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« Perrotto's Latest: Reliever Rumors, Bard, Cooper | Main | Week in Review »
Dodgers Sign Ozuna, Look To Stay Active
Ken Gurnick from MLB.com writes that the Dodgers signed veteran utility player Pablo Ozuna today. The White Sox designated Ozuna for assignment on July 8 to make room for Paul Konerko when he returned from the DL. He elected to become a free agent after clearing waivers. Ozuna had posted a mediocre line of .281/.313/.328 in 69 plate appearances for the White Sox this year.
Luis Maza was designated for assignment to make room for Ozuna, Gurnick writes. Maza was called up as a quick shortstop fix earlier in the year, but had posted an abysmal .228/.278/.282 line through 79 ABs with the Dodgers.
Manager Joe Torre refers to Ozuna as a "safety net" at three positions, and also expects the Dodgers to continue to be active over the next 10 days:
"I know Ned [Colletti, general manager] is on the phone, trying to make our club better," Torre said. "Chances are, we'll be active. Having said that, we're trying."
Gurnick mentions that the Dodgers are hesitating to bring pinch-hitting specialist Mark Sweeney off the DL, perhaps signaling that an additional move is near on the horizon. General Manager Ned Coletti said that with shortstop options limited in Rafael Furcal's absence, his desire to acquire a run-producing third baseman would intensify.
Personal speculation: Adrian Beltre is available, and the Twins look to have thrown in the towel on their attempt to acquire him, but the asking price there is quite high. Minnesota could still offer competition to the Dodgers in an attempt to acquire a third baseman. Here's a look at the third base market.
Casey Blake's name has been tossed around with the Dodgers. Hank Blalock could be another option, if he can remain healthy and return to his old self. His great run from 2003-2005 seems like a long time ago at this point, but a turnaround would be a tremendous boost to the Dodgers' lineup.
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When is Eric Chavez due back from the DL? I'm not sure about his contract, but Oak will probably love to unload him.
Posted by: luissojo | July 20, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Luis Maza was a really good defensive player but couldn't hit for his life.
Posted by: Ty | July 20, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Then what the hell is Angel Berroa at .192 .263 .219 after the same amount of at bats? He can't even play decent defense! Time Ned Colletti gets his noose pulled.
Posted by: dusto | July 20, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Of Maza and Berroa, Maza was the one they should have kept. More versatile defensively and never really had a chance to do much with the bat, because of the playing time irregularity. To be fair to Berroa, however, he has played excellent defense this year.
On this move, I think it is a solid one. Ozuna is the type of guy who doesn't need playing time to at least hit for a decent average, and he has the speed to be a late inning threat as a PR, as he was today. Further, though his OBP isn't great, at least he hits for a decent average, which means he is more likely to help off the bench.
Posted by: AA | July 20, 2008 at 09:12 PM
Looks like Coletti has pulled off his big move for the stretch run ;)
Posted by: crunchy1 | July 20, 2008 at 09:13 PM
How many retreads are the Dodgers going to stack up for the stretch run?
Dodger system, Ned Colletti style: make sure the player is released and/or unwanted by another team before swooping in and hoping that the player reclaims exactly whatever he had with the previous team before losing it. Great job!
Posted by: MattyMets | July 20, 2008 at 09:26 PM
Would Bobby Crosby for Furcal work. I know Furcal is hurt but Furcal might be the type of free agent that the A's might want to sign. If they can get him now they will not have to give up a draft pick for him. If he doesn't fit into there plans then they will get a couple of draft picks for him. Oakland fans are sour on Crosby and his lack of performance and ability to stay healthy.
Posted by: thegoods24 | July 20, 2008 at 09:55 PM
"Would Bobby Crosby for Furcal work."
No. Just No.
Posted by: LaLoosh's Nuke | July 20, 2008 at 10:24 PM
colletti cant hold a front office 2gether 4 his life, he let go of a HUGE blockbuster deal with the indians for no reason!
he should get fired any day now, the Ozuna deal was just 2 get mccourt out of his face 4 a while
Posted by: DodgerFanMan | July 21, 2008 at 01:12 AM
Colletti is not a smart man. However, we all know this so we should just let it go.
Also, let's chill on the SS talks while Nomar is absolutely raking and playing a serviceable SS.
Everyone loves Dewitt, but he has been terrible offensively since his initial burst out of the gate. Laroche would definitely be a boost offensively and a step down defensively. Beltre would be a step up on both sides of the ball. If we could aquire Beltre without giving up any of the team's nucleus it could be a good move.
I don't really see any other positions that we could find a real upgrade.
Posted by: kbrooks2LA | July 21, 2008 at 02:35 AM
No Ned Colletti is a very terrible GM. Thinking of Colletti teamd up with Frank MCcourt makes me want to kill myself, if i was a Dodger fan.
Posted by: ballerwhiteboy | July 21, 2008 at 10:29 AM
"Beltre would be a step up on both sides of the ball."
Beltre would be no such thing, and would be much more expensive doing it (which is something McCourt doesn't want to happen). If McCourt was balking at adding about $7 million total on that absolute steal of a deal for Sabathia/Blake/Carroll, do you really think he wants to take on Beltre's contract, knowing that Seattle will not take back any salary in return? Oh, and lets not forget that DeWitt has played superior defense to Beltre, and just about any other third baseman in the league this year, and his line is not all that far off Beltre's, especially in the clutch where DeWitt dominates Beltre.
Posted by: AA | July 21, 2008 at 12:24 PM
AA, two things...
Your post: Dumb, just flat out stupid and you should be banned for such blatant extrapalation and exageration!
As for DeWitt playing better than Beltre!! Seriously, you really think that Beltre who has been a Gold Glove fielder for years and is only now getting his due respect, which is still underwhelming for a guy that is CLEARLY the best defensive 3B in the game, Rolen is good, but doesn't do well on bunts and has limited range into the hole between 2nd and SS... That's where the list starts and ends when talking about guys that are even remotely in Beltre's league. Also, he has more errors than many 3B, but he gets to twice as many balls, so yeah, it makes sense when you get to more balls, you're going to get more errors, don't need to work at NASA to get that. DeWitt has a how many day, not week, not month, but DAYS, how many of them has he been a great 3B. Sorry, but you've got to perform for a whole season, just once before you even have the right to have your name brought up in the same dialogue let alone the same sentence as ANY GOLD GLOVER at your position! DeWill offensively, is nothing amazing and considering the lack of RBI chances with Ibanez and Lopez raking in front of him, it stands to reason that he's going to have to work harder to get his numbers than a guy hitting in the bottom of a lineup, with no RBI guy driving in all the runs ahead of him... As for power, tell me he's a 25-30 homerun guy and I'll laugh in your face! As for Beltre's hand and his bad luck when it comes to hitting balls RIGHT AT FIELDERS, where 3 feet either direction and his bullets would be finding grass in the outfield, how about the 4 homeruns he's had stolen at the wall?! Can we also throw into the equation that Beltre has had Sexson, Vidro, Reed, Clement, and Balentien hitting behind him for 90% of the season, hardly someone that's going to elicit qualities pitches for the best offensive player on the team... I'd rather keep Beltre than trade him, but your argument is just thoughtless and ill-prepared... To even start talking about a late season call-up and a Gold Glove/Silver Slugger type potential future HOF is just stupid... Don't believe me, go look at Brooks Robinson's career totals, then look at Beltre's, he's already catching him in some categories and better than him in things like steals where he's almost got quadruple the total... The rest of his numbers are going to be much better than Robinson's and are already way ahead of where he was at at this point in his career. Also Brooks Robinson played at Memorial Ball Park in Baltimore, not Safeco Field and Chavez Revine, the TWO WORST offensive ball parks in the league! Just silly... I think you've just proven yourself to be the most illogical poster on here who simultaneously proved his inability to do any research what-so-ever!
Posted by: BaseballGuru | July 21, 2008 at 01:30 PM
DeWitt is on course for a line of...
.255/.322/.360, OPS +78, 58 R, 134 H, 19 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 66 RBI, 6 SB
Beltre is on course for a line of... (also note he plays MUCH better in the second half, so these totals won't be as good as he'll actually finish, BY A LONG SHOT!)
.262/.333./.441, OPS +110, 77 R, 152 H, 27 2B, 0 3B, 26 HR, 74 RBI, 11 SB
As for errors, DeWitt has 8 to Beltre's 11, now let's look more closely at the rest of the stats... Beltre's played in 140 innings more at 829.7 vs. 690, so partly DeWitt is getting more chances due to poor pitching, not great range... Since he's had the same number of opportunities basically as Beltre in far fewer innings... As for sabermetrics, I think they are crap for fielding because you can make 100 errors and still score higher if you have a horrible pitching staff that enduces many more groundballs per game to you than the average player at your position... I've seen DeWitt and he's not bad, but there's a difference between what he does and what Beltre does... Turning double plays because your pitchers leave a ton of runners on is different than stealing a double THREE times this year and in all three of THOSE instances, Beltre through a leaning baserunner off at 1B before they could get back... Sorry, but DeWitt doesn't bring defense like that... Should tell you something that he's not out there more often, if he was such a cog in the Dodgers lineup... Hmmm... Oh and another little tid-bit... In the last 28 days, Beltre's line reads like this: .326/.392/.446/.838, where DeWitt's line reads like this: .207/.277/.241/.518
YIKES, is that a 320 POINT difference in OPS over the last month of the season?! So I'm sure that's a fluke and it probably has NOTHING to do with pitchers figuring out his weaknesses and exploiting them, so the chances that he regresses to a .220/.280/.320 type player by the end of the season?! Hmmm, he definitely is WAY BETTER than Beltre! HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Oh and my favorite the clutch thing, so with RISP and 2 outs he(DeWitt) is a robust .324 hitter... Late and Close he hits .207 though, hmmm, how clutch is that?! Another fluke to his production is that he needs atleast two runners on to be successful, with bases loaded he hits .857, 2nd and 3rd .500, 1st and 3rd .429... Now with just ONE runner on his numbers are, 0 for 6 with a runner on 3rd base, which is .000, .167 with a runner at 2nd base, and .231 with a runner at first base. A rousing .252 with men on base and .268 with RISP.
For my money, I'd rather have Betre at the plate than DeWitt any day, sure he's had recent success at times, but the chances that DeWitt will always be this clutch is to assume that he's the 3B version of Chase Utley to-be! No way that happens, in reality he reminds a lot of Bill Mueller except that Mueller could hit for average...
Posted by: BaseballGuru | July 21, 2008 at 02:09 PM
through = threw
Posted by: BaseballGuru | July 21, 2008 at 02:11 PM
"in reality he reminds a lot of Bill Mueller except that Mueller could hit for average..."
Mueller isn't exactly a poor guy to emulate at the plate, and I will remind you that DeWitt is only 22 years old and never played above AA before this season. Further, he is second among all regular 3B in the majors in RF, and has played more games at the position that the only regular ahead of him, Carlos Guillen. His FP is 20 points better than league average, and is hurt by 1 game in which he had 2 errors. His RF9 is also more than 50 points above league average. All his defensive numbers make Beltre look very average by comparison.
Oh, and DeWitt does that while earning approximately $14 million a year less than Beltre.
Then again, this is BaseballGuru, so I am sure you think the Dodgers should offer up a package of Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, Cory Wade and cash for Beltre and a bag of balls.
Posted by: AA | July 21, 2008 at 04:05 PM
Have you looked at Dewitts number since June 1st? Atrocious! He is now doing what we expected him to be doing out of the gate.
.195 .259 .228
That's Andruw Jones bad.
Posted by: dusto | July 21, 2008 at 08:04 PM
How about Matt Kemp, Carlos Santana, and James McDonald. Before you start crapping all over that... Let's also realize that Beltre is a Type A free agent after 2009, which means two 1st round draft picks with one of them being a sandwich pick, considering the teams he wants to play for all won't be in the bottom 15 of the league unless he doesn't get traded and stays in Seattle. So the cost to get him has to start with those two draft picks, hense James McDonald and Carlos Santana... Then you evaluate his offensive capabilities along with his defensive prowess and you have to compensate for 1.3-1.4 seasons of him playing for you, which brings us to Kemp, especially since they have a glut of outfielders, want Kemp gone, and they would only being dealing one player from the 25-man roster for a player who plays a more valueable position and has similar offensive value, oh and let's not forget that Beltre is still only 29 years old, so he's the only guy out of the top 3-4 that will still be playing grade A quality baseball in 3 seasons. Sorry, but Alex is about to become real average, real quick! Look for Rodriguez to combine a .280 AVG, 30 HR, 110 RBI, 10-15 SB within 3-4 years with still horrible defense at 3B. This is a no brainer if I'm the Dodgers and I come to the table with this offer. I'd even throw in Jarrod Washburn and eat the rest of his remaining salary for 2008, if we got Victor Garate & Robert Blevins. Tell me that's a bad deal, go ahead crap on it... One more time in case you're lost...
Adrian Beltre
Jarrod Washburn
2 - 1st round picks (would be Seattles if they hold onto him through '09)
Washburn's remaining '08 salary (roughly 3.5-4.0MM)
for
Matt Kemp
Carlos Santana
James McDonald
Victor Garate
Robert Blevins
Posted by: BaseballGuru | July 22, 2008 at 02:55 AM
By the way we wouldn't need your 3B as we'd probably just move Lopez to 3B and call up Valbuena or Yung Chi Chen to play 2B or my favorite alternative is to leave Lopez at 2B and trade for Brandon Phillips, package would probably be something like Ryan Feierabend, Adam Moore, and Nathan Adcock.
Posted by: BaseballGuru | July 22, 2008 at 02:59 AM