Flo vs Deltalina: Penalty Kicks

Here are the standings after the regulation 3 rounds. Please verify:

GROUP A	overall points	GROUP C	overall points
1. Fred's Brim	0	1. djansson	4
2. TD	6	2. Mr C	3
3. Jason	6	3. Wicks	7
4. Matt	6	4. J Steve	3
GROUP B	overall points	GROUP D	overall points
1. Keven C	6	1. Scott	6
2. Dusty Baker	4	2. fanerman	3
3. Steve Dittmore	4	3. rbnlaw	6
4. Greg	2	4. Bryan	3

If these standings hold, that means we have some ties to sort out! Tiebreaker rules will be posted here shortly...

Ok, here are our penalty kick matches:

• GROUP A: TD vs Jason vs Matt
• GROUP B: Dusty vs Steve Dittmore
• GROUP D: Scott vs rbnlaw (epic rematch!) for #1 seed

******REVISED TIEBREAKING RULES*******

The tiebreaking matchups take place tomorrow at 9am PT. And just like real soccer, they will consist of 5 penalty kick rounds, as follows:

• Tomorrow at 8am, a thread will appear called "Flo vs Deltalina: Penalty Kick Rounds Begin!".
• Between 9am and 12noon PT inclusive (note this time window is different from previous rounds), each participant involved in a shootout must post 5 comments.
• This time, the last two digits of each comment is what matters.
• I heard somewhere that penalty shooters hit around 75-76% of their shots. So any score 75 or lower will be considered a goal. Anything 76 or above is a miss.
• At the end of the 5 rounds, whoever has the most goals wins.
• If it's tied after 5 rounds, it goes to sudden death (each player gets a shot until one hits theirs and the other misses). The time window will be extended to 1pm PT for competitors involved in sudden death.
• Regarding Group A: Well, having never experienced a three-way myself, I'm gonna have to take a stab at how it will work. I suppose if any two players (or all three) are tied at the end of the 5 shots (including a tie for 2nd place), those players continue in sudden death until one loses or wins.
• Note that, unlike real soccer, the adversaries don't need to alternate turns in their shots, as this would be impossible to enforce. Scott can comment 5 times followed by rbnlaw's 5 comments an hour later. But be aware if your matchup goes to sudden death, as you will need additional comments.

Got it? Good luck tomorrow for those participating! I will also try to start Round 3 tomorrow afternoon (that's why the penalty kick round was moved up into the morning), but depends on my work schedule...

Five Ways Randy Wolf Can Spend His New $27M $29.75M Bounty

Action Figure	Est. $ value	# of figures $27M $29.75M can buy
Telescoping-Lightsaber Darth Vader	$6,000	4,958
Vinyl Cape Jawa	$2,000	14,875
Rocket-Firing Boba Fett	$1,500	19,833
Tori Spelling Yak-Face	$1,000	29,750
Blue Snaggletooth	$400	74,375

Thanks to Orel for the idea; David Julian for the pictures and Reis O'Brien for the estimated values; and this guy for the background on these figs.

ESPN Mobile's Hot Stove Analyzes The Dodgers' Ice-Cold Stove

I'm not too good with this internet thing, so the only place I've been able to find ESPN mobile's entry on the Los Angeles Dodgers (on a non-mobile device) is here. As part of a daily series of team-by-team reviews, Dan Mullen has put together a snapshot of the Dodgers' offseason issues, which is a pretty decent piece if you can get past all the spelling errors (apparently, ESPN mobile doesn't have that handy iPhone spellchecker thingy). Some of the highlights:

2010 Dodger on the Hot Seat: Russell Martin, C.

What started as an early-season power slump turned into a year-long outage for two-time All-Star catcher Russell Martin. He hit a career-low seven home runs to go along with his worst-ever batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Just 26 years old, there is no obvious reason behind Martin's sudden turn from a solid .280s hitter with enough power to belt 30+ doubles and 20 home runs a season to the .250 hitter with limited power the Dodgers saw last season.

With no injury to point to, Martin blamed his sub-par season on losing his swing. Dodgers manager Joe Torre and hitting coach Don Mattingly think it came from pressing at the plate after a lack of home runs early in the season. Although his bat disappeared in 2009, Martin played a key role with his work behind the dish in 2009, helping a pitching staff that finished with baseball's best ERA. Whether or not Martin can find his swing again in 2010 will play a pivotal role in holding off the Rockies and Giants in what promises to be a heated race for NL West supremacy.

Breakout Player: Matt Kemp, OF.

With a 26-steal, 34-homer season on his resume and Silver Slugger and Gold Gloves awards resting on his mantle, many would say Matt Kemp has already broken out. The Dodger brass strongly believes the 25-year-old centerfielder has another level of potential left to reach. Still figuring things out as a baseball player after spending his prep years focusing on his basketball career where he was a teammate of current Boston Celtic Sheldon Williams, Kemp is starting to put it together as a complete player after surviving on natural ability alone early in his career.

Arguably the most physically talented player in the National League, Kemp has the ability to be a 40-home run, 40-stolen base superstar in the near future. Though Albert Pujols has a strangle hold on the NL MVP Award, Kemp's all-around game makes him just the guy to challenge the king for his throne.

Dodgers Rookie to Watch: Josh Lindblom, RP.

A physically imposing Purdue product, hard-throwing righty Josh Lindbolm will give Joe Torre another bullpen arm to rely on in 2010. After seeing mixed results as a starter since being drafted in 2008, Lindbolm has thrived in a power reliever role thanks to his heavy-sinking fastball and downward-breaking curveball that is a true swing-and-miss pitch.

Torre has been known to ride relievers heavily and Lindbolm's six-foot-five, 240-pound frame makes him a perfect candidate for a workhorse reliever role. Though he has long-term closer stuff and makeup, Lindbom will setup for Jonathan Broxton for the foreseeable future and the pair of power arms is sure to give NL West foes fits at the end of many a close game.

And That's Why You Should Have Offered Arbritration To Randy Wolf (arm falls off)

There goes one of the bright spots in our starting rotation from last year. Randy Wolf to the Brewers:

Free agent left-hander Randy Wolf and the Milwaukee Brewers have agreed to a three-year contract worth $27 million, major league sources tell ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

Wolf, 33, pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, going 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA in 34 starts.

(Sigh.)

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 2-C Begins!

Wow, did any of you guys watch that rbnlaw-Scott game last night?

For those who didn't catch it, you missed an instant classic. Here's how it went down: Ten minutes after the starting gun, rbn busted out with a formidable 13. One-three, baby! He was, understandably, feeling pretty good. But get this: Scott kept his cool and played it perfectly. Noticing the over-pursuit, he threw down some decoys, feigned naiveté and confusion, then moved in for the kill with a 15. A 15! Are you kidding me?

Well played, Scott. Well played. And now Group D is in a four-way dead heat. Bring on the final round!

Here are yesterday's full results:

GROUP A

Jason def. Fred's Brim, 6-3

Matt def. TD, 12-4

GROUP B

Keven C def. Steve Dittmore, 12-10

Dusty Baker ties Greg, 8-8

GROUP C

djansson ties Wicks, 9-9

Mr Customer def. J Steve, 14-8

GROUP D

Scott def. rbnlaw, 15-13

Bryan def. fanerman, 13-8

Below are the current point totals:

GROUP A	overall points	today's score	GROUP C	overall points	today's score
1. Fred's Brim	0	5+3= 8	1. djansson	4	1+3= 4
2. TD	3	8+9= 17	2. Mr C	3	6+1= 7
3. Jason	6	2+2= 4	3. Wicks	4	9+7= 16
4. Matt	3	9+1= 10	4. J Steve	0	9+0= 9
GROUP B	overall points	today's score	GROUP D	overall points	today's score
1. Keven C	3	4+0= 4	1. Scott	3	2+9= 11
2. Dusty Baker	4	4+0= 4	2. fanerman	3	2+1= 3
3. Steve Dittmore	1	7+3= 10	3. rbnlaw	3	5+3= 8
4. Greg	2	0+0= 0	4. Bryan	3	7+0= 7

Today it's 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Here's a review of the format and rules.

Remember, only your first 2 comments on or after 12noon PT matter, and you must make them by 3pm PT. And after today, the top two in each group advance*. Good luck!

*If there are any impactful ties in the overall point standings at the end of this round, I will explain the tiebreaker process shortly thereafter.

"Reflections" Fades to Black

A Final Reflection (Reflections of Blue)

It looks like Brandon is closing up shop. We'll miss you!

Vance Lovelace Becomes More Special

From a Dodgers press release:

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced today that they have named Vance Lovelace to the newly created title of Director of Pro Scouting, Special Advisor to the GM. The announcement was made by Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti.

"In my four years with the Dodgers, Vance has proven himself to be a trusted advisor and a keen judge of baseball talent on the Major League level," said Colletti. "I think he will flourish in his new role overseeing all of our professional scouts and I look forward to strengthening our working relationship in 2010 and beyond. His passion for baseball and for the Dodger organization will help many advance to a higher level."

Lovelace, 46, joined the Dodger organization as a professional scout in 2001. On Nov. 7, 2006, he was promoted to Special Assistant to the General Manager, where he dealt mainly with pro scouting and reported directly to the General Manager, advising Colletti on roster moves and player acquisitions.

Lovelace joins Tommy Lasorda, Don Newcombe and Frank Jobe as those with the title of "Special Advisor to the Chairman." No idea where that places him in relation to Logan White (Assistant GM, Scouting).

UPDATE: From Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts:

Though he lacks their assistant general manager titles, this move puts Lovelace virtually on a par with Logan White (amateur scouting), DeJon Watson (player development) and Kim Ng (administration - i.e., everything else).

Dodgers Afraid of Commitment

Sheesh, men.

Dodgers Want One-Year Deals For Pitchers (MLBTR)

Edwin Jackson Returns to NL West in Three-Way (the Unsexy Kind)

Granderson To Yanks, Edwin Jackson To D'Backs, Scherzer To Tigers (MLBTR)

Would have loved to have seen E-Jax back in Dodger Blue, but until proven otherwise, I'm assuming the Dodgers don't have the money or trade chips to make significant deals.

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 2-B Begins!

Today it's 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4. Here's a review of the format and rules.

And here are yesterday's results:

GROUP A

TD def. Fred's Brim, 9-5

Jason def. Matt, 13-4

GROUP B

Dusty Baker def. Keven C, 11-7

Steve Dittmore ties Greg, 9-9

GROUP C

djansson def. Mr Customer, 11-8

Wicks def. J Steve, 14-13

GROUP D

fanerman def. Scott (forfeit)

rbnlaw def. Bryan, 14-12

Below are the current point totals:

GROUP A	overall points	today's score	GROUP C	overall points	today's score
1. Fred's Brim	0	0+3= 3	1. djansson	3	4+5= 9
2. TD	3	3+1= 4	2. Mr C	0	8+6= 14
3. Jason	3	4+2= 6	3. Wicks	3	8+1= 9
4. Matt	0	6+6= 12	4. J Steve	0	2+6= 8
GROUP B	overall points	today's score	GROUP D	overall points	today's score
1. Keven C	0	5+7= 12	1. Scott	0	7+8= 15
2. Dusty Baker	3	6+2= 8*	2. fanerman	3	0+8= 8
3. Steve Dittmore	1	1+9= 10	3. rbnlaw	3	7+6= 13
4. Greg	1	2+6= 8	4. Bryan	0	5+8= 13

And remember, only your first 2 comments on or after 12noon PT count, and you must make your 2 comments by 3pm PT. Good luck!

*DB played his part yesterday. If anyone else knows of a specific conflict, please let me know beforehand

Penny Moves To Land Where Nut Shots Are King

Matt Holliday's nuts just got some company (at least until Holliday signs with someone else), as disgruntled former Dodger turned disgruntled former Red Sock turned disgruntled former Giant Brad Penny signed with St. Louis:

The St. Louis Cardinals and right-handed pitcher Brad Penny have agreed to a deal, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

Penny's one-year contract is worth $7.5 million and contains $1.5 million in performance bonuses, according to sources. The deal is pending a physical, which will likely be done on Tuesday.

Penny recently turned down a one-year offer to stay with San Francisco. The two-time All-Star quickly drew interest from the NL Central champion Cardinals, facing the loss of free-agent pitchers Joel Pineiro, John Smoltz and Todd Wellemeyer.

$7.5M? That's a lot of Dushkus! But St. Louis is ecstatic to bring a man of peace to the Midwest.

Enjoy, Cardinals fans!

News Nuggets

• From Diamond Leung's Twitter:

  RT @SI_JonHeyman gm ned colletti's new #dodgers contract is for 5 years, through 2014, sources say.

• From Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times' Fabulous Forum blog:

  General Manager Ned Colletti said this evening that the Dodgers don’t have plans to cut payroll for next season, and that Manager Joe Torre has shown interest in extending his contract by a year and moving into a front-office role in 2012. [...]

  The Dodgers are "unlikely" to sign anyone at the winter meetings this week. [...]

  Of the Dodgers’ free agents, Colletti has talked to Brad Ausmus the most.

  The Dodgers view pitching prospects Scott Elbert and Josh Lindblom as starters. They are more open to using James McDonald as a reliever.

• Brewers "On Verge" Of Signing Randy Wolf (MLBTR)
• Mannion to oversee baseball operations (Dodgers.com)
• From Diamond:

  RT @FollowThePadres #Padres have announced the Dave Roberts will be a special assistant in baseball ops. Yes, that Dave Roberts.

Jays Want To Talk Halladay; Dodgers Don't Have Their Listening Ears On

From Jayson Stark, who claims to be at the Winter Meetings (10:34p today):

Jays talked to Dodgers about Halladay Monday. Looks like they don't match up

Yeah, the Dodgers are going to be big players this offseason, yessiree. Pay no attention to the pesky pending divorce case behind the curtain.

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 2-A Begins! (and Rules)

So we talked about the World Cup-inspired format. Now, regarding the actual rules, instead of a competition based on speed or volume of comments, this time we're going with something a little different (translation: I need a break from tracking the source and/or timing of hundreds of comments). So here are the rules for Round 2's competition, beginning today at noon in this very post (thanks to Orel for helping with the concept):

• For each of the next 3 days, including today, a post will appear titled "Flo vs Deltalina: Round 2-X Begins!" Today, that post is this one. For tomorrow and Wednesday, the post will appear at 9am PT.
• In the thread it will review the pairings for that sub-Round. Today is 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4.
• Your are welcome to comment as you wish in the thread, but only your first 2 comments on or after 12noon PT will matter. Plus, you must comment by 4pm 3pm PT or you lose the round (unless your opponent is also MIA).
• Whenever you make a comment, there is a url associated with it. You can see this url by clicking on the individual post and scrolling over the timestamp of the comment. It is in the format http://www.sonsofstevegarvey.com/2009/12/off-season-reading.html?showComment=1260052730521#c7896033777979927329.
• For this competition, the last digit in the sequence of numbers is what counts (in the above example, the number "9"). Add up the last digit of the url of each of your first 2 comments made on or after 12noon PT, and that is your score for that sub-Round.
• Remember, in a given sub-Round, you are only competing against one other participant. Compare your score with that of your opponent to determine win, lose, or tie, as per the World Cup Group Play structure explained earlier today.
• So, as you can see, neither speed nor accuracy is an issue.
• At the end of the 3 sub-Rounds, the top two participants in each Group will advance.

Got it? So here again are the groups:

GROUP A	score	GROUP C	score
1. Fred's Brim	2+3= 5	1. djansson	9+2= 11
2. TD	4+5= 9	2. Mr Customer	0+8= 8
3. Jason	5+8= 13	3. Wicks	8+6= 14
4. Matt	2+2= 4	4. J Steve	7+6= 13
GROUP B	score	GROUP D	score
1. Keven C	4+3= 7	1. Scott	n/a
2. Dusty Baker	8+3= 11	2. fanerman	9+4= 13
3. Steve Dittmore	3+6= 9	3. rbnlaw	6+8= 14
4. Greg	0+9= 9	4. Bryan	8+4= 12

And here again is the schedule of play:

• sub-Round 2-A (today): 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4
• sub-Round 2-B (tomorrow): 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4
• sub-Round 2-C (Wednesday): 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3

Again, this is sub-Round 2-A, so within each group it's 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4. Wait 'til noon and comment below wisely!

Flo vs Deltalina: Get Ready for Round 2

Congratulations Deltalina on your Round I victory! So below is some info about how Round 2 will be structured (it starts at noon today).

But first things first. I had a few ideas regarding how to pick the two Flo Wildcard entrants, but they all would have involved sifting through the 1,900+ comments and timestamps in the three Round I posts, so, yeah, exactly: no way. Instead, the first two Flo-ites to comment here are in. Not the fairest way I know, but hey, sometimes life is unfair.

UPDATE: Keven C and Mr Customer have claimed the two wildcard spots

So now, about the Round 2 format. In honor of the recently announced World Cup groupings, Round 2 will be based on that tournament's group play, as follows:

• Each of the 16 participants were divided into four groups below, with each participant in a group assigned a number 1-4:

  GROUP A	GROUP C
  1. Fred's Brim	1. djansson
  2. TD	2. Mr Customer
  3. Jason	3. Wicks
  4. Matt	4. J Steve
  GROUP B	GROUP D
  1. Keven C	1. Scott
  2. Dusty Baker	2. fanerman
  3. Steve Dittmore	3. rbnlaw
  4. Greg	4. Bryan

  (groupings and numbering were created using a random number generator)
• Round 2 is a round-robin within each group. In other words, each participant will play each other participant in his group once (called a sub-Round). So there are a total of three sub-Rounds, as follows:
  • sub-Round 2-A (today): 1 vs 2 and 3 vs 4
  • sub-Round 2-B (tomorrow): 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4
  • sub-Round 2-C (Wednesday): 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3
• A win is worth 3 points. A tie is 1 point. A loss 0 points.
• At the end of the round-robin, the top two participants in each group advance.

So that's the format. As far as the actual rules of the competition, that will be posted at 10:30am PT today, and sub-Round 2-A begins at 12 noon today!

Walking in a Winter Meetings Wonderland

The Winter Meetings start in Indianapolis today; here's a few articles to get you primed for the trades and signings that may or may not be happening:

• Dodgers' shortage of arms could be cause for alarm (LA Times)
• Multiple Teams Interested In Juan Pierre (MLBTR)
• Dodgers to pursue help for rotation (Dodgers.com)

Let the speculation begin!

How Dare You Call Me Fat

Okay, maybe when I was with the Red Sox. But I was svelte when I was with the Dodgers!

What the&mdash?! This conversation is over!

Fat, Surly Guy Won't Return to Giants

Brad Penny turns down an offer to return to the Giants. And if they go with Parker Posey as their starting catcher next year and exile Bengie Molina, that post-game spread is all yours, Kung Fu Panda:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Right-hander Brad Penny and infielder Juan Uribe have turned down one-year contract offers to return to the San Francisco Giants.

General manager Brian Sabean said Friday the club made a one-year offer with incentives to Penny and a one-year offer with an option and buyout to Uribe, but both free agents declined. The Giants aren't in further talks with either player right now. [...]

One of Sabean's top priorities heading into next week's winter meetings in Indianapolis is the catcher spot, but he acknowledged it could take a while for that position to get settled. Bengie Molina is a free agent and has said he wants a multiyear deal -- and San Francisco doesn't plan to offer anything beyond a year. The Giants have Buster Posey as their catcher of the future.

Thanks to rbnlaw for picking this up Saturday morning. (I had shopping to do, okay? Someone's gotta fuel this economic recovery!)

Off-Season Reading

What the heck is there to do when there is no more baseball on television? READ about baseball! I was at the library (remember those?) and picked up The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. Actually it should read "by Tom Verducci with Joe Torre as guest commentator but am putting him as first author because it will sell more."

Overall, it was actually a pretty entertaining read. The book traverses the Yankee years from 1995 to the year before Torre became the Dodgers manager when the Yankees went on that tear of 12 playoff appearances, 6 AL pennants, and 4 World Series titles. The first part of the book is actually more player interviews and a lot of insight by David Cone. It is always fun to read about the inside of a baseball clubhouse and the conversations that go on during the game - Kevin Brown breaking his hand during a game, Randy Johnson getting rattled in NY, Zimmer getting thrown to the ground by Pedro. Verducci also highlights the steroid scandal, the Red Sox romp, the Rodriquez rantings, the Steinbrenner superstitions, and the Joba journey (see Tom, I can do alliterations too!). It was somewhat sad to see how Torre viewed his dismissal from the Yankees after all of those great years. But I guess with the Yankees winning this year, it worked out for Steinbrenner.

I was also surprised to read a lot of former or current Dodgers named in the book - Joe Torre, Larry Bowa, Don Mattingly, Doug Mientkiewicz, Kevin Brown (ugh), Mariano Duncan, Karim Garcia, Nomar Garciaparra, Grady Little, Kenny Lofton, Derek Lowe, Adrian Beltre, Fred McGriff, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Manny Ramirez, Dave Roberts, Gary Sheffield, Darryl Strawberry, David Wells, Jeff Weaver, John Wetteland, and even yours truly (where's my residuals?). I thought Torre would delve more into his fight with cancer and some of this family's plight with the disease in order to raise awareness, but most of the book was all about baseball. I just wish that the Dodgers would go on a roll for 12 years and someone would write the book Dodger Days (and if you use that title, I get the residuals, right?). Go Blue!

Oh, one other observation I forgot to mention is that Torre swears like a sailor. It is sort of funny to see a guy that looks and acts like your grandpa and is so smooth with the media throw down the f bombs like no tomorrow.

Denver On The Hudson?

Fox Sports reports that NL West rival Rockies are interested in the non-artbitrated O-Dog:

Add the Rockies to the teams showing interest in second baseman Orlando Hudson. The Rockies made overtures to Hudson early in the free-agent market a year ago, but by the time Hudson realized the market he expected wasn't going to develop, the Rockies had reached their budget. Hudson wound up signing with the Dodgers.

The Rockies have renewed interest in Hudson this year. They feel he could give them a spark at the top of the lineup, and by signing Hudson they could address their need for a right-handed bat who could provide protection at first and third, and also play the outfield and shortstop, his original big-league position — Clint Barmes, the team's primary second baseman a year ago.