Chrisdodgers has your answer for 2015

Hey look who it is well it's your old pal Chris (h/t Jon bois) I hate the playoffs. Baseball sucks.

I love baseball. Lets think about next year because it's only 154 days away or some shit like that yay

But here is what I think we should do

1. Get Andrew Friedman from the Rays and maybe Maddon but that last part probably won't happen
There's been rumors this is a possibility and I have no idea how much this is just the media creating shit but I'd love it. this from yesterday http://fansided.com/2014/10/12/los-...oe-maddon-andrew-friedman-tandem-possibility/

- He's an extremely smart man with a "new age" sense of baseball that some on this board will probably hate once he trades Puig for 4 players who aren't top 100 prospects but will double Puig's value somehow. I'd throw all the money at him just to get Ned out because I think he's just over his head

2. Get younger:
There are many ways to do this. Not re-signing Hanley would be a start. Let Arrebuenhsjdskde play short with his well-above average defense- it would be hard to lose that offense but you're hoping a full year of a healthy Kemp can help that. Scout said he hit better than people in the org expected in limited time and I think he could surprise some people by becoming a league average hitter with time. Offer Hanley that QO and if he takes it cool; if not, cool.

- Also, was told the Dodgers weren't trading anyone of the Dodgers top three prospects. Pederson was the guy most people asked about. Seager/Urias as untouchable as possible. I think this is probably the right thing to do and although I would have loved Andrew Miller at the deadline I'm not trading Urias for him. Seager will likely see time in the bigs if someone on the left side of the infield goes down and same for Pederson in the outfield. Getting younger seems to be the Dodgers focus and it'll probably work itself out.

3. Trade Ethier or Crawford.
Ethier was the odd man out and I seriously question how much left he has in the tank. He'd be the guy to go if I had a choice. They probably don't have a choice unfortunately, and much more interest would be in guys like Crawford, Kemp and of course Puig. I wouldn't mind trading ANY one of our outfielders in the right deal but it needs to be right. Talent that can help now and some in the future as well. We may need to pull a three team deal. We may need to eat some (a lot) of salary. Either way, a move needs to be done and I think it'll happen sometime at or after the Winter Meetings (which I may attend!)

4. Sign a starter or two
Apparently the Dodgers don't want to give up a draft pick. Okay, thats fine. How about 80-grade twitter account haver and fellow LFC man (sorry Carlos) Brandon McCarthy? How about fuckin Bartolo Colon? Hammel? Masterson? We need choices. We need quality arms that can take innings from our shitty bullpen. Our top three is as solid as you can have and if you look at the teams remaining in the postseason it's more about guys that step up rather than guys that are "aces". Lester, Max, Verlander, Price, Kershaw, Zimmerman, Strasburg all got beat. Vargas, the entire Orioles team, Vogelsong are all winning. Sign guys that can handle the back end of a rotation and maybe even have postseason experience because as stupid as it sounds, that shit matters.

5. Figure out that bullpen.
Whether it's signing dudes who can't start (Brandon Morrow, maybe Brett Anderson, etc) or signing dudes that are proven (Miller, Neshek, Gregerson, Belisle, Robertson), or giving rookies a chance (Baez, both Garcia's, maybe Chris Anderson, somebody we've never heard of i.e. Corey Wade) this definitely needs to be addressed. My guess it's some mixture of the three. Don't be surprised if Sergio Romo comes back home...

So...

Wack guy out as GM, smart dude in as GM
Infield defense is better minus Hanley
Money situation is sort of solved with a trade of an outfielder
Pitching depth is solved with addition of solid backend starter
Bullpen fixed somewhat

This team is supremely talented and I think with the proper tweaks it's another WS contention in 2015. Now maybe don't get bombed Kershaw you idiot

 

yup. if not Maddon this year, gotta believe that Friedman ( if he's our new GM) would eye Maddon after next year when his deal is up. but wouldn't it be fucked up if Mattingly had to listen to those rumors all year? and would we be rooting against Mattingly next year? Lol hope they don't put us in that position and just figure something out to get both.

i wonder if Friedman would somewhat scale that approach back if given the kind of resources that the Dodgers have..because let's face it..much of Puig's value is his watchability and charisma and i don't know if ownership would let Friedman give away a cash cow like Puig without getting one back. they're spending a lot, but they're still tryin to make a little money. it's the kind of an approach that's needed moreso in Tampa with those limited resources.

yes indeed. agreed. and hopefully somebody would sign Hanley away with a multi-year deal and we'd get a 1st rounder out of it.

i like this approach. we all love the spending in certain areas, but eventually..you see that most of the Cardinals' young guys have come up together and play with a level of unselfishness because of it..we need that in the next handful of years.

i think Ethier's lefty bat and approach at the plate is pretty valuable for us in a pinch role, so if he can be convinced to stay in that role, great. he can be a 5th outfielder/pinch/injury replacement guy. i wouldn't give him away just to get rid of him unless he rejected the idea of staying and embracing that role.

Crawford..gotta go. it's a must, so Joc can live and possibly leadoff for us in the near future. Crawford obviously rebuilt a lot his value, but has 60M left on his contract..toss in 20-30M in cash and send him to the Cubs. Theo liked him before..maybe he can go there, stay healthy and help them win a few more games.

Kemp..i think Seattle might come calling. if they're offering Walker + a Chris Taylor..i don't know. hold the fire to their toes and try to get them to add Hultzen and buy low there as well while he's coming back from his shoulder issues.

Puig, imo, should only be traded for Stanton. that is it. too much value in his contract + his value on and off the field is sky high. gotta get a true star in return for Puig. otherwise, just keep him.

i like McCarthy..talked about him earlier with Irish. if we add a top end lefty to Kersh/Ryu and then have Urias on the way after next year..the balance may be out of whack with all those lefties. Bartolo..depends on what we have to give up, but the old man's a freak. i'd be for that.

Miller and Gregerson..yes and yes. let's hope a Friedman or whomever would get the freedom to hand out deals for talented relievers after Ned's fuck ups with League and Wilson.

from what i can tell, you only missed 1 thing..Russell Martin. gotta have him.

 

also, back on the Joe Maddon topic..even though his contract expires after next season, i imagine that Tampa's gonna address his contract status this off-season because that's pretty much what he deserves. he's done well enough to not have to go into a season without a commitment going forward and that's whether everybody knows he'd be coming back or not. that's just good business.

with that said..if Tampa does attempt to address Maddon's contract this winter, LAD's gotta be involved and offering big money that urges Maddon to halt talks with Tampa. it's kinda like the issue with Stanton in Miami..if you know the Dodgers can pay you a lot more, tell the org you're with that you wanna test the market a year from now and make the org take the steps to go out and find compensation so they don't lose these guys for nothing. and then Tampa has to come to the Dodgers. now, i don't know if Maddon would do that kinda business, but anything's possible i guess.

 

pretty good stuff in this post, agree with most of it (still think we need Hanley but yeah)

Like me some Morrow, Gregerson, Miller, rookie combos a lot

 

wow Morrow was still throwing 99 last year, sign his ass on the cheap

edit: has a $10M team option for next year, yeah that's going to be declined

 

Morrow can't stay healthy

 

98+ for a starter is always sign able

 

Not sure about Russell Martin and while I'd love to have him I think he's going to cost a lot. I think Aj bought himself another year with his postseason but it's definitely an area where we can improve upon. I was thinking maybe a trade for Matt Wieters but he'll be in a contract year and is coming off of TJ

 

If it helps, he's a great guy. I've met him and he gave me a pitching lesson for 2 hours.

 

Nice post, Chris.

I'm surprised every time Ned avoids getting fired. He's grown on me a little, but I don't think Ned or Mattingly are anything more than average, and our aspirations should be higher than that.

I don't think trading an OFer will help us much financially, but it needs to be done for roster space.

And I don't see how we can justify signing Hanley at this point, so I think that's an easy decision to not bring him back. I think he needs to move to the OF sooner rather than later, and we don't need another average OFer.

 

Muahahaha

@Ken_Rosenthal: BREAKING: #Rays’ Friedman going to #Dodgers. Colletti remaining as senior advisor. Announcement imminent.

 

That's called tampering, and it's illegal.

 

Is there something you aren't telling us Chris?

 

Do the tampering rules of MLB extend to non-players?

 

Lol, I wish. That was just dumb luck

 

Maddon is already making more $ than Mattingly and doesn't have to deal with dodger ego and media attention. Why does he want to go to LA?

 

to win?

 

1) because he wants to get his acting career off the ground.
2) no more games in stupid little new Yankee stadium.
3) less media attention - don't forget, 70% of LA can't even watch the games. He will live in anonymity out here.