Kevin Modesti of the L.A. Daily News sought out the person who had the biggest effect on the L.A. sports scene in 2006 and amid many great nominees, he chose the Dodgers’ Ned Colletti.  Our congratulations go out to Ned, of course, as well as all of the people on his staff like Grady Little and his coaches, Kim Ng, Logan White, Bill LaJoie, Acey Kohrogi, De Jon Watson, Chris Haydock, Luchy Guerra, Ellen Harrigan, Adriana Urzua, Curtis Jung, Scott Akasaki, Travis McCourt, former employees like Terry Collins, Roy Smith and Bill McLaughlin and of course, every scout, minor league manager, coach, trainer, front office staffer and player development person who has had a hand in the impressive turnaround of our baseball operations.

Equally as exciting for the baseball operations crew was Newsweek Magazine’s list of Who’s Next, which came out yesterday and named Kim Ng as one of those people in business to watch in 2007. That’s quite an impressive honor and well deserved.

It’s been a great 2006, but there’s not a person in our organization who thinks our work is done. There’s always room for improvement and we’re hoping that 2007 will bring great excitement to Dodger Stadium and to all of you, the fans.

It is a sad day for the Dodger family, having lost Larry Sherry. For those who aren’t up to speed on his history, here’s the obituary from The Associated Press.

Everyone at the Dodger organization certainly wish to extend our sympathies to the entire Sherry family, including his brother, Norm, who also played for us.

If you’re checking in on Monday morning, here are a few sites to check out:

Jesse Sanchez, a reporter for MLB.com, has been down in the Dominican Republics where he visited Campo Las Palmas, the Dodgers’ academy. Scroll down to the middle of the page for some photos and commentary.

Also, the LA Sports Council is hosting a vote for the best sports moment of 2006 and the four-homer game is one of many that you can vote for here. This is the same group that named Kirk Gibson’s homer the greatest moment in LA Sports history.

And finally, if you’re a Dodger dog fan (and who isn’t?), you’ll be happy to know that it was nominated as one of the City’s Best Hot Dogs for 2007. You can vote here to help the famous weiner gets its due!

Tommy’s World

It’s holiday party time and I’m guessing a lot of you have work functions and the like this week. Well, so do we.

Last night, Tommy was Santa Claus on the Mattel Children’s Hospital Holiday Party and he did an incredible job. You’ll be able to read more about it in tomorrow’s L.A. Times when T.J. Simers dedicates his column to it, but the event was great and Tommy was really something else. Ned Colletti also came to show his support, as did Alyssa Milano who is a huge Dodger fan.

Today we’re hosting about 400 kids from the local community at the Stadium Club and Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez and Mike Lieberthal will join Tommy and several former Dodgers as the hosts of the party.

Tomorrow is the annual Dodger employee holiday party after work, so as you can see, it’s that time of year.

First off, I’d like to echo everyone’s sentiments in wishing a speedy recovery to Frank Halstead, one of the regular posters on this blog. I’m continually amazed at the community you all have created here and am glad that he’s on the road to recovery.

Also, as some of you have probably noticed, the L.A. Times has started posting their stories in real time rather than waiting until midnight as a continued attempt to keep up with the ever-changing media world. They’ve created a Dodger blog and Laker blog and in this morning’s paper, they’re asking people to vote for which local pro team is their favorite. While it’s hardly a scientific poll, I’m sure you all will want to jump on the site and cast your vote.

Some of you wanted to know when we’ll be introducing the new guys at Dodger Stadium and tomorrow is the day. Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez and Mike Lieberthal will all be at our annual holiday party for local youth from underserved neighborhoods and we will then have a media conference at the stadium later in the day. Plus, if you heard AM 570 this morning, you now know that Tommy Lasorda will be at the Mattel Children’s Hospital Holiday Party tonight dressed as Santa Claus.

Don’t forget to send in your questions for Ned’s chat today and as I mentioned before, the earlier you get them in, the higher up on the screen we see them and the better likelihood we can get to your questions. Please be patient and know that Ned can’t answer all of them, but he’ll do his best.

And finally, for what it’s worth, I feel like I should at least defend Ken Gurnick to the group who don’t seem terribly enamored with some of the things he’s written.  While he does sometimes tend to be a little negative (which he’ll probably admit), I actually think he does an incredible job covering all aspects of the team, from the Majors to the minors to the front office and community. He’s got more than two decades of experience and he always seems to notice something that few others reporters do. I actually think that Dodger fans are pretty fortunate to have him writing for the site and one thing to keep in mind is that he’s not actually supposed to be a fan. He’s not an employee of the Dodgers, he’s an unbiased reporter who has to take into account what he hears from all angles and then send it to a copy desk just like the L.A. Times, Daily News, Orange County Register or Riverside Press Enterprise.

As you have probably now read on the front of the site, the McCourts were honored last night at the Scopus Awards and it was as classy of an event as I think I’ve ever attended. In addition to the former Vice President Al Gore, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Governor Gray Davis and the famous comedian Don Rickles, it was a who’s who of the Dodger organization.

While that doesn’t sound all that surprising, I can’t remember the last time that all of these people were in the same place: Vin Scully, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Don Newcombe, Tommy Davis, Maury Wills, "Sweet" Lou Johnson, Rick Monday, Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Grady Little, Nomar Garciaparra, James Loney, Rudy Law, Bobby Castillo, Wes Parker, Ned Colletti, Jaime Jarrin, Charley Steiner and of course, the McCourts, just to name them off the top of my head.

The event, which raised $3 million for Hebrew University, was definitely something I’ll remember for a long time to come. If you’re interested in learning more about the cause, check out the AFHU web site.

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On a different note, I’d also like to point out a new Dodger blog that has hit cyberspace. Dodger Junkie seems to do a pretty good job of analysis and I’ve added the site to the navigation bar at the left, along with some of the other Dodger blogs and notable websites.

Just got back to Los Angeles after a busy week. I’m personally very happy with everything that’s been accomplished this week, from the Organization of the Year honors to the numerous signings, all of which make great sense to me. Of course, my opinion isn’t the important one, so if you want to hear Ned explain his thought process behind all of this, tune in tomorrow morning to AM 570 at 8:20, when he’s going to be talking to Fred Roggin, T.J. SImers and Tracy Simers. If you miss it, you can also go to their website a few hours later and hear the audio. And if you want to ask him questions yourself, be sure to take part in Tuesday’s web chat next week.

From reading the comments, it sounds like there are mixed feelings about Luis Gonzalez (which actually isn’t even officially done yet), so I’ll at least give a few of the key reasons behind why I like him.

– He had a very productive season last year with 52 doubles and is one year removed from an All-Star selection in 2005; with the speed that’ll be ahead of him in the lineup, doubles should drive in plenty of runs

– Over the past nine seasons, he has averaged 27 home runs and 94 RBI while slugging 23 or more homers in seven of those nine campaigns and logging 100 or more runs batted in on five occasions. I know 2001 somewhat skews the numbers, but the idea of him replacing J.D. Drew’s 20 homers is very doable

– His 20 home runs at Dodger Stadium rank second only to Barry Bonds among active players who have never played for the Dodgers

– He appeared in 153 games for the Diamondbacks last year, the ninth time in the past 10 seasons that he has played in 145 games or more; he committed just one error in 150 games in left field

– Once again, the "good guy" factor is something that really means something in baseball. I know it’s hard to see that unless you’re around it every day, but what he’ll contribute off the field will be on par if not better than what he does on the field

– A one-year deal does not block our prospects long-term; Most people believe Kemp still needs time in the minors and he’s only 21 years old. Everyone still thinks he’s got a bright future ahead of him and that’s why this wasn’t a long-term deal that blocks any of the kids. Loney may very well be ready (or he may not, we won’t know until we see it every day), but he should get about 40 games at first base and a bunch more spelling Gonzalez on some days and Ethier on others (plus possible DH games, etc). In my opinion, this is an ideal way to break a kid into the Majors (facing primarily right-handers, without all the pressure of an every day job at 22 years old)

– For those who believe this team is old, I’m not sure what to say; in the every day lineup, there should be only two guys over 35 (Kent and Gonzalez) and five guys under 30 (Pierre, Furcal, Ethier, Martin, Betemit). Penny and Billingsley are under 30, Wolf is 30 and Schmidt and Lowe are both in their mid 30s but are bonafide stars based on their track records.

I guess I’m not too sure what power hitter people wanted Ned to go get – we were in on just about every power-hitting free agent there was, but in cases like Soriano and Aramis Ramirez, we can’t make Los Angeles further East than it is. And it seems like most people didn’t think that trading for Manny made sense, given the price. As for the other guys rumored to be available (Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells, etc.), I’d be stunned if either of those guys gets moved for anything less than a gargantuan package of prospects and both are one-year rentals and will surely test the market, given the current landscape.

Anyway, the best part about the winter is that we all get to debate the moves and then we’ll see how they turn out once the year starts and ends. Plus, with eight starting pitchers and no major holes at this point, Ned can approach the next two months from a position of strength and hopefully that will stand land us some pretty good players before we head to Vero.

Until then, keep checking the blog regularly, as I’m thrilled to see such great debates and people checking in every day.

It’s been a long day but a fruitful one by all accounts. While I don’t exactly have a ton of details to share with everyone, I can tell you guys that we’re on the verge of signing Luis Gonzalez and hopefully there will be news on him and Jason Schmidt tomorrow. So far, this team is loaded with pitching, a pretty solid offense and Ned has yet to trade a single one of the kids, which is hard to fathom.

I hope you’re all as happy as I am…it’s been a long day, but a very good one for Dodger fans everywhere.

There are a couple other sides to the winter meetings that you guys don’t usually get to hear about, read about or see, so I figured I’d share them with you this morning. My day started early – 7 a.m. to be exact – as I met with a group of students from Indiana University, my alma mater.

A huge portion of the people at the meetings are young students or people right out of college seeking jobs in baseball. There’s a huge job fair in which hundreds of minor league teams (and some big league clubs) hire employees for the upcoming season. Chris Haydock, our assistant director of player development, and I, both went to school at IU and a group of kids who came down asked to meet with us so we gladly spent some time chatting with them about how to crack into the industry.

After that, I had breakfast with two former Dodger colleagues, Tom Seidler and Dan Simon. Tom, whose mother was a co-owner of the Dodgers with the O’Malleys, owns the Visalia Oaks, a minor league team in that town. Dan, who used to design all sorts of merchandise and other things at the Dodgers, now owns his own company called Studio Simon, which is responsible for designing a huge portion of minor league logos, brand identities and the like. Not surprisingly, he actually designed all the logos for the Winter Meetings, too.

Dan has a booth at the trade show here and Tom came to see many of his clients at the trade show, which is another huge portion of what goes on behind the scenes. Every imaginable promotional company, bat maker, bobblehead creator, etc. is here trying to get baseball teams to utilize their services for the coming season.

Anyway, those are two sides of the meetings that rarely get any attention, so I figured you might enjoy hearing about it. Stay tuned for more news later today.