The Dodgers acquired more outfield depth today, even if it is intended for Oklahoma City. The Dodgers signed a pair of outfielders to minor league deals. The club announced signings of Paulo Orlando and Cameron Perkins. Both players will receive invitations to major league spring training when camps open. You may have heard of Orlando.
The Brazilian outfielder played in the 2015 World Series driving in a run with a base hit. Orlando has played his entire career for the Royals but has yet to see his talents materialize into MLB success. He appeared in 86 games in 2015 and 128 in 2016 for Kansas City while gathering 251 and 484 plate appearances respectively. During 2016 he slashed .302/.329/.405 with 5 home runs and 43 runs driven in. That was good enough to notch a 93 OPS+ for the campaign.
The following two seasons saw him shuffle between triple-A and the majors. Unfortunately he didn’t get much playing time at the major league level. He appeared in 39 games in 2017 and only 25 in 2018. Orlando while putting up good defensive metrics has nearly zero plate discipline. He drew just 13 walks in 2016 and has just 22 total free passes during his 4-year MLB career. He is 33-years old.
Dodgers have signed former Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando to a minor league deal.
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) January 4, 2019
One more Dodgers transaction today: Former Phillies/Mariners outfielder Cameron Perkins has signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) January 4, 2019
As for Perkins, the 28-year old Indianapolis native was a sixth-round draft choice from the Phillies in 2012. He didn’t crack the majors until 2017, when he appeared in 42 games and was 16 for 88 good for a .182 batting average. Note he did hit one home run as a major leaguer. The Mariners did acquire him off waivers last season but he never saw any major league action.
Defensively he can play all three outfield positions and can also play the corner infield spots. Perkins bats right handed and is a big boy, listed at 6’5 and 195 pounds. I’m assuming both players will report to Oklahoma City when the regular season begins. If either of these guys even sniff the major league roster than that means something has gone horribly wrong and several regulars and backups have been injured. You never know, we’ve seen this happen before.
I am oh so excited at these 2 impressive additions to the Dodger family!!!! NOT! More AAA fodder.
Michael, as others have told me, it is important to regain some minor league depth that may have been lost due to them becoming FA’s or trades. But NOW IS THE TIME to consider the big league roster IMHO.
Holy Shit! Print the WS tickets, it’s a lock.
Like I said previously, this FO is not going to be making any blockbuster trades for real major league talent. This is all about Friedman’s ego. Hollywood is interested in a movie about Friedman and his kick ass FO skills, “LooneyBall”
LOL, Good day True Blue! These signings are certainly for the minor league depth, as some of our minor league players have gone to FA. Not sure we will see these 2 OF except during ST. What Freidman does next???? Stay tuned…….
It was sarcasm there Paul. Same thing Friedman has done every year he has been in charge. Although the first year he was the BIG CHEESE, he made I think it was 27 trades. Most of them of the minor variety. He also leads the league in waiver wire claims. Sometimes he would claim players and put them back on waivers the same week because he had claimed someone else he thought was better. It is no surprise that one of the 3 minor league deals for an outfielder came from Tampa. The Rays are the Dodgers AAAA farm team the way Friedman is always plucking or trading for them. But a major move for a significant free agent? It has not happened in his tenure. He signed his own, Jansen and Turner to the largest contracts he has ever handed out, but both were 5 years or less and no where near 100 million. Kershaw’s large contract was signed before Ol Andy came on the scene. Right now it is wait and see. Harper is becoming less a reality every day and the Nationals are back in the drivers seat as most likely to sign him because they brought the 10 year 300 plus deal back to the table. Dodgers never in on Machado at all. Realmuto is not happening, not when the Marlins insist on Bellinger as the start to any trade. So, they will get the warmed up leftovers for dinner again.
Zaidi, as the new Giant GM is showing a love for exe Dodgers as he signed Venditte as a free agent and today got Breyvic Valera from the Orioles for cash. He sent Valera to the O’s as part of the Machado deal last July. Shades of Friedman!
Yankees sign Britton for 3 years close to 40 million. No way the Dodgers would have offered anything close to that.
Britton looks a lot like Sandy Koufax
It is amazing to me at how quick and easily the likes of Friedman and Co. can cut loose Dodger stars Puig, Kemp and Wood who I think would be considered above average players. The same cannot be said at how quick and easily he obtains above average players but I do think he would give a little more thought before getting rid of these type of players. Even if he doesn’t like them he could give the fans a little more consideration. Afterall it is the fans who pay for all of them. Every year they say how many players will be available next year while never getting any of the available players from last year. This is what makes me a Friedman hater. They lie so easily it makes one wonder if they ever tell the truth? The sooner he is gone the better.. I also understand that it will be much harder to get rid of ownership but they lie just like Friedman. Magic, Kasten, Walters and the rest are awful at telling the truth. Love Magic if you want but even though he is a hero in LA he is less than truthful. Oh well, just remember that when Friedman tells us something it is the same song and dance he does EVERY year and then he proceeds to do nothing. Never expect him to do anything during the offseason, he never does it.
Welcome to the reality of the sports business world.
Picking up on True Blue’s comment, Buster Olney has an interesting (I don’t buy all of it) look at how the Player’s Union could move to increase signings and bring life to the Free Agent market:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/25692838/mlb-union-chief-find-way-fire-hot-stove
It’s a pay article, so I’ll only post a few excerpts:
“Meanwhile, the expectations of another class of free agents are getting destroyed this winter, with nearly 200 veteran players still looking for jobs just six weeks away from the start of spring training. And here’s a solid preview of next winter, and the winter after that: Without substantive changes, the number of free agents will grow, swollen by the staggering number forced to take one-year and minor league deals, and the conditions will worsen.”
“There is no getting around this simple fact: Clark’s approach in the last round of collective bargaining — to wait until the last days and hours of talks to seriously negotiate with MLB — was a disaster for the union. When the frantic, late talks ended and the dust settled, the luxury tax thresholds were much lower than what the players needed; the luxury tax penalties were so onerous that teams treat them as a de facto salary cap; and there were no real adjustments to rules to discourage the growing practice of tanking.”
there never should ever be a contract longer then 3 yrs…its a sport that changes quickly ..injury happen ..and they still get paid… even minor league player make more then a average worker. there sport as gotten way out of control on wages ,, it now cost us more to go to a game ..we can,nt watch it on tv..more kids are playing soccer then baseball ..if you cant watch it way play it..
Even the LA Times has it right this time with the Dodgers.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-hernandez-20190105-story.html
When the press even gets a story right, you’ve got big problemo. It is only about winning enough to keep fans interested and more importantly make huge profits. Profit is number one, winning a championship is a very distant number two. However, I have heard some idiots claiming just getting close is an awesome achievement (Zaldi went as far as to say getting to the WS two years in a row is a great achievement. Okay take a look at Zaldi, he would never be confused with being an athlete, looks more like someone that works the counter at Cold Stone Ice Cream).
I think I am approaching the point of nearly not giving a damn.
True
I am just highlighting the fact that the story does put light on the fact that the ownership owes the fans at least some very very good players, especially now. Friedman gets away with doing nothing year after year as you know.
I hear ya, ownership should be at least attempting to reward the fans, sadly the fans are a very distant second as to what the ownership is trying to satisfy.
Morosi’s latest:
In Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer trade talks, Indians have yet to move off their insistence on a Chris Sale-level return in order to move one of them. Discussions with Dodgers have been serious, but no sign of recent progress.