Dodgers Shock Baseball by Trading Trayvon Robinson For Organizational Depth
July 31, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Posted in Juan Rodriguez, Stephen Fife, Tim Federowicz, Trayvon Robinson | 111 Comments
I… am… speechless.
About 30 seconds after the deadline passed, I tried to hit publish on a post titled “Trade Deadline Passes Quietly for Dodgers”. WordPress blew up as I did, and the post never made it live. It included the line that I’m pretty sure I’m glad WP ate, “But let’s look at this in a positive light: being mildly disappointed at the lack of deals is far better than freaking out over the idea that Scott Podsednik, Ryan Theriot, and Octavio Dotel are improvements, right?”
Yeah… about that.
Shortly after the deadline, word broke that the Red Sox had traded for Erik Bedard. Okay, nothing unexpected there. Then Twitter blew up – I mean, literally exploded in a firey hellscape of “WAIT, WHAT?!” – when the news started to filter that the deal was actually a three-team move, and that the Dodgers had included Trayvon Robinson.
Before we all freak out, here’s the facts: Robinson goes off to the Mariners (via Boston) in exchange for catcher Tim Federowicz, RHP Stephen Fife and RHP Juan Rodriguez. I copied that from someone on Twitter, and I have so many browser tabs open right now that I can’t even pretend to know who it’s from at this point, so deal.
On the players coming in – none of whom I’ve heard of before – here’s the bad news: none of the three made Kevin Goldstein’s preseason list of top 20 Sox prospects at Baseball Prospectus before the season. (Robinson, for what it’s worth, was #4 on the Dodger list; it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, because the Red Sox system is probably deeper overall, but still.)
Over at SoxProspects.com, none of the three are on that top 20 list either. Federowicz is rated #22 (up from 27 in April), Fife is #32 (up from 39), and Rodriguez is 44 (up from 45). From the same site, quick scouting reports on the three:
Federowicz: (24 next week)
Intelligent catcher with ideal frame and strong core. Line drive hitter. Average power potential as swing is on the flat side. Profiles as a gap-to-gap doubles hitter. Makes best contact on balls down and out over the plate. At times struggles to get his hands above the baseball on higher velocity elevated fastballs. Good pitch recognition skills, but can chase hard breaking balls off the plate. Improving plate discipline. Behind the dish, Federowicz presently is above-average defensively. Plus, accurate arm with a fluid release. Can struggle with his grip when throwing, which causes ball to tail into runners during stretches. Outstanding instincts and reflexes. Excels at staying square to the ball with both his body and glove. Fluid footwork, especially when blocking pitches in the dirt. Improving with game management skills and taking charge of the pitching staff. Below-average speed, but heady on the base paths. Projects as a major league backup catcher, with potential as a second division starter. (emphasis mine - MSTI)
Fife: (25 in October)
Great pitcher’s frame. At Utah, Fife worked middle relief in 2007 and earned a rotation spot for 2008.Two-seam fastball sits between 88-91 mph. Has a four-seamer with more velocity, but doesn’t feature it. Great movement on his two-seamer, tailing down and in on righties. Also works in a biting 76-79 mph curveball and an improving 79-81 mph changeup. Relies mostly on his fastball, but has gone to his curveball as his out pitch on occasion. Working on improving the command of his curve, but has outstanding control overall. Really pounds the strike zone. Fife also has a slider in his arsenal that has been put on the shelf while he works on his curveball. Extreme groundball pitcher. Fares better against righties. Workhorse, went deep into games in college, maintaining velocity well. Ultimately, Fife has a high potential to become a major league pitcher, and whether or not he’s able to become a starter in the bigs depends on how well he hones his secondary stuff. Somewhat jerky delivery with a lot of torque – snaps the ball as it comes out of his hand. Really came on as a draft prospect late in the 2008 NCAA season. Fife missed the first few months of the 2009 season with weakness in his throwing shoulder.
Rodriguez: (23 in December)
Large-framed righty dominated DSL competition in 2009, but was slightly old for the league. Mechanics can use some tuning-up, but he demonstrates a live arm. Attacks hitters. Fastball sits 92-95 mph and shows more life (96-97 mph) in short blasts. Also throws a 79-81 mph slurve, that has some potential if he can sharpen it and get it up in the mid-80s. Lots of projection, but he’s behind the age scale because he signed at 19, unlike many other Latin prospects who sign at 16. Needs to develop his curveball to be starter material. Has accumulated impressive strikeout numbers at every level so far with the Red Sox.
Those reports were all from before the season. Here’s what they’ve done so far in 2011:
Federowicz: .275/.337/.397 at AA (is reportedly considered a “plus defender“, says Yahoo’s Tim Brown. BP’s Marc Normandin concurs, saying “above-average defender, better blocking than throwing, possible doubles power. probably a second division starter, more likely solid backup”)
Fife: 11-4, 3.66 ERA, 6.1 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 at AA (known for “pitchability”, whatever that means)
Rodriguez: 2-4, 5.19 ERA, 13.4 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 at A
Mike Andrew of SoxProspects commented on this on Twitter:
My take: #Red Sox traded 3 Rule 5 eligible B-prospects, each w/ a chance to be MLB role players, & a C-Level prospect w/ marginal MLB future
FWIW, each of Chiang, Fife, & Federowicz are Rule 5 eligible this winter. Rodriguez is the 4th chip – predicted that earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Robinson was tearing it up in AAA: 26 homers, and a .293/.375/.563 line. Lest you think that’s merely a product of ABQ, he’s hitting .306/.394/.585 at home, and .280/.354/.537 on the road. That’s in a hitter-friendly league overall, so take it with the requisite grain of salt, but by all indications he’s on the path to being a solid regular, though maybe something less than a star. Meanwhile, the three prospects coming in return all look to be something less than that.
Obviously, this all came out of nowhere, and we’ll need time to digest it. My initial impression, though? Pretty disappointed, and not just because we’ve all grown to love Robinson and the idea of him coming back to play in his hometown.
If anything, this summary of Ned Colleti’s post-trade interview from Eric Stephen of TrueBlueLA sums it up best:
Synopsis from Ned Colletti: “We need catching…it’s easier to find an OF [on FA market] than it is a catcher.
He then went on to claim that you can create an outfielder, but not a catcher, though his comments were drowned out by Russell Martin and Carlos Santana (among others) laughing. In theory, that idea sounds fine. But in practice? Robinson is a solid outfield prospect with a chance to be much more. Federowicz sounds like a placeholder, and the pitchers are intriguing but little more. Position isn’t everything, otherwise you’d see the Jays trading Jose Bautista for, well, Dioner Navarro. (Actually, you wouldn’t, because the Jays have a real general manager.) I like the idea of Ned trying to address the catching issue (you know, the one he created), but in no way is this the way to do it.
Besides, what in the hell is a team deep in pitching, desperate for offense and with a gaping hole in the outfield doing trading an MLB-ready outfield prospect for a catcher who may or may not be able to hit and two mildly interesting pitchers?
The more I read about this trade, the less I like it. It hurts the Dodgers short term, since Robinson was by all accounts coming up in the next month or so. It probably hurts them long term, if Robinson develops as we hope he will. And I can’t imagine how it must feel for Robinson, expecting a call to LA any day, and instead being told to pack his bags for Seattle.
More to come. I guess.
Update: added Keith Law’s thoughts…
The Dodgers get … I’m not really sure what they get. Tim Federowicz is a catch-and-throw specialist who isn’t likely to produce enough at the plate to be an average regular, but is plus across the board behind the plate (including a career 34-percent caught-stealing rate) and is no worse than a good backup in the majors. Stephen Fife probably profiles as a right-handed reliever rather than a starter because he lacks the out pitch to start; he’ll touch 95 as a starter with a fringe-average curveball. Juan Rodriguez has a plus fastball, no average second pitch, and below-average command and control — a nice arm to add to your system but a reliever at best and not a high-probability guy either. Unless Robinson was somehow burning a hole in their pockets, this doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as they didn’t get any prospect as good as he is in the exchange.
******
Not that anyone cares about this anymore, but the canceled post had info on Alex Castellanos, so
I might as well include it here. Los Angeles did send several million to the Cardinals along with Furcal, though they send up saving $1.4m overall, which was as much the point as it was getting Castellanos, who turns 25 next week.
Castellanos, a 10th-round pick in 2008 out of a small North Carolina college, played second and third base in his first two years with the Cardinals, but is now strictly a right fielder. He was a Texas League All-Star this year with a line of .319/.379/.562, and 19 HR. That sounds nice, though I’ve yet to see a scouting report that says he’s more than a fourth outfielder; he wasn’t even mentioned in Kevin Goldstein’s preseason Top 20 Cardinals prospects list at Baseball Prospectus. Of course, since Furcal is old, incredibly injury-prone, and having a terrible season, anyone who thought he was bringing back a top prospect was fooling themselves.
Since I admittedly hadn’t heard of Castellanos prior to yesterday, let’s let people who know a lot more about him than me fill in the blanks on what to expect.
Jim Callis of Baseball America:
Castellanos was having a career year in Double-A (he ranks eighth in the Texas League in hitting, fifth in homers and fourth in runs scored), but he’ll turn 25 on Thursday and his tools don’t live up to his performance. He has some pop but he has a long swing and chases too many pitches out of the strike zone. His speed and defensive tools are fringy, and the former Belmont Abbey (N.C.) second baseman fits best in right field. Despite his 2011 numbers, he doesn’t have the bat to profile as a big league regular there. He signed for $70,000 as a 10th-round pick in 2008.
The 24-year-old right-handed hitter was the Cardinals’ 10th-round draft pick in 2008. Castellanos set a new Palm Beach record with 35 doubles last season and his seven triples led the Cardinals system. Though he received votes, he did not crack The Cardinal Nation Top 40 Prospect List during the off-season.
In 2011, Castellanos was The Cardinal Nation Player of the Month for April and has twice been named the Texas League Player of the Week. He has a .319 average, 19 home runs and 62 RBI in 93 games. Castellanos has been especially hot recently, batting .419 with ten RBI in his last ten games.
Castellanos, a 10th-round draft pick in 2008 from NCAA D-II Belmont Abbey (N.C.), owned the Texas League’s eighth-best batting average, its fifth-most home runs (19), fifth-most total bases (119). His 62 RBIs are second on the Cardinals behind Matt Adams’ 81.
A right-handed batter, Castellanos, 24, emerged as a potential prospect last season in the high Class A Florida State League, batting .270 but hitting 35 doubles, 13 home runs and owning a .462 slugging percentage in what is widely considered a pitcher’s circuit.
In Springfield, Castellanos still tends to chase too many off-speed pitches he couldn’t handle anyway (off-speed out of the zone). But when on base, he showed good speed and instincts, stealing 10 bases in 11 attempts.
Defensively, he played right field and showed a strong arm, though he tended to get too aggressive with runners on base and would go for the out, rather than hit the cut-off man.
Castellanos said he is being assigned to Chattanooga, Tenn., of the Double-A Southern League.
Future Redbirds (from April 2011)
Looking at the stats, it is pretty clear what type of player Castellanos is so far in his career. He will swing for the fences and is happy to go down swinging while trying. He will not try to work a walk and his OBP will not be much more than his AVG. But when he hits the ball it will go very far and he has the ability to stretch a single into a double and double into a triple which helps his slugging numbers. Once on base, he also has dangerous speed to steal bases at will. Castellanos is an intriguing prospect based on his power and speed numbers, but will need to cut down on the strikeouts and add some walks to really push his prospect status to the next level.
So it seems pretty clear that Castellanos is a 4th outfielder prospect, at best, with a small possibility of more if his sudden burst this year has something behind it. There’s value in that, I suppose, since Furcal had almost no value on the market, but this isn’t someone who is suddenly a building block for the future.
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This is TERRIBLE! We traded away a guy who had a chance to make an impact in the bigs for three guys who are at best AAAA players. I know we have some outfield depth in the minors, but come on Ned.
Thanks for the quick post Mike, way to stay on top of what’s going on
Comment by Tim— July 31, 2011 #
Ned Colletti hates the Dodgers.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 31, 2011 #
I can’t wait untill the Giants fire Ned, wait why would they as he is destroying the Dodgers.
Comment by dodgers66— July 31, 2011 #
this is nothing short of awful. i hate colletti. i hate him so much.
Comment by Robama— July 31, 2011 #
why woud Ned make this trade mIke? this trade doesnt make any sense for the Dodgers.
Comment by format— July 31, 2011 #
the day ned colletti gets FIRED will be the day the dodgers start winning again…hopefully
Comment by GP— July 31, 2011 #
NedCo strikes again!
Comment by dodgerbobble— July 31, 2011 #
Checking updates every minute hoping there was something missed. Maybe middlebrooks coming too, or maybe its lavarnway instead of fed. Have a feeling I’ll be waiting a while. Screw you Ned. Screw you.
Comment by Tripp— July 31, 2011 #
Ned continues to find impressive ways to disappoint. I will give him that.
Comment by Deport the McCourts— July 31, 2011 #
What does “second division starter” mean? Is that fancy talk for “minor league pitcher?”
Comment by Tony— July 31, 2011 #
It means “starter on a bad team”.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
Ohh, cool. So he does fit on this team.
Comment by Tony— July 31, 2011 #
Look on the bright side we don’t have many exciting postion player prospects left for Ned to trade away!!
Comment by dodgers66— July 31, 2011 #
Still waiting to hear from the first media member or fan who likes this deal for the Dodgers. Haven’t seen even one.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
this was a very stupid trade, our last good hitting prospect gone. what the hell is Ned smoking?
Comment by format— July 31, 2011 #
hey…at least he didn’t trade sands or silverio…yet
Comment by GP— July 31, 2011 #
I’d rather he trade Sands then Robinson. Sands strikes me as a .260/.270 hitter for his MLB career whenever he blossoms. In other words, no big improvement at 1B over Loney, but maybe a stellar LF prospect which Robinson already had sewn up.
Comment by joeyc138— August 1, 2011 #
Is it hockey/football season yet?
Comment by Bigd71— July 31, 2011 #
Kings had a nice off-season!
Comment by DodgersKings323— July 31, 2011 #
Ya. The Dodgers have become what the Kings used to be to me. Watch when I can. If they win… great. If they lose… what else is new. They make horrible trades and terrible FA signings just like the Kings used to.
The Kings are what the Dodgers used to be to me. Live and die with every minute/inning, know all the players in the organization… etc.
Comment by Bigd71— July 31, 2011 #
Updated post with Keith Law thoughts,
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
You had a little too much to say to be considered speechless…
So… If the fact that I hate everyone running this franchise (ok, just the two most important ones) isn’t enough for me to give up on the Dodgers and become a Rays fan, what is? I guess I’ll give it a little more time, if the ownership change doesn’t clear out Ned, I’m done with this f***ING organization.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 31, 2011 #
Why do both the ownership and front office hate the fan base so much?
Comment by Greg— July 31, 2011 #
what would happen if no fans showed up to a dodger game
Comment by GP— July 31, 2011 #
I used to go once a week, I don’t go anymore.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 31, 2011 #
[...] Scioscia‘s Tragic Illness does not like the Dodgers end of the three-way trade. Besides, what in the hell is a team deep in pitching, desperate for offense and with a gaping [...]
Pingback by Unhappy with Colletti : baseballmusings.com— July 31, 2011 #
why do all the other clubs in baseball have smart gm’s while we’re stuck with a dumbass?
Comment by GP— July 31, 2011 #
Ned did this deal with Trayvon just to get people away from focusing on how badly the Hiroki Kuroda affair was botched..
How about a fantasy league match up of the mistakes the Dodgers let get away versus the mistakes that they kept
i.e.
Carlos Santana, Russell Martin, Paul Konerko, Adrian Beltre, Furcal, Trayvon, Joel Hanrahan et. al.
versus
Navarro, Loney, Uribe, Lilly, Garland, Broxton, Guerrier et al. (you could include, Thames, Gibbons, Cormier and others that they kept too long)
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 31, 2011 #
Perhaps he made this deal BECAUSE of the Kuroda no trade. Ned desperately needs prospects, and Kuroda’s declining to leave, and bring us back bodies, forced Ned’s hand to produce in his old fashioned way. Catchers are non-existent everywhere. I can see this as his only way of beginning a rebuild for the future. Also, I think there is more animus than may be warranted at this point. Let’s wait to see what Robinson does as a pro before we destroy the deal. This also may indicate Ned’s commitment to Gwynn, Jr. as well.
Comment by Anthony Forkush— July 31, 2011 #
The main problem with this trade is that Colletti doesn’t get enough back for top prospects. That is what we learned from the Carlos Santana trade. If you’re gonna trade one of your top prospects, you gotta be damn sure you get a difference maker in return. That is not what Colletti did here. He could’ve gotten more in return for Robinson.
Comment by Brian R— August 1, 2011 #
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghh……….
What the hell. Seriously. What the hell. We couldn’t even get a starting catcher out of this? Why is it that every selling team has made bank, but the Dodgers sell for nothing? Trading Robinson for two more pitchers and a back up catcher is something I would expect the guy who pretends to be Ned here to jokingly suggest. I guess that’s the mark of good satire though.
Comment by Bip— July 31, 2011 #
Like I said last week, we’re all going to laugh (and then cry) when we find out that Ned really does post here, and it ain’t satire.
Comment by Dave Pomerantz— August 1, 2011 #
Here’s an Isotopes-centric look at today’s moves:
http://www.examiner.com/baseball-in-albuquerque/isotopes-lose-two-of-their-best-players
I have to add into the chorus that this is a lousy trade. T-Fed (it’s his new nickname, the real name is too hard to type out) better turn out to be the next great defensive backstop, otherwise an offense-starved team just pulled a 2004 Royals and foolishly prized position over pure talent.
And after all these years of being on the fence about Ned (mostly blaming a lot on Frank), I have to agree with all of you. Bad GM. Bad, bad GM.
(But on a lighter note, the Pirates just made two trades to acquire veteran hitters for the first time since I was a freshman in high school; my mind is spinning)
Comment by Chris Jackson— July 31, 2011 #
T-Fed to join the Topes, according to the official release. No word on how the hell they’re gonna shake out playing time at catcher, infield, outfield now. Gonna get messy here.
Fife to Chattanooga, Rodriguez to Great Lakes. No word on Castellanos yet.
Comment by Chris Jackson— July 31, 2011 #
Castellanos to Chattanooga, I read elsewhere.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
Read the same thing. So someone’s coming up from Chattanooga, it appears. The TrueBlueLA guys think it will be the K King himself, Kyle Russell. I’m holding out hope for Silverio. ABQ is holding out hope for native son BCG.
However it turns out, I’m gonna be busy this upcoming homestand.
Comment by Chris Jackson— July 31, 2011 #
I really think FedEx (that’s his real nickname) will turn into a solid big league catcher, not worth TRob but I’m glad we actually got a real catcher.
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
Why do you think that? Any reaaon, or…?
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— July 31, 2011 #
because I can read. That one scouting report Mike posted isn’t the only thing on him. He’s at WORST a backup, more likely a solid catcher. Still not sure on his bat, though.
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
Brandon, can you link to other reports? Happy to check them out.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
FedEx? Nice. I will use that from here on out. A friend in ABQ pointed out T-Fed sounds like K-Fed, and I would never dream of insulting a baseball player by making his nickname so close to that d****bag.
It’s a shame that there wasn’t some way to morph FedEx and Lavarnway into a single player. Of course, if there was, the Sox would never have traded him.
I’ve heard the same positives on his defense (check Dodger Thoughts for a smattering), but otherwise he just sounds like … A.J. Ellis.
Comment by Chris Jackson— July 31, 2011 #
The only thing I can do to keep myself from throwing my laptop at my TV is read what @DodgersGM has to say on Twitter so I can have a laugh:
DodgersGM
I didn’t want to trade Trayvon Robinson. I had no idea I’m allowed to reject offers from other GMs. #Mariners #RedSox
1 hour ago
DodgersGM
Furcal deal with the #Cardinals is finally complete. Very disappointed that they wouldn’t part with Octavio Dotel. #Dodgers
4 hours ago
Comment by The Dude Abides— July 31, 2011 #
That guy is hilarious! I love reading his stuff.
Comment by Jeff M.— July 31, 2011 #
My favorite was this tweet a couple weeks ago when Carmageddon closed the 405 so they could blow up the bridge over Mulholland:
@DodgersGM
DodgersGM
Beautiful day for a drive. No traffic on 405 between 101 and 10. Construction guys are waving at me. Must be #Dodgers fans.
16 Jul via TweetDeck
Comment by The Dude Abides— August 1, 2011 #
hey Dude Abides so in Ned he thought for sure he could swing that deal
Comment by dodgers66— July 31, 2011 #
I live in Springfield, so I’ve had a chance to see Castellanos a few times this season. My assessment of the guy is pretty much the same — nice bat, has a little bit of power potential but seems to be more of a line-drive double type of hitter. Good defense, maybe not outstanding. I had him pegged as a fourth outfielder type as well. I was reading over the dimensions of the Albuquerque stadium (since I’m not familiar with the park), and a field like that might be a benefit to him if he ends up being a gap hitter (if and when he makes it to Albuquerque).
Overall, I’m not opposed to the Furcal move, but like everyone else I’m astonished at the decision to trade Robinson. I see no benefit whatsoever. I’m afraid Colletti thinks he has some find in Castellanos that he was willing to part with Robinson, but I just don’t see it.
Comment by B Smith— July 31, 2011 #
Just more evidence of Colletti being paid under the table by Sabean to keep the Dodgers out of contention for years to come.
Comment by Justin— July 31, 2011 #
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! this is so stoopid its funny… :( what did we do to deserve this?
Comment by ::==( o )— July 31, 2011 #
has somebody put a freaking nihilism pill in the national tap water? everybody from DC to chavez ravine has slurped it down…. the POINT of this deal, clearly, is to dismantle the dodgers franchise just a tad more than it was before the trading deadline. ned – moronic as he is – can’t actually believe tossing away one of the system’s few valuable position player prospects for three lesser lights is, on any level, a smart baseball move…. and while i think ned is a dolt, i don’t think he’s that much of a dolt. even he has to understand this isn’t a good thing…. the motivation here s baffling….. bottom line: mr. beaver pelt is to horrible gm-ing what kareem was/is to being tall…. ditto frank and horrific ownership….
sigh…. with luck, this is the 89th minute of the dodgers movie.
Comment by Andre— July 31, 2011 #
You know what the sign of a bad trade-deadline day is? The best news for the Dodgers is that Davey Lopes gets to wear No. 15 again.
Comment by David Milstead— July 31, 2011 #
Not to crap on TRob now that he’s gone, but Mike you have noticed TRob’s high BABIP, right?
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
Yeah, like I said – I don’t see him being a star. But I do see him being the most valuable player of the 4 included, and that makes this a lose-lose proposition.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
I agree, but then why does that make this such a soul-crushing trade? Good? No, but it’s not Pedro for Delino DeShields.
We gave up an decent prospect, you’d think given all the other crap we’ve put up with for the last year we’d take this news in stride.
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
no, for many, this is the last straw.
Comment by Dustin John Hanson— July 31, 2011 #
that’s exactly how i feel
Comment by Brian R— August 1, 2011 #
So everything else wasn’t enough to count as the “last straw”? Sounds like you held out hope for far too long, that’s on you my friend.
Comment by Brandon— August 1, 2011 #
I no longer feel suicidal about this, even though it still seems like the Dodgers lost on this trade. I was attached to Trayvon, maybe more than he deserves frankly, so admit I am not completely rational about it. But even rationally — since he didn’t have to do this trade, even if selling high on Trayvon now, why not wait until you get a bonafide equal to him, at catcher. I agree with you Mike, if you are desperate to upgrade position players, and are loaded at pitching, why not trade a freaking pitcher instead of trading, you know, one of your few promising position players? So many things make no sense, Ned is often left repairing his own messes and hypocrisy. If he hadn’t traded Santana in first place maybe catching wouldn’t be a weak spot.
The positives now for me, now that I’m back off the ledge at least, are that more I read about Fed the more I like him at least. And Fife sounds pretty solid, too (not that we needed more pitching!) It’s not like he traded Robinson for garbage. But once again it’s a Ned Special: trade high (good thing) but get less than fair value (bad, pointless).
Comment by Craig Phillips— July 31, 2011 #
Agreed. We gave up too much, but frankly I looks like we might’ve sold high on this one. Let’s not forget as baseball fans we automatically have to overrate our own team’s prospects and underrate other team’s.
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
It’s certainly possible that Robinson gets too much love on this board because we’re all Dodgers fans, etc. And, from a technical perspective, I don’t disagree with what any of what you’re saying.
But I also think you’re missing a bigger point here: This deal, like so many of Ned’s deals, seems to be about Ned’s bizarre love for acquiring mediocrity. Even Ned, former PR guy, can’t bring himself to gush over any of the prospects we’re getting. Meanwhile, while it’s certainly possible Robinson will turn into bupkus, it’s also possible – based on his consistent improvement in the minors over the past few years, and every scouting report we’ve read as recently as this morning — that he could become a legitimate MLB outfielder. Again, that’s only a possibility. But that’s what Ned consistently undervalues – possibility.
It’s not sad. No kids died here, and nobody got hurt. But it’s a pisser for this Dodgers fan on hiatus.
Comment by Andre— July 31, 2011 #
Ok, I haven’t posted in a while as you have probably noticed I have been very busy. Many of you had been complaining that I was sitting on my hands not doing anything. Now I do this trade getting a catcher and two pitchers and I am getting hammered here. Come on, I figure any time you can trade one and get three in return that’s a win in my book.
Comment by Ned Colletti— July 31, 2011 #
Boss, please accept my resignation.
Comment by Logan White— July 31, 2011 #
lol!
Comment by DodgersKings323— July 31, 2011 #
Logan, I know I don’t ask you for advice, but you can’t leave, you seem to be the only one that brings hope to these fans. Even I understand that. But just remember, it not about me, you or even Frank. There is a much…much bigger picture that even I can’t explain.
Comment by Ned Colletti— July 31, 2011 #
Then let me take a leave of absence, I have a feeling by the time I come back I’ll be in line for a promotion.
Comment by Logan White— July 31, 2011 #
Is that the bigger picture where you’re known as “Agent Ned” on the Giants’ McCovey Chronicles blog?
Comment by The Dude Abides— July 31, 2011 #
Just when you think it cannot get any worse….Ned makes a deal.
Comment by jWerthfan1— July 31, 2011 #
i like the catcher, but not for tray man. wow this is shocking. wtf?
Comment by Joey E.— July 31, 2011 #
T-Fed = Navarro
Castellanos = Oeltjen or Hoffmann
Fife = Ely
Rodriguez = Lindbloom
So what’s the point Ned??? These are spare parts you already have.
For $1.5 million you could have kept Navarro for next year and also kept Trayvon.
Quit playing in the deep end of the pool with the big boy GM’s Ned – you are in over your head and I do not think McCourt is interested in being your lifeguard
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 31, 2011 #
What’s everybody complaining about? Now we know who we would have gotten had Kuroda gone to Boston. Smells like Santana all over again.
Comment by cameron— July 31, 2011 #
If they’d traded Kuroda for the same package, I’d have been thrilled.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— July 31, 2011 #
:(
Comment by game6ers— July 31, 2011 #
haha Mike. ned was interviewed on the Dodgers TV postgame show. he said “Fife is pretty good. doesnt have blow away stuff, but he knows how to pitch. I think he has 11 wins in AA” im cracking up.
Comment by Joey E.— July 31, 2011 #
Fife got hit around in the Mountain West Conference when he was with Utah, that renowned college baseball powerhouse…
Comment by Chris Jackson— July 31, 2011 #
For some reason the post game interviewer didn’t ask whether Ned’s claim that Federowicz was an upgrade to the catching position meant he was better that Barajas and Navarro.
Ned seemed to think that the Dodgers are weak at catcher. I wonder how that came about?
Comment by Steve Gilbert— July 31, 2011 #
Is Ned Colletti trying to get fired? Is he fed up of working for the McCourt abomination but still wants to collect his entire contract? Has he ever stopped working for Brian Sabean? This trade is so utterly stupid that makes J.P. Ricciardi look like Alex Anthopoulos.
Comment by Rafael A. Valera R. (@Baal_does_Tweet)— July 31, 2011 #
I understand the need to get a catcher but the Dodgers should have held firm to get the Bosox AAA catching prospect. If that meant they didn’t get the two pitching prospects then so be it. If Boston would part with him there is nothing wrong with mading a move over the winter for catching. If Boston was willing to give up Lars Anderson for Rich Harden then why didn’t the Dodgers go after him since they will need a first baseman after this year.
Comment by west coast ram— July 31, 2011 #
Ditto the above…as a longtime Dodger fan, this trade just defies logic on all fronts…the purpose of being a seller is to pick up guys that will help your team in the future, not give away the future…I mean, there isn’t even a cost benefit to this deal…the Furcal deal I can perhaps understand, but this makes no sense…only beneficiaries are the Red Sox (who are trying to win a pennant) and the Mariners (who are building)…listen closely…that’s the sound of laughter that’s emminating from both coasts on the fleece job done on the Dodgers
Comment by Rob C— July 31, 2011 #
It’s my birthday and now i feel like throwing up……
Comment by DodgersKings323— July 31, 2011 #
It would not surprise me if Logan pummels Ned one of these days.
Comment by McColletti BeGone— July 31, 2011 #
Hold on now, before we judge this trade negatively. Shouldn’t we defer to Ned’s ability to identify and sign what a quality major league catcher looks like??
Comment by Deuce— July 31, 2011 #
If you were gonna trade Trayvon at least wait till the offseason. You could havee packaged him with other for someone useful.
Comment by juan— July 31, 2011 #
I don’t care if Trayvon turns out to be the worst player in history. This just killed the rest of 2011 Dodger baseball for me. The season was already an injured little bunny, hopping around with a broken leg. Now it’s cornered and the wolves are about to tear it apart and I just can’t watch. One of the last little glimmers of hope was getting to see Trayvon get called up in September and show us why he is/was our #1 prospect. Where’s my bottle? You seen it? What about my bottle of pills?
Comment by game6ers— July 31, 2011 #
Your story about the rabbit reminds me of the movie “Tommy Boy.” I’m reminded about Christ Farley petting his dinner roll (representing his potential sale) and saying, “I get all excited. I’m like Jojo the idiot circus boy with a pretty new pet.”
Comment by Jeff M.— July 31, 2011 #
I’m stunned by the responses here and elsewhere. I cannot possibly get worked up about the loss of Trayvon Robinson. Maybe he ends up as a solid left field guy. Or maybe he ends up striking out a ton and we realize that his power was all a product of the PCL. Either way this is not Santana for Blake. Or even McDonald/Lambo for Dotel. I think some people are just looking for a reason to vent here.
Comment by Warren— July 31, 2011 #
It’s because we are so stinking short of everyday players and then we trade a possible everyday player for at best, a backup catcher, and some marginal relief prospects. How does this help the organization?
Comment by Bob Springer— July 31, 2011 #
It doesn’t, but again we, as Dodger fans, have seen FAR worse. Get upset if you want, but stop shitting bricks. Warren is right, at this point we’re all just looking for reasons to vent.
Comment by Brandon— July 31, 2011 #
In Tray’s defense, his road numbers:
.280/.354/.537, 12 HR (home: .306/.394/.595, 14 HR)
Now before anybody goes off on the “does it matter on the road in the PCL?!” take note that Tray played in only eight road games at parks with similar conditions as ABQ (Vegas and Tucson). The rest of his road games were in more neutral sites such as New Orleans, Omaha, Iowa, Memphis, Nashville, Oklahoma City and Round Rock.
As the only person here to have seen him play in person 52 times this year, I can say he is a good player worth more than Ellis-2, a former Utah pitcher who got lit up by the Lobos, and a Low-A reliever with an ERA over 5.00.
So keep on venting, Dodger fans. You have more than earned the right.
Comment by Chris Jackson— August 1, 2011 #
I want to ABSOLUTELY VOMIT. I’m taking a full break from the Dodgers until Frank McCourt is OUT. I can’t stand these two idiots … HOW COULD YOU SCREW THIS UP THAT BADLY? WHAT A FRIGGIN MORON!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Nick— July 31, 2011 #
I’d give up, but that isn’t fair to guys like Kershaw and Kemp who keep giving everything they have and excelling at what they do. I’ll watch when Kershaw pitches and try to pay attention to see what Kemp is doing on the other days.
Comment by Bob Springer— July 31, 2011 #
Just released, video of Ned Colletti’s office during the trade deadline negotiations
Comment by Kirk Davenport— July 31, 2011 #
I blame Frank…i think he sent his voodoo miricle healer to those 3, since there right there in boston.. The voodoo healer must have found alot of carmex energy or whatever its called on these guys. Screw that Voodoo you doodoo.
Comment by Chris S— July 31, 2011 #
I’m curious what input Logan White has in this type of transaction and if he signed off on it.
Comment by Rich— July 31, 2011 #
No comment.
Comment by Logan White— July 31, 2011 #
How long until Clayton Kershaw becomes a FA and leaves this god forsaken team? We need a “Days until Clayton leaves” ticker.
Comment by Ron— July 31, 2011 #
What?! Bite your tongue, pal.
Comment by Jeff M.— July 31, 2011 #
I too was hoping to see what TRob could bring up this Sep….that’s dashed….thanks Ned. What a depressing two days on top of the already depressing season.
Comment by Steve— July 31, 2011 #
I haven’t felt this much hate for a team since the Raiders got rid of Gruden. I’m boycotting the Dodgers til a new GM/Owner get in to town. Dumbass Ned CoShitty deals the best catching prospect the Dodgers had a few years ago, and now pines about catching depth. Walrus looking MFer.
Comment by Vapeless— July 31, 2011 #
I think McCourt knows he’ll be moving back to Boston within the next few months when the Dodgers are stripped from him, and so he ordered Coletti (in concordance with Brian Sabean), to help the Red Sox in any way that he could.
This is just another punch in the face to Dodger fans. We’ve been through so much over the last two years by this management and just when we think that they’re going to bring up all the guys we’ve been waiting to see and let them play, resigning ourselves to the fact that this team could mediocre or worse for several years, they trade one of them for nothing. He was arguably the most exciting prospect outside of Jerry Sands. It’s getting absolutely unbearable to watch this team, and if it weren’t for Vin Scully’s voice, I probably wouldn’t. The game and team I love has become negativity and my life, and this scenario is probably similar for hundreds of thousands of others.
Comment by LA Dodger Blues— July 31, 2011 #
Trayvon may never be a great or even good player but he also may be. We will have to watch his development from afar. At least he was something to hope about. Instead Ned trades him for three players who could not crack anyone’s list of the top 20 red sox prospects, a system mind you that was down after all the players traded in prior years. At best we got a possible backup catcher. We already have 2 of those on our team. What a clown Ned is.
Comment by Collettisucks— July 31, 2011 #
Anyone care to create a “Fire Ned Colletti” petition? Watching the Dodgers will be even harder for the rest of the season. I was looking forward to seeing how Trayvon would adapt to playing in the big leagues, given his numbers in the minors. As soon as word hit that Trayvon was traded, the feeling I have to punch Ned Colletti, grew that much stronger. If Lars Anderson was our return I think I’d a been more ok with the trade. I guess the only thing to look forward to now is watch Matt Kemp continue to grow into a superstar and Clayton Kershaw solidify himself as a top 5 pitcher in MLB. Hopefully Ned can try to make up for this crap by placing Lilly and Uribe on waivers and (lord willing) having some team(s) claim them and at the least give us salary relief. Then again, McCourts will just pocket the money saved. Hell, there really isnt much winning here. *sigh*
Comment by Paul Godoy— August 1, 2011 #
This will only get better when Dodgerd trade pitching to fill the holes in the OF when Kemp and Ethier leave.
Ned’s trying to think outside the box going into the offseason.
Comment by JayDavis— August 1, 2011 #
This is exactly what I’m worried about.
Comment by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— August 1, 2011 #
This is genuinely unbelievable.
Monday is trash day in our neighborhood, and I keep hoping to find both in my trashcans.
Comment by Rob McMillin— August 1, 2011 #
I’m pissed off. Can I just leave at that for now?
Comment by The Count— August 1, 2011 #
Yesterday may have been Ned’s admission that the only real reason that the Dodger minor league team have a record above .500 is that (1) most of the players are too old for their league, (2) there are a bunch of over paid retreads that the Dodgers will not be able to afford next year, and (3) that there are too many failed players that Logan drafted still in the organization that are not worth protecting in the Rule 5 draft after the season ends.
Comment by Ken— August 1, 2011 #
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[...] that brought Federowicz and two minor league pitchers to Los Angeles at the trading deadline, and so did I. That sentence, right there, is the burden that Tim Federowicz has to deal with. It’s not [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: Catcher « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 3, 2011 #
[...] reviled that it turned Colletti into a national punchline. (Okay, more of a punchline.) My thoughts on the matter are well-known, and I’m not going to repeat them all here… but okay, I wrote a ton [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: Management « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— November 25, 2011 #
[...] Federowicz. You try not to unfairly denigrate him simply because he was included in one of the most shocking and unpopular Dodger trades in years, because he had nothing to do with that, and his defense is [...]
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