Prospects and trade discussion

[Neddy]

okay, here is an avenue to solve this problem of our catcher jam.

we all know deep inside, that only reason why weak ass bat, poor framer, weak armed and weak defensive catcher like AJ is still around, because we want to please Kershaw and avoid him from not only opting out but skipping town altogether comes 2018. I don't see AJ going anywhere until then. he reminds me of Chad Kreuter when we had ChanHo Park. a terrible all around player who became a comfort zone as as personal catcher to a stud pitcher and finding a steddy work as a borderline talent.

we need to clean up and clean out our bench so we can have Barnes get his feet wet as a backup 2nd baseman.

if we get rid of Guerrero and Ethier, then suddenly we have an opening on the bench we can plug Austin in.

1. AJ Ellis as our Kershaw's personal catcher
2. Utley being converted to ultimate utility, backing up every infield position which is a questionable task... I must admit.
3. SVS as our 4th OF and primary PH.
4. **** as our second pinch hitter and the primary option as a back up SS plus all other position back up other than C/1B
5. Austin Barnes as backup 2B and C.

this only leaves with Utley as our primary left handed pinch hitter, but I don't think this is all that bad.

of course the best option is for Kershaw to admit that his battery mate sucks some big donkee dicks and move on to Austin as his new personal catcher or finally get comfortable with Grandal.

personally, I want to keep Ethier despite him becoming 5-10 player. he is much more productive than Carl and is an ideal platoon mate with SVS.

[Ranma]

Podcast: 'Dugout Blues' Episode 145 - Cody Bellinger, Other Prospect News

[Ranma]

I'm not sure what to think, but the guys over at Dodgers Digest are saying that the injury to Frankie Montas is not as serious as Josh Beckett's even though they had the same procedure done. If true, that is great to hear but I'm kind of skeptical of this.

Dustin Nosler, DodgersDigest.com (2/15/16)

The biggest prize the Dodgers acquired in their 3-way trade with the Reds and White Sox was Frankie Montas, and now that prize will be sidelined for 2-4 months after Friday surgery to remove his first right rib.

Sound familiar? It should. While not because of thoracic outlet syndrome, it’s the same procedure Josh Beckett had performed almost three years ago. The issue here is that Montas had a stress reaction in the bone that was causing discomfort.
...

I see Montas as a reliever long-term, so this doesn’t really concern me. What would concern me is if he couldn’t come back from this at the level he was at before the surgery. Odds are, he’s going to be just fine and be pumping mid-to-high-90s heat out of the (OKC) bullpen come July. There’s still a chance he could see Los Angeles before September, but he will absolutely get that call when rosters expand (provided everything goes as planned).

Frankie Montas Could Miss Four Months After Surgery

[Quake Griffin]

I sincerely hope that is true.
but I sincerely have my doubts.

I believe the procedure is more than just removing a rib. I think a muscle or some tendon has to be cut as well which makes it difficult to come back as well.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKROkyGwT3E[/youtube]

lady in tho video says rehab starts 2 weeks after surgery.
so either:
1) either pro athletes are so strong they can get going right after surgery (because Frankie was in rehab the day after news broke)

or
2) he really doesnt have TOS.

[Neddy]

I sincerely hope that is true.
but I sincerely have my doubts.

I believe the procedure is more than just removing a rib. I think a muscle or some tendon has to be cut as well which makes it difficult to come back as well.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKROkyGwT3E[/youtube]

lady in tho video says rehab starts 2 weeks after surgery.
so either:
1) either pro athletes are so strong they can get going right after surgery (because Frankie was in rehab the day after news broke)

or
2) he really doesnt have TOS.

sure hope he isn't suffering from TOS. but if that was the case, I wonder what other procedural needs are out there to warent for such surgery for Montas.

[Neddy]

since the annoucement of the gurriel brothers wanting to play on the same team, I say the heat is on to sign the older one right now.

could we have the younger one to sit out until he turns 23 if we get the older one? is it possible to have a under the table agreement that is legally binding? I wouldn't think so but Quake is the legal counsel around here, not me.

[Ranma]

Yulieski is still not cleared by MLB to be a free agent. If has indeed gained residency in Panama, then he could be available a month or two into the season (personal guess), otherwise, the talk is that both brothers could be available just around the All-Star break. The belief is that Lourdes Jr. will wait until after October 19th to sign. Even if he doesn't, I'm confident the Dodgers will sign him assuming he's made available before our current window is closed. There's only a 3-and-a-half month window where we'd be effectively prohibited from signing him between July 2nd and October 19th but that is an unlikely scenario to worry about.

Dave Cameron from Fan Graphs cited in a recent article that package deals are a common practice in the signing process of Latin American prospects. Trainers and international teams often hold the decision-making authority over the players and their families. Trainers typically have a larger commission for lesser prospects, so they tend to package them with the more desirable one in order to pocket more money; I believe that's how we got Julio Urias. It can and is often used to circumvent the bonus pool guidelines but is widely known about and apparently tolerated by MLB.

In any case, if it turns out that Scott Boras is indeed their agent, he'll undoubtedly push to have Tito wait until after his 23rd birthday to strike a deal to maximize the contract offers. While I don't believe such a deal would be legally binding, a handshake agreement to sign Yuli first with another deal for Tito later could, in theory, work but it leaves open the possibility that another team could snipe us afterward if the financial figures of Lourdes Jr.'s deal leak out. The movie Moneyball showed that Boras is not above going back on his word if a higher offer comes in and the Dodgers have already been sniped by the Giants in the Lucius Fox negotiations.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JC_DA_FOOL/status/700762843340079104[/tweet]

[Ranma]

Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (2/16/16)

Urias: "He got a wake-up call struggling at Triple-A last year and learned he has to pitch on the plate more. He's always been ahead of the curve. Now, if we have any concern, it's to build up the innings cautiously. It's a balancing act. I was [Major League pitching coach] with Rick Porcello when he was with the Tigers at age 20. It might mean five-inning starts. We will manage Julio accordingly."

De Leon: "It seems he's come out of nowhere because he made a big change in his delivery, not throwing across his body, and he lost a lot of weight. Now he's on a mission. He has the makeup, intensity, competitiveness and he's figuring out the strike zone. Nothing he does will surprise me."

Lee: "His command has improved immensely. He uses his cutter on both sides of the plate. I think he's on the cusp of a breakthrough. He's a reliable option right now, and I think he will pitch big innings for us."

Chris Anderson: "I worked with him during the Arizona Fall League and I believe he's going to shine. The fact that he got beat up in Triple-A opened his mind. He understands he's not a finished product, he's back to using his changeup, and I really feel he's back to his best."

Knapp Gives Notes on Dodgers' Young Arms

[Ranma]

Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports (2/20/16)

Urias on Saturday morning flipped a lacrosse ball from one hand to the other. Back and forth, with a curveball’s snap of his fingers. He’s at least part of the reason the Los Angeles Dodgers weren’t moved to restock their rotation with any of the ready-made aces on the free-agent market this winter. He’s known in some panting corners as the next Fernando Valenzuela, an unassuming and fully confident left-hander from Mexico who could set L.A. baseball afire.

“I have to say,” he said Saturday morning through translator and fellow prospect Jose De Leon, “my goal is to play in the big leagues this year.”
...

He has thrown 222 1/3 professional innings, 80 1/3 of them over four levels last season. He threw them well enough – big fastball, artful curveball, plain mean changeup – to convince evaluators he’s about the best pitching prospect in the land, all at an age many ballplayers are sweating out their first draft. But what has most convinced Urias can be – will be – special is his relationship with the game’s more complex elements. Indeed, some would say darker elements. Living with massive expectations and fawning scouting reports is at least as hard as repeating a delivery. Being required to be the next Fernando is at least as hard as being the next Fernando.
...

He also helped out his father, Carlos, who coaches young baseball players at an academy in the city. His father, he said, teaches those boys the way he taught his own son, that there is a way to play the game and many ways not to, that they should not take anyone in that lineup for granted, least of all themselves.

How Julio Urias,19, is Handling Weight of Being Labeled 'the Next Fernando Valenzuela'

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (2/16/16)

Highest Ceiling: Julio Urias, lhp, Dodgers. Scouts still have trouble figuring out just what to make and what to expect out of Urias. That’s because teenager lefties with three plus pitches who are big league ready simply don’t exist. That’s not hyperbole. If Urias throws 50 big league innings this year, he will become the first teenage lefty to throw that many big league innings since David Clyde in 1973 and 1974 (thanks to Baseball Reference for the assistance). Urias has true front-line stuff with an impressively advanced approach.
...

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Lefthanders

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (2/16/16)

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Righthanders

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (2/16/16)

Quality of the Class: Thin. Sparse. Barren. Pick your adjective. No catcher is going to crack the top 30 of the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list and few will even make the Top 100. There are a number of future big leaguers on this list but there aren’t many catchers who project as long-term regulars.
...

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Catchers

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (2/26/16)

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: First Basemen

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (2/29/16)

Quality of the Class: As usual, the ranks of minor league second basemen are low on prospects. You have the occasional Yoan Moncada or Jose Peraza surrounded by team after team whose second baseman isn’t really a prospect.
...

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Second Basemen

[Neddy]

we gotta sell Zach Lee while he is stil on a prospects list of any kind.

[Quake Griffin]

Pretty cool to see the front office hitting on its 1st draft and some of its trades.

Seager, Joc, Urias, Bellinger etc. etc. are "Ned's Guys"
so it's good to see that they have contributed to the depth in this area.

[Neddy]

Pretty cool to see the front office hitting on its 1st draft and some of its trades.

Seager, Joc, Urias, Bellinger etc. etc. are "Ned's Guys"
so it's good to see that they have contributed to the depth in this area.

technically, Ned's guys are Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and such.

Seager, JOc, Urias, Belliger and others drafted under his regime are Logan White's guys.

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (3/1/16)

Highest Ceiling: There are a lot to choose from, but the Dodgers’ Corey Seager has the bat control to hit .300 or better with power. If he does that, he’s an all-star even if he gives up defensive range in return.
...

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Shortstops

[Ranma]

J.J. Cooper, Baseball America (3/2/16)

Top 100 Prospects Position Rankings: Third Basemen