Wagons ho (on young wheels)!
Let's ride them vehicles forward, the direction in which the Dodgers would prefer to travel after a tumultuous September. A step along those lines was the hiring of Joe Torre. From there, it's all about improving the team in whatever manner possible. It's a thin free agent market to begin with and some of the bigger names (A-Rod, Torii Hunter) already off the market, one manner for the Dodgers to improve themselves could come via trade (where a few good players are acknowledged block residents). But if the price ain't right, don't expect a deal to happen simply for the sake of inking one. Should the pickings remain unimpressive or unreasonably, the improvements will come from within, with young pups hopefully evolving into biggish (if not flat out big), dogs. Obviously, banking on a roster chock full of dudes with less than two years of experience can leave one a little nervous. But if the year to year improvements of Ethier, Kemp, Loney and Martin remain a consistent pattern, the collective fruit could be sweeter than what any one player could provide.
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As a fan from the East Coast of Canada, I am watching this off season with some reservations. A Gold Glove for Russell, the Canadian connection remains intact.
The Dodgers seem to have all the building blocks in place to be a contender in the National League for years to come. Yet the Dodgers face the dilemma of wanting to move out some youngsters who could/would be stars for the todays established stars. The more I read and think about this situation, I feel that it makes more sense for the Dodgers to stand pat with the youngsters and wait a year or two to see want shakes out.
I know that Jeff Kent won't want to hear that but the reality is that the Dodgers may possess the best prospects in baseball today. If we ship out 3 to get Santana or Cabrera will still will need bodies to fill in positions. Some of the young players in the system are still relatively unproven, but their collective upside is greater than that of any single player.
Dodger Stadium is not going to be home to a 40 hr guy, it just isn't going to happen. The team will still have to scrap to get the majority of their offense. Lets give the young guys a chance to bring some glory back to the Dodgers instead of letting them go to become stars for another team. Think longer than one year, the groundwork has been laid, now let's wait a little longer to reap the benefits.
Posted by: Roger Pitman | November 27, 2007 at 09:32 AM
I can't recall who posted it, but someone summized earlier in the week that signing a new outfielder was an admission of failure on Ned's part.....that assessment has been proven to be spot on! We had two weak arms in left and center field last season, prompting every team we played to run at will for the extra base. The greatest coach in the world can not muster anything better out of Juan Pierre's throwing motion. Our pitchers are not perfect...they need to know an errant pitch popped can be caught and that anything that might roll past them can be thrown to second base to hold the runner at first. Our current CF is not going to instill that belief.
Posted by: J_is_dismayed | November 27, 2007 at 09:35 AM
I want to see the bulk of youngsters stay, but there is one move we probably should make: add a solid starting pitcher. Since the price for Santana will be too high, I say we go hard after Bedard -- as long as Kemp and/or LaRoche aren't included in the deal.
Bedard for Kershaw, Ethier, Abreu and Meloan. If that gets it done, do it.
We should also sign Andruw Jones and push Pierre to the bench while giving Delwyn Young a real shot in LF.
We're giving away four solid prospects for a No. 1 starter, but there's still plenty in the cupboard:
Matt Kemp, of
Russell Martin, c
James Loney, 1b
Andy LaRoche, 3b
Chin-Lung Hu, ss
Delwyn Young, of
Blake DeWitt, 2b
Jason Bell, 3b
Xavier Paul, of
James McDonald, sp
Scott Elbert, sp
Chris Withrow, sp
Justin Orenduff, sp
Chad Billingsley, sp
Jonathan Broxton, rp
Posted by: Scott True Blue | November 27, 2007 at 10:14 AM
I seem to remember a guy named Shawn Green hitting 49 HRs while at Dodger stadium with arms the size of toothpicks. But hey, even 25 or even 30 HRs from anyone on the current roster would be nice. It's fairly depressing to look back over the last 20 years and say we are still in the building stage, and only interested in being contenders in the National League. This same roster finished 4th in the NL West last season. Will the addition of Torre magically transform the team into a World Series contender? Hope so. But when Cabrera (or piggy or whatever other names he's given these days despite being a 4 time All Star at 24) goes to the Angels, the Angels and the Red Sox will be the teams to beat, not the "perennially underachieving" Dodgers as so aptly put by the CNN sports writers. Hate to be so negative, but does any Dodger fan today seriously think this team, with the current roster, now or even 5 years from now is going to win a WS?? If so, please explain because I'm running critically low on hope for this club. I used to have all kinds of optimism, until my old man kept shaking his head and chucklin' saying "why would the owners bother to spend any money at all on players when you and 3 million other fans will pay to watch them play year after year despite having little to no success -- they'll keep the money for themselves." Does it really take a megalomaniac like Steinbrenner or a young and competitive fellow like Epstein to care enough to put together a championship team?
Posted by: LossLeader | November 27, 2007 at 10:23 AM
The latest thinking is right on. Keep the youngsters, they are as good as what you could get in trades. Sign Andrew Jones to a 3 year contract, using the $$ from the departure of Kent and Garciaparra next year to cover it. Much better defense in center field, plus some power. An outfield of Jones, Kemp, and Either/Young would provide lots of home runs and overall solid D. Pierre, ???. Rotate him in and out? Try to trade him? Pitching: everyone wants Kershaw, so give him the ball and let's see what he can do. Make a run at Kuroda from Japan as a starter, and look for a FA middle reliever. Then play ball. We keep all the youngsters, have better pitching, defense, and power.
Posted by: Cordova Blue | November 27, 2007 at 10:31 AM
I completely agree with the statement made by LossLeader. Parking Lot Attendant has talked on an on about doing what was necessary to bring a championship to the Dodgers and yet he has never followed through. Yeah they've increased the payroll by a few million the last two years but that was after the ticket prices were increased by 15-40% two years ago and parking increased 50% last year. Parking Lot Attendant knows that he DOESN'T have to put a winning team out there, we'll still pay the money to go and see the boys play. Its so completely maddening considering that 45 minutes south there is an owner who wants to win and is spending the money to do so with his Anaheim angels of Anaheim.
I really wish Attendant would have been sucessfull in buying the Red Soxs like he originally wanted...
Posted by: ElsinoreDodgers | November 27, 2007 at 03:03 PM
Seems unfathomable to give up the quality prospects being tossed around
in these Santana / Miggy debates....for guys who will be FAs in 1-2 years ?
If Dodgers lose Santana to Yanks in a trade ? Fine, great, Yanks just
lost Chamberlain, Hughes, Melky, etc......plus owe Santana $20M for 7 yrs.
Dodgers need to realize this is a LOUSY FA year....don't panic and trade
the finest prospects / young players in MLB. Fabulous core of players.
If no Rowand or Andruw? Then forget it......just be patient and wait until
2008, always going to be big FA talent out there that doesn't require
coughing up 3-4 premier prospects / future stars. JUST MONEY, that's all.
Seems plenty of $$$$ around for Dodgers since these very players we're
talking about will be basically playing for "minimum wage" for the next 3-4-5
years. Makes me want to puke everytime I even hear the name "Kershaw"
linked to one of these Santana / Miggy trades.
Posted by: tommex | November 27, 2007 at 06:17 PM
These people are charlatans with no shame. As long as 3.8 million fans keep going through the turnstiles, we are telling these bums that we think its okay to field a loser. they are insulting the fans of Los Angeles. Knock that figure down to about 2 million and then they they will get the message and field the winner that the second city deserves. We need an owner that wants to win like Moreno and Steinbrenner.
Posted by: Jim McVeigh | December 01, 2007 at 06:50 PM
These people are charlatans with no shame. As long as 3.8 million fans keep going through the turnstiles, we are telling these bums that we think its okay to field a loser. they are insulting the fans of Los Angeles. Knock that figure down to about 2 million and then they they will get the message and field the winner that the second city deserves. We need an owner that wants to win like Moreno and Steinbrenner.
Posted by: Jim McVeigh | December 01, 2007 at 06:50 PM