DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS Thread

• Rosenthal said this morning that the Dodgers are still trying very hard to get Lindor from the Indians, but the Indians are not all that interested in moving him. Sounds like the Dodgers were only interested in taking on Kluber if he was part of a much bigger deal as I guess he was roundly viewed as a salary dump. The club is also refusing to move Lux in a deal for Lindor unless it is for something that brings Clevinger back as well, which sounds at this point nearly impossible since the Indians believe they have what it takes to compete and add now as well. What this report is telling me is that the Dodgers are likely not in at this point for Donaldson. Why? Well if they get Donaldson AND traded for Lindor, moving Lux is less of a problem as he is likely blocked for the foreseeable future and therefore expendable, so they would entertain moving him out. The Dodgers are likely shooting for an IF of Turner 1B, Lux 2B, Lindor SS and Muncy at 3B, then Seager is shown the door in a separate deal or Seager goes to 3B and Muncy moves to 2B or the OF and Lux moves to the OF.

• While going over the Dodgers 2019 rule 5 stuff, the 2020 eligibility was released(and now I can't find it!) and the Dodgers insane depth is about to become a problem of sorts. By my count, I found 8 prospects that I felt were in danger of getting swept up(some said 7, some said 9), plus the 3 that didn't get protected this year that were intriguing (Cody Thomas, Jordan Sheffield and Cristian Santana). This could provide an interesting dilemma for the org 11 months from now if certain measures are not taken. The three guys mentioned above will almost certainly be taken if they are not added and are able to build on their 2019's with good or better 20's in AAA, while an assortment of guys that will be eligible next year are already having success in AA or pitchers that have shown enough at HiA that they could be viewable as making the leap in 2021. What this could come down to is 12 potential 40 man spots needed to be opened up or risk losing them for nothing. While on the surface it sure looks like this team is not doing jack shit, I have to believe that there are going to be a lot of little moves still to come to alleviate that problem next offseason.

• There is continued noise that the Dodgers are the team going the hardest after Dellin Betances. His 2019 was marred by injuries, but his upside is worth taking a one year risk on. The club appears to be focusing on a bullpen full of guys with elite upside that need to rebuild their stock. Something that would be interesting about both Betances and Treinen is if they have bounceback years, the club could attach the QO to them next offseason (as well as Turner and Pederson if still around) that could either turn these guys into 2 year deals or net some decent draft picks. This is an interesting new direction the team is trying out at a time where strong bullpens are becoming increasingly important, but at the same time the players success in those roles is becoming more chaotic. The upside of Betances, Treinen, Baez, Kelly and Jansen all clicking is that of the most dominant bullpen in baseball, but at the same time, not a single one comes without a major red flag. The Dodgers also have continued interest in Brewers lefty Josh Hader.

• The Dodgers have talked to Boras about bringing Ryu back, but there is word that he has some teams pursuing him much harder. The Angels, Twins and Blue Jays are 3 teams with rumored considerable interest. BTW, the Angels not beating that Rangers offer for Kluber should be a big indicator of how worried teams are about what he has left in the tank. That team is desperate for starting pitching and wouldn't try to beat that mediocre offer.

• The Dodgers massive depth on the farm is looking at another year of potential big leapers. The club currently has 5 or 6 top 100 prospects depending on who you listen to. Some names to watch outside that in the year ahead are 3B Kody Hoese, 2B Michael Busch, C Diego Cartaya, 3B Miguel Vargas, RHP Gerardo Carrillo, OF Luis Rodriguez and RHP Andre Jackson. With potential top 100 prospects, you need to look for at least 1 tool that can set them ahead of the rest as long as everything else is average or above, so these are some of the things that have people talking about them. Hoese has big time power plus a bat that flashes above average, he is adequate at 3B and that bat still plays at 1B. Busch has an above average stick both in the power and hit tool department, defense lacks, but should be able to handle 2B and his eye is insanely good. Cartaya will be tested in full-season ball this year, but he has potential to be an above average bat plus baserunning stopper behind the dish. Vargas has one of the prettiest swings you can find and if he ever adds power to it there is a strong sense he become a lethal prospect. Carrillo made waves in the AFL displaying a fastball reaching triple digits while as a starter, but he still needs to harness his control. Rodriguez is a potential 5 tool CF'er as he develops and has some scouts buzzing about him coming stateside this year. Jackson was a behind the scenes darling, but impressed with a big fastball with movement and multiple pitches that kept hitters off balance. His strikeout numbers were incredibly impressive and a better ability to locate could shoot him up top prospect lists. So these are some of the names to watch. While this FO has been an absolute pain in the ass to watch build a contender on the field, their building of the farm has been nothing short of spectacular when you take into account the new draft and Int'l signing rules that can make it hard for contenders to keep strong systems intact across multiple years. This FO finally needs to find a way to both build from within and outside the org to finally get over the hump. Continually whiffing on the biggest FA's is not one of those ways...

 

What the reason to not just give Donaldson 4/80? So fucking what if he sucks in year 4.

 

The dozen or so elite players comment came after Stras if I am not mistaken as the comments came at the winter meetings. Bumgarner was definitely NOT one of them and neither was Kluber, I will tell you that. An elite player does not sign for less than $100M or get traded for a box of baseballs. My guess is Cole, Rendon and Donaldson are the FA's they spoke about, with Trienen and Betances also falling into that equation potentially. That's 5 right there. Hader, Lindor, Clevinger, Betts, Bryant and I'd wager Baez are in the trade for category, putting us at 11. They said around a dozen, so those are probably the guys they are talking most about.... maybe Arenado makes it a dozen.

I'd be willing to bet that David Price is nowhere close to being on their radar unless he is paired with something intriguing. He's nowhere close to the ace he once was and now injury issues have cut short two of his last 3 seasons. Shit, 90% of this board wants Kershaw dead, so let's bring in a dude that is getting paid more, but pitching worse? They want someone for the front of the rotation, not someone clogging the middle to back part of one when we have a slew of young pitching prospects that would be better suited.

Price is only coming if Boegarts or Betts are attached and we are buying Price to lessen the prospect load.

 

Muncy is actually rated REALLY well at 3B as he is rangy and has a very strong arm.... an arm that he doesn't seem to trust. At this point, he is the more valuable defender at 3B. Someone on the radio last week said he heard the Dodgers may be planning to move Seager to 1B for the year, but that does not sound realistic at all. The other thing they could do is move Seager to 3B, Turner to 1B with Muncy and Lux looking at time between 2B and the OF. This problem is only really existent for 1 season, then they likely let Turner walk after this year. Their reluctance to include Lux in any deals is also a bit interesting. Some folks think that Lindor will easily surpass Harper's contract in 2 years, so they could be looking at this as a win now or a not bring him back scenario and let Lux take over with 4 years of control still. The other thing is the FO could be looking at high value targets to drum up excitement with the fanbase and then say, "well we tried and we couldn't make a deal work" then go into next year with our homegrown roster and watch them flame out in the playoffs again.

 

Nats appear to be closing in on a deal for Donaldson. Believed to be willing to go 4 years and over $90M according to reports.

 

I’m starting to feel like the guy we get will be Kris Bryant or no one at all. His market will heat up after the arbitrator ruling but its seems as if the cubs are motivated to move him

 

Pretty sad when all I have to hope for is players on other teams getting injured so we have a chance

 

I think we need to start a pool picking which team is going to spank is in the post-season this year, and which player we either gave up on or didn’t pursue that does the damage.

 

Bryant would make sense since the Dodgers have a large quantity of solid prospects and that may be something the Cubs would prefer due to them being pretty thin at the upper minors. Still think the club making a big impact trade may be far fetched since Friedman seems to only like to do deals where he comes out the winner and now those dumb GM's that he likes to take advantage of are becoming harder and harder to find.

 

I like the way you think.

 

That's not true, these things could happen without a trade and we will be favorites again.
1. Buehler finally takes the big step forward to becoming a true ace.
2. May continues his upward trend and falls in behind Buehler as a dominant 1B to Buehler's 1A.
3. Urias looks like the hype machine of old and becomes the 1C to the Buehler/May dynamic duo.
4. Lux takes another leap forward and becomes the superstar some project him to be. Leading off and setting a tone for the club.
5. Seager returns to form and is arguably the best SS in the league again, putting together a full 8 WAR season that carries through into a dominant postseason.
6. Bellinger finds his swing and sticks with it for a full year and once again is a 10+ WAR player that also carries through into a dominant postseason performance.
7. Kershaw discovers the fountain of youth and a change up to reinvigorate the next few years of his career.
8. Jansen rediscovers the cut he lost while adding a fading two seamer to his repertoire like the great Mariano Rivera once did.
9. Pollock, embarrassed by his dreadful postseason performance, works with a hitting and strength training coach all offseason while learning that daily baths of mixes from milk of a Yak from the highest reaches of Himalayan's and a blood sacrifice from a virgin is the perfect cure for his injury woes. Thus he puts up a 7+ WAR, 162 game season while manning an elite CF.

These things happen and I bet we could find our way back to a World Series in which we lose a devastating 7 game series in which we learn 3 years later that the team we were playing had poisoned our food before every game, used a remote controlled ball and every player had taken a new form of steroid undetectable and only known by their team doctors. Once this is discovered and after the investigation, it will be rightly determined that the teams post game spread can't have ham as an option for 2 weeks and their bat boy is to be suspended for the first 6 innings of opening day.

 

You forgot to mention the magic pixie dust that was sprinkled by the other team in Game 7.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/nolan-arenado-trade-proposals

This is the garbage that we have to deal with. The proposed Dodger deal is twice as good as any of the other 6 proposed deals. I mean read this crap and see how crazy it is.

Rich in talent just means teams want the top talent.

 

Dodgers motto BS them and do nothing

 

I’d do that trade in a heart beat. Didnt read how much of the contract we’d have to eat but Arenado for Ruiz, Gray and Gonsolin is a no brainer. But its MLB. Com. Bunch of asshats

 

Yeah, was gonna say the same thing. I’m the biggest prospect hugger here, yet when I saw that I was all for it.