The latest on the Dodgers…
- Dodgers GM Ned Colletti told MLB.com's Ken Gurnick he's looking for a position player upgrade. The potential acquisition would be payroll neutral and has been a starter at his position. Gurnick guesses Colletti is targeting an outfielder or first baseman and would be willing to trade James Loney.
- Colletti apparently met Tuesday night with agents at Hendricks Sports, which represents free agent reliever Mike MacDougal as well as Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers appear interested in bringing MacDougal back, while Colletti isn't sure of Kershaw's interest level in an extension.
- Dodgers assistant GM Logan White interviewed for the Astros GM position, reported MLB.com's Brian McTaggart yesterday in case you missed it.
- The Dodgers and MLB filed a settlement in bankruptcy court yesterday, reported Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times. Owner Frank McCourt must divest himself of the Dodgers and their stadium by April 30th, and initial bids for the team are due January 13th. MLB will have to approve an initial small group of bidders. McCourt has the option of keeping the parking lots around the stadium. As part of the settlement, MLB agreed to remain neutral in the dispute between the Dodgers and FOX. The Dodgers want to market their television rights as part of the sale, and FOX objects based on its current contract.
goredsgo
now macdougal? havent they gotten enough old crap already this offseason
John 87
2.05 era isn’t crappy
brocnessmonster
McDougal is crappy.
dodgerskingsfan
he was good last year for us. and you can’t spell his name right. it’s macdougal.
brocnessmonster
I can, I just didn’t. Thanks. By the way, no he wasn’t good. Look at inherited runners, or simply his WHIP. ERA is not a sufficient way to gauge relief pitcher’s value.
thegrayrace
His ERA does not factor in the ridiculous amount of inherited runners he allowed to score. Ugh.
He had a 1.456 WHIP and 4.6 BB/9. His ERA is a mirage.
Patrick Bryden
James Loney for Eric Thames? HMMMMm..
monkeydung
so they’re going to basically end up with a veteran version of Loney, who happens to be right handed?
why not give Jerry Sands some starts at 1B and see where we are in June?
Also – any other Dodgers fans hoping that the Marlins go ahead and sign Pujols? that way when they are broke and have a fire sale in August, it will be just in time for the new Dodgers owner to take over.
dodgers33dodgers
lol that could be nice…i was thinking maybe they sign Pujols and trade the Dodgers trade for Gabby Sanchez!
thegrayrace
I’m hoping the Marlins sign Pujols so we can trade for Gaby Sanchez for 1B.
Ned’s blocked Eovaldi and Webster by signing Capuano and Harang. Might as well trade them for a bat.
johnw
“McCourt has the option of keeping the parking lots around the stadium.” Why, so he can jack the parking rates even higher?
monkeydung
i don’t know if he would change the parking rates, he would probably rent the space out to the dodgers at an exorbitantly high rate.
ieblue
As low as McCourt is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him out there actually jacking cars
Rickey O'Sunnyvale
Carlos Lee and cash for Loney and prospect?
oscargamble
Stop drinking in the morning, it clouds your judgement.
vtadave
Did we just time travel back to 2004 here?
whatever
judging by this offseason, Ned is living in the past.. so maybe?
Gumby65
As long as the Astros eat Carlos’ remaining knees in the deal.
oscargamble
I would prefer that that headline read “Dodgers Seek GM”
Shu13
Keep in mind this ISN’T Ned’s doing….he has MAJOR financial limitations….they are trying to keep the team payroll at $90m (for active players) b/c raising the payroll will cut into McCourts potential “profit” when he sells….
vtadave
It isn’t “Ned’s doing” that he’s signed a steaming pile of garbage this offseason?
BlueSkyLA
Adding $10m to payroll wouldn’t measurably impact the team’s resale value. It’s because he doesn’t have the money.
oscargamble
This IS Ned’s doing. He has been unable to develop talent since he started in LA or try to formulate any kind of creative deals with any upside. Instead, Ned just shrugs his shoulders, guesses what Brian Sabean would do in that situation, and then collect more cast-offs and placeholders. Plenty of teams make do with far less than $90M. Last year, the Rangers were at $92M, the Braves at $87M, Brewers at $85M. The Cardinals were only at $105M. Maybe Jason Schmidt will be ready by Spring Training.
oscargamble
Loney, Ellis, Gordon, and Uribe is by far the worst infield in baseball. Why fill the numerous holes with over the hill veterans, Ned?
Dodgersarelife
Look at the astros, giants aren’t much better, padres, d-backs as well
BlueSkyLA
No kidding. Seems the Giants won the World Series in 2010 with the “worst infield in baseball.”
vtadave
Yeah I think you just listed the other top four worst infields that, combined with the Dodgers’, comprise MLB’s worst five.
BlueSkyLA
One of the worst in baseball? How so?
Loney: .288/.346/.432/.778
Ellis: .266/.331/.397/.728
Gordon: .304/.325/.362/.686
Uribe: .253/.298/.423/.721
Dr. Gonzo
Zero power. Zero on base skills. Defensively they are solid, but offensively, they are a black hole.
oscargamble
Agreed Gonzo. Shows you how great a season Kemp had last year with such a horrendous lineup around him.
Yes, the Astros and Padres have comparably bad infields but I don’t want to be lumped in with either of those teams in anything. Comprise a projected lineup and tell me you feel good about their chances to actually score any runs. At least the rotation will eat innings – maybe Ned will sign Livan too.
BlueSkyLA
I don’t read any of that into the career stats lines, but okay. Of course you are probably expecting everyone to either regress or duplicate their worst seasons. By that logic Gordon definitely doesn’t bat .300 or project to steal 50 bases in a full season, Uribe doesn’t recover from his injury, Loney goes back into a slump, and Ellis becomes a completely different player than he’s been for his entire career. Fair enough. It must be fun sitting next to you in the ballpark.
whatever
Assume aging players will only get better.. not sure how you think your making a valid argument.
BlueSkyLA
Once again, your response has nothing to do with what I actually said. This stuff must take practice.
whatever
No your assuming the pile of crap that Ned signed will be better than last year, which is a pretty stupid assumption. Or using career stats for Ellis when he posted a sub 300 OBP percentage last year..
You think its a good idea to ASSUME Ellis is good/will get better because of what he did when he was 30.. or am I wrong? Because thats how you typed it out
BlueSkyLA
No, I said what I said. Your imaginative interpretation does not compute. But by all means, draw to your strength. At this point I’d be disappointed if you started responding to things I actually wrote.
brocnessmonster
You’re the one who is off his rocker. Ellis won’t be making an out 67% of the time like the stat lines you post would suggest.
BlueSkyLA
Don’t follow you. I just quoted his career stat line. What are you predicting, and why?
brocnessmonster
You’re the one who is off his rocker. Ellis won’t be making an out 67% of the time like the stat lines you post would suggest.
oscargamble
Must be fun sitting next to you at a game while you keep score in your scorebook. “Golly gee, Mark Ellis just hit a double and Dee Gordon got down a bunt to get him to third with less than two outs. I think things are really turning around for the ballclub!”
BlueSkyLA
That was peculiar and meaningless at the same time.
Dr. Gonzo
To me, their slugging and on base numbers are very poor. I am not sure if you were talking to me when you say “by that logic” but it definitely doesn’t coincide with what I said because I simply said they have no power or on base skills. If yo think someone batting .300 has good on base skills, then we have two very different ideas of what a good baseball player is.
Your assumption is that the players are just going to replicate their career numbers, or in Gordon’s case, replicate what he did last year except over a larger period of time. He could very well hit .300 again and steal 50 bases, but until he learns to walk, he’s going to be another Juan Pierre (except better defense at a premium position). If that’s the case, I’d take it because SS is a tough position, but pitchers are going to learn that he will swing at basically everything thrown at him and they’ll adapt to him. He needs to adapt back.
Loney is the only one who I would agree is in the position to replicate his career numbers because he’s basically done that over the last 3-4 seasons. Even after his hot streak (which may be him turning the corner, or him just being incredibly on fire), it still took him to just right at his career numbers.
BlueSkyLA
Of the bunch only Uribe has what I would call poor OBP numbers (under .300). Ellis and Gordon are fair in that department. No power from Gordon but that’s not his strength. How he progresses both offensively and defensively remains to be seen. Yes, in any given year, I’d assume that a player will produce somewhere around his career averages — that being the nature of averages — unless I had some good reason to expect otherwise. An argument could be made that Ellis is declining (we will see) but I don’t think an argument can be made that Uribe won’t rebound to his somewhere around his mean career performance, if healthy. Loney is a perpetual mystery and of the four the one I’d name as the least likely to produce close to his mean performance since his history is streakiness. Given his radical variability over the last three seasons I’d hesitate to guess which way he’s going to go next year.
whatever
Here are the stats from last season because we should assume these guys are gonna get better
Loney: 288/339/416
Ellis: 248/288/346 OAK – 217/253/290.. nice COL 274/317/392
Gordon: 304/325/362
Uribe: 204/264/293
brocnessmonster
Are those career numbers? I’d gladly take that from Ellis. Won’t happen though.
BlueSkyLA
Yes they are. The same thing was said about Jamey Carroll when the Dodgers signed him two years ago, but he bested his career numbers pretty much right across the board both seasons. I have no way of knowing if Ellis will do better or worse than his career averages so I won’t assume anything.
vtadave
I think you just answered your own question with those stats. A first baseman with no power, a second baseman who’s on the decline, a shortstop with no power or OBP skills, and a disaster at the hot corner.
vtadave
If Ned isn’t sure whether Kershaw is interested in an extension, might I point him to this?:
A phone
Joey Doughnuts
They need an OF and a reliever? Oh hey, how does Carlos Quentin and Matt Thornton work for ya? I don’t know the Dodgers system very well, but P Nate Eovaldi and C Tim Federowicz?
Dr. Gonzo
That would be a fleecing by the Dodgers, but unfortunately they lack the payroll space.
brocnessmonster
I’d rather have Eovaldi and Fed-x for the first 6 years of their careers than a season each of Quentin and Thornton.
mrshyguy99
that would cost alot and dont see them going after either. might cost to much and we dont have much in the minors other then pitching
whatever
Yes, hell yes.
whatever
You dont commit 14 million dollars to players who were DFAed the season previous..