Chase Utley was one of many players this offseason — including Kenley Jansen, Justin Turner Rich Hill and Sergio Romo — to take less money to join or stay with the Dodgers, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register notes. The Dodgers already had players in Logan Forsythe and Turner who appear likely to take most of the at-bats at the positions Utley plays, but as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman puts it, “You never say never with a guy like Chase,” who is well regarded in the clubhouse. Here’s more from the NL West.
- Righty Jeff Hoffman, outfielder Gerardo Parra and catcher Tom Murphy top the list of Rockies who have much to prove in Spring Training, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes. Hoffman is slated to compete with German Marquez for the Rockies’ fifth starter job and could provide the team with a jolt of upside if he lives up to the billing that made him one of the keys to the Troy Tulowitzki trade. Parra is coming off an extremely poor 2016 season in which he batted just .253/.271/.399 despite playing half his games in Coors Field; he’ll need to prove himself in the second year of the three-year, $27.5MM contract he signed with the team last January. And Murphy needs to show he can call a good game behind the dish so that he can Tony Wolters can make the Rockies’ catcher position an asset despite that duo’s lack of experience.
- Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock is the game’s most underrated player, Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs writes. The broken elbow Pollock suffered in Spring Training in 2016 cost him most of the season, and since then he’s been under the radar, making him again underrated, as he was prior to his brilliant 2015 campaign. When healthy, Pollock is as well-rounded as they come — he hits and runs the bases well and is a terrific defender in center field. And unlike someone like Michael Brantley, the injury that limited Pollock last season shouldn’t be a major concern going forward.
I don’t think Kenley Jansen and his 80 mil qualify as “taking less money”? Wasn’t that his best offer?
Nationals offered more
But was it better? Nationals tend to backload or defer all their offers. It might have been more money but at a lower present value.
More money is more money.
Bobby Bonilla signed one of the best contracts in 1990s baseball, much of it deferred. He’s still getting paid almost $2 mil a year today and will continue to get paid through 2035.
Yeah, money has a time value, that can’t be lost or forgotten.
Yes the rumors was there wasn’t any deferred money in the offer. But I don’t think the offer was so significant.
Yeah the Dodgers offered an opt out which made their offer more valuable than the nats which contained more money. Right?
Yes. Assuming the Nationals did not offer an opt-out. We never heard for certain.
We’re probably never going to know exactly what the Nationals offered Jansen, but we do know the Dodgers offered the opt-out, so that may well have boosted the real contact value above the Nat’s offer even if the initial dollars were a bit less.
Anyway I am reassured by the Utley signing and its value beyond the immediately tangible. What Friedman said about him tells me that he knows that baseball is more than simply a numbers game.
Its kind of overblown how the nationals offered more. Sure it may have been 5 million but thats not that much more when the deal is that big. There is no way he would leave the dodgers for that minuimal of a difference
I think the Marlins also offered him more, as well as Chapman. Of course, that’s a non-contender.
Miami offered 84mil
Signing utley makes zero sense
It makes a lot more sense seeing as the trades for Forsythe than it would have if they had traded for Dozier. It appears Forsythe will bounce around a little bit not only at 2nd but also at 1st and 3rd. Could spot at SS once in a blue moon also.
Makes sense to me as well. Since Forsythe can also play a good 3B and Turner a decent 1B, Utley could play 2B on days that any of Gonzalez, Turner, or Forsythe(and maybe in a pinch, Seager) are out. Veteran player, and decent fill-in starter and lefty bat(and glove) to have off the bench, too…
Makes a lot of sense.. good Veteran in the club house with young people and still a grinder on the field when he gets his time.. no 1 year deal is a bad deal.
My impression of Utley over the years was that he was a bit of a red-ass… maybe, or maybe not, such a bad thing to be, within limits of course. My opinion of him changed after the leg-breaking incident against the Mets in the 2015 playoffs. What I saw was an unrestrained, to-hell-with-the-dangerous-potential- consequences, super red-ass play, that was a violation – both in rule, and in spirit, of this great game. “Grinder”? Yeah, he’s a grinder all right – just not, as it turned out, in the good way that we usually associate that term. Sure, if he’s on your team (and that’s all that matters to you), then hey, don’t worry about it, right? And yeah, it’s water under the bridge by now, right? Well, I’m not a Mets fan, not by any stretch, but I care about the game and how it’s played, and I haven’t forgotten that dirty play – or who made it. And in anticipation of those who might disagree with my opinion about Utley, I shouldn’t need to say this – but given the times we’re living in, I will – that although everybody’s got a right to their own feelings and opinions about this issue or any other issue, everybody should have respect for facts that are clearly in evidence.
I have no idea of your baseball background – but you are ABSOLUTELY wrong about Utley’s slide into 2B in that Mets game… my background – a 35 year baseball umpire who probably officiated this game at a higher level than you ever played it…
Was he or wasn’t he penalized for that incident, Mister “ABSOLUTELY”?
Here is the issue I’ll be frank and quick, because we could go round and round. The bad criticism he received from his piers were all non mifs for a reason. I could post two slides similar in which Wright made a play similar when Utley was a part of the Phillies and one in which I believe it was Murphy against Rollins that were just as “unrestrained and hell to dangerous” but the difference was a big one they both had a sense. They both were taught fundamentally how to escape danger. First I think we all agree it was not a clean play. To me it was in that huge grey area which it’s based in the eye of the beholder, that ended badly.
The first issue was the clock in your head. Tejada was in a sense at fault for not protecting himself. That should be the number one rule that I think has disappeared and will especially disappear now. Even in college we were taught to have a sense of where we were at on the bag and having a clock. That means he has to have a sense to get the out and get hell off the bag, because you know he’s a hard nose player coming in hot. Tejada tried to do way to much. The feed was awkward, he was not in a good position, and he just no sense of timing or the runner at the dish. In real time there was no possible way a dp was going to be turned.
I whole heartedly respect your opinion, but I’ve also have a completely different opinion based on my playing experience. They both were at fault. That slide was a second too late and that feed/field awareness was not there. And yes at a bang bang play a second is huge. I fear though that with this new rule the fundamentals will continue to erode and mif and players will continue to put themselves in danger.
Mister,
To echo the Sarge, you have no clue what your talking about. Anybody that has watched Utley play knows the guy plays to win and he plays hard. Every game. Every play. Sorry he offended you and the times you seem to be living in with a slide to break up a crucial double play. The second baseman hung the SS out to dry and the SS should have just taken the force. Everybody knew Chase would be coming in hard.
PS. Chase Utley broke that guy’s leg with his face. Who wouldn’t want a guy like that on their team?
He wasn’t penalized actually.
Torre tried, but he had to give it up when it was clear he had no basis for a penalty. So that should be the end of the controversy.
Utley is a total ballplayer. They don’t make many like him anymore.
To bluepainted dreams (some 3 hrs ago) – I may not have hit the “reply” button.
I sincerely appreciate your respectful and thoughtful opinion on this matter. (No, really!!) But I have to reiterate that he was penalized for a reason and for good reason – in my opinion. And I have to say that I think it’s a stretch to conflate the new rule (a rule, BTW, necessitated by the egregiousness of Utley’s so-called “slide”) – with some sort of erosion of the “fundamentals”. (And I’m very much in favor of the new rules at home plate as well). In fact, I could argue that the fundamental skill of sliding into a base, properly and skillfully and legally, may well be enhanced in the game because of the new rule. And because of the new rule, middle infielders are way less likely to face that “danger” you speak of. There aren’t likely to be many (if any) players willing to violate that rule – now – in the dangerous way that was demonstrated by Utley. That said, the new rule is far from perfect. I’d prefer a simpler version, such as “The baserunner must make and MAINTAIN contact with the base……” – on such plays. That would remove the necessity of tedious, error-prone judgement calls about proximity or intent. A replay judgment, if necessary, would likely be about whether contact with the bag was maintained or not – a much simpler (and faster!) black and white call to make – most of the time. Look, I’m happy to admit that I don’t think that baseball – at any level – should allow intentional football-style contact. Shouldn’t any more – and really never should have before now, IMO. And if you wanna call me soft – knock yourself out. But at the risk of sounding like I think anybody on this site should give a rat’s rear about my personal experiences, please allow me to say this: I played football for nine years and did pretty well for myself, acheived an honor or two, and loved it. I only played a little baseball, in my youth, and although my Pops said I was more suited athletically to baseball (and he was right), he worked with me a ton on my preferred sport of football. My point being that I enjoyed hard contact and that’s why I loved football – but that’s NOT what baseball is supposed to be about. Again – IMO.
Well said. I agree with you about the slide at 2nd or 3rd but I sure miss the homeplate collision. Catchers have the padding for it & the fact that catchers can’t block plate whatsoever is unnatural.
Again, in response to bluepainted. Well, you’re right, technically – my apologies – and thanks for reminding me how it actually concluded. Torre rescinded his own ruling four months after the fact. But it’s worth remembering that he did so only after the new rule was put in place, which really made punishing Utley unnecessary and moot. It was only ever going to be a relative slap on the wrist anyway and even though I thought he deserved that wrist-slap, it’s true that MLB was inconsistent in ruling on such matters, which was itself unfair to the players and laid the ground for bad plays like Utleys. Torre said that Utley had violated EVEN the old rules but that at least now the new rule should make the that a safer play, i.e., no need to make an example of Utley – for MLB’s rules and enforcement failings. And despite my dislike of Utley’s act, I’ve got no problem with that, in light of the new rule (which actually falls short of what it could be, but is way better than no change at all). And to Utley’s credit, I don’t think he ever tried to blame the victim of his “rolling body-block, football style play” (as Torre described it), In fact, I think Utley was well aware (and sheepishly so) that he had crossed a line. As he said himself,
“It will definitely help keep guys healthy for sure,” Utley said at the time of the rule change. And so that’s a good thing – right Mr Utley..?
Thanks for your input Grebek. I think the home plate rule is a little more nuanced than that. Maybe somebody could chime in with the details for us. But listen man, what’s “natural” in all of our inventions, baseball or otherwise, is up for debate and change, and that is now, and has always been the way of things. That’s what’s natural. What we’re “used to”, well that’s always been another story. Peace.
P.S. And let’s also not forget that the new rules were approved and ratified with an overwhelming majority of support by both MLB ownership and the MLBPA. That should probably tell us something.
Oh please, Zink. “Offended”? Hardly. His play ticked me off royally, but I wasn’t somehow personally “offended” by it. He didn’t crash-block me and break my leg in a baseball game, and he sure as hell didn’t hurt my feelings in any way. That’s just a silly knee-jerk notion on your part. Maybe your feelings got hurt by reading an opinion that you don’t agree with. So sorry, dude.
Also this: “PS. Chase Utley broke that guy’s leg with his face. Who wouldn’t want a guy like that on their team?” Since you asked, I’ll answer your question. Maybe a teammate who doesn’t think that baseball is, or should be, a hard-contact (other than bats on balls;) sport, and a teammate who cares about the safety and well-being of both his own teammates and his fellow pros on the other teams in his chosen baseball fraternity – not to mention his own safety and career – against unnecessary and out-of-place risk and retaliation. And I would agree with any such player. It’s just that simple Zink.
That slide was way overblown. It was a good hard slide. Tejada’s partially to blame on that, the way he played it.
Goob = pansy/liberal/douche have a nice day cupcake
Goob = pansy/liberal have a good one cupcake
Im not so sure rich hill turned down more money to come back to the dodgers. It was well known he preffered the east coast so if boston/new york offered him the same deal LA did he probably would have left. I just dont think anyone else wanted to give him 48 million
Or they could prefer to stay. Good chemistry, good location and they’re treated like Hollywood stars. Got to remember these guys are humans too. Not all of them are greedy like Greinke and Pujols. Last I read, Washington offered Jansen more money but not significant enough to leave. Besides we almost went to a World Series last year. We have the same team with improvements. So why would you leave a once in a lifetime chance for an extra 3 mill?
Nolan Arenado is the most underrated player
He shouldn’t be.
I agree, he doesn’t get talked about enough.
If you don’t know who Arrenado is or how tremendous a talent then you should be paying more attention the same with Pollock. The problem is Pollock was injured most of the year so out of sight kind of out of mind.
I don’t think he is. A lot of casual fans consider him the best 3B in the game. (Which he isn’t.)
I think most casuals would think Kris Bryant is the best 3B since he won MVP. I would think that casuals prob dont even know who Arenado is since hes been playing on the Rockies.
To be fair, theres little flaws in Arenados game. Since 2014, Arenado has been able to successfuly cut down on strikeouts and hit more for power Somehow hes better at defense than offense, but I guess tht says more about his defense than anything else. One can say Kris Bryant or Josh Donaldson are better 3B, but I can still see a year when Nolan Arenado is better than them. Really impossible to crown the best 3B because so many are excellent. Id just say we call em all studs and call it a day.
Most “casual fans” living outside of Colorado won’t even know who Arenado is. I’d bet 75+% of “casual fans” would pick Kris Bryant as the best 3B in the game, assuming they know ANYTHING about baseball outside of their local market.
Agreed he’s so good. He may not be #1 but he’s at least top 5 and he gets no attention or credit at all.
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong about this, but it was my understanding that Pollock suffered this same injury, in (or very near) the same place, some years ago – and that it is indeed a concern (by some) going forward, even if it is completely healed now – like it was completely healed before – after the first time it happened.
You are correct……in a sense.
Pollock’s injury in 2010 required a “Metal Plate” to be attached to the elbow, and the surgeon installed one. Fact is, they used a low-quality metal in that brace, and it was actually “The Plate” that failed when he slid……allowing the elbow to fail again. The new plate is a higher quality metal, and has extra screws.
For this reason, Pollock shouldn’t be considered “an injury-prone player”….or a player who should be considered “At Risk”.
Thanks kbarr.