1. Sorry, I glossed over the part about 70% of us not being able to watch the games. That's just a bad business deal all around, so no argument there. As far as competitiveness we deserve, we just made the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, which is a franchise record. So, no, there's nothing apologetic about me there. Now as far as winning in the playoffs, there really is no magic formula. If we didn't let Wade (or whoever it was) steal third base that one play, things would almost certainly be different. 3. I'm not sure how this analogy makes sense. There's a lot more chemistry involved in basketball, so our new guys need time. Not to mention Kobe missing 1000 shots a game, disrupting our offense. Anyway, just remembering the names of Wilson, Wright, Perez, Maholm, Correia, and Hernandez makes me shutter. Not one of those guys threw a major league pitch last year! 5. We had a great 3rd starter in Mike Bolsinger. I don't blame you or anyone for forgetting him though, since yes, the FO made a HUGE mistake demoting him while he had a 2.79 ERA through 15 games. Wood isn't that bad; he's probably on par with the Cubs' #3 and 4 starters. And there's almost no way to get anyone much better without giving up guys like Puig and half the farm. And we all know from recent memory with McCourt's Dodgers how bad of an idea it is to blow up your farm. 6. We didn't have anyone else who could play short stop, so I'm not really sure what else we could have done. 7. I'm not sure. I think there was talk of moving Seager to 3rd in the next couple years. I got too much work to do, so I don't remember anymore. I realize expectations are high (WORLD SERIES OR BUST!!!) but it really is unfair for any brand new regime especially since the MLB playoffs are so unpredictable. If we are averaging 88-90 wins a year, that's better than most other teams can even dream about.
3. The point is moving from 0 to 1 on a scale of 1-10 is not that big of a deal. We went from a horrendous bullpen to a bad one. Big whoop! 5. I remember Bolsinger and I thought he was pitching well when they demoted him. I never got that move. He's not a great pitcher, but he was hot at the time. I'm not sure I'd have trusted him any more or less than Wood or Anderson in the playoffs. I know Wood is alright, but he's no better than a 4th on a really great team at the moment and he struggled like hell in the playoffs. 6. It's just a general complaint. 7. I coulda sworn we had another plan at 3rd, but I think I was wrong about that one. The exciting young cats are Seager and Peraza for SS and 2B. I don't think we've got corner replacements yet. My point is if you're not going to provide service for the entire city, then you at least have to be all in on a winning product to force me to pay attention. They weren't all in last season, that much is clear. They didn't go after a 3rd starter for the playoff run. They didn't make a strong effort to fix the pen when it was clear Johnson was trash. The guys they brought in as veteran depth didn't work out. So now we have a team that's good but not great AND we can't watch them? Well f*** them then.
Yeah, that was a terrible decision by management to demote Bolsinger. Dude was not the same when they brought him back realizing their mistake. As far as making an in-season splash, I mean we could have tried to get Johnny Cueto, but the Royals gave away pretty much the equivalent of Urias, Holmes, and DeLeon. Which is practically our entire pitching farm. No thanks. And Cueto ended up being pretty terrible throughout the playoffs, not to mention he's now a free agent and could leave. Wood and Latos were doing fine with their previous teams. It's not management's fault that they didn't live up to their current levels of performances. It was all on the players. Jim Johnson had a 2.25 ERA in Atlanta, so no, I disagree that they didn't make an effort. No one predicted he could crap the bed, so that's all on him, not management. After Jansen and Howell, our next 5 relievers were: 3.35 ERA - Baez 3.34 ERA - Garcia 3.69 ERA - Hatcher 3.86 ERA - Nicasio 4.25 ERA - Liberatore That's not bad. Not the greatest, but not bad. Now here was 2014 (minus Jansen and Howell again): 2.57 ERA - League 4.27 ERA - Perez (includes 10 innings of garbage time at the end of the season) 4.35 ERA - Wright 4.66 ERA - Wilson 4.84 ERA - Maholm Then you've got Roberto Hernandez at 4.74 ERA in 43 innings and Carlos Frias at 6.12 ERA in 32 innings. That right there is proof that our pen got significantly better. Not ideal of course, but I mean this is a huge step in the right direction in one off-season. Not many teams can lay claim to that.
Anyways, we can agree to disagree all day, but I'd like to just move forward if you're okay with it. Lately it seems like Puig is the big trade bait, and it probably won't be long before he is gone. If that's the case, hopefully we get someone like Jayson Heyward to fill in his shoes. I wouldn't mind Peraza at 2nd base, but of course then we'll have a whole rookie in-field which may or may not work for us if they tire out or the league figures them out. I'd love a new bonafide starter at 2nd assuming Kendrick doesn't come back. For pitching, I'm just gonna assume Greinke is gone. Someone is gonna throw big money, and I can't fault Greinke for chasing it after what he did for us all these years. In that case, you gotta cross your fingers for Price, or someone equivalent, and then a mid-tier starter in case Ryu and/or McCarthy don't come back strong, or Wood and Anderson have setbacks. Chapman and O'Day have been rumored to come here for the pen and that would just make me wet my pants if we could get both. But either one healthy would go a long way for sure. It'd be nice to have more guys in the 2-ERA range.
Yeah for me if you're not going to win it all, there's no excuse not to give us the product. F*** them. I'm glad they lost. It cost TW money that they deserve to lose. Chapman is rumored to come here? I haven't heard that one. He'd replace Kenley then as the closer? I'd only trade Puig for pitching at this point. I'm sure he's got some value. There's rumors that even Kershaw doesn't get along with him so I have a hard time imagining him staying, but I want no part in relying on Ethier and Crawford. I love Andre, but he's older. Crawford I couldn't care less about. Huge disappointment. I don't know how ready Peraza is. I'm willing to bring back Kendrick. He was solid for us even if he was unspectacular in the playoffs. I'm going to be upset if we let Greinke walk. You're just going to watch a Cy Young candidate leave? Then f*** you too Friedman. If Greinke walks and you don't get Price, you've utterly failed. Completely and utterly failed. They have an unlimited budget, go f***ing use it and give us a damn winner.
Yes, upgrades all around would be awesome (and practically a necessity... think of the Red Queen Hypothesis!). Yeah, I think John Heyman reported that the Dodgers are interested in Chapman and are also said to be "very determined" to upgrade their pen. Even if we don't get Chapman, I wouldn't mind Ken Giles who has been absolutely lights out and under team control for another 5 years. Chapman will be in the last year of his contract, as will Jansen. :O Chapman for sure would cost a Yasiel Puig (but damn him for getting into a big fight at a night club today in Miami!) At this point, Puig's trade value is probably at its lowest, so Friedman might hold onto him until it goes back up a bit if he starts hitting again early next year. I'm not sure he'd replace Kenley, but either way that would be the best 1-2 punch in the league. Very rare to have two of the best closers in the game at the same time, so I have a hard time seeing it happen. I can see us also going after free agent reliever Joakim Soria. Very good SO/BB ratio the last two years, and good WHIP numbers. Kendrick I'd love to have back. Lord knows we need guys who can make good contact and not just homer/strikeout all the time. I'm happy Ethier did so well last year and that he was injured only one year. He'll probably play out his contract with two years left and then a buy-out. Jason Heyward would be a phenomenal replacement, and we should throw big money at him. Speaking of money, I totally agree with you Real about showing the money. While I like getting good value out of trades, at the same time you gotta hand out the contracts to star players. That would be the best of both worlds. If they don't pan out, oh well, it's Guggenheim's spare change! Lol.
Probably wishful thinking, but I'd love to keep Greinke and Kendrick and throw money at: Price Heyward O'Day Joakim Soria then trade for: Chapman Ken Giles I'm predicting Greinke will walk, but if we can replace him with Price and another mid-tier starter like Scott Kazmir, that would more than make up for it. Throw in O'Day and hopefully trade for Chapman or Giles and we would have the best pitching staff in all of baseball.
I'm all about rewarding stars especially with an unlimited budget so I'd keep Greinke unless the offer was outrageous. He's been phenomenal for us and he deserves some cash for it. However if he gets something that is just preposterous then you absolutely HAVE to blitz Price. I used to dream of having both, but it won't happen. If you can't have one, you HAVE to have the other. I'd be cool with your other moves after that. Heyward is someone we need to throw cash at in a major way. Guys in their prime don't just roll around free agency all the time. If we're going to unload on a free agent it should be him and I'd be more than happy to do it. Back up the banks and get moving. Trade Puig for whatever you can and replace him with a far better player.
Welp. https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/...david-price/Tsv1SM9yjAU1TncmXJpFUN/story.html Red Sox, David Price reach deal that is largest ever for a pitcher The Red Sox have made bold moves before, outbidding rival teams for expensive free agents and engineering trades that led to championships. But what transpired on Tuesday went beyond that. Lefthander David Price is the team’s new ace. He agreed to a landmark seven-year, $217 million deal that is the richest awarded to a major league pitcher and the largest in Red Sox history. According to a source briefed on the agreement, the deal is pending a physical and an announcement is expected to come Friday at Fenway Park. Price, 30, has the right to opt out of the deal after the 2018 season. Price was one of the two best starters on the free agent market, along with righthander Zack Greinke. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has been focused on Price for months, believing he was the pitcher needed atop the rotation. Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda... Fitting Adam Sandler is wearing a Boston jersey.
Well hopefully. I think we offer him around 6 years, $190 mils. That would be just slightly more than what Price got per year, and he'd be a fool not to take it. If not, Cueto is still on the market, and we can offer him something similar but with one or two more years.
Quick hits: -AJ Ellis back at 4.5 million for one year. Good deal. Locker room guy, great with the pitchers, and usually has good at bats even if he doesn't get much out of them. -Looks like Kapler is likely to join Roberts' coaching staff. -Turner Ward replaces McGuire as the new hitting coach. -Bob Geren will be the next bench coach. I'd go for 5/160 to keep Greinke. Heck I might be willing to go 6/190 honestly. At this point there's no other pitcher that even comes close on my wish list than him. Cueto is good, but I prefer Greinke by a wide margin. In fact, Cueto is a guy I would look at AFTER signing Greinke to a deal. And after at least seeing what we can do with Hayward although our names aren't in there among the trees on that one.
http://www.dodgersnation.com/dodger...-give-greinke-6-years-210-million/2015/12/02/ It's expected, so I'm presuming that or something similar is on the table. We probably won't really know any true numbers until something gets signed. We'll see. In other news, O'Day has publicly stated he prefers to stay in the East Coast, so I guess the ship has all but sailed. :/
Their only source is some dude in NY. I find that report dubious. The only report I've seen that I believe is if we give him an annual salary higher than Price's, he'll stay. That means something like 5/160 or 6/190 overall. I'm down with that at this point.
As for O'Day I mean it felt like a longshot anyway. I'm sure we were on the list because we were willing to backup a truck for him. I bet that's still true.
Was hoping the Giants would get him. Even with him, I don't see Arizona doing anything. But he's been quoted as saying he's going to the highest bidder and if that means last place, he's fine with it.
