All Quiet on the Western Front

Picture a campfire with four desperate-looking men sitting around it and coyotes howling well off in the background. San Diego Slim says, "It's really quiet." Frisco Fatty, a big ugly man, just nods his head. Diamondback Dan answers, "Yea. Too quiet." The Colorado Kid, as usual, is asleep. The members of the N.L West gang are anxiously waiting for La Valiente Colletti to make his next move. Quiet again envelops the desert, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the Kid's snoring.

Colletti, like the rest of baseball, has taken a few days off before plunging back into the search for another starting pitcher.

Rumors have it that he is getting closer to re-signing Jeff Weaver and is looking longingly at BoSox leftie David Wells.

The Dodger GM said late in December that he was negotiating a trade for a top of the rotation starter and could include a number of prospects but no names were divulged.

Like Silm, Fatso, Dan and the Kid, we will just have to wait to see what his next move will be.

In the meanst, we can check out Bill James predictions of the Dodger hitters in 2006, as spelled out in his book, Bill James Handbook, 2006. (actapublications.com).

James does not claim to see into the future, but he has a formula that considers what a player have done in the past and by modifying them by age, playing time and park effects, comes up with a fairly accurate glimpse of what they will do in 2006.

 
ave             ab-h      hr  bi   obp-slg-ops

.285 Furcal     627-179   13  58  .354-.418-.771
.283 Lofton     343- 97    5  32  .356-.391-.747
.293 Drew       444-130   25  70  .409-.525-.933
.290 Kent       579-168   27  93  .366-.504-.870
.307 Garciparra 462-142   18  74  .359-.506-.865
.283 Mueller    537-152   12  64  .365-.421-.786
.260 Cruz Jr   .392-102   17  60  .364-.480-.844
.263 Navarro   .361- 95    7  32  .335-.372-.706


.255 Alomar     208-53     3  23  .289-.346-.635
.266 Aybar      237-63     2  25  .333-.363-.701
.258 Choi       357-92    17  52  .361-.463-.824
.262 Guzman     282-74    10  42  .318-.440-.758
.269 Izturis    502-13     5  24  .310-.345-.655
.250 Ledee      292-73     9  46  .334-.411-.745
.232 Repko      112-26     4  10  .312-.402-.714
.287 Robles     328-94     4  33  .348-.293-.741
.259 Saenz      259-67    11  42  .329-.448-.777
.255 Werth      275-70    10  42  .347-.433-.780 

Dodger Blue Notes-- Former Dodger minor league pitcher Joselo Diaz agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers and was invited to major league spring training. The 25-year-old right-hander split last season between the Tampa Bay and Cleveland organizations. He was a combined 3-3 with a 4.79 ERA and three saves in 46 appearances at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. The converted infielder was signed by the Dodgers in August 1996. He has also played in the New York Mets organization, but never in the major leagues.