After a stunningly incompetent playoff exit, the Dodgers have reportedly finally realized that they have to change their losing culture if they are ever to win a World Series. The only way to do that is to bring in star players or experienced postseason performers from outside the organization. It made me raise my eyebrows when the news broke that the Dodgers are reportedly interested in trading for Cleveland all-star shortstop Francisco Lindor.
I am surprised the Dodgers are even interested considering the first task should be upgrading their mediocre pitching staff, but I have no problem with the Dodgers acquiring Lindor. There is no question that the 25-year old switch-hitting shortstop is one of the most talented players in baseball. He’s definitely one of the best shortstops in the American League. Lindor has been selected to the all-star squad in four consecutive seasons and has finished in the top ten in American League MVP voting in three of the last five seasons. This year, Lindor slashed .284/335/.518 with 32 home runs and 74 runs batted in while scoring 101 runs in 654 plate appearances. Lindor posted an OPS + of 118, (he averages 119 per season) and posted an .854 OPS.
Not only is Lindor a good hitter, he’s a fantastic defensive shortstop, possibly the best in the game. He’s posted a spectacular 55 defensive runs saved and a +56 total zone fielding runs above average. He also can run the bases well, evidenced by his 22 stolen bases and 93 career swipes. Lindor is awesome and it would be bad ass to see him in a Dodger uniform.
However do you believe any of this hype? As you all know by now, Andrew Friedman of the small market mind has yet to ever bring in a star player via free agency and has brought in only two players via trade (Yu Darvish, Manny Machado) that you could even consider star worthy. Friedman does not acquire top players, he is far too cheap and small market minded to do it. That’s why when I heard this rumor I almost immediately dismissed it. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Then again, there may be some truth to this. Lindor has three team control seasons remaining and then is scheduled to hit the open market around age 28 and is certain to demand a large payday. One would think that the Indians couldn’t afford to keep him anyways and may be better off trading him now when his value is highest.
Sources: #Dodgers expected to pursue offseason trade for #Indians 4-time All-Star Francisco Lindor, as one possible avenue to add star power to lineup. Story: https://t.co/9WRvCrP0o5 @MLB @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 29, 2019
If the Dodgers hypothetically were able to bring in Lindor, who would they include in the deal? How would the infield look after a trade for Lindor? Obviously any trade for Lindor would probably involve Corey Seager. Look, I love Seager but let’s face it, he’s nowhere near the player he was when he first broke into the majors. Injuries have derailed his career and while he was productive in 2019, he wasn’t anywhere near the hitter he used to be. We don’t know if Seager will get back to that level. Not only that but he is one of the worst postseason performers the Dodgers have.
If the Dodgers trade for Lindor, I could see a package being headlined by Corey Seager with at least a couple of prospects going to Cleveland in the swap. Maybe they would include Joc Pederson (I hope not) and some high ceiling prospects like Jeter Downs, or even Tony Gonsolin could be involved in a potential swap.
If this were to happen, Justin Turner would likely be moved to first base. The Dodgers are reportedly trying to move Turner to first where he would see less wear and tear on his old and clutch body. Top Prospect Gavin Lux would likely move to third with Max Muncy manning second and Cody Bellinger playing center or right full time. Would A.J. Pollock get dealt? What about Joc or Alex Verdugo? There are all kinds of different configurations the Dodgers could try. It doesn’t matter. If the Dodgers can get Lindor, that would be great. The question is, do you believe any of this hype? Or is this just another Andrew Friedman trade masturbation. We’ll find out.
Trade rumors are are flowing, as everyone is everybody is desperately trying to come up with the “Million Dollar” answer to revive the Walking Dead Dodgers. Lots of big names are being thrown around, and we all know that they will come at a high price. Also, would Lindor, or any other top tier player want to come to “The Platoon”?
To think of Cory Seager as expendable, just because he had a couple of poor performances in the PS, is absurd and a bit too premature. Cory has had some tough breaks, due to injuries. Why isn’t anyone talking about trading or getting rid of Kershaw? Clayton has been just as much a disappointment in October, if not more, than Seager. Clayton is also a huge financial burden. The Dodgers could find two or three decent players for what they still owe to Kershaw. What about Jansen, Pollock, and Kelly? Owners screwed up and locked these players into ridiculous contracts, and now they insist on sticking with these “slugs”, rather than cutting there losses, swallowing there pride, and these contracts, and moving on.
Seager is still young and under team control at a reasonable price…. just don’t get too crazy with contact negotiations. Seager still has time to prove his worth before he becomes a F/A. His payday will come, and he should not get too greedy.
Adding Lindor will only create a hugely disruptive, defensively unstable “Platoon” situation in the middle of the infield, with Lindor, Lux, Muncy, CT3, Kiké, Muncy, and maybe even Seager, all being shuffled around by Roberts….. total chaos.
Dodgers have to focus on pitching…. did I not mention Kershaw, Jansen, and Kelly? I’m sure there are some desperate teams out there that would take a chance on these “slugs”, and relieve the Dodgers of some of the financial burden and heart ache.
…. And cut back on the “Platooning” and relying too heavily on the lefty/righty matchups.
Just my honest opinion.
As Scott says here,’ I will believe when I see it.’ Bluefan I know that you realize that this is just a rumor, pipe dream and Indians will demand a great deal more for Lindor than they will from any other team. I don’t see it happening. However what ends up happening with Seager remains to be seen. But he is another LHB of which we are still over balanced in anyways. And I do agree with ya that pitching, both starting and relief need a DEFINITE upgrade or we may not even win the division in 2020. And one other thing to consider is that Roberts will return and most likely will do the same things with the daily lineups as ya say and that is one big reason why Lindor or any other elite player, FA or otherwise will not want any part of this Dodger organization.
As you know, I have been saying for a long time that the issue of Friedman and his acquisitions is more about Andy’s ego. He won’t be signing Lindor, unless he is just handed to him for next to nothing (that ain’t happening). Andy dumpster dives not because he has to, due to no budget, he tries reclamation projects because they stroke his ego. He wants to be known as the next Andy Beane in Oakland (by the way, Moneyballs has never won a WS as well, food for thought). Trust me, AF has an ego equal to or bigger than any player in the MLB, just watch any of his news conferences, he is a smug, arrogant personality. I know that most don’t understand this concept, but as you know, I have been saying this for the last three seasons.
Write it down, no rings in LA as long as MoneyDumpster is running our front office.
True, we are preaching to the choir, unfortunately,
We all know AF’s tendency to dumpster dive, looking for that miracle find. And we all know his track record. He might be better off buying a lottery ticket, and “if” he were so lucky to hit the jackpot, he could use it to pick up a top tier player, or two. I think the odds would be in his favor.
In the mean time, his bosses continue to fill their bank accounts, and not invest in a championship caliber baseball team.
So, AF is truly an idiot, don’t get me wrong. But I also have to give him a little benefit of the doubt, as his hands are somewhat tied by the ownerships failure to invest money into the team, but they will not hesitate to spend millions on stadium renovations. AF will not hire a GM because he thinks he can do it all himself, and nobody in their right mind would take the GM job anyway, and have to answer to AF.
The domino effect falls to DR, who can only work with the cards he is dealt by AF. Ownerships inability to allow the acquisition of a solid core of players, leads to a roster full of underachievers and dumpster picks, that somewhat forces his hand, to platoon in desperation to find a capable combination to run with.
We need a change of ownership, but that will never happen, as the Dodgers, even though they are incapable to cross the finish line with a World Championship, they still are the top tier organization in MLB, and “cash cow” for the greedy ownership. Dodger owners are not baseball fans, they are just stingy investors.
So the Blew Saga continues….
I’m not so sure that MoneyDumpster actually takes the proposals of high-paid FAs to the owners. I think he told ownership that he can find gems in the trashcan and that is how he does his job. It’s his pride, I’m telling you, it is written all across his face in interviews.
????
So. much can be read from his facial expressions. He is oblivious everything but himself. He may be fooling his bosses and some blue goggled fans, but he is not fooling us! Funny, I used to work with fools like that. That is why I went into early retirement! ??
There is truth to that about spending a ton of $$$ on stadium renovations instead of the team but, you already gave a good reason why about winning a Championship not on their agendas.
Lindor may be dealt by the Indians but he WILL NOT be a Dodger in 2020. And BTW, Cole will come to a West Coast team via FA but that team also WILL NOT be the Dodgers. Rendon is a FA but the team he signs with WILL NOT be the Dodgers. I don’t believe I have to explain any further why.
The rumor mill churns on and on. Baseball writers say this and that based on snippets of conversation by other baseball writers. Rarely do they have inside information from any team, and AF is notoriously closed mouth about free agents and potential trades. First you have to look at what AF would be willing to give up for only 2 years of Lindor. Considering that, he would not give up a lot. Lindor makes more money right now than Seager does, and although an upgrade both offensively and defensively, the need is not there. Pitching, pitching, pitching. The Dodgers despite leading the NL in pitching have needs there. They are most likely losing 2 starters to free agency. Hill and Ryu. Hill is over the hill so no great loss there, but Ryu, despite Buehler’s good season, was the teams best pitcher. His demands, or rather his agent’s demands are going to price him right out of LA. His only chance of coming back here is the fact that AF has not given large contracts to free agents who are not Dodger free agents. That being said, Boras is already talking a contract north of 100 million and 5 years at least, and that right there is where it becomes a deal breaker. So the question becomes, who replaces them? Well we know that the Dodger plan as already stated is for Julio Urias to join the rotation full time. And from all reports so far, Kenta is returning to the rotation also. At least AF says this is the case. So, that means Kersh, Buehler, Urias, and Maeda so far. Urias has talent, but we have no clue what you are going to get out of him over a full season….big question mark. Who are the other candidates? May, Gonsolin, Stripling, Ferguson all have starter credentials. May at times looked un hittable. Gonsolin showed some good stuff and grit. I would feel comfortable with either one of them in the rotation, but is that a championship staff? Questionable at best. Now you get to the real problem, the bullpen. They pitched better in the second half, than the first. But I honestly believe, they need another pitcher with closer credentials behind Gas Can Jansen. Middle relief is pretty easy to find, but those back end of the bullpen guys are harder. One thing, if they were to actually seek a trade for Lindor, maybe they expand the deal and get Hand also. I see a lot of speculation being thrown around, but no hard intel.
Well, unfortunately the Dodgers ran into a buzz saw. Just goes to show you that 100+wins mean nothing. 100+ wins does not make a great team. The team that really wants it, comes home with a trophy and a ring. With Heart, Motivation, Determination, comes a World Series Championship….. not with spreadsheets, 2nd guessing, and false hope.
Buzz saw indeed, but that saw blade could have been made toilet paper. Face it, the Dodgers had the NLDS in their back pocket and choked. And, even if they had happened to beat the Nats, they would not have had what it takes to go all the way.
Congrats to Nats. Congrats to Kendrick.
On a sad note, RIP Ron Fairly.
I was so frustrated with the Dodgers team, all season as you know, that once they screwed themselves over, I had had more than enough MLB for 2019. I read a ticker this morning and saw that the Nats won it all, I’m sure that some of you who watched the WS probably saw a better brand of baseball than we saw all season with the Dodgers, like clutch hitting, not swinging for the fences or strike out mentality, put the ball in play, adjust your swing based on the count or the situation, reliable starting pitching, reliable bullpen pitching. We saw virtually none of that all season. Yet, the Dodgers won 106 games, that tells you just how awful that the game of baseball has become across the entire league.
“I fart in your general direction!” — Monty Python, The Holy Grail
That says it all right there, True Blue.
Also, in reference to Scott’s blog topic, I don’t want any player on our team that has the name “Francisco”, that’s just wrong. Also, no players named “Diego”or “Snake”, no names that have any close association to our division foes. (no Blutos or Brutus either, lol)
The Dodgers are not an October team. They are what they are – a highly successful draw near 4 million cash large tv contract checks win the Division March through September organization. The Dodgers and the Yankees don’t have to win championships to be on the top of the pyramid. They’ve got enough f*** you money, probably in offshore tax free accounts, to keep this pantomime going for decades.
Now begins the off season song and dance to keep us interested. By now we know how it goes. We will be in on the Cole talks, we will be teased by a Lindor acquisition, and we will eventually end up with Anderson, Kazmir, McCarthy, Pollock, Kelly…..
We’ve seen the movie before. It’s a good movie. It will be up for an Academy Award. But it won’t win. The Dodgers are the Peter O’Toole of organized baseball. And we fans will keep paying because … it is a good movie.
Okay, thank you for repeating what has been said by many of us all season (yeah even back to the first week of the season) LOL. Many of us are totally NOT surprised by the BS we have been hearing all season and the past three season. In fact, I WOULD BE totally surprised if they actually did anything differently, yeah it sucks to know that about your team, but sometimes reality sucks.
“Life’s a piece of shit when you look at it” — Monty Python, Life of Brian
???
Sorry, Badger,
It is not a good movie.
Then why do you and millions of others keep watching?
This team won 106 and were favorites all year. They just gagged again on their own field.
Yeah True, it’s a fact you and several others have been bitching and belly aching all year. And it was tiresome to hear the constant whining, thus the reason so many posters exited. In the end, the last game of 167, you were right and the team came through for you. Now what?
More of the same I suppose.
Badger,
I have not “watched“, since Spectrum took over the airwaves and robbed Dodger fans of access to watching live games, without subscribing to their service.
I am a fan (yes, even though I bitch and moan), but I have resigned to just listening on the radio.
I refuse to contribute to the Dodger Cash Cow. I have better things to waste my money on.
I listen for the love of baseball, and that is all, and I will continue to root for the Dodgers, and will continue to bitch and moan because I know this team could be better, if the owners were not so clueless as to what it takes to have a winning ballclub. If the blue goggled fans continue to storm the turnstiles, the blue boat is not sinking, it is hydroplaning, so why fix it.
Well said Blue.
The lemmings keep coming because the product between April and September is exciting to watch. They won 106 games! THAT is the movie to which I refer.
I don’t get Spectrum either. I get the occasional game televised locally, I get the post season games and I do watch them. When I lived In Arizona I purchased mlb and watched on my iPad. I haven’t been to a game or purchased so much as a hat in 3 years. But the Dodger faithful keep paying. Nobody draws more fans to the park than do the Dodgers. And they go because the product is worth watching.
But there’s always something or someone that in the end steps forward and ef’s up. This time it was Roberts. Announcing his plan to insert an aging reliever, a starter with an after the 5th inning ERA north of Fairbanks. Dumb move Doc. Maybe that was his outward response to Friedman refusing to get what this team really needed, bullpen help. Whatever, at this point we know what to except after the regular season ends.
So what we have to celebrate is a long, successful regular season. 106 wins is a successful movie. Just ask the team accountants.
Bluefan; Well I guess it bares repeating in all honesty about the FO, Roberts and how things are run:
Some teams (Nats for example) have what it takes
And Dodgers just have excuses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only thing I could do is not renew the MLB Extra Innings package, because going to a game and spending $$ there is out of the question since I live about 850 miles away. But it won’t change anything anyway.
I haven’t been to a game in a long time, no cash coming from this lemming, lol. I watched closely all year to this exciting postseason train wreck, really it was pretty easy to predict a early exit. I do laugh at some that are actually surprised and amazed that the Dodgers didn’t advance, what the hell are they smoking, it ain’t just pot, must be chasing the dragon or something.
“God save the queen, she ain’t no human-being” — Sex Pistols
I admit I was surprised they lost to Washington. I had them losing against Houston.
Not me, pretty easy to see actually even in April. I didn’t know it would be the Nats, but I knew it would be in the first round.
“The Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning” — Journey