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

[Quake Griffin]

Van Slyke avoids arbitration as well.

nice.

[Neddy]

more action than Shakira's hips? LMAO

as for the topic of this thread, Ryu threw off the pen for the first time in 250 days today. he was on a velocity limitation but apparently he looked good with his pitching motion and on his way to the opening day prediction so far.

[Quake Griffin]

Puig to work with Maury Wills and Wills saying Puig reached out.

Hopefully he'll teach him how to be an overall better base runner and maybe how to swipe a bag or two in the process.
Either way, it looks like this kid is hungry again and ready to prove some people wrong…me being in that group.
Go Yasiel.


Special soft spot for Maury. Wills and Willie Davis were my dads favorite Dodgers and he has stories about meeting them when he was a pup and players were a bit more accessible.

[Quake Griffin]

Looks like we wont have to go to arbitration with anybody..

Kenley, Turner, Grandal, Avilan…paid.

[Neddy]

Puig to work with Maury Wills and Wills saying Puig reached out.

Hopefully he'll teach him how to be an overall better base runner and maybe how to swipe a bag or two in the process.
Either way, it looks like this kid is hungry again and ready to prove some people wrong…me being in that group.
Go Yasiel.


Special soft spot for Maury. Wills and Willie Davis were my dads favorite Dodgers and he has stories about meeting them when he was a pup and players were a bit more accessible.

may finally be the sign of maturaity on his part, and possibly an outcome of feeling secured with Roberts at the helm now? being alienated by your own goddamn manager is the fastest way to lose all motivation to play, as you can't hit when sitting on pine. even the great Roy Hobbs nearly walked away from the game because his manager won't let him take a swing in the batting cage and never wrote his name in the lineup card. oh the great Roy Hobbs, the WonderBoy.

[Ranma]

I've read a recent interview where Anthopoulos addressed concerns about his future with the Dodgers, specifically how long he intends to stay with the organization, and he responded by saying that he's moving his family out here and wouldn't uproot his household for a short-term gig. Having said that, of course, he'll accept a GM job if one is offered to him if it is to his liking. It just doesn't seem like he's in a rush to do so as he's in a comfortable situation where he can benefit from the experience with this front office as well as be a part of a world-class organization.

In the interview from the 1st video below, he mentioned how Billy Beane told him that as a GM, you're always playing catch-up in trying to accomplish all the things you want to do in that role. Based on his initial impression of the our front office, it certainly applies to the Dodgers as well as Friedman and Zaidi always have something in the works. Anthopoulos goes on to mention that while a front office is a group effort, there are clearly defined roles within the Dodgers' front office citing both Friedman and Zaidi as the senior level mainstays who are in the office day in and day out with Friedman having final say after getting input from the front office team. He's certainly learning a lot from the Dodgers but he will also provide a different voice in the room as he doesn't think the same as our front office.

Another thing that may be encouraging is that the Dodgers still seem to value our scouts even as other organizations are cutting their scouting staff into apparent extinction. Our front office is known for being sabermetrically inclined but it also doesn't dismiss the input from our scouts. Baseball can be too quick and overeager to adopt trends. Moneyball may be the in thing now, but having human eyes and experience give you insight beyond the stat-sheet numbers is an invaluable resource. Hopefully, the Dodgers can further take advantage of this situation by adding more quality to our scouting staff. At least AA recognizes the value of his scouts and personnel managers in praising them for their contributions in Toronto. After all, he hired Ismael Cruz who is now our lead scout in Latin America.






Bob Nightengale, USA Today (1/14/16)

Los Angeles Dodgers vice president Alex Anthopoulos, who spent the last six years as the Toronto Blue Jays GM, hired more professional scouts than any team in baseball during his tenure. He never turned his back on analytics, but credits his scouting staff for enabling him to acquire the players who made up the strong clubhouse culture in Toronto, which led to their first playoff berth since 1993.

“The best moves we made were the ones we didn’t make because of the information we got from our scouts,’’ Anthopoulos said. “Sure, you look at the analytic side, but you’re talking about the human side, too. We looked at plenty of guys who could help us, but our scouts would give us information, letting us know that they wouldn’t fit into this group or dynamic that we had here.

“This game is so competitive, you need to get every ounce of information you can to try to separate yourself, and our scouts played such a big part in our success.’’

For MLB Scouts, It's Getting Harder to Avoid Force-Out

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/latimessports/status/688102873213747201[/tweet]

LA fan

How much value does Alex Wood have on the trade market?

Jeff Todd

A fair bit, I think. Obviously he's got the questions we've always heard about, but he's been fine and pretty effective. A lot of teams would love to have a cheap and productive arm like that in their rotation.

MLBTR Live Chat (1/14/16)

[Quake Griffin]

i rememer Peter Gammons saying on MLB Network shortly after the season was over that Friedman had spent a lot of time hiring scouts across the country and that nobody knows about it. Made me feel bad for Friedman somewhat because it seems like he's trying to build up an infrastructure and tons of people are just gonna bitch and moan about Jim Johnson and Latos.

anywho.
u got that link to AA saying he's moving his family?
i peeped the videos.

it's funny that he says they don't think alike.
aside from attempting to re-sign Greinke, it looks like Friedman has been interested in infrastructure, building Kasten's pipeline etc. etc.
I see AA as a guy who pulls the trigger and is going to shoot his shot when there's a chance to win….or at least when he thinks there is.
Makes me wonder if that' why he's here.

[Ranma]

i rememer Peter Gammons saying on MLB Network shortly after the season was over that Friedman had spent a lot of time hiring scouts across the country and that nobody knows about it. Made me feel bad for Friedman somewhat because it seems like he's trying to build up an infrastructure and tons of people are just gonna bitch and moan about Jim Johnson and Latos.

anywho.
u got that link to AA saying he's moving his family?
i peeped the videos.

it's funny that he says they don't think alike.
aside from attempting to re-sign Greinke, it looks like Friedman has been interested in infrastructure, building Kasten's pipeline etc. etc.
I see AA as a guy who pulls the trigger and is going to shoot his shot when there's a chance to win….or at least when he thinks there is.
Makes me wonder if that' why he's here.

That's why I wouldn't want him as our GM, but as was previously mentioned, he found a way to make a good deal for Josh Donaldson when he was thought to be unavailable to any team. He might be able to find a way to convince Miami to deal Jose Fernandez without us having to give up Julio Urias. The priority is still to build up and maintain our farm system while Kasten and Friedman are in charge. Here is the requested article pertaining to moving the Anthopoulos family to SoCal:

Jon Weisman, DodgerInsider.com (1/12/16)

But Anthopoulos worried about the spotlight, nor is he putting a time limit on his move to Los Angeles. In fact, he’s doubling down on his commitment by moving his family to Southern California after school lets out in Toronto this year.

“That came up with a few of the clubs that I spoke to,” the former Blue Jays senior vice president and general manager said in a conference call with reporters today. “A few of them said, ‘You’re probably only going to be here for a year.’ It was flattering to hear that, but at the same time, we know that there’s only 28 of these jobs with other teams. I wouldn’t move my family out here if I felt this was going to be a quick stay.”

Anthopoulos interviewed with other clubs, as well as media organizations, about potential work, before alighting happily with the Dodgers.

“My mindset was not on going somewhere short term,” he went on. “I don’t want to jump around. I’m not someone who does that. I commit to somewhere, and I give everything I have and I’m immersed in whatever I do. I think that was reflected with me sitting down with my wife and my family and me deciding to make California home, and to really, really commit to the community, commit to the organization. If things come up down the road, I’ll evaluate them as they come, but my focus is not on any other jobs. I would be thrilled if this is where I spent the next 20 years.”

Alex Anthopoulos Takes Long View of Dodger Tenure

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/blackwings2011/status/688523824032133120[/tweet]

[Ranma]

Special soft spot for Maury. Wills and Willie Davis were my dads favorite Dodgers and he has stories about meeting them when he was a pup and players were a bit more accessible.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DanEvans108/status/688598918502854657[/tweet]

[Quake Griffin]

LOL at Joc and Yasiel paint balling together.

I truly DO NOT care about friendships in the locker room. I think I've listed instances where teams that aren't friends win.
But that seems like the type of thing that will keep the media off of Yasiel Puig's back…so I'm on board.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/689544397961039872[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/mike_petriello/status/689545197185794049[/tweet]

[Quake Griffin]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/689544397961039872[/tweet]

Was coming here to talk about Boxberger.

This popped up.
Can you make heads or tails of it? Long man?

[Quake Griffin]

Eric Stephen ?@truebluela 1m1 minute ago
Blanton as a reliever in 2015 had a 2.04 ERA, 62 K (27% K rate), 12 BB in 57 1/3 IP


looks good on its face.

[Quake Griffin]

Ken Rosenthal ?@Ken_Rosenthal 2m2 minutes ago
Source: Blanton also gets $250K for 50 and 60 IP and $500 K for 70 IP. Structured for a reliever.

[Ranma]

Was coming here to talk about Boxberger.

This popped up.
Can you make heads or tails of it? Long man?

I was scratching my head as soon as I heard of the Blanton signing since I had a preconceived notion of him as a starter, but then I looked at his stats and noticed only 4 starts in 2015 despite appearing in 36 games. He had a 7-2 record and 2 saves to go with a 2.84 ERA and even struck out 79 batters in 76 innings pitched.

If he can avoid a Jim-Johnson-like collapse and continue to pitch as well as he did for both the Royals and Pirates, he'd be a nice addition to our bullpen as a change-of-pace reliever as a bridge to Chris Hatcher setting up Kenley Jansen. As a former starter who hasn't increased his velocity noticeably as a relief pitcher, he would also be a good option to have as a long man as well.

It's getting quite crowded for pitchers competing for starting or relief roles. I can't help but think this is setting us up for a future trade even if it won't happen until after Spring Training. He's only signed for 1 year so it can be argued that he's just buying time for our young prospects to continue developing without being rushed.

Have you heard anything new about Boxberger?

Neil Weinberg, FanGraphs.com (11/5/15)

Blanton was on his way out of baseball. Where this story gets interesting, however, is when you observe his 2015 season. It’s composed of 41 solid innings for Kansas City (96 ERA-, 90 FIP-) and then 34 amazing ones (42 ERA-, 56 FIP-) in Pittsburgh, mostly as a reliever. Blanton had never been a full-time reliever during his career, getting only the stray appearance out of the pen. Ninety-two percent of his MLB games had been as a starter entering 2015. This year, he started four games, but then he provided 32 relief appearances. And he was amazing.

Now it’s not exactly shocking that the Royals and Pirates had a hand in this given the Royals’ reputation with starter-to-reliever moves and Pirates’ employment of Ray Searage. If this were some nondescript starting pitcher who added 2 mph to his fastball, it would barely register because it’s become so commonplace. What is surprising is that Blanton didn’t take the normal path to reliever excellence. He was an 89-91 guy for his entire career and that’s exactly how hard he threw out of the pen.
...

It’s a very tidy narrative. Blanton was flunking out as a starter in his early 30s and found new life as a reliever thanks to a new approach on the mound. Rather than relying on his changeup, he shifted his focus to his slider, dropped his arm slot, and became a rough assignment for right-handed hitters. Lower arm-slot slider heavy pitchers are known for being tough on righties, so the whole thing meshes really well.

It’s an incredible thing to watch and it reminds you how remarkably gifted these athletes are. Blanton has been pitching one way for his entire life and, at 34, he remade himself completely and became a dynamite relief pitcher. At this point, I’m supposed to tell you if I think it’s going to last. That’s the standard for this kind of “player doing new thing article.” It’s hard to think it won’t last, at least to some extent. He’s probably wind up pitching a little worse in 2016 due to simple regression, but I don’t see any reason why would think Blanton couldn’t remain an effective reliever.

Joe Blanton Is Awesome Now, Apparently

[Neddy]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/689544397961039872[/tweet]

Was coming here to talk about Boxberger.

This popped up.
Can you make heads or tails of it? Long man?

yup, long man.

[Quake Griffin]

My bad Ranma. Dodgers Nation made it seem like we were interested on fb and the link didn't deliver.
Sorry sorry sorry.


Well. It's looking like we might have a snag on Justin Turner being healthy to start Spring Training.
Great. Just gave him $5 million to avoid arbitration and he already might be missing time….as if it wasn't an issue before.

[Ranma]

My bad Ranma. Dodgers Nation made it seem like we were interested on fb and the link didn't deliver.
Sorry sorry sorry.


Well. It's looking like we might have a snag on Justin Turner being healthy to start Spring Training.
Great. Just gave him $5 million to avoid arbitration and he already might be missing time….as if it wasn't an issue before.

No worries, Quake. I saw that Dodgers Nation piece after you mentioned it. I've previously expressed my disinclination against Brad Boxberger, but that was due to the projected cost in trade assets. I preferred Jake McGee between the two but either would look to be an asset for our bullpen. Unless we're lining up a deal or two with other teams, I don't see us making a deal with Tampa Bay right now given their price tag and the amount of depth in our pitching staff right now.

With regard to Justin Turner, I was actually concerned about his recovery from microfracture surgery given how long it takes for NBA players to get back to full strength and the resulting loss of explosiveness typically associated with that procedure. I was hoping that the less demanding exertion required of baseball players would mitigate the adjustment and recuperation period but we'll see how Red Beard looks once he gets back on the field.

This concern was the primary reason why I wanted to get Todd Frazier in the Peraza trade with the Reds. Frazier could have filled in for Turner while he was recovering and would have been an option for LF if and when we deal Ethier or Crawford. Well, maybe this will afford Austin Barnes an opportunity to start the season with the team, although I'd prefer he'd be given a chance to backup C and get a shot at playing 2B regularly. We have to dump Alex Guerrero. He's taking up a valuable roster space.