Indeed 27 years of 'zero rings' anxiety does not melt away with a Kazmir signing or letting Donnie walk... Losing Greinke to the Dbags when it was all about the money... especially when you have the deepest pockets in the league.. = Fail (F) Greinke was an ace, the likes of which are not easily found Losing Kendrick because you 'hope' someone named Kike will hopefully step up.. = Fail (F) Kendrick was a solid professional with a clutch bat. I hope Kike steps up too but now there is a hole until that happens Signing Kazmir.. meh OK but.. a tiny upgrade over not signing anyone stout.. = Dismal (D) Signing Maera.. meh OK but.. unknown.. could still be an upside.. maybe = Dismal (D) Pitching Staff today versus 8 weeks ago.. Dismal (D)... OK maybe something good could come of it but... Signing Roberts to replace incompetent DBB.. he's a rookie manager.. shit I'd go with meh but in truth it could be an upgrade.. = Cold chill (C-) OK maybe I can rework my F score into a D-... And I could not care less about what happens some year in the future... winning with a good farm team and good international prospects is all good AFTER YOU WIN the first time. So for today the FO gets poor marks
If this team should somehow make it to the WS will you change your marks...or mark it up to dumb luck?
Big damned IF.. but IF this came true then I'd be delighted to improve their scores. Do better on the tests you nerds and then we can grade you better. Lose both Greinke and Kendrick and you don't deserve a C
All reports say Kendrick was losing value on defense. My personal opinion is that Grienke will never approach the numbers he put up in LA last year while pitching in AZ. So I could see this going either way. My grade for the nerds is for the long term picture which I believe is very, very, good. Assuming we retain our top 3-4 prospects I'm ready to give them a grade somewhere between A- and B-.
You can lose a half step of range when you're hitting a clutch .295. No one cared about Jeter's range when he hit .300+ year after year. I'm not calling Kendrick in the class of Jeter but he wasn't so much worse and we have what to fall back on?? An ancient Utley? Untried Kike? Uggh. Fill the hole then cast away the starter. There are not 10 better 2B's in MLB than Kendrick. Oh well, we'll see what comes next.
I get you, Cappy. Being fair I wouldn't call Kike 'untried'...maybe SSS or unproven. But the reality is that Howie is seeking at least 4 years and before those 4 years are up he is going to be in serious decline. If by some miracle he could be talked into a 2 year deal then I'd say hell yes. But that ain't gonna happen and I'd just as soon play the cards we have or look for a trade avenue.
Your point is well made it seems that everyone who manages to play in the MLB to year 31 all of the sudden needs a contract that lets them retire Howie wanting 4 years because Greinke got 6 years? Too long for both of them but... when every other player on the team (in the league) sees that you're paying girl armed CC $20M per year to sit.. or paying other clubs $70M to take Kemp away.. they can hardly be blamed for wanting their own golden parachute contract
cleaning house is different than handing out your own bad contracts. This FO will swing and miss on some deals as this is inevitable. But being smart and bold enough to say no to a fan favorite in Greinke because they truly felt it would end up being a bad contact is smart business. The practice of paying players to take at bats and pitch innings for another team has to stop somewhere. Giving Kendrick a 4 year deal is just bad business.
I'm kind of on the same page, I didn't know Howie was demanding a 4 year deal... which rather assures him of playing for a loser. I might have thought he'd be better off with a 2 year deal on a winning team.. .. but WTF do I know?
Completely understand being upset at losing Zack and Howie, I am too. Just don't see how you can grade kenta and kazmir before they've played for us though.
They've played. We've seen what we've seen so far... but COME ON you're asking the DSP jackals not to attack fresh meat when presented?? ?? Really? I've watched Kazmir personally since he was an Angel and never thought so much of him during or after. However I'll give you that his recent numbers indicate that he has learned 'something' finally and as we are in such dire need for SP's I'll take him. Better than nothing even if Angels fans will be laughing at us. They can join the SFag and DBag hyena's whom I don't expect to STFU until next October. Kenta? Who fucking knows? Two out of three Asian pitchers can't sack up in the MLB so we'll see. At least no one else in the NL has seen him yet and that is a good thing too.
I gave them a D for not closing the Greinke deal. Which left us with the next best option of patch work staff which is scary. but lets hope it doesn't blow up with injuries. Now that being said the patch work deals I will give them a C. But now that we have weaken our staff . How about adding a good LF STICK........
i have to give them a c only because it remains to be proven i give them credit for having the courage to do things their own way, even if i don't necessarily believe in all of it but i do feel they honestly believe they're making this team better for the long haul
We should have good depth. We have Kershaw, Anderson, Kazmir, Maeda, Wood, and Ryu, plus MehCarthy coming back after the all star break, Urias, DeLeon, Stripling, and Cotton are all waiting in the wings, plus we also have Ballslinger and Lee.
I don't see our staff being weakened. Yes, we lost what should have been the Cy winner. But with any luck we won't have Bolsinger making 21 starts, Frias making 13 starts, and 18 starts being made by a combination of Latos, McCarthy, Ian Thomas (who?), Scott Baker, Joe Wieland, Brandon Beachy, David Huff, Yimi Garcia, Juan Nicasio, and Zach Lee. Split those 52 starts between Maeda and Kazmir and the staff is instantly better. If we have injuries, then hopefully Ryu is ready to step back in and if he is close to his former self it won't be a step down. McCarthy coming back much later in the year might provide more back up, and then there are the young guns waiting for a shot. Some folks are pooh-poohing the depth rhetoric, but take a minute and look at what that depth is replacing. Last year's staff wasn't so much who we had, it was more who we didn't have and who had to step up to fill the gaps. (And that is why I respect what Anderson did, btw.)
The long haul? Yeah, I guess so...cool if you're an over the road truck driver. Not so much if you're a bb team who hasn't won in almost 3 decades. The future is where it's all at, eh? How long does it stay as the future? Forever....theoretically, I guess. It's amazing to me that the guys who we've signed, are how far down on the list of FA pitchers after the better ones were scooped up? And the spin that we "let" other teams get who we wanted simultaneously, because they are smart, is a joke. Even though we were willing to spend, what... 180M? That was on purpose, was it? Lol. Sure, there's depth...but depth's strength is dependent just who the depth is composed of. Not just volume. A lot depends on injury luck with some pretty badly damaged pitchers...and two will be as rusty as hell on return. And sure again, the other teams need injury luck, too. Hope their's sucks..? We still have spent (since it's so important when it comes to guys like ZG, Boogerman, etc.) 4th most $ on FA pitchers, I think I saw. For Kazmir and really injury-plagued Japanese guy? Filthy stuff though.... OK. I guess that's the best we can expect. I guess because it's the Dodger Front Orifice, it's great, clever business. Especially the 8 year, cheapo contract for Meada...I hope so. Lotta clicks on that wing, though. Well, at least they went out and got someone. I guess they did best with what was left out there...to buy anyway. We'll see...
Of course not! Feel free to continue living in the past. Look who's the spin master now! Except for his rookie season he has made between 26 and 31 starts every year, in a short season league where 28 is considered a lot. Yes he has elbow issues now, but pitched as few as 6 weeks ago. How is that "really injury-plagued"?
All pitchers have something show up in MRI. Our FO and new training staff are just being shrewd as fuck and I like it.
Look Zoo, if you had said they signed a pitcher with an elbow injury, I would have nothing to reply to, you'd be 100% correct. But when you say he is "really injury-plagued" I have to call you out, it's just not true. It's not that you "didn't say it right", it's just that it's a fucking lie. There is a difference, or did it just go over your head? Anderson is "really injury-plagued", that's true as hell, say it all you want. You won't here a word out of me. And yes, you ARE living in the past, because you can't or don't want to see the future.
