Raffy to the Bay? Maybe ... maybe not.

Gotta love any article that refers to a guy as a "torpedero." So much more evocative than "paracorto" or, as Jaime Jarrin would say, "el eshort estop".

But what's this about the Mets being interested? Does that mean Jose Reyes could be available? Oh please oh please oh please.

If Oakland is willing to guarantee Raffy $12 mill a year for four years, well, that's their foolish gamble and we shouldn't get stupid with them. I am fine with paying him that much IF he plays. But he's way too much of an injury risk for that kind of contract. I would offer him a four year deal at $3 mill per guaranteed with At-Bat or Plate Appearance incentives that push it to $15 mill per. They can quibble over the steps in the ladder, but I think that if he makes 600 PAs each year, he should get the max. If he doesn't, we don't spend 10% of our payroll on a guy who's on the DL. Doesn't put an onus on him to perform at any particular level, just that the Blue is only on the hook for top-shelf SS salary if he's actually on the field.

Frankly, I think all contracts should work that way, but that's a bigger battle. I'm just adamant that we should draw a line with Raffy because he's proven to be such an overwhelming injury risk.

SaMo,

Don't get too excited. The article states that the Mets are interested in having Furcal play 2B, NOT SS.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2008/11/has-rafael-furc.html

I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting the feeling that we will not end up with ANY of our first choices from our 'wish list'. C.C, Manny, Furcal. Who is next on the list?
David

Are the Dodgers going to spend any money this year? If I'm going to shell out money to get MLB Extra Innings so I can see the Dodgers, they'd better at least appear to be trying.

Paul Merrill
I think the Dodgers are waiting for a loser like AJ to become available, just like they did last year. To get top notch players you have to pay top notch money like CC and Manny, Tex and others are demanding. The Dodgers always seem like they just want to pay a little less and they end up getting way less.

Package

Paul,

As of now there has been precious little money spent by any team. Things could happen suddenly, or the process could stretch into January, or possibly even later in some cases. And there will probably be some trades.

Winter meetings are being held in Las Vegas, Dec. 8-11. That's a possible trigger to get things started. No guarantee something will happen between now and then, but whatever the case, it's only two weeks away.

I think this is another move by Billy Beane to sign someone and trade them within 1-2 years before they're contract is up. I don't know if Oakland falls into that mid-market city or below, but if Beane signs Furcal, I'm sure he'll see how it works for a year or two and if it doesn't work, he'll get traded. At this time, I feel the same for Holiday, although Oakland isn't as bad as the Marlins, in terms of trading talent when they become arbitration eligible. This really looks like an ugly 2009 season for the Blue, too many holes to fill, too much money wasted on unproductive players.

Tough call on Furcal. When healthy, he is worth every dime of 12Mil. If we lose him, Ned will say "Too much risk considering his health". We lose Manny, Ned will say "Manny wanted a 6 year deal, besides we have good players including AJ and JP". If we lose the bidding war for CC, Ned will say, "we made an honest sincere offer." If we don't get Tex, Ned will say, "We made another honest sincere offer, besides,this year AJ will be healthy and I expect to see a vast improvement on his production." When we buy strikeout artist Adam Dunn, Ned will say, "With Adam and AJ in the lineup, we are going to have a formidable offense. Fortunately the kids will improve enough to still win the west! How bad is it that one of our off season goals is to bring back Greg Maddux!

Package - I don't think we can honestly say the Dodgers are always looking to pay less, although personally I think that would be the prudent thing for all teams to do.

We have seen many examples in the past where the Dodgers have vastly overpaid for a player. Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort, Rafael Furcal and AJ are just a few of the examples that come to mind.

We can question the foolishness of these signings, but you can't say they were being cheap when they made them. My problem with the Dodger management is how they spend the money. Overpaying for Raffy a second time or trying to sign Manny for more than 2-3 years would be more foolish moves.

C.C. and Texeira should be management's top priorities this offseason.

Didn't Flanders hear who Torre wants on the field? Raffy, Manny and Starting Pitching, not exactly in that order but, he mentioned that these three elements are what he needs and wants. Raffy is a bargain for what he delivers on the field and he's only 31, he still has another 5 quality years. Manny is Manny and there are no questions about what he did for this team and what he can certainly continue to do for the next 3-4 years. Plus, the Dodgers have 65 million coming off the books for next season and another 37 million, the following year (AJ and Schmidt) I understand they don't want to get burned again with bad contracts. However, Manny, Raffy and C.C. are difference makers and the only risk here, is merely bad luck of one of them getting injured. All three of these prized free agents have not shown any declining numbers (as did AJ) nor injury prone seasons (as did Schmidt) excluding Raffy, who for once in the last 4yrs. will now come in fully healthy next season. Plus, these three signings will plug in holes in the roster something that is necessary with up to 8 different holes to fill, unlike the Pierre signing which was unnecessary and later regretful. The bottomline is the fans show up to the games to see a top notch club not to see a lower level market team something that we are not. MCCOURT, COLLETTI WE DESERVE THE BEST SO GIVE US THE BEST AVAILABLE PLAYERS OUT THERE! Sign : Raffy 4 yrs/44mill, Sign Manny 4yrs/ 90m, SIgn, C.C. 5yrs/110m, trade for Peavy for Ethier, Elbert, Stults and Lambo. Trade Pierre for a reliever. Finally, If Trever Hoffman will come on a discount to payback the Padres' lack of loyalty then sign him too.

Lou Gehrig played in 624 of a possible 624 games between 1927 and 1930. But that doesn't mean he was a lock to play late into his 30s.

Furcal injured his back, an ailment that few players return from 100%. You can't predict the future, but if I were the Dodgers, there's no way I'd give him more than one year guaranteed. The past three years are certainly a better indication of his health than a period from four years ago. Players get LESS healthy as they age, not more.

If some ofther team is fool enough to give Furcal four years guaranteed, that's their funeral. The Dodgers already overpaid once for Furcal. Doing it a second time would be lunacy.

DBB
You said it!!

Package