114 thoughts on “Dodger blogger goes mad!”

  2. Dodgers were recognized by Baseball America as having the best overall talent in the minor leagues. Angels were last.

    • Interesting name on that list is Cliff Lee. Writer says his guess is, if Lee signs, he thinks he’s close to full strength. “Because veterans know a few things about avoiding embarrassment.”

      Scout’s take: “If his arm’s healthy, he’s always been able to pitch. Incentives only, and that’s it. ”

      He wouldn’t fit the MO of what the FO is trying to do, but at anything anywhere close to what he was he might be worth a one-year incentive contract. He’s old, injury-prone, yada yada.

      But if he could be near the real Cliff Lee for even part of a year….hmm….. And he has to know no one is going to guarantee him big bucks at this point.

    • I believe they made the right choice in holding on to most of their prospects at the trading deadline last August.

      • Some whiners would have chosen to gut the farm, which Keith Law ranks as baseball’s second best, for dubious upgrades through “impact players.”

      • The “plan” seems to be on track, but of course we won’t really know until the prospects start contributing in the Bigs. There are certainly some who would have sacrificed prospects to increase the possibility of winning our first crown in 27 years. The FO judged that rentals were not worth it to make the playoffs and the performance of Price and Cueto in the playoffs was certainly mixed. For Hamels, a longer term solution, the asking price of Amaro and the fillies was prohibitive (reportedly at least two of our top three prospects) and they ended up with 3 top 100 prospects from the Rangers.

  5. Jon piece on Zack Lee reveals the kind of thing fans can’t know but which can play a big part in fan judgment about a player–especially when Lee had only one 2015 MLB start, a woofer of one.

    “But at the time, it wasn’t revealed that Lee had thrown a bullpen session the day before the start because of the uncertainty over when and where he would pitch next. Maybe that’s why he struggled through a four-run first inning.”

    IMO, if the Dodgers saw him as a future part of the rotation, they’d have made more use of him last year in the dumpster fires at No. 4 and 5 spots. He projects as a backend starter since he has no dominant pitch. He has a lot of company at that level.

    They need to trade him. Not clear why they haven’t, since he’s slipped to No. 8 or so in the pecking order.

    http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/164194806/dodgers-zach-lee-still-mulling-football-switch

    If link no good–quite likely these days, evidently–it’s Jon @ dodgers.com.

    • Watched him play for years in DC. Pretty sure that he is young enough to bounce back a bit. For the right team and a deflated price he could be a steal.

    • Assuming that is aimed at me. You are wrong, as usual. I am not infatuated with Desmond at all. I just think he could be a more useful player than some we already have and he may be available for a lot less money than he hoped for.
      1. We really don’t have a replacement for Seager at shortstop. Perhaps Kiki can manage a game or two but he is more useful as a short time replacement at his other positions.
      2. Turner should be the starter at third but if he has health problems, I think switching Seager to third and using Desmond at short would give us a much stronger team than using Utley. As a matter of fact, if Desmond is signed, Utley could and should be traded.
      3. There is speculation that Seager will have to switch to third in the not too distant future anyway.
      4. I trust Desmond’s career stats more than those of last season alone.

      • I don’t undervalue Ian, but I don’t think that there is a strong case for the Dodgers to sign him. Kike can obviously spell Seager at SS more than a game or two. He played SS 17 times last season and doing so, say, 25 times in 2016 does not seem like a stretch, particularly as he won’t have to worry about playing too much at 2nd. Justin’s “health” problems seem like unwarranted speculation and not likely to have a need beyond replacing him a couple times a week like last year. Seager in 27 games last year showed that playing SS at the Major level was well within his capabilities. Indeed, more than often he flashed some leather. He is only 22, so referring to the “not to distant future” is a real stretch.

          • Any team that picks him up will apply a discount to his contract to cover the expected value of a draft pick (thought to be $5-15 million depending on where they might come in the first round). For higher level guys and the teams picking them up this is chump change, but for guys like Ian (and Howie) this is real money.

    • Fellow tries to cover a lot of ground in this article. As regards Howie, for me the issue is that they needed another infielder in any event and this is a heck of a way to do it.

  18. The 1988 Dodgers roster was literally bursting with impact players, including Gilberto Reyes, Dave Anderson, Alfredo Griffin, Tracy Woodson, Mike Davis, Mickey Hatcher and Danny Heep. No wonder they rolled over Canseco, McGwire and Co. in five.

  19. If you are keeping score, that is 2 team friendly contracts counting Maeda’s, this winter.

    • Deferred is fine. That’s why Bobby Bonilla is still getting checks from the Mets at age 52. But no interest? That’s horrible financial management on Kendrick and his agent’s part.

      • I have always thought that deferred made a lot more sense than getting taxed so heavily, then having the rest of your life with little or no income. (Unless the player made good investments.)

      • Interest rates are such now that there may have been other considerations. One might have been not wanting to go under the symbolic $10 million annual mark, i.e., they may have paid him more than otherwise for accepting the deferred payments. On the team side the deferred money may cost them even less if they are able to get under the luxury tax in at least one year over the next four.

    • The system really works against players like Howie. In particular since he was looking for an extended contract at the end of his career and didn’t want the QO. The expected value of draft picks in the first round is said to be in the $5-15 million range.

    • Would think that “like” and “love” need to be reversed in that tweet. Can’t see the Dodgers downgrading their offense for salary relief or prospects at this point, even with his ability to veto a trade coming in a few months. Third party would likely need to be involved, but still.

      • I can do a three-way. Utley to Arizona and Ethier to Chisox, prospects to LA. Meanwhile we sign Ian Desmond and Dexter Fowler. Money wise it about evens out and we have better and better fitting players.

        • Nice big thoughts, but don’t believe that relegating Justin to the bench would make us better. We already took a bunch of Chisox prospects and not sure that Arizona has any.

          • That is true enough but I honestly don’t think Justin is going to keep on producing like that too much longer. Why can’t I learn to keep my big mouth shut? Now I have to throw the problem in FO’s office again and I know you don’t like that…

          • With almost as many PA now as a Dodger compared to his 4 years with the Mets, even if he regresses to the mean, that mean is a lot better now.

        • Utley fills a niche on the Dodgers, but it would be hard to find that elsewhere. Giving up high draft choices to sign Desmond and/or Fowler (a true mediocrity) would be utterly nuts, especially since the Dodgers already have better players.