DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS thread

Sure you do and in case you momentarily forgot, Boehly and the GuGGs fund members will happily remind you.

If they do nothing, and I certainly hope I'm wrong, this fan fucking will be approaching McCourtian levels....all things considered, maybe even worse...

FUCKTARDS have been lucky trading human currency for over achievers. Now, the jury is out as to whether the FUCK or the TARD has gone north and AF needs to use real, actual money to stay in the game.

.... and the popcorn is popping.

 

We are probably about to go into a lull until at least after Christmas, but potentially even longer as a lot of these teams could be done til after New Years. Here are some of the guys still out there and what to watch for with 2B and C. I will get to OF and SP later:
Catcher
Marlins, J.T. Realmuto: All rumors here have gone dark. Reports are that the Marlins have not budged off their unrealistic demands and have only lost suitors, not gained. This situation has played out perfectly into the Dodgers hands outside of one aspect, the Marlins don't seem to understand the state of things and are looking more and more likely to go into the season with their unhappy catcher.

Pirates, Francisco Cervelli: Word came out late last night out of Pittsburgh that the Dodgers and Pirates were close on a 1 for 1 at the Winter Meetings that would have seen righty Ross Stripling shipped out. The deal reportedly fell over physicals and it is believed Cervelli's was the cause. Talks were said to have perked back up since then, but it is quiet. This at the time seemed like a decent overpay by the Dodgers as Stripling is coming off of an impressive breakout season and Cervelli, while his offense was good, his play behind the plate continued a downward trend. With issues over a physical now in play, the Dodgers could look for a weaker return.

Blue Jays, Russell Martin: Martin is coming off of his 3rd consecutive below average offensive season, but is still regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in the game. Martin carries enough pop to be a threat when he is up there, has no future with the Jays and could make for an interesting contract swap if the Dodgers want to move Rich Hill. AAV wise they are only a 400K apart, but Martin has about $1.3M more coming his way. Instead of the Jays dropping him for nothing, they could make a Hill for Martin swap and send another 4-5M the Dodgers way so that the club could clear some more room to address the team elsewhere.

Free Agent, Yasmani Grandal: Like the Marlins, Grandal has seen his once promising crowd of suitors deteriorate. Coming off of a horrendous playoff run and turned down qualifying offer, Grandal has found himself in a weaker position than he had anticipated. The Dodgers are said to have circled back around in recent weeks, with positive dialogue being reported. It is still fair to wager that he is holding out for a multi-year deal. My guess is the Dodgers would be willing to nab him on a 1 year contract with a "No QO" agreement. While he had a shitacular postseason, Grandal still put up some of the best numbers in the game from both sides of the plate. Maybe a more determined Grandal could help himself out with a big year, or if he falters the Dodgers have top prospects knocking at the door for that time of year that Grandal loves to shit all over himself.

Free Agent, Nick Hundley: The Dodgers are said to have been kicking around the idea of bringing in Hundley to backup Austin Barnes. He'd come extremely cheap and is historically well liked among his teammates. His offense has not been a black hole, though it is hardly anything to write home about. He is one of the worst framers in the game and would be best served as a 2 day a week catcher who could run into one on occasion.

Free Agent, Jonathan Lucroy: Talk about a dude that has fallen off of a cliff. Lucroy went from one of the top catchers in the game to one of the worst in the matter of two seasons. One of the most dangerous hitting catchers in his prime, Lucroy saw his numbers drop to the lowest of his career that included a .617 OPS in 2018. He is viewed as one of the poorer pitch framers in the game at this point and could be had for a likely cheap contract. Like Hundley, he is viewed as a positive clubhouse guy. With this negativity comes why he could be an interesting lottery ticket. Lucroy is one of the better bat to ball catchers out there and for a team with WS aspirations, that is a big deal. A bat like his in the postseason could be a valuable addition to a team that is so well known for their swing and miss approach. He may never be the bat he was in his prime, but he still has some of the highest upside on the market as he posted an .855 OPS as recently as the 2016 season.

2nd Base
Free Agent, Jed Lowrie: Coming off of his second consecutive 4+ WAR season in Oakland, Lowrie has quietly been one of the best 2B in the game. Issues with staying healthy have plagued his career, but two straight seasons of 150+ GP may show those days are behind him. He offers one of the best impact bats on the market and could finally solve the clubs 2B woes. The only issue is that Lowrie is coming off of a career year in his age 34 season and he could be looking for a multi-year deal which screams Dodgers 2B curse... or something like that. He is said to want to remain in Oakland, but their acquisition of Jurickson Profar yesterday could have changed that. Lowrie is also a fairly sturdy defensive presence and could be a good option to pair with Max Muncy on the right side of the IF

Free Agent, DJ LeMahieu: I'll be honest, I can't stand this guy. Always seemed like when the Rockies needed a big hit against us, he would deliver. Then I would watch him flail against everyone else. LeMahieu had a fantastic 2016 that saw him winning the batting title, but outside of that year, he has really lived in the mid .700's OPS wise. There is a lot to worry about with this guy as over the years he has feasted at home and against LHP'ing. His numbers away and also against RHP are meh. He does man a fantastic 2B and puts the ball in play with regularity. There are also some advanced metric folks that think he may be coming close to unlocking the power stroke that has been absent throughout his career. LeMahieu started to elevate the ball this season and saw him hit 15 HRs in only 128 games. If he becomes a 20+HR guy with his bat to ball skills, he could be one of the top 2B in the game. I personally didn't like the bat speed I was seeing out of him down the stretch, but that was just from my own POV and I have no statistics to backup what was essentially his best stretch of the season aside from April.

Free Agent, Brian Dozier: Well this one did not workout at all. Dozier was a bust after charging out of the gate with the Dodgers. It came out towards the end of the season that he was playing with an injury and folks that know him have come out to say that he played the season in tremendous pain. This would make some sense as this was a cliff dive for his production instead of the gradual descent that most players of his caliber see. The Dodgers were said to be interested in a reunion, but there are also murmurs that he was pretty upset over being platooned. Hey buddy, we were all pissed that you needed to be platooned. Dozier could offer an awesome buy low candidate if he can recover, but it could also be in the clubs best interest to look for someone that has better bat to ball skills.

Free Agent, Marwin Gonzalez: This is someone that we have been linked to, but makes absolutely no sense unless the club moves Taylor or Hernandez. Gonzalez enjoyed a fantastic 2017 season that earned him high praise among the Astros World Series run. In hindsight, it looks like that was more of a blip than the norm as 2018 saw his numbers return to realign with his career averages. He will now be entering his age 30 season, so the chances of him truly breaking out seem slim at this point. He is a super utility player that plays every position well, but the Dodgers have more pressing needs at this time.

Trade: I don't really see too many trades on the surface that make sense at this time. Kipnis and Gennett made more sense before one team cleared a ton of cap room so they wouldn't have to take less for a star pitcher and the others team feels they are going to compete in 2019.

 

I never realized that it was FUCK and TARD that word was composed of describing those two...if nothing else is clear, as it seems to be to so many others, I have come away with a fine piece of etymological knowledge.

 

BZ. I could be an opportunist and take the praise but TBT I just made that up. Seems appropriate though.

 

I knew you made it up...but creativity has it's own rewards. Tis appropriate...therein lies the praise.
...and I sincerely hope the Northern Tard lives up to his new title.

 

This one is going to piss off Fall, but here we go...
Last night Steve Sax was on MLB radio(not sure how he can do that while serving multiple life sentences) and he said that he has been told from his sources that the Dodgers and Yankees have had exploratory talks about a Giancarlo Stanton deal in the event that Bryce Harper goes somewhere other than LA(or presumably signs in NY) AND if the Yankees ended up signing Machado(unless they took Harper instead). He said the Yankees are not too keen on the idea of having two players locked up to huge long term contracts, plus having Aaron Judge not far away either. Stanton's camp has supposedly told the Yankees not to bother talking to anyone outside of the Dodgers as that is the only place he would go. This makes some sense and falls in line with some rumors from earlier in the winter and is something that I have personally hypothesized. As much as it would suck to miss on Harper, it would be nice to still land a major impact bat that can do damage from the other side of the plate(especially with so many of our top prospects being LHH or more valuable from that side of the plate).

 

Taylor was still a league average hitter for most of the season, before picking things up towards the end. There is value in that, especially since he is an above average defender if they can fill other spots. Fielding a lineup of 8 consistent hitters is just not realistic. No team has that luxury. Shit, the killers of the last two postseasons for us were George Springer(super streaky dude) and Steve Pearce(platoon bat). I agree that we need to get away from so much streaky and platoon guys in the order, but there was also a lot of steps back by guys from a year before that caused the issue to intensify. Adding a guy like Verdugo to the lineup everyday could be a first step towards some stability, but they have got to find another bat to be a presence in the middle of the lineup.

 

I wonder if that Corey Seager guy is doing " baseball things" right about now ?

 

Camello broke Jansen/Turner/Alexander. Duarte hasn’t broken shit

 

Joel Sherman‏Verified account@Joelsherman1
I really don’t understand this trade from #Reds perspective. They took on more $, gave up prospects and added 3 walk-yr players who still might not lift them out of 5th place, even if it makes them more competitive. #Dodgers





When you look at the Reds' lineup and realize they're now the Dodgers' AAAA affiliate..
Peraza-Schebler-Kemp-Puig

 

Will save my anger for the day that fuckery happens.
Right now I'm still riding high knowing the mediocre Puig/Kemp/Ethier OF era is finally dead

 

I'm also not a fan of this. I wanted Stanton last year, but I feel like the positive of not going for him was to put ourselves in a position to do something even bigger this year.

The idea of letting the Yankees have Stanton in 2018 only to bail them out so they can make a big run at Harper too makes me feel like we are just a pawn in the Yankee's game. Screw that. They don't get to have their cake and eat it too. We were patient, so we deserve the bigger prize.

Now, if the Yankees want to trade us Stanton AND we can make a run at Harper...

 

What you have outlined here is basically what I was thinking last night. There's a chance..a chance..that LAD has made it to the point in the rebuild where the roster is on it's way to being the best it's ever been. Won't be this year, Harper or no Harper. But by mid-2020, perhaps. If Lux, Downs, Ruiz, Smith, May, Santana, etc. and these kids move in + LAD goes out and adds Kluber and Harper to move the younger slotted guys down in the order and rotation.

Winning 6 division titles in a row has always masked the chaotic initial splurge that was necessary post McCourt's fuckery. But if Kluber and Harper land, we could be looking at LAD roster Utopia by mid/late 2020