rumors « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

It’s That Time of Year Again

June 22, 2010 at 12:50 pm | Posted in rumors | 8 Comments

A quick warning: as July approaches and the summer trading season begins in earnest, it’s important to remember that 99% of what you hear will be lies or worse. MLBtraderumors illustrates why perfectly:

One general manager told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney that “it’s becoming pretty clear” that the Dodgers won’t be able to add pitching at the trade deadline. But Ed Price of AOL FanHouse heard from an MLB source that the Dodgers are scouting starters “aggressively” in preparation for possible trades.

So be prepared, because you’ll hear that the Dodgers are in on Cliff Lee, definitely not in on Cliff Lee, probably not going to sign Zach Lee, but absolutely will be trading for Bruce Lee, Lee Marvin, and Lee Harvey Oswalt, all before trading Frank McCourt for Frank McCourt. And that’s just what you’ll hear from “reputable” writers. Strap in… it’ll be a fun ride.

Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

July 31, 2009 at 2:52 pm | Posted in rumors | 10 Comments

Anyone predict that Vinny Rottino would be the big Dodger acquisition of the day? Anyone? After a day full of rumors both predictable (Roy Halladay!) and much much less (Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell? What would the Padres have wanted, the Dodgers’ top 15 prospects, the corpse of Jackie Robinson, and the right to carve “Beat LA” onto the moon?) the deadline passed without the Dodgers adding anyone to the major league roster, other than yesterday’s deal for George Sherrill. I must admit that I’m a little conflicted.

On one hand, guys like Clayton Kershaw, Scott Elbert, James McDonald, and Andrew Lambo are still in the organization, and that’s definitely a good thing. But on the other, you just feel like this is the year that it’s finally time to go for it. Whether that meant a starter like Halladay or Jarrod Washburn or the idea of getting Bell to go with Sherrill and create an unholy bullpen, you wanted to see them do something.

So yeah, I’m disappointed. But in the same breath, I’m also happy, because Ned Colletti didn’t get desperate and go make a deal when the right deal just wasn’t there. Toronto’s demands for Halladay were well-known to be unreasonable, and I really feel that if the Dodgers had anted up for Halladay, it would have cost so much that we wouldn’t have been all that thrilled about it.

So what are we left with? This has still been the best team in baseball to this point, and the addition of Sherrill does improve an already-impressive bullpen. The questions about the rotation remain, but really, short of paying an absurd ransom for Halladay, what was to be done? Washburn’s terribly overrated, and considering how incredibly happy Seattle fans were with the trade, it’s hard to say that he’d have been the right choice for the Dodgers.

Going forward, don’t worry about the offense; it’s just a slump. Don’t worry about the bullpen; rumors of its demise have been great exagerrated, with the addition of Sherrill and return of Ronald Belisario. The starters? Yeah, there’s some cause for concern, but the sky is hardly falling.

And remember! This is important – the fact that the corpse of Jason Schmidt is going tonight against Atlanta’s Tommy Hanson, one of the brightest young stars in baseball, is just bad timing. The Dodgers ARE making the playoffs, and Schmidt is NOT pitching in October. Remember that when he’s down 8-0 in the 2nd inning tonight.

Hear the Silence So Loud

July 24, 2009 at 8:34 pm | Posted in rumors | 1 Comment

Hey! There’s six days left until the trading deadline. The most exciting time of the year, right? Except… feels like something is missing, doesn’t it? Sure, there’s talk about the Dodgers possibly going after Roy Halladay (ain’t gonna happen!), and there’s some word about relievers (which probably will happen), but it’s just not the same as in years past.

Just look at some of the ridiculousness we had to deal with in 2008. You had he-said/she-said over C.C. Sabathia, Tracy Ringolsby whining that the Dodgers were upstaged by the Angels’ deal for Mark Teixeira, and the endless rumors about absurd asking prices for Jack Wilson. In case you’ve forgotten how much fun the whole Pittsburgh rumor mill was, take small children out of the room and look back:

The Pirates envision a long-term outfield that would include Kemp and Nate McLouth, who was selected to his first All-Star Game on Sunday, on the corners, flanking center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates’ top prospect, who is playing at Class AAA Indianapolis.

FOR JACK WILSON. If your nose has stopped bleeding, just remember that we went through this same thing in 2007, when we were told to trade Loney, Kershaw, and Ethier for Teixeira.

But this year? Hell, even MLBtraderumors hasn’t tagged a rumor under “Dodgers” for nearly 30 hours, at least as of this writing. Other than Steve Phillips – who I try to ignore, because it’s not nice to make fun of the “specially-abled” – wanting to trade Kershaw for Halladay, there’s not even been a whole lot of stupid ideas to refute. It’s in large part due to LA’s top prospects graduating from “prospect” status, to be sure, and it’s not neccessarily a bad thing. It’s just a different feeling around this team at this time of year, is all.

(Okay, when you’re a blogger always on the lookout for good material, it might be a little bit of a bad thing. I look forward to seeing some hack come out with an idea for trading Kershaw and Andrew Lambo for Carl Pavano tomorrow.)

You Should Have to Pass a Test to Have a Blog

November 28, 2008 at 9:19 am | Posted in Andy Pettitte, rumors | 7 Comments

(Before we get started, fair is fair. We bash Bill Plaschke relentlessly around here, which is only because he’s generally the worst columnist in sports. So on the rare occasion that he actually says something I agree with, I feel obligated to point it out. Check out Plaschke’s response to the Jamie McCourt firestorm, because believe it or not, he’s right on. Due to this, I fully expect that the earth will collide with Mars by the end of the year.)

Usually I don’t address trade rumors from other blogs, because they’re not so much “rumors” as some ridiculous idea thought up by someone with no connection to the team whatsoever. Yet today we’re going to bend that rule a bit for two reasons – one, because the blog we’re about to discuss seems to have some professional writers (radio hosts and ESPN.com writers) and two, because some things are simply so idiotic that they must be addressed. To let things like what you’re about to see go by without comment would yankeefans nearly be as much of a mistake on my part as theirs, because if you don’t roll up that newspaper and lightly bat the puppy on the nose while saying “no”, how will they ever learn? Besides, it’s the slowest time of the year, so I’ll take what I can get.

It is with this in mind that I bring you the New York Baseball Digest, also known as “the Worst Baseball Blog ever”. In particular, their post about what the Yankees should do about Andy Pettitte, which is relevant here due to the recent “Pettitte to Dodgers” rumors we’ve heard. After some discussion about whether the Yankees should offer Pettitte arbitration or not, we get to this:

I personally feel the Yankees do not need Pettitte, that he is on the decline and doesn’t have the same bite on his reknowned cut fastball. The Yankees are interested in Sabathia and Lowe because they were dominant #1starters down the stretch, helping their teams into the playoffs. But, Pettitte was the exact opposite of Sabthia and Lowe, was terrible down the stretch, fashioning a 2-7 with a 6.23 ERA in his final 11 starts. So, if you were Brain Cashman, the reason you like Sabtahia and Lowe should be the reason you DON’T LIKE Pettitte – he was terrible when it counted most.

Other than the fact that a supposed media professional should be able to go better than 1-3 on spelling “Sabathia” right (and let’s not even get into “Brain” Cashman), this backs up what I said the other day about signing Pettitte – that’s he’s done, cooked, and not worth anywhere near the money he’ll command. Yankee fans, judging from what I’ve read and heard, seem to agree. He’s at the end of the rope. Which is why this next paragraph will make you throw yourself into the highway:

The Yankees do not want to give Pettitte similar money as last year, knowing he is on the decline and is, at best in 2009, going to be a fifth starter. But, the Yankees need to offer arbitration, and hope that the Dodgers’ need for a veteran starter is too much and they offer Pettitte a two year deal for good money. But, if Pettitte does accept arbitration, seek to trade him and possibly Johnny Damon (because LA could also use a leadoff hitter) to the Dodgers for a young player or two. I like Matt Kemp and James McDonald straight up.

Matt Kemp and James McDonald straight up for Andy Pettitte and Johnny Damon, is it? I bet you do like that. Because who wouldn’t like trading two expensive guys in their mid 30s for two future stars making the minimum that are under 25? No, forget the fact that Matt Kemp is better than Johnny Damon right now (2008 leadoff stats: Kemp .305/.360/.492 vs Damon .305/.376/.468, not to mention Kemp’s rocket arm vs. Damon’s Pierre arm), and forget the fact that McDonald is likely going to be better than Pettitte in 2009, because it’s not like McDonald was dominating the Phillies in the NLCS while Pettitte was imploding down the stretch. None of that matters! Because it’d help the Yankees! Hey, while you’re at it, why not trade Hideki Matsui for Russell Martin? Kei Igawa for Chad Billingsley?

You know, usually I feel that Dodger fans’ particular disgust of Red Sox and Yankee fans is a bit overblown. But why is always the Yankee fans and their blogs that come up with these ridiculous ideas that have no consideration for why the other team would possibly make such a deal?

So we salute you, New York Baseball Digest. Your idiocy has provided me with a morning of entertainment intermingled with occasional thoughts of how we can bombard your server to get your site offline, if only to spare the rest of us from your ridiculous, underthought, poisonous trade “ideas”.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

I Guess I’ve Got No Choice

November 25, 2008 at 11:01 pm | Posted in Andy Pettitte, Jack Wilson, Mike Lowell, rumors, T.J. Simers, Trevor Hoffman | 11 Comments

Sweet merciful crap! The rumors! My god, the rumors. You know, usually I look forward to this time of year so much, because what’s more fun than the Hot Stove League? Wondering what big name will don the Dodger blue for the first time, trying to figure out how all the puzzle pieces will fit together for the next year. It’s wonderful.

Until the 400th time you hear some two-bit reporter come up with a non-sourced rumor that only benefits his hometown team and somehow gains legs, that is. I’ve heard some people complain that the Dodgers have somehow been dragging their feet in not making any moves yet, but I just don’t see it. We all know that the big-time free agents always wait as long as possible before signing, and other than that the only moves have really been the Giants signing Jeremy Affeldt and the Marlins making a few salary dumps.

Anyway, things have really been coming to a head the last few days, despite the fact that we all know nothing is going to happen until at least the December 1 arbitration deadline and likely not until the December 8 winter meetings, so I figure it’s time to check into some of these.

* Good god, Jack Wilson again? Via MLBtraderumors, FOXsports.com’s Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Dodgers are interested in trading for Pirates SS Jack Wilson, but that the price (Chin-Lung Hu, Delwyn Young, and a third player) was deemed too high. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Wilson rumors floating around, and at least this is a little more palatable than when we’d heard Matt Kemp was involved over the summer. But come on, three players for Jack Wilson? He’s known to be a good defender and a below-average bat. Which sounds like, oh, I don’t know… Chin-Lung Hu? I don’t think that Hu’s going to get a shot to be the Opening Day shortstop, but if we’re going to have a good field/no hit guy there, I think I’d rather the guy who’s not getting paid $7.25 million in 2009, is especially atrocious in Dodger Stadium (.558 OPS), and is costing several young players to acquire. At least Hu’s got some upside. PASS.

* Wait, Andy Pettitte? Also from Ken Rosenthal, Andy Pettitte has apparently spoken with Joe Torre about a reunion in Los Angeles. If true, this is a tough call. On one hand, he’ll be 37 next year, is coming off the worst year of his career (plus a 5.35 ERA in the second half) and after having made $16 million in each of the last three years, is unlikely to want to take much of a pay cut. On the other hand… actually, I don’t think there is another hand. I wouldn’t mind giving him a shot at a more reasonable price, but if he wants $16 million or anything close to it? I’d rather have Eric Stults. Somehow I feel Torre would disagree with me. PASS.

* Okay, Ken, I see you, you can stop making a scene. Clearly just trying to get my attention, Rosenthal seems to have the Dodgers in on just about everyone, so let’s finish with him right here. He’s also suggesting that the Dodgers A) should sign Trevor Hoffman and B) could be interested in acquiring Mike Lowell. Though I disagree that Jonathan Broxton needs to be “protected” or somehow can’t be trusted, I’m not against signing Hoffman at the right price. He might be 41, but he still bested his career WHIP last year. If the price is right? Why not. As for Lowell, he’s 35, injured, and owed $25 million. Just because he’s old, busted, expensive and a Red Sox doesn’t mean that he has to end up with the Dodgers. Oh… right. Of course it does. OKAY and PASS.

* I agree with T.J. Simers?! I hate it when this happens, but at least this time it’s just joining together to acknowledge that Bill Plaschke is awful.

I GO away and Plaschke immediately makes the case again not to bring back Manny Ramirez, while suggesting the Dodgers trade for Jake Peavy, Adrian Beltre and “count on the kids.”

Sounds like I’m not the only one in need of some time off.

* Come on Giants! I know the “Edgar Renteria signs with Giants” rumors were proven false (so far), but a man can still have a rooting interest. What could be better than your hated rival, supposedly in a rebuilding stage, committing $18 million and a draft pick to sign an over-the-hill shortstop? Renteria to the Giants! Feel the holiday spirit – if you believe in it hard enough, it can happen!

* And those other guys? Right, CC, Manny, and Furcal. Look, I think we all know the deal with these three. CC’s got an enormous offer on the table from the Yankees, but hasn’t accepted it yet. Manny got an expensive but short-term offer from the Dodgers, which was quickly rejected while Scott Boras tries to get someone to literally sign their souls over to him. Furcal… well, don’t keep your hopes up. By the time you read this, he might have signed with the Giants or A’s, but more likely he’s not going anywhere for a few weeks. Unfortunately, it does seem that where he does end up, it won’t be in Los Angeles – not when he’s (apparently) receiving four year offers. After all the injuries we watched him suffer through in his three year deal, don’t expect the Dodgers to beat that this time.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Well, That Didn’t Take Long

October 17, 2008 at 9:48 am | Posted in Andruw Jones, Greg Maddux, Jake Peavy loves goats, Juan Pierre sucks, Manny Ramirez, rumors | 6 Comments

You’d think after a long season (two weeks longer than usual) management, writers, and fans would want to take a bit of a breather. Maybe not that long, not with the offseason looming, but you’d think more than say, 30 hours after the final pitch, right? Hell no! Let’s jump on board the rumor train, and yeah, I got a lot of these links from MLBtraderumors…

* Hey, let’s trade for Jake Peavy!
Uh, let’s put this under “wildly unlikely”. Hey, don’t get me wrong, Peavy’s one of the five best starting pitchers in the game, and putting him at the top of the Dodgers rotation would be marvelous. But there’s a lot of problems with this. First of all, the only reason that the Dodgers are involved in these rumors is that Peavy named them as one of the few teams he’d waive his no-trade clause for, which doesn’t automatically mean there’s interest on the other side. More importantly, the return to the Padres would be immense. Think about the kind of names being tossed around last offseason for Johan Santana and Erik Bedard, and then double it. Unlike those guys, Peavy is signed to a relatively reasonable deal that keeps him under team control until 2013 – plus the Padres would certainly ask for more from LA than anyone else if they’re going to have to face him a couple of times a year in the division until then. Just look at this quote from that ESPN article:

San Diego, too, is said to be willing to deal with the rival Dodgers, who could conceivably have some excellent young players to dangle, like outfielder Matt Kemp and pitchers Clayton Kershaw and James McDonald.

That’s not necessarily what the deal would be, but you’d better believe it’d take at least one of those guys, if not two. The article states that the Padres are “seeking at least two young pitchers in return, along with someone who can become the team’s everyday center fielder sometime in the immediate to near future.” You really think that Scott Elbert, Ramon Troncoso, and Xavier Paul are going to get that done? No thanks. I really can’t see this deal going down, and if it does, any joy I’d get over adding Peavy is likely to be overwhelmed by what was going back to San Diego.

* Manny wants a lot of money!
Shocker. Talk about an unbelievably hard contract to nail down. We’ve got the Sabernomics blog saying Manny should get 6 years, $128 million. In the article linked above, Bill Shaikin says that Manny “has suggested that he might seek a contract of five or six years, and isn’t interested in a pay cut from his current $20 million a year”, while in the same article former Dodgers GM Fred Claire “said the Dodgers should offer Ramirez $20 million per year for three years.” I tend to think that Claire is the closest of the three, but he undershoots it. I really can’t see any team giving Manny five or six years – not with his character issues, not with his declining defense, not with his age, and not with one of the top big market teams (Boston) obviously not in play. I do agree that Manny won’t take a paycut from the $20m/year options he had, so my best guess? 3 years, $70 million, perhaps with an option on the 4th year.

* Why does everyone think pitching is this team’s problem?
I’ve said this on many occasions, so I won’t want to repeat myself. But here we have Joe Torre saying that pitching is a top priority this offseason, and Dylan Hernandez saying “the Dodgers will be forced to target a top-of-the-rotation arm if they can’t re-sign Lowe.” I’m not saying I wouldn’t like a top pitcher, who wouldn’t? It’s just that the free agent arms like CC Sabathia are going to be insanely expensive – and how many times did we show this year that the pitching was fine and the offense was holding it back?

* Juan Pierre wants out!
Well, of course he does, and I can’t even come down hard on him for it. We might not think he’s any good, and we certainly don’t want him being a starting Dodgers outfielder, but I can’t blame a guy for wanting to be somewhere where he’ll get a chance to play. I no longer think he’ll be impossible to move, because there’s now only 3 years and $28 million left on his deal. It’s reasonable for some team that needs speed and ignores OBP, especially considering LA will have to eat a little of it. But there really can’t be any movement on this until the Manny saga is dealt with. Knowing whether you have three starting OF (no, Andruw Jones doesn’t count) makes a big impact on how badly you need to get rid of JP. Top destinations: White Sox and Reds.

* Andruw Jones wants out?!
From the same article as the Pierre one above…

Teammates say Jones wants no part of a return to Los Angeles, where he was a target of angry fans for his poor performance.

Guess what, Andruw? We all want you out too. But what you’re forgetting is that you were so bad this year that it’s not even a case of “he’s owed how much?” – it’s a case of “should I even waste a roster spot?” I mean, you’re owed $18.1 million (update: according to Jay Jaffe in today’s Baseball Prospectus article, it’s actually $22.1m because it was backloaded. Great.) in 2009. Let’s just say that Frank McCourt would be willing to pick up $13 million of that to trade you (which, and this should go without saying, he would never ever do). After hitting .158 with 3 homers, you really think some team is going to spend $5.1 million on you when they could get any minor leaguer to far surpass that output for a tenth of the price? The Dodgers aren’t going to cut Jones, and it’s just not going to be possible to trade him. He’ll be back, unfortunately, in 2009.

* Greg Maddux, Padres player-coach?
This article says that San Diego has talked to Maddux about such a role, but Kevin Towers thinks Maddux will retire. Personally, if he’s willing, I’d rather see the Dodgers do this, especially with young guys like McDonald, Kershaw, and Billingsley around. He’s worth the money to just talk to them all season.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Screw It, Let’s Do It

July 29, 2008 at 11:33 am | Posted in Andre Ethier, Manny Ramirez, rumors | 11 Comments

I wonder exactly how long my “hacked cell phone as modem” net connection is going to last while driving through the cornfields of Wisconsin? I suppose we’ll see. Assuming this actually gets posted, I really wanted to check in on the Manny Ramirez rumors floating around. Yeah, this is going to be another bare-bones post with no pictures and few stats due to the awesome dial-up speeds, but here we go. SI.com’s Jon Heyman:

The Dodgers are one of a few teams showing interest in embattled superstar Manny Ramirez and are currently in discussions with the Red Sox, SI.com has learned.

Dodgers players likely to interest the Red Sox would include young outfielders Matt Kemp and perhaps Andre Ethier.

If you’re a regular MSTI reader, you know our usual stance on overpaid, declining veterans – a big fat NO. Especially when it costs us some good young players, right?

Well, guess what: MSTI is for acquiring Manny Ramirez. I know – I’m surprised too!

Basically, a deal for Manny is only going to get done if the acquiring team agrees to not pick up his options after this year, because Manny has 10/5 rights over any deal. While that might not be great for a team that would be hoping to have him for a few years, it DOES drive the price way down since he’s only a two month rental, and one who’s leaving on terrible terms.

With the terrible position Manny’s put the Sox in, I can’t imagine they have a whole lot of leverage in trade talks. But what to send back? Kemp is too much, and the Sox would never take Jones or Pierre. So I propose this – Ethier and a mid-level pitching prospect for Manny and the Sox eating most or all of his contract for the rest of the year. Yeah, I know – I love Ethier too, and it stinks to give up the next 3-4 years of him under team control for two months of Manny. But Manny is without question a game-changing bat, just the kind that could propel this team into the playoffs. So we put Manny in LF, JP/Jones can share CF (with JP back in LF on Manny’s days off) and Kemp in RF.

The Sox get to finally get rid of the Manny circus, and they get a young OF who can step into his LF spot immediately.

Having Manny in the middle of the lineup with Martin, Loney, Kemp, Kent, and Blake sounds pretty tasty to me. Yeah, this plan isn’t without his perils. Manny might not like the position of the laundry room in relation to the second urinal in the clubhouse and sulk, or whatever the hell sets him off. But think about it. We all know this team goes nowhere without a power bat, and thanks to “Manny being Manny”, he’s driven the price way down. Do you really think that Mark Teixiera could be acquired for anywhere near that? I think not.

And think about this – Manny’s starting his decline phase, he’s been hurt, he’s in the tough AL East, and he’s probably not really trying all that hard. This isn’t a typical Manny year. And you know what? His OPS+ of 144 and 20 homers still make him by FAR the best hitter on the 2008 Dodgers, and it’s not particularly close. Plus, you have to think that could even improve once he gets out of the AL (imagine Manny in Coors!) and gains a whole lot more motivation since he’d know he’s playing for his last big contract.

Don’t trade Kemp for him. Don’t trade LaRoche for him. But if you can do it with Ethier as the centerpiece? So long, Andre. Hello, playoffs.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

Alright, What the Hell is Going On Here?

July 9, 2008 at 2:26 pm | Posted in C.C. Sabathia, Frank McCourt, Ken Rosenthal, Ned Colletti, rumors, Tony Jackson | 6 Comments

Tony Jackson, LA Daily news, July 7th:

the Daily News learned that sometime in the days leading up to that deal, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt nixed a trade that would have brought Sabathia to Los Angeles, along with Indians third baseman Casey Blake and utility man Jamey Carroll.

McCourt’s reason was financial, according to multiple industry sources. But that is a charge McCourt flatly denied.

Tony Jackson, LA Daily News blog, July 8th:

I was told this morning, by a source completely separate from the ones from which I got the earlier story, that Matt Kemp WAS involved in the aborted trade for Sabathia, Blake and Carroll, and that either Jon Meloan or James McDonald also was involved.

Dylan Hernandez, LA Times, July 8th:

McCourt said a trade with the Indians was a real possibility at one point. “I think the deal as it started out had a potential to be a deal that wouldn’t have compromised the goals of this organization,” he said. “I think the deal, as it evolved, got to the point where it became unacceptable to the organization.”

The talks are believed to have started out with the Dodgers offering two players, one of them being third baseman Andy LaRoche, for Sabathia, but came to include several other players on both sides. Sabathia will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Ken Rosenthal, FoxSports.com, July 9th:

The Dodgers not only could have had Sabathia, but also Indians third baseman Casey Blake and infielder Jamey Carroll without giving up any of their top young major leaguers, according to major-league sources.

The Indians would have received a package that included the following types of players, if not the exact names: Third baseman Andy LaRoche, right-hander Cory Wade, Class AA right-hander James McDonald and Class A catcher Carlos Santana.

Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus, July 9th:

The Dodgers continue to confuse everyone. “Some want to buy, some sell,” I’m told. One faction of the front office wants to deal for a shortstop and is focused on Jack Wilson or David Eckstein, while another (which appears to hold sway with the McCourts for now) want to see if Nomar Garciaparra can hold the position down. Teams simply don’t want to deal with the Dodgers because of the confusion over who has final authority. One front-office source told me that the Dodgers have made deals, only to have ownership pull out at least twice.

So let’s recap: Matt Kemp WAS in the deal. Matt Kemp WASN’T in the deal. The Dodgers could have acquired Sabathia, Blake, and Carroll without including Kemp, Billingsley, Kershaw, Martin, Loney, or Ethier. (!!!!!!!!) Or just LaRoche and someone else for Sabathia. And that Colletti had a deal done, except that McCourt put the kibosh on it. Twice. Or he didn’t. But if he did, it was because of money. Or it wasn’t. Ned Colletti’s in charge. Or McCourt’s pulling the strings. Or, says another source of Rosenthal’s,

Others believe that assistant general manager Logan White exerts an inordinate amount of influence, discouraging trades of players that he once selected as the team’s scouting director.

This is getting completely out of hand, and it’s hardly the first time around here, is it? It’s getting to the point where it doesn’t even matter if you side with McCourt, Colletti, or even White (MSTI chooses White!) on decision-making, you just want to know that someone is actually in charge over there. I mean, look at what Carroll says: “Teams simply don’t want to deal with the Dodgers because of the confusion over who has the final authority.” How is that even possible? Is McCourt meddling too much? Is Colletti not assertive enough? This is the kind of internal politics that I really hate discussing – partially because you’ll never get a straight answer from anyone, but mostly because it distracts from where the focus really ought to be: on the field. You know what? That proposed deal for Sabathia/Blake/Carroll? I probably make that deal. I hate to give up LaRoche, but the thought of getting those players without giving up Kemp is mind-blowing. If the Dodgers aren’t going to be able to improve their chances at the playoffs because of some internal “whose is bigger” contest (sorry, Kim!), then that’s an insult to the fan base. Guess what, guys? Get it together. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL ISSUES. GET THE JOB DONE, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

First Place… Really?!?

July 8, 2008 at 8:14 am | Posted in C.C. Sabathia, Casey Blake, Hiroki Kuroda, Jack Wilson, Jamey Carroll, Matt Kemp, rumors | 2 Comments

The idea that this team is in first place despite being a game under .500 is as crazy as saying “Nomar played shortstop and not only didn’t kill himself, but hit a homer, and a rookie Japanese pitcher who didn’t make it out of the third inning in two of his last four starts nearly pitched a perfect game.”

Wait, what?

I mean, what can you say about Hiroki Kuroda? He was absolutely fantastic last night, and perfect game or not, I’ll take a one-hit shutout every single time. Of course, some excellent defense definitely helped – particularly Blake DeWitt’s amazing bare-handed play on Gregor Blanco’s bunt, and as much as I hate to admit it, even Angel Berroa chipped in with some great defense after replacing Nomar at shortstop.

But about Kuroda… how manic is this guy? Look at his last five starts, interrupted by a DL stint:

7/7 vs. ATL: 9 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 91 pitches – 3-0 win
7/2 @ HOU: 7 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 83 pitches – 4-1 win
6/12 @ SD: 2.1 IP, 6 R, 5 H, 2 K, 4 BB, 63 pitches – 6-3 loss
6/6 vs. CHC: 9 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 11 K, 0 BB, 112 pitches – 3-0 win
6/1 @ NYM: 2.2 IP, 6 R, 7 H, 0 K, 2 BB, 66 pitches – 6-1 loss

There’s not much gray area, is there? Obviously, it’s an encouraging sign that he’s been unscored upon since returning from the DL, but it’s also hard to point to a tired arm as a cause for those two lousy games since his gem against the Cubs was sandwiched in between them. Anyway, a solid round of applause for our man Hiroki for the effort he put forth last night. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Clap, clap, clap.

But even more importantly, first place! Sure, it’s mostly because the Diamondbacks have been so lousy as to keep the Dodgers in the race. But do you think the 2006 Cardinals kept their World Series parade subdued because they snuck into the playoffs with a 83-78 record? I doubt it. First place is first place, so let’s go with that. Interestingly enough, Baseball Prospectus has a “playoff odds report” updated daily, where they simulate out the rest of the season one million times to see what happens, using some fancy math algorithms I won’t even pretend to explain here. The Dodgers win the NL West 48.6% of the time, which may be less than half, but it’s still leading the division – Arizona wins only 41.5% of the time. They also have likelihoods for the wild card, but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s going to be the division title or bust here. (Oddly enough, the Nationals, who are on pace for a 61-101 record, win the NL East .0006% of the one million simulations. What happened in those simulations? Did they poison the water supply of the Mets and Phillies? Did the Confederacy secede from the Union and take the Marlins and Braves?)

On to some trade rumor updates. Despite all the fur that’s been flying around here and elsewhere about Jack Wilson, Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says “not so fast“:

The Pirates expect to keep shortstop Jack Wilson beyond Major League Baseball’s July 31 trading deadline, despite overtures from several teams in the past week.

And he might stay a lot longer than that.

The front office’s thinking, as outlined by internal sources yesterday, is that Wilson is valuable to the Pirates not only because of his fine performance in the past year-plus but also because his departure would leave a gaping hole, as was painfully evident when he missed two months to injury this season. Top shortstop prospect Brian Bixler has recovered nicely with Class AAA Indianapolis after a rough debut in Pittsburgh this spring, but he is not of Wilson’s pedigree. And no one else is on the horizon.

Management also values that it can retain Wilson for two more seasons, with a guaranteed $7.25 million next season and a club option of $8.4 million for 2010. That is well within market range for a shortstop of Wilson’s experience, and management has repeatedly stated that it is under no financial constraints to move any current contract.

Put that together, and the general view is this: Why give up Wilson when a comparable replacement must be acquired by next spring, at the latest?

That’s a little disappointing, but not crushing, I suppose. I thought Wilson was a good stop-gap solution, but hardly someone I’ve been drooling over. Really, I’d love for Nomar to nail down the job, and even if he hits as poorly as last year that’s still an improvement over Berroa and Maza, but there’s absolutely no one who thinks he’ll stay healthy all year, is there? Kovacevic also offers one other nugget:

Los Angeles initiated the inquiry about Wilson last week and was the first team to do so this year. Those talks, which never involved any player on the Dodgers’ major league roster, never got very far and seemed dormant, if not dead, late yesterday afternoon.

That’s a relief, if true. Hopefully all the hand-wringing over Matt Kemp getting dealt was just overblown media speculation. On the other hand, Tony Jackson has some very intriguing news about the Dodgers’ involvement in getting C.C. Sabathia:

Shortly after the Milwaukee Brewers finalized a trade for reigning American League Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia on Monday, the Daily News learned that sometime in the days leading up to that deal, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt nixed a trade that would have brought Sabathia to Los Angeles, along with Indians third baseman Casey Blake and utility man Jamey Carroll.

McCourt’s reason was financial, according to multiple industry sources. But that is a charge McCourt flatly denied.

I’m not sure I’m buying the financial part, because all three Indians are free agents at the end of the season. As the Daily News story says, they’re owed somewhere between $8-9 million for the remainder of 2008, and for a trade that would bring a Cy Young Award winner, are we really that hard up against the cap? Especially when you consider that obviously, some amount of salary would have to have gone back to Cleveland.

Of course, I shudder to think what the Dodgers would have had to give up for Sabathia, Blake, and Carroll. It’s well-known that the Indians’ #1 priority was to get a young power hitter, which they did in Matt LaPorta, so Matt Kemp is almost a certainty to be included. I can’t even imagine who else; assuming that Martin, Billingsley, and Kershaw are completely untouchable, and that it’s unlikely that both Kemp and Ethier would be moved in the same deal, I’m guessing.. James McDonald, Chin-Lung Hu, and Andy LaRoche? At the very least? Probably Delwyn Young too, since he really ought to be a DH in the American League? That’s a pretty steep price, and I’m just completely speculating here.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness

24 Days Until the Deadline…

July 7, 2008 at 11:00 am | Posted in Andy LaRoche, Casey Blake, Derek Lowe, Ivan Rodriguez, Jack Wilson, Matt Kemp, rumors | 10 Comments

First and foremost: hooray! C.C. Sabathia goes to Milwaukee and not Los Angeles, which means that any Dodger parts that might have gone to Cleveland for a starting pitcher the team didn’t really need are still around to be used for a bat or shortstop that the team does need. I don’t know exactly what it would have taken to have beaten Milwaukee’s offer of Matt LaPorta and three other prospects, but I’m sure it’s more than we would have been able to stomach. So a golf clap to you, Ned Colletti, for not making the kind of move that would have resulted in effigies being erected around the blogosphere.

With that in mind, let’s get on to some of the other rumors floating around. And really, isn’t this the best time of the year? While I am a little more worried than usual about what kind of deal is going to go down for this team, there’s few things I like more than trade rumors and proposals.

First off, the Jack Wilson rumors are still alive and well, which if the price is right, I’m okay with. (I stand strong on my threat to implode the internet if Matt Kemp is dealt for him, though.) I figured it’d be interesting to see what the Pittsburgh side of things have to say about these proposals for their shortstop flying around, so first we’ve got John Perrotto from something called the Beaver County Times & Allegheny Times:

Multiple baseball sources said Sunday that the Dodgers and Pirates are in serious talks about a trade that would ship Wilson west. Wilson, who grew up and lives in the Los Angeles area, has the longest-running tenure of any Pirates player at the major-league level as he made his debut in 2001.

*snip*

The Pirates envision a long-term outfield that would include Kemp and Nate McLouth, who was selected to his first All-Star Game on Sunday, on the corners, flanking center fielder Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates’ top prospect, who is playing at Class AAA Indianapolis.

If the Pirates are unable to pry Kemp away, they are also said to be willing to consider a deal in which they would acquire a pair of prospects: right-hander James McDonald and shortstop Chin-Lung Hu.

Remember earlier in this post when I said I wouldn’t mind Wilson “if the price is right”? Guess what: including Matt Kemp does not qualify as the price being right. Kemp is a budding star who’s already one of this team’s best hitters, ranking 4th on the team in VORP – miles ahead of Established Veterans Juan Pierre, Jeff Kent, and Andruw Jones. Wilson is an adequate, if mediocre, shortstop who’s probably already reached his peak. Besides, what are you going to do in the outfield if Kemp’s gone? Commit to playing Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones every single day no matter what? Uh, no thanks.

The scary thing is, even Pirate fans who don’t have the same attachment to Matt Kemp that we do can see this would be a heist of monumental proportions – or so says Pirates blog Bucs Dugout:

Get Kemp! Get Kemp! “Potential superstar” is right. We already recently discussed this rumor here, and I’d just assumed it wouldn’t be possible to get Kemp for Wilson. It still might not be–this is still just a rumor–but if it is, wow. Then again, maybe the Dodgers source was suggesting the team would be willing to include Kemp only if the Pirates included other players. I don’t know. What I do know is that McDonald and Hu isn’t a bad package for Wilson, and

Kemp>>>>>>>>>>McDonald and Hu

Gee, you think? Trading Kemp for Wilson would be a tragicomedy at best, and I probably wouldn’t even do McDonald and Hu. Wilson’s a downgrade defensively from Hu, and whatever improvement he’d bring with the bat certainly isn’t worth losing James McDonald over.

I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of the Jack Wilson rumors, but a new name has popped up as well: Casey Blake. In reference to the Dodgers losing the Sabathia bidding, Ken Rosenthal added:

In winning the Sabathia sweepstakes, the Brewers outbid at least six teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, who could have offered a stronger overall package than Milwaukee and expanded the deal to include Indians infielder/outfielder Casey Blake.

I guess I’m not sure how to respond to this idea. Blake’s a good player – he can play first, third, and right, and he’s a pretty decent hitter with good OBP skills and some pop, although that’s steadily declining. Homer tallies of 28-23-19-18 and just 8 so far this year aren’t exactly the kind of stock I want to be buying, although his 2008 OBP of .355 is very good. I think it comes down to why the Dodgers would want to acquire him. If the idea is that he’d be a veteran bat who could start a few times a week in a few different spots, then great. But if the idea is that he’s the new starting third baseman, while once again not giving Andy LaRoche a fair shake (or including him in the deal), well, then that’s a big fat “no thanks”.

Onto deals that are probably unlikely to happen but should be included just for the sake of completeness, Tony Jackson writes in the LA Daily News about the Phillies sniffing around Derek Lowe, but also pretty much snuffs out the idea in the same piece:

A Philadelphia scout attended Friday’s game between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants but reportedly got up and left as soon as Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe was lifted after five innings, a clear sign the Phillies are interested in the veteran right-hander.

Lowe is in the final season of a four-year, $36 million contract, and the Dodgers conceivably could move him before the July 31 trading deadline. But the Dodgers’ primary need, as stated last week by general manager Ned Colletti, is an everyday shortstop, and the Phillies clearly aren’t going to part with reigning NL Most Valuable Player Jimmy Rollins, who is signed through 2010.

Can’t argue that. I don’t see how the Phillies have anything useful and expendable that the Dodgers could use, unless this is to be part of a three-way deal in which the Blue pick up a shortstop.

And finally, there’s absolutely no substance behind this one other than just another blogger’s idea, but I saw it and couldn’t help but mention it: Dodger Dugout wants to try and acquire Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, and move Russell Martin to third base. Somehow I doubt the Tigers, who have finally clawed their way back into contention, would want to move their starting catcher while their backup, Brandon Inge, is on the DL, but points for creativity.

- Mike Scioscia’s tragic illness