Suns, and it seems Arizona just isn't getting any good Karma -- in game one, it didn't,  any way. Isn't the boycott of Arizona strong in LA? There was no boycotting of the Suns, unless, fortune did the boycotting and is ready to boot Arizona from the playoffs.  The Lakers did a beat down on Arizona. Not a boycott.

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Willie Davis ~ R.I.P

By dfunzy on 3/10/10 12:43am
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Willie DavisWillie DavisToday, Willie Davis was  found dead in his Burbank home. He was in his seventieth year, (1940-2010). He spent 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had over 2500 major league hits. He was Mr. Speed in the center field. He won three Gold Glove Awards, from 1971-73. He had thirteen seasons of 20 or more stolen bases, led the National League in triples twice. He collected two World series rings. He was "a unique star and special player. " (LA Times).

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt issued a statement that echo the sentiments of Dodger fans from all over. “He (Willie Davis) was beloved by generations of Dodger fans and remains one ofthe most talented players ever to wear the Dodger uniform.Having spent time with him over the past six years, I know howproud he was to have been a Dodger. He will surely be missed ..."

Willie Davis ~ R.I.P.

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Los Angeles Angels Roster

By colormejosh on 3/7/10 1:34am
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NO. NAME POS
53 Bobby Abreu RF
19 Cory Aldridge RF
9 Alexi Amarista 2B
2 Erick Aybar SS
70 Trevor Bell SP
25 Peter Bourjos CF
91 Ryan Brasier RP
28 Ryan Budde C
52 Jason Bulger RP
90 Ryan Chaffee SP
89 Tyler Chatwood SP
69 Travis Chick SP
64 Hank Conger C
79 Brad Coon CF
96 Anel De Los Santos C
17 Terry Evans 3B
40 Brian Fuentes RP
48 Torii Hunter CF
13 Maicer Izturis 2B
65 Kevin Jepsen RP
22 Scott Kazmir SP
47 Howie Kendrick 2B
58 Michael Kohn RP
5 Jeff Mathis C
55 Hideki Matsui LF
39 Tommy Mendoza SP
8 Kendry Morales 1B
60 Bobby Mosebach RP
18 Ryan Mount SS
66 Kevin Nabors RP
44 Mike Napoli C
86 Efren Navarro 1B
16 Abel Nieves 2B
37 Sean O'Sullivan SP
49 Anthony Ortega SP
32 Matt Palmer RP
94 Gary Patchett 3B
33 Chris Pettit CF
35 Joel Pineiro SP
39 Robb Quinlan 3B
38 Trevor Reckling RP
20 Juan Rivera LF
56 Fernando Rodney RP
57 Fernando Rodriguez SP
45 Francisco Rodriguez RP
59 Rafael Rodriguez RP
27 Andrew Romine SS

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Los Angeles Dodgers Roster

By colormejosh on 3/7/10 1:32am
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NO. NAME POS
-- Alfredo Amezaga SS
12 Brad Ausmus C
26 Luis Ayala RP
66 Brian Barton CF
54 Ronald Belisario RP
3 Ronnie Belliard 2B
30 Angel Berroa SS
58 Chad Billingsley SP
23 Casey Blake 3B
51 Jonathan Broxton RP
14 Jamey Carroll 2B
77 JD Closser C
87 Ivan DeJesus SS
33 Blake DeWitt 3B
88 Scott Dohmann RP
57 Scott Elbert RP
9 A.J. Ellis C
16 Andre Ethier RF
79 Francisco Felix RP
15 Rafael Furcal SS
-- Eric Gagne RP
28 Brian Giles RF
21 Nick Green 2B
64 Javier Guerra RP
81 Gabe Gutierrez C
37 Charlie Haeger SP
60 Chin-lung Hu SS
74 Kenley Jansen C
5 Reed Johnson LF
27 Matt Kemp CF
22 Clayton Kershaw SP
82 Justin Knoedler C
56 Hong-Chih Kuo RP
18 Hiroki Kuroda SP
59 Brent Leach RP
70 Josh Lindblom RP
76 John Lindsey 1B
66 Jon Link RP
7 James Loney 1B
55 Russell Martin C
71 Lucas May C
31 James McDonald RP
13 Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
45 Justin Miller RP
72 Russell Mitchell 2B
68 Carlos Monasterios RP
35 Ramon Ortiz SP
48 Russ Ortiz SP

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POTD Yu Darvish

By jemanji on 3/24/09 9:17pm
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Yu Darvish, as an amateur, was sort of the Japanese version of Stephen Strasburg, though a high-schooler.  He threw a no-hitter for famed Tohoku High, in general had super results ... more to the point, he is unusually tall and strong for a Japanese youngster (Darvish's father is Iranian) and was lighting up the radar guns in a way very seldom seen there.

He also seems to have something of a rebel-without-a-cause persona, is good-looking and stylish, and has the mystique to go with the electric arm.  Some Japanese seem look to Darvish as a type of savior of NPB popularity in the midst of the emigrations, sort of like Americans looked to Kobe and LeBron to resuscitate a lull after Michael Jordan.

................

Perhaps the MLB team most interested in Darvish has been the LA Angels.  Trey Hillman, an American coach expert in both MLB, and NPB, said,

"How good do I think he can be? I think he can be the best in the world.

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2 for $45M - Disposable Income?

By jemanji on 3/19/09 7:06am
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$22.5M for Manny? Well, sure, if he's worth 40-50 runs ...

JedC, after THT's fine article, pointed out a critical factor in the free-agent signing process:

There is a great article over at The Hardball Times by Dave Studeman that includes some analysis on Replacement Level Players, why RLP analysis isn’t appropriate for evaluating Free Agents, $ value per win, looking at the $ value based on how a player was acquired, and more. I’ve pasted the key findings below and hopefully the link actually work. By the way, I’m going to post the link at USSM to see what their thoughts on the article are.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/net-win-shares-value-2006/

For every win above a bench player from a player making the minimum (essentially, first- and second-year players) teams pay essentially nothing (because the system assumes that an average bench player makes the minimum salary.

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Adam Dunn's Valuation

By jemanji on 1/15/09 3:11am
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Dunn rumored as a possibility for the Dodgers, as Manny shows LA his back.

Here is an article on the rotten luck that Dunn suffered in 2008.

Sabermetricians are bearish on Dunn's value because of his perceived poor defense. Here is a typical example, calling Dunn "delusional" for asking $14m x 4. I guess I've got a wire on the fritz in my head somewhere, because that's a Richie Sexson contract from four years ago, and if I'm an MLB accountant I've got nothing against time-warp physics. :- )

.

=== Stoploss Dept. ===

One good buddy sez,

He’s 2 WAR as a LF and 2.5 as a DH.

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