If You Read It in Grady Voice, It's Even Better

Q: Grady, what do you think about chocolates?
Little: Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what ya gonna get.

KEVIN MALONE, PAUL DEPODESTA, AND THEO EPSTEIN HAVE MAN CRUSHES ON LOLO. WE CAN CERTAINLY UNLOAD HIM. HAHA!

Q: Grady, what do you think about prostitutes?
Little: Well, it's like my momma always said... Life is like a two-bit whore. You never know what you're gonna get.

Jim,

I'm dead sexy!!

...and I carry a BIG bat and know how to swing it.

Since Jones' agent is Boras, and given the situation that ocurred with Princess, I don't think Ned is too inclined to deal for Jones right about now. Besides, since the Jays apparantly lost Lilly to the Cubs, they might be more inclined to trade Wells for pitching (Penny).

Reading that transcript has given me a massive headache. Why does anyone in the media even bother interviewing that guy? He never seems to say anything, let alone anything of importance. Every one of his answers can boil down to either 'yes', or 'No comment'.

Like others have said in earlier posts, I would not be too quick to begin trading away 'spare' starters until at least after Spring Training begins. It's always nice to enter the season with an excess of starting pitching, considering the possibility of injuries and the flexibility to pick and choose. Besides, most teams will have a better feel for their deficiencies by then, so the trade market is bound to be much more sensible come March. On the other hand, if John Schuerholz or J.P. Ricciardi approach Colletti with an offer he can't refuse, then good bye Brad Penny.

I would like to see Colletti try to get some real relievers before everything is said and done, since the corp of washed up starters just didn't get the job done well enough last year. If nothing else, the Dodgers need more insurance against another possible midseason Giovanni Carrara sighting in '07. I like the guy, but seriously, enough is enough.

LoLo,
Two very good points, I'm sure your drop dead sexy, and Blue Jays might be willing to trade Vernon for pitching. If not, we can get him as a free agent next winter. You do look hot in your
Malone sheriff outfit big guy.

...and I carry a BIG bat and know how to swing it.

Too bad Drew didn't.

By the way, everyone here needs to register on the Red Sox Blog, its going to be hilarious.

Mak:

THANK YOU...I thought I was having a 3rd migraine this week reading that, ahem, interview. Gawds save us from anymore Grady Little interviews.

Though in retrospect Tommy Lasagne was pretty much the same way. Though with Tommy you knew he still had a pulse. As a matter of fact it seemed like he might blow a vessel from being over excited about, well, nothing really.

star-
(in answer to your question on the last thread)

hall, hendrickson and brazoban are all under our control (ie under contract or only eligible for arbitration) for next year. brazoban is untradable because of his injury, but both hall and hendrickson are bait--and with lieberthal in the fold, hall is a goner. (unless Ned decides to trade martin........not!!)

Makoto,
Definitely right about waiting and not being in a hurry to dump starters. The Dodgers have excess and that is a good thing to have. The right deal will come along because teams WILL ALWAYS NEED Starting Pitching. I do however think the Dodgers will still be better in the bullpen than they were last year. Better Starting pitching, going a couple extra innings, along with better hitting will eleviate some pressure on the pen. That with Grady learning to use his pen better. He always pulls the starter in the 7th whether the starter is going strong or not. He still have that Boston mistake thing that he needs to prove.

Lolo from the last thread:

"There are some RUMORS flying about claiming that TB, ATL, and the Dodgers are involved in a 3-team deal that would bring Jones here."

Okay, just for fun, let's think about what that trade might entail....

Tampa gives Atlanta either Carl Crawford or Rocko Baldelli to replace Jones.
We give Brad Penny to Atlanta.
We give Mark Hendrickson and Toby Hall to Tampa (wouldn't that be a hoot!)
We get Andrew Jones from Atlanta.

So basically Atlanta is trading Jones for Penny and Crawford/Baldelli....decent, considering how much money they'll be saving too both this year and next (trying to resign Jones)

We're trading Hall, Hendrickson, and Penny for Jones. (of course we had better make sure he was signed to an extention before this went down--but notice there are no names like Loney or Kemp involved)

Tampa trades Baldelli or Crawford for two players who had success there already. (looking at it though, maybe tampa would require a prospect also, probably from us)

ahhhh the joys of the Hot Stove--actually, in a lot of respects this is a lot more fun than actually playing the games (not nearly as much stress as trying to come back from a 3 run deficit against a top closer in the 9th)

well, seems as if the Gonzales is a done deal for a year at $7M. I think it's a good gap filler signing and it didn't cost a single farmhand.

I wonder if the Dodgers might stand pat now unless someone offers THEM a deal instead of asking sort of "hat in hand"...getting more interesting every day.

We got GONZO for 1 year at $7 million?!! Wow!!! Everything happening way too quick!! I'm exhausted!!

Gonzalez signing just announced...

After all the recent additions and subtractions, let's stand back and see where our roster is as of Wed. PM.

Schmidt Garciaparra
Lowe Kent
Penny Furcal
Wolf Betemit
Billingsly Anderson
Kuo Martinez
Tomko Saenz
Hendrickson Loney
Beimel Martin
Dessens Lieberthal
Broxton Ethier
Saito Pierre
Gonzalez (just announced)
(Repko,Werth,Robles,Hall,Stultz,Osoria,Miller,
Houlton,D. Young)
Think we've got depth????

Dodger Lineup 2007

Furcal SS
Pierre CF
Garciappara 1B
Kent 2B
Gonzalez LF
Ethier RF
Betemit 3B
Martin C

Lowe/Schmidt P

Reserves:
M. Anderson
O. Saenz
J. Loney
R. Martinez
M. Lieberthal

I like!

(MAY BE DOUBLE POSTING...HAD A MOMENTARY GLITCH AND NOT SURE IF THE POST WENT THROUGH)

Gonzalez signing just announced...

After all the recent additions and subtractions, let's stand back and see where our roster is as of Wed. PM.

Schmidt Garciaparra
Lowe Kent
Penny Furcal
Wolf Betemit
Billingsly Anderson
Kuo Martinez
Tomko Saenz
Hendrickson Loney
Beimel Martin
Dessens Lieberthal
Broxton Ethier
Saito Pierre
Gonzalez (just announced)
(Repko,Werth,Robles,Hall,Stultz,Osoria,Miller,
Houlton,D. Young)
Think we've got depth????

So does the Gonzalez signing mean the end of Jones, Wells, Burrell, Dunn, yada yada yada trades? If you look at our current roster, we still will HAVE to move multiple people just to clear roster space. So are we going to start making trades just to re-stock the farm system? Or do we still pursue a mega trade and relegate an Ethier or a Betemit to bench players? "It just keeps getting curious-er and curious-er."

I wish I had more confidence in Grady.
I mean this is the Dodgers! If you were to pick the top 10 managers in the league, do you think Little would be on that list? I would think with a tradition like we have, we would have one of the top managers.
I know Ned sees something in him so there must be something good there. I guess he's okay with a guy that doesn't always focus on game strategy.
But I would like to see a bit more attention to detail next season.

7 million for Luis Gonzales!
Man, I wish I could play baseball.
What's funny is talking about guys like Nomar and Wolf taking a hometown pay cut. If I could make 7 million over 50 years of working, that's $140,000 a year.
I'll bet there quite a few guys on this blog that could live pretty good on that, me included, LOL!
Just a little working man's perspective...

I had a LOT of fun on the Madres fan blog page tonight. Check it out if you're so inclined (or bored at work):

http://www.gaslampball.com/story/2006/12/6/124220/042#40

Andy B.,

I have to agree with you about the Grady Little thing. But... if you really think about it, who else would you rather have managing your team? Of all the major league ready managers (past and present) that are alive today, I can only think of a handful that would be a significant improvement over Little.

Torre, Scoscia, LaRussa, Gardenhire, Leyland, and Lasorda (before he became a Hutt) are the only guys that I would take over Grady Little today, and none of them are available.

There just aren't that many good major league managers out there, so yes, Little would crack the top ten list. At least he gets along with Colletti and the players still want to play for him. The Dodgers could do a lot worse.

Girardi would work for me.

Skipper,
No way Tampa Bay wants HENDRICKSON or HALL back. They cost too much money. They want PROSPECTS so that they can save money and unload Crawford who will be big time money soon. Even if H & H were dirt cheap, I don't think Tampa would want them back. Tampa don't want any of their former players back. They don't even want the players they have! Sorry, got carried away.

Jim,

Girardi is a possibility, but he really doesn't have a well established track record. Winning manager of the year is impressive, but it only proves that he had one good season.

Little doesn't have much of a track record either, but when you're dealing with relative unknowns, I always prefer the devil you know to the devil you don't.