When MLBTR's Tim Dierkes listed the most surprising trades of the offseason last week, NL West clubs showed up in four of the six. The West, which has seen all five teams earn playoff spots since 2006, is once again difficult to figure out heading into the spring, writes Tracy Ringolsby of FOX Sports. As the division's residents continue to make moves in hopes of contending, here are the latest NL West updates:
- The Disney family has partnered with Stanley Gold and will make a bid for the Dodgers, reports Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. With a handful of deep-pocketed bidders already in contention for the franchise, Shaikin says current owner Frank McCourt believes the sale could exceed $1.6 billion.
- Within his ESPN.com Insider blog, Buster Olney says the competition is good news for Dodgers fans, since no one who commits that type of money to purchase the franchise will "let it rot with a modest payroll." Cole Hamels should also be excited, Olney adds, implying the Dodgers could be in position to make the southpaw a significant offer if he becomes a free agent next winter.
- The Rockies, who we know have talked to Brad Lidge this offseason, are still interested in the Denver-area native, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post. However, due to Lidge's injuries last year, Colorado only has interest "at minimal risk." Presumbly a deal heavy on incentives would be the Rockies' preference.
Hope they sign Hamels before February, but Kershaw Hamels would be scary for all…
They wouldn’t be able to sign Hamels until after the 2012 season unless they trade for him first. But I’d be surprised if the Phillies did not re-sign him before it got to that.
I meant Phillies by “they” my bad on the wording I’m a Phillies fan so In used to referring to their office as they. Woops
Yeah, be won’t make it to free agency, and let’s face it, Agent Ned’s got half if the leagyes 5th starters on the roster already, we need guys who get on base and play defense.
Hamels is going to get a big payday one way or the other. The Dodgers really have nothing to do with it.
I think the implication is that with a new, deep-pocketed owner, the Dodgers would be in position to out-bid the field for Hamels, who is from Southern California and would probably love to get back to the left coast before his career is over.
And my implication is that there will be no shortage of bidders from Hamels. The Yankees and Phillies are both likely to be making offers as it is, so if the Dodgers significantly drive up Hamels’ price tag, I’ll be surprised.
I think Olney is trying to piggyback off the situation with C.J. Wilson regarding moving close to home, but I don’t see much of a basis for the speculation given that Hamels might be the best free agent on the market next winter.
In the past Hamels has said he loves Philadelphia because unlike LA, where fans show up in the 3rd and leave at the stretch (his words not mine), Phillies fans show up before the pitch and are loud until the last pitch. I seriously doubt with comments like that he wants to play for the Dodgers.
I think its funny that anyone would believe this is a reason to play somewhere and not a paycheck. he’ll go where ever he gets the most money.
Did Cliff Lee teach you that?
You do realize cliff took the offer that paid him the most per year right.
Mot point when Yankees offered him more money. Its well known Cliff didn’t take the best offer to play for a team he wanted to play for.
Obviously the money has to be right, but things like this can make a player demand a higher paycheck from one team than another. And nobody wants to play at a place where nobody cares.
“And nobody wants to play at a place where nobody cares.”
If by that place you mean Los Angeles, then you obviously weren’t aware of the season long boycott of Dodger fans this past season which led to the current sale of the team. “Nobody cares” is highly debatable.
Totally aware of it. However, I also know multiple Dodgers fans who were at Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS who left early to be traffic. That’s not caring. Call me when your team sells out 200+ consecutive home games.
Are we talking about team support or attendance numbers? I’ve already given you an example about the city caring for the team and up until last year, attendance at games have never been a concern. Stop acting like your couple of friends account for the entire stadium. I can find you 20 fans come opening day who will be leaving early from the Bank because of traffic.
If Amaro is smart, which he is, he’ll sign Hamels asap. Give him the money he deserves, but keep him. He’s a fan favorite and he’s young. Hamels and Pence with some help from Mayberry and others can keep the Phils young and fightin’.
Not sure why everyone keeps on bringing up Hamels and not Cain. Personally out of the two I think Cain is a better pitcher and more valuable.
i think they are both about the same to be honest, cain gets the spacious pac bell atat park , that inflates his home stats, but i dont see him leaving the giants after they fail to sign lincecum,and dump all their eggs in the cain basket, but people like to speculate that because phillies payroll is so high that they wont sign their best home grown pitcher ever , clueless
With the new luxury tax rules I have no real clue what the Phillies will do. But they have Blanton off the books next year and I seriously doubt they would have thrown all that money at Papelbon without believing they can afford Hamels next year. If Hamels leaves the Phillies during next offseason it’ll be his choice because unless the bidding goes absolutely crazy the Phillies will match any offer.
AT&T doesn’t really inflate Cain’s home stats. He pitches no worse on the road than any other pitcher. In fact, he has a better HR/FB on the road than the does at home.
Thanks for playing, though.
you are right all of those nl west stadiums are tiny , and have nothing to do you with stats
Left Handed Pitchers are always considered a bigger prize.
I still think Katy Perry is the best available free agent for 2012.
Yes !
time for her to stick with some domestic sports
Ummmmmm no. Cain plays in a pitchers park in a division filled with pitchers parks where his extreme flyball tendencies don’t hurt him. Look at the FIP’s, xFIPs, SIERAs, and K/BB ratios of the past four years and you’ll see that Hamels is a far superior pitcher.
I wouldn’t say far superior, but Hamels is certainly better.
Hamels is arguably superior, but “far” is a bit of an overstatement. They’re pretty close, and Cain is a year younger.
I think if the Phillies don’t win the series this year Hamels will leave for the west coast. He will get more in free agency than the Phils can give him.
Only from Yanks, no one on west coast can outbid Phillirs, maybe Angels.
No, the Angels will be stuck like this for a while before they spend money on another big name.
Simply not true. They have Santana, Hunter, and Abreu coming off their payroll after this year (around $40 million between those three). Even with the raises to Pujols and Wilson, if they somehow unload half off Wells contract, they are in perfect position to sign Hamels.
Weaver
Hamels
Haren
Wilson
would be a great 1-4, and I think they will atleast think about doing that.
Sick rotation!
The Angels are all in with the new TV money and signing Pujols. Hamels would be on their radar.
And what west coast team could possibly pay him? Angels have a pretty solid rotation and would be surprised if they had any more money to spend, Dodgers are, well, the Dodgers, and the Mariners too have a pretty set rotation and need offense. Giants? Probably your best bet, though if they lock up Cain and Lincecum, I don’t see it. Oakland is *ahem* rebuilding, and who the hell knows what the Padres are doing besides running in circles.
There’s just no fit over there. If he hits free agency, more likely than not he’ll end up in the AL East.
If the Giants sign Hamels after locking up Cain and Lincecum, they will have the best rotation ever known to mankind. And with all the money they have locked up in pitching, they will also have the worst starting lineup ever known to mankind as well.
Not going to happen.
They can’t even find the money to extend Cain and Lincecum. I think its more likely that the Phillies pick up Cain than Hamels going to SF. (I dont think its likely in any case, just making the point)
I think Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt was the best rotation ever known to man….Take off your orange and black tinted glasses and look at baseball with a little objectivity.
Call me crazy (I’m a Phillies fan) but Oswalt was passed his prime and sturggling with injuries. I know Halladay and Lee are better than Lincecum and Cain, But, Madison is much better that Oswalt at this point moving forward. I think it is much closer than you think.
Halladay > Lincecum
Lee > Cain
Hamels = Hamels (this is a tough one)
Oswalt < MadBum
To top it off, they would all be in their 20's at the same time on the Giants.
Good points. I forgot about Bumgarner, he’s tough and will only get better while, as you mentioned, the others will decline. Certainly is close, but I still would take the Phillies rotation over the Giants.
Let’s just remember that on paper teams don’t always win, look at the Sox and Phillies from the last 2 years. They were locks by all the experts.
Not as good as the Braves of the 90’s they still haven’t won anything together. It’s hard to believe that Halliday and Lee have never won a series.
The Angels plug in Hamels in Santana’s spot in the rotation, they have 40 million coming off the books in 13. Cole is a Cally guy like Wilson.
he’d probably give the Phils a bit of a discount given he loves playing here. Besides Madson’s an example of you can never tell how the market plays out.
Disney will buy the team, and then make a sequel: Dodgers In The Outfield.
“You gotta believe (in Juan Rivera)!”
It would take 12 Christopher Loyld angels to pick up that guy.
Too bad this deal for the new owners won’t be done until April or else the Dodgers would have Prince Fielder right now. Well the Dodgers I guess coud still have Prince Fielder if Fielder doesn’t mind getting paid 2 million this season, and 30 million the next 9 season. Which all seems possible in the world of Ned Colletti.
And Abreu
It’s a real shame that this sale didn’t happen sooner, as Prince would be the PERFECT piece for the Dodgers. I wonder if the market continues to fall for Prince, does he take a one year deal and retry things next year? If so, the Dodgers would be thrilled I imagine.
If anything he takes the biggest deal available this year with an opt out clause after season 2/3.
Actually I’m a little surprised he’s not also searching for a high paying one-year deal. It kinda makes sense. He’ll only be 28 so same basic arguments about his pros and cons. Add to that the new Dodgers owners might want to make a splash.
I agree with you but Boras would never let it happen. His best shot was taking Milwaukee’s arbitration offer and hitting the market next year in a really weak market with hope that the new Dodger owners want to make a splash.
Probably all true. Personally I think Boras is a good agent since he tries to get the best deal for his client… but really, Boras has been a joke this offseason.
Kershaw, hamels, Zach Lee, and Evoldi to beast
Lol…when Hamels pitches for the Dodgers, Cliff Lee will pitch for the Yankees.
Hamels will end up resigning with the Phillies or signing with the Yankees. The Dodgers need to lock up Ethier and Kershaw.
Kershaw yes, but I think they will let Ethier go. Alot will depend on whether Hamels gets to free agency, the Phillies will have to sign him before he reaches free agency. If they don’t, or if he wants more money then he will go to the west coast.
Why are the Rockies looking to spend on Lidge, a reliever, when they still have massive starting holes? I mean, he’d be a good addition for them… but getting a guy like Malholm for 4 slot would make more sense.