DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS thread

A Marte /Joc swap is a good thing. Especially if it means balancing out our lineup to get Harper

 

I read that and it kind of upset me. I see a site blindly defending Duarte and Camello like they are in the same class as JP, a BBWAA member, journalist, and author who doesn't belong being put in the same sentence as the other two. I will give Camello some credit, he reported Turner and Jansen's agreements with exact contract #'s and had the Scott Alexander interest before anyone else, but his sources have dried up since then. Duarte hasn't had one single original report ever. He completely whiffed on the prospects the Dodgers were trading to Baltimore for Machado, and has "reported" countless other fallacies including saying the Harper signing was on the 10 yard line or whatever when it clearly was not. Duarte is a hack and he should've realized by now that either his source is lying to him or he is lying to everyone. Either way he needs to shut the fuck up.

 

Yeah, I take everything he says with a giant grain of salt. I feel the exact same way about his source since the stuff he is reporting is so far out into left field that it makes absolutely no sense most of the time. I don't know what has happened with Camello, he nailed 3 deals and had some rumors that did seem to have some backing, then he did a " this is going to happen" with Braun-Puig deal, where it didn't and since then he has been either way off while also cutting way back on his Dodgers rumors. It really seems like they have lost what little grasp they had within the org, which should not be a surprise considering the turnover in the front office over the last two offseasons.

 

It is Hall of Fame announcement day, so everyone will be pretty focused on that I'd guess over the next 36 hours or so. So rumors will be quiet and MLB asks players/teams to not overshadow big events, so I would not be shocked if all is quiet til Thursday or so. With that said, here are the notes from around the league:

• Miller Park is changing names to American Family Insurance Stadium/Park/Field? for the 2020 season. This is the 3rd MLB stadium to announce a name change this offseason (Seattle & SF). Meanwhile the Broncos have gone two full seasons with nobody jumping on board for those rights.

And that's the news!

 

Heyman just murdered the Marte speculation on MLBTR

 

When AJ Pollock gets inducted to the Baseball HOF in 2032, I wonder if he goes in as a Diamondback or Dodger.

 

Make it

Mariano
Martinez (Wooooo!)
Mussina
Halladay (Bummed out yay)

Should Make it

Walker - Dude was so catastrophically underrated. Had injuries not slowed him down, we are talking about one of the best 3-5 players of the era.
Helton - Wasn't the world beater on the road the way he was at home, but still fucking good. Also, declined at a normal age for non-steroid users.
Sheffield - Offensive monster most of his career, but defense and DBag attitude killed the perspective on him.
McGriff - Pretty great all around career and generally balled out when he needed to in the playoffs.
UPDATE:
Also on the should make it list is Pete fucking Rose. If we really are on the cusp of letting steroid users in, they better put in Rose.

 

Has it come to this?

 

That is a big can of worms that many in the BBWAA are very reluctant to open. Just look at the numbers, both Clemens and Bonds are tracking nearly identically to last year. That is pretty rare for players that were so close. They are both below the getting in line and should see a drop when the final numbers are announced here in a few. If they let them in, what about other notable roiders like Palmero, ManRam, McGwire and Sosa? Those dudes were the most lethal hitters of the time and people are hardly talking about them. Ortiz will be a first ballot dude, are we just going to ignore that he was a roider cause he was a big teddy bear? It is lame to let those two in and then just push aside the others.

 

Some things to watch right now with the HOF... holy fuck am I bored....

• If Mussina sees a drop similar to last year with undisclosed ballots, he will just miss.... and they just repeated this on TV.

• Rivera is tracking at 100%, but you know some old fart will leave him off. Junior missed by 3 votes.

• Fred McGriff is gonna miss and it is his last year on the ballot.

• Larry Walker needs a strong finish to put him in position to get in next year. 2020 will be his last chance before the Veterans Committee.

• Michael Young, Lance Berkman, Roy Oswalt, Miguel Tejada, Rick Ankiel, Jason Bay, Freddy Garcia, Jon Garland, Travis Hafner, Ted Lilly, Derek Lowe, Darren Oliver, Juan Pierre, Placido Polanco, Vernon Wells, Kevin Youkilis are all trending to drop off the ballot.

Bold means they are former Dodger greats.

 

McGriff was great. Not for us so much, but I really hoped he'd get in

 

Nick Markakis back to Braves at an insane value. $4M for 2019, $6M club option for 2020 w/ 2M buyout.

 

Big Puma Berkman not getting more consideration is pretty interesting
Probably a top 3-5 switch hitter of all time

 

Gotta be his defense holding him back since he was just so atrociously bad at it. I forgot how much of a force that he was with the bat though.

 

That and maybe he gets docked for playing at Minute Maid Park as well
Fat Elvis was a hell of a hitter though..I wonder how Edgar Martinez would've fared in the field

 

That is a really good point. Their numbers are very similar, but Berkman gets knocked for also playing the field...poorly...