The Blue had a conference call last week to give the media a chance to speak with new Dodgers Jason Schmidt and Luis Gonzalez.  Unfortunately, despite technology that allows man to reach the moon, our collective advancement in multiple caller technology seems to be lacking.  Ned Colletti sounded close enough to, as the old slogan (sort of) goes, "reach out and touch," assuming you could reach out and touch Saturn.  As for Schmidt, he might as well have been talking though a tin can on a string (from Saturn, of course), clear as he came through.

Gonzalez, however, was loud and clear, as if he was in my office yelling in my ear.   So what would have been a smattering of pulled quotes from all three is now a Gonzo fest.  Click below for more.

I was going to take the afternoon off, but Dodgerskip baited me into a fresh post.  Curse you, Dodgerskip! 

Anyway, the winter meetings are over, and the Dodgers have come away with three new Blues in Jason Schmidt, Mike Lieberthal, and Luis Gonzalez.  What they didn't get was a power bat- no Gonzo doesn't come with a time machine back to 2001- to stick in the middle of the order.  Ned Colletti isn't worried, and is very pleased with what the Dodgers accomplished... should you be?  I'd say yes.  Schmidt is a huge signing, giving L.A. two top quality starters at the front of the rotation to go with Randy Wolf, an increasingly less important Brad Penny, and Billingsley/Kuo.  Yes, I'm putting them ahead of Tomko- and am pulling early for Kuo.  A hard throwing lefty that just kills when he's on?  It seems worth seeing if he can do the job over the long haul.  Given Penny's propensity for weight gain, back issues, and inability to pitch deep into games- all of which are likely related, I think there's a good chance the Blue would be more productive with both Kuo and Billingsley in the rotation.  And it's not because I think Penny is going to be as bad as he was over the second half last year, just that the other two could be good enough to outperform him.   

So I'm drinking my morning tea, eating my morning bagel, and trolling through various sites looking for fresh Dodger news for you little rugrats when I come across a certain article that causes my keyboard tapping fingers to freeze, my throat to choke on the chewed up bagel remnants inside, and the tea to slowly drool down the sides of a now slackjawed mouth:

Cardinals Emerge as Bonds' 'Mystery Suitor.'

I don't own a record player, so I immediately got in my car, sped off to the nearest pawn shop and purchased an old school turntable, just so I could make that "needle scratching to a halt" sound.  It just felt necessary. 

To say the least, not a happy camper.

There will be plenty more coming in the morning, but in case you missed it, the Dodgers capped a rather busy Wednesday by inking former Diamondbacks LF Luis Gonzalez to a one year, $7 million contract.  The move will push Andre Ethier to right.  Clearly the prospect of turning left field over to James Loney wasn't something Ned Colletti was comfortable with... or perhaps he's stockpiling options to make one last trade before the winter meetings close shop and all the baseball writers go home.  Not every player in the bigs is repped by Scott Boras, right?

BK

Grady Little sat down for a press conference today at the winter meetings. (Download g. Little - 12.06.06.doc ). Not too much earth-shattering news in here, other than some insight on the Beimel situation, and Grady saying that as of interview time (which was after a late lunch on the East Coast) the deal with Schmidt wasn't official. Though perhaps he hadn't read this.

—BK

Jason Schmidt is on the verge of donning a blue uni.  But before anybody worry about the righty being able to absorb the costs of moving his stuff to a new house, fear not. He's being very well compensated for relocating.  Schmidt's hurling not only provides a legit ace presence, but his experience will help offset the defection of last season's resident Yoda.  Perhaps Schmidt can even become the newest L.A. mound legend, since the last true king of the hill is likely to abdicate that title. 

Obviously, it'll be hard for Schmidt to match the fan favorite status a certain now ex-Dodger became during his stint in the Ravine.  My suggestion for "J to the S?"  Host a petting zoo for the kids.  Or exhibit a pulse rate registering slightly higher than a coma patient's.  Whichever is simpler.   

Also, Julio Lugo opted not to stick around.  In related news, Paris Hilton makes a drunken idiot of herself and there is traffic on the 405.

AK

Some days in the winter, you wake up and things are pretty quiet.  Other days?  You get serious news, starting with this: the Dodgers are on the verge of signing arguably the best FA pitcher (no slight intended to Barry Zito) on the market, as Jason Schmidt looks L.A. bound.  The $47 million he'll earn over the next three years should mitigate any concerns he has over our city's traffic issues.  And as we mentioned yesterday, the Blue have also retained the services of Takashi Saito for '07, meaning Eric Gagne is likely out the door (if he wasn't already).  Game over still wants to close.  Should he head to Boston, he'll have buddies to hang with in Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew, who have officially moved on to Boston, where Scott Boras thinks he'll be just fine. And, just in case anyone still thought Ned Colletti and Scotty B might patch things up and start playing a weekly racquetball game, Greg Maddux will head down the 5 to San Diego to pitch for the Pads, proud owner of a $10 mil deal for next year and a player option for '08.  Much shuffling in the NL West. 

Well, at least the closer spot is all buttoned up for next year.  Takashi Saito has re-upped with the Blue, signing a one year deal for a cool mil guaranteed, with the possibility of more if Saito finds, as Borat would say, "Great success."  Needless to say (but we get paid by the word, so we'll say it anyway), this is a good move.

BK

The rain's apparently about to start coming down in Orlando, but when it comes to the hunt for a big bat to drop into the Dodger lineup, the forecast basically calls for a whole lotta "dry."  True, the Florida meetings have involved a lot of talk about a certain dude who's just being a certain dude.  And it would be child's play to pry him from Theo Epstein's clutches.  Unfortunately, that's the problem, since the children in question are pretty special.  And unless the Beantown wunderkind agrees on a package involving fewer players born after 1983, it's a swap unlikely to induce mutual signatures.

As Ned Colletti works his way through the winter meetings, the big Dodger talk still centers around our favorite eccentric Red Sox outfielder.  But right now, the price is still too high.  How the whole Manny Thing will play out over the next couple days/weeks/months is pretty interesting.  The guy is so freakin' goofy that it's hard to get a read of what's going on (and it's not like I'm getting calls daily from him, just to keep me in the loop).  Yeah, he's asked for a trade, but in other news, the sun rose in the east this morning.  In his winter meetings preview, Joe Sheehan of www.baseballprospectus.com points out that given how well he's played in Boston and the Sox have had with him around, he's obviously not that big a distraction.  Does Epstein really have to move him?