GM’s Aren’t That Stupid! (Are They?)

Yes, some GM’s have made “dope fiend” moves in the past… the recent past, but they eventually figure it out (or get fired), which is why I think the Free Agent Signing Market has been non-existent so far.  The signings of Cueto, Samardzija, Price, Greinke and may others to idiotic, dope-fiend contracts has not been the pathway to success for major league teams.  Houston won the World Series this year by growing their own and filling in with a few free agents without any long term committments.  The Dodgers finished second and had over $65 million in dead payroll wrapped up in three players (A-Gon, Ethier and Crawfish).

FAZ had nothing to do with those three dead fish, which is part of the reason why the Dodgers were named the Organization of the Year by Baseball America.   Maybe, just maybe, General Managers are starting to figure out that money can’t buy a championship.  That may be part of the reason why we have seen little activity in the free agent market.  Scott Borass is starving to death because he can’t sign any big deals for his clients. That makes me so sad (not).

J.D. “I can’t play defense” Martinez needs $210 million?  Forgetttttabouttttittttt! That is just stupid!  He’s a $100 million dollar player. Yu Darvish folded in the clutch but wants a $160 million dollar deal?  Moronic! Well, maybe some GM’s are stupid… but they aren’t THAT stupid!  Are they?  Is this this year they ice the players who are asking for “crazy money” out?  Oh, the agents and players will yell “COLLUSION” but I think it’s more like “BRAINS!

Signing free agents to expensive, foolish long-term deals is no way to win.  Just ask the Astros.  This could be the year it all changes. So far, it looks that way.  Hey, these guys have crazy-good skills, but stupid, unrealistic, long-term deals are just insane.  Yeah, some GM”s are slow, but I think they will figure it out! Yes, they will!

So far, the largest contracts the Dodgers have given out to Free Agent Pitchers (not named Kenley Jansen) has been $48 million.  For the record, I questioned that deal for Jansen, but so far so good!

Baseball America had this to say about the Dodgers:

“Obviously the 2014 season was successful on a number of fronts, but as we assessed the roster and looked ahead, we felt strongly that for us to be in a position to maintain it, to sustain the recent success and enhance it, that we would need to infuse talented young players into our core group and do it steadily over time,” Friedman said. “One observation that we had was looking at the 2014 Red Sox, who had a number of really talented young players that all kind of came up the major league roster at the same time, was how volatile that situation can be. So we wanted to try to integrate one to two at a time over the years, to not put as much pressure on our talented young players, but also not be so reliant on so many young players all at once.”

One-by-one, they did exactly that. They integrated Corey Seager and Austin Barnes onto the big league roster in 2015, while also trading for veterans Yasmani Grandal, Chase Utley and Alex Wood. They brought Ross Stripling, Julio Urias and Brock Stewart onto the pitching staff in 2016, while also signing Kenta Maeda and trading for Rich Hill. In 2017 they completed the trickle, bringing up Cody Bellinger while also making trades for Logan Forsythe and, eventually, Yu Darvish, Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson.

In all, 16 of the 25 players on the Dodgers’ World Series roster were acquired under the Friedman regime.

The final product was a historic season that brought the Dodgers closer to a championship than at any time in the last three decades.

“I think as we look back on the 2017 season there is a lot to be proud of,” Friedman said. “Obviously we fell short of our ultimate goal by one game. But, overall, I think the positives of what were further instilled this year will continue to pay dividends for us in 2018 and beyond.”

Now, I am not saying you never take on a long, bad contract.  If you are the Marlins, you can’t do it, but the Dodgers can afford one bad deal. I mean, they had four bad deals last year if you include Kazmir who produced nothing (but it was not a crazy, lon-term deal). Sooner or later, GM’s are going to start saying “NO” to agents who ask for these deals.  If the Giants traded for Giancarlo Stanton, it would likely cripple them, but it won’t cripple the Dodgers.

Why Would Stanton Even Consider ther Giants?

The Marlins have not been able to put a winning team around Stanton. If the Giants trade for Stanton, they will further deplete a barren farm system. I can’t see how they would be much better than .500 even if they had Stanton and their farm system would likely rank at the bottom of all MLB.  Then, there’s the tax issue:  Florida has no State Tax. If you average out his contract at $30 million a year, if he moved back to California, he would owe an additional (approx) $4 Million dollars a year in California tax.  That’s $40 million over the life of his contract!

Why in the hell would he waiver his no trade clause to go to SF and pay another $4 million in taxes, when he is also not going to win?  To live by the ocean?  He already does. It makes no sense! He won’t go there.  Even Boston and St. Louis will cost him more money.  The Dodgers were his childhood team.  He’s from LA.  He’s an LA kind-of-guy! He wants to come home and he can control where he goes.  The Dodgers are set to win now.  The farm is deep and if they take on his contract, they won’t have to gut the farm… maybe Alvarez, Verdugo and a couple of lower prospects.

One bad contract won’t hurt, especially if FAZ can include Kazmir and Gonzalez in the deal. Remember, the Dodgers don’t have to do anything, so they can propound a deal they are comfortable with.  Like AC has mentioned, there will be huge advantages to the Dodgers with Stanton in the lineup – both on and off the field, and (write this down) the DH will be in NL soon enough!

A Parting Shot

After the Dodgers won the BA Organization of the Year yesterday, I thought back over the past years of all the FAZ-bashing.  Most of these people have gone, evaporated, dried-up or changed their monikers.  The levels many went to in oder to discredit FAZ was inane and insane. Not the least of who was the author of Dodger Therapy, whom many fans worshiped. Mercifully, he stopped spewing his VD (verbal diarrhea) on April 18, 2017. Here are a few tidbits from his last post:

I know the beat writers and local radio guys won’t question the genius of the front office as they don’t dare lose access to the clubhouse – and the free meals. I on the other hand have nothing to lose. I write what is very apparent – hardly genius at all. It just so happens in today’s world, if you exhibit a decent amount of common sense, you look intelligent. Who woulda thunk?

As I have tweeted many times, all you have to do is go to this blog and comb through the old articles and see my take on everything Dodgers. All the injuries discussed in advance, all the bad deals commented on as they were made, the mediocre or worse players the Moneyball minded acquire, debunked early on. Again, it’s not being super smart, it’s using basic intelligence. And yes, just having seen a lot of baseball in my life. It’s the same thing Saber guys (I don’t think women are stupid enough to be Saber) dislike traditional minded scouting and managing for. It’s too simple. You watch, you gauge it on lots and lots of similar circumstances (100+ years of MLB, pretty much) and you can therefore make semi logical assumptions. One might call it “data”, but I hear that term has been trademarked.

Here we are 13 games into the 2017 season and the Dodgers are in third place, 1 game over .500. The fans, as always, are up and down like the temperature. If they beat the Padres, whose entire payroll is less than what Kershaw makes alone, they talk shit and boast, gearing up for the World Series appearance. If they lose to a better Western foe, they panic.

The season is long and I will go on a limb and say the type of front office work the Friedman/Zaidi and assorted Dream Team collection of overpaid executives are doing could work as well in 2017 as it did in 2016. I think I figured it out, though, like a bad detective show, my answer was right in front of me the whole time.

While I think the West should certainly be better than it was last year (Giants will wake up, Rox seem improved and only getting better, Arizona perhaps better under their new Moneyball-type front office), I can see the Dodgers making the playoffs. Before you get too excited, I can also see them missing the playoffs. Somewhere between winning the West, getting the wild card and losing out in the playoff round robin, is where they will be. I am not one to predict outcomes of divisions so much as a lot of things happen.

I will say that unless changes are made (and why would they be?), it’s unlikely the Dodgers, as constructed now, will advance to the World Series, should they get anywhere near. My reason is I look at tonight’s tragic lineup and I just don’t see where $230M was spent. Any given night the lineup, starter and/or bullpen participants might be aged journeymen or AAAA castoffs. Friedman calls it “depth” – Paul DePodesta didn’t even call it that, but maybe he should have. His roster was the same littering of nobodies and never weres.

I think the appeal here is painting themselves into a corner and trying to get out. Houdini did it to show his superiority and fantasy baseball managers do it when they are bored out of their minds. Make dumb moves, drop better players, constantly swap our anyone with a pulse and hope it works. If it does, you can puff out your chest and claim superiority. Again, it’s “wasted movement” and unnecessary.

It’s an outdated way of thinking, sure, but would it be so terrible to have a rotation with at least 3-4 very solid guys you had a pretty safe expectation for making it through the season unscathed? Would it be ludicrous to assume your bullpen could be 3-4 men deep? Even 2 deep? Would it be insane to think if you had a payroll larger than anyone else’s your roster would likely have more great players than other teams?

All out of touch, old school ways of thinking, I realize. What do I know? I’m just a guy who has watched a lot of baseball for a lot of years. I sometimes write baseball articles, all archived here, with dates, and I seem to somehow do a remarkable job calling a lot of the “unforeseen events” that befall Friedman and his think tank, before they happen. I don’t call it “data” – just common sense and reasonable intelligence. Enjoy the ride and remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Have the Pepto-Bismol and Prilosec at your side; nothing is easy in a Friedman universe.

I only have one thing to say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:

DODGERS HIRE ASSISTANT HITTING COACHES BRANT BROWN AND LUIS ORTIZ TO ROUND OUT MAJOR LEAGUE FIELD STAFF

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced two additions to their big league field staff as ex-Major Leaguers Brant Brown and Luis Ortiz will each serve dual roles of assistant hitting coach and minor league hitting coordinator.

Brown, 46, spent the last five seasons as a coach in the Seattle Mariners’ organization, including the last two as the team’s offensive coordinator. From 2013-15, he served as Seattle’s minor league outfield coordinator. Prior to joining the Mariners, Brown spent six seasons as a hitting coach in the Texas Rangers organization (2007-12). The former big league outfielder was originally selected by the Chicago Cubs in the third round of the 1992 First-Year Player draft and hit .247 with 45 home runs in 424 Major League games with the Cubs (1996-98, 2000), Pirates (1999) and Marlins (2000). Brown was a three-year starter at Fresno State University, where he helped lead the Bulldogs to a fifth-place finish in the 1991 College World Series. In 1992, he was first-team All-Big West and second-team All-American selection after winning the conference Triple Crown. The native of Porterville, CA resides in Peoria, AZ.

Ortiz, 47, spent the last three seasons with the San Diego Padres as their field and hitting coordinator. Prior to joining the Padres’ organization in 2015, Ortiz spent two seasons as the assistant field coordinator and cultural development coordinator in the Cleveland Indians’ player development system. He began his coaching career with the Texas Rangers organization, spending five seasons with the club from 2008-12. The former infielder played professionally for 14 seasons, including four years at the Major League level with the Boston Red Sox (1993-94) and the Texas Rangers (1995-96). The native of the Dominican Republic was selected by the Red Sox in the eighth round of the 1991 First-Year Player Draft out of Union University and was inducted into the University’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

The Dodgers also promoted Brandon Gomes to Director of Player Development, replaceing Gabe Kapler.

From TrueBlueLA:

The Dodgers on Friday also officially announced the hiring of Ron Porterfield as director of player health, a move first reported four weeks ago. Porterfield, the longtime Rays trainer, will work out of the team facilities in Glendale, Ariz, and “provide the medical department with assistance and oversight at both the major and minor league levels.”

 

This article has 52 Comments

  1. Good takes today, I think that guy needs therapy!

    Ohtani is about to be posted and I think the Dodgers have a real shot at him. He won’t hurt the budget and his arm is electric and his bat powerful. The Dodgers check all of the boxes on his list (maybe 3 other teams do, Texas, Yanks and Seattle) with the only problem being $3M less in bonus to offer and no DH.

    Stanton wants to come to LA and the team can make it work. AC has laid out a lot of pros, the only cons are what other teams offer and if the Marlins play hardball. Could you imagine if they got both?

    Grandal, Joc and Ryu make attractive trade bait for other teams, along with too many prospects. The roster needs some thinning and there are many logical trade partners out there. Recent articles say Grandal is being shopped. If they sign Ohtani no need for another starter and there is a surplus.

    Buehler, Verdugo, Farmer and Font make for some interesting new talent in the mix this spring. Toles and Garcia return from injuries and soon after Urias. White, Smith, Oaks, Ruiz, Diaz, Peters and others are not that far away.

    This team is loaded if they do nothing and you know they will do something. It will be fun to watch in the next couple months!

  2. Well, while the outcome of 2017 was terrific and all that any Dodger fan can hope for (almost – darn that game 7), there is room for many opinions as to how to get there and whether the primarily SABR-oriented Braintrust wants to get there the right way. I have said for years that all data is helpful and should be considered but the question is still whether computer analysis of statistics should be the primary driver of decision making.

    Maybe I am just too old and have seen too much baseball over the years but I don’t like the idea of computerized baseball any more than I like the idea of driverless cars. I like to drive and wouldn’t prefer to ride in a car driven by a computer. I don’t want my baseball team driven by a computer either.

    Who needs a manager or even a GM if we are going to let a computer do all of the work for us?

    I still take issue with the notion that a pitcher who can’t pitch because he’s hurt is somehow “depth”. Spare me any more Kazmirs, McCarthys, Andersons, Hills, Beachys or their ilk. PLEASE!

    If you were to ask the Braintrust if they expected Chris Taylor would turn out to be Chris Taylor when they signed him, I’m sure that they would say “no”, just like Justin Turner, Brandon Morrow and others were pleasant surprises. There is a certain amount of luck in that. Similarly, no one expected Cory Bellinger to come up full time for the full season when he did. Even Cory has said many times that he expected to come up at the Trade Deadline. For any successful season, there is a certain amount of luck involved and the Dodgers had their share last year.

    The Braintrust inherited a team that won 2 Division titles in a row. Yeah, they made significant changes to the roster, but many of the most important parts were already there – Kershaw, Jansen, Seager, Bellinger, Turner, Puig, et al.

    I still want a starting rotation where pitchers pitch 7 innings on most nights with an ERA of 3 or lower and aren’t so fragile that you have to take them out after 80 pitches (or 100). The Dodgers have been known for their pitching since moving to LA – can you imagine Koufax coming out after 80 pitches? Or Hersheiser, Drysdale, Sutton, Valenzuela, Osteen, Ramon Martinez, Nomo, Tommy John, Hooton, Reuss, Messersmith, or any other of the outstanding Dodger starting pitchers prior to the past few seasons? I can’t either. I’m not wild about games being decided based on how well your 4th or 5th best relief pitcher throws but that’s how the Braintrust designs it.

    So – I was thrilled last year like all Dodger fans, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with the Braintrust way to construct a team. And I will be critical where I think it’s warranted. But not just to criticize.

  3. Mark, that guy’s post shows why you have the best Dodger blog. My brain hurts after reading that. It’s like listening to a politician.

    Stanton wants to play for the Dodgers? So do 100 other guys! We don’t need or want that contract. If he can’t stay healthy in his 20’s he’ll never be healthy in his 30’s.

    Andrew McCutchen would be a much more affordable right OF bat who should produce well in a contract year. Joc for Cutch?

    1. Haven’t heard him mentioned in awhile but I like McCutchen, he can do a bit of everything and has something left in the tank. I think it would take more than Joc but not much more.

      1. You’re probably right. I would like to expand the deal: Cutch and Glasnow for Joc, Forsythe, and Dennis Santana.

  4. If Grandal is traded I wonder if FAZ would consider Carlos Ruiz as the backup? Sounds he still wants to play.

    1. I think I would rather have Nick Hundley or Chris Iannetta. Hundley was at $2M and Iannetta was at $1.5M for 2017.

  5. I just got an interesting alert…The Marlins are willing to accept the Giants offer of Joe Panik and their #2 & #3 prospects, 1B/OF Chris Shaw and RHSP Tyler Beede respectively, for Stanton, and assume at least $250M of the contract. They already had one of the worst farm systems in MLB, and while neither Shaw or Beede are in the MLB Top 100 pipeline, the Giants will have nothing left. They will be over the luxury tax limit for the 4th consecutive year and will surpass the Dodgers payroll. The Giants will be at the 50% tax and may be approaching the 12% surcharge which is anything above $217M to $237M.
    .
    With Stanton in RF, this does nothing for CF. Who plays CF? Gorkys Hernandez? Who plays LF, Pence or Span? Kelby Tomlinson will become the 2B. Who plays 3B, Panda or Christian Arroyo? The Giants do not have a backup catcher on their 40 man. The only catcher prospect in their top 30 is 24 year old Aramis Garcia (C/1B) who has never played above AA.
    .
    Madison Bumgarner is an Ace. But after that??? The league is catching up to Cueto and I have no idea how long his arm holds out. Jeff Samardzija may pitch 200 innings, but he has a career ERA north of 4.00 and climbing. Matt Moore had a 2017 ERA approaching 6.00 and a career ERA at 4.27. Who is their #5 Ty Blach or Chris Stratton?
    .
    For the 2nd consecutive year their bullpen was horrid. Maybe Will Smith comes back and pitches well, but they have no other improvements . With Stanton, they have no way of going after any top or mid tier reliever on the FA market. They would have no prospects to trade, and most of the remaining players on the roster have untouchable contracts.
    .
    If FAZ WANTS to beat the Giants offer they most certainly can. But while I have been intrigued with playing the devil’s advocate for the last few days, I did not beleive then or now that FAZ will trade for Stanton. I think they would be smiling ear to ear watching the Giants self implode with another unwieldy contract. If the Dodgers do nothing, they will have a better team than the Giants, and I do not think that FAZ will do nothing.

    1. All reasons for Stanton to say no. Kazmir, Arrubureana, Toscano, Verdugo, Alvarez and low level prospect for Stanton and $5 million per year cash.

    2. The Dodgers are making plans long and short-term, the giants are making a long-term mess. Three WS championships in five years, now maybe three last-place finishes in a row.
      Just wonderful absolutely wonderful.

  6. As Rick pointed out above, FAZ is either very lucky or very good at unearthing bargains. I think they are both, but IMO they are extremely gifted at locating talent. I mentioned the following in the last thread…”Their next find could very well be RHRP Jesen Therrien who underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2017 season, to a two-year minor league pact due to the fact that he’ll spend the 2018 season rehabbing from surgery. Therrien, 24, obliterated minor league opponents in the Phillies’ system this season, as evidenced by a 1.41 ERA, 10.2 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 57 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. In the Majors, he logged an 8.35 ERA on 24 hits and seven walks with just 10 strikeouts, though Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted that his velocity dropped sharply in the Majors, quite possibly due to the effects of his ailing elbow.” I would fully expect to see Therrien fully recovered by 2019 ST and competing for a high leverage relief slot.

  7. It’s funny how we continue to go back and forth on our desire to either acquire or not acquire Stanton . I’ve been as guilty as anyone in my inability to give the discussed transaction a thumbs up or a thumbs down. There are so many variables. Think what FAZ has to deal with on a daily basis. After browsing through Coletti’s new book, it really hits home what a stressful job being a GM is. 24/7.

  8. Bobby Wilson signed with the Twins – minor league free agent. Need new 3rd string catcher?

  9. When I read all the reasons against trading for Stanton, I agree.

    When I read all the reasons for trading for Stanton, I agree.

    Indecision may or may not be part of my problem.

  10. Dodgerrick said:

    Spare me any more Kazmirs, McCarthys, Andersons, Hills, Beachys or their ilk. PLEASE!

    I suspect FAZ would not do all of those same deals again. They probably learned something, but you have to add Wood and Morrow to that equation as well. If you do add them in, that’s a better success rate.

    Rich Hill finally figured out his blister issues and I think he will give us a couple more good years.

    Alex Wood was a great deal, as was Morrow and Rich Hill is still a very good #2 or #3. Anderson gave them one good year and McCarthy has been perpetually injured. Some of it is just plain bad luck, but it wasn’t the Kazmirs, McCarthys, Andersons, Hills or Beachys that cost the Dodgers the Series. It was pretty much on their two top starters.

    Overall, around baseball, many starters are notoriously up and down. Should they have signed Greinke? He has had 1 bad year and 1 good year – I guarantee he will have more bad years than good before the deal is over. Ditto with Cueto and Price. Before the 2017 season, the Mets had the best pitching in baseball on paper and they all or almost all were injured.

    Pitchers are bigger, stronger, faster and spin the ball in extreme fashion while contorting their arms like Cirque du Soleil. It appears to me that there will continue to be more arm injuries every year. Baseball is changing. Last year, Corey Kluber and Ervin Santana had 5 complete games each. 6 more pitchers had 2 CG and no one else had more than 1. Kluber and Santana of course pitch in the AL which allows pitchers to stay in the game longer.

    In 2016, the CG leader had 6. 20 years ago, the leader had 15, one had 11 and another had 10. over 50 other pitchers had more than 3. Carlos Perez led LA with 7. Where would he even slot in last years rotation? Times are changing… like it or not!

    FAZ inherited a pretty good team and a average farm system. They rebuilt the team in their image and made the farms system into a consistent TOP 10 one. The fact is, the Dodgers are the class of all of baseball. BA said so.

    FAZ isn’t perfect. They made mistakes and will make more. Baseball is changing and I still love it!

  11. Another article, this one by Heyman not sure who wrote the one YF cited, ponders if the Dodgers are still the favorite to land him:
    https://www.fanragsports.com/heyman-are-dodgers-favorites-to-land-giancarlo-stanton/
    `
    Here’s the gist:
    The Dodgers are said to be “playing it cool so far,” which might be a strategy, or might actually be a sign they see this as a long shot at best. People familiar with their situation still suggest such a mega-deal isn’t likely (though not necessarily impossible).
    `
    “It would take some creative financing to (land Stanton) and maneuver around the tax,” one person familiar with their situation said, stopping short of ruling it out.
    `
    Meanwhile, the Dodgers are expected to continue to play it cool – like they did with Yu Darvish, when they waited for the Rangers to come back to them.
    `
    Stanton isn’t saying anything publicly, understandably, but a friend of his now says, “I think he wants to be a Dodger.”

  12. One thing that trumps any card:

    Stanton can veto anything he wants.

    You can rest assured that FAZ and Stanton both know what each other plan to do through “back channels.”

    1. It’s illegal for a team to talk to a player who’s under contract without that player’s team’s permission. If the Dodgers and Stanton are really having back-channel communications, someone’s going to get into a lot of trouble.

  13. Stanton’s agent: “Are there any of my players you are interested in?”

    FAZ: “If the price were lower, we might jump in on Stanton.”

    Giancarlo’s friends have already said he wants to come to LA. Let’s say a friend of his knows Justin Turner and tells Turner he wants to come to LA. JT passes it on to FAZ. Stanton’s agent tells GS what FAZ said.

    That’s hardly illegal.

  14. Everybody is having fun talking about Stanton. I have said before and I will continue to say we do not need him. His contract is terrible. Pitching and defense is 75% of baseball. Offense is about 25%. I hope the money will be spent on one more starter and the bullpen. Toles and Verdugo will only add to our great defense in left field.

    When constructing a team you need your stars and you need your role players. We have our stars in Kershaw, Seager, JT, Jansen and Bellinger. I will take Barnes, Forsythe, Puig, Taylor and Verdugo/Toles as role players.

    1. I think the times are a changing. In the 2016 World Series, the Astros hit .230 and the Dodgers hit .205.

      The Dodgers ERA was 4.45 and the Astros was 4.64. The Dodgers actually had 9 more hits than the Astros. Even with all of Cody Bellingers strikeouts, the Astros struck out 65 times to the Dodgers 54 times. Both teams had the same number of walks. The biggest difference was HR – LA had 10 while the Astros had 15! Another big bat could never hurt!

      1. And Stanton was nominated for a GG. Whether in be LF or RF, he isn’t hurting the defense.

      2. We need a top pitcher far more then Stanton, because it is hard for any team, to have enough offense, to make up for three bad starts, in a seven game series, like the World Series is!

        And after those two bad starts, it is amazing we even made it to a game seven, and our offense was a big reason, that we made it that far.

        It wasn’t like the team didn’t score any runs, and didn’t come back and score more runs, after they were down, because they did that, in most of these games.

        It is way to hard for a team, to win a World Series, when there top two pitchers, can’t give the team, two good starts!

  15. If we didn’t have to pay both McCarthy and Kazmir, maybe the front office, would have got Verlander, instead of Darvish.

    That sure would have made a big difference, in the World Series!

    McCarthy was the losing pitcher, in game two.

    And McCarthy should have never been on the World Series roster, in the first place!

    He didn’t earn that place on the World Series roster!

    I don’t consider Hill as a bad signing, because he doesn’t have the same mind set, that McCarthy and Kazmir have.

    Because unlike McCarthy and Kazmir, Hill is a grinder!

    But I wasn’t sure at the beginning of last year, when Hill was still having problems, with blisters.

    But if you looked at both Kershaw’s and Hill’s era, in the last two post seasons, Hill has a better era then Kershaw does, so I give credit, when credit is due!

    And Hill should have not never been charged with a run, in game two of the World Series.

    Because Chase made an error on a ball hit right at him, that he should have fielded, and that error, cost Hill that run!

    1. If we didn’t have to pay both McCarthy and Kazmir, maybe the front office, would have got Verlander, instead of Darvish.

      Big Deal! That was $25 million. How about the $75 million to Arrr, Guerrero, Crawdad, Gonzo and Ethier that Colletti and Company left on the books?

    2. They weren’t taking on Verlander’s contract and giving up the quality of prospects that Houston gave up. Like you mentioned before, Verlander didn’t really start getting hot until the end of the season. Maybe, but I doubt they were going to give up $40 million and 3 quality prospects for a mid 30’s pitcher without or without those two on the roster.

  16. To me a trade that needs to happen is Yasmani to whomever. He will not be happy to be the second fiddle. I would approach the Mets about a Grandal/Lux for Harvey trade. I’d love for Honeycutt to try and fix Harvey and slide him in the rotation from 2-4 depending on how he’s doing.

    1. I think you greatly overestimate Grandal’s value.

      For the plus side, he’s a top WAR catcher, and a top framer.

      On the negative side, he has one ARB year left and then will cost a fortune. Not to mention his batting peripherals.

      1. Matt Harvey also has one year of arbitration remaining. He is a significant health risk (a FAZ specialty), but if he has recovered he could be the 2nd Ace the Dodgers might be looking for. I have zero problem moving Gavin Lux. I am still bitter that they passed on Bo Bichette to take Lux. I will not get over that. Errol Robinson/Jacob Amaya/Omar Estevez/ are all better SS/2B options for me.
        .
        I like the gamble of Matt Harvey. And I think Grandal would do wonders for that young Mets staff. Wellington Castillo agreed to a 2 year $15M contract with the ChiSox. Grandal will get more, but how much more? I think it could make sense for both teams.

    1. Fans are not saying the Dodgers are Stanton’s preferred destination, reporters are. It’s fair to debate the pros and cons of such a move. Ohtani may be a long shot but you have to at least kick the tires, IMO, same as Stanton. After those dominoes fall the team’s plans become more clear, whether signing Morrow or Watson, going after Minor or another bullpen arm, trading Grandal, Joc or Ryu, thinning out some prospects or even somehow dumping McCarthy, Kazmir or AGon. All have varying levels of probability but they are all possible so deserve some speculation. Most of these moves I would welcome as the goal is to improve for 2018, the luxury tax is really not our concern but the team’s as the organization tries to balance the short and long term goals.

      1. Kazmir would only go in a Stanton deal. Nobody else is going to eat that contract. A-Gon is not going to waive his no-trade. McCarthy will probably get moved.

  17. Here’s the long and short of it: If FAZ thinks they can address their needs, stay under the luxury tax and still get Stanton, he will be a Dodger.

    Why would he approve a trade to SF unless they up his pay? He’s not going to do that. So, if he turns down trades to SF, SL and Boston, they are forced to deal with the Dodgers.

    Why would FAZ show ANY interest right now?

    It would be stupid!

    1. Agreed, slow play favors the Dodgers which is why Miami is trying to speed things up. Teams will spend their money elsewhere if they can’t get Stanton. Unlike the Giants and others who HAVE to make a splash Faz does not have to, they can let the market come to them.

  18. Bluto,

    What makes you think that a player can’t be bought off to waive their no trade clause?

  19. Who can put together a better package for Ohtani than the Dodgers?

    Corporate sponsorships, public realations and visibility. Nothing better than the Dodgers, LA and Hollywood. The Dodgers can put together sponsorships no one else can touch, but even Babe Ruth didn’t pitch and hit the same season for long.

    I don’t believe anyone can touch the “package” the Dodgers can put together… which includes Winning!

    1. NY, Seattle, LA, Texas will be big players in my opinion. Also, the scout who almost had him signed with the Dodgers coming out of high school is with AZ. I’m sure Theo will try to flex their muscles with two spots open in the rotation. Considering he’s not a guy who loves the spotlight and money, just wants to play baseball, he may surprise everyone and go someplace unexpected.

  20. Interesting promotion. Brandon Gomes, another Tulane University Finance graduate.?!?!

      1. We’ll let the politicians continue their pillage of the world while we bean counters take over the world’s greatest sport.

  21. Well it looks like the Dodger’s 2017 3rd base coach will be back in the coach’s box for the Dodgers in 2018. Chris Woodward seems to have been eliminated from consideration for the NYY managerial job.

  22. As expected all arbitration eligible Dodgers were tendered or signed a new contract (Yimi Garcia). Now let’s see who is non-tendered from the other organizations.

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