OFFSEASON NEWS/RUMORS Thread

They hoped they signed the Great, instead got the Mediocre.

 

Shaw and Treinen are two dudes I would love to see the team give a chance to. High upside dudes that would be big upgrades of the cards fell right.

 

Bye bye Yimi! He was non-tendered

 

Perhaps I'm ignorant but can you explain a contact oriented bat? Thanks.

 

High contact rates equals lots of contact weather its hard or weak and swinging at pitches out of the zone but very low strike out %. Power guys typically hit for less contact, more power and more swing and miss.

Some orgs value high contact but most these days value the power which is why you see the trends in launch angle, exit velo and homers with a ton more swing and miss going on in today’s game.

Think Joc- for high sell out power guy vs. Verdugo as a high contact singles guy.

 

That's what I thought it meant and I've heard those thoughts before regarding Ruiz but mostly it related to his lack of hr's. Not his questions as to whether he can hit them.

It's not like he's a slap hitter. He's 6' 200 pound, just turned 21 year man that has been the youngest player at every level he's been to in the minors. The idea that a guy with prodigious pitch recognition, uncanny swing mechanics and elite hands won't hit home runs is lost in me. He squares the ball up consistently. With a slight switch in trajectory he will walk into 15 home runs against a big league fastball. This is a guy who k's a mind boggling 6% of the time. Scouts have to see the obvious.

Besides, at the end of the day even if all he hits is 15 he's yearly that is damn good for a catcher with on base skills

 

The Human Hanging Slider

 

Jose Peraza is 25 years old, had a good year in 2018, has ties to the Dodgers and has the pedigree of being a top 30 overall prospect a few years ago. Seems like a Dodger reclamation project to me.

If the Dodgers end up trading one of Taylor or Kike this could make for an interesting replacement option.

 

maybe kick the tires on Culberson?
I know he's not great but all I have is good memories of the guy
also fucking Rodney broke his face last year so idk

 

The problem is that he will make contact with pitches that he probably should not have and the red flags are that he has done that throughout his career without showing much of an ability to adapt. This is what is starting to scare teams off of him. AA teams knew his weakness since he was repeating the level and they would avoid throwing him strikes knowing that he would swing if they were close enough. Since he doesn't have the power of a Guerrero, he doesn't make them pay and generally rolls over on pitches that don't get out of the IF. I have been one of Ruiz's biggest fans on here and I think everyone can attest to that, the problem now is that he hasn't shown much improvement over the last couple of seasons and for that he is turning teams off of him. He will still be considered one of our better prospects, but if he continues to show the same lack of plate discipline this year, you can bet that he will drop (unless he starts showing immense power). This is why his stock is low in other teams eyes, so they don't view him as a top trade piece anymore and why the Dodgers are probably better off keeping him and seeing if he can turn things around.

 

Do not get your hopes up. Peraza is not the type of player that this FO covets. All of his value is in his defense as he has not been an above average offensive performer since he broke in back in 2016. Even last year when he started to hit bombs, he barely cleared a 2 WAR. He probably needs to go to a rebuilding team that has a need up the middle and are willing to see if he can rebuild his stock back before it dropped so drastically in the year the Dodgers acquired him.

 

2017 NLCS and WS. Dude basically carried us through the NLCS and then saw only 5 fucking AB's in the WS where he went 3-5 with a bomb. Roberts decided to not ride the hot hand and we were rewarded with Seager's .661 OPS and Forsythe's 4 singles and a double at 2B....

 

people tend to only remember the pulling of dick mountain or Kershaw and other pitching gaffes but this is just as bad
rarely has a manager made more bad calls than slave Roberts especially when it counted
Charlie had been clutch all year for us and was locked in that post season w laser vision
so of course sit him down

 

• Buster Olney is reporting that the Dodgers recently met with Anthony Rendon as did the Rangers. He hears that execs are predicting that Rendon will get the highest AAV on record. They also feel that he will be the first to sign of the big 3, but Rosenthal this morning said he thinks both Cole and Rendon are 2020 signs.

• A Wheeler deal could be coming soon according to Heyman. Rosenthal this morning said the standing offer seems to be 5 years $100M and the belief is that a couple other teams are planning on beating that. White Sox, Twins and Rangers are believed to be strong pursuers (Heyman), but the Reds are considered to be in at a strong level as well. They may try to build a formidable rotation with upside to attack a weakening NL Central. I think the Giants could be a team to watch as well as the Phillies who are in desperate need of starting pitching.

• Speaking of the Phillies, their non-tendering of Hernandez and Franco has raised some eyebrows around the league. With no real immediate replacements down in the minors, the Phil's just opened up holes at 2 key IF positions. While these moves aren't exactly shocking, they are intriguing as there is some belief that the club has prioritized Didi Gregorious and Josh Donaldson with some reports stating that they have been the strongest pursuers of both. They could elect to slide Scott Kingery into a more permanent role to fill one of the spots, but that does not seem to be the current goal. There is some belief that the Phillies will once again be one of the top winter spenders.

• Depending on who you listen to, you will hear a different opinion on who will sign first and when they will do so. One thing that is generally agreed on is that Cole is going to slow play his hand and be the last of the big 3 to sign. The Yankees are said to be the strongest pursuers of Cole thus far and will do anything to sign their "Great White Whale". The question is whether or not Cole wants to play in New York as word is that he is fairly adamant that he plans to play on the West Coast. Rosenthal thinks he will sign with whomever offers the most money, but a lot of his former teammates are warning to expect the unexpected with him. Some feelings are that he will carry negotiations well into 2020 where he will be a late January/early February sign. As for Rendon and Strasburg, there are growing rumblings that Stras plans to sign by next weeks winter meetings, which would be interesting since there are growing reports that execs think that Rendon will sign first. SO... will we know where two of the big fish are landing by Sunday or will this shit play out until June again?

• Mets are trying to move some of their bad contracts by attaching solid young pieces along with them. If you are a rebuilding team with a low payroll, why in the fuck would you not take advantage of this?

 

Charlie had actually only gotten the late season call up and hadn't done squat for us until he absolutely went off in the NLCS. Still, with how hot he was during it, it was dumb not to give him more opportunities.