DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS Thread

Wait... we have an assistant GM, but no GM?

 

Couple of Dodgers notes today:

• Morosi is reporting that the Dodgers are planning to make a strong run at acquiring Francisco Lindor from the Indians. He assumes that the Indians would likely not be interested in taking back Corey Seager.

• There was another report this morning, and now I can't find it so it may have been last night, where they said that their inside sources told them that the Dodgers are looking at potentially really shaking things up this offseason. Friedman had alluded to this in the end of the season interview, but they mentioned a Friedman year 1 type shake up.

• Gabe Kapler will be brought in for a second round of interviews with the Giants and is said to be Zaidi's preference. Kapler has gotten a reputation of ACTUALLY being a robot for the front office according to Grant Brisbee of the Athletic, whom is really not thrilled with these events.

• The Pirates fired GM Neal Huntington today. As much as I hated that man at the trade deadline, I am now VERY thankful that he was so stubborn.

 

So then, The Astros are the Trumps - everyone says they hate 'em but they keep on winning? What does that make us???? .....nm, I don't wanna know....

While I'm not endorsing hooking our wagon to roid raging wife beaters for winning, the idea of just being known as hard playing/edgy assholes that push the envelope and intimidate the opposition with a bunch of trophies doesn't sound too bad either. We hate a lot of teams that ALL bullied us in one way or another. I'd rather the Dodgers be the ones to say, "Yeah? So? FUCK YOU, take a look at this trophy!!!" to the Phillies/Cardinals/Mets/Astros/RedSox/Nats fans for a change!

What's waiting? the ASG, higher prices, lemming fans loving the regular season and The Braves, The Yankees and probably the G'Nats!

 

This has me intrigued.

I see one guy on the roster I would consider "untouchable" in Buehler. Next there are probably 5 guys that have too much cheap value to trade: Muncy, Maeda, May, Gonsolin, Will Smith. After that, it's open season.

I could name 3 other players I personally would want to keep (Verdugo, Bellinger, Turner), but for the right price...

 

Yep. Should absolutely be willing to trade any one of those " too cheap to trade " guys for Lindor, and sign Rendon. If Muncy is that valuable, after having what most deemed no trade value at all last offseason, he would be a prime candidate as a guy @ peak selling point without a natural position potentially heading for the AL. If moving a Muncy means they can keep a valuable guy like May, OK with that. Would rather see Turner off, but of course, he's older and more expensive than Muncy is, so tougher to move.

Whatever. Maybe they'd find a way to keep both Muncy and Turner? Find a 3rd team to take Seager..probably Seattle. LAD/Seattle/Cleveland 3 way trade. Seager to Seattle for pieces, most go to Cleveland along with Lux. Dodgers then figure it out between Muncy and Turner @ 1B and 2B, whatever sucks less defensively. You add one more bat to that group and it means you could potentially slot a reigning NL MVP in the 6 hole come October..which would be pretty spectacular given his unreliability at the plate. Hell, even if they just kept Joc they could pull that off. Go Joc/Turner/Lindor/Rendon/Muncy through the 1st 5 hitters. And then Verdugo, in theory, would be a good option to lead off VS LHP, if he ever makes it through a season. I would assume that if Lux was shipped to Cleveland, that Verdugo is still a Dodger..so Pollock is not.

 

Most assumptions are that if Seager is sent out in the deal, it would likely cost Ruiz from the top prospect pool on our end. Seager+Lux would be an insane haul for Lindor.

 

Lux works for AFux!

He's good, marketable and costs <600K... That, and don't forget that he's a pretty boy named Gavin and California female lemmings drink beer too! He's not going anywhere.

(no homo)

 

hard pass

 

You did say that Cleveland would not have any interest in Seager, correct? So he's not that insane of an asset. And when did we start valuing Seager like an insane asset? He has free agency coming and he hasn't been consistently good since 2017. Of course, we can point to the injuries as a major factor in his performance, but that could be seen as another negative bullet point..he's oft-injured, big as fuck swinging over sliders, an awkward play in the middle of the diamond, and has sucked in October.

Lux is another story, but to get something really good you have to give up something really good - generally. And if Lindor hits the market, it won't be just LAD setting out to get him, so we're talking bidding. I know Lux is at the top of the game right now @ the minor league level, but Ruiz is a top tier backstop, so seeing him out the door hurts too. Either one would be considered a strong run. If I'm Cleveland and I'm moving off my all star shortstop in Lindor, and I don't want Seager..I damn well want Lux.

 

Muncy's value has skyrocketed from last offseason to this offseason, so I think he absolutely would have value as a trade-chip. That said, I mentioned Muncy, May, Gonsolin, etc as a few guys I think are unlikely to be traded because they are all cheap, cost-controlled, and provide a nice core to build around. Of course, I could be wrong, and if I think about it more I could see one of those guys going in a trade because there was just no other way to make it happen.

 

You are way undervaluing Seager based on his postseason performance alone. He was still an above average SS this season and while we are pissed at him now, he is still considered one of the better SS in the league and that would remain true if he were to move to 3B. The Indians would likely not be interested in Seager as he is due to be a FA at the same time Lindor is. Seager would likely go to a 3rd team for a larger prospect haul for an Indians team that is said to want to trim payroll.

Seager is coming off of major surgery and it was expected for him to have a down year as most guys do when coming back from missing an entire season. With Seager it was basically a horrid month to start the season and then he looked more like the player he had been before the injuries. Not seeing that would be a gross misstep by the FO when he put up an .865 OPS over the last 100 games of the regular season. Lindor is absolutely great, but if you are telling me that he would cost two years of control of a 5 WAR SS and let's just say 6 years of control of a 3 WAR SS(though Lux is projected around 5 as well) for a 6 WAR SS, then I would say hell no.

We fans value the postseason more than FO's do when evaluating players, especially when it comes to the good and great ones. A FO is not going to look at the 5 game sample size and say "this guy is fucking terrible". Someone is going to look at the bigger picture and see that Seager had a really good year after the injury and showed the same skillset he had displayed in his younger years during the back 2/3rds of the season. Pairing that with one of the best prospects in baseball better get the team a hell of a lot more than 2 years of Lindor.

 

Hard pass on what? Seager + Ruiz for Lindor? or Seager + Lux for Lindor? Both? In reference to Ruiz, it is starting to sound like the FO very much prefers Smith over Ruiz. With Cartaya on the way as well, they could feel now is the time to move Ruiz, though I think his value is a bit down.

 

Muncy is not getting traded. He had no value last year since he limped into the postseason(though he was solid in the playoffs), so a lot of people were grumbling that the league had adjusted and that he wasn't as valuable as he had been. He is a better athlete than people give him credit for and has shown that he can handle the pressure of the postseason. I don't know why the team would trade him when we have plenty of pieces around that we could move. Muncy is probably the 1B of the future and he very well should be since he is under team control for his prime years. I would mark these guys as untradeable either for not getting enough value back, are too expensive or mean too much to the team.

Turner
Kershaw
Bellinger
Jansen
Muncy
Lux
May
Buehler
Smith

Outside of those guys, I would argue that any other player is available in trade.

 

both