2015/16 Offseason: More active than Shakira's hips

[Quake Griffin]

Guys.
I think we're walking away from the winter meetings as winners.

Team was in on Carrasco earlier.
Team called on Jose Fernandez as reported earlier today.

Looks like this group has committed to bringing in one of the best pitchers in baseball and the issue of a top prospect/ value going out has become secondary.

My thought process? You didn't call the Marlins for Jose Fernandez if you weren't ready to give up Urias + more.

I expect us to walk away with one of the best pitchers in the game this week. I dunno how that will affect us getting Aroldis but i expect a top tier pitcher to come back to us.


Btw, I like Carrasco more than Fernandez for us:
1) Top prospect(s) go to the AL.
2) We'd have team options on Carrasco's age 32 and 33 years (2019 and 2020). Fernandez only comes with 3 years of control (2016-2018). He's a Boras client. So I'm scared Boras wont let us extend him on a Mike Trout like deal that accounts for arbitration increases and could take us a year or 2 past his arbitration years.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/673751253244071936[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MLB/status/673700435539046401[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MLB/status/673593813886087172[/tweet]

idnt-h8urteam via DodgersDigest.com comments

Initially, I mentioned on this website that the Dodgers did not have intentions of engaging Hayward this offseason. However, things have changed. They have already called Heyward's agent and are talking. I'm sure discussions will increase on Monday.

The trade I was made aware of yesterday centers around Carrasco. Indians are asking for Joc and JDL as the center pieces moving. Dodgers are pushing more Puig and JDL.

One scenario also includes three teams in a trade, but right now I'm not sure who the third team is. Some people have told me it might be the Braves but not for Miller but Teheran.

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[Quake Griffin]

If Joc goes, we're out of a CF.
But admittedly, I dunno how Peraza is grading out at CF. But if his arm is questionable, then I really don't want him there and it's a complete set up for him to be one of Neddy's least favorite players…Juan Pierre. Weak arm CF who hits his way on. ZZZZzzz pass.

I like that we're pushing Puig and DeLeon.
Did you see that they asked the Giants for Belt and Panik? I think Puig and DeLeon is a better package.
if they want Puig and DeLeon…I'd throw another piece in at that rate…not a top piece…but a piece.

[Quake Griffin]

btw, I'm like 95% trusting your source since he was spot on about Greinke.

[Quake Griffin]

Aroldis is here!

Per Kenny Rosenthal.

[Quake Griffin]

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that none of Julio Urias, Corey Seager or Jose De Leon are headed to the Reds in the trade. The Dodgers, though, have plenty of other enticing prospects in their ranks, notably including right-hander Grant Holmes and infielder Jose Peraza as fellow top 100 types.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BNightengale/status/673886270024720385[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/673906631256707072[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/molly_knight/status/673890126984966144[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/673902030134640642[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Kurkjian_ESPN/status/673913140824965120[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/673889976216477696[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/673892813877223424[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/molly_knight/status/673894082977001473[/tweet]

idnt-h8urteam via DodgersDigest.com comments

Oh yeah, I was referring to the other trade.

Chapman for Holmes and two other lower level prospects to be named later from what I heard.


Too much going on I can't keep track of what I reported. LOL

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[Ranma]

idnt-h8urteam via DodgersDigest.com comments

Good morning guys and gals.

There's so little to report, I know as much as anyone else reporting or speculating. My Dodgers sources have remained tight lip about information. They have never done that, which leads me to believe that they don't want to compromise any trade talks or trade talks are coming together rapidly. I heard that this deal come go down as a multi-team trade or just one team to one team.

Last time I was here my source implied they where comfortable in letting Greinke go because they had a better alternate deal in place. I thought it was big but apparently its massive. its been hard to gather information because what I mentioned above, my sources aren't talking.

I try to keep you posted.

From what I'm told Seager is not included in any of the trade talks.

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[Kilroy]

Interesting. Was wondering why we hadn't done anything larger.

[Ranma]

I was refraining from commenting since I'm trying to catch up on some reading materials including posts in this very thread, but I'd like to chime in a little. I initially wanted Iwakuma before I realized he cost a first-round pick. I know I sound like a draft pick troll, but I'm not opposed to giving it up as long as we maximize value in signing multiple free agents. Having said that, we have to get Jason Heyward now, who I actually want on the team. Hopefully, his price tag is not too much.

Iwakuma has injury concerns and his 3-year deal covers his age 35, 36, and 37 seasons. MLB Network is saying the deal is $45 million over 3 years, which is good value. I like Iwakuma better than Maeda and he's great as our #3 pitcher as a stopgap in our rotation over the long-term. While most other people think otherwise, I don't like giving up the 23rd overall pick just to sign him, which is why I want us to sign Heyward to a deal a little higher than Ethier's AAV and lower than Crawford's. Of course, we should trade Ethier or Crawford, if not both. The loss of our first-rounder moves our 29th overall pick for losing Greinke to 28th overall and we still have 3 draft picks in the top 50.

I've mentioned before about how deep our farm system is but lacking in top-end talent close to being major-league ready. If we can pull off more of these big blockbuster deals, I'm fine with depleting the system to make them happen as long as we don't give up those who are deemed untouchables. The prospects I would consider untouchables are Corey Seager, Julio Urias, and Yadier Alvarez. Walker Beuhler and Yusniel Diaz should also be safe since Beuhler is recovering from injury and Diaz is not officially a Dodger. Also, with our multiple draft choices and the Cuban signings, we should be able to replenish the farm system fairly quickly.

That means I'm okay with giving up Jose DeLeon as long as we get Jose Fernandez. I wouldn't give up Urias for him, though. Iwakuma is such a great fit as a stopgap as long as we have someone ready to take over soon and Urias has to be that guy. I'm also wary of having another Boras client on the team, but his influence should be reduced nowadays. David Price and Zack Greinke signed for the biggest contracts offered to them, we shouldn't expect any different from Fernandez whether he's a Boras client or not. Of course, Boras can still be a headache, particularly in arbitration, but the Dodgers are fine with paying fair-market value and even a premium whenever it calls for it.

I was initially concerned with our pursuit of both Samardzija and Iwakuma since it looked like the Dodgers were panicking in the aftermath of Greinke signing with the D-Backs. The Dodgers supposedly had other deals lined up and it looked like to me that those deals were falling apart or that the trade partners were trying to leverage the situation in pushing us to overpay in assets. However, the front office came in 2nd to the Giants for Samardzija in giving him his slightly overpriced deal, but came up with Iwakuma on a reasonable contract even with his injury concerns and age. The fact that they targeted second-tier pitchers now convinces me that the Dodgers think they have a good chance of getting a frontline starter through trade. The question now is who? Is it Carrasco or Fernandez? Does Shelby Miller or Julio Teheran qualify as frontline even with their respective upside? I'm a little surprised the Mets haven't been mentioned in talks. Are we also talking to a mystery team or two?

I got to say that I really like what the Dodgers front office is doing in conjunction with what I'm hearing they're trying to accomplish. Obviously, if we stop without doing anything more it would be a disappointment but arguable that we've made improvements already. More needs to come and it looks likely to happen given what this front office did last season.

Also, I still like Cueto, but I don't want to overpay for him either. His agent says he may not sign by the end of the winter meetings, which I suspect is because the market has dried up for him. The Cubs and Cardinals as well as the Giants could still be in play for him but everyone seems to be focusing their attention elsewhere, so there's a decent chance we can get him at decent value eventually.

[Quake Griffin]

Care to has out your point that we need to go after Heyward because of the draft picks?

You're saying if we're going to lose a 1st and 2nd rounder, we might as hell get Heyward in the mix?

[Ranma]

Care to has out your point that we need to go after Heyward because of the draft picks?

You're saying if we're going to lose a 1st and 2nd rounder, we might as hell get Heyward in the mix?

Yeah, pretty much, but Heyward is more of a priority than an afterthought. I'll acknowledge, I'm in the minority given the random nature of success with MLB draft picks, especially given how weak this draft class is viewed but there seems to be always someone that we missed out by a few picks regardless of the draft class. Of course, that doesn't mean the Dodgers would have drafted that player, anyway, but I want to see what this front office's new scouting staff can do. I'm actually looking forward to the front office using our prospects as trade chips, which is something counter to my normal nature. I'm not really sold on a lot of our prospects and it's gotten crowded where we'll have to make deals soon to make room for incoming talent, anyway. Might as well sell high now. Even with the more random nature of first-round draft picks in baseball, the more first-rounders we have, I feel the better positioned we'd be to dealing away our prospects.

With that in mind, this is why I feel giving up such a pick for Iwakuma by himself is not worth it. Cueto could have been signed outright without giving up a first-rounder and he's the better pitcher and younger even if he does have some slight health concerns himself. Iwakuma is probably seen by most as a #2 starter, but I see him as more of a #3 in our rotation especially given his health and age. Like I said, he's more of a stopgap measure than long-term fit. He may not be a 1-year rental, but giving up a first-rounder for a short-term solution equates to me as similar to giving up a good prospect for a rental, which I'm opposed to. Again, I acknowledge the unpopularity of my position since the first-rounder is an unknown quantity, but I feel that getting Iwakuma basically signaled that we're pursuing Heyward since he is more of the priority than Iwakuma. It's just that we couldn't wait on signing Iwakuma later given how fast starting pitching was being swallowed up on the free-agent market.

The reason I'm advocating for Heyward is that he is young himself but obviously more established. This is why I'm fine with giving up the first-rounder for him. I mentioned before that I really preferred getting both Heyward and Zimmermann if we were going to lose a first-rounder, but that had more to do with maximizing our opportunity given our needs. The same still applies. Let's just say that if we had to give up a first-round pick to sign only one player, Heyward would be my choice over Iwakuma because of Heyward's projected production and long-term value, but it also depends on the amount of money he eventually signs for. Plus, I want Heyward on the team because I think we could really use him regardless. An outfield of Heyward, Pederson, and Puig would go a long way towards making this team better. His presence and consistency would do a lot to stabilize our team.

BTW, I'm getting conflicting information of our draft order right now. Just FYI. Also, MLB Network is reporting that the Dodgers are still interested and talking with Cueto's camp, which I'm happy to hear.

[Ranma]

Geez...are we getting sniped at the last minute or are the Reds trying to squeeze more out of us just like the Padres tried to do in the Matt Kemp deal last year? Jansen may be butt-hurt about all of this, but if the Reds want to screw us over, just call off the deal and sign Chapman after next season.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/673906631256707072[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/673956692258897920[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/m_sheldon/status/673957427788840960[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/673963104313679872[/tweet]

The talks with Miami regarding Jose Fernandez also seems to have picked up with more activity.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/673961962716426241[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JoeFrisaro/status/673968097896833024[/tweet]

[Quake Griffin]

wow thats annoying.
Maybe it's like Molly said. We'd get Chapman to flip him and instead of it working like that, we just did a 3 team deal.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/673964853074247681[/tweet]

[Quake Griffin]

something foul is going on here.

Ken Rosenthal has a pretty good rep IMO.
When he breaks something, it happens.

How the hell is a deal not in place?

[Kilroy]

Maybe it's part of that bigger deal rumored earlier? They're probably are just working out all the moving parts.

[Quake Griffin]

What i find more interesting is how Jayson Stark says the Dodgers seem to think a deal is done.

Bill Plunkett's twitter seems to suggest that Zaidi, Dave Roberts and Stan Kasten are being very tight lipped about all the goings on at the winter meetings and aren't acknowledging any potential trades that have been rumored about today.

He even went on to say that the Mariners FO has confirmed Iwakuma to the Dodgers but Zaidi has not.
Says they haven't even confirmed Chase Utley's re-signing


I dunno if that means anything to you guys but it gives me a little more color on what's going on there.

And then there's his take on the Chapman debacle which also flies in the face of Stark's tweets as well.

Bill Plunkett
@billplunkettocr
4h
Latest percolation in Nashville -- #Dodgers deal for Chapman not finalized yet because might be part of multi-team move. #beentheredonethat
View details ·

[Kilroy]

What i find more interesting is how Jayson Stark says the Dodgers seem to think a deal is done.

Bill Plunkett's twitter seems to suggest that Zaidi, Dave Roberts and Stan Kasten are being very tight lipped about all the goings on at the winter meetings and aren't acknowledging any potential trades that have been rumored about today.

He even went on to say that the Mariners FO has confirmed Iwakuma to the Dodgers but Zaidi has not.
Says they haven't even confirmed Chase Utley's re-signing


I dunno if that means anything to you guys but it gives me a little more color on what's going on there.

And then there's his take on the Chapman debacle which also flies in the face of Stark's tweets as well.

Bill Plunkett
@billplunkettocr
4h
Latest percolation in Nashville -- #Dodgers deal for Chapman not finalized yet because might be part of multi-team move. #beentheredonethat
View details ·

Might have been a tactic to get the multi team deal rolling again... "Fine we'll just take Chapman and go home then."


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[Quake Griffin]

finally got over to some other Dodger forums.

Apparently Rosenthal said on MLB Network that he wont back off his earlier report and that he thinks Aroldis will be a Dodger.