Sort of got the impression that the Dodgers FO wasn't really so interested in Shields anyways... ... hope that means that the new brain trust has a trick up their sleeve beyond the typical NedCo scheme of "uhh I dunno lemme see what the Vagiants can throw my way..."
they've never really announced themselves as threats either. now the Padres get a target on their back and deal with expectations as well. in the end..everybody has to play the game. sounds simple and redundant, but the talk is nice and the headlines and intrigue only go so far. look at the Dodgers..a few years ago the excitement was off the charts. now, after failing a couple times in the playoffs it's back to the " nothing moves they make " and the " 26 year wait for the WS win " for some. expectations rise and cream rises along with it. enough has been said about their OF defense and lack of IF production, but Justin Upton's been traded twice now from teams that had playoff potential. is he not cornerstone material? Myers..who knows what's up with him? and of course we know the gamble that Kemp represents. all of these players have warts and in reality both Upton and Myers could be gone by next season. their staff looks solid with Shields and Ross at the top, but they almost have to have Hamels if the ultimate goal is to win in the playoffs because if you think Kershaw is a mess in the postseason..check out Shields. at the end of the day, everybody's playing for the same thing. they're just beginning their rebuild, so they get love, but like the Dodgers..lets see if they begin to grow their farm crops and make the long-lasting, impact moves over the next few years. this is only Preller's opening statement..he must follow through and close it out in this division in particular..Sabean, Nerds/Kasten, LaRussa..they get it.
if i'm Preller, and i'm taking back 100% of the cash on Hamels' books and kicking in cost controlled Will Myers with Cashner along with maybe Erlin or Despaigne..i need Ben Revere thrown in. it's a must. i have to nuke two weaknesses if i'm giving up that much talent and taking that much money back on a 30+ yr old starting arm. Revere is definitely of better use in Petco anyway.
fwiw... Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Shields’ camp pursued the Dodgers far more than the team pursued him.
i guess Shields and Kemp can discuss Dodger dreams together. but of course he pursued the Dodgers more than they pursued him..why Padres when you can play for the Dodgers? why Cheerios when you can have Cinnamon Toast Crunch? why silver when you can have gold? why Steven Seagal when you can have Bruce Willis? why Whoopi Goldberg when you can have Beyonce? why the Grouch when you can have Elmo? why Big Bang Theory when you can have Seinfeld? etc.
Throw numbers on win totals you see them getting out of the IF, OF and SP if you don't mind. Just curious as to how it adds up to ~40, which would put them at 85. I'm not saying you're off I'm just curious as to who you're overrating or who I'm underrating. Being nice I'll give the C situation 4 and the OF 9 (I think both are high but w/e), the IF gets you MAYBE 5? That's ~6 less than our offense with a worse bench. Then SP, which many say is "close" is maybe ~11 to our ~15? The math doesn't add up.
Wow. Can we forget about Kemp and the Padres, let's just kick back and get ready to watch some Dodger baseball on TV.
trying to remain cautiously optimistic the pads outfielders are all poor defensively infielders not much better, only amarista with a positive dWAR and other than the three OF's, they don't have a lot of offense
SD has a very good overall pitching staff. But they will rival the astros for most offensive k's in baseball and have an all around dog shit defense. With health being a concern as well I can't see them winning more than 87-88 games. And of course he wanted the LA dollars involved to drive up his price
Upton 3, Myers 2, Kemp 4 (prob high)= 9 Solarte/Middlebrooks 2, Amarista 2, Gyorko 2, Alonso/platoon 2= 8 Norris/Fedex= 4 Shields 4, Cashner 3, Ross 3, Kennedy 2, Despaigne/Morrow/Johnson 2 = 13 I really hate using WAR for whole teams because the variance can be enormous but I guess it's the best way to do it. I basically see the Padres as like an inverse Royals team; not really good at defense at every spot but a solid offense team with depth at SP. I think they're right there with the Giants (better was prob a stretch (yes I'm back pedaling)) and around 5-6th best in the NL. 5th place had 88 wins. 6th had 82 for reference.
Word. Fair to just agree to disagree then at this point. I think there's a better chance that middle infield has a negative WAR than a 4 between them. And I'm sure we both hope I'm right lol
