Orlando Hudson's Contract Details

I'd be shocked if they batted Kemp sixth. Have they officially announced that?

I agree with the offense though, that will be a very solid top-to-bottom lineup in the NL.

The infield defense, I wouldn't be so sure about. Hudson's been a bottom-five second baseman in RZR the past two seasons, Furcal's back isn't a sure thing, and Blake is hardly a stellar defender.

Not sure on Loney's defense off the top of my head, but I wouldn't be praising their infield D just yet.

Personal opinion, take it for what it's worth.

i believe that loney has about average D, but he is expected to devolpe gold glove D. hudson has seemed to at least have average D, and it always seemed better when i saw him. furcal's back is no sure thing, but if healthy, he is in the top 5 SS. blake's D is below average, but he played pretty well with the dodgers. i think he had like 3 errors(not sure). the D should OK. Also, Torre isn't announicing the lineup until they know who their LF is. hopefully manny. i think they will wait to see if ethier can be fine w/o Manny behind him. if so, ethier 4th, manny 3rd. or they could also have hudson bat lower in the lineup and have ethier 2nd. a lineup could look like:

1.furcal
2.ethier
3.manny
4.martin
5.kemp
6.loney
7.blake
8.hudson or the other lineup already posted

"And his uncanny ability to go inside-out to right field is fantastic for the #2 spot - allowing for more hit and run opportunities."

Whats up with the Deferred money? THe payroll right now is at around 75 million. They cant afford to pay the entire 8 mill now if he were to earn it?

Manny's 25/1 year offer also had some of it deferred.

Whats up with the deferred money?

Well Lakers, I know Martin struggled in front of Manny, but I'm putting him in front of Ethier, in the #2 spot where he'll get more than likely his fair share of fa(s)tballs to hit. Martin had a bit of a rough year last year, but I'm confident he'll rebound in fine form this next year, and I personally think batting him second would create more runs than batting Hudson second. Plus, Martin runs more than Hudson, so we also would have increased speed at the top of the order.

Deferred money spreads the risk over several seasons. It is not wise to do this with ALL contracts because it would create high payrolls in the future with less talent, but doing it with a couple of your larger contracts very sporadically can let you attain higher priced talent at lower immediate risk.

yep, 3.38 guarenteed. 4.62m incentives. total=8m

If Hudson wasn't effectively blocking DeWitt (if the Dodgers don't sign Manny, I think they have bigger problems---and Torre said Pierre was starting LF if Manny wasn't signed, so DeWitt would probably be blocked anyways. Or Ethier would be blocked and Blake would be playing RF) and sending a #17 pick to Arizona, I actually would like this signing for LA.

I agree. As long as he gets some ABs, watching Hudson play everyday that could be just as crucial to his development as anything. If he isn't going to get that many ABs the Dodgers should hire Craig Biggio as an advisor to show him whats up in AAA.

Wow. Maybe one of these days a ML team will grow some balls and give performance bonuses that are actually based on PERFORMANCE and not just ability to stay healthy.