The latest from Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports..
- If Steve Cohen winds up buying the Dodgers, Tony La Russa would reportedly become a key decision-maker for the club. According to rival executives, La Russa's strong personality might diminish the Dodgers’ chances of hiring one of the top current general managers. It's far from certain that Cohen will get the team or that he would in fact hire LaRussa in a top role, but GMs like the Rays’ Andrew Friedman or the Diamondbacks’ Kevin Towers likely would not leave their current situations for limited autonomy in L.A.
- Rival executives still find it curious that the Athletics traded Trevor Cahill and one told Rosenthal that GM Billy Beane "must have known something." Beane was likely troubled by what he saw out of the right-hander's advanced metrics. Cahill, who is under a club-friendly long-term contract, had an abnormally low BABIP of .237 in 2010, his breakout year. When Cahill’s BABIP increased to .306 in 2011, his performance suffered accordingly.
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia said at the start of spring training that Bobby Abreu could get 400 plate appearances, but that doesn't seem likely with Kendrys Morales on track to be the team’s designated hitter. The Halos have been looking to move the 38-year-old for quite some time and he hasn't helped his case by coming into camp overweight. The veteran would likely have been cut by now if he wasn't guaranteed $9MM for 2012.
- Meanwhile, fellow Halos trade candidate Mark Trumbo told Rosenthal that he is becoming increasingly comfortable at third base, though he still has much to learn.
trumbo is not a trade candidate.
I’ve given up trying to convince people otherwise.
Abreu did look a bit plump when I saw him at ST.
Isn’t Tony La Russa a traditionalist when it comes to sabermetrics? I wonder what the Dodgers would adopt if he was GM.
Billy Beane makes decisions based on advanced metrics? COLOR ME SHOCKED.
Trevor Cahill’s 4.16 ERA in the beer league wasn’t that bad. The kid’s only 24 or 25. The other side of the Billy Beane equation is Kevin Towers, who has a very good track record with pitching evaluation. Cahill should be just fine in AZ.
I don’t want crazy Tony La Russa as the Dodgers GM.
“Beane was likely troubled by what he saw out of the right-hander’s advanced metrics.”
I don’t buy it. If that was the case, then why the heck did Beane sign him to an extension? Knowing Beane, there should have been nothing between Cahill’s 2010 and 2011 that made him want to sign Cahill to an extension at one point and then made him want to trade him the next when no long term negative ever happened to Cahill between the two transactions. That theory just doesn’t make any sense to me.
1- the extension increased his trade value. cost certainty is a good thing especially when the pitcher is durable.
2- if Cahill’s a league average pitcher and nothing better, the extension for the most part breaks even. The only way that extension is a bad deal is if he pitches relatively badly or he gets hurt.
Also, if the Dodgers want Towers, please take him. He’s not a very good GM.
Yeah, he’s really bad at building bullpens with limited funds and few long-term commitments.
LOL. Like it’s really that hard to build a good bullpen. What were his notable bullpen additions, Putz and Hernandez? Putz was a no brainer, and trading for Hernandez really didn’t take any super gutsy calls. He’s made terrible signings (Saunders, Kubel) and he’s obsessed with acquiring his former players. The DBacks didn’t succeed in 2011 because of Towers. They succeeded because of Parra, Montero, Hudson, Kennedy, Upton, Roberts having big years the rest rest of the NL West falling on their faces. Towers is not responsible for any of those happenings.
It is pretty hard to build an effective bullpen cheaply year after year, as we all know the volatility of relief pitchers. I agree with you that the Kubel signing makes no sense, but as long as Parra isn’t traded, I don’t see it being a huge deal, as Parra can also cover CF, and get some extra AB’s there.
Joe Saunders is not a particularly good pitcher, but for 1 yr/6mil, I think any team wouldn’t mind him at the back end of a rotation.
His trade for Cahill may prove costly as Jarrod Parker is a really nice prospect, but Towers dealt from a position of organizational strength (MLB ready arms) to improve/solidify a rotation that was perhaps a bit fluky last year. Kennedy, Hudson, Cahill, Saunders, Collmenter (with Skaggs and Bauer waiting in the wings) is a nice rotation for pretty cheap.
while giving designated hitters 15MM guaranteed while GMing an NL team.
Obviously it doesn’t take long to realize why Beane traded Trevor Cahill. He has terrible mound presence and walks too many hitters.
The Cuban Missile is coming back. Hopefully he does play Tuesday and see what he can do.
I love how people act like Billy Beane has some amazing way of evaluating players. BABIP isn’t exactly a secret; it can be found on virtually every statistics page you browse.
O Rly?
I love how people act like Billy Beane has some amazing way of evaluating players. BABIP isn’t exactly a secret; it can be found on virtually every statistics page you browse.
What are La Russa’s GM quals? I believe they are without existence, grasshopper. Just because he’s got a “strong personality” doesn’t mean he’s got to hold all of the job titles. A formula for failure, that would be.
if la russa became the GM, it’d become a team of “gritty” players like schumaker, ellis, blake, etc. heck, he might even bring eckstein back!
if la russa became the GM, it’d become a team of “gritty” players like schumaker, ellis, blake, etc. heck, he might even bring eckstein back!
Ugh, worst idea. I’m fine with Cohen, but La Russa is a definite no. I’m hoping Cohen is just using the La Russa name to make it sound like he’s sticking with the “old school” and appease the owners when it comes to voting him in.