NEWS/RUMORS/DISCUSSION Thread

Jocs struggles were apparent to me even in April when he was doing well
It's funny though because his contact rates are very similar to Kris Bryants'
Both will K a lot, and I believe both can work to improve that
Joc hits the ball hard as fuck when he makes contact which is good. He was near the top of the league in exit velocity for much of the year
(as was grandal before the dude injured his shoulder)

He just needs to refine his approach, mechanics. His swing is long as fuck. Very hit or miss type player

He has the talent but this offseason needs to work his ass off
Would also like to see an improvement in some facets of defense.

So basically, dudes young and can fix his flaws
I can easily see him being a quality 4ish win player consistently with upside for more

 

I mean why not? He was an elite ish hitter in his playing time in 13 and 14. This year was a wash.

He is a bit inconsistent but he's still young in his career. Think he can figure it out.

I'm fine adding another RH middle order bat though.

 

Puig is retarded

 

So yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and kick around some off-season solutions because why not?
Everybody's obviously welcome to join in.
Some have already begun.
Others will need time to heal.
To each his own.
Just thought I'd make a thread for all the ideas.
I'm already over this season, but I still have to go in on'em.
I've pretty much been over this team since they made me watch ( and sleep through for much of the time) that 100 game stretch of .500 baseball in the middle of the season.
Personally, I feel like the new FO should call Casey Close to see exactly what it'll take to get Alex Gordon to opt out of his final year with KC and sign with us this winter.
Not that Alex Gordon's the savior, but he's an experienced leadoff hitter that hits power pitching.
Now, as we've all seen there are just too many young fireballers out there to contend with as currently constructed.
It's time to adjust and get some experienced thump in the leadoff spot...we certainly can't rely on Puig for that.
If it's not deGrom, it's Lance Lynn or some other 97-100MPH chunkin SOB shutting the Dodgers down in October.
Gordon's a steady AB, great outfielder that you can pencil in for 15-20HRs and a .350-.375 OBP.
Reliable.


One of the sadder developments this postseason was our 2nd most trusted RBI guy being forced to lead off.
Ideally you want Howie at the dish with runners on, but they had no other choice.
And it sucks for Howie, but if they weigh whether or not to bring him back on a deal similar to one that they'd give Alex Gordon, I think Howie would be the loser in an either or situation.
There are just too many other options in house for 2B...from Turner to Kike to Peraza + a guy that VRP brought to my attention ( shout out to VRP before he gets mad at me about the next move I'd make )
Not to mention they'd get a draft pick when Howie signed elsewhere.
But yeah, LF and " lead off " is more of a necessity than 2B at this point which would give the edge to Alex Gordon over Howie in a situation where perhaps 4yrs and 70MM is up for grabs.


Now, Ethier obviously ended up being one of our better hitters in 2015, but he also absolutely stunk it up against power pitching this year.
.217/.301/.301 against power arms is just not cutting it. Not even close.
He came alive for a spell in the post with some good ABs, a line drive here, a bloop there, but ultimately wound up at .250/.333/.313 and of course we got zip from him in Game 4 because he's a no go against lefties.
With that said..adios, Ethier.
He gets put out to pasture before his 10/5 rights kick in.
He did enough this year and just enough in the playoffs to warrant some interest on the trade market.
Enter Ben Zobrist ( the player that VRP proposed to play 2B) on a short term deal to play RF and any place else he's needed.
Zobrist gets it done against power pitching, he's been excellent at the top of the order for some time now, and of course he's a Friedman guy.
Should be an easy signing. A 1 or 2 year deal for him.
CC should be DFA'd if he can't be dealt...no breaking news there.
Bite that bullet and pay him to play elsewhere next year.


But yeah, Alex Gordon and Greinke have the same agent and the FO will obviously be in talks to re-sign Greinke, so they should grab Gordon while they're at it.
He's also got experience at multiple positions and we know the new FO covets versatility.
I could see him doing pretty well in bridging us to Alex Verdugo.
With that said, the FO should also revisit the push that they made for Andrelton Simmons at the trade deadline.
Said it once before, but I'd shoot Puig out of a cannon all the way to Atlanta to be with his buddy Olivera in a heartbeat for Simmons.
Both Simmons and Puig are pretty much 3-4 win players, except you lose what's basically an unreliable project and replace that with a reliable/dynamic glove at the most important position in the field.
Also, not having to babysit Puig would make the next manager's job a lot easier...something I think the new FO would consider since Puig is Ned's baby and not theirs anyway.
They're probably gonna want to remove every pitfall for the new leader of the club as he becomes " their guy ".
But a game changing glove at SS that you can build your entire pitching staff around can just be extremely beneficial to a winning brand of ball.
So I say they should go back for Simmons and get the job done this time.
Corey will be smooth at 3B too without question and that'd be the left side of the Dodger infield for years to come.


No " complete tear down/rebuild " no matter what frustration makes fans say about Adrian or any of our other good players.
Ask " Braves' fan " if it can get any worse than making the playoffs every year before ultimately losing.
Oh it can.
Based on where they are now, and where they've been since that group left, Braves' fans look back on all those division titles in the 90's and pray to God that they can get back to those days.
That's where we are right now...trying to get over the hump like those Braves teams.
Shit could be worse.
Believe that.
So just be reasonable because they're not about to " blow it all up " or ship out all the key prospects and go silly.
They're too close and they've already committed to rebuilding the farm and doing it the right way.
An impact change here and an impact change there should be on the menu, though, while continuing to strengthen the 40 man roster.
But ultimately we ride on the continuing development of Corey and Joc.
They get better and start to really bring the pop and the team will make a big leap.
So anyway this is the lineup and bench I have in mind for next year without getting into all the rotation and bullpen stuff.


L A.Gordon LF
S B.Zobrist RF
L Corey 3B
L Adrian 1B
R Turner 2B
L Joc CF
S YG C
R A.Simmons SS

Bench
R Kike 2B/OF/3B
R Peraza 2B/CF
L Schebler OF
R Ellis C


Really only 3 " old guys " in Adrian, AJ, and Zobrist.
A good mix of vets and youngsters.
Kike and Peraza get plenty of action helping Turner and Zobrist every 4th day and also give Joc a safety net.
But last, and certainly not least...hell, perhaps #1 with a bullet...hasta la vista, DBB.
Now, I'd prefer they do what they have to do to get Showalter out of BMore and into the blue, but just a non-DBB will do at this point.
Ethier almost had to lay the smackdown on DBB. Smh
Hell, I can ride with Roenicke. At least RR is experienced, from the area, and a former Dodger.
It'll be the biggest joke ever if DBB is back as manager...I really don't even wanna think about it.
The captain of a ship that played .500 ball for a 100 game stretch in the middle of a promising season must go down with the ship...no escaping this time.
3 division titles in a row be damned...above all else Donniedumbass has to go.
He needs to be the 1st to win 3 division titles in a row and get canned.
I'm over this team, but watching Maddon with the damn Cubs still hurts.
Now, your solutions?

 

Definitely resign Greinke, that should be priority one
David Price would be a great #3, but idk if management would invest in two top dollar pitchers
So an alternate plan I'd love is, to trade for Tyson Ross or Andrew Cashner....Tyson preferred of course
Obvi it wont be Seager or Urias going to SD. But if a package centered around Grant Holmes or Jose De Leon could do it (for ty dolla) then cool by me

Getting Chapman would be the goat but Im not in favor in dealing a lot for relievers...Although shortening games to 6 innings in the playoffs is so valuable and then having a setup man, Jansen and Chapman for 7-8-9 would be nice as fuck. This id be down for if what we give up is reasonable but i feel like the reds would want too much for our FO. I mean if they wanna add Frazier too maybe we can talk some mo

Definitely want JHey...Not only improves defense greatly in right, but hes a good hitter too.
Only thing is that this displaces Puig, which I dont necessarily mind...Puig hasnt really played LF so idk how that would work
JHey in right, Pederson in CF, and Puig in LF would be nice (if doable)....But if this makes Puig expendable then thats fine too. Just use him to get another piece we may really need.
And if the case, and Gordon opts out of KC then an OF of Gordon, Pederson and Heyward would be goat.

Im really ambivalent on Howie...Offensively youll probably get something close to his career averages
But he did fall off defensively this year after being pretty good...Is this an anomaly? You can extend a QO, hell reject it and well get a pick
But at this point, if were making moves I dont want to neglect a position over money...Peraza could be solid at 2nd but at the same time he could also be solid and more valuable at short, move corey over to 3B where he can be a plus defender and fill up those spots while keeping Kendrick at 2nd....But I also would be hesitant to have Peraza starting full time...Need more sample size of him
I think I just keep Kendrick around

So now we have Puig ready to trade...Lookin around the league tbh idk who we should/can get for him
Puig for Chapman is too lopsided for me...Doubt they give up Frazier without us dealing a good spec
Puig for Beltre...Beltre is gonna be old, entering his final year of his deal....Still very productive though. Doubt id do it straight up though.
Puig for Simmons just sounds fake to me, unrealistic
If you package Puig and Urias and DeLeon for Stanton that would be, wow... Negates the need for JHey so take him out and replace with JUp if not Gordon
Am I sounding like Dave yet?

Sign Mark Lowe and other bullpen niggas


So potentially
JUp/Gordon, Pederson, Stanton
Turner, Seager, Kendrick, AGon
Grandal

Kershaw, Greinke, Ross, Ryu, Wood
Jansen, Garcia, Baez, Lowe, Howell + etc

or

add Heyward for Stanton
Any non OF for Puig (sucks hes odd man out in this but w/e)

Tbh i gotta give this more thought ima wake up in the mornin lolin readin this but shit im still sadaf we lost

 

Mattingly.

Been there five years

Fans - Five years a slave.


Three straight divisions. No WS sniff. Division titles don't mean shit.

Change is needed. A new voice.

Is Joe Madden available?



Keep Dre and AJ.

Cut loose Jroll Over, Utley, CC, Howie, Heisey, half the bullpen, Anderson.

Trade Puig and JoK for much needed offense.

If Hatcher can work with JoK, give him one more season.


I'm not upset about this fail. I called it all season long. This was not a surprise.

Next year they win it all.







The sun is about rise.

 

Tyson Ross is alright with me for the right price.
No idea what that deal would look like, but I'm sure Preller is tired of taking L's in trades. Haha
Chapman would knock my socks off for obvious reasons on the surface, but also because Friedman's MO goes totally against it.
He likes to grab his below the radar pen guys.
I really like Hatcher going forward in the 8th too tho.

I love Heyward's overall game and I'm a fan of his in general.
The only, and I mean literally the only thing I don't like about him is his numbers vs. power pitching this past season.
However, he was able to get it done against the power arms in 2014 and he wasn't terrible against power pitching in 2013, so you have to think the ability is in there.
If they wanna open up and spend on Heyward I'm with it.
Don't know how likely it is because Heyward is probably gonna command 150-180MM being that he's 26 years old, but that'd be a blow struck to the Cardinals, so even better.
Versatile OF and a big plus on run prevention.
Anything that makes Puig expendable and a trade candidate for either an Andrelton Simmons or a Marlins' fire-sale bringing the big fish home, I'm for it.
Alex Gordon, Pederson, Heyward would be epic indeed.

From everything I know Friedman and Kasten are big fans of Howie.
J.Upton is where we part ways tho, brah.
Aside from his lack of D, there's just something that's not right there.
Being as effective as he is offensively, you don't see a guy moving that much without there being something.
Just smells like Sheffield to me and I wouldn't wanna be caught holding any of Towers'/Preller's grenades.

 

Amen. You came around. I told you it was more than just the bullpen in 2014.

And 2 amens to that opening line.

 

More like SPECIAL_Ed

 

And you just know the damned vaGiant's are going to have an attitude about next year.

I am so much dreading having to endure my already snotty Bay area relatives for another year... FUCK.

 

finish your beer first..

 

Maybe just maybe what we have learned this year is that the magic in Tampa wasn't necessarily Friedman in the front office but Maddon in the dugout! Would you guys be having this argument if Maddon had come to the Dodgers with Friedman and managed us this year? Would the Cubs have moved on or even made the playoffs with DBB as their manager? Much of the success this year came as a result of players already acquired during the Coletti years and that includes our minor league studs. Turner was a Colletti find etc etc. The quality playoff performances were by pre Friedman players for the most part who were either in our farm or on the roster in previous years. Hats off to Joe Maddon a true baseball wizard.

 

As well as much of the failure. Howie had a good series...a better showing then Dee had last year. Hatcher performed better than any 8th inning guy we had last season. Etc. Don't get wrapped up in the headlines again.

 

Yeah he got me too with this one

 

My alcholism causes me to drink heavily but the Dodgers definitely contribute to scenario in many ways...

It's fun to watch the Dodgers and have a few drinks.. Then they suck and a few drinks turn into way too many.. I sleep in and don't want to go to work... I finally drag my azz to the office only to read about the Dodgers all damn day.. Get home and it all start over again...

It's tough to be a dodger fan. but I couldn't cheer for another team. At the end of the day, there is nothing like this fucking team!!!

Rinse repeat bkitches... See you in a few weeks for roster reconstruction..

 

Observation:
Season over and guys who left are now back to talk shit..including Padres fans

 

Haha, what happened to all the shot people were talking to defend him? How quickly they change their minds.

 

What's wrong with this franchise?

1. They don't have enough homegrown talent, especially SP.

2. They constantly give preference to vets orpver younger kids, even though the entire league works the other way around.

3. They don't stick with a philosophy as an organization, i.e. they do not have an image....what do you think of, other than mega $, when you think of the Dodgers.

4. They want a clean little clubhouse instead of having players with fire in their stomachs.

5. They make terrible trades every year at the trade deadline, except for Manny, who was juiced through his eyeballs. We never get anyone who sparks the team or puts us over the top.

6. This one pisses me off a lot and relates to the first point. They over value their prospects, yet don't let them play. This leads to shit trades and an ass backwards team.

 

Hahahahahahaha, love it.