Godspeed, Beast Mode

The Trolley Dodger nailed it: Juan Pierre was "One of the most polarizing Dodgers since Gary Sheffield." Which doesn't quite make sense: Why would a hard-working fan-favorite who hits for average and steals bases be controversial?

Because you don't play baseball in a vacuum. You play baseball surrounded by teammates of varying abilities who get paid varying amounts of money. In Pierre's case, he shared an outfield with more talented players, two of whom got paid much, much less than he did.

The Juan Pierre trade is as close to a win-win situation you'll find in baseball transactions: Ned Colletti gets to undo his blunder of a contract, the Dodgers lose the albatross of an overpaid bench player and gain two pitching prospects, and the White Sox become the team where bad contracts go to die.

We at SoSG liked to give Beast Mode a hard time for his noodle arm and ultra-serious attitude. But the truth is the Dodgers just lost a solid player and a good citizen. And we couldn't be happier.

photo by Rhona Wise/EPA

The Slappy McPopup Era Comes To A Close in LA

Juan Pierre's days as a Dodger are no more, as he has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for cash and two minor leaguers. Oh, and the Dodgers are footing the bill for the majority of his salary, go-forward:

The Chicago White Sox acquired outfielder Juan Pierre from the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor leaguers and cash.

Of the $18.5 million left on Pierre's contract, the White Sox will pay $3 million in 2010 and $5 million in 2011, sources said.

The Dodgers will select two pitching prospects from a list furnished by the White Sox, a source told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The names on the list are all pitchers who could reach the big leagues by 2010, the source said.

Beast Mode goes East Mode. Thanks for the memories, Juan!

UPDATE: From MLBTR:

Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports hears that John Ely and Jon Link are heading to the Dodgers.

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 4 Begins!

Ok, each team has decided upon the following time slots:

Team	Timeslots (PT)	Timeslot Score	Final Score
Jason & Keven C	1:00-1:01pm 1:05-1:06pm	13 14	14 (winner!)
Wicks & rbnlaw	12:12-12:13pm 12:20-12:21pm	10 8	10

And here again are the rules. Good luck gentlemen!

Can You Say Todd Helton?

From "Cards Offer Most Lucrative Deal In Team History To Holliday" at MLBTR:

The Cardinals have offered Matt Holliday a deal which would pay him $16MM per year and could extend through eight seasons, writes Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

$16 million a year for eight seasons? For a player who will be 30 years old at the beginning of next season? This is insanity, I tells ya! Complain all you want about Ned Colletti's shackles, but at least he isn't (still) making offers that could hamstring his team well into the next decade.

On the plus side, here's a major deal the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets or Phillies aren't involved in. Oh, and congrats to Holliday — guess that one error doesn't hurt so much now, does it?

photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters

Blockbuster Deals Heat Up Hot Stove

...but the Dodgers are still out in the cold:

Phils, Ms, Blue Jays Agree On Halladay-Cliff Lee Blockbuster (MLBTR)

Red Sox, John Lackey Reach Agreement (MLBTR)

Are the Phillies the Yankees of the NL? Or is it folly to trade Cliff Lee for the older, playoff experience-lacking Halladay?

UPDATE: The Angels make a little noise:

Angels, Hideki Matsui Reach Agreement (MLBTR)

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 4 Rules

Before we move on to Round 4, I'd like to note an odd oddity: despite the last bullet point in the Round 3 Rules stating that "being a #1 or #2 seed doesn't matter," the four victors of the round - Jason, Keven C*, Wicks, and rbnlaw - were indeed the four #1 seeds.

*feels goose bumps crawl up spine*

Anyhow, about Round 4: It takes place tomorrow, and will have Jason and Keven C teaming up and going against the team of Wicks and rbnlaw. And today each team has a small task to complete:

• Each participant must agree with his teammate on two separate 2-minute timeslots tomorrow (a total of four minutes per team) during which both team-members will be available.
• The times chosen must be between 10am and 4pm PT (tomorrow).
• Use today's comments section to discuss with your teammate.
• The two timeslots chosen by each team can be completely different than the timeslots chosen by the other team. For example, Jason and Keven C may choose 10:31-10:32am and 2:15-2:16pm, while Wicks and rbnlaw might choose 12:30-12:31pm and 12:45-12:46pm.

So discuss here with your teammate when you'll each be available tomorrow. And when tomorrow comes, here are the rules:

• Tomorrow at 8:30am, a thread will appear titled "Flo vs Deltalina: Round 4 Begins!".
• During each of a team's two chosen 2-minute timeslots, the two members must alternate comments in the thread. The object is to have as many alternating comments during each 2-minute timeslot as possible.
• Any comments not made by the two teammates are ignored, as well as any comments not made during any of the four relevant timeslots.
• Once a given 2-minute timeslot has ended, the number of alternating comments are counted.
• =Iif one member accidentally comments twice consecutively (i.e., without a comment from his teammate in between), that team's comment count ends right there. So for example if Jason/Keven C's comment sequence goes Jason, Keven C, Jason, Keven C, Jason, Keven C, Keven C, Jason, then their team scores 6 points in that timeslot, because on the 7th comment, Keven C screwed up the sequence. Good job, Keven C.
• It doesn't matter which team-member begins the sequence, as long as subsequent comments alternate. But you might also want to discuss beforehand with your teammate who will begin each sequence.
• As mentioned, each team has selected two timeslots. The higher score of the two timeslots (not the sum of the two timeslots) will be the team's final score.
• Whichever team wins moves on to the Finals (at which point they will be forced to turn against each other...).

Ok, gentlemen. Discuss with your teammate your two timeslots (by the end of the discussion please be definitive about your selected times so I am not left unsure), and if you have any questions ask here. Then be sure to check back here tomorrow at 8:30am!

P.S. I will be without internet access until approximately noon PT, but any questions I will answer after then.

*only remaining Flo-ite

Karros on Ice

Eric Karros and Kings players during the national anthem on Dodgers Night with the LA Kings at Staples Center last Saturday.

The Kings Ice Crew sporting Dodger Blue.

UPDATE: A Monumental Dodgers Night at the Kings Game (Blue Heaven)

photos by Juan Ocampo/Dodgers

More Mascots Behaving Badly

Man who plays Patriots mascot arrested in prostitution sting (turnto10.com)

Earlier at SoSG: Diamondbacks Mascot Wreaking Havoc in Traffic, Children's Dreams

photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images

A Rose Grows in Center Field

Matt Kemp's latest tattoo...

Still got to finish it but it's a start. (mattkemp27)

Non-Tendered Players Hit the Market

The Dodgers signed Josh Towers to a minor-league contract, and you can bet Ned Colletti is salivating over the bargain bin filled with non-tendered players. According to MLBTR, those players include:

• P Chien-Ming Wang (formerly with the Yankees)
• 2B Kelly Johnson and RF Ryan Church (Braves)
• 3B Garrett Atkins (!) (Rockies)
• SP Seth McClung (Brewers)
• SP Scott Olsen (Nationals)
• CF Alfredo Amezaga (Marlins)
• LF Jonny Gomes (Reds)
• RP Neal Cotts (Cubs)
• RP Brian Bass (Orioles)
• SP D.J. Carrasco (White Sox)
• RP Mike MacDougal (Nationals)
• DH Jack Cust (A's)
• RF Brian Anderson (Red Sox)
• CF Cory Sullivan (Mets)
• SP Tim Redding (Mets)
• LF Jeremy Reed (Mets)
• RP Lance Broadway (Mets)
• RP Mark DiFelice (Brewers)
• C Mike Rivera (Brewers)
• LF Ryan Langerhans (Mariners)
• RF Gabe Gross (Rays)
• C Shawn Riggans (Rays)
• RP Mark Worrell (Padres)
• P Jackson Quezada (Padres)
• John Buck (Royals)
• Josh Anderson (Royals)
• Raul Chavez (Blue Jays)
• Matt Capps (Pirates)
• Phil Dumatrait (Pirates)
• Adam Miller (Indians)
• Anthony Reyes (Indians)
• Jose Veras (Indians)
• Josh Whitesell (Diamondbacks)
• Clay Condrey (Phillies)
• Ryan Garko (Giants)
• Jose Arredondo (Angels)
• Matt Brown (Angels)
• Dustin Moseley (Angels)

We'll update this list as more names become available.

UPDATE: Padres re-sign Correia for one year (Padres.com)

Tony Jackson Lands on His Feet

From the Twitter feed of SI.com's Jon Heyman:

dont usually like to tout the competition but espn LA hiring tony jackson is a great move.

Congratulations, Tony!

In Other News, This Real Estate Bubble Will Not Last

Barry Bonds' agent has just realized that the career of the 45-year-old slugger is pretty much over. You don't say.

Barry Bonds still has yet to formally retire from baseball. But the career of the major leagues' reigning home run king is over, his agent says, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bonds has insisted he won't retire, leaving open the possibility that he might yet catch on with another team. But that hasn't happened, and his agent doubts that it ever will, according to the report.

"It's two years since he played his last game, and if there was any chance he'd be back in a major-league uniform, it would have happened by now," his agent, Jeff Borris, said Wednesday, according to the report.

I have this picture of Borris sitting by a red batphone covered in cobwebs and dust. Guess MLB doesn't have to worry about triggering production on that plus-size baseball cap line, after all.

Flo vs Deltalina: Round 3 Begins! (and Rules)

Welcome to the SoSG Casino! Grab a drink and come on in! And tonight we have a special event - the SoSG Casino has been chosen as the site of Round 3 of the 1st Annual International Flo vs Deltalina Championships.

The eight contestants are Jason, TD, Keven C, Dusty Baker, Wicks, djansson, rbnlaw, and Scott. And Round 3 is basically a game of blackjack. Only it's "18 Blackjack," not 21. Here's how it works:

• Today, in this thread, between 10am and 1pm PT is when the game is played.
• All are welcome to comment as they please, but only comments with all of the following characteristics count:
  • It is made by one of the eight contestants
  • It is made in this thread between the hours of 10am and 1pm PT (inclusive), and
  • The first word in the comment is "HIT" (please use all caps).
• After 1pm, the last digit of each contestant's such comments are added up, and just like blackjack, the contestants are trying to get as close to 18 as you can without busting.
• A last digit of 0 is a 10.
• Sometime before 1pm (it may even be before 10am), your dealer (pictured above) will HIT once, so you can see her first card.
• There is no double-ing down, insurance, splitting, or anything like that
• At 1:01pm, all play is off.
• Sometime after 1pm, the dealer will continue to play her hand, HIT-ting or not. When she comments "STAY" (or when she busts) then she is done.
• Some players will beat the dealer, some will lose. The object is to get the field of 8 down to 4.
• Dealer must hit on 14
• If more than 4 lose, then the remaining players that won move on and those that lost play another hand next week to see who among them moves on.
• If more than 4 win, then those winning players play another hand next week to see who among them moves on (and the losing players are eliminated).
• Tie-ing the dealer counts higher than losing but not as high as winning.
• FYI, being a #1 or #2 seed doesn't matter.

Got it? Good, because I'm not sure I do (most of this was devised and written between the time I got to work (9am ET) and now (9:23am), and I gotta run to a meeting. In fact I have back-to-back-to-back meetings almost all day, so I'm leaving you in Deltalina's hands. I'll try to check in when I can. In anycase, wait 'til 10am and HIT away!

RESULTS:

Player	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Tot	Result
Jason*	1	8	9			18	W
TD	5	6	3			14	L
Keven C*	4	3	2	1	6	16	W
Dusty Baker	8	7				15	T
Wicks*	4	3	2	7		16	W
djansson	3	7	9			Bust	L
rbnlaw*	10	6				16	W
Scott	8					8	L
Deltalina	1	6	8			15

*moving on to 4th round

Please confirm above scores. If they stand, well, what do you know? It looks like we have our four winners: Jason, Keven C, Wicks, and rbnlaw. But please correct me if wrong. Round 4 on Monday!

Ned Colletti Photographed At The 2009 Winter Meetings

What, no moves whatsoever by the Dodgers at the 2009 Winter Meetings?

After seeing this picture of Ned Colletti from earlier this week (right after he spoke with Frank McCourt (or was it Jamie?)), I can't imagine why.

Thanks to Orel for the photoshop. (I'm an idea guy.)

Buster Olney Sounds Positively Bullish On The Dodgers

Olney's recap on our favorite team's inertia at Winter Meetings (insider only for the full article):

And then there were the Dodgers.

There were trades and more than a dozen signings here. New Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos impressed his peers with the way he is preparing for a trade of Roy Halladay. Almost 200 free agents are looking for jobs. But the Dodgers are really the biggest story of these winter meetings, by doing nothing. "It's incredible that you have one of the most storied franchises in all of baseball, and they're not even involved in talk for the best free agents," one agent said wistfully.

Imagine Bill Clinton going into a conference on health care and saying nothing. Imagine Al Gore going to a summit on global warming and uttering no words. Imagine George W. Bush at a roundtable on terrorism and remaining silent.

That's the Dodgers at these winter meetings: frozen in inaction.

Dodgers executives have been saying that in spite of the on-going divorce proceedings between Frank and Jamie McCourt, it's business as usual. They really can't say anything else publicly; they have to maintain that posture. But executives with rival teams and agents just assume that the Dodgers' baseball operations are essentially locked down.

Back when I was in high school, if you just signed your name on the exam sheet, and didn't fill in a single circle on the SAT, you still got 400 of a possible 1600 points. Maybe Colletti was trying that approach, and hoping for a bottom-quartile player to fall into his lap?

Bison's Bounty

Matt Kemp beams with delight during the Dodgers' annual Children's Holiday Party.

photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

Woulda Coulda Shoulda

From MLBTR:

ESPN's Buster Olney says Randy Wolf would've re-signed with the Dodgers for a two-year deal in the $14-16MM range.

We'll always have 2009, Randy.

Tales of Hoffmann

Check out Dodger Thoughts for all of today's Rule 5 action. In short, the Dodgers lost Jamie Hoffmann and James Tomlin, and gained Carlos Monasterios and Armando Zerpa.

Flo vs Deltalina: Penalty Kick Round Begin!

Here's the rules. And here's the matchups:

GROUP A	1	2	3	4	5	Tot	6	SD Tot
TD	O	X	O	X	X	3	X	4
Jason	X	X	X	X	X	5
Matt	X	X	X	0	0	3	0	3
GROUP B	1	2	3	4	5	Tot
Dusty Baker	X	X	0	0	X	3
Steve Dittmore	X	X	0	0	0	2
GROUP D	1	2	3	4	5	Tot
Scott	0	X	X	X	0	3
rbnlaw	X	X	X	0	X	4

X = goal scored, 0 = missed goal

Wait 'til 9am and kick away!

UPDATE: Here are seeds of remaining eight:

• GROUP A: #1 Jason, #2 TD
• GROUP B: #1 Keven C, #2 Dusty Baker
• GROUP C: #1 Wicks, #2 djansson
• GROUP D: #1 rbnlaw, #2 Scott

It Bears Repeating

Thanks and kudos to SoSG reader Josh S. for this brilliant comment:

CLAYTON KERSHAW

So...you got your reward and you're just leaving, then?

RANDY WOLF

That's right, yeah. Got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here, do you? Why don't you come with me? You're pretty good in a game. We could use you.

KERSHAW

Come on. Why don't you take a look around. You know what's about to happen, what they're up against. They could use a good pitcher like you, you're turning your back on them.

WOLF

What good is a reward if you can't spend it on beer and brats? Besides, trying to win the World Series with this ownership is not my idea of courage. It's more like...suicide.

KERSHAW

Okay. Take care of yourself Randy. I guess that's what you're best at isn't it?

WOLF

Hey, Clay. May divorce be with you.