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Manager Notes: Baker, Gibson, Torre

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A couple of interesting managerial notes for your Sunday reading pleasure:

  • Dusty Baker continues to mull over the contract extension offered by the Reds, writes the Cincinnati Enquirer's John Fay. It's believed that the offer was for multiple years, but Baker won't confirm that. He says that he's focused on winning a division title, not his own future.
  • In a piece for MLB.com, George Von Benko writes that Kirk Gibson says he'd like to continue managing the Diamondbacks, but regardless of who's in charge, the organization will be headed in a different direction in 2011.
  • Joe Torre called rumors connecting him to the Mets "irresponsible," writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. According to Torre, he's had no conversations with anyone regarding his future.

Dodgers Notes: Kemp, Ethier, Loney, Free Agents

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It's been an eventful week for the Dodgers, with news that Don Mattingly will replace Joe Torre as the team's manager. Let's check out a few more updates out of Los Angeles, as the club prepares for the offseason….

  • GM Ned Colletti says he doesn't intend to drastically overhaul his roster this winter, according to MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. "A year like this makes you look at every aspect of the team and makes you more apt to listen [to trade overtures]," Colletti said. "But it won't make me aggressively tear it up."
  • Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times thinks that Colletti would be right not to move Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier, but argues that the club should look into dealing James Loney. He also suggests that signing a free agent outfielder should be the Dodgers' "only big winter expenditure."
  • According to Gurnick, Colletti would like to add a productive left fielder to replace Manny Ramirez. It's unclear whether the Dodgers will have the resources to bid on players like Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth.
  • Catcher and third base also may be areas that need to be addressed, says Gurnick. Rod Barajas will be a free agent, Russell Martin will be recovering from a broken hip, and Casey Blake could be shifted into a utility role.
  • The team is expected to try to retain free agents Ted Lilly, Jay Gibbons, and Barajas. They could also attempt to bring back Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla, depending on asking price and health.
  • A few longtime Yankees weighed in on Torre's decision to step down, as Chad Jennings of the Journal News writes.

Davidoff On Beltran, Greinke, Takahashi, Kemp

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The Mets are sending "strong signals" that they'd like to trade Carlos Beltran this winter, an AL official tells Ken Davidoff of Newsday. Davidoff acknowledges that the Mets often seem to want to unload big contracts, but rarely follow through. However, Beltran, as opposed to Luis Castillo or Oliver Perez, is a player that other teams would have interest in. Here are Davidoff's other hot stove notes:

  • The Royals have Zack Greinke signed through 2012, but aren't sure whether they'll be competitive by then, so they'd be willing to listen to offers on their ace. Davidoff lists the Yankees, Rangers, Tigers, and Nationals as teams who might be interested.
  • Hisanori Takahashi is eligible for free agency this winter and would like to be a starting pitcher. One AL scout is skeptical: "Who’s going to sign him to start? Maybe a bad team, at the back end of their rotation. He’d be better off staying in the bullpen. He’s really good there."
  • Davidoff wonders if new Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will be more willing to deal with Matt Kemp than Joe Torre was. A scout compares Kemp to Alfonso Soriano, suggesting that both players lack baseball instincts and struggle to improve their games.

Odds & Ends: Coyle, V-Mart, Lackey, Ellis

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Saturday night links, as Troy Tulowitzki's jaw-dropping September continues….

  • Fort Washington, Pennsylvania product Sean Coyle is now represented by Sosnick-Cobbe Sports, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.  The shortstop received a $1.3MM bonus from the Red Sox as a third-round draft pick out of high school this year.  Sosnick-Cobbe already represents the draft's other big-name Pennsylvania native in the Phillies' Jesse Biddle, who was drafted in the first round.  There may be another million dollar draft pick from the state next year in Derek Fisher, a high school outfielder hailing from Rexmont.
  • Clay Buchholz would love to see Victor Martinez return to the Red Sox next year, according to Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald.
  • Terry Francona tells MLB.com's Ian Browne that he was "thrilled" the Red Sox signed John Lackey last winter, and that he hasn't lost any confidence in the investment.
  • A.J. Ellis' recent play for the Dodgers could put him in line for a bigger role next year, writes Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times.

Rockies Acquire Octavio Dotel

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The Dodgers have traded Octavio Dotel to the Rockies for a player to be named later, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.  The two sides will split Dotel's remaining salary and the buyout for his 2011 option, leaving Colorado on the hook for $250K (Twitter link).  Since the Rockies are playing the Dodgers in L.A. today, Dotel will simply change locker rooms.

Dotel came to the Dodgers at the deadline in exchange for pitcher James MacDonald and Andrew Lambo as they looked to make a postseason push.  The 36-year-old registered a 3.38 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 across a 19-game span in which the club fell out of playoff contention.

The contract that Dotel signed with the Pirates last winter included a $4.5MM club option for 2011. However, when Pittsburgh traded the veteran reliever to the Dodgers, the option became mutual. Renck (Twitter link) doesn't expect the Rockies to exercise the option, even with some money coming off their books this offseason.

Having been traded after August 31st, Dotel will not be eligible for the postseason.  The Rockies could certainly use the help however as they trail the Padres by 1.5 games in the NL West and the Braves by 2.5 games in the Wild Card chase.

Free Agent Stock Watch: Hiroki Kuroda

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This upcoming free agent pitching class is obviously highlighted by Cliff Lee, but it lost a little luster when Josh Beckett and Tim Hudson signed contract extensions. There's still another high-end pitcher available for teams looking to improve the front of their rotation, however. Dodgers' righthander Hiroki Kuroda is in the final season of the three-year, $35.3MM contract he signed with the team before the 2008 season, and will be able to pawn his services off to the highest bidder this winter.

Kuroda, 35, is wrapping up his finest season in the Major Leagues even if his 10-13 record suggests otherwise. In 182 innings spread across 29 starts, he's posted a 3.36 ERA with 2.3 BB/9 and a career best 7.4 K/9. Through 482.2 big league innings, he owns a rock solid 3.60 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9, which is the kind of performance any team would love to add to their rotation. 

The one real negative is Kuroda's health track record. He missed close to three weeks with shoulder tendinitis in 2008 then almost two months with an oblique strain last season. A concussion suffered when he was struck by a batted ball took away another three weeks of his 2009 season, but that's a fluke occurrence and we shouldn't count it against his durability. The good news is that Kuroda has skated through the 2010 season healthy and without any significant medical issues. 

Even though he has just three years of service time after spending most of his career in Japan, Kuroda can become a free agent through a courtesy that MLB extends to Japanese veterans. He currently projects as a Type-B free agent, though it's far from a given that the Dodgers will offer him arbitration given their uncertain financial state and his $13MM salary this year. While he might not command that kind of annual salary on the open market, there's really no reason Kuroda should have to settle for less than the three-year, $29.75MM deal that former Dodger Randy Wolf signed last winter.

Torre To Step Down; Mattingly To Take Over

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8:35pm: Hernandez tweets that Mattingly's contract to manage the team is for three years. He also had a signed contract before the season that guaranteed him the job if Torre stepped down, according to a second Hernandez tweet.

1:53pm: Joe Torre will announce today that he's stepping down as Dodgers manager after the season, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times. He will be replaced by hitting coach Don Mattingly, who will manage in the Arizona Fall League, but does not yet have professional experience as a manager. Yahoo's Tim Brown also reported the news.

Torre, 70, could consider offers for other managerial openings or retire after a Hall of Fame-caliber career. Torre has a 2318-1990 record over the course of 29 seasons as a big league manager and led his teams to the postseason 14 consecutive times from 1996-2009. One of Hernandez's sources says Torre could keep working in the Dodgers organization.

Dodgers Triple A manager Tim Wallach, who had been considered a possible candidate for the opening, could now become an option for other clubs.

Reactions To Joe Torre Stepping Down

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Dodgers' manager Joe Torre announced today that he will step down after the season and hand the reins over to Don Mattingly. It's unclear if he will retire or look to manage elsewhere, but that's not enough to stop everyone from chiming in on the move. Let's see what is being written about Torre's decision…

  • Dusty Baker spoke fondly of Torre to John Fay of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com says the Dodgers have been grooming Mattingly for the job and have been in constant communication with commissioner Bud Selig's office about their desire to hire him, which is why they did not have to go through the interview process (Twitter links).
  • AOL FanHouse's Tom Krasovic doesn't think Mattingly is the right guy for the job.
  • FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi states the obvious and says that Mattingly has his hands full with his first managerial position.
  • Jack Moore of FanGraphs says if nothing else, this will serve as a decent test of Mattingly's ability to lead in the clubhouse.
  • Tom Verducci of SI.com thinks that Torre has accomplished everything he's set out to do as a manager.
  • SI.com's Jon Heyman hears that Torre is unlikely to get the Mets' managerial job, which of course is not vacant yet (Twitter link). Joe Capozzi of The Palm Beach Post says he isn't a candidate for the Marlins' job, either.
  • Meanwhile, CBSSports.com's Dan Knobler hears that Torre is unlikely to manage anywhere next season (Twitter link).
  • ESPN's Buster Olney says (via Twitter) that Torre is tired of the travel, and another job would have to be a "perfect fit."
  • Triple-A Albuquerque manager Tim Wallach told Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times that he would prefer to be on Mattingly's staff next year rather than back managing in the minors (Twitter link).

Odds & Ends: Young, Torre, Williams, Bass, Ethier

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Links for Thursday, after lots of chatter about Derek Jeter's acting ability…

  • The Padres will wait until Saturday to activate Chris Young from the disabled list, at which point they'll need to remove someone from the 40-man roster according to MLB.com's Corey Brock (Twitter link).
  • Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times tweets that Joe Torre has informed his wife and Dodgers GM Ned Colletti about what he plans to do next season, but he will not make his decision public just yet.
  • White Sox GM Kenny Williams chatted with Joe Posnanski about football and the challenges of being in second place. Check it out at SI.com.
  • Brian Bass cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple A, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (on Twitter). The Pirates designated Bass for assignment earlier in the week. 
  • Andre Ethier told MLB.com's Ken Gurnick that it doesn't even make sense to comment on the rumor that he'd like to play in Boston.
  • Joe Pawlikowski of FanGraphs argues that the Royals should offer Wilson Betemit a contract this offseason, since he can be something of a "bridge between the present and the future."
  • Indians GM Mark Shapiro told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that he and assistant GM Chris Antonetti met with friend and former colleague Josh Byrnes. The former D'Backs GM "would make anybody better," including the Indians, Shapiro said.

Heyman On Yankees, Dodgers, Beltre

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Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. told Jon Heyman of SI.com that you could make the case for Cole Hamels as the team’s 2010 MVP. Roy Halladay might have something to say about that, but more importantly, the Phillies are red-hot. Here are the rest of Heyman’s rumors:

  • The Yankees don’t let executives under multi-year deals interview for jobs in other organizations, which is why scouting director Damon Oppenheimer won't interview for the D’Backs GM job. The policy means Oppenheimer won’t be a candidate for other GM openings this winter.
  • Triple A manager Tim Wallach remains the favorite to become the Dodgers’ next skipper if Joe Torre doesn’t return, as many of Heyman’s sources expect.
  • Some “Red Sox people” say they won’t be surprised if Adrian Beltre looks to match the $64MM deal he signed after the 2004 season. They say the team won’t offer close to $64MM.
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