The Dodgers have said that pitching remains their top priority, but don't plan on seeing John Lackey in Dodger blue anytime soon. According to Bill Shaikin the Dodgers won't be pursuing Lackey this winter. The rumors have led us to believe the Dodgers are not looking to spend big on any free agents this winter, so this should not come as a surprise to anyone.
It has been rumored that the Dodgers will be looking to cut payroll due to the pending divorce of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. According to Dodgers President Dennis Mannion, he said General Manager Ned Colletti has not been ordered to trade one of the team's eight arbitration-eligible players to save money.
Tomorrow when the official free agent signing period begins, the Dodgers will likely be active in the open market. Regardless of what the payroll will be the Dodgers have several holes to fill. The Dodgers have about $40MM coming off the books with expiring contracts, but that doesn't mean they have $40MM to spend.
The Dodgers have a core of players eligible for salary arbitration, including outfielders Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, first baseman James Loney, catcher Russell Martin and pitchers Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill and Hong-Chih Kuo. In order to retain all those players, the payroll would increase by about $20 million, more than canceling out the savings from the expiring contracts of Jason Schmidt and Andruw Jones, whose 2009 salary was largely deferred.
I would fully expect the Dodgers 2010 payroll to be less than the 2009 payroll of $100MM. However the Dodgers want to win a championship, so the Dodgers won't be slashing payroll anytime soon. I expect the Dodgers to make more thought out decisions and use their money wisely this winter. Look for the Dodgers to be very active in trade talks this winter.
Dodgers Rumors Features
Search Dodgers Rumors
Dodgers Rumors Archive
Baseball Around The Web
1 comments:
I agree with the Dodgers decision to lock up their young talent, spend half the 40M on resigning and the other half let’s look at second base (Ugla) and beefing up the rotation (Smoltz/Martinez/Jackson). I would also move Loney to the number 2 hole in the lineup and take advantage of his natural ability to hit (don’t try to make him into a power hitter). I would also look to bring in a younger shortstop and let him share time with Rafael Furcal – we did not get a lot of production from our leadoff man that we should have. Let’s set the table with base runners, then let Kemp, Many, Either and Blake drive in the runs. All we have to do is look at the Phillies lineup to see the blueprint.
Post a Comment