2K24: Los Angeles Dodgers

[Hornsby]

Former Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has reportedly joined the Dodgers' front office in some undisclosed capacity.

As Dodger fan (yes, because of Vin Scully), I'm really sick and tired of them acting like they're the Rays. Today they signed Brandon Beachy...WTF? Now I see in the Madea thread that they have concerns about his elbow. Stop signing 3-5 level starters, suck it up and dump either Crawford, Either, or both, and get into the race for the playoffs. Right now, I can see about a .500 level team, unless EVERYTHING comes together.

Hell, the league NEEDS to have big spenders that everyone else can hate. The Mets and the Yankees should do it, but don't. The Cubs do, but they're still the Cubs. Stop signing front office people, get some elite players.

[Hornsby]

I'm glad the ownership doesn't think like you do.

You'll likely think differently when they're mired in 3rd for the next few seasons. And the system isn't THAT good they they can just wait for the kids to come and fix things...it's not my money, spend it!

[whalewang]

Don't the Dodger's have the highest or second highest projected WAR in all of baseball -- or maybe that a couple of weeks ago? It looks like Vegas has them as a top 5 team also.

[GwynnInTheHall]

The Dodger won as many playoff series last year as the Padres did and paid 3 times the money to do so.

Sure they SHOULD win it all, but they haven't shown they have they ability to play to their potential yet.

Maybe this year, but getting past SF is going to be tough, though not as tough as beating the Cubs, Mets or Nats once the playoffs start.

And yeah, I know, Padre suck.

[Hornsby]

LOL, third.

I'll take that bet. It would take a massive surge of injuries for that to happen. Hell, they lost 40% of their rotation last year almost immediately but their depth carried them through. Smart.

They're easily the class of the NL West, imo. Not only that but they have the best farm in the majors. Things are looking very, very good right now. It amuses me that folks still want to pursue some Padre strategy. Remember how enthused everyone was around here about "winning the offseason"? How'd that work out anyways?

Make the RIGHT buys, like Greinke, don't stockpile mediocre 3rd starters. Shore up the bullpen, for real. Get a 2nd baseman you can trust, not one that's affordable. So Corey Seager going to hit .290 with power, or his he going to be Joc Pederson? Is Puig's head screwed on straight? Is Turner good for 150 games at 3rd? Is Joc Pederson going to continue to scuffle, or does he learn how to hit MLB pitching? Does Alex Wood come back? Can Medea adapt to the bigs? Is HE healthy? Depth is great, but if it's mediocre depth, what does it matter?

This is a team that so far has lost the off-season to Arizona and San Francisco, both have gotten much better, and the Dodgers have gotten worse. So yeah, 3rd right now. Winning the off-season is about making the right moves, the Pads didn't last year, Arizona and SF have so far.

[Hornsby]

Hey, I'd be happy to be wrong, but I don't think that I am in this case. They have the money, they should spend it, wisely. But they didn't and it's going to hurt this season, IMO. There's also the case of Dave Roberts...who knows how well he'll work out? We'll see where we are in September...

[Hornsby]

I'm not sure shelling out enormous contracts for starting pitchers with elbow issues should be considered wise use of funds. I think only David Price was without injury concern among the big contract pitchers. Has there ever in the history of the game been an enormous pitching contract that turned out to be a wise move? I honestly don't know but I sure can't think of one. CC Sabathia was the best pitcher around when he got his mega deal. The biggest contracts list is littered with names like Justin Verlander, Johan Santana, Sabathia, Kevin Brown, etc., all of whom were elite but none of whom lived up to their deals.

Regardless, not only am I happy with how things are looking for this year, I am ecstatic about the future. They haven't traded any picks away (although they almost did in the Iwakuma deal) and have the best farm system in the business, including two of the best starting pitcher prospects around.

I feel confident enough that they'll exceed last year's win total (92) that I'm willing to put up an avatar bet to the first taker. This year's rotation, even though they lost Greinke, looks significantly stronger than last year's - hell Mike Freakin' Bolsinger made 22 starts for them last year. Brett Anderson was their #3 instead of the #5. Ryu, a #2 on most teams, didn't even make one pitch but is apparently pain free and long tossing now. McCarthy went down immediately. Add in Seager instead of the corpse of Jimmy Rollins, add in a full season of Puig, getting Ryu back, and some nice normalization of the bad luck their relievers experienced and I think things are looking up in Dodgertown. All that and they still haven't had to gut their farm system in the least!

I'll take you up on the avatar bet, since I'm the one who thinks that .500 is likely. 92 as the over/under for the bet? Can't agree about the rotation...losing Greinke is huge, but a sold point on signing long-term free agent arms.

[Sour Masher]

Has there ever in the history of the game been an enormous pitching contract that turned out to be a wise move? I honestly don't know but I sure can't think of one.

I can't think of one either, but I will jinx Kershaw by proclaiming that his contract will end up being a very good one for the Dodgers.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I'd like in on this bet too, over under 92?

[heyelander]

I think Hamels will pitch well through the end of his contract.

[Hornsby]

One new wrinkle is that almost all of these contracts have opt-outs in them, so you can effectively be off the hook after 2-3 seasons. It may actually work out as well for the clubs as it has with the players, much less risk.

[heyelander]

Maybe, although his contract falls waaaaaaaaaay short of those given to Price and Greinke. Even if he does pitch well through 2018, he'll be the exception and not the rule.

It was the second highest contract given to a pitcher ever at the time (behind CC). Kind of hard to make a statement that "none of these long term contracts ever work out" when you rule out any contract that falls below the salaries paid this year.

[heyelander]

I guess. It's also kind of hard to claim that contract a success when it has three more years to go. Scherzer's contract is looking good so far, too, right?

I think Hamels will pitch well through the end of his contract.

looks like an opinion on the future, not a statement of fact. It's not even an opinion that long term mega contracts are a good idea or work out often... just a statement that I think this one will be okay. Hell, even the fact that it was signed 2 years ago and already you are saying it's cheap goes a decent way to making it a good contract.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Maybe, although his contract falls waaaaaaaaaay short of those given to Price and Greinke. Even if he does pitch well through 2018, he'll be the exception and not the rule.


I understand that mega contracts are what it takes to land premium free agent pitching talent these days. If you are not willing to go to 6, 7, 8 years then you won't land the Greinkes and Prices out there. Still, it's pretty easy to make a really strong argument that doling out those kinds of deals will only end up hurting your organization in the long run.



My point is this: building a team through free agency is folly. Overpaying for big name free agents is not a great strategy, even in the short term. We've seen how a variety of strategies have played out and, in my opinion, the way to build your team is from the inside by valuing youth, drafting, international presence, and that sort of thing. Free agents are pretty much never young and especially with regards to pitchers, you're going to be committing massive amounts of money to a player when he's 38 years old to pitch like he did when he was 31.

Ok so you've said FA signings are folly because of the massive contracts it takes to land one. I can agree with that. But then you turn around an laud current ownership for the way they're running the franchise when they have signed or traded for quite a few of those contracts.

Greinke was a big FA signing, Crawford, Gonzalez, Hanley all were traded for but had bloated contracts. This year Kazmir and Maeda.

I don't see how you can have a 275 million dollar payroll and not have some of the very contracts you're saying are folly.

You are right regarding their commitment to building through the draft and international endeavors, but the Dodgers do exactly the same thing other teams do in free agency.

Just seems somewhat contradictory.

[Hodor]

The only big FA signing current ownership has ever participated in was Greinke, who worked out very well. None of the others were free agents, outside of Kazmir and Maeda, both of whom have reasonable contracts.

So trading for a big contract, obtained through free agency, is different than signing one?