We’re approaching the end of 2018, but we’re also approaching the beginning of spring training. It’s not far away, just around the corner and the Dodgers have done little to nothing so far this offseason. To recap the Dodgers activity, they’ve extended Clayton Kershaw (93 million dollar three-year deal); they’ve signed David Freese, and extended qualifying offers to Yasmani Grandal and southpaw Hyun-jin Ryu. Grandal declined the offer to test the free agent waters and Ryu accepted the 17.9 million dollar contract.
The boys in blue then signed relief pitcher Joe Kelly to a 3-year 25 million dollar deal. Then the Dodgers traded Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, and Kyle Farmer to the Reds for Homer Bailey, and two A-ball prospects. That illogical and stupid trade infuriated Dodger fans all across the globe. The Dodgers got little to no value back for one of their best players, (and Kemp and Wood who are both solid contributors) and dumped salary despite being the richest team in baseball with the deepest pockets.
It’s a horrible look for the team with the deepest resources in the game to be cutting payroll and then hoping for the best after winning consecutive National League pennants. But alas this is the world we live in with Andrew Friedman at the helm. The only other moves the Dodgers have made have been to offer salary arbitration to a number of other Dodgers.
That leads me to my initial thought with this article. Is no activity good activity? If the Dodgers don’t do anything for another offseason, is that good for the franchise? Last winter the Dodgers didn’t do much either. If you remember they made another salary dumping trade when they flipped Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir, Adrian Gonzalez, and Charlie Culberson to the Braves for Matt Kemp. It was a straight salary dump/swap but it turned out ok for the Dodgers when Kemp had a good season. The only other move the Dodgers made that year was the pointless three-team deal to acquire Scott Alexander, and infield prospect Jake Peter. The lone free agent signed was pitcher Tom Koehler who never threw a single pitch in a Dodger uniform.
Koehler was it for their free agency foray. This year that could be Joe Kelly. The Dodgers continue to be linked to superstar Bryce Harper, but it seems highly unlikely they are willing to spend the massive amount of cash to sign him. As the winter marches on the Dodger’s holes have yet to be filled. They still need a starting catcher. They still need a second baseman and now they are without a right fielder. Action needs to be taken yet as the days go by more and more top free agents get snatched up as Friedman sits around doing nothing.
Of course you and I could say that the Dodgers still did fine with this strategy winning back-to-back pennants and you would be correct. Yet their holes still remain on the position player side. There’s still gaping holes at catcher, second base and right field. The Dodgers better get on those soon. What do you guys think? Is no activity, good activity? Discuss.
Scott, all I can say as of now is WSS (we shall see). Freidman indicated dodgers are not done but honestly not sure what that means going forward. Obviously a RH bat like Realmuto would be great. If not him, some other RH bat to go in the middle of order because I can tell you that if there is a LHP who can just breathe, he will be facing this LH dominant team….stay tuned….
Realmuto is not a viable option unless they cave to Miami’s price, which starts with Bellinger, who is not going anywhere. Same argument as the Hamels deal, yeah, it would have taken Seager to get him. But the Dodgers never would have traded Seager and the Phillies did not get a Seager like player from Texas. Same thing with Castellanos and Kluber. If they had made the deal with the Indians during the meetings, all this rumor stuff would not be going on. Right now it seems Kluber is off the market. And it also seems that they have turned their attention away from the Indians. There is even a rumor floating that they are willing to bring Grandal back on a 1 year deal. For less than the 17.9 he turned down. It is the same thing we have seen out of Friedman since he has been here. His first winter meetings he was very active, trading Kemp and Gordon. His first deadline deal was the big 13 player 3 team deal with the Braves and the Marlins. Does anyone realize that with the trade of Wood, there is not one player left on the Dodgers from that trade? Like I said in an earlier post, they are becoming the 2000’s version of the Atlanta Braves. Good enough to consistently win the division, but not good enough to bring home the crown. I for one would love to see Andrew shuffle on down the road, and see what some new GM and president of baseball operations could do. 4 years of Friedman is frustrating enough. And, he still has never won the big one. 0-3.
I have no confidence in Friedman when it comes to attempts at making impact signings and trades. Also, I am very wary of FA sluggers coming to Dodgers Stadium – they usually flop and then we are stuck. Save the money for Seager, Urias and Buehler. They are the future.
So I am ok with no moves. I think we lean on our starters this year, get more speed into the line up and play more small ball. Win with great starting pitching, great defense, good tough relievers, good situational hitting and decent base running . So far we have none of that but we have the pieces. Maybe we’ve actually backed ourselves into Dodgers baseball.
In case ya haven’t noticed, Dodgers led the NL with a franchise record of 235 HR’s in 2018, eclipsing the 2017 total of 221 HR’s. Dodger stadium is not as pitcher friendly as one would think, at least not any more, considering the opponents, like Boston in game 5 of the WS hit 4 to win the game. We don’t throw those big ones back because we would not have won anything had the opponents kept out homering us like they did early in 2018. I totally agree with more speed and putting ball in play more often than they did, but remember the HUGE problem was that our ‘wonderful’ pitching staff serves up a lot of HR’s themselves. Zaidi had even said that was a big reason why Dodgers struggled to win close, tight games earlier in 2018. I mentioned before that in the combined 12 games of these last 2 WS the Dodgers were in, that the opponents hit 23 Hr’s in those 12 games, 15 by the Astros and 8 by the Red Sox. Dodgers totaled 16. The SP’s and relievers were both to blame here and a BIG reason, among others as to why we still do not have a WS ring in 31 years.
Actually it is. Dodger Stadium ranked 26th in the majors on the list with just a little over 1 homer per game. The Dodgers hit 119 of their 235 there. Still 30 short of what the Yankees hung on the board. And as a whole, HR’s dipped 500 below how many were hit in 2017. Dodger pitchers close to the top of the league in K’s. The Dodgers only hit .242 at home. They ranked 9th in the league in HR’s allowed with 179. They were 1st in K’s and 1st in least walks allowed. They also led the league in ERA. But a lot of that Dodger power is gone now. 87 HR’s have left the team. And so far none of that has been addressed. There is still some time for OL Andy to get off his butt and sign someone or make a trade that actually helps the team. We will have to wait until late February before we see what the 2019 version will look like.
Michael, yes only 6 teams gave up more HR’s than the Dodger staff did. But recall how Dodger stadium used to be before the 1969 season. The dimensions used to be deeper and the fences were a couple FT. taller and CF was 410 Ft. instead of it being 395 Ft. away from home plate today. But Boston had no issues hitting them in the WS, as the Astros also had no issues. Recall that Yankee Stadium has that very short RF porch as well. Well 214 combined HR’s at DS is pretty indicative IMHO as to it not being as tough a place as it once was to hiot HR’s at DS. I recall that 1968 Season where the Dodger team TOTALED 67 ht’s that whole year with a former SF Giant, Len Gabrielson led the team with 10. Yeah, that was tough, but Dodgers of course had a far lesser team that year too.
I get that. But the long ball is what fans want and for a lot of years that’s the way it was. AT&T in SF is one of the harder parks to homer in and that did not help the Giants one bit. Their hitters could not homer there either. As for the Dodgers giving up so many dingers in the series and not matching the other teams total. I think it had way more to do with the fact that they faced 2 pitching staffs who out pitched them. I mean, they lost to Charlie Morton of all people. The Red Sox were a better team. It is on the pitching my friend.
I think everyone would be disappointed if nothing happened this summer. I surmise if the front office is holding off until a move next summer if it would make sense.
I think it would make sense, but there would be a feeling of short-term (this summer) disappointment that would sting.
I would feel a lot better if they would actually address real needs, i.e. second base and catcher, instead of being “in” on every player out there. Kluber would be a great addition, but the prospects it would take to get him are the prospects it would take to fill other holes. I will gag if the Padres end up trading for him after all this drama.
I would not sign Harper. Keep the money and prospects for Mike Trout if the Angels can’t compete next season.
I do not think you have too much to worry about as far as Kluber is concerned. It looks as though for now he is off the market. Of course all of that can change after the first of the year. I think it will be the end of January at least before we have any clue as to what the team is going to look like in spring. He did most of his work in January last year. And remember also, they only signed one significant free agent last year, Tom Koehler, and he did not pitch a single inning for the Dodgers. I doubt Trout goes anywhere unless the Angels get a huge haul and he will only have 1 year left on his deal. How much for a guy with 1 year of control no matter who he is? I do believe they might make a push to get Arenado after next year when he is a free agent. Hill’s 18.666.666 comes off the books after 2019.
I hope everyone had a safe New Years eve. I spent a quiet night at home watching some college football and then some documentary’s. I also watched the heavy snow that fell last night. I hope everyone had a great and safe New Years eve…
Happy New Year.
Let’s hope the Dodgers win the series this year.
Anyone who has followed the Dodgers the last 4 years knows that this is a mirror image of all those last few off seasons. The Dodgers do nothing and a salary dump is not something to strenghthen the team. Friedman tells everyone he is in on this player or that player and then proceeds to do nothing. Many fans applaud the run down players and so called prospects and call it depth, don’t make me laugh. Meanwhile, many fans make excuses for them or talk about what a great thing a salary dump is. They need to get rid of Kasten who is making the club the Los Angeles Braves or Friedman tries to make us the Los Angeles Rays, some of the fans can’t even watch them on TV but they blindly go down to Chavez Ravine to spend money for the owners and management to put in their wallets. It absolutely stinks. One more thing, the few players the Dodgers do get are so far away from stars it is pathetic. If Colletti had had the money these guy had we would have already won a W.S. Before you jump on me think of all the money that has been spent on Foreign players who NEVER made the grade.
Happy New Year!
Package206, all very true as far as these past few off seasons. Right now it certainly would appear that the 2 most unpopular people in this organization are Freidman and Roberts. But remember this too..no matter who these players are, when they get here and are forced into a platoon, we have all witnessed the end results here. They become marginal inconsistent players as a result and that is a big reason for their offensive shortcomings, especially exposed during the PS and WS. It has to be a tough thing to see hot players sitting on the bench being in and out of the lineups daily just because of the pitcher being RH or LH
LOL
Happy New Year!
Scott
Why are my comments not being posted?
Mine too.
You both have been bad boys maybe???? Roberts says he expects Barnes to be better. I hope so, he could not be much worse.
Bear,
I have done nothing wrong unless my opinion is being censored.
Scott
Could I please have an explanation?
It’s just the spam filter glitching out. You guys should all know the spam filter glitches out sometimes and moderates for no reason. I have to manually push through comments from time to time. It’s no big deal. Nobody is being punished or censored.
Nobody gets censored over here Susan unless they’re being really unruly. Our spam filter glitches every once in a while
Scott
could you please delete Susans comment?
Done
Scott
Thanks!
Like or dislike his moves Friedman doesn’t determine what the payroll limit is. Do Oakland fans blame the low payroll on Billy Beane?
What did you fans expect when the owners hired big wigs from the lowest payroll teams? What did you expect when the name of the owners group purchasing the Dodgers was “INVESTMENT GROUP?” What you can expect is the team following that letter when it went looking for new investors. Remember it? Team will stay under salary cap for next 4 years!!
There is no salary cap in baseball. What they are staying under is the Competitive Balance Tax. They pay a penalty for going over that limit. But it is not a cap per se. Red Sox will pay about 12 million this year. A lot of people said they were getting under so they could re-set the tax and then sign Harper and maybe next year, Arenado. That does not now seem to be the case.
Beane has been pretty successful at his job. Payroll is dictated by the owners. They mandated staying under the CBT for at least 4 years. One reason I do not believe they will sign Harper is because they will not give any player a 9 digit contract for now. Friedman has been a dumpster diver ever since he came to LA. Like it or not, that’s the way he operates. Most ordinary fans cannot understand how one of the richest franchises in sports cannot or will not spend money on a bonafide super star like Harper or Machado. They care less about the CBT. They want to see a World Series win. Just getting there is not good enough. Oakland is far from being Los Angeles. They cannot even agree on building a new park for the team, which although competitive, has played in a terrible stadium for years. Until they have a new park and a new way to generate income, the A’s will always be one of those fringe teams who get low risk high reward players and actually find some good ones. Beane’s trades over the years have been excellent for the most part. He gets kids, and veterans on 1 or 2 year deals and they actually help his team, then he trades his assets and re-stocks his farm system. When they feel the player is at a point where he is going to be too expensive, the either non tender or release them. Beane always has a plan.