Braves Release Glavine

Jun 032009
 

In somewhat shocking news the Atlanta Braves release future Hall of Fame canidate Tom Glavine today. Ken Rosenthal has the full story. Glavine was scheduled to make $1 million for his first day on the roster, $1.25 million for 30 days on the roster and another $1.25 for 90 days on the roster. I have to assume that Glavine was pressuring the Braves for a rotation spot immediately, but Atlanta clearly preferred to promote top prospect Tommy Hanson, who has been turning heads the last several months. The winningest active pitcher in the majors will likely see some interest in 2009.

David Lennon of Newsday says the Mets are out on bringing Tom Glavine back. Common sense tells us you can eliminate any non-contender. It’s also safe to eliminate the Red Sox from acquiring any pitching as they are trying to unload pitching for prospects and hitting. That leaves the Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Rangers, Angels, and the Dodgers. With all of those teams being a possible fit let’s look at the possible fit with the Dodgers.

There is no doubt the Dodgers still could use some pitching help and need a solid veteran presence in the rotation. The fit is almost perfect, as Glavine could take on a role similar to what Greg Maddux has done in the past. It’s not going to take but a few million to get Glavine on board with a chance at the playoffs. The injuries to the rotation have already taken a toll on this team, and to have a guy like Glavine around can only help round out the rotation. This of course is pure speculation but look for Glavine to stay in NL, and my bet is the Phillies or Dodgers.

 06/03/2009  Posted by at 8:46 pm Dodgers Rumors 6 Responses »

Dodgers Exploring Trade For Peavy

May 292009
 

The Dodgers have been legitimately looking to acquire Padres ace pitcher Jake Peavy since November of 2008. Kevin Towers has failed to trade his reigning NL Cy Young winner several times now. He failed to make a deal with the Atlanta Braves during the Winter Meeting in Las Vegas. The Chicago Cubs came close but a deal couldn’t be made, even though Peavy publicy said he had would accept a deal to Chicago. Towers tried to get clever and deal Peavy to the other Chicago team, however Jake Peavy decided to veto the trade that would have landed him with the Chicago White Sox.

Ned Colletti has made it known he was interested in acquiring Peavy, however not at the inflated price that Towers was asking. The Dodgers know that they are going to pay a higher premium for Peavy since it’s a trade inside the same division. As ridiculous as this seems it is just the way the GM’s think. With the Padres failing to trade Peavy on several occasions now SI’s Jon Heyman says the Cubs and Dodgers the Padres best chances. There is no doubt that Peavy’s value has dropped significantly since the ’08 Winter Meetings, the question is how much? The package the White Sox offered recently compared to the package the Braves offered in November 2008 is significantly less in prospect value and potential.

What would it take for Colletti to bring the prized pitcher to Los Angeles? Three players and a top prospect is the reported current asking price. Who is Colletti willing to part with? Would McDonald, DeWitt, Lambo, and Hoffmann or Paul be enough? Stay tuned Dodger fans I will keep you posted as we can continue to dream about getting Jake “Dodger Killer” Peavy out of a Padres uniform.

 05/29/2009  Posted by at 1:14 pm Dodgers Rumors 1 Response »

Dodgers Injury Updates

May 292009
 

Will Ohman is heading to the disabled list with a sore left shoulder, this should put somewhat of an explanation to his 5.84 earned run average in 21 appearances this season. He has struggled the majority of the season and my guess was he wasn’t quite ready for baseball when the season began. Hopefully some time to get some rest and get healthy will allow him to produce the rest of the season.

The Dodgers are going to go with a seven man bullpen the next few days as AAA Catcher A.J. Ellis was called up for the series against the Chicago Cubs where he expects to see a few pinch hits. Monday is when the club expects Opening Day starter Hiroki Kuroda back in the rotation. This will give the Dodgers a chance to look at Ellis who may be in line for a chance to be on the late season roster around the September call-ups. This may also be a way of showcasing Ellis in hopes of a possible trade.

Monday is when the club expects Opening Day starter Hiroki Kuroda back in the rotation. Kuroda threw a successful bullpen session Friday and the coaching staff was pleased enough to activate him effective Monday. When Kuroda is activated somebody is going to have come out of the rotation and be inserted into the bullpen. Stults is much more versatile than Milton so I presume we will see Stults get moved.

 05/29/2009  Posted by at 12:25 pm Dodgers Rumors No Responses »

Ned Colletti: The Indepth Analysis

May 292009
 

Here is a team vs. team comparison of basically what we have given up to get where we are today. Colletti has traded away some of the organizations top prospects at one point and yes at times he got very little in return. Here is my take; Colletti read this thing perfectly and got solid veterans that proved to provide help and depth to the club during the final stretches of the season and during the playoffs. There isn’t one player on that Cast Outs that is an upgrade over the current 2009 roster except for Edwin Jackson, maybe.

Team Comparison Download Here

Lets talk about a couple players that are under constant debate Carlos Santana who is now on the Indians and the top 3rd overall catching prospect according to Baseball America. We got Casey Blake for the young stud, and in case you missed it Blake was a key factor in us reaching the NLCS in over 20 years. His 2009 stats are quite impressive as well and on pace for a veteran stud of a season. Santana is blocked by the best catcher in the majors and we have Ellis and May waiting on the farm as well. If Martin wasn’t a Dodger this would be as big of a deal as you Colletti haters make it out to be.

Andy Laroche the biggest and most over hyped prospect since Joel Guzman. This guy will never be Evan Longoria or David Wright. With that being said this guy brought over Manny and if anyone tries to dispute the brilliance of this trade you are wasting your time.

The majority of the trades have been complete washes. The majority of the players are no longer on the team. Now just to drive home a point quickly lets just say you take all the key prospects we have casted out for just three players, Manny, Blake, and Ethier. Colletti wins guys face it, he has revamped a losing team into a dominant force to be taken seriously.

Colletti is not some superhero who has saved the day either. I think when it comes to trades Colletti gets an “A” hands down. Now let’s evaluate signings and releases for a moment. Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones, and Juan Pierre have cost over 1 billion dollars. This is a complete failure and most fans and critics can’t seem to let it go. Unless a World Series ring comes under the Colletti Era this is what he will be remembered for. Not Manny, and not the 2008 NLCS, this trio of players that could have been the demise of the Dodgers for several years. How McCourt has been able to swallow that and turn this team into a contender is beyond me. We have also lost Jayson Werth and Joel Hanrahan and this is due to a bad judgement call on Colletti’s part. Werth would be a solid 4th starter and Hanrahan would be an upgrade to anyone but Wade in the bullpen. Ned has brought in guys like Nomar, Furcal, Saito, and Kuroda as well. This one is much harder to decipher, but when the dust settles here Ned gets a C and this could have been much worse.

Overall Colletti has lowered payroll somehow and put a championship caliber team on the field simultaneously. This team is leaps and bounds better than the team from 2005 that cost DePodesta his job. Sure some mistakes have been made along the way along with several bad judgement calls. The bottom line is the Dodgers are a winning team and showing early signs of repeating as NL West champs. Colletti is not the best GM in baseball but he deserves some credit and slack from the critics and fans. The question has to be asked what would our team look like if Colletti wasn’t GM? Thoughts anyone?

 05/29/2009  Posted by at 8:56 am Dodgers Rumors No Responses »

Dodgers In Search For Relief Help?

May 282009
 

Peter Gammons has this to say about the Dodgers in his latest blog post.

“The Dodgers are on the prowl for relievers; so are the Indians, Yankees and Twins. But the teams holding pitchers expected to be available believe the market will only get increasingly bullish. And few teams are ready to throw up white towels.”

“Among the list of relievers expected to be available are Houston’s Jose Valverde, Colorado’s Huston Street, Oakland’s Russ Springer, Pittsburgh’s John Grabow and Baltimore’s Danys Baez. Boston might be willing to move Manny Delcarmen, who might be able to close in the National League, but they’d trade him only for a significant bat. Incidentally, one scout says Ramon Ramirez may be the best trade of the offseason. He could easily close if anything happened to Jonathan Papelbon.”

The Dodgers need some help in the bullpen without a doubt. They also have the pieces to swing a deal in their way. Everyone knows the excess depth and talent they have at several positions. Chin-lung Hu, Blake DeWitt, Juan Pierre, Xavier Paul, and Jason Repko all figure to be available. Juan Pierre obviously gets really complicated because of his salary, but I could see a deal to Colorado, Oakland, or Pittsburgh getting worked out. We have matched up well in the past with Pittsburgh’s Huntington on several trades.

I can see a deal for Hu and Grabow going down. That is actually a great fit for both teams, as Pittsburgh gets an heir to Jack Wilson. This would enable them to make a trade for another piece to their puzzle. Pierre going back to Colorado makes sense on several levels, and Street is a great fit for Los Angeles even if it is on a rental. The one player I have to rule out completely is Baez, we tried this guy before in 2006 and it blew up in our faces. Don’t look for Colletti to make the same mistake twice, no matter how good of a season Baez is having.

 05/28/2009  Posted by at 9:24 pm Dodgers Rumors No Responses »
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