Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke with reporters (including The Los Angeles Times’ Mike DiGiovanna, The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, and The Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett) about several topics surrounding the team, including how much payroll might be available to acquire or re-sign premium players this winter. Unsurprisingly, Friedman didn’t state any kind of dollar figure, noting that he has yet to receive an official budget for 2022. That said, he noted that “our [ownership] group has demonstrated at every single turn its strong desire to win, and this year will be no different. What that means in terms of an actual payroll number, I’m not sure, but I feel confident we’ll have the requisite talent to be a real championship competitor.”
By far the biggest spenders in baseball in 2021, the Dodgers soared over the Competitive Balance Tax threshold with an approximated $275MM tax number. While it isn’t clear if L.A. will quite hit those payroll heights again, it seems very likely that the Dodgers will pay more tax penalties next year considering how much money is already on their books. Of course, we also don’t know what the luxury tax threshold will even be next year, or if the CBT will be altered as players and owners negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.
More from Friedman…
- It doesn’t seem like Mookie Betts will need any sort of procedure to fix the hip injuries that plagued him in 2021. Hip inflammation twice sent Betts to the 10-day injured list for brief absences last year, and while his production was down from his usual numbers, Betts still hit .264/.367/.487 with 23 homers over 550 plate appearances even while being less than 100 percent for most of the season.
- Freidman reiterated that the team wants manager Dave Roberts “to be a big part of what we accomplish looking forward,” though the Dodgers have more immediate offseason business that must be addressed before the club can talk with Roberts about a contract extension. Roberts’ four-year deal is up after the 2022 season, and the 49-year-old has an outstanding 542-329 record over his six seasons as the Los Angeles manager, with the 2020 World Series championship, two other NL pennants, and five NL West titles on his resume.
- The Dodgers already made a quick move to sign Andrew Heaney to a one-year, $8.5MM deal, and the Dodgers “feel like there’s some real upside we can tap into,” Friedman said. “He’s got really strong ingredients in place, and there are a few different levers we feel like we can potentially pull with him that he’s bought into and is eager to dive in on.” After a rough 2021 season, Heaney is hoping to rebound in Los Angeles and then re-enter the free agent market on the strength of a much better platform year. This one-year commitment is just fine with Friedman, as he noted that adding a veteran as rotation depth allows the Dodgers’ pitching prospects more seasoning time in the minors.
- Friedman also provided on some of the Dodgers’ Tommy John recovery cases. Tommy Kahnle and Caleb Ferguson respectively underwent their procedures in August 2020 and September 2020, and the PBO said both hurlers should “be ready by Opening Day or shortly thereafter.” Dustin May underwent his TJ surgery almost exactly six months ago and has already started a throwing program, tentatively setting up a return after the All-Star Game. “Everything to this point has been incredibly positive. I think [May] is going to impact us at some point in the second half,” Friedman said.
No comment from Friedman on the Trevor Bauer situation?
Bauer did nothing wrong
I’d love to know what insight you have to his case other than your blanket statement.
To be fair, not condoning his actions on a moral standpoint, there is no legal evidence he did anything wrong. Morally yes very wrong but legally there was expressed consent.
Apparently you are a fly on the wall of the DA’s office and are privy to the details of the investigation and you also play lawyer on the internet. So by all means, tell us more.
I’m not, no need for the sass. But what I have gathered from the reports there is little convicting evidence of Bauer doing anything LEGALLY wrong
The point being, if you’re not involved with the investigation your information is fragmentary at best, and if you’re not a lawyer, you aren’t going to know the legal standards that apply to such a situation. Personally I have no idea about either one, so I have no opinion. But I am familiar with the joint policy, what it says and how it’s been applied, so I do have an opinion about the very high likelihood that if he isn’t charged that he would receive a lengthy suspension on the basis of what we do know.
Oh I agree Bauer will be suspended on the leagues rules. And yes I am not directly involved in the investigation, I confess I am not an officer and/or lawyer, but that doesn’t stop me from having an informed opinion based on gathering of information. Please this is a message board, opinions can be shared. Don’t discount me because I don’t have youre desired ethos in this argument. I’m just pulling from what I know and have read. Sorry if that offends you
I’m not offended in the least, and I don’t have an ethos (at least not one that applies here). My opinion is that we shouldn’t try to form opinions when we have such limited facts to base them upon and no expertise on the law. All I know about the legal situation is the DA has been sitting on this for more than a month now. To me that says that if the criminal situation was as clear as you believe that we’d already know because they would have declined to press charges. They also have to be under at least some pressure to decide, because the commissioner can’t complete his investigation until they make the charging determination, and the Dodgers can’t move on.
Of course the Commissioner can.
Can what? If you believe he can complete his investigation before the DA does theirs, then you’d be wrong. The witness(es) are unavailable to interview by the commissioner until the criminal investigation is over.
The legal evidence in this case has nothing to do with consent, his charges are not for rape, or do you thing once you have the consent of the woman you can do what you want ?
I’m sure the DA’s office and the dodgers aren’t worried about the outrage of dropping the charges in the “believe all women” world we now live in.
Bauer is mortally bankrupt and generally a POS. Not someone you want in your clubhouse
The players don’t want him back.
Beating/raping unconscious women is wrong, yes.
They agreed on a “safe” word before. 8 seconds into it, he choked her unconscious using her own hair. Bauer won’t ever be pitching again. As i’ve said before, the MLB and MLBPA will agree to a suspension to take the Dodgers off the hook for Bauer’s salary, especially since the money will be immediately redistributed to other players/free agents.
Assuming Bauer did nothing improper with that woman, he put his desire for rough sex above the well-being of last year’s Dodger team. That is more than worthy of being cut.
Only thing he did wrong was hook up with a groupie. Beyond that, give him the f’n ball and let him do his thing.
You could assume he will be suspended the entire 2022 season
That can only happen after the legal investigation is over and some kind of ruling is made one way or the other. Until then if this carries over into next season Bauer will sit on “administrative leave” and continue to be paid.
Bauer’s career is over one way or the other. No MLB team will ever be able to justify signing him. So if his next start doesn’t come in the California Penal League it will be in Mexico or maybe, maybe the KBO
He’s not going to jail
He should be banned for life
Ironically Bauer is in the process of banning himself for life. He’s made it clear that he is never going to own up to his lack of judgment, which is the first step towards getting back into the game.
He can’t really comment at this stage. First the LA County DA’s office needs to make a determination on pressing charges. If they decide not to charge, then the commissioner will rule on a suspension on the basis of the joint policy. Since Bauer is likely to be the first player to not accept a suspension under the policy, the situation is almost certain to end up in court one way or another. The Dodgers have no role in any of this, they can do nothing more now than live with the consequences of this mistake for who knows how many years to come.
Would he have to take the union to court? If the union represents him and agree to suspension with mlb. But as already mentioned he is done. He doesn’t know when to keep quiet. I can’t see a team wanting that drama.
If I had to guess, yes, he would have to name both MLB and MLBPA as defendants since they jointly negotiated and adopted the policy. No clue as to what the cause of action might be but I can see some pretty dire consequences to challenging the union’s ability to negotiate contract standards with MLB on behalf of the players. Either way it’s pretty obvious at this point that he’s finishing himself off as a player and trying to do as much damage to the game as possible as he goes down, all out of spite.
All because him and Manfred have a nice pretty pissy fight with each other.
I believe he will have to take on the union too, and I also believe the significance of this situation is being underestimated. It could do a lot of damage to the relationship between MLB and the players, which is bad enough already.
Bauer is “done in the game” despite the extreme likelihood he won’t be criminally charged. OK are the Dodgers going to pay him 60 million for Bauer to not pitch for them? Bauer is fighting it because the league wants easy PR points and make an example out of him even though the accuser talked about getting a check before they even met.
Whenever I get into these discussions I always tell people who are making this sort of argument that they really need to read the joint policy, because the language is actually pretty clear. Nobody ever does, so this keeps the debate weird and unproductive. The bottom line is, the policy was adopted jointly between MLB and the players, and nobody is trying to make any more of an example of Bauer than any of the other fifteen or so players who’ve been suspended under the policy. The difference is they all accepted that they made mistakes and expressed a desire to move on with their careers and for the most part they have. Bauer instead has expressed the desire to do as much damage to baseball as possible, and quite likely he will succeed.
Why is Domingo German still playing? Why did Oredubel Heurrera still play? Those guys didn’t have massive contracts either. At the end of the day the Dodgers will realize paying Bauer 60 million so he could pitch for the Red Sox or something isn’t smart. And Bauer will realize he needs to make some sort of apology.
Because they accepted the suspension and took responsibility for their mistakes. This is the road back to the game that Bauer is refusing to travel.
Where has Bauer “expressed the desire to do as much damage to baesball as possible”? Did I miss that announcement?
By indicating that he will not accept any suspension, that’s how.
But the MLB policy allows for an appeal which Bauer is entitled to use if he feels that punishment is based on unfounded allegations. In which case the burden of proof lies with MLB.
Sure, the commissioner’s decision can be appealed to an arbitration panel, as can all suspensions, and you are correct about the burden of proof (assuming no criminal conviction). The problem with this for Bauer is unless the information already released to the public is completely false, he’s already admitted to a “covered act” as defined by the policy. Not having much of a leg to stand on there, I believe he’s going to attack the entire policy.
I appreciate that you’ve read the policy. Hardly anyone has. Pretty sure Bauer didn’t.
That’s the thing I’m not really sure he admitted to anything. In fact from the court transcripts of the accusers testimony it seems like a lot of the information that was released to the public was misleading.
@ Blue Skies If she consented he didnt violate the policy. Why should he accept a suspension for a policy he didnt violate? I dont think his behavior is healthy, but MLB doesnt have the right to suspend because it wants to look good to a particular demographic segment.
It all hinges on consent.
Did you read the policy? I’m guessing not, or you wouldn’t be asking this question. I’ll give you a hint, it contains language about consent, and what you just said isn’t it. And here’s another hint: both MLB and the players jointly developed and adopted this policy based on what they both believe is good for the business of baseball. Designing it to appeal to bro culture definitely isn’t it.
You’re not good at guessing. I’ve read it and dont see his situation fitting their definition of domestic violence. That leaves sexual assault as the other possible violation, but as I said that section is all about consent and the court already ruled that she consented.
So where is the violation?
A court has ruled on nothing but extending the TRO, which is irrelevant to the possible criminal case (obviously) and completely irrelevant to the language in the joint policy (obviously). Which, if you have read it, you have misread. It contains plain language on the limits of consent. To simplify, under the policy, “I hit her because she asked for it,” isn’t going to work as a defense. Because he has no leg to stand on this is why I’m saying that ultimately Bauer will attack MLB and the MLBPA’s ability and authority to sanction behaviors they view as being inconsistent with employment in baseball.
But where do you draw the line? If she consented to rough sex then he acted in good faith (there is probably a better word for this), what’s going to happen the next time a player has an encounter that doesn’t reach this level of gruesomeness, but does include what MLB would define as striking? This is a very slippery slope that MLBPA is walking on, and that doesn’t even begin to cover the possibilty that the accuser made texts that could open up the possibility of extortion.
About the only thing that MLB can use is her claim that she was at one point choked unconscious, which I don’t doubt, but MLB would have to prove that Trevor was aware that she was unconscious. I feel, and this is just a guess, that many people are thinking that she was out for minutes at a time (like they see on tv, when someone get choked out and misses the rest of the fight scene). When in reality it could have been seconds of unconsciousness we are talking about. Then there is the fact that she claims he struck her in specific areas while she was “out”, well if she is out, how does she know where and how he struck her?
That judge in the TRO ruled that her texts constituted consent. If you think that carries no weight in another courtroom I think you are mistaken. “I hit her because she asked for it” is exactly his defense. Not sure why you think that’s invalid. And if the DA doesnt bring charges then MLB has the burden of proof if they want to punish him. You think MLB can prove what the DA wont touch?
Bottom line for me: I think Bauer needs help. But if Manfred pushes a suspension he will put MLB in a court case that, likely, the DA has already decided cant be won. The ball will be in Manfred’s court, and we’ve NEVER seen him handle ANY difficult situation with wisdom and clarity.
It carries no weight at all in another courtroom, if only because if he is charged (and I personally doubt that he will be) then it will be with assault, and the facts and the law will be the basis of whether he is convicted, not what some other judge said in a completely different matter. More importantly, it carries no weight whatsoever in the even more important (IMO) question of whether he violated his terms of employment. What MLB needs to “prove” (keeping in mind, it will not be in a court of law) is not the same as in a criminal trial. What matters there is the wording of the joint policy. Based on a plain reading of this language, Bauer doesn’t have leg to stand on, so this is why I’m predicting that he’s going to try to destroy the policy with no care about the collateral damage it does to baseball.
Under the MLB policy they don’t have to prove any of that. The policy says.
“Lack of consent is inferred when a person uses force, harassment, threat of force, threat of adverse personnel or disciplinary action, or other coercion, or when the victim is asleep, incapacitated, unconscious or legally incapable of consent.”
Note this woman is claiming he violated both clauses, but the commissioner would only have to supply evidence that he violated the first one in order to order a suspension under the policy. You could argue that Bauer was somehow entrapped or lured into this situation, and maybe you’d even be right, but that does nothing to help his cause because he engaged in it voluntarily and presumably with full knowledge that as a ballplayer he was obligated to his terms of employment. Just don’t ask me to feel sorry for him.
So far this policy hasn’t created any slippery slopes. In fact to date every player who has been disciplined under the policy accepted the discipline, which included a mea culpa and a pledge to be a better and more responsible person going forward. Bauer doesn’t have it in his makeup to accept or acknowledge any of this, so that’s why he is where he is, and we are where we are.
I wonder what is holding up the decision about pressing charges.
Good question. For awhile I was thinking they might be waiting for the end of the postseason, out of courtesy to MLB. This could still be the case, but that reason looks less and less likely every day.
Sounds like blue sky was the fly on the wall… thanks for the inside info.
No, just paying attention. Actually reading the joint policy, that sort of thing.
And reading the judges comments…
What judge?
Live with what mistake?
This is the sort of question that if you have to ask it you probably won’t accept the answer. Start by reading the joint policy. Most of what you need to know is on the first couple of pages.
The three month investigation was completed in late August and was turned over to the LA District Attorney.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailynews.com/2021/08/27/pasadena-police-investigation-of-dodgers-trevor-bauer-concludes/amp/
Don’t you think that if he was gonna face charges he would have been arrested by now. The judge in the restraining order ruled that text messages in her part were consent. This is a moral issue not a legal issue. What Kobe Bryant did was much worse (different case/different time). He played again and LA sports fans revered after that case was resolved. If the LA DA rules it was consensual how can MLB suspend him? Prior MLB domestic violence rulings probably didn’t include the other parties consent. Will he pitch in 2022? Will it be for the dodgers? We will find out someday I guess. Don’t think he will face time.
BlueSkies_LA must’ve not read that article it looks like…. aint that something?
Because it’s total horse hockey. What the judge ruled in the TRO hearing has no bearing whatsoever on the possible criminal case and even less relevance to the commissioner’s judgment under the joint policy, which isn’t a matter of law but conditions of employment. And does Kobe Bryant play baseball? First I’ve heard of it. So no point to bringing that up, except as a distraction. Sorry if it didn’t work. Finally we don’t know what the LA Co. DA will do. If they decide to prosecute, we’ll hear about it. If they don’t, we’ll hear about that too. We’ve heard exactly nothing either way, and nothing can be inferred from nothing (but it won’t stop some people from trying).
Ei or ie, make your mind up. Check the bullet points at the bottom.
I am trying to decide who I have new found admiration for.
Freidman or Friedman.
The Col. would be proud.
It could be worse…if this piece had been penned by TC Zencka, Andrew Friedman would have turned into Freddie Freeman halfway through the article.
Dodgers should sign:
1. Marcus Semien
2. Justin Verlander
3. Starling Marte
Resign:
Max Scherzer
Clayton Kershaw
C Smith
1B Muncy
2B Semien
SS T Turner
3B J Turner
LF Marte
CF Bellinger
RF Betts
Bench
Lux
Pollack
Whoever else lol
Scherzer and Kershaw are free agents, so they can’t resign from a team that they aren’t even part of. I think you are looking for “re-sign.”
Thanks for your English lesson!!! Now—-
Do you know anything about Baseball???
Geeze—- correcting someone’s grammar on a redneck baseball chat is pure stupidity within itself!!!!
Just say, “Hey, I am a wanna be joc! And I can’t spell ether!”
Sorry to hurt your feelings. To answer your question, I’m sure I know plenty about baseball considering I played college baseball. You can remain all out of sorts and I’ll enjoy the fact that my favorite team just won the World Series!
Lol. He played called baseball, everyone! He knows more than you do!
Where did I say I know more than anyone else? He asked if I knew anything about baseball, so I responded with that I played college baseball. It’s hard to play baseball into college without knowing anything about the game. I’m not stating I know more than anyone else, but nice try by failing to demonstrate reading comprehension skills.
When did this become a “redneck” baseball chat?
And all sports teams wonder why revenue has dropped off so much… snowflakes everywhere
I believe Kershaw wishes to test the FA market, the same with Sherzer. If gives them better leverage to re-sign a FA deal with the Dodgers.
Kershaw and his family want to live full time in Dallas but want to pitch for the Dodgers. It’s a bit of a unique case.
Scherzer is looking for a combo of premium AAV and team that’s a legit WS contender. Unless someone offers him a huge deal I think he waits to see what moves each team makes before signing. I imagine there are only a handful of teams that will be legit suitors.
I keep reading that. So he he was going to leave or chance he leaves why not qualifying offer? I kinda assume he is a dodger for life.
A persistent, unsourced rumor, really just based on speculation. He wasn’t offered the QO because the Dodgers know that if Kershaw wants to continue playing it’s going to be for the Dodgers, not some hapless team just because they are close to his offseason home.
Switch Marte with Taylor.
Also, Scherzer will be a Dodger if he wants to be. They will make him a competitive offer. It will be up to him if he wants to stay here. If he chases more money somewhere else, so be it. Boras might use the Dodgers to increase the money somewhere else like he tends to dol
Note: the next Scott Boras free agent that this Dodgers FO signs will be the first.
Taylor is 2 years younger and plays ANYWHERE. Marte plays CF, where we have Belli, and LF, where we have Pollock. Doesnt seem like this is a step forward given they are in similar salary ranges.
A lot of this is just front office publicity speak. I think in reality the Dodgers are going to scale down spending and try not to go over the limit so they can get a reset after going over this past season. Talent level will probably drop over the next few seasons unless the Dodgers can find better cheaper talent in their farm system or another project. When productive players continue to hit the free agent market the Dodgers will only be able to keep a fraction of those players due to the much higher market value that these players command. Last season they lost Joc and K Hernandez. This season they probably lose Seager and Taylor, and most likely Jansen, Knebel, Nelson, and Kelly don’t return. Probably won’t keep both Kershaw and Scherzer. Heaney is a project, but a very expensive project that I’m not sure the Dodgers can rely on. They do get Ferguson and Kahnle and then May. But again, even with a free agent signing or two, the overall talent level will most likely be a drop-off from the last couple of seasons unless a couple of players emerge out of the blue.
Yeah, the Dodgers are just going to sit there and let seemingly all of their free agents walk and do nothing to get better. That’s what Friedman has done over the years.
It’s not a matter of letting them walk. They don’t have a lot of options. Payroll to maintain the same level of talent keeps getting a lot more expensive. What the Dodgers have done in the past 9 seasons or so is obviously not common. At some point it becomes unsustainable. I think we’re starting to hit that in the next season or so, as more players hit free agency. You have to replenish. So naturally they’ll have to part ways with a lot of players. I don’t think that they can keep Seager or Taylor. If they do keep Taylor, they’re way over the limit for a second year in a row, guaranteeing that they’ll have to severely trim after next season. They could sign both Scherzer and Kershaw. But both are in decline or at least injury risks at this age, and you’d have to overpay market value, at least for Scherzer. We’ll see what happens to Bauer’s contract, which is obviously a big factor. Something tells me though that the Dodgers won’t be able to get out of that one.
What they do is extremely sustainable because Friedman makes it so. If they don’t go over the luxury tax, they spend the absolute max they can without crossing the border. They don’t have any long term commitments outside of Mookie right now.
No way Dodgers do a payroll reset.
’22 already at about 210M.
That’s without adding any free agents.
All the more reasons they should reset this season versus next season. Even if they spend same amount as last season I don’t think that the talent level is any better than last season.
Well said, and I totally agree. To keep last season’s roster intact would cost well north of $300M and it would be pretty surprising if the budget Friedman says he hasn’t seen yet is going to accommodate that level of spending. The farm is pretty depleted besides.
“Depleted” they 5-6 top 100 in baseball America rankings iirc. They also have some highly regarded recent IFA that have yet to climb up the ranks. They traded Keibert and then Cartaya jumped way up in the rankings. They trade Josiah Gray and then their entire crop of pitchers from the 2020 class breakout to look like steals. The farm is fine.
Currently rated at 15th by MLB.
And that’s supposed to mean something? They have quite a few medium to high level prospects.
I made a mistake. In MLB’s most recent ranking (August), the Dodgers farm is rated 16th. This is what happens when a lot of top talent is traded. Why is this not meaningful?
It’s not something to look past but it’s not depleted at all.
Who is the can’t miss prospect right now for the Dodgers? I can’t name a single one. Most of the top talent is at the lower divisions, A+ or lower. I’m sure some prospects will emerge but I doubt they’re going to have the impact that we’ve seen in the past from the Dodgers in the teams from the last 8-9 seasons. It’s definitely been depleted, and it’s only natural. For every hit there are going to be a lot of misses. MLB.com rates the Dodgers #16. Baseball America #15. That’s called being average after being top 5-10 for many seasons. Fangraphs has zero Dodger prospects in their top 50. Dodgers have three in top 100, but two of those are #99 and #100. Busch #88, Pages #99 and Cartaya #100. Only Busch is AA or higher at AA, so a lot to prove.
Yup and with all the talent now at or close to hitting free agency you have to look for who is coming up to replace them, and it’s starting to look more than a little thin. Tough sledding ahead is my expectation.
You basically answered your own question. Those 3 hitters are their offensive can’t miss prospect. For pitching, how about you take a look at Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Clayton Beeter and Ryan Pepiot.
Miguel Vargas (#77 prospect according Baseball Prospectus mid-season rankings) and Diego Cartaya (#89 on Baseball America’s mid-season rank8ngs and #100 on Fangraphs rankings) are probably the Dodgers two can’t miss prospects right now. I’ve seen both of them play in person (Miguel in 2019 and Diego in 2021) and their hitting skills (and defensive skills in Diego’s case) clearly standout. Both will be much higher up the prospect rankings when the 2022 Top 100 lists are released.
They’re fine prospects but I would not call them can’t miss. Vargas just got to AA. Cartaya still at high A. Those look like the two best hitters in the system but we’ll see. There is no one really ready right now or maybe even next season.
@ blueskies
No one is saying anything about a payroll of close to 300M.
right now they are at $210M for payrol: thats without adding any FA or others. Next year; payroll est at $78M commitments.
LAD are not penny pinchers, they dont care about luxary tax.
To reset their payroll, they’d have to move salary. Moving salary means moving talent.
They will add top talent in ’22 to continue to contend. Alot of salary coming off the books after ’22.
My point was that this would be the price tag for keeping the current roster intact. They can make the team cheaper than $300M but can they also make it better? I believe the answer is no.
It is good that the Dodgers have not committed to too many long-term contracts, avoiding terrible contracts. That’s a double edged sword though because they’ll need to fill the roster with a lot more players, expensive free agents included. They tend to go shorter-term deals but higher dollars. So, it’s not necessary a good thing that they have a lot of salary coming off the books after 2022 because they also don’t have a lot of players committed after the 2022 season. What you want is a lot of younger productive players committed 2022 and beyond. They have some of that but nothing like prior years. They’re going to have to spend a lot of money to put up a similar type of roster with the same type of talent. Remember when Seager was cheap. Bellinger MVP season and dirt cheap. Justin Turner dirt cheap. Muncy, Taylor, etc. If you want to keep Seager and Taylor you’re going to have to pay way too much. That’s why it’s not sustainable unless you develop more cheaper players. It’s not just about spending money. When you look at the farm that’s not going to happen.
Don’t necessarily agree that the Dodgers just spend. I believe that the two previous years before this season the Dodgers were below the threshold and why they decided to go above this past season. They may go above in 2022, but no team wants to be a three time repeat offender so they’ll slash that considerably in 2023 if they go above 2022.
Agreed. This is what I mean by tough sledding ahead.
As expensive as the Trevor Bauer deal is, it’s also a short term deal with the worst case it running through 2023. If the Dodgers wanted to free up payroll and cap space, wouldn’t trading him and attaching 2-3 prospects of varying levels to a rebuilding team with cap space make a ton of sense?
As mismanaged as they’ve been, a deal like this would help a team like the Orioles greatly. They could immediately release Bauer if they wanted and they’d be showing their fan base that they want to expedite their rebuild.
Under normal circumstances I’d lean towards agreeing with you, but between the uncertainty with Bauer’s contract and the CBA negotiation I don’t think this will be the case. It’s pretty clear that SOMETHING is going to change and most people think the CBT system is near the top of the list as probables. They are not going to go out of their way to reset a tax for a system that won’t be around. If the team can get the elite players it wants, they will spend what it takes.
agreed, they will spend for top talent; its the Dodger way
Uhm….the OC Register reporter is Bill Plunkett, not Jim.
These comments. Sheesh.
What do you think about the dodgers signing Jon Gray? Is he high on the dodgers radar? What’s his projected contract?
I don’t see Kershaw & Kenley going anywhere else. I want the Dodgers to make the extra effort to get Chris Taylor and Max back. If Bauer comes off the books, hopefully that makes their offers more competitive.
The double edged sword with Kershaw returning is with his age and injury history, there’s just no way he stays healthy for the full season. I hope they get a deep supply of starting pitching because as the 2021 season showed, you can’t have too many quality arms.
Now a days Ladies love getting in your pants and once you don’t please them or do as they say, it’s diametric abuse or a nine consensual case. How about when the Ladies harass the man because they’re or at least look to be wealthy or they’re what they often call “So Hot” ? How about when they sexually harass us as well ? Should that be taken lithely? Of Course Not. We men’s need to stop becoming the Lambs and start standing up for our rights as well. With that being said, Bauer could’ve possibly been frame were she gave consent, then it didn’t work out her way… Then she twist the pie around ! Ladies with all due respect need to grow up ! Guys on the other hand, need to be more alert, a gentleman, and walk away !
I meant Domestic…. Sorry !
No problem……
Clear as mud!
Mookie needs to stop bowling.
The Trevor Bauer comments on here are interesting. The league has no teeth. MANFRED HAS NO BALLS. They will allow this to drag on long enough for the Dodgers to have to pay without ever getting his pitching services. It was a desperation signing… they were scared that a rival (Mets, etc.) would get Bauer and completely ignored all the psychological warning signs. They need to learn.
Bauer will pitch again. Not for the Dodgers. If you think your team won’t sign him, take a look at who your city votes for. If your fan base thinks the 2020 World Series ANNNDDDDDDD the 2020 election don’t count, you’re likely to be rooting for Bauer in 2023.