Here is some Dodgers news that you may have already heard about during a super slow time right now. Right handed reliever Yimi Garcia missed the entire 2017 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery but the Dodgers still tendered him a contract anyways according to J.P. Hoornstra as the two sides avoided salary arbitration.
The Dodgers signed Yimi Garcia to a one-year contract, avoiding arbitration.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) December 1, 2017
Garcia was a primary cog in the Dodgers bullpen back in 2015 as he posted a 3.34 era in over 50 frames logged. However injuries severely limited his playing time over the next season which ultimately led to his ucl replacement.
It remains to be seen as to when Garcia will make a return to the mound, but if and when he does he could find a spot in the Dodger’s relief squad if he’s healthy.
Yeah we heard. The Dodgers offered contracts to 8.
What might be interesting to write about is what happens now. These offers are all considerably less than what was projected on various sites. Now we go to arbitration. Who’s going to be disappointed? Several offers are way low. Wood’s offer was about $4 million less than what was projected. If I’m him I’m a bit pissed.
Where did you see how much was offered? I looked but did not see that. I know Grandal was projected to get 7.7 mil. Garcia I will hold my opinion until I see him throw in the spring. Yeah, I bet Wood is pissed. But with the season he had, an arbiter should pick his number.
I misread it. Oops.
Morosi thinks Stanton is waiting to gauge the Dodgers real interest in a trade before he makes his decision. Also Bochy was not at the meeting between Stanton and the Giants reps, so no trade is imminent. Some free agent pieces starting to fall and 26 new guys on the list who were non tendered. Including Matt Adams. Would love that guys bat off the bench. Congratulations to the USC Trojans on their PAC-12 Championship.
Ohtani says no to Yankees. NY instead will take Gonzalez and pay only $11 million of his salary. I made that last part up.
He is in LA meeting with Dodger execs.
Source : Cardinals offer to Marlins as I previously reported, is centered around P Sandy Alcantara. I’m now told STL has also offered more money than SF in their deal.
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Source : Stanton trade expected to be finalized in the next 2-3 days.
Source?
Well, the voices tell me it won’t happen until later.
Craig Mish. SiriusXM MLB. Pretty good with sources, IMHO. Not Rosenthal, but good.
Have not seen that anywhere either……I believe he is waiting to see if the Dodgers, after they figure out the luxury tax ramifications, make a serious offer. At least that is what I have read. As for Ohtani, he crossed the Red Sox, D-Backs, Twins and a couple of other teams off his list too. I do not think Stanton will be traded until at least the end of the winter meetings.
Could very well.
Your reasoning does make sense.
Wouldn’t that be something if we got them both.
I rather have Stanton, then the other big free agents, after the 2018 season.
I am not worried about the luxary tax, because the front office can be creative enough, to make Stanton work this next year.
And as everyone knows, we will be in great shape, after the 2018 season!
Ohtani wants a west coast team. Supposedly Giants or Mariners have the best chance to sign him. As of right now, Dodgers are still in the hunt.
If the Giants get Ohtani and Stanton, look out ….
But I think the west coast teams that are in the running are the Mariners, the Padres, the Giants and the Dodgers. Probably in that order. Why Padres? Logan White, who is a legend in Japan and who initially recruited Ohtani for the Dodgers. I don’t want to say that karma is a b@$*! as it has not happened yet, and I think the Mariners are probably in the drivers seat. Just so everyone knows, the city of Seattle has a great reputation as a top place to live amongst affluent Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.
I disagree Yueh. My reason is that those two guys are not going to fix a team that has more holes at this point in time than Swiss cheese. Pence and Span are getting injury prone and older. Belt has also had injury problems. The entire team had trouble scoring runs and the only consistent hitter on the team is Posey. Bumgarner was never good all season, although he should rebound some Cueto was very beatable as was the Shark. Their bullpen was toast and they blew more leads than a 10 year old race horse. It will make them a little better, but not that good.
Whatever ails them, the giants will fix it. Those guys have the money and the know how.
I’m not saying the Giants will get both or either, for that matter. Looks like Stanton said no to both Giants and Cardinals. Reports now say it’ll take a while to do a deal.
They are arguing. They are making their arguments.
I don’t trust those sneaky gints. They will be back.
I hope this stretches out a while. It means Stanton is prepared to wait it out.
“6:50pm: The Padres will receive a meeting with Ohtani, FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reports (Twitter links). The Dodgers are also thought to still be active in the Ohtani sweepstakes though Heyman doesn’t have confirmation; regardless, the Dodgers aren’t thought to be favorites to land Ohtani.”
Rangers apparently still in the hunt and their manager saying 6 man rotation could be in their future. In my open any team that is serious about him should consider a 6 man rotation. With our staff we should consider it too.
Badger
I think a 6 man rotation would be better then the phantom five day DL.
But they still could make use of the five day DL too.
A six men rotation will keep our pitchers more sharp, and help them build off every start they make, especially at the beginning of the season.
Some of our pitchers had problems when they came off that five day DL, because some of our pitchers, were not as sharp with there command, when they came off the five day DL.
And that would allow then to pitch six innings in a average, and keep the innings down, on the bullpen.
And they would still win at the same pace, if not win even more, and this would help our pitchers to still be strong in the post season.
I agree with all of that. We manipulated the DL to stretch our guys out so effectively we sorta did have an extended rotation. I think we will do the same thing again next year.
FanGraphs makes a play that the Dodgers should pursue Stanton:
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-dodgers-should-pursue-giancarlo-stanton/
Kind of a bird in hand argument, “The Dodgers’ cost to acquire Stanton isn’t just the money they’d have to pay Stanton and whatever luxury tax payments came along with taking most of his deal; it’s the opportunity cost of maybe not signing Harper next year, or having to let Kershaw walk if they decide they really do want Harper anyway.”
If they get Stanton, they won’t likely be in on the Harper sweepstakes.
I read that fangraphs article too. In my mind, Stanton makes sense for the Dodgers, especially if the end of that contract can be mitigated. We have quite a few stars under team control or arbitration eligible. I’ve been saying for a few years now, with considerable pushback, that the Dodgers can afford to stay at it over the tax cap for years and not suffer. All of that said, I won’t be surprised if Stanton ends up somewhere else.
So you think the Dodgers should get Stanton, but expect them not to.
It’s a no-lose situation for Badger.
I think the Dodgers should win less than 100 games, but expect them to win more!
I like this!
I said I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t. We know what they like – just look at the transactions since ‘14. They’ve never done anything like what taking on Stanton would require.
I also said I don’t think they will win 104 again. Not sure what you’re driving at.
The Dodgers have the financial room and prospects and expiring contracts to make a Stanton trade work. Just not the urgency nor the FO.
They also have the desired location!
My opinion, and this is an opinion only, is that this FO, while it can afford Stanton, does not seem all that fired up to do what needs to be done to secure his services. They have never in their short history with this team taken on that kind of a contract. The ownership approved a couple of big deals before Freidman and Zaidi arrived, but since they took over, other than their own free agents, Turner and Jansen, they have not forked out big money. They are trying to get under the salary cap, and although almost 40 million dollars has been freed up, they have as of today shown no inclination of spending any of it. Now, they do not have a lot of money to offer Ohtani, only 300,000 dollars. But they do have a city in which the largest Japanese population in the country resides. Whether or not that is important to him is unknown. But he can get much more of a bonus elsewhere. Personally, I think this particular FO goes for what they have done since they got here. The cheap fix. There has been talk that they might try to work out a 3 team deal to land Stanton, but no real proof that is happening. I feel they will probably make a couple of trades, mostly fringe guys, and no big splash at the meetings. I would love to see them prove me wrong, but the track record says I am right.
Mr. Norris
You are definitely right IMHO.
I agree too, and have said as much a few times. The FAZ pattern is clear. We already have a starting team, and this team won the pennant after easily winning the West. With only the potential loss of a couple non starters, we should win the West again. It would be nice to have a RH bat, but we needed one last year and who did they get? Franklin Gutierrez. What did he cost? $2.6 million. This is what they are looking for. I hope they surprise me, but if they don’t I still like our chances in the West.
Dodgers are at this point in time, Dec 5th, 2017, the class of the Western division. That can all change in the next 10 days. Neither the Giants, Rockies or D-Backs are going to sit on their hands and not make improvements. The Giants are in heavy negotiations to get Stanton, and they are talking to Ohtani’s reps also. The Giants have more money to spend than the D-Backs, but they could make a surprise move or two. The Rockies have some major pieces from last year who are free agents, such as Holland. Reynolds, and Gonzalez are also free agents and so is Chatwood. I do not expect the D-Backs to pony up the amount of cash it is going to take to sign JD Martinez, but you never know. I would feel a whole lot better about the Dodger’s position if they do a few things. 1. Get a starter who is a horse. An innings guy who can be the solid #2 behind Kershaw. Ohtani would fit that bill, but if they do it by a trade, that’s cool too. 2. Get a RH power bat to play LF. This platoon crap is getting old. 3. Re-sign Morrow and get one more solid arm for the bullpen. Minor is out, he signed with the Rangers. 4. Trade Grandal.
I agree.
But the platoons are here to stay. A stud RH bat, Martinez or Stanton, is not likely for the reasons already mentioned. We have Puig, Turner, Forsythe, Barnes and Taylor and that might be enough. We have Seager, Bellinger, Toles and until further notice Pederson and Grandal. We should have enough offense to compete. We have Kershaw and the 6 who follow. The bullpen will be kneaded season long and will likely be good. I have said it before and I’ll say it again; the FAZmanian pattern is clear. I look for more of the same. It’s actually worked. Why would they change course at the point?
I agree with that Badger. I know they like the way they do things and are most likely going to keep using that system, which has been successful so far. But what do they do next year when Harper is available and Kershaw can opt out? I think, and have read, that Harper is going to command the largest contract in MLB history. Most think it will exceed 400 million dollars, dwarfing what Stanton is due. He is 3 years younger than Stanton and coming into his peak years. Myself, I see absolutely no way the Dodgers go after that guy. I think they will concentrate on trying to keep Kershaw.
Stuff from all over:
FanGraphs Prospect Chat:
On who has the best chance of being future starting of for dodgers: diaz, peters, or heredia?
Eric A Longenhagen: Diaz has the best chance because he’s well-rounded and the most polished of that group, but Peters and Heredia have more upside.
On who is seen as a better starter prospect: Mitchell White or Dustin May?
Eric A Longenhagen: May
on Dodger OF prospect Kendall?
Eric A Longenhagen: Tooled up but needs a swing overhaul.
FanGraphs also has a fan poll about the Dodgers front office:
the current results:
Very good 76.53%
Pretty good 17.37%
Average 3.76%
Very bad 2.34%
Pretty bad 0%
BP has an overview and a Top Ten for the Dodgers system:
The State of the System: Our 2016 best system is baseball is starting to dip due to graduations and trades, but it’s still a top ten org, and there is still more potential impact talent close to the majors.
The Top Ten:
Walker Buehler, RHP
Alex Verdugo, OF
Yadier Alvarez, RHP
Keibert Ruiz, C
Dustin May, RHP
Yusniel Diaz, OF
Mitchell White, RHP
Jeren Kendall, OF
Gavin Lux, SS
Jordan Sheffield, RHP
Old Friend News:
The Dallas News had an off-season mailbag. One subject was Calhoun, of whome they write:
As the roster stands at the moment, I think Willie Calhoun’s role is as a left fielder. The roster has Mazara in right, DeShields in center and Calhoun, perhaps in a bit of a platoon with a right-handed hitter, in left. But the Rangers could also add a center field candidate and move DeShields to left and leave Calhoun fighting for at-bats as a part-time outfielder and part-time DH. He can hit in the big leagues, but he did look awkward in left in his first month in the majors. How much of a shot he gets next year, I think hinges on two things:
1. Do the Rangers add a center fielder who would push DeShields to left?
2. Do the Rangers find a way to move Shin-Soo Choo’s contract?
I read one report that projects the winners of the major awards that had Calhoun winning the ROY. Will be an interesting season, especially if Ohtani signs with the Rangers.
I hope Calhoun kills it.
I’m one of the 17.37%
I hope Calhoun is successful. I always liked him and thought the criticisms, especially those who said his legs were too short to run, were childish, inaccurate and uncalled for.
Verdugo and Buehler should both play in the Majors next year. I think every one of those names in the Top 10 are Major League talents.