Open thread #1

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Update:Kuroda resigns with Yankees.

Update: R.A. Dickey wins NL Cy Young Award, Kershaw finishes second, 113 points back.

Let’s start a new thread for personnel speculation and anything else which gets our attention.

From the comments in the last thread we learn that the Dodgers have spoken to Torii Hunter about a two-year deal, or so says Mark Saxon at ESPN LA, citing an unnamed source.

Well, maybe. I can’t see a need for him. The Dodgers have Ethier in right, Kemp in center, and Crawford in left, with Hairston and possibly Tony Gwynn as backups. Why would they need a relatively expensive 37-year old, even one who just had an excellent year?

Saxon also reports that the Dodgers have paid $25.7M for the right to offer a contract to a 25-year-old Korean pitcher named Ryu Hyun-jin.

Who? Well . . .

Ryu was 98-52 with a 2.80 career ERA during seven seasons in South Korea. He pitched for his country on teams that won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and reached the championship game of the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

The $25.7 million fee will be paid to the Eagles only if Ryu signs with the major league team.

The Dodgers have 30 days to get a deal done with the young man and his agent, who happens to be Scott Boras.

51 thoughts on “Open thread #1”

  1. This comment is new, not a reply to another, so it should appear at the top of the comment stream.

    Thanks for the good wishes, folks. I had an overnight stay after the surgery, but they let me out at 10:00am today. They seem to think it will be positive, but they won’t know till lab results are done. I have a follow-up appointment next Tuesday.

    Oh, my e-mail address? It’s down on the right sidebar in the next-to-the-last section.

  2. Old friend (or almost friend) Trayvon Robinson moved by Seattle to Baltimore for Robert Andino. Sure was a lot of outrage when the Dodgers moved him, but looks like perhaps the organization knew a little more than the fans. Then again, he is still young.

  3. Also, best wishes on your medical concerns. Didn’t know until I went to the other blog.

    Maybe by the time you see this the operation will be over and have been a resounding success. Certainly hope so! May you get only good news from here on!

  4. Link,

    EF comments don’t always seem to load most recent on top, as you’d (at least I’d) think.

    It’s no big deal. But sometimes new ones don’t appear until 3 or 4 down (like today), meaning some people may miss them if, like me, they think new ones will be up top and they’ve already read everything below.

    Feel free to delete if you want since this is kind of a housekeeping thing. Couldn’t find e-mail for you and didn’t want to post on an unrelated blog, so here ’tis. Fix?

    • I’m pretty sure that depends on whether it’s a new comment or a reply to an older one. This one, for example, will show up below your 3-hour-old one, even though it’s written at 1:45pm. Yours was written at or about 10:38am Hawai’i time.

  7. Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says ”

    The Dodgers are the favorite to sign Zack Greinke according to an insider. Both
    the Angels and Rangers are said to be “on the outside looking in.”

    Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#zDXgIyYy3dUGmX9c.99

    I don’t know how a east coast newspaper reporter has the inside for this info but I hope it’s true

  10. The Cy Youngs went to native Tennesseans from cities only about 30 miles apart–Nashville for Dickey, Murfreesboro for Price. Not surprisingly, this isn’t as big as deal locally as you’d think. If it had been a comparable football award, now that’d be different. Maybe even one in basketball. Baseball isn’t ignored in TN, but it’s certainly not #1, or even #2.

    Also, had to straighten out a local newspaper columnist yesterday. He did a column on Cy Young and credited him with the consecutive scoreless innings streak.

    I was quick to point out that the record in fact belongs to Hershiser, and he broke Drysdale’s mark, and both were Dodgers when the records were set. Did I do good, or what?

  13. Should the Dodgers trade Ramirez for San Diego’s Headley to give the Dodgers a third baseman that wants to play third? How about trading Gordon and let Cruz play short? Will Piug or Pederson make it to the Dodgers first?

    • We will have to see what they do, but if I had to guess now, I would say Puig, given his age and contract, would get the first look.

    • Its real hard to imagine such a trade. Headley may be on the block because he could price himself out of San Cally Ding Dong, but Ramirez hardly seems like a fit there for the same reason. Even if LA ate some of his salary, doesn’t seem like a move that SD would be interested in.

  14. When Ned said recently the team was a “touch” closer to acquiring a new starter, he may have had a certain Korean lefty in mind.

    $25 mil or so can reach out and do a lot of touching.

  15. I have to say that I find the whole Hot Stove considerably less interesting now that the Dodgers can basically have any player they want. I suppose there’s still some fun to be had in arguing about priorities (no thanks to Torii Hunter) but with no apparent budget constraint, the role of armchair GM is a whole lot less satisfying.

    Um, “all of the above” please.

    • Since the goal is to build the best team now as well as in the future and not to have the highest payroll, having money expands the hot stove possibilities not diminish it.

    • I mean think of the possibilities of outfielders getting rest and having no holes in the lineup because of it and Eithier sitting against lefties….It’s a win win situation…much better than Hairiston, Gywnn or any other AAA possibility

      • No his agent did and that info came out after I posted this…then after that they did talk again as per MLB trade rumors…always good to wait a couple of days before you post on a trade rumor ^_^