NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread (Oct 2016 - Feb 2017)

He isn't an improvement over Hernandez, Culberson or Taylor....

 

He's solid upside depth, not a bad lottery ticket for 200K at a position we are obviously weak at if Calhoun can't put something together on defense. Doubt they are bringing him in as any sort of an answer for 2B this year, but he could be a decent bench utility piece down the road. With all the swing and miss guys around, I don't mind grabbing someone that won't be necessarily an auto K against half decent pitching.

 

So another thing that I forgot to mention from over the weekend, did anybody else see the report on Turner? Apparently he never cleared out his locker and has continued his winter workouts with the team, long before he had signed. He apparently had no intention on signing anywhere else and informed his agent to not entertain any offers.

This explains the great deal the team got on him and then raises another question. All those "Dodger vets" that apparently hate the way the team and has been run and how they won't resign have gotten oddly quiet since a certain backup catcher was traded. There was a "former Dodgers player" that aired those complaints again early in the offseason, but then two star players resign for considerably less money to remain with the club. The Ellis trade was really odd at the time and was done when there were some rumblings of players getting upset over playing time. Really starting to believe that Ellis and Crawford were two guys that were using the media to make their grievances heard. After the trade, I remember a reporter on twitter citing a former player who had reached out (player remained anonymous) and said that he (among others on the team) had felt that Ellis did have the ear of a certain Fox Sports reporter and the, "he's the nicest guy in the world" stuff was a lot of malarkey(I'm pretty sure I have typed this all before). That he was a good teammate if he liked you, and a real dick if he didn't.

I would prefer nothing more than this to be me over analyzing the situation and this can all just be attributed to a butt hurt Carl Crawford, but things are lining up more and more against Ellis.

 

I wonder if this is depth in AAA so MGT can include Calhoun in the trade for Dozier.

 

My thoughts as well since yeah, 2B at the level he is likely to be at is already taken. Only other thing could be either they move one or the other to 3B or Calhoun moves to LF... which would suck.

 

Interesting article on Wood. With all the injuries last season, this seems to be one that is looked over the most. When on, he is a front of the rotation pitcher and we started to see that again. Would be really nice if he is healthy AND pitching in the rotation like he was before the injury.
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2017/1/9/14207894/alex-wood-dodgers-elbow-sleeper

 

I'm sure this is over analysis by you, but also the whole storyline is likely over analysis by the media and any of us who have run with it as a discussion topic.

At the end of the day, who are the players that the Dodgers tried to re-sign but left because they don't like it here? Greinke and Hanley are two of the biggest names who left the past few years, and Greinke left because another team offered him $50 million more than we did, and we clearly didn't want to re-sign Hanley. Ellis and Crawford could very well be disgruntled players, but neither was really in a position to re-sign, so if they were disgruntled it could very well be dissatisfaction with themselves more than anything. Interesting take though. And the Turner and Kenley contracts are certainly a shot in the arm to our ego.

 

Nothing to do but mentally masturbate clubhouse personality what-if's since the FUCKTARDS don't seem to be able to get out of their own way and finish the offseason...

TBT on the 2 you mentioned. OTT, there was a relief pitcher (I can't remember which, Miller or O'Day) that we were after but he preferred to stay on the EC, which he did. All in all I think the report is of a crock of sour grape BS. Ellis being bi=polar in the clubhouse could very well have been him thinking he wielded some faux power as CK's boy and Crawford doesn't have a leg to stand on, or play on for that matter. Crawford didn't seem like the type to complain making what he did for what he gave and Ellis was gifted his last 4.5MM, IMO.

Either way, STFU and spend your money, cKunts.

 

It is definitely a bit of a sigh of relief, that is for sure. We really did not have anything to go off of as like you mentioned, there really has never been a big FA of the team where we weren't understanding of them leaving. Suddenly we have two guys re-sign that always wanted to stay and took less money to do so, while a third was said to prefer to go home to the east coast, but also remained for a very reasonable contract if he were to continue to perform at this level. It is nice to put that stupid rumor to bed.

 

I agree full heatedly. I'm in the same boat where I would really be happy to see them clean up 2B or LF/RF, but would not throw a tantrum if the reason we don't address it is due to teams wanting irrational returns from our farm. People forget, one of the corner OF's spots was probably not going to be a problem until Thompson broke his back. Also unlike last year, there are more VIABLE options going into the season to choose from. They have the RH bats of SVS, Ruf, Puig, Segedin, Hernandez and Thompson, plus the LH bats of Joc, Ethier and Toles with two big prospects knocking at the door in Bellinger and Verdugo. That doesn't scream elite for the corners, but it is a good crop of players to choose from especially if SVS, Thompson and Kike come back healthy, even better if Puig really did take the demotion to heart to finally work harder the right way. I think there is upside there that could play itself out, or at least hold the fort long enough before Bellinger potentially gets the call.

It would be disappointing if they don't fill the 2B hole now, but I would hate for them to give up the rumored two front of the rotation prospects for Dozier unless they're also getting salary relief like a Kazmir or Ethier + McCarthy, which yeah I don't see. I just don't see them standing pat though, and think there are other teams they would turn their focus to and get a deal done. There are reasonable other options and if it kept the top of the farm intact, I'd be all the more for it... Not to mention, if they do fail in their pursuit for a top flight 2B, they could turn their focus back to a Braun or big bat that could be available.

 

Saw that report the other day, it was mainly on the 3B market in the winter of 2018.
Machado..no less than 300MM and probably closer to 375-400MM.
Donaldson of course, 32-33yrs old when he hits the FA market, won't even be close to those numbers..unless Dave Stewart finds his way back into somebody's FO
Donaldson probably ends up in the neighborhood of 100-125MM, good chance he'll still crush JT's payday
Assuming both stay healthy and don't fall off, of course.
The Ellis trade, I felt, was just an out and out upgrade because Ruiz is easily better than he is in damn near every way..I was shocked at how well Ruiz could still run.
Ellis being a dick to those he didn't like and a good teammate to others just sorta makes him the usual catcher the way I see it.

 

There was a report a while back that MIL wanted more than just Puig in return for Braun, was thinking about that yesterday.
I wonder if they'd offer up JDL to MIL and to get them to include Villar in a Braun deal and maybe one of their young relievers in the deal, maybe Barnes since they're still looking for set up help.
Maybe MIL is down on Hader's starting potential..would make for a nice, high upside power lefty/reliever.
Something like Braun/Villar/Hader for Puig/JDL/McCarthy + probably another mid or lower level/high upside spec and LAD figures out how much of Braun's deal they need to take on/working with the wild tax picture.
Give or take a guy, point being, I agree that LAD and MIL could still be a nice fit as trade partners and maybe pull off something a little bigger..if LAD values a Villar enough

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/d...-tragedy-in-fort-lauderdale-airport-shooting/

Dodgers' Grandal says he just avoided tragedy in Fort Lauderdale airport shooting

A shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport killed five and wounded eight on Friday (CBS News has full coverage). Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal said was there and narrowly avoided being part of the tragic news.

Grandal, 28, was born in Cuba but went to high school in Miami and also attended the University of Miami. So it's not surprising that he was in an area airport. Fortunately, he avoided the gunman on Friday.

 

http://www.springtrainingcountdown.com/#sthash.FWmHTzDg.dpbs

 

I'm watching the game, but the guy that broke the Turner/Jansen news is saying that the Dodgers and Twins are making progress on a deal for Dozier. Nothing concrete, but that they seem to be working towards a deal.

 

Rosenthal now says that the teams are talking, but don't appear to be making progress. Both teams are getting ready to finish this one way or another.

 

That's what the word was, someone probably gave a little at the last minute and both teams kept the talking, but who knows. If these guys are keeping this going, you'd think that they all want to get a deal done. Just sounds like Minny is not super sold on JDL.