Post-Christmas stocking-stuffers

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Speculation remains the currency of choice among the beat reporters, it seems.

Dodgers meet with Maeda, says MLB.

The Dodgers met with Japanese free-agent pitcher Kenta Maeda on Thursday, according to several Japanese media outlets.

[snip]

The Dodgers are believed to prefer a trade for Miami ace Jose Fernandez or Tampa Bay fourth starter Jake Odorizzi, but don’t want to deal such top prospects as Corey Seager or Julio Urias to do it.

They also reportedly have some interest in Scott Kazmir, one of the few remaining free agents who could crack their rotation.

316 thoughts on “Post-Christmas stocking-stuffers”

  3. Where can I buy a book on the Sabremetrics analytical methodology as it pertains to baseball?
    …
    I ask out of curiosity…..
    I also ask out of the desire to be more informed as to the Sabre-based postings I see from other bloggers here…. and, quite frankly….. I feel left-out… 🙁 …….. 🙂
    …
    The only STAT I’ve been going with has been…..
    ” Dodgers WS Championships since 1988 ” = 0 … zero….nada…zippo….zilch….aught…donut…..
    goose egg….nil….. et.al.”
    …
    PS – As I was typing my list of synonyms for zero, I remembered “donut” from Michael Keaton in the movie, “Gung Ho”….. pretty classic. Have a great day you guys…..

    • The place to begin is probably the glossaries of Baseball Reference or Fangraph sites. if you want more on what’s behind them, then “Hidden Baseball” a 25 year old book is said to be good. An interesting book at this point is also “The Sabremetric Revolution: Assessing the growth of Analytics in Baseball”, which provides a perspective on its impact in baseball over the past 25 years, including a critique (both in general and more specifically to “Money Ball” and the notion that sabremetrics accounted for the success of the A’s in those years) and future areas requiring attention. Also very interesting in terms of both assessing players and applying analytics to strategy and tactics is Tom Tango’s “The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball”. The new area for numbers in baseball is Big Data. This will only grow with the fitting out of all major league stadiums last year with monitoring equipment. It’s not just for TV graphics showing the trajectory and speed of the ball and players, but provides millions of data points that can be analyzed. This summer I read a very interesting book on the use of Big Data by the Pirates in rebuilding their team called “Big Data Baseball”.

      • Thanks a million, Bob.
        Great resources…. Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me….
        Good thing it’s only January…and, I’ve got a few months left til Spring Training…
        🙂

  4. I’m making too big a footprint here… I’ll go sit in the corner for a few days…

  5. Package has highlighted the desire to increase run scoring and noted how the Dodgers were in the middle of the pack in this area last year. The Dodgers actually led the NL based on the the OPS+ measure at 105 versus the league average of 94. The question to my mind is why this did not translate into more runs.

    It’s complicated. I think that I would discount somewhat randomness or luck (in this case bad luck) based to two numbers. First, OPS was basically the same overall and with RISP, though on average other teams in the league did a little bit better in this area with the Dodgers at 98 on a scale of 100. Secondly, overall BABIP (batting average balls in play) was league average. Moving on, the Dodger performance shows that a walk is not always as good as a hit, so whereas we had the league’s best OBP at .336 (overall and with RISP) we were 2nd in walks and 13th in hits. While we didn’t K that much (5th best), we were only around average in terms of productive outs. In areas such as bare runners scoring and GIDP we were also league average. So, basically our performance in OPS+ was undermined in terms of scoring runs because we were only average, or worse, in a number of areas that contribute to run scoring.

    • Yet you claim we don’t need more/better hitting. You are very fluent with sabir numbers and what they mean, but Package, myself, and probably a lot of other fans only care how they translate into runs on the scoreboard, in short, we care about results, not explanations of why we should have won but didn’t. Sabir was invented by agents for .240 hitters trying to convince GMs that their clients were as valuable as .300 hitters…

      • Never made such a claim. We can always use more hitting. The issue was where that might come from and at what cost. I suggested bounce backs from SVS and Puig and having Seager in the everyday line up. And you wanted Cespedes.

      • Sabremetrics was invented by a fellow with an intellectual curiosity in fitting a production function to the wide array of stats available in baseball and used by GMs to look for the better value for money in improving their teams.

  6. Besides having players on the Farm that can move up to the Show or be included in a trade, there is a need to create a winning and competitive environment for prospects as they move up in the system. Ideally, players will win together and move up together.

      • Should the Dodgers want to go with a platoon of Ethier and SVS in RF, there is a chance a Wood and Puig could get Harvey. That would give the Mets the outfielder they need and within their budget. Verdugo might be ready by the time Ethier’s contract ends and could then step into RF withoug being blocked by Puig.

        • I don’t see the Dodgers sacrificing offense for more pitching at this point, particularly in losing a RH bat. What would LF look like under this scenario?

          • I mostly agree. FAZ will be hesitant to lose Puig”s bat and defense. LF would be another platoon with Crawford and maybe Thompson/Herrera. That would give them 3 platoons with Utley and Hernandez at second.

            Harvey should get about $6.3M in his 1st year arbitration.

          • This entire thread is why I come here. I learn so much from everyone’s comments and musings. Thanks, Bumsrap and Co.!

        • First one of your proposed trades I’ve liked. In reference to some of the comments below, I don’t think FO falls in love with any player, he views them as interchangeable parts. (Not knocking him, just saying that’s how I think he thinks…) We now have a surplus of “low grade pitching” he could trade for any necessary position pieces or even sign Gordon, Cespedes, Upton or whatever is needed. What is our payroll today? Another $20MM won’t kill us…

          • Come on Audit, there has to be one other you’ve liked. Three years I offered Puig for Fernandez. More recently, I suggested various odds and ends for Chapman.

    • Points to FO for this creative deal. If he doesn’t pitch well, he’s not likely to earn any incentives. If he pitches well enough to earn $10MM-$12MM a year incentives every year, (that’s Anderson money), he’s a bargain. Take that, Dave Stewart!

    • Package is going to love this article. Read the comments, a lot of people don’t think much of the writer…

    • The lure of the siren’s song. Tie me to the mast! Don’t think that this “fabulous” was ever really feasible, so a bit of a straw man here. Competing with other teams looking for their ace when you are trying to have three is tough. No telling what sort of sweeteners would have been required to get them to play second and third fiddle.

  11. Package, it’s pretty obvious 2 or 3 people here have built up a serious prejudice to you. Maybe you like it that way but I wonder if you’ve ever considered starting your own blog. I have. I don’t think it’s terribly expensive and the technology is little more complicated than we use in posting here. I’ll be glad to look into for you if you like, help you in any way I can. Might even end up doing it myself…

  12. HAPPY NEW YEARS’ DAY !!!! – I hope you all enjoy it to the fullest.
    …..
    Just a quick note here as I was thinking about this yesterday ………
    .
    Personally, I enjoy all the interaction with you guys / gal 🙂 all year / season long. Sometimes I contribute more than others…. However, I check in and read frequently…..
    .
    Some people take a more “glass half full” approach to their commentary while others take more of a “glass half empty” type of approach. However, I do my best to not call others out on a personal basis…. as I try to keep it about “Our Dodgers” ……. (rather than picking at how somebody else expresses their fanship) … Bottom line is that we all have something special and unique in common as baseball fans, let alone Dodger fans, who frequent such a nice forum as EF. I may ‘rant’ at times…. I may joke at others (more wine = more joking) …. However, I look forward to sharing some time with you all here in 2016. Have a wonderful day, all. 🙂

    • “On the Rant” – I believe pro sports are a “product of entertainment.” God knows the organizations, players, and networks make a ton of money off of us fans (win or lose) year in and year out. They come out and make well publicized overtures at press conferences about how their ‘stated’ goal is to be successful by ” W..I..N..N..I..N..G….. Championships” – ( 100’s of millions in recent decades = ZERO WS Championships)
      (At my age now, I’ve figured out long ago that winning comes secondary to being a financially successful franchise… It’s a nice by-product when it happens, but it is more some of us fans who hold it so near and dear….. even more than many of the players)
      —So, when they fall short of their STATED goal of ultimate victory, why can’t we be critical? How did they originally get dubbed , “The Bums?” …. After all, we’re critical about our doctors, our hair stylist, our car salesman, our cell phone company, et. al.
      The Dodgers are another ‘product’ (one we love) so, most people only take the time to criticize because they … actually…. care. — Think about that one…. please. 🙂

        • Ignoring the fact that, one way or another, Package is responsible for at least 25% of your volume. I don’t always agree with him either but I have accepted the pointlessness of trying to reason with him. After all, it’s just his opinion versus mine, and the world doesn’t really care who’s right…

          • I’m not in it for the volume. The goal when I set this up was to provide an alternative place for refugees from Jon’s site when he went to work for the Dodgers and closed it down.

            I want it to be a pleasant place for people to comment on the team, the games and whatever else. When one guy so aggravates others that it seems like one-third of the commentary is an ongoing argument to show him he’s either wrong or wasting his time complaining and he’s unwilling to either be persuaded or stop shouting that he’s right and we’re wrong, what would you have me do?

          • You have the right to kick him or anyone else off the blog for whatever reason you choose. If you do, you have one bland blog. It barely has a heartbeat now. You lose Package, you lose all the comments in rebuttal from WBBsAs and Bob Henley. What is left?

          • I don’t want to kick anyone off. I just want everyone to avoid provoking each other whether with opinions it’s known that no one else shares and in fact thinks are flat wrong or with responses to those opinions that are just outright insults.

            I feel like freakin’ Rodney King during the riots after the verdict was announced. “Can’t we all just get along?”

    • Looks like I posted this same tweet above. Should have checked first, didn’t mean to do that. My apologies.

  18. Might as well P. O. everyone else here… I advocate trading Agon for a pitcher and signing Chris Davis. Let the applause begin…

      • Not really fair to Jon. This point of view has been consistently his since long before he wrote for Dodger Insider. It’s why I’m such a Weisman fan.

        • Absolutely. Jon is an optimist, but he’s also a “live in the moment” type. The only time gloom is acceptable is in the immediate aftermath of a defeat.

      • Granted, he was a Dodger Fan before going to work for them. But, as an employee now, whatever he says now MUST be taken as club propaganda, not his honest opinion, although he may well agree with it.

        • Neither Stan Kasten, nor any other Dodger executive, had anything to do with that piece, and in my entire time with the Dodgers I have never written an opinion that I don’t believe.

          For the life of me, I’m not even sure what the “propaganda” in this post could be? I’m saying that a) they had a plan, which I back up objectively, b) I take pleasure in small victories even if I want bigger ones, and c) I like the sound of cheering. Yeah, I’m really in someone’s pocket.

          • Hey Jon…. Happy New Year to you and your family.
            🙂
            ….
            PS – I wish the same to all of my other friends here at EF !

    • Happy New Year, friends! I loved Jon’s post. I also love the relative uncertainty ahead: all those untraded assets waiting in the wings, just waiting for their moment to prove they were worth the wait. I love the fact that Kik’e is coming back, and Corey, and Joc and even Yasiel. I’d rather see what we can do with what we have, now, than throw the up and coming guys into a trade for a superstar. And while I’m sad about Zack, I honestly think he deserves to be another team’s number one, and I get why he moved on. I’m on the other side of sixty, but I am happy to wait and see where the Dodger boat takes us this year. And I am really happy to have Dave Roberts steering.

  20. So…. Let’s take a look so far…
    …. 1B – Gonzalez , 2B – Utley? , SS – Saeger , 3B – Turner , LF – Crawford , CF – Peterson , RF – Puig …. ( also… Ethier , the utility guy they brought back last week , et. al. )
    ….
    Kershaw , Ryu ( not optimistic ) , Kazmir , McCarthy , Anderson …. Pen not improved…Jansen.
    ….
    Hmmmmmm. – Cespedes does not fix this….. I can’t see any available FA’s fixing this….
    -The prospects they picked up in the recent deals ? – Perhaps…..
    -Just because one of them can throw 100mph doesn’t make him a good pitcher.
    -Chapman (questionable character) was had by the Yanks for what I heard was quite a bargain just days after the Dodgers were in the running…..
    -Yes, there’s a hefty portion of the off season yet to go, but.(not really impressed at this point)
    – And, despite how much I like the guy, I don’t think Dave Roberts is going to make a difference
    if the (never play small ball) Friedman / Farhan duo is pulling the strings like they did with Donny, he’ll have no respect from his players….

    • To me, their only hope…. as presently configured…. is to go with the strategy ‘ Circa 2003/2004 ‘ – When Roberts was a player with the Dodgers……..
      ….
      1. Take quality AB’s – make starting P’s throw as many pitches as they can early in the game in an effort to get to the other team’s pen.
      2. Play ‘ small ball ‘ hoping to get 2 or 3 runs up on the board early …
      3. Hope the pitching is solid and most games are low-scoring and close…
      …..
      Problem – No Beltre, No Roberts, No Gagne, No LoDuca (first half of season), No Tom Martin, No Brazoban, No Green, No Lima – Gosh, I loved that guy on the club. Loved seeing him actively involved in the game, cheering, high-5-ing guys on his off-days.
      That was truly a year when other teams had far superior rosters, but our Dodgers played with smarts and heart. Fun times …..
      …..
      Also – Problem – There’s nothing “Smart” about Puig’s game…..
      Enough skepticism from me….. Let’s wait and see how the rest of the off season goes ! 🙂

    • Mattingly played nothing but small ball – bunted all the time, to the detriment of the team.

    • No, Dodgers need to sign Cespedes. Even if your pitcher holds the other team to three runs, your hitters still need to plate four runs to win the game. With the possible exception of Seager, I fully expect regression from every other current player on the team. Dave Roberts has his hands full…

      • My guess is that our two RH outfielders, SVS and Puig, improve and it’s Cespedes that regresses.

          • Even counting last year’s up for Cespedes and the down for SVS and Puig, he holds a career OPS+ of 122 compared to Puig’s 141 and SVS 118. Cespedes is going to break someone’s heart (and for 5-6 years at what $25 million per), I’d rather not it be the Dodgers’.

          • Your scepticism is not unwarranted. I pretty much harbor those thoughts about any over-priced free agent. I am just so desperate, our pitching has deteriorated and I am hoping to prop it up by improving last year’s offense which I apparently rate a lot lower than you do. I don’t have your blind faith in numbers, I remember losing a lot of well-pitched games and let downs by all the position players, even the two you seem to like so well.

          • Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have his bat as well, I just don’t think the gains on the margin would be all that much over what we have in hand and it would be costly.

          • We can only have eight position players on the field. Cespedes hit OPS+ 137 last year. Dre hit 148 against righties and SVS hit 121 against lefties. Where is the big gain that one might want from a 5-6 year commitment in the $20-25 million range?

          • Eight position players, only three outfielders. You want to platoon Dre so him and SVS are only one, plenty of room left for Cespedes.

          • No, he doesn’t. Céspedes is an above-average hitter but poor outfielder, and is aging. Puig is young and talented, with a ceiling far above Céspedes.

    • If they get another SP (righthanded I assume), they could move Wood to the pen, where his motion might fool guys for an inning or two and he might regain his velocity.

  25. Dodger resident pitching sages weigh in on Twitter…

    Brett Anderson
    @BrettAnderson35

    Hey @ClaytonKersh22 the entire rotation is going to use your glove as a sign of solidarity.

    ==========================================
    Brandon McCarthy
    ✔
    @BMcCarthy32
    .@Dodgers This is blatant handism and I’m filing a hostile workplace grievance

      • More from @BMcC32 in responses:

        Ed Carter
        ‏@BMcCarthy32 @Dodgers @billplunkettocr Bro, why don’t you focus on actually adding value to that big contact of yours.

        Brandon McCarthy
        ‏@BMcCarthy32
        @truebluebyu hey Ed, go bite a wall

        Morgan Osder
        ‏@morgan_osder
        @BMcCarthy32 @VinceSamperio @Dodgers you gonna play this year? Or just sit out and enjoy that 12M and tweet nonsense from the bench

        Brandon McCarthy
        ‏@BMcCarthy32
        morgan_osder @VinceSamperio hi Morgan, sorry to see that you’re an adult who doesn’t understand how injuries and healing work

  27. Dodger Digest wonders if Wood could now be traded to the Yankees for Miller and maybe another trade for a starter…

  28. I’m wildly unenthusiastic about Kazmir, but he’s good enough to serve as a bridge to prospects like Urias and De León, who need more time in the minors.

      • Three years, $16MM per, opt out after one, FO must be extremely desperate. Comes from not signing better pitcher earlier in off-season. He gets an “F” for this offseason for sure.

        • The opt-out could well work to the Dodgers’ advantage, since the young pitchers should be ready by then.

          • Trouble with opt-outs is they only use them to their (players) advantage. If he stinks, he won’t opt-out; If he does well, he opts-out and demands more money to resign. Pretty obvious FO’s present position is over a barrel…

          • Agreed, if he pitches well for us, he’ll probably opt out, which serves the same purpose for us as signing a one year contract. Now all he has to do is….pitch well for us….

          • We were expecting Zack AND another pitcher; we got Utley and now Kazmir. If they had an election now, Ned might beat him. Isn’t that hard to believe???

    • Have you come across any articles wondering if Miller is crushed and questioning the morality of Cashman?

      • No baseball player who has made it to free agency has any time to question any other person’s morality, he should be busy enough worrying about his own. And I know you won’t understand or agree with that and that’s OK, I have to live with myself…

        • Cashman is the Yanks FO. In the wake of the blotched attempt by the Dodgers to get Chapman there was talk about Friedman having a penchant at TB for bringing in morally suspect players because he could get them cheap and that he was besmirching the organization by continuing to do that with the Dodgers.

    • Ok…. Ok… Ok….
      …
      Scott Kasmir is to me…. kind of a ” Kenny Rogers – Redux ”
      The guy’s been on 5 or 6 different clubs….. With nobody really wanting to invest in him
      long term….. I’m giving the notion a big… ” No-way, Jose ” 🙂
      …
      I’d rather see the ‘All Scrub Farmnands” roster in 2016…. than to see management try to ‘polish this turd’ by throwing a Scott Kasmir in our face as ‘Window Dressing’….
      …
      My Raiders – 2015 Charles Woodson Swan Song – Very unsuccessful season….
      My Lakers – 2015-2016 Kobe Swan Song – Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
      My Dodgers – 2016 Vin Scully Swan Song – October prospects not looking good…….

      • 1-yr., low base, highly-incentive-laden deal ………or, no deal.
        ….
        1. I want an inferno lit under this guy’s behind from day one…..
        ….
        2. “Well then, sir…. you won’t be getting Mr. Kazmir at this price !” …
        ( Ok. Best of Luck, Scott ! – See ya. ) 🙂

        • At least one national writer had suggested that a one year contract would put Kazmir in a very good position to clean up next year with a bigger longer term contract (given the expected FA market). Should be incentive enough.

      • Not understanding the Kenny Rogers comparison ( not similar pitchers, even Kazmir redux. At age 31, Kenny still had another 12 years in his 20 year career ahead of him) and, in any event, don’t think that the Dodgers want to invest in him long term.

        • Just that this guy seems to be moving around quite a bit….
          ….
          Sure, that means somebody wants him… But, it also means somebody’s quite fine with giving him up….. The pure volume / frequency of movement by this guy makes me question the merits of having him on a club.

          • The trade market doesn’t revolve around teams trading bad players for other bad players. He played for TB and OAK, who trade players at the drop of a hat, in any event.

      • As Oaklander, I will only say “Take our Raiders…please.” We’ve had enough of the Davis Crime Family.

        • Hey…. Davis was certainly no Saint, but look further than the LA politicians / Coliseum Commission and their broken promises to Al, followed by their Alinsky-like portrayal of him to the locals…. and, it’s easy to see Al and the Raiders as the source of the problem. Me? – I never bought in to that notion. 🙂

  33. Quiet, little action off-seasons will be the norm if FO is successful in installing “his system” on the Dodgers. No free agent signings, no trades bringing name brand players (impact players as Package says) to the Dodgers. Our players will have arrived from our farm system, with a boost from other clubs best prospects traded to us for our best players who have reached Free Agency or perhaps even just Arbitration. We grow them, let them ripen, then sell them for seed, so to speak. Dodger fans may be an Endangered Species…

    • The first part of that approach is one most teams strive for, right? “Grow your own, they’re cheaper.” Our famous infield was all homegrown (okay, pre-FA days, agreed), Koufax was a bonus baby, Drysdale was homegrown, etc. We used to almost routinely have the Rookie of the Year or a top contender for the award.

      I don’t think these guys want to grow them, play them for six years and then trade them, not if they’re really good players.

      • Going with the 6 years you mention, it becomes a question of paying the player maybe 25X salary in Free Agency for too many years versus getting maybe 80% of his production with a younger player making 1X salary on a one year contract. I know which one I’d take. I’m not complaining about FO’s M.O., just commenting on it.

  34. LA Times gossip:

    In November, a jury awarded $7.13 million to former LA Times columnist T. J. Simers, who alleged that the paper unfairly forced him out in 2013 after he suffered a mini-stroke. The Times plans to appeal the decision.

        • FYI, I think Disqus automatically formats tweets when you plug in their URLs. You highlight the date and time of the desired tweet, copy it, then paste it in the comment box here.

        • When MLBTR or some other site mentions a tweet, they usually make the word”tweet” a hyperlink and make it red or blue, a different color than the regular text. If you left click on that word, tweet, it will open up a new page or tab with the tweet displayed. If you want to post the tweet here, you need only right click on the Address Bar, select “copy” on the drop down menu, go to the site where you want to post it. When your cursor is where you want the tweet, right click and then select “paste”. Takes two seconds to do it and twenty minutes to try to explain how. Hope this helps.

        • With this FO, you have to wonder if Chapman was party of another deal that may no longer be there and they really weren’t looking for another closer.

    • From their players, the Yanquis demand character (which they define as the absence of facial hair).

    • Justin Upton was never on my short list for the Dodgers to sign but Vin likes him, that’s something… What if FO talked the Padres into resigning Upton for one year, the QO basically, and then traded him to the Dodgers for, you guessed it, Crawford, $$$, and some low level prospect. (Don’t hit me! Yours is the first post of the day and I have some whacko ideas to get rid of…)

      • CC must sleep with one eye open knowing that you are working overtime to come up with ideas to get him traded (though he should feel happy given that your first instinct is to DFA him). Justin should be able to get at least $20 million somewhere, I would think, so doesn’t have to settle for QO $16 million. Vin likes him, but always chided him for catching the ball with one hand after one flub when he was with the Snakes. Vin is kinda traditional in that way.

        • Yes, I thought they would likely have to pay him more than $16MM but since the Dodgers would actually be paying it, that shouldn’t bother them.

        • I suspect Carl knows very well that he’s overpaid for his performance, so it’s not just Audit whose machinations he’s keeping an eye on. 😉

          • It’s sort of the way of baseball. CC was seriously underpaid ages 21 through 28 and taken as a whole his career can still be considered a bargain (WAR 39.9 for $107 million), it’s just that the Dodgers are left holding the bag. If you take WAR being worth $7 million on the market, he was actually fairly close to earning his keep in 2014 being paid $8.8 million per in only 105 games.

          • If God himself told me Crawford was worth one plugged nickel, I’d lose all faith in humanity and join WBBsAs in… whatever he is in.

          • Crawford is a fine example of the free agent market system. I comment on what I think FO is doing, but I am not in disagreement with it. I would love to be in the position where all 25 players on our roster are home grown, playing well, and making really reasonable salaries. Financially, baseball has become a farce.

          • Sounds ideal if you were the owner. I suppose it could happen, but hard to imagine cost deflation on the fan side.

    • Given the legacy of the McCourt regime and its holdovers, the current regime looks better every day.

    • We cut the cable a couple years ago, now use a digital antenna to watch local programming and AppleTV to watch Netflix, MLBTV and some other streaming stuff.

      • Roku is similar to Apple TV. Time Warner cable and MLB-TV are supposed to be possibilities. I assume you can’t actually watch the Dodgers on it? The only TV I watch is old movies and rerun Western Series like Laramie, Wagon Train, etc. Think I’d be satisfied with it?

        • I can watch the Dodgers, except when they’re playing the Gnats or the Atléticos, or they’re on ESPN. There are ways around that, but I don’t bother during the regular season.

  41. Kinda troubling……. a few things I’ve heard / read in the last few days……
    …
    1. Donny Ballgame: A replay of an interview with Dan Patrick (prior to his signing with Marlins) had him hailing the aspects of ‘teaching the game’ and having to ‘develop’ home grown talent in Miami vs. when he was with the Yanks & Dodgers. “I love the art of teaching this game,” he said.
    2. Walker Bueler – 2015 #1 Draft Pick – to undergo Tommy John Surgery ????
    Yes – It could be said by some that the arm is stronger after TJ surgery, but still……
    3. Kyle Funkhouser – 2015 1st Rnd. Compensatory Pick – Returning to Univ of Louisville…
    …
    So…. perhaps it’s just me reading into this, but….
    Isn’t the basic jist / undercurrent of the Dodgers new Friedman/Farhan Front Office “Said / Unsaid Mission Statement” – Moving Forward………
    1. Improvement in the area of financial responsibility….
    2. Developing the organization at all levels / tiers of development… (especially the minors)

    • My points are these………..
      …
      1. Seems Donny would fit quite well with what the team appears to be looking to do….
      *** While they may be cordial, he must have really thought two things ……..
      1. He pretty much had the Miami gig sewn up and in his back pocket….
      2. Freidman / Farhan – are two young, overly-controlling, baseball-clueless idiots.

      2. Nice Job with your first ‘real’ draft……fellas! You cannot have a 1st rounder go back to college…….. Somebody has to be more ‘in tune’ with the kid than to waste a #35 overall pick.

    • Funkhouser, as of August 12, 2015:

      Funkhouser moved all of his chips onto the Kyle Funkhouser square,
      saying that he can pitch better and earn a more lucrative signing bonus
      in the 2016 MLB Free Agent Draft.

      There you go. In April of this year his Ks went down, his hits per inning rose, and his ERA went up more than a run per game. His value dropped accordingly.

      Buehler, in August of 2015:

      As expected, Dodgers 2015 first-round draft pick Walker Buehler will have Tommy John surgery on Wednesday in Los Angeles, pushing back his professional debut until
      some time in 2017.

      Plus this:

      https://twitter.com/billplunkettocr/status/628692715295760384

  42. From Dodger Digest: ” At this point, it’s no longer what you wanted the offseason to be when it began. It’s what you can do to make the best of what’s left.”

    • Right now our rotation is Kershaw, Anderson, & Wood. We could have two anythings in our rotation. Don’t even think about injuries…

    • The current thinking seems to be that Urias and JDL would remain on the farm, but Zach Lee might have a shot as a fifth starter.

  45. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/67297/path-to-the-playoffs-nl-west-2 As things now stand, Shoenfield at ESPN, based on Fangraph WAR projections has the NL West race at Dodgers 95-67 (92-70 in 2015), giants 87-75 (84-78) and Snakes 79-83 (79-83). On the batting side projections have Grandal and AGon slightly down, Justin and Dre significantly down, Joc slightly up and Puig and Seager significantly up. On the pitching side they have Clayton going from 8.6 to 7.8, Anderson 1.7 to 2.7, Wood 2.6 (both teams) to 1.9, Ballslinger 1.2 to 1.3 Ryu going from zero to 2.4 and McCarthy from -0.3 to 1.

    • As usual you are optimistic about next year and I am pessimistic, so no point in debating it. Read somewhere that he Dodgers are skeptical about Maeda’s small hands, small size overall, and that he’s used to pitching only every sixth day. So they will look at him to please their fans but not sign him. Odorizzi is probably a better choice but I hope they don’t give up too much for him. Glad I’m not in FO’s shoes…