Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Dodgers Sign Louis Coleman

Louis Coleman

The Dodgers have signed Louis Coleman to a one-year 750,000 dollar contract, according to MLB writer Devin Fink. According to the report the contract is a guaranteed MLB contract. The 29-year old right hander has spent his entire MLB career with the Kansas City Royals. He was drafted by the Royals in 2009 and made his MLB debut in 2011. He had originally agreed to a 725,000 dollar arbitration deal with the Royals putting them on the hook for the remainder of that salary. Coleman has two more years of team control via arbitration. He was given the axe in order to clear room for the Royal’s signing of Ian Kennedy.

Coleman has been primarily a middle reliever during his time in the American League. However he had problems in 2015 and only appeared in 4 major league games. He did have a good campaign for the Royal’s triple-A affiliate Omaha Storm Chasers of the PCL. Down there he posted an 8-2 record with a 1.69 ERA in 38 games. He whiffed 8.9 per nine innings against 64 innings.

Coleman appeared in 48, 42, 27 and 31 games respectively between the years of 2012-2014. He posted an ERA of 2.87 in 2011, 3.71 in 2012, and 0.61 across 29.2 innings pitched in 2013. He’s struggled ever since then, posting a 5.56 ERA in 2014. Coleman has a career 3.20 ERA across his five major league seasons with a 7.3 hits per nine rate, and 9.4 strikeout per nine rate. He has a career 4.30 FIP and has allowed 4.0 walks per nine innings.

Coleman was born in Greenwood Mississippi and played college baseball for the LSU Tigers. He graduated with an agriculture business degree. Coleman is primarily a fastball/slider guy. His four-seamer usually reaches up to 92 MPH, with his slider touching around 80. He also has a changeup he occasionally throws to left handers.

Scott Andes

Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic

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Scott Andes
Scott Andes: Longtime writer and Dodger fanatic
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28 thoughts on “Dodgers Sign Louis Coleman

  1. This is another head scratcher for me. Coleman does not appear to be comparable to Garcia or Baez, which would seem to indicate that he is headed to OKC. The Dodgers have multiple RHRP capable of middle relief much younger than Coleman. Coleman (just like Tsao) is going to take innings away from others. If the Dodgers needed middle relief then okay. But ML ready RHP is something they have an abundance of. Pitchers and catchers report today so hopefully the plan can start to take shape over the next six weeks.

  2. Doesn’t throw hard.  Throws a sinker and gets weak contact.  Likely in AAA for the year.

    I think the strategy is buying low on cheap stocks. Sometimes their value rises. He used to be good. Maybe some work with mechanics or a different mental approach in a different setting creates a different outcome. Every once in a while you get some Bolsinger value.

    Anyone going to Spring Training?  I was thinking about going for a three game block mid-month.

     

  3. If any of you have not read the interview of Andrew Freidman by the L A Times, you should read it. Some of you are asking what is his plan. He does a very good job of explaining why he is looking down the road and building the farm system and still trying to win now. He now feels he has the assests in the farm system to make a trade or help the major league club. In all the trade talk in the last two years the other clubs wanted their top prospects, and the Dodgers would not part with them. In summary they wanted to build their farm system as quickly as possible and try to win now.

    1. And anyone who follows the team should recognize this as plainly obvious.  The team wants to build for the future and not trade away the future, while trying to win now.  The goals are not always complementary, and it’s a balancing act that takes some skill, but it’s not hard to understand.  There might even be some stumbles along the way, but that is the plan, and it’s been implemented and continues to be implemented.

      .

      It is a continuing source of exasperation to read intelligent people here practice a kind of willful ignorance by repeating, ad nauseum, this trope that there is no plan, the FO is feckless and incompetent or cheap, or is giving up completely on the now for some mystical 2018.  They are all ridiculous notions, but are repeated on and on and on like some scene out of Groundhog Day.  Wouldn’t it be liberating to get over your angst and find something else insightful to discuss about the team?

      .

      It’s really not that complicated…at least to understand what the goal or the plan is.  It’s actual implementation is another story.

      1. Sorry that some of us are just too willfully ignorant to grasp the plan. Actually, I’ve been following the Dodgers actively since 1965 and saw my first game live in 1959, so I think that I get it.

        So, to run the risk of your further censure:

        1 – The Dodgers lost Zach Greinke to a division rival right after he posted an historically good season. I understand that he will not likely post similar numbers ever again, but the Dodgers that I grew up with would never have allowed Don Drysdale to go to the Giants.

        2 – Instead of trying to replace Greinke with someone likely to be close to as good (Price, Cueto, etc), they signed 3rd option guys like Kazmir and Maeda and called it depth and therefore just as good if not better than Greinke. Signing a top quality free agent would not cost any of the team’s coveted prospects. So yeah, they did it cheaply.

        3 – The Dodgers will of course be good in 2016. But will they be as good or better than they were last year? Given that the team finished .500 in games not started by Kershaw or Greinke, it seems unlikely. I expect them to compete for the Division title, but I just don’t see them as World Series candidates, although the past 2 years have certainly proven that the “best” teams don’t always win in the post-season and if you can get there you always have a chance.

        4 – The Dodgers’  biggest weakness last year was the bullpen and they have the same bunch of guys this year that they had last year. They have the same glut of outfielders (many aging and left-handed) that they had last year.

        5 – The so-called depth that the apologists for the Braintrust tout is mostly made up of the same guys that they had last year (Ryu, McCarthy, Utley, Kike), so this is nothing new.

        6 – Like all teams, the Dodgers certainly have their questionmarks going into the season and hopefully the pre-season will answer some of these, but not all of them. The initial health questions (Ryu, Turner, Grandal, Kike) will be answered in part in the spring. The issues of how certain players will perform this year (Puig, Pederson, Grandal, Ethier) will be revealed with the playing out of the season. All teams have their questionmarks, but the Dodgers have more than most.

        7 – The long-term plan, which relies on a great farm system is the way that the Dodgers used to do things and I am glad to see it; however, we are very pitching-heavy among our top prospects with only a few top position players among them (Barnes, Bellinger, Verdugo), so if we really plan on relying on our great farm system going forward, the team has to draft someone other than pitchers.

        8 – I don’t believe that Don Mattingly was such a poor manager or that Dave Roberts will be so great that the team will have such an epiphany that they will automatically win 5 more games than last year like some commenters do. We don’t know how good a manger that Roberts will be – he has never done it before. While Mattingly was a poor Xs and Os guy, he did do something really important – he kept the team playing and didn’t let them give up even when things weren’t going well. In 2013, the team went 42 – 8 after being in last place. Of course, they added talent in Hanley and Puig, but the team didn’t give up – same in 2014.

        9 – There is a certain distrust of the SABER-tendencies of the Braintrust. That is going to be impossible to overcome for some. In my view all data is valuable – the numbers and the scouts both have something valuable to add and neither should be ignored or neglected.

        I hope that the above-mentioned analysis doesn’t insult your obviously superior intelligence…

         

         

        I hope that

        1. Mattingly was no motivator. After Murphy hit that HR, the whole dugout looked like it was already over, and the Mets were only one run ahead. Mattingly was lucky he didn’t lose his job 2013, when the Dodgers started out so slow, and the only reason the Dodgers were able to turn that season around, was because Puig came up, with a hot bat, and Hanley came off the DL with a hot bat. In fact, Puig’s and Hanley’s hot bats, saved Mattingly’s job, because he was about to be fired.

        2. Rick, in fairness, we didn’t have Ryu last year, which hurt our chances badly. Would have liked to see him start Game 3 over Anderson.

        3. 1- Your right the Dodgers you and I grew up would not have lost Drysdale because free agency didn’t exist then. I’m also not sure O’Malley would have overpaid for him any way. Part of the reason the family sold was due to player salaries.

          2-I don’t think they singed a big name starter because of Ryu. May be crazy counting on him but he would be a 2 on most staffs.

          3-Completely agree maybe they make a deadline trade that puts them over the top. I certainly hope so.

          4-Bullpens are finicky year to year this pen could be better, worse or the same. They have the arms they just need better second pitches. The outfield is a mess but they may need all of them if Puig and Pederson don’t perform.

          5-That depth is what helped get them to the NLDS despite losing the second most player days to the DL

          6-Agree there are a lot of question marks but it appears the posters feel the Dodger questions will all be negative and the other teams will all be positive.

          7-There are others in the pipeline that show promise not highly rated but some with major league potential, Willie Calhoun, Kyle Farmer, Yusniel Diaz, Mitch Hansen and Brendan Davis. Also don’t forget Trayce Thompson and Micah Thompson. Besides Kasten’s philosophy was develop arms and buy bats.

          8-All I ever needed to see of Mattingly as a manager was the teams on the field play. Never have I seen a team skate on it’s talent more. This team never showed any heart any fire in the belly and needed Kershaw to talk about the team needing a sense of urgency.

          9-That was Zaidi’s job in Oakland to keep a balance between the two factions.

          I don’t think this season will be all gloom and doom but FAZ will have to make in season moves. As of today this team is built to survive 162 I’m not sure they’re a World Series contender today, some additions will need to be made for that.

  4. Looks like a wide open competition for 2-3 spots in the bullpen. We can really see what the bosses think of these guys by how much playing time they get in spring training. No time=3A.

  5. Al, I am not sure that anyone disputes that Andrew is building the farm for the future, for trades and 25 man. I think the concern is 2016. Just like Greinke, 2015 is gone. Badger, I just checked, LA still does not have Hamels. We have to move past it. So the logical question is how will they build a WS caliber 25 man roster? Signing Coleman and Tsao do absolutely nothing to achieve that level. They are adding to a position of organizational depth that they already have an abundance of (glut?). I would have rather FAZ do nothing than add these types of players. Again, this is organizational depth that LAD cannot afford to asorb much less use. If they are not done time tinkering with the bullpen, put something together to get McGee out of Colorado. It’s not like he is going to make Colorado a contender. See if they would take Baez, Ravin, and Lee…throw in Tsao and Coleman, what the heck.

    1. The plan seems to change month to month.  No one is against building the farm system or holding on to top-tier prospects.  But the failure to address the shortcomings in our bullpen while signing overpriced Cuban prospects and stockpiling AAAA players is part of the plan that needs to be thrown overboard.

      The pen has been an Achilles’ heel for three seasons and the best they’ve come up with is Joe Blanton?  And the one reliever we’ve been able to count on is in his walk year.  Will they offer Kenley an extension?  Oh no, he’ll be cheaper once he becomes a free agent.  This will give us flexibility.  He may have a bad year, and we can sign him to a “team-friendly” contract.  Do they have a plan B?  Did they have one for Greinke?

       

  6. Idadoal, yes that article is must reading for anyone, who can’t see the FAZ plan.  Freidman has stated the plan before, but, the article makes it very clear.

    .

    GO DODGERS!

  7. Well they put McCarthy on the 60 day DL to sign this guy, and he has a guaranteed MLB contract. Was not bad for the Royals. K’s 9 men per 9 innings. But also has control problems. Out of options, so he makes the roster, or he is a gone cat.

  8. For white spacing . . . try three (3) extra return clicks.

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  9. Andrew said he now feels he has assets in place to make a trade and not damage the farm. Some of their signings are for AAA, such as Tsao. Coleman, who knows. He pitched well in AAA. If he does not make it, he will go down. The only signing I do not like is Blanton and Utley. Those two signings take up roster spots that I think the young players should have. I think there will be a lot of competition for the bull pen. If it does not work out, then I think a trade will be made.

    1. Al, the problem with Coleman and Tsao is that OKC will already have Ravin, Liberatore, Thomas, C Anderson, Bonilla, Frias, and Avilan (if Wood makes the 25 man). Plus there were already 3 – 4 AAA organizational relievers already on the OKC roster.

      Originally I was upset about Blanton, but I am now of the opinion, let’s see what this new slider can do. If he repeats his time with the Bucs, he could be a good reliever. I totally disagree with you on Utley. He was signed before anyone knew that Kendrick was possible. Seager needs a solid 2B to be his mentor around the bag. Plus I think Utley is such a no nonsense pro that he can be the 2016 version of Kirk Gibson. Veteran influence in the dugout and clubhouse is critical for guys like Seager and Hernandez.

  10. AC sometimes I feel the same way you do, about these obscure pitchers. I feel just like you, that they are taking away the preparation time, from the pitchers that are on the 25 man roster, and the players, that are trying to make the 25 man roster, that do have a chance. I don’t understand why they gave Blanton a guaranteed contract, instead of just giving him a try out in spring training, to see if he can make the team. If Blanton pitched so well, for the Pirates last year, why didn’t the Pirates sign Blanton back? I don’t think that Blanton had many teams interested in him, so why give him this guaranteed contract?

    1. Why give him a guaranteed contract MJ? The same reason McCarthy was given 4 years when nobody else would give him two. The braintrust figured Blanton was the better option. If it doesn’t work, then whoever is pitching well at OKC steps in.

      And of course there is this: Instead of 1 player making $11 million (Chapman) we have 11 players making $15 million – or whatever it adds up to. We rich. Stack ’em up. And actually we can save a little money by investing in the surgically impaired. It’s an interesting approach. So far, I don’t think we’ve seen any of the broken wings stand and deliver. Maybe soon?

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