The Dodgers sit 4.5 games behind the Giants in the NL West but still have six games left to play against their long-time rivals. The two teams face off in the last series of the year and in a three-game set starting on Friday at AT&T Park. Here are some news and notes out of Los Angeles…
- With the Dodgers pursuing an extension with GM Ned Colletti, Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Times recaps some of Colletti's best and worst moves and argues that Colletti is deserving of the new contract.
- Chad Billingsley may miss the entire 2013 season due to a slightly torn UCL in his right elbow, reports Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Billingsley will try to rehab the injury without Tommy John surgery, but if he needs to go under the knife, it will cost him all of 2013 no matter if he undergoes the procedure now or in the spring. Since signing a three-year, $35MM extension in March 2011 that covers the 2012-14 seasons, Billingsley has posted a 3.92 ERA, 2.17 K/BB ratio and 7.5 K/9 in 57 starts.
- The Dodgers' recent major player acquisitions served as "a statement of purpose" for Dodger fans, team president Stan Kasten said during a speech at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit (as reported by MLB.com's Matthew Leach). "Players like Adrian Gonzalez, players like Hanley Ramirez, they're not available. You can't get them in the free agent market," Kasten said. "This was a way to improve the team right away, while at the same time maintaining our core belief in also building the scouting and player-development system. That was always part of our model."
Well the Dodgers are gonna need to believe in building because they got a lot of it to do.
Huh? Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez. Is that not rebuilding?
It kind of depends. If Crawford returns healthy and productive then the outfield is set and so is the leadoff spot. If not they do have some work on both. If Billingsley is in fact a scratch for 2013 then they have a big void in the rotation to fill. The back end of the bullpen is questionable depending on what happens with Jansen. But otherwise we already know what next season’s team looks like.
They need to rebuild the farm system yes. Maybe the MLB pitching staff for next season. But the offense should be fine. New players usually do not gel right away but an off season within the club will only help all players from Hanley and A-Gon to Kemp and Ethier so all can work as a cohesive unit. But the only major rebuild is the farm and that can be done with so many high end players under lengthy contracts. This coming from an Angels fan who see’s the very high potential of the current Dodger roster.
As a Padre fan I am happy with the Colletti extension.
Doesn’t really matter, as Colletti is pretty much a pencil pusher these days. The real work is in the hands of Stan Kasten and the guys above him with the billions.
I always assumed that Magic had an eye for baseball players…
The real work is in the hands of Colletti (and Kasten). The money guys are smart enough to know to step back, and make the additional money (after the TV contract) on the team. They have Magic as the face in LA, which gave them some credibility, and now they have two decent baseball minds running the team.
My guess is the big guys will determine the budget, and let the baseball minds do their thing.
This isn’t the last serious of the year between the two teams. The Giants will play at Dodger stadium October 1 – 3.
Well that is serious. Actually this is exactly what the article said: three games in San Francisco starting Friday, and three more to end the season at Dodger Stadium.