Happy Thanksgiving, Dodgers fans!

I hope you’re all enjoying your turkey/ham/prime rib dinner and giving appropriate thanks for the blessings of the year just past, not least of which was the sale of our favorite team to owners far more committed to winning championships than the previous group was.

Update: Here’s MSTI on the prospective TV deal Fox may be about to offer the Dodgers. Suffice to say (and you should read the whole thing) it could pay off the purchase price of the team several times over. Here’s Mike:

In six months, the Guggenheim group would have turned a $2.15 billion investment into a cash cow which pays three times that over the next twenty years – without selling a single ticket, parking spot, beer, or replica jersey.

That is startling, at least to me. We all knew the potential for that deal was big, given the size of the Southern California market and its value to a TV network, but still. “Between $6 billion and $7 billion over 25 years?” Wowsers.

Update: The Dodgers announced several front office personnel moves, mostly promotions from within. Here’s the paragraph that struck me, though:

Josh Bard, previously announced as a new special assistant for player development, joins Aaron Sele, Jose Vizcaino and Juan Castro in that role.

Do you supppose that position is now the entry-level front office position for newly-retired major leaguers who earned reputations as good guys during long careers?

65 thoughts on “Happy Thanksgiving, Dodgers fans!

  1. USA Today is reporting that Greinke “has signed a six-year, $147 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.”

    Six years is a long time. How long was the Kevin Brown deal, five years? Nonetheless, I’m happy to have him as long as he’s healthy.

  2. The Mariners want Hamilton but if they give him what it will take to get him will they have enough to sign Hernandez when he becomes a free agent after the 2013 season? Price is a free agent as well after 2013.

  3. Sabathia wanted to be a Dodger but the Dodgers were not going to be able to come within a third of what the Yankees were offering. Everybody wants pitching including the Yankees but could there be a trade that included Ethier for Sabathia?

  4. Pagan hits paydirt with his big finish for the Giants. This time Sabean outbids Ned?

    • I hope you are joking that Colletti was even in the bidding. Pagan certainly wouldn’t accept the role as a 4th outfielder.

  5. Here is some gossip I didn’t like hearing about the war for Grienke:

    Greinke’s wife Emily, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, could influence her
    husband to get back to Texas, hears Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Now I’m reminiscing about all the Amber Sabathia-related rumors from four years ago. Sherman hears the Greinke deal will get done at these Meetings or shortly thereafter Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#Umj2YJKi1EzVgE8V.99
    Also Choate is now a cardinal so we need another lefty reliever

    • Me too. I love the story of him taking the Cy Young this year, but I don’t think he’d be my choice to start the first game of a playoff series. Price and Grienke (and of course Kershaw) would.

  6. Loney signs a one year deal with the Rays. $2M plus $1M incentives. I wish my pay were cut to $2M.

  7. Instead of trying to sing Grienke, might the Dodgers try to trade for David Price?

    Gordon,Lee, Reed, …

  8. Should the Dodgers sign Grienke and Ryu I would be entertained with a blockbuster trade that involved Hendley (SD), Upton (AZ), Pedroia (B), Ethier (LA), Harrang and Capauno (LA), Gordon (LA), Ellis (LA), Others.

    Reunite Pedroia and Ethier in AZ; Upton to Boston; Hendley to LA; Capauno, and Gordon plus a player from Boston to San Diego.

  9. I am going to guess the Dodgers starting rotation in April will be kershaw, Billingsley, Ryu, Beckett, Capuano/Lilly unless they trade Harrang and or Capuano plus a another player for a pitcher that would be considered a 1.5. Or, they sign grienke for a maximum of 4 years.

    • And while I could live with that, are we sure Ryu is ML ready and Billz is going to be healthy enough? To me, there is definitely a concern that the rotation could be Kershaw, Beckett, Cappy, Lilly, and Harang as it was at the end of the year.

  10. I am guessing the Dodgers believe Grienke rotation spot would start at a 2 for 2013 and maybe 2014 and begin to drop each of the next years of his contract to where he would be a 4 for the last two years of his contract.

    I say that because they seem to want to explore a trade for a better pitcher maybe with a shorter contract before they go all out to sign grienke.

  11. Re Castro et al: Sitting on the bench watching others play over a long career gives them an advantage I guess.

  12. If Brian Wilson, the relief pitcher, signs with the Dodgers, how many of us become Giant fans? I know that I won’t, even if someone may have once referred to Wilson as the most annoying individual in the world.

  13. Bourn has become surplus to the Braves with their signing of BJ Upton to a five-year deal. But Bourn’s another lefty, hitting from the same side as Crawford and Ethier. And there’s no chance any of those three guys want to be a 4th outfielder, and at the wages they command they shouldn’t be a 4th outfielder.

    http://tinyurl.com/cy4xvtg

    • I hadn’t realized that Lilly ws so iffy for next season. if Lohse would command 4 years, 6 years of Grienke doesn’t seem so bad.

  14. If Ned’s determined to add another OF, he could do far worse than Michael Bourn.

    But Bourn’s unlikely to be a 4th OF, so some other move likely would have to be made.

    I’d think the talk about moving Ethier is due to his troubles v. LHP, but in this scenario he’d likely be the one. Not advocating that, but you never know…it’d also mean Kemp could go to RF (maybe under protest) and maybe prolong his career by crashing into a few less fences and stuff…

    Interesting that Bourn was on a LL team with Carl Crawford. Interesting also to wonder what the team will do if Crawford is not back up to speed or can’t get there. More interesting (and troubling) are the same questions applied to Kemp.

    http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121124&content_id=40409318&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

  15. KC is said to be willing to trade Wil Myers, OF ranked #3 in MLB top 100 prospects, for a top tier pitcher. If the Dodgers sign Grienke and Ryu would they trade Billingsley and Harang or Capauno plus or minus whatever makes the deal happen for Wil Myers? That would create a crowded outfield. It would push Crawford, Phug, Pederson, and Ethier with one or two of them maybe traded.

    Kasten has said he wants to build the Dodgers from its farm system so adding Myers to it would be a move in that direction.

    Interesting rotation:
    Kershaw, Greinke, Ryu, …..Capauno, Lilly, (4 lefties)

  16. I’d like to express my thanks for all the folks here and their valued opinions. For Jon for starting something special and for Linkmeister for keeping it going.