On the Other Hand, Going to Vegas Can’t Be a Punishment

August 19, 2008 at 5:46 pm | In Eric Stults, Greg Maddux, Scott Proctor, Tanyon Sturtze |

Yesterday, Vin detailed the then-pending trade for Greg Maddux, and while I was very happy to hear that Maddux was coming back, today I’d hoped to discuss the players sent back to San Diego to see if the deal was worth it.

Except that the return going south is, according to Tony Jackson and other sources, “two minor league players to be named later or cash considerations.” So it’s a little difficult to analyze a trade in which you have no idea what’s going the other way. We’ll get to that when the information comes out, but in the meantime, a roster move had to be made to get Maddux onto both the 25 and 40-man rosters.

According to the press release the Dodgers just sent out, injured reliever Scott Proctor was shifted from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL, and lefty Eric Stults was sent back down to AAA Las Vegas. Proctor’s been on the DL since June 22 and is only 3 days short of actually having been gone 60 days, so that’s a no-brainer. But as for the other move, well, I hesitate to make too big a deal of who’s the last man on the staff. In the long run, it’s probably not that big of a deal, especially when Stults is almost certain to return when rosters expand on September 1.

That said, I have to ask: why was Stults sent down rather than Tanyon Sturtze? Neither had gotten into a game since they were recalled on the same day last week - Sturtze, in fact, still hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2006. Stults has been outperforming Sturtze in the minors this season, but that’s almost irrelevant since Stults has had major league success this season - have we already forgotten his completely dominating complete game shutout of the White Sox earlier this year? In 6 starts, he had a 3.18 ERA, which is good for a 139 ERA+.

Not only that, now that Kershaw and Maddux are both in the rotation and both unlikely to go deep into games (for different reasons), the club could certainly use an effective multi-inning guy like Stults, rather than a busted veteran who hasn’t pitched in the bigs in over 2 years (and hasn’t pitched effectively in the bigs in 7 years!)

Again, this isn’t really something to get all that worked up about, but it is definitely a questionable decision worth discussing. I’m pretty sure we’ll revisit this when (not “if”) Torre puts him into a high-pressure situation and Sturtze completely blows it. Right?

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

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Just a sidebar note on the CURRENT ROSTER. Maddux got #36 back, while Ardoin is now #28.

Comment by DodgerBlues — August 19, 2008 #
Thanks, DB! I had you beat by 30 seconds.

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — August 19, 2008 #
Mike/Vin - I just recently starting stopping by the site (in the last month or so), and really love the writing style and wit. Keep up the great work!!

This is a little off topic, but in any event, I left the following comment on another blog (I know, how dare I?!), and I was curious of your take & thoughts. It’s in reference to (A) the financial state of the Dodgers & McCourt and, (B) to the artile Ken Rosenthal wrote about how Ned didn’t put in a claim in an effort to block the Dunn trade to AZ:

“Perhaps McCourt is planning to fire Colletti after the season, and is only letting him make “even-steven” deals from a financial standpoint, with the thought that, “He can’t screw up too much if we (McCourt, White, Ng, et al.) have a say in what he’s doing.”

This could explain why there’s been all the talk in the media about those in the Dodgers front office who are making decisions that should not be, and those who should that aren’t.

By allowing Colletti to finish out the year, McCourt is not sending a “bad” message to the players by making a front office personnel move late in the season (post All-Star Break), yet it forces McCourt to keep his own hand (along with White’s, Ng’s, and other’s) on his money (instead of the previous blank check he presumably gave Ned) & perhaps a better eye on Colletti’s moves than he had been?? Just a thought…

On another note, regarding the non-block of the Dunn trade. If there was fear of taking on salary with Dunn’s $3.5M contract, why not offer either Pierre or AJ as return in the trade? Which is the worst case scenerio: Cincinnati accepts, and we get rid of a high priced loser for Dunn and our outfield situation remains the same (too many OFs, not enough spots & a better power hitter off the bench than either JP or AJ), OR Cincinnati turns down the offer and we’re stuck with what we already have??”

Comment by DodgerBlues — August 19, 2008 #
First of all, thanks for reading and the nice comments. Are you the writer of dodgerblues.com? If so, I’ve been a fan for years - especially the “roll over to see…” images.

On to your points…

1) I can’t imagine Colletti gets canned if the Dodgers make the playoffs, even if it’s only because the NL West is so bad and by all rights we should be 9 games back like we would be in any other division. If the Dodgers fire yet ANOTHER GM the PR is going to be awful, and doubly so if they do it after making the playoffs. If we know anything about McCourt, it’s that he’s very sensitive to public image.

2) About the Dunn idea… there’s also another scenario, and that’s that the Reds say “just take him” and we’re stuck with him and his salary. Obviously, “stuck with” might not be the right term considering his bat, but then we’d REALLY have an outfield logjam. I do think it’s very unlikely the Reds would have done that and bypassed the draft picks, though.

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — August 19, 2008 #
Thanks for the response Mike. No, I’m not affiliated, associated, nor a part in any other way of dodgerblues.com (should I change my name?); however, I like you, enjoy that site and the “rollovers” - favorite is the “Roll your mouse over Jeff Kent to watch him be a team leader.” one…motorcycle magazine and headphones, haha!!

Comment by DodgerBlues — August 19, 2008 #
The name’s fine, just wasn’t sure if it was the same guy or not. I really like the one they have up now with Jones “hitting a HR”.

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — August 19, 2008 #
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention (and agree yet again), I didn’t include the scenerio where Cincy just says, “Take him - he’s yours” (in regards to Dunn if LA put a claim in), with the assumption that they wouldn’t just let him go as a salary dump and pass on the 2 draft picks.

I can see your point in not dumping Colletti if LA makes the playoffs, due to the bad PR that causes for McCourt. I counter with the question of, What about if LA DOESN’T make the playoffs this year?? Is Colletti’s job still safe?

He’s poured millions of dollars into free agent signings (bad PR that I would assume McCourt also takes serious mental note of) that haven’t really panned, aside from Nomar’s 1st year, Furcal (sans injuries), and of course Saito. Understandably you can only fault the guy so much (so little?) for injuries to big ticket players (Furcal, Schmidt, Nomar, Penny, Saito, Jones, briefly Pierre), but he’s still jumped the gun on so many FA signings, where he acted first (”gotta sign ‘em quick!”) and thought second (Schmidt, Pierre, Jones, Bennett). I will give Ned credit (or is it really White or Ng in Neds ear?) on actually making a true effort of late in acquiring some big name, quality players in perhaps, a last-ditch attempt to save his hide.

Comment by DodgerBlues — August 19, 2008 #
I think if LA misses the playoffs, Colletti has to be canned. If they make the playoffs, it’ll be partially because the lousy NL West helped make that possible, but if they don’t make it in, the weak division will hurt Colletti, because then McCourt can say “you were handed this division on a platter and you STILL couldn’t do it!”

What’s more is, White and Ng (and maybe both) will certainly be getting some bigtime chances at GM jobs this offseason, depending on how many open up. If McCourt really likes one or the other, I can see him not wanting to watch them walk out the door while he retains a stiff who just threw $100+ million down the tubes.

Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness — August 19, 2008 #
Agreed. With the division as weak as it is, Ned knows 2nd place in the NL West isn’t getting him anywhere near the Wild Card, so this has to be all or nothing for him the remainder of August & September.

I’d read reports after Seattle dropped Bavasi, that Kim Ng was on a list (drafted by a former GM) of 8 potentials as a replacement.

Personally, I’d love to see her succeed into the next realm of her profession; however, I’d prefer to (A) see it with LA, or (B) see White become GM, and Ng take over all contract negotiations - I heard she is a major hardass when it comes to arbitration & negotiations along that front.

Comment by Gibbys Limp — August 19, 2008 #
Sorry, forgot to mention Gibbys Limp is now taking over for the former DodgerBlues…

Comment by Gibbys Limp — August 19, 2008 #
I’m going to throw up if Ng/White leave for a GM job and the Dodgers are stuck with Colletti for another year.
-
Of course, they will fire Colletti the year after Ng/White leave and they’ll hire some other incompetent douche. :(

Comment by Fire Ned Colletti Now — August 20, 2008 #
[...] Why again did Tanyon Sturtze stick while Eric Stults went down? We questioned this at the time, and Stults was very good last night for Vegas in the high altitude of Colorado Springs, allowing [...]

Pingback by Let’s Not Get Swept on National TV, Okay? « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness — August 24, 2008 #
[...] No, he won’t be an ace; probably never anything more than a decent #5. But probably a guy worth keeping up over the likes of Tanyon Sturtze, isn’t it? One would think. But no, after Joe Torre prematurely pulled him from a blowout win [...]

Pingback by MSTI.com’s 2008 In Review: Secondary Starters and Swingmen « Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness — November 12, 2008 #