The Dodgers are spending aggressively this winter. Here's the latest on the players they are pursuing, the players they were pursuing and how they're doing all this pursuing:
- The team already has Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda and Jon Garland, but they continue to show interest in Vicente Padilla, according to ESPN.com's Jayson Stark.
- The Dodgers strongly considered Jason Varitek as a backup catcher before he signed with the Red Sox, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (on Twitter).
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports explains that the Dodgers have been able to be this aggressive in free agency because they've convinced a number of players to accept less money in 2011 and more money later.
Just met with Neal Huntington…good stuff, watch for nontenders tonight!
Wow Ned, great thinking. “Hey, were saving money now, so who cares ’bout the future. We all will die in 2012, anyway.”
Wow Ned, great thinking. “Hey, were saving money now, so who cares ’bout the future. We all will die in 2012, anyway.”
Wow all those Dodger deals are heavily backloaded. I’m not surprised that they are checking in on Padilla after hearing why Garland signed so cheap, apparently his MRI was horrendous and all the other teams were scared off.
Please not another Jason Schmidt.
Maybe even a starting catcher…Especially if Martin doesn’t end up with the Dodgers come Spring Training. I’d like to see the Dodgers non-tender Martin and sign A.J. Pierzynski.
I dont know if I like the idea of seeing AJ in LA, but it seems like a certainty to happen. Neddy needs him some veterannyness.
i dont like aj
i won’t call him a bad idea because thats what i called uribe and a few hours later they signed him
If we sign Padilla, then trade Bills + Loney for Prince… well, I just hate the idea of that. Does it make our team better?
i dont like aj
i won’t call him a bad idea because thats what i called uribe and a few hours later they signed him
i’d like to see the dodgers work something out with martin to keep him with the organization (even if they non-tender him just to sign him at <80%) and i think they will. This kid darn near captained the team with his energy just 2 years ago. He's way too competitive to not bounce back. He was just plain overworked and maybe needs to be moved to third, go back to what worked for him at the plate, and work again on adding steals back to his game now that Lopes is on board.
If he could bounce back and match Blake's '09 numbers at third base, which I think is possible since he was able to do it as a catcher in '07. Even if his power tops out at 15 from here on out i'd still call it a successful transition if his .obp was like it was most of his career and he added 15-20 steals back to his line…kind of a chone figgans type 3rd baseman which isn't ideal but can be balanced out at other positions. 3rd has been a black hole for ages and the Casey Blake train is losing steam. I'm not going to call him a failure at 3rd base because a) small sample size b) he was currently being overworked and it was a "rest".
yes i'm a total russell martin homer. guilty as charged :/
Russell is a good catcher. Keep him there, just give him more rest against tough righties.
Maybe even a starting catcher…Especially if Martin doesn’t end up with the Dodgers come Spring Training. I’d like to see the Dodgers non-tender Martin and sign A.J. Pierzynski.
more like, ‘we get full ownership of the tv rights after 2012 so we’ll have more money to pay you’. Might be wrong about that though but fox still owns most of the rights to the tv revenue
I think it’s more of “we’ll pay you when Manny, Andruw and Juan are off the books”
Which, of course, leads to saying to NEXT year’s free agents “We’ll pay you when Juan, Jon, and Hiroki are off the books.”
Not a way to run an organization but I guess their hands are tied until this divorce is finalized
Not a way to run an organization but I guess their hands are tied until this divorce is finalized
If Padilla signs, I think it could be a real possibility Billingsley may be dangled out there for a bat. I wouldn’t do it, but LAD needs to extend or trade him soon.
Oh vomitty puke!
I hate the idea of dangling a 3-4 WAR player.
Well keep in mind his agent (Dave Stewart, also Kemps agent) is less than pleased with LAD management these days.
Q, you beat me to the comment.
I don’t want to see Bills dangle, but extending him is a long shot unless he changes agent.
My thought is that he likes LA, he had a couple of charity programs.
Hopefully they don’t trade him and just fire Ned and let White and Kim handle extensions. Problem solved.
Someone like Prince fielder can enter the discussion if Padilla is signed. I dont like the idea.
I wish they would fire Ned, but as long is McCourt is the owner, and Ned’s still saving him money by trading guys like Carlos Santana, he will stay.
Actually from what I’ve read real recently both Stewart, and Kemp are MORE pleased with LAD management these days. Kemp had a good talk with Colletti yesterday apparently, they are excited about his potential next year, and Dodgers brass has also said they love having the 1-2 punch of Kershaw and Bills at the top. (Take it FWIW, of course, anything can happen.) But I don’t get the feeling they want to get rid of either guy at all. Padilla is more likely someone to give them more depth in case of injury and/or be a long reliever, something they are still currently lacking. He’d be better than John Ely, etc.
Add to that I think Kemp likes the new Dodgers coaching staff, from everything I’ve been hearing in LA. He won’t miss Larry Bowa or Torre for that matter.
I think I like the new dodgers coaching staff more as well.
Yup, me too. Wallach, Hansen, Pentland, Davey Lopes! Don’t know if the team will be any good but their staff will be good. 😉 More liked by players, I bet.
I think we see a better defense. I’ve long claimed that the quality of the defense is a reflection on the coaching staff. Everywhere Torre has gone a bad defense has followed. Torre left NY and their defense was better for it. We will win more games because our defense will be better because Torre is not around.
Add to that I think Kemp likes the new Dodgers coaching staff, from everything I’ve been hearing in LA. He won’t miss Larry Bowa or Torre for that matter.
Oh vomitty puke!
I hate the idea of dangling a 3-4 WAR player.
I think it is more for insurance on Garland’s health
Garland’s pitched atleast 190 innings since 2002, so he’s fine. But it’s always good to have extra starting pitching, that’s for sure.
Yeah I thought so too but I heard the reason he said he didn’t get a multi-year deal was because of what his MRI showed, but yeah extra pitching is always good to have if Padilla comes cheap
Yeah I thought so too but I heard the reason he said he didn’t get a multi-year deal was because of what his MRI showed, but yeah extra pitching is always good to have if Padilla comes cheap
Garland’s pitched atleast 190 innings since 2002, so he’s fine. But it’s always good to have extra starting pitching, that’s for sure.
I think it is more for insurance on Garland’s health
i’ve thought that too. What would never happen but would be extremely cool is if they convinced Padilla to sign as a setup man or closer given his arm troubles. doubt he would go for that just in terms of his earning potential. well i guess you could make a case that elite set up men make what he makes pitching less innings (closers more)…
or they will try to make him into a jose contreras type who throws 97 out of the pen and just in case could become a 5th starter should there be bad luck with injuries.
Ned is just following the State of California mantra and issuing IOUs. Heck, the Dodgers will be paying Manny through 2013, Andruw freaking Jones through 2014, and Juan Pierre through 2011.
Ned is just following the State of California mantra and issuing IOUs. Heck, the Dodgers will be paying Manny through 2013, Andruw freaking Jones through 2014, and Juan Pierre through 2011.
All the dodgers need to do is call up jerry sands and then trade loney and some prospects for a power hitting left fielder……2011 NL WEST CHAMPS HERE WE COME!
Loney has been tendered a contract. So, there goes that.
We sure as hell couldn’t trade him AFTER non-tendering him.
AND… Loney is hardly a power hitting firstbaseman, so trading him for a power hitting left fielder is a bit un-real, or non-real (if you are Ron Burgandy).
It is if you throw in the right prospects, though.
All the dodgers need to do is call up jerry sands and then trade loney and some prospects for a power hitting left fielder……2011 NL WEST CHAMPS HERE WE COME!
Looks like Loney is being tendered a contract for 2012. I dont know that I agree with the move. I like Loney and all, but he certainly isn’t worth 5+ million he will be making.
Looks like Loney is being tendered a contract for 2012. I dont know that I agree with the move. I like Loney and all, but he certainly isn’t worth 5+ million he will be making.
non tender sherrill…….sign martin
Padilla would make a good swingman, if he’d accept that role, and I don’t know why he wouldn’t. As for the cash outlays this winter, we heard a number of months back that McCourt may have engineered early access to added revenues when the media rights to the Dodgers revert back in a couple of years.
he would be the next jose contreras
he would be the next jose contreras
The pitcher or the opera singer? Oh wait, that’s Jose Carrerras.
The only sure things on the books for 2012 are Lilly and Uribe. Everything else is up in the air. Garland has to reach performance levels to get his option and no one else is under contract except the pre-arb guys. Ned has some wiggle room. Plus, it is very likely that Sands, Robinson, De Jesus, Gordon and either Miller or De La Rosa will be in the show as cheap controllable players. I know that Kershaw, Billz, Kuo, Kemp and Ethier will get paid, but who knows which of those guys will still be here.
Kuroda and Furcal too. The only player that I think has a chance at seeing limited time is DeJesus. It looks like Loney will be in LA next year and I doubt any “major” moves will be made outside of signing someone like Damon or Pierzynski or both.
I think Furcal has a mutual option and if I remember correctly, Kuroda’s $4 million is a bonus so I don’t know if it is included in the payroll. Pierzynski looks to be out of the question as he is close to signing with the Jays, but I would not put it past Ned to sign Bengie Molina. He does love ex-Giants.
ah 2012… I missed that. I’d imagine that Kershaw will be around for sure. Sands, Robinson, and Gordon should be locks for spots on the team. Hopefully Uribe moves to 3B and Dejesus takes 2B. Gordon at second and maybe Sands platoons with Loney. Robinson can play center with Kemp moving to right and Ethier to left. Thats my plan anyway. 2011 should be a rebuilding year. Except that Colletti is hell bent on spending big bucks. Another mistake chalked up to his resume. Its like a comedy of errors.
The only sure things on the books for 2012 are Lilly and Uribe. Everything else is up in the air. Garland has to reach performance levels to get his option and no one else is under contract except the pre-arb guys. Ned has some wiggle room. Plus, it is very likely that Sands, Robinson, De Jesus, Gordon and either Miller or De La Rosa will be in the show as cheap controllable players. I know that Kershaw, Billz, Kuo, Kemp and Ethier will get paid, but who knows which of those guys will still be here.