DODGERS NEWS/RUMORS Thread

What are some the best choices in Free Agency? These are the guys I would take a look at and the prices. I think we may see a much more aggressive front office than we have seen in recent years. They have a lot of money coming off the books and a ton more over the next couple of years. Granted their young guys are getting more expensive, but this reason paired with the disastrous finish to the season could finally push them to have to spend on great talent instead of middling bullshit.

The Elite

Sign Gerrit Cole (7 years $225M):
This one is probably never going to happen since we do not give long term contracts to pitchers and even I hate the idea of going much longer than this. The Yankees are probably going to go all out after Cole and may offer some number that no team is comfortable matching. I like the idea of offering him an opt out in 2-3 years so he could get back out there again and front load the shit out of that thing(like $40M per the first 3 years) so if things DO go well or horribly bad, there are provisions in place to potentially help the club or the player. His stuff has only gotten better with age and he has seen a steady velo since first coming up as he is down only 1 tick over 8 big league seasons. He has 5 pitches that he likes to use which helps as a player ages, making him a safer long term contract than a guy who has, say only 3 pitches... Anyway, this would give the Dodgers a legit 2 headed monster with Cole and Buehler, plus a potential 3rd in Dustin May. The Dodgers would become a power pitching rotation in a single offseason and have potentially the best 3, maybe even 4 starters in the division.

Sign Stephen Strasburg (6 Years $200M)
It is not a sure thing that he opts out, but it is highly likely as he has 4 yrs and $100 M remaining on his contract including a whopping $45M of that coming in 2023. I think the only reason he does not opt out at this point is he is worried that he is not going to pass a physical with a new team, which for him and the mileage on his arm, is no sure thing. He has still been a wrecking machine in the playoffs and never once dipped below being an above average pitcher at any point in his career. He has been seeing a steady drop in velo as he is now 5 full ticks below his average velocity from when he first came up, but really you should look at it more like the 2 ticks since returning from his TJ 2012. The fact that he has 5 go to pitches means that when the velo continues to drop(it will), he has the weapons to keep players off balance. If the Dodgers walk away from this offseason with one of these top two guys, we will be in great shape.

Sign Anthony Rendon (7 Years $245M)
The importance of Rendon is on a sliding scale to me. I want him on the club, at the same time we have a lot of infield options and I am wary of long term deals for anyone at this point. Rendon is coming off the best season of his career and is one of the main reasons why the Dodgers are not 3 games up on the Cardinals right now. He would give the Dodgers a steady RH bat that would help offset the glut of lefties on the roster and help ease the pain of Turner going bye bye likely after the year ahead. There are rumors that the Dodgers have had him in their sights for the last year+ as option B to Nolan Arenado's A. If that is the case, just how far do the Dodgers go to sign him? They will not have the Yankees or Red Sox to contend with, nor likely the Angels or Giants. So options could be thin here, but a WS berth will likely motivate a Nats team that was said to be willing to let Bryce Harper go last offseason so that they could retain Rendon in the year ahead. Missing out on all 3 of these players could be semi-catastrophic for the org as they will then need to use a trade market that has not been easy for the org to navigate due to the Dodgers Tax.

The Well We Whiffed, What Now?

Sign Nicholas Castellanos (3 Years $33-40M)
This one would be a hard one to swallow. His bat is unquestionably great and put into the hands of the Dodgers analytical department, he has the potential to be a legit bomber. He bitches about analytics, but it was the Tigers horrid analytical department that he has to thank for those feelings. Once going to a more established system, he took off, looking a lot like another former Tigers slugger of recent memory. He doesn't have the long term results that JD did, but he has still been good and the potential to unlock much more is there. Signing Castellanos would likely put him at 1B as the Cubs couldn't even save his horrid D in LF. This would also mean another year of Turner at 3B and Seager being shown the door OR Muncy getting moved to LF if they refuse to move on from the postseason choker. Adding another bopper to them middle of the Dodgers order would also mean that Seager could be thrown to the 8 hole if he continues to plateau as a hitter in the postseason. The Muncy to LF scenario would also mean that the club would have to find a new place for Pollock, which needs to happen no matter what. This would turn into a good-great signing to me if this was paired with a Stras/Cole signing.

Sign J.D. Martinez (3 Years $75-80M)
Hey, it's not my money, so why the hell not? Everything I just said about Castellanos applies to Martinez, only that he is older, a much more dangerous bat and has shown no ability to play the IF. This would be a risky as fuck move, but if he can show any ability to handle 1B, his bat would absolutely be worth it. The theme for this season is no longer, "we can add a good bat and be fine". That is not it anymore. They need a great pitcher and a guy that slots into the 3-4 hole and can do massive damage if Bellinger never pulls his head out of his ass. I don't think Martinez is opting out, but you never know. He has a career .925 OPS in the playoffs across 90 PA's.

Sign Marcell Ozuna (3 Years $55-60M)
I am probably way undervaluing Osuna, but his outfield defense is awful and he is prone to long streaks of futility. He is not that 3-4 guy I was just talking about above, but his signing would need to be paired with a flurry of other moves. He has had one fantastic year(2017), one good(2014) and a whole lot of ehhh(this year included).... He would be an upgrade over shitty ass Pollock and while he has dealt with some injuries over the years, he has for the most part been able to stay on the field. I would take him over Pollock any day and his upside is higher than any outfielder that we have in the pipeline.

This Better Not Be All That You Get

Sign Will Smith (3 Years $27-30M)
I do not like paying relievers. Call it recent memory bias, but some great relievers started dying early into their contracts recently. I think relievers are going to start seeing valuations not extending beyond 3 years and Will Smith is absolutely no different. His FIP outperformed his ERA, but he gave up HR's at a higher clip than Kenley and that was with playing half his games in Oracle. The other scary thing is that Smith was both much worse on the road AND righties touched him up with an OPS over .700. His numbers are very skewed from keeping the ball in the park at home and absolutely DOMINATING lefties. His history gives me enough relief that he should at worse be a LOOGY that can handle a couple weaker righties between, but now we have a 3 batter minimum in 2020, making the chances for error go up. I think he should be paid in line with the solid relievers of recent seasons, but he is not of the caliber as a Chapman, Melancon, Jansen or Kimbrel from when they came out.

Sign Drew Pomeranz (2 Years $10-12M)
As recently stated, I do not like paying relievers. With that said, the Dodgers have a lefty reliever problem and they could use one that can also take on a RHB or two if it means getting some good lefties out in the process. Pom once again was moved to the pen for the second year in a row after disaster struck in the rotation to start the year. Unlike last year, Pom was chucking 95-96 instead 90-92 and ditched all his secondaries except for his curve. He seems like a good potential buy low candidate that could be an under the radar dominant force for the pen.


Outside of these guys, it would be a case by case basis. There are some players that I would love to see in Dodger blue on the market, but a whole lot of chips would have to fall to make me cool with their signing. I have said this the past couple years that we should see a lot of movement, but instead the FO has proven me wrong. This year seems different and Friedman saying that there could be a roster restructure is an eye opener. Saying something like that and then not doing a damn thing after what happened in the NLDS would be a magnificent black eye for the organization and a spit in the face to fans.

 

The Come and Get Him

Trade for Kenley Jansen ( 2 Years $38M)
Come get this BAMF. That's it.

 

You know.....seeing the Nats celebrate going to the WS....and the Astros taking a 2-1, one game by walkoff...it opened old wounds.

The Nats are a good team, but not great. Still, they were clutch when it counted. The Cards were beatable from the start, and the Dodgers would have won that series too.

Why is this team so snakebit? Okay, I take that back. Instead I ask how can this team be so unclutch? How do they show up so small in the most important situations? It's like the curse of Broxton and Niedenfurer permeates this club.

CK....so many blown chances. Kenley....we win that game against the Astros and we would have a WS ring. Darvish, Baez, Kelley, Urias.

Let's not forget how incompetent the offense has been in clutch situations. Against the Astros in extras at home.....nothing. A repeat in game 5 with the Nats.....I knew when the game was tied, we had lost the series.

Even the coaching. Panic moves that make no sense....coupled by inexplicable decisions based on "feel" or the confidence in someone's non-existent success in the post-season.

And a pitching coach that doesn't seem to understand or recognize when a pitcher is tipping his pitches and refuses to advise the manager that a pitcher may not be up to the task.

Man, how do you break this curse?!?!?!?!

Good God.....I sound like an old Red Sox fan before the winning.

 

I thought they were done when they let Strasberg off the hook in the first inning. Score a couple there, get Strasberg out of the game and they win the game and the series.

 

Some of the rumors floating around. This is obviously very preliminary as the playoffs are still going on and MLB likes to keep this shit under wraps.

• There is some growing belief that the Dodgers will look to move Corey Seager this offseason. With him closing in on free agency, the club may look to capitalize on value. Also in a chat this morning, Pedro Moura said that he sees the team looking into moving him, though they won't give him away and their may not be enough demand to net a decent return. He mentions that Seager isn't "an ideal fit with the team's philosophy". That was interesting to read and I wonder what he could be hinting at. Lux, Ruiz and Verdugo all fit a narrative of a much more contact oriented approach. Plus looking at the most recent picks by the club, this would also solidify this being the case. The team's with the most success in recent years do not strike out a bunch, so I wonder if we are going to see a continued transition away from a lineup full of free swingers.

• In that same piece, Moura said that the club will likely only look for elite upgrades to the rotation. They have enough pieces in place to have a good rotation and will only want to make major additions instead of marginal ones. He mentions Syndergaard as a possibility, but the Mets are said to no longer be willing to move Thor.

• The Dodgers best bet for a starting pitching upgrade may be the FA market and rumors are that they have already begun to show that they are going to be one of the main pursuers of Astros RHP Gerrit Cole.

• In a piece by Andy McCullough today, Justin Turner said he was willing to move if the club were to land Anthony Rendon. A player the org is said to be very fond of. Rendon has also stirred the pot by admitting that he would probably prefer to be retired and out of baseball by age 36. This could make a shorter term high AAV deal possible.

 

Is CK open to changing his sex to female? He already has no balls.

 

Turner willing to move where? To 1B to squeeze Muncy out? Very interesting. Definitely don't think Muncy/2B is going to happen on a daily basis or when it's postseason time. Muncy to LF?

Still say they should load it up and try to get Boston to move on Betts. Muncy, Seager+ for Betts. Seager probably goes to a 3rd team..maybe to Seattle to play with big bro. Seattle could send JP Crawford to Boston to play behind Pedroia for a year and potentially swap with Bogaerts down the line. Muncy takes over 1B for Moreland who's a free agent. LAD surrounds 3 young lefty bats in Lux, Belli, and Ruiz + Joc with righties Turner, Betts, and Rendon

 

Not me. Kenley is a cKunt who was and will be coddled for too long. That said: He's also a cKunt with an ego and an opt out and Kasten, Boehly and Billie are bottom line oriented above all else.

Make no mistake, that was a ploy to get him to leave and I hope to God it works!

 

Not sure if this goes in prospects thread or here, but anyway ...

@ColoradoKidWitGame or the other in-house prospects dudes: Would Gonsolin be open to going STRAIGHT into being a closer, instead of being a starter? I mean, being as he's so young and with high velo and movement, he appears to be a solid candidate for this job. But is that a career killer for a pitcher to start as a closer?

I am dismissing the Kenley factor, realizing that he's an albatross contract and the likely closer despite this wishful thinking post ... but I would love to see a young closer come into prominence on this team, and begin the purge of these coddled mooks that have anchored this team into the NL version of the 1970s Minnesota Vikings and the 1990s Buffalo Bills ...

 

In college, Gonsolin started and pitched in relief. In 2017 the Dodgers used him exclusively out of the pen, and there was talk that he could be the closer of the future. In 2018 & 19 Gonsolin was moved to starting. My guess is the team values starters more than pen guys and he will only move back if he fails as a starter, or if we are just jam-full in the rotation. From Gonsolin’s perspective, he should push for a starting role as long as he can - an average backend starter can pull in $12 mil/year, but only a handful of elite closers can pull that.

 

A front office that truly wanted to win would go out and get at least one of Cole/Strasberg/Rendon. Overpay if you have to, just get them. Imagine a rotation of Buehler, Cole, Strasberg, May and Kershaw with a pen of Baez, Maeda, Kelly, Gonsolin, Urias and Kenley. I know there's been talk of pushing Maeda back into the rotation but that's a cheapass loser way of thinking. Or get one of Cole or Strasberg, re-sign Ryu and add Rendon to the lineup. And fuck Seager. I'd rather see Taylor in there every day.

I realize none of this will actually happen, so whatever.

And oh yeah -- FUCK ROBERTS!!!

 

Shit, I need to step up my game.

 

The fact is that we’re so cursed that even if we got a Coke, he’d suck and pull a CK in the post season.

 

You're right about one thing. If Villar and Puig are your measuring sticks, you probably suck. I would have much rather seen Seager's starts go to Taylor or Kike. And FWIW Lux should have been on the bench too. Of course all of this wouldn't matter if Roberts had Maeda start the 8th instead of marching Captain Choke back out there. Of all the things I hate about Roberts, the thing that infuriates me the most is his inability to sense when a change needs to be made. He'll either ignore it entirely or make the change way too late. And the fact that the front office defended him immediately speaks volumes about what they value.