Prospects and trade discussion

[Neddy]

we sell him as a starter in a package, but if we keep him, he is a setup man.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BillShaikin/status/693509005415583744[/tweet]
Ron Cervenka, ThinkBlueLA.com (2/1/16)

“I could care less about who number one or who number 100 is. It’s about how you perform when you get to the big leagues,” Gonzalez answered. “What someone projects is all just a personal opinion. It’s about how they do when they get there. I’ve seen plenty of numbers ones bust and plenty of number ones do great. The number they put behind a person is irrelevant once they get here”

Fair enough. But it was AGon’s answer to my follow-up question that immediately grabbed the attention of everyone present and within minutes had Twitter buzzing. Having played with Seager for a solid month what do you think of him?

“Oh yeah. I told this to Eric Young when I was playing against the Rockies last year when [Seager] was still in the minors,” Gonzalez said with much more enthusiasm. “We were talking about prospects that they had and prospects that we had and I told him that he’s a special kid, that he’s a kid that I could see being a Hall of Famer in the future. And this is before anybody put him as a number one prospect. This was early in the year last year. He’s got the talent, he’s got the make up, the potential. I think he’s going to be a great major leaguer for a long time.”

AGon Gives Corey Seager the Ultimate Endorsement

[Ranma]

Even with the graduation of Seager and both De Leon and Urias knocking on the door, the Dodgers' farm system is quite deep, although, I feel it will be some time before we develop another Corey Seager or Julio Urias. I've been skeptical of Montas in the early going, but he does have a legitimate shot at being a valuable starting pitcher either for us or someone else; he's exhibited a good fastball, decent slider, and the stamina to be a starter. Plus, he's maintained his weight better upon joining the Dodgers and, if what he's said is true about previously "forgetting" about his changeup, then adding that 3rd pitch makes him that much closer to being a big-league starter once he irons out his control issues.

Jonathan Mayo contributed to putting together MLB.com's top 100 prospects for 2016, which includes Seager, Urias, De Leon, Holmes, and Montas. Baseball Prospectus has 6 Dodgers in its top 101 prospects for 2016, which includes everyone except Montas, but also adds the recent Cuban signings of Alvarez and Diaz in that exclusive company. Baseball America will reveal its list of top prospects soon. However, in addition to the aforementioned 7 Dodger prospects, Mayo recently said that both Verdugo and Bellinger were on the cusp of making MLB.com's list of top 100 with Verdugo being the closer of the two. That's at least 9 current Dodger prospects in or near the top 100 prospects in Major League Baseball.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/FratStarCarti/status/694235360394551296[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/JonathanMayo/status/694250516726022144[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JonathanMayo/status/693263293323055105[/tweet]

[Quake Griffin]

I'm gonna be semi-long winded here:
What I particularly like about the depth that we've added is that we're deep throughout the entire spectrum.

Elite talent at the major league level.
Elite talent at Triple A.
Elite talent at Double A (or should be playing there soon).
Elite talent that will taste Rookie Ball/ A ball this year.

There are a ton of people who will complain, whine, and moan about winning now.
Unless God himself comes down and promises me that a certain move will win our ball club a WS, it's all hogwash IMO. This is how we should be building our franchise. Smart moves that bolster depth, keep us flexible to makes trades and help us CONTROL THE COST of our major league team (something I think is never said about the depth that has been added).


This front office scores high marks from me for a few reasons:
- I appreciate them creating a game plan and sticking with it.
- I appreciate them not just coming to the franchise and **** on all the previous positive work done by our scouting departments under Ned Colletti. They could have easily come here with an ego and traded Joc, Seager, Urias etc. etc. because they weren't "their guys" or (a more subtle reason) because they wouldn't get credit for picking those guys.
- Absolutely NO PANIC when Greinke bolted….or when the Chapman deal fell through. No panic to sign a pitcher to an overpay. No panic to force a trade for a relief arm when they cost an arm and a leg in the current market due to the current sensationalism of the Royals winning it all. See Braves package for Kimbrel. See Padres package for Kimbrel. See Ken Giles deal. See 2 years of Jake McGee is worth.


Last…one thing I give our neighbors to the north tons of credit for in their 2014 run is Joe Panik. I thought they were dead to rights tbh. Scutaro injured. Uggla trash. I was positive they didn't have anything coming back. Boom. Panik is ready to perform earlier than expected. Pablo Sandoval leaves. Casey McGehee is a failure. Boom Duffy is ready and with more pop than usual.

Cardinals? Jason Heyward bolts. Insert Stephen Piscotty.

I'm just glad that we are well on our way to being that organization.
Particularly I look at our bullpen for a short term view of what I'm talking about. Injuries attacked our pen like piranhas last year and it put holes in our pen/ affected some of our guys performances.
Compare our DEPTH in the pen this year to our depth last year. It's not even close.


anywho.
This FO takes a beating on the internet from Dodger fans.
So I figured I'd shout them out for something they've done well IMO.

[Quake Griffin]

http://baseball.realgm.com/wiretap/44635/Source-Braves-Making-Push-For-Lazarito

IDC if this kid is worth it for us. Someone wants him.
Win the bid and deal him.

[Ranma]

I don't like going after guys just because another team wants him since I want our scouting and front office staff to rely on their own evaluation abilities and judgment. However, there are certain teams whose prospect identification and development skills I respect and the Braves are one of them. The Red Sox and Cubs also fall into that category. Given how our front office and scouts have been notably split whether it's trading away Dee Gordon or projecting Jose Peraza's long-term fit with the organization, I'd use the sentiment of those aforementioned rival teams to supplement our own internal evaluation discussions.

I suspect the Dodgers do have some level of interest in him just like they did with Eddy Julio Martinez, but how interested the organization is with Lazarito will be determined by our bonus offer. We outbid both the Marlins and Cubs for Sierra but let the Giants and Cubs battle it out for Martinez.

[Quake Griffin]

Gotta agree with u there.

I do trust the Braves ability to scout. It's criminally underrated around the MLB.
That might have been swirling around up there when I made that comment.

LOL…but the fact that I like Ender is probably 80% of the motivation.

[Quake Griffin]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/coming-to-terms-with-carlos-carrascos-trade-value/

don't mind me.
I'm just bored waiting for baseball to start.


Man Carlos Carrasco this offseason would have been FANTASTIC.
At that contract, I would have pulled the trigger and sent Joc man. It hurts but I think I might have. Definitely would have and still would send Puig.

Nice core…but tons of holes…I coulda done DeLeon and Joc for him. That's how much I believe in his talent and those contract numbers. He'd go for like 25-27 mill if he was an FA this year. Maybe the Indians realized that. They did ask for Panik AND Belt.
But like I said…don't mind me….PLEASE let pitchers and catchers report. We're ready!

[Ranma]

Robert Murray, BaseballEssential.com (2/5/16)

“Five meals a day,” Bellinger explained. “The snacking in between the meals was important [whether it was] nuts or bananas. Just consistently eating.”

When he’s not focusing on his diet, Bellinger is training with former NFL player Keith Poole in Chandler, Arizona. The two worked out together last year, but it wasn’t until this year that they “really got after it.”

The Dodgers gave Bellinger a program and he followed it, and he also added more weight lifting and focused on other baseball activities so he didn’t lose any mobility.

The result: Bellinger has added 20 pounds of “good weight” this offseason. After playing last season at roughly 185-190 pounds, Bellinger figures to play this year at 210-215 pounds.

Even with the added weight, Bellinger says it won’t hurt his speed in the outfield.

Interview with Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger

[Quake Griffin]

man.
that's a lot of weight to add in ONE offseason...even if it is "good" weight from the weightroom.

given that he's 6'4" it gives me hope that the 215 is distributed pretty well.
but yikes at 20 pounds in one offseason.

[Quake Griffin]

Makes me think.

We really dont have any RH power coming from down under.

Joc was a lefty
Seager lefty
Bellinger lefty.
Verdugo lefty
Mitch Hansen lefty.

Yusniel Diaz's power is rated at a 40.
Barnes...good OBP bat....power rated a 45
Trayce Thompson a 50.


looks like our next hope, outside of a trade, for RH power is Starling Heredia.
just crossed my mind because I keep hearing OVER and OVER that RH power bats are at a premium.

[Ranma]

All the more reason to sign the Gurriel brothers, who both bat right-handed. Yulieski's power is being compared to David Wright and Hanley Ramirez's while Lourdes Jr. is seen as capable of hitting 20 HRs as a middle infielder. Also, while everyone is anticipating the big pursuit of Bryce Harper as a free agent in the winter of 2018, I have my sights set on the right-handed Manny Machado as my favored target outside of the Dodgers organization for that free-agent class.

Other than that, you're right. Starling Heredia is our lone right-handed power-hitting prospect in proximity on the radar.

[Quake Griffin]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/organization-talent-rankings-list/

Top heavy organization one year ago.
Top heavy was enough to keep us in the top 5-7 in most of these rankings.
1 year and 3-4 months into the new FO's tenure, Keith Law has us 2nd and Baseball America has us 1st.

Excited about our approach to handling these types of things man.

[Ranma]

Like Quake said, the Dodgers' farm system has come quite a long way since the days of McCourt ownership. The amount of money invested to get our developmental pipeline back at the forefront in baseball is only half of the formula. The other half has to do with the leadership and knowledge of those in charge of the direction of our player development program. I like how Gabe Gapler said recently on MLB Now that the emphasis is to develop men first, baseball players second: "Stronger men make better teammates. Better teammates make better baseball players." This should be of particular benefit with getting Cuban (and other international) players to acclimate to pro ball stateside in order to avoid the travails experienced with Puig and Arruebarrena.

Of the 9 Dodgers named between the Baseball Prospectus and MLB.com's lists, Yadier Alvarez and Frankie Montas are absent from Keith Law's top 100 list. It is also interesting to see Alex Verdugo jump ahead of Jose De Leon in his rankings.

Another good sign that the Dodgers' front office is in good hands is that 4 out of the 10 members on Jim Callis's all-star team of prospects outside of MLB.com's top 100 for 2016 have been linked to the Dodgers. Both Cody Bellinger and Verdugo currently are Dodgers while Ke'Bryan Hayes reportedly had a soft agreement to be drafted by the Dodgers with the 35th overall pick in the 2015 draft before we selected Kyle Funkhouser instead; Lucius Fox similarly struck a deal to be a part of the Dodgers' current crop of international signings before he backed out at the last minute to sign with the Giants. Identifying talent as well as developing it seems to be something this organization excels at now.





Jim Callis, MLB.com (2/11/16)

I'll give you an all-star team of candidates to make a similar leap in 2016:

C: Tyler Stephenson, Reds
1B: Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
2B: Alex Blandino, Reds
3B: Ke'Bryan Hayes, Pirates
SS: Lucius Fox, Giants
OF: Harold Ramirez, Pirates
OF: Raimel Tapia, Rockies
OF: Alex Verdugo, Dodgers
LHP: Justus Sheffield, Indians
RHP: Sean Reid-Foley, Blue Jays
...

I can't imagine any club boasts a more intriguing pair of non-roster pitchers in its camp than the Dodgers do. Julio Urias is the best left-handed pitching prospect in the game, and he could make his big league debut as a teenager, while Jose De Leon is a 24th-round steal who led the Minors with 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings in 2015. However, don't expect either of them to open the season in Los Angeles.

Even with Brandon McCarthy sidelined until midseason while he recovers from Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers have plenty of veteran rotation options in lefties Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Alex Wood and righties Brett Anderson, Kenta Maeda and Mike Bolsinger. Urias has logged 4 1/3 innings at Triple-A, and De Leon has yet to pitch at that level, so both figure to begin the year at Triple-A Oklahoma City. Though Los Angeles does have a lot of starter depth, that often thins out over the course of the season, and both Urias and De Leon are talented enough to force their way to the big leagues during the summer.

Pipeline Inbox: Who Will Make Biggest Leap in 2016?


Dustin Nosler, DodgersDigest.com (2/11/16)

Keith Law dropped his Top 100 prospects list today, and seven Dodgers made the cut — just not in the order you might expect.

1. Corey Seager
5. Julio Urias
51. Alex Verdugo
60. Jose De Leon
71. Grant Holmes
77. Yusniel Diaz
92. Cody Bellinger

That makes three No. 1 overall rankings for Seager, who is looking like the consensus top prospect in the game. We’ll see where Baseball America and FanGraphs rank him.

Corey Seager Lands Atop Another Top 100, Plus New Names


Jon Weisman, DodgerInsider.com (2/11/16)

An excerpt from Law’s writeups on Seager and Urias:

Seager, the younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle, has electric hands at the plate and does everything very easily — his swing, hip rotation and power look effortless — but it’s his approach that makes him the best prospect in baseball. Seager’s pitch recognition is advanced way beyond his years, and you’ll see him make adjustments within at-bats that even veterans don’t make. He’s better than most players his age at adjusting to a pitch he didn’t expect and does very well covering the outer half without creating a hole on the inner third. He’s tall and his swing plane can be high, so he’s a little vulnerable to the pitch down at the knees. But for someone his age, that’s a minor weakness to have as your primary issue at the plate.

Urias is no longer undersized or pudgy, coming in last spring at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, and given his age, he’s possibly still growing. He’s comfortably 91-95 mph with his fastball, with minimal effort, and will show both a plus curveball and plus changeup, although neither secondary pitch is consistent yet. He stays online to the plate and in time, he should have better fastball command to go with his above-average control, thanks again to that easy, repeatable delivery.

Seven Dodger Prospects in ESPN’s Top 100

[Ranma]

The lovefest continues for the Dodgers' minor league talent. Corey Seager continues to be the consensus best prospect in baseball as Baseball America also gives him such recognition. The publication not only goes on to rank the Dodgers as the top farm system for 2016, but there is a belief that the organization can remain near the top for 2017 as well given that it also has 3 of the top 36 picks and 5 in the top 101 for the 2016 MLB Amateur Draft along with an aggressive strategy during the current international signing period.

Under-the-radar prospects like Willie Calhoun and Johan Mieses are already garnering some attention to be possible top 10 prospects within the organization after the upcoming season. Kenta Maeda now makes it the 10th Dodger to be mentioned among the top 100 prospects ranked by Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, MLB.com, or ESPN. Even with Frankie Montas's recent injury likely knocking him out of top-10-prospect consideration within the Dodgers' organization, we still have Walker Buehler who is still recognized as such despite recovering from injury himself.

Cary Osborne, DodgerInsider.com (2/12/16)

On top of the Dodgers’ being rated No. 1 in Baseball America’s 2016 Organization Talent Rankings, which were released on Thursday, and it being a fourth straight year in which the organization has risen on the list, the Dodgers appear poised to maintain the momentum on the minor league side into 2017 as well.

And Julio Urias, Jose De Leon and some of the Dodgers’ other elite prospects aren’t the only reasons why.

Baseball America national writer Ben Badler believes the Dodger system will likely be highly thought of again next year because the Dodgers have positioned themselves well for the 2016 MLB Draft and have had success through recent drafts, player development and international signings.

Baseball America Rates Dodger Farm System No. 1 Now, and Things Look Promising for 2017


Chad Moriyama, DodgersDigest.com (2/13/16)

In a reveal that shouldn’t be a surprise by now, the Dodgers have landed seven prospects on Baseball America‘s recently released list of the top 100 prospects in baseball.

—–

Corey Seager – #1
Julio Urias – #4
Jose De Leon – #23
Kenta Maeda – #50
Cody Bellinger – #54
Grant Holmes – #72
Alex Verdugo – #100

—–

Of the seven prospects, only Maeda has not been listed before as a top prospect by either Baseball Prospectus, ESPN, or MLB, and that’s only due to other publications not considering him a true prospect given his stellar career in Japan.
...

In related news, Baseball America also named the Dodgers the top farm system in baseball, which includes a clear trend upwards once the new ownership took over and actually started spending in the domestic draft and on international prospects.

Dodgers Land 7 Prospects in Baseball America's Top 100 & are the Top Org


[tweet]https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/698340291074351104[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/DrewMit20/status/698508155056160768[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/698535372452528128[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/698340576442327040[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/jjcoop36/status/698343897681018880[/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/kengurnick/status/698298064012849153[/tweet]

[Neddy]

gotta add Lordes Jr to that list, and not get shy when Otani gets posted.

with the pieces we already have on the 25 men roster and the rich prospects in our farm, with the money to go after international guys, I can't see us fail to capture the ring in next 5 years and possibly multiples. so much for wasting Kershaw's prime... ha.

just a couple of names I want you guys to look out for in the future, and Ranma being well versed to Japanese ball, he is probably already on this but Quake may have not... Shintaro Fujinami of Hanshin Tigers and Tomohiro Anraku of the Rakkuten Golden Eagles. Fujinami is the same age as Otani and became a star through the same Koshien tornament while in high school, is currently a co-Ace with Randy Messenger. his stuff is below Otani's level but the kid is still improving while being 6-5 tall at wirey 180 pounds. he is probably still filling in his frame, problem here is that he is pitching for his hometown team Tigers, as Hanshin is well known to be the most popular team in Japan, but also the most stingiest team in terms of posting their players for MLB. Tomohiro Anraku is still a teenager, pitched one game last season and dominated. he was drafted a couple of years back out of high school as the top flight pitching prospect of that year and clocked at 98 mph during his Koshien torny prior to the draft. but the kid is listed at 6-1 and most likely smaller. at the same time the Golden Eagles have posted their players before they hit the free agency, so we will have to wait and see.

[Ranma]

Ha ha...you're giving me much too much credit, Neddy. I'm not well-versed on NBP or KBO, to be honest. I rely on you and other observers to turn me onto some notable names. Speaking of which, thank you for the tip on Fujinami and Anraku. I'll have to keep them in mind in monitoring for prospect news in the future.

Obviously, I agree with you about ardently pursuing Tito and Shohei once they become available, respectively. I'm definitely encouraged that our front office seems to share our sentiment with its aggressive international signing strategy. I'd be highly perturbed, if not really disturbed, if we missed out on both because we wasted resources going after the likes of Hector Olivera, Alex Guerrero, and Erisbel Arruebarrena. However, I doubt that to be the case.

My remaining primary targets on the international market also include Vladimir Gutierrez and Yulieski Gurriel along with Shohei Ohtani and Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. Gutierrez is thought to be on the same level of Yadier Alvarez and Yusniel Diaz in terms of value and projectability, so he'd make another fine addition to our haul of Cuban players with an offer around $15.75 million.

While I like Lourdes Jr. more, Yuli is considered the better talent who should help right away. Getting him would likely also increase our chances of signing Tito, so why not? At the very least, he is a desirable trade commodity when there is a dearth of quality 3B options available for MLB ballclubs. Yuli could get more than Olivera's $62.5 million deal, so maybe he can reach the $75 million mark but he is a year older and maybe a year removed from when Olivera signed his deal, which means Yulieski's contract will likely be shorter than the 6 years + option for a 7th that Olivera got.

Randy Arozarena and Lazaro "Lazarito" Armenteros are two other prospects I wouldn't mind pursuing for the right price, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if we missed out on both. The more Lazarito draws out his deliberation, the less inclined I am to want him in our developmental pipeline. Baseball should be his priority instead of his extracurricular enterprise activities. I don't buy his family reasons as the excuse for the delay. If that is really the case, then he should sign with Miami to be closer to them.

[Ranma]

Badler calls the Dodgers' minor league system really balanced with talent at all levels and goes on to sing the praises of Corey Seager and Julio Urias while also describing Austin Barnes as underrated.

[Quake Griffin]

We traded for Yas
We traded for Barnes…who is a good OBP bat and apparently can frame too etc. etc.

Makes me wonder why we've stuck with AJ Ellis? Why we re-signed him for this year?
Is his leadership necessary? Is he that close with Kershaw that we have to keep him around?
Are we fearful Yasmani isn't mature enough? (weird to think btw….Dave was there when he fell out of favor in SD and all the talk is about how Dave will deal with Puig).

I wanna see what my man Austin has. I really like that kid.

[Ranma]

Me too. I think we're wasting this kid by not giving him an opportunity to contribute. He's a good catcher but he's also versatile enough to handle 2B. I'm going to be very disappointed if he doesn't make the Major League roster for this upcoming season.

I don't necessarily think that A.J. Ellis has to go just yet. If he's still productive, why not keep him around? But it does limit Barnes's opportunities, so I'm conflicted. Yasmani Grandal's health could still be a concern, so we'll see.

To be honest, Barnes was probably my favorite candidate to be the Dodgers' everyday 2B for 2016, but we now have Kendrick, Utley, and **** vying for the job.