If I were to place bets on what Friedman will do, I'd say he's going to push the reset button on this franchise. When the new ownership group came in, they knew they needed to make a splash and announce that they would be the opposite of the horrible McCourt years. They did that immediately by re-signing Kemp to a huge contract, trading for Agon, Beckett and Crawford, getting Hanley, re-signing Kershaw, getting Ryu, etc. That ballooned the salaries up, but it didn't matter. They needed quick success and a good product to try to seal a massive TV deal. But when you pay big money and big salaries you have a window in which all the moving pieces have to work. You can't really re-sign all these players and stick with them long-term. Father Time is undefeated, and soon you will be getting an overpaid, underperforming, often injured, almost retired, former star. Unfortunately, after trying this window out, we're fast coming to the conclusion that for all this money we've spent, it's not a winning formula. So you get rid of the push-button GM in Ned and you replace him with someone who will put in the work to figure out how to pick the right players, to form the right group of people, to play a particular style, for the right price, for long enough for the end-product to bear fruit. Frankly, that's been the Giant's plan, and it's worked. So......predictions.....no Shields, Lester, Scherzer, Stanton.....you are going to see Hanley gone, Crawford gone. You're going to see major playing time for Joc (maybe even if it's LF instead of CF or RF to placate Puig and Kemp). You'll see more of Seager. You'll probably see more Turner too. Maybe 2 years from now, you might see another FA come in the round out the lineup, the final push over the edge....a Pence-like signing...but I expect the Dodgers to be a more smart spending team than a Yankee's spending team. Not saying this will work.....it's always an experiment, but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. I think it's time to try something new.
could be but i do expect some occasional spending when/where needed wouldn't be surprised if we pursued sandoval for instance but overall i agree, spending alone doesn't necessarily accomplish/guarantee anything
I'm not sure I want to spend over $15M for a 3rd baseman who CLEARLY has problems keeping in weight south of 350 pounds. He's a Big Mac away from becoming top heavy. Not a good long-term solutions. I say the Giant's are going to drop him and we should take that hint. Besides, Ned's no longer running the show.
did you watch his ABs? dude was actively taking pitches and actually looked like he belonged in MLB..as opposed to when he 1st came up with his stance all over the place and eyes closed swings at everything that left the pitcher's hands. i don't think you realize how bad Arruba looked early on. and he actually had a couple early hits just by virtue of opposing pitchers not realizing that they didn't have to throw a strike. Lol i mean there was one point late in the season where i was thinkin " OK, Guerrero..Arruba's ABs are lookin better than yours and you're supposed to be the hitter..WTF is this? "
Hanley Ramirez gets qualifying offer Updated: November 3, 2014, 6:11 PM ET By Mark Saxon | ESPNLosAngeles.com LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Dodgers made a $15.3 million qualifying offer to free-agent shortstop Hanley Ramirez on Monday, a move that guarantees they'll either have Ramirez for another season or receive a draft pick as compensation for losing him. ...continued
Arruebarrena? When he first came up he looked ok at the plate, then at the end he looked like complete crap.
helping prepare for hanley's departure? Padres Lose Jackson To Dodgers On Waivers By Steve Adams [November 3, 2014 at 5:59pm CST] The Padres announced today that infielder Ryan Jackson has been claimed off waivers by the Dodgers. The 26-year-old Jackson will present a utility infield option for his new club. He has scant major league experience, but owns a .274/.344/.369 slash in over 1,000 plate appearances at the Triple-A level and comes with a good defensive reputation at short. Jackson missed most of 2014 after undergoing wrist surgery.
who knows? Rojas certainly popped up outta thin air..i suppose there will be a few more of those now that Friedman is pulling the strings
I've kind of stopped caring. We resign him great, but I won't lose any sleep if we don't. He's a huge liability defensively, and every game we have to worry about him getting hurt and hitting the DL. It's pretty sad that his defense is so bad that he has to be replaced in the 8th/9th inning all of the time.
okay, first use of the new sarcasm smiley... we should get justin sellers back he'd be just as good as hanley hanley's not that good anyway
I don't think his defense really is so bad that he needs to be brought out in the 8th/9th every game, what's sad is that our manager thinks he has to do that. It's one thing to do that when we have a 4+ run lead, but not in 1-2 run ballgames. Not with a bullpen that has a 50/50 chance of giving up the lead. I'm definitely in favor of becoming younger and more defensively sound up the middle, so I think bringing Hanley back is not the best plan. But the way Mattingly handles Hanley makes bringing him back a horrible plan.
