DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS Thread

And yet the companies selling these opioids said they were non-addictive and safe.

They were just drug pushers.

 

unreal how incredibly obvious it is
as long as you pay off the right people you can peddle synthetic heroin to the masses
but if you or I want to grow a little weed...

 

I try to stay away from all that shit. A little weed, a little booze, okay. But I even have apprehension when doctors prescribe any of that synthetic shit. Most of those quacks get kick backs from the med companies for how much of that garbage they prescribe.

 

Never liked pain killers. Took them for the first day after TJ, then refused to take them anymore. Fuck that stuff.

 

Took norco after my foot surgery ( had bone spurs removed from my big toe joint) sucked! All those years catching fucked my feet up big time.

Anyway, norco was great for the pain but I didn’t realize how my body would react once I stopped taking them. I literally couldn’t sleep, felt like climbing the walls. Insane. I couldn’t believe how quickly my body was dependant on this shit. I only took them for 2 weeks.

Shits dangerous!

 

Dodgers News:
- Friedman is expected to sign an extension soon as they are finalizing the terms.
- Rick Honeycutt is retiring as pitching coach as he will transition into a special assistants role. Mark Prior is likely to become the team's new pitching coach.
- Kenta Maeda will return to a starting role.
- Kenley Jansen is currently the teams closer, "but things could change"... so keep an eye on that one as he left that open.

 

Who’s available in FA as a closer. Looks like slim pickings.

 

A little divisional Recap and Outlook:
Arizona Diamondbacks
2019 Payroll ($123M) 2020 Projected ($60.5 M AAV)

The D'Backs stuck around this season a lot longer than most people would have thought and ended up barely outperforming their PECOTA projections, but still under performing their Pythagorean. The offseason trade of Paul Goldschmidt netted them some interesting, but falling prospects that many believed was a steal for the Cards. Carson Kelly ended up bouncing back with consistent playing time and now appears to be a legit offensive minded catcher with pop. Most of their offense had above average performances with Ketel Marte entering the fray as a legit MVP candidate. A mid-season trade of Zack Greinke netted the club a couple more highly regarded prospects that were falling in the eyes of scouts, but was likely a good move to get out from a guy that was frankly overpaid and getting a bit worked here in the postseason.

Disappointing seasons from Robbie Ray and Jake Lamb, plus mediocre ones from David Peralta and Archie Bradley cost the D'Backs a shot at a WC berth. Their farm is rated #16 by BA as we exit the 2019 season. GM Mike Hazen has shown a great ability to find talent in trades and will likely look to do the same this year as the team is expected to move both Peralta and Ray as they enter their final years of arbitration.

The scary thing about the D'Backs is they absolutely do not need to rebuild and moving some of their better players at his point may not make huge negative impacts going forward. Standout performances by plenty of young players will put the club well in the thick of things in the WC for at least another season and they could be threats in free agency. One big cloud hanging over the organization is a potentially nasty fight ensuing between ownership and the local government over stadium upgrades and/or the potential of building them a new place to call home.

Colorado Rockies
2019 Payroll ($173M) 2020 Projected (137M AAV)
Nothing went right for the Rockies in 2019 as they got woefully below average performances from almost every player on the roster. A team that many had pegged to win the West ended up in dead last, under performing their PECOTA projections by 15 games. Nolan Arenado put up his best all-around offensive performance of his career while becoming much more contact oriented and netting himself a huge contract extension. Trevor Story continued his ascent as one of the leagues best shortstops on both sides of the ball and Charlie Blackmon was moved off CF after a down 2018 and saw some better numbers in '19. Jon Grey looked like he was finally turning into the ace many thought he would be when he was first drafted in 2013.

What went wrong? Well, the Rockies saw a return of EXTREME splits from their stars and their fantastic young pitching staff from the year before was obliterated thanks to poor performances from Cy Young candidates German Marquez and Kyle Freeland, as well as continued crapiness from once ballyhooed pitching prospects Anthony Senzatela, Jeff Hoffman and Chad Bettis. Their expensive bullpen saw closer Wade Davis put in the worst performance of his career, Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee saw their demises continue since putting on a Rockies uniform and Mike Dunn was shown the door. Superstar top prospect Brendan Rodgers was incredibly awful in his short stint before an injury cut his season short. Ownership kicked off their winter with a shockingly awful press conference announcing that the team would stand relatively pat and rely on bounce-back performances. This was rightfully met with plenty of criticism as all signs point to 2018 being a blip, not the norm.

The future is somewhat bleak for the Rockies. Their farm is considered the worst in the division and one of the worst in baseball while clocking in at 26, EVEN WITH a top 15 prospect. Making matters worse, word is getting around that the organization is one of the furthest back in the analytical and development departments, making good free agent signings harder to pull off. Continued expensive failures by Jeff Bridich has put the team in a tough position for the near term as they have a lot of their AAV tied up by some truly awful performers. The Rockies should probably consider a tear down and full rebuild with a new FO, but the ownership group is not that smart. They are going to be cellar dwellers for a good long while as they tow their superstars on long term contracts along for the ride.

San Diego Padres
2019 Payroll ($130M) 2020 Projected ($99 M AAV)
The number 1 farm system in baseball entering the 2019 season delivered with a future MVP caliber player and some surprises amongst their pitching call-ups could put them in position to be incredibly dangerous much sooner than expected. While the season is viewed somewhat as a success, they still underperformed PECOTA projections by 5 games due to down to terrible years from their 3 highest paid stars. Both Wil Myers and Eric Hosmer put in negative WAR seasons, while Machado had arguably the worst season of his career. The team made an interesting in season trade, moving one of their stellar young bats to the Indians that saw them net another potential star in the making, Taylor Trammel. Chris Paddack came out of the bottom part of the Padres Top 10 to have a solid season that saw him finally start putting things together after some so-so reports in MiLB. The real story was Fernando Tatis Jr that wowed with the bat and the glove. The 20 year old #1 prospect in baseball slashed at a .317/.379/.590 clip and caused Machado to go to the FO and tell them that he wanted to move to 3B so Tatis could get called up ASAP. An injury cut his season short, but Tatis has the makings to be the best talent in the NL West, if not the league.

With all these young studs on the way, it is a good thing that the Padres FO didn't spend money ineffectively or poorly over the last couple of seasons... oh wait. The Hosmer deal looked idiotic the moment it was announced and he has rewarded them with a 1.1 WAR over two full seasons. While the contract was front loaded, unless something big happens with him, he is likely there for another 6 years at an AAV of $18M per. Wil Myers imploding was a little less expected and the next 3 years on his deal could be tough pill to swallow, though coming in under an AAV at $14M per, his payouts are at $22M. While Manny was not a hindrance like the other two, he was not the 5+ WAR superstar that many suspected him to be in the first season of a 10 year deal. His numbers also did fall off drastically after the loss of Tatis which may be related. Besides those 3, the FO ignored the clubs biggest hole going into the year and never addressed starting pitching. They relied heavily on a number of prospects that were by many accounts, not close to being ready, such as Adrian Morejon and Cal Quantrill, while be rewarded with the shocking promotion of Paddack. Many of the clubs former top prospects like Hunter Renfroe, Manny Margot, Francisco Mejia and Luis Urias underperformed by league standards and do potentially cast a bit of a shadow on the immediate future of the organization.

The Padres have the brightest future of any rival club in the NL West at current. Led by Tatis and Machado, they should have two impact bats anchoring that lineup for years to come. Mejia showed flashes of being a potential star catcher and Urias began to get comfortable down the stretch. Those 4 all possess the abilities to anchor a formidable lineup with fantastic infield defense at every position. A bounce back year from Myers and Renfroe in the corners could make for a deep lineup that is a power threat at the bottom, but with a good bit of swing and miss throughout. They could go into next year as currently constructed to be an intriguing team at the plate and in the field, but starting pitching continues to loom as a major weakness. Mega-pitching prospect MacKenzie Gore is fresh off a dominating year in HiA, but still needs some seasoning. Their farm is still incredibly stacked after some hefty graduations in 2019, but that depth is now mostly over a year away from contributing and this roster still has considerable holes to fill. Expect to hear names like Margot, Naylor, Myers and Renfroe floated in trades as the team looks to address this outside of free agency. It will be questionable to see them go out and spend any more on big, long term contracts at this time unless they can move someone. They also are one of 8 teams looking for a new head coach and have targeted Joe Maddon as one of their main targets.

San Francisco Giants
2019 Payroll ($172M) 2020 Projected ($116M)
This season was supposed to be a throwaway for the Giants. With a new GM, retiring head coach, a roster littered with former heroes flaming out in unison and no help on the farm on the way, all signs pointed to another awful year for the club. Instead they beat projections to put together a surprising 3rd place finish and inserted themselves in the Wild Card hunt up until the seasons final weeks. A couple of MiLB trades landed the team their MVP in Mike Yastrzemski, with solid contributions from Pablo Sandoval and Alex Dickerson as well.... which in hindsight... are you fucking kidding me? Jeff Samardzija emerged as a legit starting pitcher after some mechanical changes and the return of Johnny Cueto should give them a solid front to the rotation going into 2020. Their bullpen was the biggest factor in keeping the club relevant with a bevy of impact arms, but injuries took a toll down the stretch. The club has also heavily boosted their farm system with some high draft picks and major Intl signings. Bringing them up into the middle after sitting in the bottom part of org rankings the past couple of seasons.

The what went wrong category is a list of players that could be copy and pasted from the last couple of seasons. Madison Bumgarner saw his 3rd consecutive so-so year and the worst of his career just as he enters free agency. Buster Posey continues to descend into a backup catcher role and has now homered 12 times over the last 2 seasons. WS contributor Joe Panik was straight up DFA'd. While the Brandon's Crawford and Belt continued to put together below average numbers. Most of the club's solid performances were by guys that are past their prime, out of nowhere AAAA guys and free agents to be, making 2020 a bit up in the air. Of the top prospects that did come up, most if not all woefully under performed.

The outlook on the Giants is questionable. Their farm has 3 legit superstars at the top, but they are all a year+ from contributing. The next issue that comes to play is that their depth is also well below the Dodgers and Padres. So the importance of hitting on everyone that comes up is heightened. Rumors were that Farhan Zaidi wanted to go into a rebuild last year, but was rebuffed by the owners. The owners then pushed for him to sign a star like Bryce Harper and a hot streak around the deadline put more pressure on him not to sell. Could the final results finally push the ownership to allow him to tear it down? We will see, but anything of real value is headed for free agency. It would be wise to move Samardzija since his ups and downs are well noted, but the club may be stuck with the Brandon's and Posey with their contracts not set to expire until after two more seasons. Continuing to build the farm and riding out the old guards demise may be the best plan, but that could also put Zaidi on thin ice with a fanbase that can be a bit touchy about such ideas. The coach they pick should set some light on their plans with Gabe Kapler said to be the #1 choice right now. Could the club extend QO's to Will Smith and Bumgarner, knowing they aren't gonna win with them, but could trade them around the break if they re-sign? It's a gamble, but may be worth the risk!

 

For him to say that "things could change" was very telling to me. You do not usually do that as a GM as that can send a ripple through the clubhouse. That is not saying that you can't be hard on a guy, but generally going into the offseason you'd expect, "he's our guy!" until that changes. I believe that their intentions are to not have him be the closer going forward, but they are saying that for now in the event that a different FO asks for our top 3 prospects in exchange for their pedophile, whoops I mean closer.

 

As recent history shows, FA closers are no sure thing. FA relievers for that matter fall under that category as well. Best option is Will Smith unless Chapman opts out. Guessing we will see a couple of under the radar trades.

 

May is slotted for the rotation in all likelihood as he has mid-front of the rotation stuff and he is ready. Kelly is probably the most likely interior candidate if he his mechanics are in line to start the season. Maeda is also heading back for the rotation based on the meeting today and that is understandable. I think Gonsolin gets another year as a starter to try and develop his other pitches, but if it doesn't come together, he could be moved to a pen role. There are really no other options within the org now aside from Urias. If they choose to push for him as a reliever, that would be a shame as I would like to see him as a starter for at least the beginning of the season. Buehler, May, Urias, Maeda, Kershaw would be a decent front 5 if they whiff on Cole.

 

The early talk is that they want to keep Maeda in the rotation. And they have been working Gonsolin in a starter role, so I doubt they turn him to the pen this early.

I’d prefer to see a closer-by-committee role where multiple guys finish with double digit saves. If the rotation gets full I’d look at moving Maeda and Kershaw to the pen, but that’s me, and it’s doubtful either happens.

 

For as much as we are all pissed off at Kershaw. If he were the #4-5 pitcher, we would be in great shape rotation wise. He's not the ace he once was, but he still puts up better numbers than like 90-95% of the league's starters. The FO and coaching staff needs to just wrap their fucking heads around this and stop using him in games 1-2 in a playoff series.

 

I see what you did there.

 

Missed this by Gurnick from Friedman
"Friedman said he goes into the offseason open to changing the complexion of the roster."

That..... that's a pretty interesting thing to say.