Email a copy of 'West Notes: Hill, Dodgers, Baldoquin, Rangers' Park, Rockies Catchers' to a friend
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By Jeff Todd | at
Email a copy of 'West Notes: Hill, Dodgers, Baldoquin, Rangers' Park, Rockies Catchers' to a friend
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TheMichigan
Just have Wolters and Murphy, not that hard, Wolters is a good defensive catcher while Murphy is the starter because of offense, you can even platoon them if you want
Frozen rope
Won’t matter, most of the Rocks pitches don’t seem to find the C, how about telling the FO to go get some players, better yet tell the ownership to go get some FO people who can go get some plyrs.
seamaholic 2
What a hot take! Dude, you belong on a call-in show somewhere!
Unfortunately, you seem to have the wrong team in mind. The Rockies have one of the best collection of young talent in the game.
ilikebaseball 2
These Stadium deals make me so sick, so shameful how hard working people are hood winked into thinking they get any benefit from paying for a stadium. Poor people of that area already got screwed over by the Cowboys now the Rangers want to do to them as well? Pathetic.
madmanTX
Arlington is protecting their income from Ranger fans and tourists. They’d rather pay for a new stadium now than see Dallas offer the Rangers a sweet deal when their lease is up.
bigjonliljon
Never really thought about it. But your right. The people get to pay for the stadiums. Then we get to pay $500 or more to take the family to a game in the park we paid for.
arcadia Ldogg
True-dat. Here in L.A. we are building the greatest stadium yet built…and with zero tax payer money! It just cost us 20 years of no pro football here.
CarGoFan
Wolters and Murphy would be a good platoon pair. No reason to waste money on Hundley.
BlueSkyLA
This Dodgers team features at least three interesting stories: Hill of course is one. The other still flying under the radar is Andrew Toles, another player who was given up for dead a year ago and is now on a playoff roster and making important contributions. Then of course we have Dave Robert, the rookie manager who navigated through a DL of historic proportions. (BTW, oxymoron alert: nothing can be more than unique.)
Jeff Todd
Hummm … interesting discussion of the usage point here: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unique
One “H.J. Todd” would have killed off the word in 1818, but future usage expanded its meaning. I hereby disavow the earlier findings of the guy who’s name is startlingly similar to my own.
BlueSkyLA
I smell a conspiracy!
Not to get too pedantic about it, but the first definition is “one of kind,” so my writing (and reading) preference is for the word to be used for that, uh, unique purpose, and to call on more direct adjectives to describe other situations. The language is full of ’em. Anyway, carry on!
Jeff Todd
Ha. I might otherwise agree with you, but I used it that way so I’m defending my (unintentionally) stated position to the grave!
BlueSkyLA
If this is the worst thing to happen to you today, I want your life.
Frozen rope
Get off your knees, they also have 10 or so mistakes since Andrew Doubleday took over, the majority of the roster and all of the prospects were in place
BlueSkyLA
Dunno what that’s supposed to mean exactly. I’ve been as critical of the new FO as anyone and taken lots of heat for it around here but I’m not going to call something a mistake when it isn’t.
EndinStealth
Hill three years 40-50 million?
BlueSkyLA
If he continues his postseason heroics I can see the AAV but have to be skeptical about the three years, at least as a guarantee. I suspect he’ll get some solid 2+1 offers if all goes well from here on.
JT19
It’ll be interesting to see what Hill gets. I don’t see a team offering him top dollar plus term so it’ll probably come down to if Hill wants quick money (so a 1 or 2 year deal worth upwards of $18 million a year) or some security (maybe a 3 or 4 year deal worth at least $15 million a year.
notagain27
Post season heroics worked wonders last year for Daniel Murphy. I also think it helped to strengthened his belief in himself as a player.
Jeff Todd
I don’t know that I’d agree with that first point, if you’re suggesting it had a big impact on his salary. Murphy’s overall second half, including the postseason, certainly helped. But I think the market took a broad view of his value. If you’d have suggested that contract (3/37.5) even before the 2015 season, it wouldn’t have sounded implausible.
In Hill’s case, I think he’s basically doing what he has done since his sudden emergence late in 2015. And he’ll be paid well accordingly, regardless of exactly what he shows in his final X starts in the playoffs. There may be a little more variance in his case, given his oddball track record, but I think it only works on the margins or in somewhat indirect ways (like, say he gains prominence in the eyes of a few big-budget owners, thus enhancing competition even if the baseball ops valuation is the same).
BlueSkyLA
Hill has a lot more to prove at this point than Murphy did at his big free agency moment, so I can see his postseason performance being more meaningful. Hill has roughly a year of starting under his belt and a history of developing the blisters that seem to be a function of his unusual curveball grip and delivery. The Dodgers so far have managed him like he’s made of porcelain. He has to prove he’s more durable than that if he’s expecting anyone to make a long commitment. Every game he pitches will be analyzed, I suspect.
Jeff Todd
That’s true to an extent, though I don’t think the fact that it’s the postseason really magnifies it. It’s another chance to get a look at him, mostly.
BlueSkyLA
I agree, that was more or less my point. I am a bit surprised to hear all the forecasts of 3-4 year commitments to Hill given his age and history. Every game he pitches supplies a bit more data on him, but at best it still won’t be much for potential employers to go on.
JT19
I don’t really see him getting a 4 year deal since that would take him to 40 unless the 4th year was an option year. I think a 2 or 3 year deal is probably more in line with what he’ll get. But players have done less and gotten paid similarily (JA Happ, who has a large sample size but only a short period of success). I think teams will glady offer him 2 years, with the third year (or even a fourth year) being a difference maker in who he signs with.