After going without him in the NLCS, the Dodgers have officially activated star shortstop Corey Seager for the World Series. Given his balky back, however, the team may look to him as a DH for the games played in Houston, as J.P. Hoornstra writes in the Orange County Register. Those interested in some reading in advance of the Fall Classic may also like to check out the Register’s Bill Plunkett’s piece on the analytics-driven organizations squaring off this year.
Here’s more from the National League:
- The Mets are “almost certain” to exercise their option over infielder Asdrubal Cabrera, according to a tweet from Marc Carig of Newsday. We have heard such indications previously, to be sure, though it’s fair to say there have been countervailing considerations as well. With much of the offseason planning likely already completed, though, the Mets seem largely to have decided upon a course. As I discussed about six weeks back, there’s a solid case to be made that Cabrera’s $8.5MM option will deliver greater value than the team could find by paying a $2MM buyout and pursuing an alternative. Most of MLBTR’s readers favored the Mets hanging onto Cabrera in the poll available at that link.
- A former Braves scout has written a letter to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in which he offers something of a different perspective on recently-resigned GM John Coppolella. The scout credited Coppolella for his respectful interactions with similarly situated employees, painting rather a different picture than some other accounts have. Of course, the letter does not seem to speak to any assessment of alleged international signing violations against Coppolella or others in the organization.
- With Atlanta parting ways with R.A. Dickey, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer considers whether the veteran knuckler could make sense for the Reds. Dickey has indicated that Cincinnati is on a very short list of cities he’d consider playing in, given its proximity to his home in Nashville. But Rosecrans also suggests the Reds would likely not be willing to pay Dickey in quite the same range that the Braves did. The contract he signed last winter guaranteed $8MM, though he earned every penny with 190 innings of 4.26 ERA ball. That made it seem likely that the Braves would bring him back, with the move perhaps hinting that Dickey was already determined to hang up his spikes. Still, if there is some possibility of Dickey carrying on, the Reds would likely be wise to explore a deal with him as a means of addressing the team’s dearth of established rotation pieces.
Bringing RA Dickey our in, is a really bad idea. I’m all for bringing in a FA starter, but not an old guy (just like Arroyo was last year) that has no future with the team. If you can’t find one, play the kids. I just don’t see the point of this Lina of player on a rebuilding team.
They teach younger players and provide a veteran presence.
They could save $8 million and just buy 10-15 copies of Dickey’s book instead to teach those youngins.
It allows a team to delay starting service time clocks on their young pitchers. It’s a prudent course of action if you feel the arms in the upper levels of your system aren’t ready for big league competition. Plus, you can always trade the vet to a pitching needy team at the deadline to acquire more assets if you feel like the young guys have progressed enough by midseason (granted, a knuckleballer won’t get you much in return).
The main purpose is to continue the Wilpon’s eternal frugality. It has nothing to do with strategy
That’s what the Reds did last season. It’s time for the next step. Stephenson, Romano, and especially Castillo showed they were ready to be big leaguers. Their clocks have already started. It seams were on the same page, your just a year behind.
I couldn’t agree more!
@ksoze “Old guys” are what count in this game, because you cannot ever pay for the experience and knowledge and advice passed on, it has no monetary value. I’d say you’ve never played the game at any level, hence your comment against “old guy”, and just to back that up do you know who Corey Seager sits next to in the dressing room, and why he was seated there? Go and find out and then you might actually learn something about baseball.
Wow! I didn’t mean to hit a nerve Sid. I’m his age to, but you’re correct, I didn’t play outside of high school. I’d also be surprised if you did. Look, I agree a veteran presence is a good thing, but not all vets are role models. I can’t say if Dickey is or not. I’d rather go after a FA who could be signed for a multi year contract that would be around when this team hopefully is competitive again.
@Sid Old doesn’t mean wise, role model, leader, or any other label you want to put on it. They had Arroyo last year, they’ll have Bailey this year.
Which mlb team did you play for Sid? Obviously when your in high school playing, no one over 18 could of been a teammate mentor. If you made it to college no one over maybe 23 (assuming a redshirt) could have been a teammate mentor. Did you play in the minors? Rookie level, low A, or did you make it up to AAA? Are you playing on the Dodgers right now?
I’m laughing really hard right now because Sid Bream was actually a MLB player in the 90’s. Now the chances of that being the Sid Bream that did are slim but hysterical none the less.
Sid Bream played a pretty big part in the ‘92 Braves NL Championship team. Though it’s unlikely this Sid is the one who Slid.
Yes because pitching the young kids seemed to work out so well last year…
Seager did sprain his back in the NLDS but this should be an acute condition. If he’s over it, he’s over it. The balky body part that causes the most concern is his right elbow. That condition is chronic and will probably require some sort of procedure to correct after the season ends.
Even if $8M is a palatable salary for a pitcher with Dickey’s production, the Braves would have been bidding against themselves if they picked up his option.
IMO because he has a short list of teams that he is interested in playing for (with no guarantee that those clubs will reciprocate the interest), Dickey will have a limited market and likely take a bit of a haircut from his 2017 salary if he chooses to play in 2018.
The Braves may well be interested in kicking the tires on Dickey, with the hope of signing him on the cheap. Or they could just not be that interested in him either, which also makes plenty of sense.
I’m not a fan of the Reds bringing in a veteran pitcher this offseason. Assuming any two of DiSclafani, Finnegan, or Bailey are healthy (all three would be a bonus), there are three spots for the six or seven kids
I to compete for. However, if they DO want another vet, Dickey should be #1 on their list. There’s almost no injury risk
Which three of those six or seven kids demonstrated that they’re remotely ready to pitch in the big leagues? Maybe a couple of them could work out of the bullpen.
Sal Romano and Robert Stephenson both performed well the last 2 plus months of the season., and were really consistent in their starts. Luis Castillo was even better for much longer! The others, (Mahle, McGuire, Stephens) were also decent but in much less innings pitched. Were you even watching?
@redkon. Exactly! I understand why non Reds fans think they have no arms ready. They weren’t watching Stephenson, And Romano close out the season. Stephenson a 2.51 era in the last 2 months of the season. These guys aren’t finished products, but have clearly shown they belong in the majors.
Its a crock to attribute being an analytics-driven organization for the Dodger’s being where they are. They just outspent everybody by tens of millions each of the last 5 seasons. If you can’t win by spending 3 times as much money as the bottom 5 teams, $265MM plus luxury tax fines in 2017, then you are just dense. Doesn’t take much analytics to do what they have done.
I’m with you… it’s incredibly annoying to listen to fans who watch a team people spend what they spend for years then brag when they (finally) win.
Kershaw, Seager, Puig, Bellinger, Barnes and Jensen all home grown. Taylor, Hernandez and Turner acquired on the cheap when other teams gave up on them. You don’t give the organization near enough credit.
Most teams that develop elite talent like Kershaw and Jensen can’t afford both. Puig was not some mid-level draft pick developed in the minors, he was a big ticket free agent acquisition.
They deserve credit for Bellinger and Seager. The other 3 are luck/roid aided players that fell into their laps. No one expected Turner to be a late blooming allstar.
Which one is roid aided?
If they had a regular budget, Jansen and Turner would not be Dodgers this year… without a doubt.
Roid aided would probably be Taylor however I don’t believe he is cause I believe mlb is doing a good job of testing. But I can’t wait until someone throws a huge contract his way for below average numbers next year.
Taylor on roids? I’ll tell you if he is he doesn’t look like it, although I suppose appearances don’t reflect it all these days.
I’m not saying he is but he’s got that Brady Anderson homerun spike going on. If he is I hope he’s busted but I’m sure he would have by now. It’s just one of those years for him.
Haha I love it right. What the roid era did to baseball. He could always hit and get on base, but an offensive explosion and now he’s on roids. Never mind the fact that he overhauled his entire swing, added a leg kick, and his hands are actually in a place to strike. Never mind the fact that he completely overhauled his approach. Never mind the fact that the ball is juiced. It’s kind of funny, when people don’t understand or can’t coherently explain things they go straight to roid accusations.
If you are talking about me I said he’s not on steroids. But someone will overpay him next year for this years numbers and they will more than likely be in for a surprise.
They’re just covering their bets. If the Dodgers win the series, they bought it. If they don’t win, it proves that you can’t buy it. Either way, it’s all bad!
And the down-votes for truth come in 1…2…
You really can’t recognize this LA team would not be a WS team without that budget?
You can’t argue Turner and Jansen wouldn’t be on the team with a budget anywhere close to the median. Probably not Hill either.
They made it to the WS
Agreed.
Having the largest payroll isn’t a guarantor of success, though. Do they have a competitive advantage? Of course. Does that mean they would’ve been one of the best teams in baseball over the past half-decade with a bunch of idiots at the helm? Obviously not. The Friedman front office, in particular, has been exceptional at finding value at marginal cost, likely much better than they would’ve expected or can continue to be.
Yes I mean that’s not at all completely false. They had a terrible owner who drained the farm, because he couldn’t afford to add payroll. He nicked and dimed draft picks. Colletti offered idiotic extensions to get fans back into the gates/bad contracts also had to be taken on to accomplish the same thing. They had to sign mid level ifas to cover for the lack of young talent not available.
So yeah money helped them get out of the terrible mess and get fans back into the stands. And yes money helped them reup Kersh, Jansen, and others. What it still comes down to is the market expectations. I’m sorry that fans love this team and have certain expectations, but that’s the market. I wouldn’t say they were of the largest payroll, but they most certainly wanted a homegrown team that consistently competed.
It’s a crock of an excuse, to say or insinuate that’s the sole reason they made it to the WS. No they scouted and developed well. They found skill sets they liked and again developed them. Their bullpen was built upon cheap attainable relievers that anyone could have had, maybe with the obvious except of Jansen. They finally cleaned house of what they coined “selfish individuals.” They made the WS, because they were one of the best teams and they finally built a smart team instead of just throwing globs of money at it. But hey if it makes you happy continue with the bad narrative.
Colletti gets a bum rap. He did as well as anyone could expect working for a bankrupt team. Signing journeymen to backloaded contracts came with the territory. He got us Manny Ramirez, who gave us the most fun we’d had for years as Dodger fans. He also didn’t trade away a bunch of top talent. Also a lot of the talent we’re looking at today was scouted and signed during his tenure. You know, I am just starting to believe that this FO knows what they are doing. Don’t go spoiling it with bunch of Colletti bashing.
I wasn’t trying to bash Colletti. It was more of what he forced to do, because of the situation. I didn’t mean for it come out that way. He made his mistakes early, but really he boxed in. He had to trade away what was left of farm due the inability to take on any salary. The example that stands out to me is when he traded for Blake, and Cleveland ate salary because McCourt couldn’t take anything on. Just the same during draft tenure during the beyond lean years. He was also clearly mandated to reup players to appease fans. He was clearly forced to try and supplement on the ifa market, due to an attempt to compete now. He sort of had to make the Gonzo trade as a show of good faith. So no that’s not really on Colletti. He did have some head scratching signings, but that’s true with every GM.
In the same light though, I tend not to give to give him too much credit in terms of the current construction of the team. The common denominator from before his tenure, in which he inherited a loaded farm, to his departure when the farm resurfaced was Logan White. Just as I believe Colletti gets a little to much credit in that aspect, I believe White does not receive enough.
So yes I think their was genius/luck or a mixture of both, in the Ethier trade, Manny trade, Grienke & Ryu signings, Turner signing etc. The frustration of the post was more so focused on being saddled with a terrible owner. It essentially led to this terrible narrative: The only reason the dodgers are in the WS is because of their financial resources.
Lest we forget, the Dodgers were saddled with two bad ownerships in a row. Before the hugely over-leveraged McCourts came the suits at Fox. They had the money to make it work, but no clue how to run a ball club.
Despite all of that, the Blake trade is the only one I can recall where they gave up a prospect who turned into a useful player. It’s probably the only trade Colletti would like to have back.
Since you bring up Logan White, one of the reasons I’ve been a skeptic of this management team is because I know White was a MVP in his area of expertise. So why did the new ownership allow him to walk? The only answer that occurs to me is they wanted to tear down the scouting operation and rebuild it in their image, and that mattered more than recognizing that they had some real talent there already.
There’s no denying what White has done and he was tremendous. At the same time what they built in Tampa Bay was quite impressive. At the end of the day, it usually trends to have like interests or prototypes in drafts when a new regime is hired. I think it’s interesting to note that White would never have drafted guys like Calhoun or Gray due to being undersized and athleticism. Yet both in charge came from different organizations that did.
New ownership also did offer White a job, but it appears he liked the idea of having more control in San Diego. I mean it’s hard to complain when they’ve had two tremendous drafts.
We can’t really know the real value of a draft for a few years, at least. That’s when we’ll find out how Friedman & Co. have done in that area. A lot of what I’ve seen from them in the first two years smacks of personal or corporate politics. Even some of the trades seemed to be about securing a firm grip on the makeup of the organization. Whether this works over time we will see, but if was in part about control and making everybody march in the same direction I will be less impressed.
Everyone!! Tell me what you think of this…
Someone(I’d like it to be my Cubs) to sign him as a setup man. Pitch the 7th AND 8th. And sandwich between 2 fireballers. I know he can’t pitch 2 innings as regular as a normal setup man can throw. Wait, or can he?
And, does anyone think Joe Maddon OVERmanages?!? I don’t think it’s even close. They won despite him for as long as they could. He ripped everyone’s confidence last year by not playing everyone. Then as soon as the Wash series began, he went to 14-17 guys and everyone lost confidence. And it showed against LAD.
The chapman usage in the world series last year was terrible. might be the only time chapman was ever right about anything when he complained. I dont see maddon as a great manager, but players like him and play hard for him. Fazio had to take the heat for this year.
To be fair, all managers seem to be overusing their closers lately
Maddon is so overated !
RA Dickey makes most sense for the Angels.