When's the official launch date for the new site?

I bought His Jersey a few years back for my Daughter (she was very upset to learn that he was married) and still regret that purchase, Andre can mash no doubt but forget left hand pitching. I saw he had a two run dinger yesterday vs. Perez but I believe that will remain a very rare thing. It's Andre's aversion to getting his uniform dirty that will continue to hold him back. I think the Dodgers would serve themselves well to trade him to and American league team at some point for a very high ransom. Wonder what you guys think and who we could hold out for?

So I just read Kasten's recent comment, from the Dodgers website: "I want to put more attention and resources to two things -- scouting and player development, and starting pitching," said Kasten. "With both, anything is possible. Without both, nothing is possible. Job 1 will be scouting and player development." Seriously? What team does he think was just purchased? He won't call out Colletti, but he'll point out these two things as areas of improvement? It's probably not a big deal, but it's almost as though he doesn't realize those are the ONLY strengths this team already has. We can probably improve both, of course, but Logan White and starting pitching depth are the only things that keep this organization respectable.

As quick as I have been at times to jump on the "Andre has a bad attitude" bandwagon, I often wonder if the Dodgers molded him that way. I remember stories about Larry Bowa getting on Ethier for little things that amount to crap. I'll never forget the Simers story with a dialog roughly like this: Bowa: "Hey Andre, what are you going to do for the team today?" Ethier: "I'm going to hit a home run." Bowa: "That's bullshit, you're gonna whatever you have to do to help the team win." it's stupid on many levels. Hitting a home run, for example, DOES help the team win. Some guys can shake that stuff off, but Ethier is emotional, and perhaps that kind of stuff was enough to make a young, emotional guy turn cynical. I don't know, but I like the guy and hope that he turns it around even if he doesn't stay a Dodger after the season.

Lol, seeing your article on fangraphs explains a couple things that had me confused. First, the organizational ranking article for the Dodgers contained this: In the offseason, the Dodgers hired Alex Tamin as Director of Baseball Contracts, Research and Operations. Some hailed the move as a sure signal that the Dodgers had seen the sabermetric light. Others, like RotoGraphs’ Mike Petriello who writes about the Dodgers at Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness, were not so convinced. which prompted me to look for you on the writer list and search the site for an article you'd written, but I found nothing. Secondly, I bashed fangraphs' comment system, a comment I stand behind, and you said that was about to be awkward.

And congrats on the Fangraphs article. Well written.

And on that note: Isn't there a difference between getting excited about Spring numbers and getting excited about a new approach (though, yes, that can be terribly overrated, too)? I'm excited that Ethier and Gordon are working on their flaws. Ethier is working on improving against lefties, and Gordon is trying to walk more. Yes, it's nice that those numbers look great. But I'm pleased just to know that they realize they have HUGE holes in their game.

Ethier's Spring makes me feel good, but there's one other player who has me pumped. I know it's Spring Training... but man am I excited about Dee Gordon. Remember when Nyjer Morgan said that leadoff men need to be "exciting" and "get things going" by putting the ball in play? He got mad when people said he should walk more. I just figured Dee would have the same approach. But I heard that he wanted to work on his walks, and now he has more walks than strikeouts this Spring. I love it. Yes, it's Spring. But I really think this is big news. He's actually working on it. If he picks up that walk rate... we could be getting Bourne type numbers from our shortstop. For years.

Trade him to Boston and be done with him. The Red Sox have a couple of prospects that we could use right away. Start the rebuild by dumping this sourpuss.

Ehhhhh i thought it was spring training and we're supposed to take these results with a grain of salt?.............

I was reading that piece this morning thinking some dude at fangraphs was ripping off the MSTI style.

I run a Colorado-based roto league, so Cory Sullivan was actually owned a few years ago. When his owner tried to trade him to me, I laughed; he said, "He's really good at hitting triples." I said, "That's not one of the categories."

He should have a huge year. The problem is it might parlay into a big contract extension in which we'll overpay to keep him around. I could see him getting a contract in the 5/80 range like Jason Bay. He's certainly IMO not worth that but if he has a huge year, he'll get it. I'd rather trade the guy when he's at his peak than to hold onto him but I have a feeling with a new owner, they will want to keep him and $80 million over 5 years will be no problem for us to pay.

Dodgers are woefully underrepresented in Tangotiger's Community Playing Time Forecasts. Maybe we can help out. http://tangotiger.net/survey/

Mike, Nice to see you saying nice things about Dre. Told you he will mash this year. He just hit another homer as I write this!

Mike, your blend of sarcasm is simply glorious.