The Trolley Dodger

Well, it wouldn’t be an off-season without a little signing drama. Joe Beimel and the Dodgers still haven’t worked out their monetary differences, according to a story in the Daily News today.

The arbitration hearing for Dodgers reliever Joe Beimel is scheduled for Feb. 9 in Phoenix, leaving team officials nine days to negotiate an agreement to avoid what would be the club’s first such hearing in three years.

Beimel, who made $425,000 last season, is seeking $1.25 million for 2007. The Dodgers filed at $912,500, leaving a gap of $337,500. Talks aimed at reducing that gap appear to have reached an impasse.

And if Joe’s agent Joe Sroba was spinning any harder about BeimelGate during the playoffs, his head would fly off:

“How they choose to use that is up to them,” Sroba said. “We will certainly be responsive to it. It isn’t a positive thing for us, but it was an unfortunate accident.”

Yes, how unfortunate that those lies kept popping out of his mouth. Accidentally.

Speaking of agent spin, here’s the master talking about how the Cardinals didn’t want to be stupid act fairly:

“We just wanted to be treated fairly,” said [Scott] Boras, who cited the four-year, $32 million contract given Derrek [sic] Lowe by the Dodgers after the 2004 season and the three-year, $24.5 million received last month by free-agent starter Adam Eaton from Philadelphia as markers for Weaver’s value.

In the dictionary under “crocodile tears”, there’s a picture of Scott Boras eating a crocodile.

At the very bottom of this Sun-Sentinel.com article, “Sanchez focuses in on return to the big leagues”, a blurb of interest to Dodger fans.

Dontrelle Willis was not among the players in camp Monday, but he plans to move to Jupiter this weekend. Willis, who is awaiting trial on a driving under the influence charge, has been working out with friend and former Marlin Juan Pierre.

Hopefully, Juan is engaging in some sort of hypnosis/brainwashing about Dontrelle coming to LA when he’s a free agent. ;)

Caught this in the Press-Enterprise

The Inland Empire 66ers have hired Loren Foxx as the Dodgers Class A team’s general manager.

Foxx was previously director of communications with the Arena Football League’s Kansas City Brigade. He has also worked in baseball with the independent league Kansas City T-Bones and the Class A Hagerstown Suns.

(Cue X-Files Theme Song.)

You know, they say that Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra were conducting a soccer clinic and bone-marrow drive earlier today in Bellflower, but I think looking at this picture we know the Truth about what’s going on:

That’s right: in utero soccer instruction. The twins are being trained even now to become an unbeatable pair of uber-elite wingers, guaranteeing the United States a win in the 2026 World Cup!

In your face Italy!

Well, he’s no David Lee Roth circa 1984, but Olmedo Saenz is still cutting a dashing figure these days:

Now, I could make a Saenz/signs pun here. In fact, I just did. But in any case, Olmedo is obviously in mid-season form as he signs autographs for kids in Panama City on Friday. Another picture is here, showing a close-up of Olmedo and a spiffy “Estamos Unidos” cap with a US and Panama flag. Apparently, according to the caption, he was speaking with reporters about doping in baseball, while engaged in a charity event in Panama City.

I’m still laughing at the sidebar of that linked page, which looks like this:

It would appear that Olmedo is looking down in disgust at JD Drew’s less-than-graceful slide in the bottom pic. The Killer Tomato, while not known for his baserunning, is also not known for baserunning blunders, unlike JD “I thought I could sneak past the catcher” Drew, finally officially for reals a Red Sock. Probably.

Much like the zombie-ish rebirth of Darin Erstad with the White Sox, the Mets are realizing they haven’t signed any former Dodgers in the last 5 minutes. According to this story at Newsday.com,

The Mets, aware that their starting rotation is replete with questions, hope to sign one more low-cost free-agent starting pitcher, a person familiar with the situation said yesterday. Victor Zambrano, best known for being on the wrong side of a historically unpopular Mets trade, could be that low-cost free agent.

Another possibility is Aaron Sele, who went 8-6 with a 4.53 ERA in 28 games (15 starts) for the Dodgers.

Apparently their Dodger-crush only extends so far back, however.

The Mets don’t want to invest in a multi-year deal for Jeff Weaver, and they are going to miss out on free agent Tony Armas Jr., who, according to agent Fernando Cuza, is close to signing with another club. The Pirates have reportedly expressed interest in Armas. Other free-agent starters are Bruce Chen and Chan Ho Park.

Let’s see, the Mets’ former Dodger count is up to…

1. Pedro Feliciano[1]
2. Pedro Martinez
3. Guillermo Mota
4. Duaner Sanchez
5. Steve Schmoll
6. Paul Lo Duca
7. Jose Valentin
8. Shawn Green
9. David Newhan
10. Lino Urdaneta[1]
11. Manager Willie Randolph
12. Sandy Alomar, Sr.[2]

[1] In Dodgers system, so worth a 1/2 point.

[2] We had junior, so that’s worth a 1/4 point. ;)

Update

It’s official, a 1-year minor league deal.

You might have heard tell of a new arena proposed in Brooklyn, NY: the Barclays Center, the brainchild of developer and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner. Assuming it happens, this would mean the first major league team of any sport in Brooklyn since 1957 when… well, you know.

A story by Evan Weiner in the New York Sun today, “Brooklyn’s O’Malley, Others Paved Way for Ratner”, takes an interesting look at the history of Dodger owner Walter O’Malley’s attempts to procure a new stadium for his team back in the day, then makes the journey to the huge 21st-century sports, shopping, and lifestyle complexes — exactly 50 years later.

Weiner spends an inordinate amount of effort talking about how little the move west of the Dodgers and Giants really meant in the grand scheme of the universe,

“…if you consider that the relocations affected only three cities: New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the historical significance of the Dodgers and Giants franchise shifts is considerably overrated….”)

making me wonder if that were true, why is he spending so much time talking about it? Once past that bit, though, you realize the point he’s making isn’t so much about O’Malley’s move as about how the 1953 move of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee created a cascade of changes both in the way cities interact with franchises, as well as how that profoundly affected the later team movement — including the Dodgers and Giants.

The part about how the Whalers hockey team moving from Boston to Hartford, Connecticut, in the 70s resulted in the creation of the ESPN behemoth makes for some interesting reading as well. :)

This is a bad, bad thing for me to see — a video game trailer over at the subtly named GameTrailers.com, showing what the gameplay looks like, for the PSP anyhow, for the upcoming MLB 07: The Show. Giants vs Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Quicktime or WMV.

Why is this a bad thing?

First, because I miss baseball like crazy right now anyway, and seeing the game is bittersweet.

Second, because I haven’t played anything in a while, so the potential obsession is frankly a bit hard to ignore.

Third, apparently they didn’t get the message that the player names are back on the Dodger uniforms.

Fourth, apparently JD Drew is still on the team.

Fifth, the Giants somehow get a triple play.

Sixth, I wanna see what everything looks like on PS2, not on a lame PSP!

Ah, here we go. Not the Dodgers, but Detroit at St. Louis: one (QuickTime or WMV) and two (QuickTime or WMV). Looks pretty good.

Well, that was quick. No sooner did I find out Rudy Seanez was talking to the Dodgers, they have apparently agreed to terms.

Right-hander Rudy Seanez and the Dodgers have agreed to a minor league contract that could pay the veteran relief pitcher $1.2 million if he meets performance incentives.

Seanez, a 15-year veteran who split last season with the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres, would make $700,000 if he makes the team and get $100,000 for each five appearances beginning at 45 and ending at 65.

The photo and caption accompanying the story was hilarious:

Remember the game-winning homer Nomar Garciaparra hit in the magical four-consecutive homers game? He hit it off then-Padres reliever Rudy Seanez, who was signed by the Dodgers on Monday.

Maybe he’s good luck for LA? ;)

A couple of other notes:

Left-handed reliever Joe Beimel remains the only arbitration-eligible player who hasn’t signed, and the Dodgers have explored signing left-hander Joey Eischen, who missed most of last season after having surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff.

Eischen, 36, has been throwing off a mound for two months and is expected to be ready for spring training.

This article in the Denver Post, “Lawrence agrees to pitch for Colorado” says the Rockies are looking into adding other relievers after signing Brian Lawrence over the weekend, including Dan Kolb. But check out this additional tidbit:

Not having a 40-man roster spot available could hinder their chances. The team also likes Rudy Seanez as a fallback plan, but Seanez is progressing in talks with the L.A. Dodgers.

Rudy Seanez is a 38-year-old reliever from Brawley, CA (technically in SoCal, but far southeast SoCal) who is a 14-year vet, most recently with the Padres. He is the very definition of a journeyman, and in fact was with the Dodgers in 1994 and 1995.

According to his Wikipedia article,

Seanez is an aggressive pitcher who will challenge a hitter with his 96-MPH fastball. He also has a decent slider and an effective changeup, being able against batters from both sides of the plate. He also does a better job than most short relievers at controlling the running game, and is a competent fielder, despite a history of back problems.

Oh, and if he dusts you off the plate, you might want to think twice about charging the mound:

But beyond the numbers, Seanez has shown the ability to overcome numerous injuries, combining weightlifting with some mixed martial arts (he trains with ultimate fighters) during his offseason workout regimen.

So he has that going for himself, which is nice.