Price vs. Scherzer

Dodgers have reportedly had interest in Price, but Scherzer hits the free agent market first. both are around the same age. reports say Price's fastball has lost some heat, but he's a lefty and STL has had their share of struggles against lefties. however, Scherzer's fastball is still booming.

now, we're assuming that the GuggenGods are willing to spend big on 1 more pitcher because they offered 119M for an unproven Tanaka. thus, i feel it's OK to assume that they'd probably go up to 160M for a proven ace-level Scherzer.

so if the Dodgers landed one of them, which one would you want it to be and why?

 

btw, this thread comes about because of Scherzer's latest comments about pushing away from the negotiating table with DET if a deal isn't done by the opener. he doesn't wanna deal with it during the season.

 

Sign the pitcher not associated with Scott Boras :thumbsup:

 

i've seen quite a bit of both, but i've watched more of Scherzer and just his pure stuff is a bit more powerful than Price's. and considering the fact that Urias is a lefty and likely our next home-grown staple in the rotation...i think our front office is gonna go for righty Scherzer to help balance it out.

also, the fact that we could show up in Arizona with an improved Scherzer in tow would knock the Dirtbag's socks off. lol

by 2016 ( at the latest)
Kershaw
Scherzer
Ryu
Greinke
Urias

 

Whoever can be obtained via Free Agency, don't wanna gut the farm for either, although neither may reach free agency, if they don't, than I want neither. In a perfect world Scherzer becomes a free agent and we pursue him.

 

I would wager we get neither. I really don't think they are looking for a big money pitcher. They probably just want to get through this year and see what happens within our own system. I would HOPE that the next time the GuggenGods open the wallet it would be for a big bat, preferably to occupy 3rd base or SS.

 

OK, but what if Tanaka had chosen to take less and the GuggenGods doled out about 120M to Tanaka + 20M to Rakuten for his services?...would that mean we'd see no Hanley extension to solidify SS/3B because money's run out?

i take Kasten at his word that no one move affects the other at this point and that they're sole focus is upgrading the quality of the team. they've shown willingness to spend.

 

I don't think signing Tanaka would have any effect on Hanley. I think the Tanaka deal was one that they would have liked to have had, but wasn't of utmost importance. If it had been that important there is no way they would have let the Yankees outbid them. They clearly saw it as too much risk for the return, given the staff they had already in place.

I'm just saying that I think the money would be better spent on a dependable power/rbi guy at this point. We have the pitching to get us to and through the postseason, barring injury of course.

 

what i'm saying tho is that if they were willing to spend about 140M to get Tanaka and then sign Hanley, why not spend 160-170M on a proven ace-level Scherzer after signing Hanley?

i don't believe we can ever have enough pitching.

 

Yeah I get it. But it wasn't necessary. We have one of the top 3 man fronts in all of baseball, you really can't ask for anything more, it's kinda overkill.

I agree 200%, but how many $20 million/yr pitchers do you need? In the end it's a business and no one understands that like Kasten. The goal is to make the franchise money and every year you have a $200 million plus payroll you are subtracting from the bottom line. So why spend extra on pitching if you have the staff that can get you where you need to go? Maybe I'm wrong but I think investing in a better hitter at this point would net more wins than another ace pitcher.

 

i think we can ask for more...hopefully we get that from Urias at the least. as far as the on field product, Tanaka may not have been necessary because we don't really know how he's gonna perform...that risk may have been unnecessary. but Scherzer is ace-level and that's another conversation entirely. we can use another ace-level pitcher.

all of that makes sense, but they were just in it for an expensive Tanaka. that's what this all comes back to...they're willing to keep adding, so i'm willing to keep accepting. lol

i don't look at it as " having another 20M a year pitcher "...i look at it as having 4 horses and feeling like we can win every single playoff game that we lace up for. that's much unlike last year when we didn't really feel good about Nolasco taking the hill and then he bombed and how we won't really know what we're getting from Haren/Bills/Beckett if they have to make playoff starts this year. as many arms as the Cards have...i'd love for our front office to slam the door on that " Cards have the best arms " talk. a Scherzer addition would do that. this may all be for nothing of course because the Tigers may get a deal done before this season starts.

 

If the 'more' comes internally from someone like Urias then that is achieving the goal, build from within and control players at cost for as long as feasible. Buying players like Scherzer is the least desirable way to get there, from a business standpoint. Any team can use another ace level pitcher, but the Dodgers are in a position like few others in not needing another ace level pitcher. Sure we can be greedy, but in the end the costs get passed on to the fans.

Just speculation on my part, but I'm not so sure they 'were in it' entirely. Maybe they just wanted to be sure Arizona either went all in (spend all their dough on one guy) or make them back down entirely. Or by being 'in it', making sure someone jumps the bid (like the Yanks). Like I said, speculation.

I'd like that too, but what I'd really like is to feel we can go into any playoff game with the confidence that we can score enough runs to win it. Over the last 7 or 8 years I haven't ever felt confident that the Dodgers could score-even scrub pitchers making spot starts for teams could shut us down, and did on many occasions. Going into a game with that kind of feeling makes pitchers better knowing they don't have to shut the other team down in order to win.

Really though, I'm just being realistic. The spending will stop at some point (the spending to the extent it is now) and the payroll will come back down to earth (or at least back down to the atmosphere). Trying to assemble a staff of 5 aces just doesn't make business sense and I don't see Kasten going that route.

 

we just left the McCourt era. if they go after Scherzer even moreso than they went after Tanaka, i'm gonna be a happy camper and i think speak for a lot of Dodger fans when i say they'd be happy too. whether or not they need another ace is in the eye of the beholder. i say get the best guy that's gonna be out there and keep upgrading the team...pretty much what Kasten's been saying.

i'm just going by official reports and what's on record is that their offer was 119M. now, if Tanaka took less to join them, then what? they'd back out and say " we're just playin...we don't want you "? lol no. we know they could have gotten into a nasty bidding war with NYY if they really wanted to. it just looks as if their cut off point was 140M ( 120M to Tanaka and 20M to Rakuten)...which makes sense because why would you spend more than you did for Greinke? giving Tanaka north of 150M would've been crazy and Greinke's the kid of guy that would've let them know that too and then we'd have a potential problem.

i'd like to see our lineup be more consistent too, but at the end of the day pitching rules. they went on that crazy run last year because the pitching was consistent. they held teams to 2 or 3 runs nightly and scored 4 or 5 run themselves. i'm confident in our lineup, if healthy. they should be able to score 4-5 runs. however, i wanna be more confident in the rotation. if Ryu becomes our 4th starter by next year, we will have achieved dominance.

well, i don't want 5 aces. i want 4. you need 4 guys that you can count on going into the playoffs and if they're willing to spend 140M to get Tanaka...again, go ahead and spend 160-170M on ace Scherzer. the spending will stop one day. agreed. but that day is not here. it could be here 7 years from now when all of these guy's contracts have ran out, but until then Kasten has been very open about caring mostly about the years they commit to players and how one deal doesn't affect another potential deal...and about how Walter wants them to do more big things on the free agent market. i accept this approach because as a fan i've been beaten down for far too long. i admire that you wanna build from within, i do to...however, they can do both. and that's the plan.