Open Thread #4, Winter 2015

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Now that the Red Sox have gone berserk with their money and given 30-year-old David Price a contract worth $217 million over the next seven years, how much will the Dodgers have to bid to retain Zack Greinke’s services? He might get the same annual compensation as Price but for a shorter time period, since Zack is 2 years older.

141 thoughts on “Open Thread #4, Winter 2015”

  2. My guess is Dodgers signing Utley took them completely out of Zobrist or any other infielder. But, it is FO….

  3. Dodger Digest alludes to the possibility that Jensen may have some issues with sharing time with Chapman. I agree, I’ve said here before that I think Jensen is a head case. My hope is that the Dodgers move Jensen, now or in July, and keep Chapman. I guess smart money is try to work out extensions with both players and keep the best deal.

  4. So – still need (want) a #2 starting pitcher, an outfielder, and possible a platooning second baseman if Peraza is traded. Then we should be looking fairly solid.

  6. Some how, some way, FO is going to move an outfielder and sign Cespedes. Take it to the bank.

  7. And it’s not yet noon of the opening day of the meetings!!!! We could have the roster turned over by Wednesday…

        • Hope Zach Lee is included. All signs point to his never playing much of a role for the Dodgers. Take more than him, obviously.

        • From Dodger Digest: The entire deal is not yet known, but it’d make sense for the Reds to be interested in a guy closer to the majors if Holmes is the centerpiece. I’m talking about guys like Peraza, Austin Barnes, Jharel Cotton, Scott Schebler and Zach Lee. Any combination of Holmes and one of the guys named in the previous sentence would seem like a fair trade (except maybe Lee). Chris Anderson might also fit, but he struggled in Double-A last season. That’s my own speculation. It’s also the fact I don’t want to see a guy like Cody Bellinger or Alex Verdugo sent as part of the deal.

      • Dodger Digest thinks 3 years, $42M but cautions deal apparently not yet completed. Oh, and that costs a First Round Draft Pick, too.

  15. ESPN’s Mark Saxon thinks the Chapman signing, if it happens, might be for the season, not just to flip him. He also reports they’ve signed 34-year-old starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma, who’s been good when healthy.

    Saxon prognosticates some more in that column and the ones directly below, so scroll down.

  20. If Zack had re-signed with the Dodgers, no matter how much money he was paid, he would still have been our second best pitcher. Clayton is first in our hearts, money has nothing to do with it. I wonder if he chose to move on not so much for the money as for the position, being the team’s best pitcher.

  21. Call it sour grapes if you like, but in years to come I see both Zack and the Snakes regretting that deal. I am always sceptical of pitchers, they can go from good to bad at the drop of a hat. I keep my fingers crossed for our own but there’s always a small sigh of relief when they move on. Pessimism is a great philosophy to live by….

    • They break the pitchers down into several lists. The ones available in trade are in two lists; Pitchers who would cost Puig, and pitchers who won’t cost Puig. I’m reading Molly Knight’s book, The Best Team Money Can Buy. It has convinced me Puig is more trouble than he’s worth; as his skill increases so will his bad attitude… So I say, if we can trade him for a good pitcher, Full Steam Ahead!

  26. From the ESPN post foul tip posted directly below:

    They reportedly offered him a five-year contract that would have paid
    him $155 million. That’s a 21-percent raise off his previous salary and
    would have been paying him at least $31 million at the age of 37. Only two major-league pitchers who were 37 or older, John Lackey and R.A. Dickey, pitched at least 200 innings and had an ERA under 4.00 last season.</blockquote.

    • Just as I said, just a little short on price, and a year short on length…the FO can tell us it was in the hunt, it was out of their hands. Never really seriously went out to get him

  28. In my opinion….the Dodgers were never serious players for Zack. They said all the right things, they will continue to do so. But they never had any intention of paying the price for him. I am sure they put in a bid, but I am guessing the bid was just low enough that they knew he would never accept it, that there would be someone higher.

    • I would guess that they were willing to pay him above what he might have been worth to the team, but hard to compete with another team looking for a splash and an ace.

      • Money should not be an issue for us, but apparently, it is. When you are talking billions, what’s another couple of millions.

  29. I’m disappointed we didn’t sign Zack but I’m not a bridge-jumper. WBBsAs’s assessment below of all the teams who owned Zack and didn’t get to the World Series stops short of blaming him and well it should. I’m sure he did his utmost on all occasions but the proper conclusion is that it takes a well-constructed team and some good luck to get there. Zack can/could help but he’s not the complete answer. I think his loss is a wake-up call to FO that he needs to address all the problems on the Dodgers, not just pitching. Our biggest problem last season was scoring runs. There have been no rumors about fixes on that problem but I’m sure it will be addressed very soon. Interesting times.

  30. Ya know what? The Royals failed to hang on to Zanky, won the Series this year, and should have won the year before. Zanky also failed to get the Cerveceros and the Angles to the Series.

  31. Shaikin:

    the Dodgers offered close to $160 million over five years, a contract
    that would have carried the highest average annual value in baseball
    history and carried Greinke through age 36. They refused to guarantee a
    sixth year, as the Diamondbacks did.The Dodgers ultimately were outbid by about $50 million

    • Great for Zach, but would have been crazy for the Dodgers to pay him as if he would replicate his 2015 season over the next six years. Back to the drawing board. Cueto has more leverage now.

  33. I gotta believe the FO was just as stunned by this as we are. They thought they were competing with the Giants, and suddenly here come the D-Backs with a couple of hundred million bucks, about $30M more than the Dodgers wanted to spend for that sixth year.

  36. OK, Puig to Miami for Fernandez, sign Heyward, sign or trade for a $15M to $20M pitcher, we’re probably a better team overall…

    • Miami? as in Mattingly’s Miami? $15 to $20MM for a pitcher? Aside from those two things, I like your ideas…not sure the FO would though.

    • Ok, I’m panicking… The Dodgers really need to sign two big pitchers this off-season. And they better improve the team or watch Clayton opt out and leave when the opportunity arises.

        • For a pitcher that nobody wants. The Dodgers don’t want those two, they could easily bring up or sign a better player than Crawford for a whole lot less money. The Padres don’t want Shields and nobody else will pay what he’s owed. The Padres do want a shortstop. The money pretty much cancels out. Both teams could get a player they could use and lose a player they don’t want.

    • Sounds like a plan. Another good starter sounds like something that they might do at the deadline if Ryu doesn’t pan out. I can see them at least initially going with what they had last year with Anderson, Wood, Ballslinger and Frias taking up the 3-6 slots.

      • If I’m Hernandez I’m thinking about asking for a chance to play one position regularly somewhere, with the Dodgers or not. You make a lot more money and play a lot more as a regular than you do as a utility guy, and I wouldn’t want to be pegged solely as a utility player at my age.

  43. FWIW:

    “Although Greinke seemed to enjoy his time with the Dodgers, it was known that he was annoyed with the club’s tolerance of Yasiel Puig’s antics. And when asked his opinion of the club’s Trade Deadline deals, he had no comment.”

    http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/158687540/zack-greinke-may-choose-dodgers-or-giants

    Also, in a bid to get Zack back, on social media Larry King has offered him free babysitting.

    I’m trying to decide if King’s offer is more inducement to sign with the Dodgers…or Gnats.

  45. Could this be the Dodgers new 2B option?
    Second Baseman Jose Miguel Fernandez Leaves Cuba, Seeks MLB Deal

    • Hasn’t played in over a year. Not likely to get through the paperwork to be signed in at least six months. Below average fielder, below average speed, below average power, average contact. Everything that comes out of Cuba is not great. He will be signed by someone, maybe we hear of him again in 3 or 4 years, maybe not…