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

Neddy · Post #141 » by **Neddy** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:24 am

Ranma wrote:I actually think there's a very good chance Ethier will be dealt before the 2016 season begins. First, he'll have to be traded before the beginning of the season before his 10-and-5 status kicks in if we plan on moving him since he'd have the right to veto any trade thereafter if he's still on the Dodgers' roster by then. Second, he has $34 million and 2 years left on his contract with a vesting option for 2018 for $17.5 million based on plate appearances with a $2.5 million buyout if it doesn't vests. Third, Ethier had a productive 2015 season as a left-handed platoon player and there seems to be plenty of teams in search of outfielders this winter.

The Dodgers can probably get away with eating $16.5 million for the remainder of his contract ($6 million for 2016, $8 million for 2017, $2.5 million for the 2018 buyout) and save $20 million over the next 2 seasons. This shouldn't require us to package a decent prospect in order to move him since he should be attractive as a $10 million per year player.

I think that deal is very doable. but what if we can eat 26.5 million out of remaining 43 million from Crawford's contract and dump Carl?
I would rather spend extra 10 million and get rid of Carl for nothing in return. send us a mediocre prospect from low A at age 29 for all I care. Ethier can still be productive, but only way Carl is productive is if he is hurt and someone else is playing his position.

question is, would anyone take Crawford for 8.25 million a year for the next two years?

Ranma · Post #142 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 7:47 am

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Ranma · Post #143 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:08 am

While I'd be okay with having Darren O'Day on the roster, I'm not thrilled with the reported terms and it looks like we'd have to extend them even further in order to beat out the Nationals since his wife is a reporter in the DC area. As I've said before, I generally do not prefer to overpay someone just to have them come over. Just because we have the resources, doesn't mean we just use them willy nilly. I'd rather have guys who actually want to be Dodgers.

I find myself hoping for a trade for Aroldis Chapman despite the fact that he only has only 1 year left on his contract. Jansen is pretty close to him in many performance metrics, but as the Petriello article noted above, Chapman is just dominant. Plus, such a lefty-right option out of the bullpen would be wonderful while it lasts. I'd even prefer to have Chapman over Jansen long-term. With regards to cost, I'd be hesitant to give up top prospects for him, but I may be convinced to part with Grant Holmes if push came to shove. I'd rather build a package around Chris Anderson.

Plus, I'm curious why we don't seem to be in on Seung-Hwan Oh. Yeah, it could be the organization being tight-lipped and the uncertainty of the situation with Oh, but I've preferred him over O'Day from the beginning.

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Ranma · Post #144 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 8:19 am

Neddy wrote:I think that deal is very doable. but what if we can eat 26.5 million out of remaining 43 million from Crawford's contract and dump Carl?
I would rather spend extra 10 million and get rid of Carl for nothing in return. send us a mediocre prospect from low A at age 29 for all I care. Ethier can still be productive, but only way Carl is productive is if he is hurt and someone else is playing his position.

question is, would anyone take Crawford for 8.25 million a year for the next two years?

If I had my druthers, I'd trade Crawford, Puig, and Ethier to start anew in the outfield with Pederson, Van Slyke, and whomever else. At this point, however, I think the priority is to trade Ethier given the urgency of his veteran status and current value.

Even if we ate the proposed amount of money for Crawford, I think it would be difficult to find takers for him given his unreliability in light of his injury history. I've resigned myself to think of him as an overpriced part-time outfielder. If we can find a taker for him, by all means, dump him. He seems too comfortable collecting paychecks in L.A.

The anticipated signing of Zimmermann by Detroit makes the pursuit of Jason Heyward less appealing, but he's still a practical and the best option to consider.

Quake Griffin · Post #145 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 11:15 am

Ranma wrote:
Neddy wrote:I think that deal is very doable. but what if we can eat 26.5 million out of remaining 43 million from Crawford's contract and dump Carl?
I would rather spend extra 10 million and get rid of Carl for nothing in return. send us a mediocre prospect from low A at age 29 for all I care. Ethier can still be productive, but only way Carl is productive is if he is hurt and someone else is playing his position.

question is, would anyone take Crawford for 8.25 million a year for the next two years?

If I had my druthers, I'd trade Crawford, Puig, and Ethier to start anew in the outfield with Pederson, Van Slyke, and whomever else. At this point, however, I think the priority is to trade Ethier given the urgency of his veteran status and current value.

Even if we ate the proposed amount of money for Crawford, I think it would be difficult to find takers for him given his unreliability in light of his injury history. I've resigned myself to think of him as an overpriced part-time outfielder. If we can find a taker for him, by all means, dump him. He seems too comfortable collecting paychecks in L.A.

The anticipated signing of Zimmermann by Detroit makes the pursuit of Jason Heyward less appealing, but he's still a practical and the best option to consider.

??????

Ranma · Post #146 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 11:38 am

Quake Griffin wrote:??????

I guess I should clarify my remark, but I thought my previous posts expressed my sentiments. With Zimmermann no longer a free-agent option, giving up the 25th overall pick in the draft to only sign Heyward is less appealing because signing both Heyward and Zimmermann while losing the 25th and approximately the 75th overall picks would have been a better proposition. Of course, we can always sign Jeff Samardzija and other free agents in place of Zimmermann but that wouldn't be ideal. It has to do with making the most of the loss of draft pick(s), which in the end, is fairly negligible given our current allotment of draft picks. I'm not really going to complain if we sign Jason Heyward provided the deal is not too expensive.

Personally, I want to either sign 2 of Greinke, Price, and Cueto or sign 1 of them and either trade for another high-end pitcher or just go with what we have in the current rotation and minors. There are obviously risks with signing 30-year-old pitchers to long-term deals but my current priority is maximizing Kershaw's prime years in pursuit of a championship and we have the resources financially and in terms of prospects development to take such a leap right now during this transition period. We could even sign Heyward in addition to that.

In any case, here's the latest from Rosenthal with regards to signing both Greinke and Price as well as our investment in foreign prospects:

Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com (11/29/15)

Considering that the Dodgers are expected to spend more than $80 million on unproven international free agents, including a 100 percent tax on every dollar they commit above their allotted pool of $2.02 million, what is to stop them from signing both Price and Greinke?

Club officials have discussed the idea, but it’s highly doubtful they will bring it to fruition, sources say. Long-term contracts for pitchers in their 30s often backfire. The Dodgers already have one pitcher earning more than $30 million annually — Clayton Kershaw. Signing both Price and Greinke at similar levels would be a considerable, if not outright foolish, risk.

The Dodgers’ investment in international free agents, meanwhile, essentially will be spread over three years — they will be unable to sign any such players for more than $300,000 in either of the next two signing periods. Club officials know that some of those players will fail, but that the ones who succeed will help restock the team’s farm system and balance future payrolls.

As it stands, the Dodgers will open next season with an all-prospect rotation at Triple-A, featuring lefty Julio Urias and righties Jose De Leon and Chris Anderson. They clearly need help at the major-league level, be it Price or Greinke and perhaps a second-tier type. But they are deeper overall than they were last season, and getting deeper all the time.

Zimmermann Scores with Deal, But is It Enough?

Ranma · Post #147 » by **Ranma** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:43 pm

There's a rumor that the Dodgers and Braves have discussed a trade involving Joc Pederson and Shelby Miller. BaseballEssential.com may be an MLB-accredited site but the writer reporting this apparently has a questionable reputation so take it with a grain of salt, but it's making the rounds on the Internet, so I thought people should be aware of it and the context of the information presented.

Personally, I don't like that deal without knowing more of the specifics. I initially didn't consider Joc Pederson to be one of our elite prospects, but he has shown potential to be more than I anticipated at first. Still, he reminds me of Todd Hollandsworth but with more upside. Given his solid defense in CF and power potential, I wouldn't be inclined to give up on him after just a single full season of major league experience.

I'm not opposed to eventually dealing Joc, mind you, but after failing to complete the Andrelton Simmons trade, I'm inclined not to deal with the Braves. Miller is a decent enough player with promise but I think Joc helps us more in CF than Miller would in our rotation. While Miller could be a #3 starter, he'd probably be more of a #4 or #5 for us. Pederson still is a capable starting centerfielder even with his struggles at the plate. If we were to deal Joc, I would be inclined to move Jose Peraza to CF but he'd have to work extensively at that position in winter ball, which further depletes our options at 2B though **** Hernandez should be a suitable regular there.

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Ranma · Post #148 » by **Ranma** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 12:57 am

Ben Badler, BaseballAmerica.com (11/30/15)

David (Brushton, NY): Purely from a defensive standpoint, who is the better shortstop.............Seager or Peraza?

Ben Badler: Good question. Right now, I’d give the edge to Seager. Better arm on Seager, better athleticism and range with Peraza, but when Peraza did play shortstop this season, he didn’t look that comfortable over there, although that could just be from not being used to playing there recently. For 2016, Seager’s going to be the shortstop, and Peraza’s mostly going to play on the other side of the diamond, though you might see him fill in at shortstop occasionally.
...

Antonio (C.A.): How much does Peraza's lack of walks concern you? Can he ultimately become Dee Gordon lite? High avg, low obp, high steals, good defense

Ben Badler: It is concerning. Is he a high-ceiling, impact player? I don’t think so. But he does enough other things well to give you value and evolve into a 2-3 win type player, especially from a guy who’s either big league ready or just on the verge of there. The high contact rate, ability to use the whole field and speed all give him a chance to hit for a high average, give you value on the basepaths and the defense could be above-average at an up-the-middle position at second base. I’m certain the Dodgers will hammer into his head the importance of drawing more walks, and given that he’s such a smart, high baseball IQ guy, I could see him developing better plate discipline to take better advantage of the skills he does have.
...

Jason (Phoenix): How long does Seager stay at SS? Can they get a couple years out of him while he's young before moving him to 3B? Any SS's in the pipeline that can take over in a few years?

Ben Badler: I think they can squeeze 2-3 years out of him being playable at shortstop, with a lot of it depending on how his body develops and what alternatives they have available at shortstop and third base, including through the trade and free agent markets. If Seager gets bigger and bulkier in a hurry, he might have to go to third base sooner than that. If he stays on the leaner side and retains his agility, maybe he can defy expectations and stay there. Generally, players with his build tend to get a lot bigger as they start to pack on size and strength, but the good thing is all the tools are there for him to be a plus defender at third base if he does slide over there.

Los Angeles Dodgers Top 10 Prospects Chat

Ranma · Post #149 » by **Ranma** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 2:08 am

There is talk that Barry Bonds is possibly going to be the Marlins' new hitting coach. I guess Mattingly likes his hitting instructors to be 'roided up going from McGwire to Bonds. Jim Johnson goes back to Atlanta on a 1-year deal with a raise in salary.

Heyman reports that the Dodgers are not giving up Joc Pederson for Shelby Miller. Good. MLB.com's Mark Bowman reports that Atlanta asked for Corey Seager. Talk about laughable. We're also reportedly interested in Cueto. Good. The Dodgers are also expected to sign former #3 overall pick Donavan Tate to a minor-league contract. I'm actually hoping the Dodgers take a flyer on OF Tyler Goeddel in the upcoming Rule V draft. Goeddel would have to remain on the big-league roster for the whole season, but I'm hoping we clean house in the outfield by unloading Ethier, Crawford, and/or Puig before the season starts.

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Ranma · Post #150 » by **Ranma** » Tue Dec 1, 2015 10:02 pm

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Ranma · Post #151 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 12:03 am

Well, Kershaw could have gone to anyone in the front office including Kasten, Zaidi, and Byrnes so Friedman's denial doesn't necessarily mean anything. At least, Dave Roberts seems to be looking forward to working with Puig.

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Quake Griffin · Post #152 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 7:44 am

I see what Greinke is asking for and I don't see how it is in the cards for this team.

Will hate and boo him as he pitches or San Francisco.

Neddy · Post #153 » by **Neddy** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 8:16 am

I still think we have the better chance on Zack, but if we lose him to the Gnats and don't grab a free agent (say, Cueto), we would still potentially sport a rotation of Kershaw-Ryu-McCarty-Anderson-Wood by the all star break and Urias and De Leon would join that group by September.

Ranma · Post #154 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 9:35 am

I get the feeling that Greinke prefers to stay on the West Coast either in Los Angeles or San Francisco with the Dodgers as his preference. However, based on what was reported earlier with regards to his demands from the Red Sox, he'll go to the top bidder if the offer is large enough. Zack has said as much in the past. Greinke is now leveraging to try to get a 6-year offer with an AAV higher than the one Price got on his deal. I suspect the Dodgers are offering a 5-year deal with possibly the highest AAV on the table for him (and not necessarily higher than Price's) and that the Giants are offering slightly more money overall. If the Giants bump their offer with a significant chunk of cash or give him that extra year on the term sheet, ZG bolts for Northern California.

We know that this Dodgers front office is wary of giving out long-term, big-money deals to 30-year-old pitchers, so I think it's holding firm with what it feels is a sizable but fair offer. We've heard talk that the Dodgers have been exploring deals and other free agents. Zaidi's comments from the linked video above confirms that we have "irons in the fire" that the Dodgers are confident to be poised and ready as contigencies and supplements to Zack's decision. It sounds like we'll get a decision by this week, if not tomorrow. It also just seems like that while the organization would really like Zack back, it's prepared to move on without him and, if the Giants cave in, Greinke will be a rival.

Also, I came across someone who may or may not have inside sources in the Dodgers and Diamondbacks organization. He supposedly broke some news before and I saw a couple of other posters vouch for him, but obviously I don't know how credible he really is as I''m not a regular at that particular forum. In any case, I've posted below some choice comments he's made recently, so take it with a grain of salt and for entertainment purposes. For what it's worth, the proposals do seem reasonably realistic.

idnt-h8urteam via DodgersDigest.com comments

Would it be a problem if the Dodgers had four LHP in the starting rotation: Kershaw, Price, Wood, and Anderson?

The reason I mention the 80% lefty SP concerns is because its been brought up in Dodger FO discussions. I know that the Dodger FO is enamored with Price, to the point that if Greinke asks for the house they will immediately turn their attention to Price.

I don't see the Dodgers netting both Price and Greinke, but with this FO anything is possible.

If anyone is on I have a few pieces of information to pass along.

I was told by my Dodger source that they have been aggressively pursuing Chapman and A. Miller, hoping they get one. However, both the Reds and the Yankees are asking for too much at the time. I believe they are asking for De Leon in return. The Dodger FO feels this is too much. This source also told me that he think that nothing will get done until the winter meetings when their asking price probably drops significantly.

I also asked if the Dodger are going to pursue Heyward and he said no. He said that even though they value his skill set, they feel his asking price of 200+ million is too much. My source predicts that he will be a Yankee since they are shopping their largest contacts: McCann and Miller.

My source also predicted that they will retain Greinke services.

While my source and I were golfing Cashman called him offering Miller and Pineda for De Leon among other prospects. Cashman was told by my source that they will get back to him.

DBax also offered Cueto a 5 year $120 million contract and were declined. He wants to wait and see what Price and Greinke get before he signs.

From what I heard today the Giant's offer is slightly more than the Dodger's offer, but I think he comes home.

i think its been reported already, but the Dodgers never offered Joc to the Braves. It was the Braves that wanted Joc for Miller

I haven't heard this from anyone, but I infer they stand pat on their offer. They are hoping he chooses the Dodgers because he prefers this team over anywhere else.

Its just a feeling based on what i was told by my source leads me to believe he chooses the Dodgers.

Nothing. They are really focused on pitching. Lots of trade talk going on. Its really been Greinke and trades talks.

LiveFyre Profile Activity Stream

Ranma · Post #155 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 7:32 pm

The reports of a 5-year offer supports my speculation of Greinke's holdout for a 6th year, but I find it hard to believe--absurd, really--that the Dodgers would offer 6 years at $35 million AAV. If we're going to give him $35 million per per, it better be for 4 years.

I'm glad (not happy) to see A.J. Ellis returning but I hope to see Austin Barnes play more on the big club this upcoming season as a utility player as backup catcher and infielder.

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Ranma · Post #156 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 7:48 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #157 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 8:20 pm

Why would Cleveland as for Panik with back problems? But I like how they tried to take a huge chunk out of SF with that. It gives me a good barometer of what they were probably seeking from us when we were in trade talks.

Hmm…theyre looking for a 1B…I want to trade a 1B…hmmmmmm.

Team Stream App gave me a notification…said we're in on Ben Zobrist.
4 for 60.
LMFAO. The guy is about to be 35. WTF. I still think he's gonna be good for at least 2 of those years.

Ranma · Post #158 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 8:23 pm

I really like Ben Zobrist as a player for this team, but I don't like the projected 4-year, $60 million price tag. Plus, I want to have Peraza given a legitimate shot at 2B. Having said that, the signing of Zobrist would eliminate the need for going after Utley and, in my opinion, increase the likelihood of dealing Ethier. He'd also provide a safety net at 2B if Peraza or **** doesn't work out as well as at 3B if Turner is hurt or when he needs days off.

There's obviously a place for him on the roster where he can play regularly in LF or at 2B and occasionally fill in at LF, 2B, 3B, and 1B. He's certainly a more attractive pursuit than Daniel Murphy, but given his age and mileage, it's not very appealing to commit so much money and that many years to a player of his stature.

It's nice to hear that Rollins is drawing interest as long as it's not from us.

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Ranma · Post #159 » by **Ranma** » Wed Dec 2, 2015 11:38 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #160 » by **Quake Griffin** » Thu Dec 3, 2015 2:39 am

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
Two non-tender candidates who have been offered in trades today, according to sources: #Astros’ Hank Conger and #SFGiants’ Yusmeiro Petit.

I know that would get Neddy excited.
But looks like we're locked in by signing AJ Ellis.
Kinda wanna see more from Austin Barnes too. Being stacked at Catcher hampers his development IMO. He has a good OBP bat. He's pretty athletic and can cover 2B. He brings more versatility to this team than AJ….but whatever…AJ has earned his right to keep working with our pitchers.