The Dodgers have narrowed their search for starting pitching, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times (on Twitter). Free agents Hiroki Kuroda, Aaron Harang, Chris Capuano and Jeff Francis top the Dodgers' list, according to DiGiovanna.
Jon Heyman of SI.com lists the same four pitchers as possible targets and says on Twitter that the Dodgers have less than $10MM to spend (MLB.com's Ken Gurnick listed the four possibilities yesterday). It's looking less likely that GM Ned Colletti will obtain a big bat from outside of the organization.
Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw won the 2011 NL Cy Young Award today.
It would be nice to have Kuroda back for 1 more yr but if we don’t sign we could get Harang since he wants to stay in the west coast.
Wow, big drop off after Kuroda. And not much money left for the rest of the team. The bullpen is unsettled. The rotation has little depth. And who can hit other than Kemp? My suggestion, trade Eithier while he still has value. He is not as good as his reputation suggests. He’d at least bring in a few prospects and you’d have some extra money. Also, nontender Loney and sign Kotchman- same kind of hitter, arguably 5 million dollars cheaper.
why bring in Kotchman when Loney is a better defender.especially the way he finished the season
I’m not sure Loney is a better defender. He finished the season well, but what happened the other months of the season? My point was more about freeing up money than saying there was a marked difference between Loney and Kotchman.
Loney is NOT a better defender. He’s just too heavy footed and slow!
You don’t watch the Dodgers too much, do you? Loney is a very good defender.
read a freaking stat line. you don’t how to read. Loney is similar to Gordon with the glove. easy plays get by him, but every once in a while he makes a fantastic play. overall he is just too darn slow. he absolutely can’t move to his right.
you are just reinforcing that you don’t watch the dodgers and especially Loney.
Trade a player coming off knee surgery. Brilliant. There’s a reason why you’re not a GM. Eithier is plenty good when healthy, but he hasn’t been for the last season and a half. Now if you go back to his performance before he broke his finger halfway through 2010…
Anyhow, I don’t buy the rumor that the team has only $10m left in their salary budget. If Kuroda can be lured back I’m sure they could come up with a few million more.
Go back to performance 2 years ago? I try to focus on more recent performance. I’m guessing your are not a GM either. In honesty, I didn’t think anyone was worried about the injury affecting him this year.
My overall point for for freeing up money. I will concede that his value is down after the last 2 years, but he’s not in the upper echelon of outfielders. Of any of the players the Dodgers have, the only one who has any value are the ones I wouldn’t trade (Kemp, Kershaw). Either is the closest thing they have that can bring back decent prospects.
It seems like an easy decision to trade Ethier, but not only is his trade value down because of a knee injury, but who would they get to replace him that can match his numbers? In the past two seasons, when healthy, he was a great clutch hitter and had a great hitting streak going. Now if he would just improve the attitude…
You ask the right questions. The only possible replacement coming down the pipeline is Sands. He may be the answer in RF one of these days, but not yet. So yes, you do go back to the first half of 2010 before Ethier broke his finger because at that time he was on a triple crown pace. That is, if you want to know what he is capable of doing when healthy. The funny/sad part of all this “trade Ethier” talk is that we were hearing exactly the same thing about Kemp in 2010.
Totally agree. Especially the last part. While 2010 was not a great year for Kemp it certainly wasn’t as bad as people think. Ethier was injured last year and now it is time to trade him? Yeah, he is going to make a lot of money, but he also is the only other legitimate run producer on the team with Kemp.
That being said if the haul is nice, move him. Excepting Kemp and Kershaw, I don’t see anyone who is “untouchable.”
Kemp’s 2010 was disappointing in more ways than one. Even a fan watching on TV could see the lack of focus undermining all that talent and we had to wonder if we weren’t looking at another Raul Mondesi situation. (To make the comparison even more complete, Kemp was also a total sucker for the low-and-away breaking ball!) Some fans turn disappointment into calls for a dump but this is exactly where fans have to have some faith in the judgement of managers and coaches. They know the man behind the stats and we really don’t. So what went for Kemp goes for Ethier.
Kotchman is cheaper because he is worse defensively and offensively. Not that Loney is by any means irreplaceable, but we don’t need to downgrade the offense or defense just to save a few million.
As for Ethier, his value is as low as it has ever been. No need to trade him now, especially since when healthy he is a pretty solid player. Plus who would replace him? Rivera? Sands? There just aren’t enough viable options that make the relatively small amount saved worth the downgrade.
You are right, they don’t have anyone who can replace Either. But there are many players on the market who are cheaper and I feel would provide as much production as Ethier would (we can agree to disagree on that point, if you’d like).
The problem with the Dodgers is they have 1 big dog on offense and keep giving multiyear contracts to the likes of Rivera, Ellis, Uribe. So now they can’t afford to go out and get another run producer. They have the makings of a good rotation (they lack depth and really need Kuroda to come back) and a developing bullpen (there will be plenty of cheap closer options if they decide to go that way). But their offense is putrid.
I still am not so sure they really can’t spend more than 10 million. While I agree that Uribe is a bad signing, Rivera is not going to hurt the franchise and Ellis has yet to be given a chance to earn his keep here. Additionally, he is an upgrade at second.
I would rather take my chances with Ethier getting back to form, then trade him mid season if the team is not in the hunt. Problem is, their last 2 months gave us hope. Hope despite, Ethier, Loney, Uribe, Garland, Kuo,Broxton, et. al. not producing or playing injured. Those are players at key positions that were largely non-existent for a majority of the season. 3 of them are not coming back and 3 need to bounce back or pick up where they left off.
I agree with you that Kuroda needs to come back and they need to grab another starter to provide depth, but I am not certain it needs to or has to come at the expense of what is already present.
by all means name a player that can put up ethier’s #’s at a lower cost that is easily available
being that their offense is so putrid they should probably hold off on executing your idea of trading away their second biggest offensive threat for prospects and at least give ethier the chance to re-establish his value since he played hurt all last year.
aren’t the mets one of the few teams with more problems than the dodgers?
maybe you should start figuring out what to do for their roster 🙂
Kotchman had a better year than Loney did last year. Kotchman is an elite defender. Kotchman’s best year is better than Loney’s best year. Kotchman gets a bad rep because of a few bad years in Aneheim and Seattle. Loney doesn’t do anything really bad or slump, but he’s also not very good at anything. Kotchman has a much higher upside, but lower downside as well. Loney is more consistent. For the most part, they are the same player. Except Kotchman will make less than 5 million this year. Loney may very well make more than 7 million. Advantage: Kotchman.
Kotchman’s best year certainly was not better than Loney’s best. And I do agree that Kotchman gets a bad rep, but I am not convinced he has a higher upside either. Loney’s 2007 season was a taste of what his upside is. Will he reach it? probably not, but Kotchman has barely approached that level, and remember Loney only played 96 games that year.
As for last year… it depends on which stats you look at to determine who was better. There is no clear cut winner. Not that I would be unhappy with Kotchman, but given that we know what Loney has done and can do there is no need to change him out for an unknown. Kotchman has had exactly 2 seasons of “Loneyesque” production. Loney has produced “Kotchmanesque” or better for 5 1/2 seasons.
The money is the only real difference and as I said, I am not sure about this 10 million dollar rumor.
if they are the same why not go with the cheaper option? and do you have a source for your doubts of the 10 million cash or is that just a personal thing? not to be rude or anything but you haven’t really provided stats or anything to support your argument that the dodgers should keep loney.
Oh I never thought I would be disappointed with Orel Hershiser’s sinker.
But seriously, I was not saying they are the same player. Loney has a higher upside and has been better almost every year (last year is probably to only year where Kotchman can claim superiority). And the money is the most notable distinction, I may not have been clear about this.
As for sources, no I do not have any source beyond my intuition and belief that if they want to bring Kuroda back they are going to have to have more than 10 million. I believe he got 12 mil last year and I doubt he will take less than 10 to sign this year.
As for the stats, just look them up on this site for yourself.
And finally, there is much ado about two replacement level first basemen. Clearly, the only solution to fix this problem is to sign Pujols.
because signing casey kotchman isn’t necessary when you have a decently talented prospect that has shown he can hit and play first base in jerry sands.
you are posing a false choice, dustin.
you may be correct that the dodgers need to non tender loney,
but your mistake is arguing that they should then go sign a marginal replacement instead who just costs less rather than being even more economical and using talent already on their active roster to replace him.
Jerry Sands>Kotchman
go solve some mets roster problems, god knows they are even worse off than the dodgers 🙂
I was unaware that Sands plays first. If that is the case, I still say dump Loney and reallocate his income elsewhere.
Wouldn’t worry *too* much about the bullpen. Jansen, Guerra, Lindblom and Elbert all established themselves towards the second half of the season, and Guerrier and Hawksworth are still around. In the minors St. Clair and Tolleson could both make a case for a bullpen spot. And we could see Kuo or even Belisario come back.
I agree they have arms with potential in the pen. I’d like at 1-2 guys who have a track record of success to allow the kids to grow into their roles. It is just hard to count on guys with less than a year of experience.
Sure. I wouldn’t mind another veteran reliever, either, especially if it keeps Troncoso off the roster.
But the bigger concern for me is the absolutely dismal infield offense…
Trade Ethier! The guys is 2-3 WAR player making 12-13 million. That is not valuable at all. The guy is expensive, unhealthy, and grumpy all the time. Get rid of him!
Maybe a 3 team deal where Ethier goes to Boston, Reddick goes from Boston to LA, Murphy goes from NY to LA, and Scutaro goes to NY.
I agree that he should be traded, but not right now. His value is too low. If the return is sufficient then go for it. While the deal you proposed has some appeal, why would the other teams even consider that move?
He’ll be a free agent after the season, so the Dodgers could at least start listening on him now. And if he has a strong start to the season, ask for more…
says the fan of the team that will only have david wright left on its roster
I agree. Lets say hypothetically (ie forget the money part), the Reds come and offer Alonso and a prospect for Ethier. Or the Braves offer Jurrgens and prospect. Would the Dodgers turn down a chance to pick up a prime young player so they could hold onto a guy 1 year away from free agency? And I might be wrong, but he hasn’t exactly indicated he wants to stay has he? Sure I’m thinking outside the box and evidently irrating several Dodger fans, but the Dodgers aren’t going to be able to compete this year if they are in such a money crunch. If that is the case, why don’t you look for the younger, cheaper players with upside.
You are not thinking outside the box… wanting to trade Ethier is not new, nor is it revolutionary. The issue is the timing and the state of the team. If those teams you mentioned offer what you just proposed, then there is absolutely no reason not to take that offer now. Jurrgens and Alonso would be definite upgrades. But I doubt anyone is coming close to making those types of offers. Not that the Dodgers shouldn’t listen, but trading him low is not going to help anything.
Replacing him with a cheaper upside player is not as easy as it looks. Sands is probably our most MLB ready outfielder and he is still an unknown. It is best to hope for a return to form for Ethier and trade him later.
Precisely, but it depends on a number of variables. If Ethier rebounds to earlier form and the Dodgers are not in contention in July then the move becomes somewhat inevitable. If he rebounds and the team is contending then they are going to keep him, whether or not they risk losing him to free agency. If he doesn’t rebound then the entire debate is moot; he gets at best a couple of marginal prospects as a rental trade.