Why do I dislike it so much? Well, the dearth of baseball news except for the period of the winter meetings and the flurry of movement during free agent signings. Then usually after the holidays start, things are really slow as most of the big-time stars have found new homes.
There will be the occasional pre-spring training trade, or as is usual all years, a lot of minor league deals for depth in the team’s system. This year it has been exceptionally quiet in Dodger land leaving us fans wondering if Freidman is still alive and kicking. The Bauer fiasco gave us a burst of energy in both directions. Negative for some, positive for others. But the fact still remains that most fans on this blog and many others do not consider the Dodgers as having improved the team all that much after so many key players have left.
Most think they know what is best. All of this of course based on no actual data. One thing is for sure, it will be very interesting to see how the new rules, and the new players, fit into the picture. JD Martinez as the full time DH is an upgrade. You look at the overall production that the Dodgers got from the DH spot in the order, and it does not come close to what he did in Boston. The primary DH was JT. He played 4 more games at third than he did at DH. He hit 13 homers overall and drove in 81 runs. Martinez was the DH in all 139 games in which he appeared. He had 16 homers and 62 RBIs with a mediocre offense in Boston. He will more than adequately replace Turner. And he brings a solid veteran leadership into the clubhouse.
Lux takes over at short barring a trade or a late signing of a veteran SS. Now the Dodgers can also look at slick fielding Jacob Amaya and see if he can hit enough to keep Lux at 2nd. If not, Muncy and Busch will duke it out for second base, and Vargas will be the primary third baseman replacing Muncy who got the most starts at the position. Freeman is a lock at first and could get an occasional day off with Muncy available to spell him. But I would think Freeman plays in almost every game. That is just the way Freddie is wired.
If the Dodgers decide on a left field platoon, they have several to choose from. Same thing with center. Outman is penciled in as the starter. Taylor and Thompson, share left, and of course Mookie is in right. Again, barring a late free agent signing, those will be the primary four outfielders on the roster. You have Heyward, Zimmer and Duggar in on minor league contracts. At this point, the only infield sub is also an outfielder, Taylor. I do not expect Yonny Hernandez to even make it through spring training.
Another thing that is going to affect signings is the 10 players they have eligible for salary arbitration. The Dodgers have been very good over the last several years at signing arbitration eligible players without having to go to a hearing. Last two Dodgers to have a hearing, Pedro Baez and Joc Pederson. Pedro won his, and Joc lost. Four of those players are Super-Twos. Gonsolin, Buehler, who they are going to pay not to play, Urias and Even Phillips. Urias will most likely get a big bump in salary. He made 8 million last season. I look for him to get upwards of 12 this year. They can exchange numbers beginning the 13th of January. The other players eligible for arbitration, Ferguson, Almonte, Smith, May, Thompson and Graterol.
I guess I will always dislike the offseason. The main reason being I really miss baseball, and favorites always leave. Some via free agency, and some via trades.
Plus the days are shorter and the nights longer along with my wife’s honey do lists.
It is such a blessing to be single! LOL.
I like it because you can say stuff and then see if your predictions are right. So if my predictions are wrong. Vargas Outman and Busch are all going to shine this year and hit over 250 with each having around 20 homers. You will have a outfield set of Outman in LF Busch in CF Betts in RF. A infield of Vargas 3b Adames at SS because Friedman trades Lux to the Brewers the Muncy at 2b and Freeman 1b and Smith at Catcher. Your DH JD Martinez has a big year and Heyward is a nice pinch hitter of the bench and gives outfielders a day off when you can have him play some days. That’s what the off season is all about hoping for this to happen and if it doesn’t then we have a bad year. A good manager I would say the Dodgers could get and would really piss off the Giants and Padres. That would be Matt Williams. One he has been a manager and two he has managed with Bob Melvin who end up in playoffs every team he has managed. So Matt has learned how to manage a clubhouse. Plus a guy won’t get out of line with that guy as manager.
I’ve not taken my edible yet. I’ll re read this later this evening
I don’t think anyone thinks Busch will play CF.
Just saying you need a position for Busch. And center field is open. And Left field. And if they can hit better then Taylor and Thompson. Then they will be the every day starters in the outfield. But wait it’s the LA Dodgers. We never have the same guys play the field for a whole week. In the same positions. No we move guys around and never know where they will be playing. We go by what the computer says. And how that guy has hit certain pitchers. That’s baseball now.
Gee Bradley, I have no idea who you are but I’m pretty familiar with the usual cast of characters here, and I don’t recognize you. I pay less attention this time of year.
Anyway, I like your point. I’ve bitched for years about too much platooning and trial and error position changes. I’m a ,set line-up guy , with a couple of utility guys rotating in for days off. I hate coming to the ballpark and not not knowing if you’re going to play but also WHERE?
Doc and the Wizard Behind the Curtain were much better last year not over-managing because of the DH. But they love moving guys around; because they can.
I’m fearing the buffet at 2nd base coming up, that typically lasts too long in to the season.
They just traded for Miguel Rojas to play SS. That moves Lux to second.
Dodgers on the verge of trading Jacob Amaya to Miami for Miguel Rojas.
Don’t know much about Amaya – younger version of Rojas. Assuming would be acquired strictly for glove as O #s not very good.
Rojas is a better hitter than you might think. He had a down year last season, but he hit .304 in 2020 and has had 3 seasons where he hit above .280. He is a great defensive player. Kind of a Dodger hero. He saved Kersh’s no-hitter on a hot shot to third base.
Thanks !
I LIKE THAT!
I like Amaya a lot. My son got to know him and his family. I’d hate to see him go. But Miguel is a proven commodity. AND, he saved Kersh’s no no with that crazy play at third.
Wow! Ok. I guess it’s a reunion with Kershaw. I think Rojas would be the only guy on the team who was around when Kershaw threw his no hitter. I think Rojas was playing third that game.
I think that might be one reason the Dodgers would be interested in him – he can play 3rd and SS. Other than that, he’s kind of the same player that Amaya is. He’s a glove first right handed batter who will have a wRC+ of around 90 (100 is average). Maybe the Dodgers are in a bit of a pinch and feel they need to get that guy now rather than wait for Amaya.
Rojas makes $5m. This blows through the luxury tax limit. There must be another move coming. I smell a salary dump of some kind.
Saw a rumor that the Twins contacted the Dodgers about Bauer.
Rojas able to play better than average defense at SS/2nd/3rd makes CT3 expendable. He’s out!
Actually I doubt it.
I hate it. Now delete it.
…
Actually, it’s a pretty fantastic essay. It’s a long one – I’m about halfway done – will finish when I have a little more time this evening.
It’s a little meandering, but I think that’s simply because the author is struggling to make sense of inherent contradictions, which we should struggle with – because they’re inherent contradictions. The universe is full of them.
A lot of great points/themes in his essay, but just to touch on one them: intellectual diversity. There will always be tension between learning intended to maintain stability – to teach in order to reinforce an established order; and diversity of thought, true creativity, and intellectual curiosity – which is often is disruptive. Intellectually repressive societies, without a safety valve for accommodating creativity or addressing its contradictions, becomes unstable as a result. Excessively permissive societies become unstable because their is no undergirding intellectual framework or shared cultural beliefs. It devolves into chaos. People become less free, more trapped, more miserable as result.
I recall an aphorism from William Blackstone. I forget it now and don’t know where to find it. His premise was that the law, and a strict adherence to the law and it’s tradition of jurisprudence, were essential for human liberty. This is true.
Was reading Roger Scruton yesterday. He made a similar point when writing about Burke’s and Adam Smith’s arguments about the concept of liberty which, to them, was more than simply the belief in total individualism, that every person is sovereign. There are also the collective beliefs and traditions, which then manifest to individual freedoms … but also individual obligations. Individualism without the passed down collective wisdom of tradition and a culture’s history, leads inevitably to the excesses of the Reign of Terror, where beheadings were made in the name of liberty.
Yes Bear please delete.
I quite liked it, but wasn’t sure how to get it onto your radar. Sorry to everyone else.
Well, my thoughts are they don’t trust unshifted Muncy play @ 2B much more than Lux play @ SS and Vargas @ 3B.
So Rojas will play SS, Lux 2B, Muncy 3B and Vargas LF.
I hate to say it. (No I don’t) but I told you Lux was not a SS. CT3 will soon be traded.
Gotta happen, right?
lol – Of course, that’s how you read this.
Either that or there’s a taker for Bauer. Somebody has to go, and I doubt AF would have made the trade for Rojas without something else lined up to get under the cap.
Wow, what a bummer for Amaya. I hate this move. I thought Jacob Amaya was Miguel Rojas, worst case scenario. This is the move that puts them over the cap? So much for dipping that toe under he?
I like Rojas, but not at the cost of Amaya.
Dodgers line-up last time Rojas was in it:
(the team has come quite a ways)
Barney 2B
Puig CF
Gonzalez 1B
Kemp RF
Crawford LF
Ellis C
Rojas 3B
Arruebarrena SS
Greinke P
wow, haven’t heard some of those names in a while!!
I don’t even remember Barney.
Arruebarrena another solid defensive SS can’t miss prospect. How much did the Dodgers pay that guy? Looked it up…25 million with a 7.5 million signing bonus.
Bauer might have been a terrible investment by Friedman, but remember he’s still responsible for the Cubans.
He did get rid of that whole International scouting and signing staff after that slew of overpriced Cubans.
Darwin Barney. Started his career with the Cubs. Spent 22 games with the Dodgers in 2014 and hit .302 with a homer and 7 RBI’s Dodgers traded him to Toronto the next season. He was a utility infielder, played 3rd 2nd and SS.
I can’t see the $5mil 34 yr old being a straight up trade for Amaya ( who they thought WAS Rojas) , there’s gotta be more to it.
Nope, that is the deal and the Dodgers are paying his entire salary.
Dustin Nosler’s solution to stay under the threshold is kinda fun:
Proposal
To MIA: OF Bryan Reynolds, RHP Blake Treinen, RHP Landon Knack, C Samuel Escudero, Competitive Balance Round B draft pick
To PIT: 2B Michael Busch, RHP Max Meyer, RHP Gavin Stone
To LA: LHP Trevor Rogers, Competitive Balance Round A draft pick
They won’t trade Stone. Not a chance.
Here was/is the thinking:
Busch, Stone, Knack and Treinen may look like a high price to pay for a pitcher who had a 5.47 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 107 innings in 2022, but the Dodgers wouldn’t be looking to get the ’22 version of Rogers. They’d be hoping for the 2021 version — a Top 15 pitcher in baseball (minimum 130 innings), according to FanGraphs’ WAR. They’d also get the 35th pick in the draft. Last year, that pick carried a slot value of $2,203,200, which will be slightly higher in 2023 and would add to the Dodgers’ bonus pool. If they landed this selection, they’d have back-to-back picks at 35 and 36. For a draftniks like me and Josh, this is our dream. But, back to Rogers. His Statcast numbers for 2022 weren’t pretty, But his 2021 Statcast numbers were borderline dominant…
And if you’re worried about giving up Stone to get Rogers, well, Rogers is one year older than Stone and was an All-Star at 24, while Stone is still waiting to make his MLB debut. Plus, the Dodgers still have Bobby Miller and Ryan Pepiot in the fold, with guys like Nick Frasso, Nick Nastrini, Ronan Kopp and Emmet Sheehan still on the farm. Also, acquiring a 25-year-old starter with four years of team control remaining and his profile isn’t cheap.
Won’t happen. Nosler is out of his mind. He does this every year and not one of his so called trades has ever come to fruition.
Very, very true
“But hey, if they can rid themselves of a whack job like BlaQe, then maybe it is worth it.”
Have I mentioned that Nosler is just not a good human being?
I do not think Blake is a whack job. He is a very intense competitor though. Nosler is the whack job.
They traded Blake Treinen the Dodgers did and only got Trevor Rogers. Wasn’t Blake going to be the setup guy for Phillips. That’s good they got a veteran Shortstop feel better now. Now if Lux goes to second and Muncy to 3b. Does that mean Vargas is an outfielder now?
Treinen has not been traded. He is going to be on the IL all year. Right now the set up guys will be Hudson, Miller and Graterol.
The Rojas trade should put an end to the Lux at SS experiment. Miguel has developed into a decent SS. Definitely not Seager or Turner, but he can make a play and not be a complete liability with the bat. I like the move.
Defensively it is a great move. He has a decent bat, but little power.
Rojas acquisition not signing
Fixed it for you. One reason Rojas had a down season offensively is because he had an injured wrist that was bothering him a lot. He had surgery to remove cartilage in the wrist after the season.
The best you can say about his offense is that he doesn’t strike out much.
By going over the cap on this deal, it makes me think they might have a trade lined up for Bauer. Since CT3 will be spending a lot of time in the Outfield, Rojas because a utility guy, and a possible platoon partner with Lux. Lux isn’t an experiment, he’s the primary Shortstop.
“The club is expected to give Gavin Lux a chance to move from second to short and become the club’s long-term solution there, but having Rojas on hand gives them a veteran fallback plan who can also potentially impart his veteran wisdom to the younger player.”
Rojas can play 2nd, 3rd and SS. The kind of versatile player AF loves. I just watched a video of that great play he made at third during Kersh’s no no. Awesome. He wore #72 in his first stint with the Dodgers. He wore 11 in Miami.
That was 9 years ago, pretty sure he doesn’t make that play today.
Boston was looking for a SS also. Trevor Story, who was set to take over for Bogaerts, is injured and might miss the entire year. I think they have the solution right there on the team. Kike is a defensive whiz, he can play SS with the best of them. Craig Stammen signs a minor league deal with the Padres. Hanser Alberto signs a minor league deal with the White Sox.