Asked about adding a big bat this winter, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti told reporters including Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times, "As of today, it looks less realistic." Colletti has no meetings scheduled with Prince Fielder's agent, Scott Boras. I wouldn't consider the Matt Kemp extension to be adding a big bat for 2012, since he was under team control regardless.
The Dodgers' 2012 payroll will come down from this year's $110MM mark, reports Hernandez. So far the Dodgers have committed $6.5MM in 2012 salaries to Juan Rivera and Mark Ellis, perhaps with another $1MM or so on the way for Matt Treanor. The Dodgers' new eight-year deal with Kemp could actually reduce their expected commitment to the center fielder for 2012. Colletti still hopes to add a backup infielder capable of playing shortstop. He's also looking for a starting pitcher, with Hiroki Kuroda currently undecided. Chris Capuano, Jeff Francis, and Aaron Harang are on Colletti's radar if Kuroda does not return, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.
Including Rivera, Ellis, Treanor, and the $11.5MM owed to Manny Ramirez and Andruw Jones next year, the Dodgers have $52.45MM in contractual commitments over seven roster spots. If we estimate $13MM for Kemp and $19MM combined for Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw, that's about $84MM over ten roster spots. Retaining James Loney would require another $6MM or so, pushing the Dodgers to $90MM. Kuroda or an equivalent veteran starter would likely eat up most of the remaining surplus.
SHOCKING
At least they locked up Juan Rivera and Mark Ellis before the purse strings snapped shut.
SCORE!
the way this offseason has gone with the contracts, i’d rather not sign prince or pujols anyways.
if ethier gets his power back and they re-sign Kuroda, the dodgers could still contend for the division
if you can’t develop talented offensive players, sacrifice large amounts of money to import them. if you can’t do either, sign mark ellis and matt treanor and hope for the best. solid plan, colletti. here’s to hoping uribe stops sucking and ethier regain his power stroke. 🙁 fielder makes all the sense in the world if the dodgers weren’t in such turmoil.
with kemp at the helm, if Loney, Sands, & Gordon can continue the success they had post all-star break and ethier can get his act together it’s not a terrible offensive core that was developed by the dodgers (yeah I know ethier came up through the A’s).
the dodgers finished up last year with a winning record, and IMO are seriously one big bat away from contending for the division.
You’re joking right?
no. lot’s of “ifs” in there, though.
Loney had been mediocre for 3 seasons prior to his 2nd half resurgence, and Sands had a whole 73 major league ABs in the 2nd half (and isn’t very highly regarded outside of the Dodgers organization, anyway). Pretty wishful thinking.
But while we’re dreaming, let’s hope the Dodgers can get the 2011 version of Matt Kemp, 2010 Juan Uribe, 2009 Andre Ethier, 2007 James Loney, 2006 Juan Rivera, and 2005 Mark Ellis… then they’d have a shot.
But I’ll pin my hopes on a 2013 with a new owner…
Only big bat likely to be signed by Dodgers:
I guess that’s another year of being a mediocre team. Fantastic.
Did you ever seriously believe that the Dodgers were contenders for Fielder or Pujols? It’s hard to be disappointed about something not happening when you never thought it would happen. Meanwhile, Kemp is locked up until the year 3,000 and McCourt is all but gone. Considering what we were looking at just a month ago, that’s real progress. Come on folks, we got a pony for Christmas — let’s not go looking for manure.
kind of, yes. i can’t think of a better fit for Fielder than the Dodgers. You know, if they had money to pay him.
Not sure why you think Fielder is such a great fit for LA, but even so, it he always seemed like a real long shot, and not just because of the money. If Fielder gets 5-6 years, as he probably will from somebody, a lot of us will feel like we dodged a bullet. I suspect that he won’t be productive offensively for that long, and defensively he’s a borderline nightmare already. This Dodger fan feels like he’s just been released from a Turkish prison. I’m not too worried about the view yet. For now, I’m just enjoying the daylight.
Why? Nobody remembers late August and September when things started to go their way. I think a 4 game sweep of the WS Champs on their own turf was mixed in there somewhere as well….
I dimly recall…
The ending sentence should have read, “DUUUHH.”
I was going to post “well Duh”…..lol
atleast they extended Kemp….although 8 yrs is too long IMO…but that is the going craziness
It is a long time for sure, but I don’t think the deal gets done with less than 8 years, and locking Kemp up was the top priority. Actually surprised they did it so quickly.
mccourt is somewhere laughing right now
Okay someone please explain to me why in the world the Dodgers still owe money to Manny Ramirez and Andruw Jones.
Because McCourt is broke.
The serious answer is that those two signed contracts with the team and when the team cut/traded them they have to pay the rest of the deal. I can’t remember if one of the two had some deferred money or not.
The sarcastic (although plausible) answer is, “Hey, its ole Uncle Neddie at it again.”
Manny signed a contract with them for 2009/2010, and was traded with barely a month left in the 2010 season to CWS. Andruw was signed for 2008/2009, and was released after the 2008 season. Could they really still owe them over $10 million?
Manny is owed $8+ in 2012 and $8+ in ’13
Andruw is owed $3.75m in ’12
I don’t blame Ned for those deferred contracts b/c he was acting under the direction of McCrook…funny that those are both borASS clients
I don’t totally blame Ned for those contracts, but I do wonder how much of it was McCourt going against Ned’s advice. It is one thing to have a Cashman/Soriano signing and another to have a Hendry/Soriano type signing, which is where I think Jones and Ramirez fall into. Ned wanted those players, even if it wasn’t for the price and time that McCourt did.
McCourt didn’t invent the idea of backloading contracts, and it’s arguable whether he even perfected it.
Basically they couldn’t afford their contracts, and wanted to get rid of their dead weight on the rosters, so they deferred their contract money over the course of the following years. Now, it almost makes you wish that they had just sucked it up, and bitten the bullet to begin with….instead of hamstringing our ability to land a big name free agent this winter like Fielder or Pujols.
I thought Treanor solved that problem?
Ethier to the Braves for … ?
Hanson!?
Totally sarcastic (just wanted to make sure everyone knew).
Potential good news: Lower payroll to open the season, but who knows what the new owner wants to do after they get on board. Could be spending a few bucks mid-season.
You are talking sense. How dare you.
I heard Manny wants to come out of retirement….