Earlier tonight, Jeff Todd recapped and analyzed the Padres' winter moves in the latest entry of the MLBTR Offseason In Review series. Jeff has also covered the Giants and Diamondbacks thus far in the OIR series. Here's some more from around the NL West…
- "There has been buzz" that the Phillies and Tigers are interested in the Rockies' extra outfielders, Troy Renck of the Denver Post writes. Even if Colorado uses a center field platoon of one of Corey Dickerson or Charlie Blackmon (both left-handed hitters) and one of Drew Stubbs or Brandon Barnes (both righty batters), that still leaves a surplus. Detroit could use a left-handed hitting outfielder to replace the injured Andy Dirks, though the Tigers aren't yet sure if they'll look outside the organization to make such a move.
- Could the Dodgers cut Brandon League? Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times doesn't quite think the club is ready to take that step given the $17MM remaining on League's contract through 2015. That deal looks worse and worse for L.A. given how League struggled in 2013 and during this year's Spring Training, while the Dodgers have a number of impressive young bullpen arms who might be relegated to Triple-A.
- Tim Lincecum dicusses his pitching evolution with Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan, noting that though he has lost a few miles off his fastball, he is working to become a better overall pitcher as he ages.
- Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com discusses the Giants' roster and other topics during a Giants-centric chat with readers.
Who ever agree to give league that much is so dumb unless they cut him no one will want him in a trade.
Porcello and Castellanos for Carlos Gonzalez…
I would not make that trade if I were the Tigers.
They would have a hole at two positions and would increase their payroll considerably in the future.
Rockies already have a better third baseman and Porcello would be their fifth starter at best. Not even close (if Cargo were even available). You might get Dickerson or Blackmon for Porcello, I guess.
League was signed when LA already had Kenley Jansen. Goes as one of Ned Colletti’s bigger blunders!
Not to defend the League contract, but Jansen was essentially a rookie at the time, so the options weren’t as clear as you imply.
Jansen had pitched in over 120 Major League games by the time League came over from the Mariners.
There were concerns about Jansen’s heart condition that someone may use to defend the League signing, but I wouldn’t say Jansen was essentially a rookie… his dominance at the Major League level was already fairly well established.
He was not, at that time, envisioned as the closer of the present — obviously. The reason wasn’t just the heart problem, but his lack of experience in the closing role that forced the Dodgers’ hand. This is the point I am making.
I’d have to disagree with you there. In 2011 I think most everyone knew we were just biding our time with Guerra until Jansen got a bit more experience under his belt, which he did – appearing in 51 games.
Jansen did a fantastic job as closer in 2012 until his heart condition caused the concerns that led the Dodgers to acquire League… who had lost his closer job to Tom Wilhelmsen in Seattle.
League made sense in trade to finish out the 2012 season with the Dodgers, but to sign him to that $27.5m/3year contract expecting him to be the closer was a poor move *unless* the Dodgers had serious concerns about Jansen’s long-term health.
It’s easy to say now that the League signing was a poor move, but at the time it was clear the Dodgers were seeking an experienced closer in a very limited market. If they’d been prepared to hand that job to Jansen then neither League nor anyone else would have been in the picture. I don’t recall Jansen’s heart issues being so serious that this would’ve been the entire rationale for signing League. I believe management was convinced that they’d fixed League’s problems and that the All Star version of Brandon League they had in the second half of 2012 would carry into future seasons. I think that’s why they signed him in such a hurry.
I said it was a poor move the day it was signed, and I believe that was the general consensus at the time.
At the time of the trade, Jansen had already compiled 34 career saves. League only had 52 career saves. It isn’t like there was some huge gap between the two in closing experience. The only regular experience closing League had was one season (2011) with an awful Mariners team, a job which he promptly lost in 2012.
Jansen at the time had averaged greater than 14.0 SO/9 with a H/9 of less than 5.0. Brandon League had a career 6.6 SO/9 and 8.6 H/9. Again, if it wasn’t due to concerns about Jansen’s long-term health, it was a bad move.
Nobody is arguing that Jansen wasn’t a very nice surprise when he was called upon (out of a lack of other options) to take over when Guerra melted down in early 2012, but it was clear from the moves the Dodgers made only a month or so later that they felt they needed more. Also, League was signed after Jansen had his surgery to correct his arrhythmia, from which (according to reports at the time) he was expected to recover fully by Spring Training 2013. The other piece that’s missing from your analysis is that Honeycutt and his staff seem to feel that they can fix nearly anyone. Maybe that’s overconfidence on their part, but they have reason to believe that it’s true, it seems clear to me that they signed League in the belief that they’d brought back the pitcher he was in 2011 and earlier. This is also evidenced by the fact that they handed him the closer role to start 2013, when Jansen was very much available,
The most depressing part about League is the fact he’s going to be blocking guys like Chris Withrow and Jose Dominguez, who have far more dominant stuff than League even when he’s pitching decently. And with the way League is currently pitching, even Seth Rosin would be more useful.
I’d bet good money that League starts the season on the DL.