Brad Penny Nowhere To Be Found

With the option vs. buyout and no in between re-work, especially after this episode, he's as good as gone. He'll get his Randy Wolf ('07) styled contract somewhere; looks like he and Lowe are probably both history. Hello, Mr. Sabathia :)

AA, it's been said (by others than himself, of course) that Lowe "misses East Coast Baseball" and would be looking to go to his home area of Detroit or back to the east..... Dunno.

Dodgers fans should be singing good riddance. This is a textbook case of a guy who got lazy, complacent and has practically ate himself out of the league. Maybe this will be his wakeup call to grow up, get himself in top mental, physical shape and perform up to his potential.

Still love this "been a Dodger for less than a week" picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/bremertonian/baseball/Baseball05DerekLoweRingCeremony1.jpg

"And AA Lowe wants to play for a contender. How many playoff games have the Dodgers won in the last couple years?"

That was the whole point of my post. Now that the Dodgers have a real chance at winning, Lowe seems happier. Look at Lowe's 2 best stretches as a Dodger. Both were in playoff races (2006 and 2008). Both also involved Greg Maddux. I wonder if the Dodgers resigning Maddux would also help sway Lowe.

can't find him? they should check his hometown. it's a cowboy bar called the Caravan, he's a frequent visitor.

I believe that their priority will be to sign manny.
Even if manny gets 20 mil a year, they still have 20+ more to spend with lowe(9mil a year), penny(7.5mil option), furcal(13 mil a year), kent(8mil a year), and garciaparra's(something around 7 i believe) contracts coming off the books.

Ok, remember that the Dodgers also have the $7.5 million they donated to Esteban Loaiza's retirement fund coming off the books next year as well.

"wow, i never realized the dodgers have so many question marks for the 09 rotation. they'll run out billingsley, kuroda, and kershaw for sure. mcdonald has had an incredible year and will probably have an opportunity to win a slot in spring. i strongly doubt that we'll see any of penny/maddux/lowe/schmidt in a dodger uniform next year."

Well, Schmidt is still under contract, but I don't know if he will ever pitch again. That said, I don't think it is a stretch to see the Dodgers bring back Maddux as a 5th starter/informal coach. Also, I really don't see why we aren't talking about the Dodgers bringing back Chan Ho Park as a full time starter.

"lowe(9mil a year)"

Lowe earned $10 million this year.

"kent(8mil a year)"

$9 million

"Garciaparra is nearer to $10m."

Actually, about $9 million average, but part of that was a signing bonus and his compensation for this year was $8.5 million. Needless to say, he is either gone or resigned for much less money.

"furcal(13 mil a year)"

He probably comes back at around $9-$10 million.

If he doesn't, I wonder if it is worth paying Berroa his $5.5 million option.

"Even if manny gets 20 mil a year, they still have 20+ more to spend"

Remember that the Dodgers are facing substantial arbitration raises to Russell Martin, Jonathan Broxton, and Andre Ethier. Martin probably gets $5 million and Ethier between $2.5 and $4 million. Broxton probably gets around $1-2 million.

"I wonder if they will look to sign a FA like Garland to fill a hole?"

There is no reason to pay Garland the kind of money he is going to want when they can get the same kind of production out of Maddux or better production for less money from Lowe.

I blame Alyssa!

She ruined Penny AND Zito!!!

i know schmidt is signed for next year, but he's shown us no reason to believe he will ever be even mildly effective again. last i heard, he's scheduled to undergo yet another exploratory surgery. i can't see how he'll be in the rotation. maddux also hasn't shown us much of anything since coming over from san diego. sure, he's probably one of the greatest pitchers ever, but he's gonna want something around 10 mil. to be mediocre (i think it's fair to say he'll want something comparable to his last contract). like tim has been saying, derek lowe is going to command some SERIOUS money this offseason. boras will probably find somebody willing to give him 16-18 million a year over 3-4 years, and all indications are he doesn't want to play in LA anymore. if ned does nothing else but retains manny, furcal, and blake, i'll say he did a decent job. colletti's been burnt by giving out so many stupid contracts, i'm betting he's apprehensive about signing a premier guy long-term like sabathia (255 innings on that arm should raise some concern, regardless of how well he's pitching).

"i know schmidt is signed for next year, but he's shown us no reason to believe he will ever be even mildly effective again. last i heard, he's scheduled to undergo yet another exploratory surgery."

This is true. That said, can the Dodgers cash in on an insurance policy at this point? If they can, at least part of Schmidt's earmark should be able to go to a FA

"I do agree that Park should be brought back, but in a similar role as the one he had this year(long relief, set-up, and spot starting). There is no certainty that park can go every 5 days for multiple innings."

I think Park proved he could do that this year, especially when you consider the conditions under which he pitched and the fact that his velocity is back up in the mid-90s

The conditions where park has pitched are out of the bullpen, and spot starting. He does have his velocity up to the mid 90's but can he keep that up after 100 innings. As the season has progressed, he has pitched less effectively all the while his innings have stacked up. He did great in the role he had this year. If it isn't broke, dont fix it.

hey, now theyll probably try to keep lowe or REALLY go after cc