DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS thread

Discussion in 'Los Angeles DODGERS' started by Dodgers99, Oct 28, 2018.

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  1. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    With his history in the game, there is something in me that thinks that maybe Kasten did not exactly mean everything he said and potentially it was used as a shot over the bow at someone else in hopes to rile up the fanbase and force something bigger to get done. Kasten is said to have a very good relationship with Bryce Harper, he drafted him in Washington with rumors that they remain close and he was someone that Kasten had every intention of bringing in. Stan was one of the architects behind that Braves long run of second place finishes where he was still regarded as one of the best FO execs of the last 20-30 years. The ownership sent out that memo to stakeholders and potential investors saying that they will not go over the luxury tax for the next 4 years(one year had passed before that doc was released). That documentation then got leaked to the press, so someone could be unhappy with the way things are being run. Whether that be a shareholder, potential investor or a FO exec that feels that they are getting their hands tied. The Dodgers sent out a contingency the first night of free agency to meet with Bryce Harper. EVERYONE knew what he was going to initially ask for, probably around 14 years and $400+M over the life of the contract. That has the look of a group that was ready for a long fight. Then that info gets leaked, then all these rumors of the Dodgers trying to dump some payroll soon after while also still big game hunting.

    The manner in which Kasten came off in that interview was weird. He got angry and quoted the importance of profits for owners at a time where the rich are becoming infinitely more vilified by the day and everyone knows damn well that fans aren't going to relate to those remarks. Kasten has never been one to be tone deaf and there is no way in hell I see him looking at this roster and saying, "yeah, that is all we needed" after looking at the AL teams. The Braves were always constantly tweaking and trying to add. It did not always workout, but they still tried. The Dodgers have now had two offseasons where they needed another piece or two to really put them over the top and fell well short. Last year they got lucky with Kemp, but he was never intended to stick around and thus the last offseason was pure shit if the intent was never to go big for Harper now. This year Pollock does have the chance to be a major player as does Kelly, but they still have lost more than they have brought back in terms of that impact. I honestly think he's pissed. Maybe he thought he was going to get his boy back and the ownership came in and said "no, we are capping you". So he went on TV and made the whole organization look like asses in hopes of getting the owners to open their pocket books after city and league-wide scrutiny.

    Something I think a lot of us overlook is that, yeah the FO was filled with a lot of Wall Street emotionless traders, but all that is left now really is Friedman. The FO has been gutted and what is left are a lot of long time baseball people running this thing. The emotionless money people that are left are the majority owners in Guggs who probably are looking at their investor portfolios and saying "we need to make them some money now". They spent wildly for years to get this cash cow rolling and now they see it potentially on cruise control for a few years and want to start taking a significantly larger cut(The Stan Kasten method of sports ownership). I honestly am not blaming the FO for this, all signs point to this being done at the request of ownership. A FO being extra stingy with prospects(actually adding to that core) on the heels of their second straight World Series loss tells me that they see something else coming and are doing what they can to put together a solid core of incredibly cheap assets. I honestly think Kasten is speaking up cause he is pissed. He is heading down the path as one of the greatest FO execs of all time, that was great for getting a team that could get to the show, but not getting across the finish line... seems like kind of a shitty way to be remembered.
     
  2. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    LOL, fuck off
    From jon Heyman - "One clarification regarding Realmuto talks: while Marlins sought two key pieces to headline the package for JT, once the dodgers declined to include Bellinger, Miami wanted 3 big prospects from LA, not just 2 since they were all minor leaguers: Lux plus May plus 1 of Ruiz/Smith"
     
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  3. LAdiablo

    LAdiablo descarado

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    if Kasten really did say those things to precipitate movement and embarrass the owners we should see him fall on his sword soon enough.
     
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  4. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    For those wondering. This is nowhere close to what the Marlins accepted from the Phillies. Sixto is generally better regarded for upside, but his injury history is a giant red flag in the eyes of many and while he is rated higher than Lux and May, both of those guys are trending better at current. As I posted in the MiLB thread, if Lux comes anything close to repeating his 2018, he will probably be regarded as a Top 10-15 prospect in the game. May is in the same boat as Lux as he too took a big jump in 2018 and folks think he could be that top 20 range if he remains on his current path. This is not even us getting into the conversation about the catchers either. Basically, the Marlins asked the Dodgers for the second, third and 4th best prospects when putting the deals side by side with Alfaro being 5th and the third Phillies piece being viewed as a DISTANT 6th. I would not be shocked if a year from now, we are looking at this as another shitty Marlins deal.
     
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  5. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    If I remember correctly, he IS a minority owner. The difference is, he probably did not use the money of others(like Guggs did) therefore he doesn't necessarily owe anyone anything. So it could be more a of a minority owner speaking out against the mindset of the rest of the herd.
     
  6. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    what a fucken joke
    so sick of teams making ridiculous requests from us
    and then settling for significantly less
     
  7. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Austin Barnes was interviewed last week by Dodgers Talk. He has been working with the new hitting department and he feels confident in his swing going into camp this year. David Vassegh made an interesting statement in saying that when he got to camp last year, he said Barnes looked lost already. With talking with other players, they said when one thing goes wrong when you have a big leg kick like Barnes has, it can totally ruin a season. Would not be shocked that with Barnes and the elbow issues he was experiencing, that it sent that whole season for him into a tailspin. Another thing he mentioned was that in talks with other players, a lot of people told DV that Barnes was gonna be a guy who once he made it to the show, would be a consistent .300 hitter. It would be nice to see him back on track, cause if they get anything close to 2017 production from him, that would be huge.
     
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  8. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    There is a good chance that unless any of those guys graduate this year, that was potentially 3 Top 25 prospects or 2 and a Top 50-75 going into 2020. Granted they are prospects and anything can happen, but that was not even close to a similar ask.
     
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  9. Lazy Bastard

    Lazy Bastard DSP Regular

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    yahoo sports is saying Giants now the favs to land Harper.
     
  10. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Yeah, the betting lines came back out today and have the Giants as the favorite. Someone made a great point... The Dodgers should bet $100M on them landing Harper and then throw a HUGE contract offer on him. Sit back and recoup the $850M for "winning the bet" when they sign him.
     
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  11. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    lying sack of shit
    and i wasn't one of those who hated jeter when he played
    but he should be ashamed by insincere rhetoric [attempting] to placate whatever marlins fan base still exists
    because if anyone is culpable from the marlins state, it's the ceo who allowed ozsuna, stanton, dee, yelich and realmuto to be traded
    how does this fuck even look at himself in the mirror?
    what a disingenuous fucken sociopath


    Derek Jeter has zero patience, wants Marlins competitive now
    Associated Press/ESPN — 28 minutes ago
    [​IMG]
    MIAMI -- Derek Jeter stood and chatted a few rows from home plate in Marlins Park on Monday morning. His words were sometimes drowned out by noises coming from construction crews; steel clanging against steel in an area getting built behind the center field wall, or the whirring of engines moving heavy machinery about.

    There couldn't have been a more fitting backdrop.

    Jeter, entering his second full season as CEO of the Miami Marlins, knows that building -- whether it is a new spot for fans to watch games from, or a minor-league system, or a contending big-league club -- takes time. That also means Jeter is being tested in ways now that he never was during his playing days as shortstop for the New York Yankees, when winning and competing for titles seemed like an annual occurrence.

    "I have no patience," Jeter said. "I have zero patience. I've been preaching it. I don't have it."

    The Marlins had the worst record in the National League and the fourth-worst record in all of Major League Baseball last season, and just traded away the best player from their 2018 club -- catcher J.T. Realmuto -- to the Philadelphia Phillies. And oddsmakers say the Marlins will be one of the longest shots in baseball this year, which didn't amuse Jeter.

    He's clearly not expecting to get his hands on the World Series trophy this year.

    That doesn't mean he's accepting another woebegone year as a foregone conclusion, either.

    "Patience is something that you have to learn," Jeter said. "But I'm fine with not being patient. It's like I say: When you're at the major-league level, you're here for a reason, because these players have been better than most other players in this country and in other countries as well. And if you're here, you have an opportunity to win. I can't preach that enough."

    Jeter spent his first season observing and learning, often very quietly. He helped craft a plan that the Marlins say they'll stick to: build an organization from the bottom up, stock what was a badly depleted farm system with prospects, give young players who merit a shot a chance at performing in Miami and hold absolutely everyone accountable.

    This season, he's hinting that he may be more involved with players. He learned in 2018. He may teach more in 2019.

    "Derek's not going to be patient with not playing the game right, not getting after it every day, not competing," said Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who played first base in Jeter's Yankee debut game in 1995. "He knows where we're at. In a sense you have to have some patience. But you don't have patience if a guy's not playing the game right, if he's not trying to get better every day, if he's not working. That's where he's not going to have patience."

    What he's selling, people are buying.

    The Marlins signed Neil Walker late last month to be a veteran utilityman presence, after he spent last year with the Yankees. Even after being with the Marlins for only a couple weeks, Hill said the message from Jeter's office on down is already clear to players: "You're either going to be on board, or you're out."

    "In talking with Derek, talking with (president of baseball operations) Michael Hill, talking with Donnie, they've really sat down as an organization and thought about where they were, where they presently are and where they hope to go," Walker said. "Their enthusiasm and their vision is contagious. And I know just from early talks with all three of them, they believe in the guys in this locker room and they believe in the direction this organization's going."

    The Marlins vow they're going to make the experience at home games -- where attendance dipped to franchise-record-low numbers in 2018, partially because the team was bad and partially because the new ownership group began revealing far more accurate ticket numbers than was done under the previous regime -- better this year. The team is trying to better embrace the Latin flavor of Miami, and wants fans to even feel comfortable bringing instruments to games if so inclined.

    Fans spoke. Jeter says their words were heeded.

    "Look, I never shied away from the fact that there's a complicated history here with the fan base," Jeter said. "I get it. We weren't here for that. We're taking over an organization that hadn't had much success at all for the last 15, 16 years. So in order to change that, we had to make changes."

    And if Jeter has his way, the refurbishing of the team won't take long.

    "We need to see improvement," Jeter said. "We need to see improvement from some of our younger guys that got an opportunity to play last year. That's how you get better. We can sit and talk about minor-league systems all you want, but it gets to a point when you're in Miami that you have to develop and improve year in and year out. That's how you become a great team."
     
  12. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    and let harp and his family in on it so his aav would be closer to $100mm lol
     
  13. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    saw that too on one of the sites
    said it's really tough to make in-season swing changes... true
    but was very optimistic about 2019
    and i think he said he had already talked/worked with the new hitting coach?
     
  14. 1988Blues

    1988Blues DSP Legend

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  15. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    big if
    but if we swoop in at the last minute and (essentially) steal harper away from the giants, that would be epic
    and an extended kick in the ass to farhan walking out the door
    but at this point it's obviously still only an if...
    [​IMG]
     
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  16. BlueMouse

    BlueMouse 2020 World Champions

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    Nothing says a team and player have tons of interest in each other more than sitting down face-to-face for the first time in mid-February.
     
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  17. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Yeah, he has been working with them a lot this offseason. One thing this team has in spades that I do really appreciate is a class of guys that are known to be hard workers. Barnes, Taylor, Seager, Turner and Kershaw are all said to be some of the hardest workers around. Not to mention the same has been said for some of our top prospects. I think for many of the young guys, they attribute that to Chase Utley. Even though his performance with us was sub par, the guy seems to have set a precedent throughout the org that could be felt for many years ahead.
     
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  18. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    totally agree
    just to have had him in the dugout
    consummate professional, no two ways about it
    chase could have played in any era
     
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  19. THINKBLUE

    THINKBLUE DSP Gigolo

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    Kind of the opposite of Jeena, Kemp, and (supposedly) Yasiel.
     
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  20. ColoradoKidWitGame

    ColoradoKidWitGame DSP Legend Administrator

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    Also great that in the event that if he were to sign with the Giants, it barely moves the meter on their projected win total. Granted he is a great addition, they still have huge/bad money locked up over the next 3 seasons with a weak weak farm. Not sure why he would want to go that route over a team like the Phillies that could be offering a bigger long term deal.
     
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