The 2019 Dodgers could look very different than the 2018 version. If anything, the Dodgers will have some vacancies not only on their coaching staff, but possibly in their front office as well. Despite this, and the Dodgers losing the World Series for the second consecutive season, an extension with manager Dave Roberts is expected to be announced tomorrow. According to reports, his new contract will be for four years in length.
In the meantime, the Dodgers will need a new third base coach, hitting coach, and possibly a new general manager. Chris Woodward the Dodger’s third base coach has left to become the manager of the Texas Rangers. I think it speaks volumes that other teams are poaching the Dodger coaching staff and front office. These guys are good, and other teams want them. Consecutive pennant winning organizations will have this happen.
Not only is Woodward departing, but hitting coach Turner Ward has received his last kiss from Yasiel Puig. Ward is expected to join the Cincinnati Reds and become their hitting coach. This move is the most perplexing as Ward is leaving the Dodgers to join an organization that is clearly inferior on the field. The Reds have been terrible for years. I’m assuming that the Reds are just paying him more than the Dodgers were. Who knows? We wish them the best of luck, unless they’re playing the Dodgers.
It isn’t known whether #SFGiants have set deadline, but folks expect Farhan Zaidi to decide very soon whether to take SF offer to run their baseball ops. Generally speaking (and nothing to go with Zaidi whose team played til end) SF has been frustrated by process length/turndowns
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 6, 2018
Roberts and Dodgers will have deal. Believed to be completed by tomorrow for 4 years.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 6, 2018
Finally the evil Giants have offered their vacant president of baseball operations position to Dodger’s general manager Farhan Zaidi. Currently Zaidi is second in command under Andrew Friedman’s regime. With the Giants he would become the boss. Overseeing the baseball operations alongside Brian Sabean. The Giants have been pathetic for more than three seasons now as they’ve suffered with an aging roster and barren farm system. This makes a lot of sense for them. They’ve fallen behind the times. In order for them to compete they must adapt and implement a more modern system.
I’ve said before that I wouldn’t shed a tear if Zaidi left. Oscar is openly excited about the possibility of new blood in the Dodger front office. I stand by my original statement especially since Zaidi is the man responsible for signing guys like Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson, and many other terrible players. However he is also responsible for signing a lot of good players as well. He’s still a smart guy and while I said I wouldn’t shed a tear, I still don’t want him to leave to go to the Giants.
That’s because the Giants could become competitive again if Zaidi is running the show over there. Not likely anytime soon, but it could happen. We do not want the Giants to be competitive ever again. There’s also a sick bent appeal to holding onto Zaidi. He’s our nerd after all. Then again, he could completely screw up the Giants even worse than they already are, so you never know.
In the meantime, many people are claiming that Josh Byrnes is a candidate to take over Zaidi’s job if he decides to leave. I would be very weary of Byrnes taking over. He’s been a GM before and was terrible with the Padres and Dbacks. Granted that was years ago, but it still gives me the worries. Until we know a more clear picture, the Dodgers have some work to do, and could look very different next season.
Ward supposedly cited a closer proximity to his home. I think he lives in Alabama….breaking news on Dodgers.com. Zaidi is leaving to head up Giants front office. Per Dodger digest, Dodgers expressing heavy interest in DJ Lamahieu.
If Saidi goes to the Giants do you see Bruce. Bochy letting him make ingame decisions?
Zaidi is gone as of this afternoon. Bochy makes all the in game decisions. Zaidi is going to have Friedman’s job in SF. He is not the GM. Director of baseball operations. He is the big cheese. Cannot call them FAZ anymore. The Z is gone, good riddance.
Definitely.
A Zaidi line, straight into the dugout. No independent thinking allowed.
Definitely.
Bochy will tell him to kiss his ass. He has forgotten more about the game than Zaidi will ever know. Oh yeah, according to some reports, Byrnes is the front runner to take over the GM slot.
Yeah, a thought is Bochy won’t allow those puppet strings to be fixed upon his neck. As for Josh Byrnes, I have seen nothing but negative reviews on him as to being a failure with AZ and San Diego.
Guess 2 straight trips to the Series is not enough for these guys. Ward I can understand wanting to be closer to home and Woodward always had managerial dreams. But neither of those guys are going to be cashing winners shares checks anytime soon. As for Zaidi, well, I think he wants the power. Because as the Gnats stand right now, unless they make some serious free agent signings or some trades that bring back some talent, they are more than a few years away from being serious contenders. There is even some talk they are thinking about trading Bumgarner. He would bring some talent in return. Their farm system is pretty thin right now. #1 farm system right now? The Padres. They have some serious talent down there. The Dodgers have 4 really good catching prospects. Those of you wishing for Harper, this little tidbit, he turned down a 10 year 300 million dollar offer from the Nats.
My guess would be that if in 2019 the Dodgers have a real losing record in those 19 games within the division with Giants, many will point to Zaidi coming over there and ‘spilling the beans’ so to speak on how Dodgers operate with players and game situations.
I doubt that. As for Byrnes track record, look at what he had to work with in both places. D-Backs were getting past spending all that money on guys like Johnson and Shilling, and until Priller came in, the Padres record of signing free agents for a lot of money was pretty bad. As for the Giants, the Dodgers had to win the last 3 games against them to win the season series. They had a losing record to the Giants up until that last series. The Giants have given the Dodgers a lot of trouble no matter who is running the team. Zaidi might have info as to players, and the analytics, so he can relate those stats, but the way baseball is set up today, teams have enough stats, video and what ever else they need rather than have the new head of baseball operations telling them anything they do not already know. Colletti came over from the Giants when he took over, and other than maybe some info about their farm system, it had little impact as to how well or bad the Dodgers fared against the Giants.
coaches are only as good as his players.
every coach is replaceable.
Good bye to Tweedle Dum…. Will Tweedle Dee be able to function without his evil twin?
I am almost sure that Bochy will not put up with Farhan meddling in his managerial business. Roberts has been called “The Good Soldier”, for doing what ever the FO said. Bochy has been around too long to be a so-called “Good Soldier”.
To blame Roberts for the back-to-back failures in the World Series is wrong, and is probably why he was rewarded with an extension. He did exactly what his bosses wanted, so he was only following orders. FO got exactly what they wanted….all the focus is now on Roberts and why he was not fired, diverting the focus on them as the real blame, and Farhan slipping out the back door with a promotion. Even still, with all the FO signal calling, DR was able to get the Dodgers to the Final Show twice…. like a wrestler with one arm tied behind his back.
I can only guess, but I think Farhan will do what ever he can to get Harper to San Francisco, and supposedly “Get a Leg Up” his former boss.
Hard to make any predictions with the Dodger squad, until Grandal and Ryu make up their minds on accepting or rejecting their QO’s.
It will be interesting to see how Maeda and Realmuto get along in the Japan series. Maybe they will plant the seeds for a strong working relationship.
I hope the Dodgers have an opt-out clause in Roberts’ contract.
Not that I have seen. 4 years, no option.
I stand corrected…..they picked up his option today. The extension is still being negotiated. Also, Friedman not sure he is going to hire a new GM. Said he might just spread duties around the FO. Another coach leaves. Danny Lehmann… communication and game planning will not be back.
The Fazonian era has ended. Not a moment too soon. As for coaches, they are pretty much interchangeable. Some have huge impacts on players and others, not so much. Ward was able to do something that none of the other prior hitting coaches have done and that was make real headway with Puig. Not even McGwire did that. Honeycutt has been really good at spotting mechanical flaws in pitchers and has turned more than a few careers around. Base coaches are pretty interchangeable. The third base coach, depending on his personality is one of those people who can affect games. His split second decisions on whether to send a player or have him hold depend on his knowledge of his players capability’s. Over his time with the Dodgers, Woodward really knew when to send those guys and was usually right. Bundy on the other hand, when he was there, made some really bad decisions. Rumor mill is heating up, but almost all the sites agree that the Dodgers are not really in on either Machado or Harper. Phillies are the front runner for both and the Yankees are said to not be interested in either. I doubt they would be unless they moved one of their major pieces like Stanton or Judge, and I do not see that happening. They just resigned Gardner, and they still have Elsberry. Plus Frazier and a few others. Nats offered Harper 300 mil over 10 years and he turned it down. Friedman said that Machado’s lack of hustle was known before the trade, so it was no surprise to the team. Grandal is in the sights of both the Mets and the Astros. We will have to see if he turns down the QO first.
Michael,
When Puig came into the league, 2013, McGwire was the hitting coach. Under McGwire, Yasiel had his best years, 2013-2014. In 2015, he got hurt and only played in half the games. Whether it was McGwire’s influence or not, I couldn’t say with certainty. Puig’s WAR was more than 5 during those first two seasons.
When Ward came in 2016, Yasiel’s WAR plummeted to 1.4. The only stat that improved was the HR. Even his OPS couldn’t reach what it was the first two seasons. Can we call that making headway with Puig?
His best year under Ward, he batted .267 compared to .296 & .319 under McGwire. His on base % was higher by 40-50 points under McGwire.
Oddly enough, I was never thrilled with McGwire. The team suffered as they do now from prolonged slumps and power outages. Ward certainly didn’t help out in that department or in the SO dept. Sorry, but I can’t go along with your opinion about Ward. I agree about Woodward, though. In fact Puig’s CS stat decreased. However, Puig’s on base instincts stink and he’s made some real doozies. He needs a good 1B and 3B coach to guide him.
I really wouldn’t mind seeing Puig traded. We can get good value for him and hopefully pick up a starter that is a more balanced player. To remind you once more about Puig’s deficiency against LH pitchers, this should never fly when acquiring imbalanced hitters. If you can’t play against both RH&LH pitchers, you should be in the AL as a DH or PH when facing your strong side. This is why the platooning doesn’t work for the Dodgers because they hitters that are strong against a RH or LH pitcher are not strong enough to compensate for any lack of the opposite side. Good players are good in all aspects of the game. Dodgers need to go in a different direction in the OF and with C. I think we both agree about the catching situation.
Hopefully, the Dodgers will go after at least 1 starter if Ryu opts out. The Yanks have a couple of guys that I would be interested in. Sonny Gray & J.A. Happ. Gray is not doing well with the Yanks and they are open to trading him. Happ is an excellent vet who could help us, too. I like Kluber and of course Eovaldi but I don’t know if the FO will pony up the bread.
Manny looks like a no-go. Fine with me. LaMahieu looks good at 2B and we hope Corey can be at full strength at SS. That would cement an impressive infield. Somehow, I think they will pay for a 2B after they were so exposed and embarassed at that position this year. If they are serious about Verdugo, give him LF and let’s see what he can do. Try to trade Puig and Joc, Wood and Maeda, and sort through the relief army and weed out the walking wounded both physically and mentally. Look for another closer for the future. It’s a bad sign for Kenley not to be able to play in Colorado. They must also make a decision about Fields. Is he in or out? Baez, Ferguson and Urias are in, thankfully. I would also keep Stripling in the pen. The others are all gambling chips to be used in trades or sent on their way. This is my view as of today.
As an addendum to Puig’s poor batting against LH pitchers, He was fantastic his first 2 seasons with McGwire hitting both very well. He steadily went down under Ward. Way down.
I was referring more to his maturation Jeff. He seemed more into games than in earlier years. He still does some head scratching stuff, but his off the field antics are not happening any more. And you could tell he really was engaged with Ward. I saw him over there talking to him a lot during the season. But it matters not now. This entire team has problems hitting left handed pitching, although as a group, they were better this year. Even Kike was not as good as in the past. I like you think a more balanced approach is needed. I think a lot of the going down is due to the overall view of this organization that has to do with launch angles and such. McGwire was never with the FAZ boys . I am pretty sure Mark does not believe all that launch angle stuff.
C Mike Zunino close to being traded to Tampa for an outfielder. Mallix Smith set to go to the Mariners, for Zunino and Heredia. Matches up with the thinking that Gordon is moving back to second and Cano will move to 1st base. Smith is a speedy CF and hit .296 this year for the Rays. Boros wants a super contract for his super star.
The name is Boras, not Boros.
Got him mixed up with former player Steve Boros. My bad….does not matter…..who ever the guy is he wants a massive contract. And a report surfaced today that says the Dodgers want to stay under the tax for the next 4 years…..so I am guessing, no Harper and no Machado….
Dodgers offered Puig for Harper as a waiver wire deal.
Old news. Happens all the time. Since it did not go through, it is worthless news. They have been trying to unload Puig for the last few seasons. Would Harper have made that big a difference in the playoffs and series? We will never know, but what we do know is that Puig was their best hitter in the playoffs, and the big addition, Machado was a huge disappointment.
I would like to take a moment and step away from baseball. I offer my heartfelt prayers to those who lost family and friends in the shooting in Thousand Oaks. As a vet I am so very sad that a young man who fought in Afghanistan felt there was no other course than to commit this act. It is a shame that it has come to things like this. I offer prayers to his family also who are no doubt struggling to understand how this all happened.
Now there is a brushfire in T.O. When it rains, it pours…
I’m probably way to the left of most who post here, so I won’t say too much following Michael’s lead.
But the ignorance and lack of support systems for both veterans and those with mental health conditions is really awful and terrifying.
That is very true Bluto. And it matters not which end of the political spectrum you might fall on. We are all Americans. Does not matter what one might believe. Does not matter what color or race you are. All who serve are subject to the dangers, both physical and mental. I have a very good friend who was a Marine in Viet Nam. His unit was ambushed in a rice paddy. He was one of 4 men who survived out of the entire company. To this day he still has nightmares. The VA does what it can, but there is really nothing that can alleviate what he feels in his head. Since I was never in combat despite the fact that I was in the Army for 9 years, I can only imagine what he went through. Badger was also a Marine.
Dodgers release Chase Utley so he can retire. Joe Mauer announces his retirement.