2015/16 Offseason: More active than Shakira's hips

Ranma · Post #1 » by **Ranma** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 10:29 pm

Might as well start a new thread for this since Brooks Brown is not eligible for the Dodgers' postseason and Jim Johnson was a non-factor, anyway.

Steve Adams, MLBTradeRumors.com (10/14/15)

The Dodgers announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Brooks Brown off waivers from the Rockies. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Jim Johnson has been designated for assignment.

Brown, 30, has spent parts of the past two seasons in the Majors with the Rockies, working to a 3.97 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 53.8 percent ground-ball rate in 59 innings. Primarily a three-pitch pitcher, Brown complements a two-seam fastball that has averaged 93.6 mph in his career with a changeup and a slider, each of which clock in the mid 80s. The former D-Backs farmhand was selected 34th overall in the 2006 draft out of the University of Georgia but has struggled for much of his minor league career, working to a 4.31 ERA overall and a 4.76 ERA at the Triple-A level.

Dodgers Claim Brooks Brown, Designate Jim Johnson

Jon Weisman, DodgerInsider.com (10/14/15)

Taking his place on the 40-man roster — not eligible for the current playoffs — will be right-handed pitcher Brooks Brown.

A first-round (34th overall) pick by Arizona in the 2006 draft, the 30-year-old Brown had a 3.97 ERA with 41 strikeouts against 75 baserunners in 59 Major League innings for Colorado in 2014-15. He had a 2.77 ERA in 2014, then a 4.91 ERA in this year while dealing with right shoulder inflammation.

Dodgers Claim Brooks Brown, Designate Jim Johnson for Assignment

Ranma · Post #2 » by **Ranma** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 11:27 pm

I still want both Greinke and Price for the Dodgers this offseason. My primary concern with Greinke is the length of his contact. That also applies to Price but to a lesser extent, but I'm also concerned about the average annual salary of his deal as well. Greinke is quite comfortable in L.A. now so hopefully his agents won't be too demanding in negotiations. Watching the Rangers implode all around Cole Hamels should hopefully have Zack particularly appreciative of the Dodgers.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MMoreno1015/status/654426479195873280[/tweet]

Ranma · Post #3 » by **Ranma** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:44 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MMoreno1015/status/654883248514793472[/tweet]

nitetrain8603 · Post #4 » by **nitetrain8603** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 6:21 am

Honestly, they need to get consistent hitting. I may be grilled for saying this, but I'd even look into dealing Adrian Gonzalez. Here's what my plan would be:

Forget about David Price if you plan on resigning Greinke
Trade Yasiel Puig & Andre Ethier, Urias for Jose Quintana and David Robertson. The White Sox need hitting, the Dodgers should dump salary and dead weight. If they resign Greinke, this gives them a legit #3 pitcher who's a workhorse. His ERA+ is 116 since coming into the league. He's cost controlled and helps you cut salary. You get a legit closer, move Jansen to setup which improves your bullpen.

Sign Yoenis Cespedes - Use the money you saved from not signing Price and getting rid of Ethier and Puig's salaries for a legit OF bat. Why Yoenis? He can play two OF positions, he's a bopper, and he's Friedman friendly - won't cost you a pick.

Sad Matt Wieters on a 1 year deal. Get rid of Ellis or Grandal

Re-Sign Howie Kendrick (Or if ballsy and you can spend some dough, sign Daniel Murphy or trade Carl Crawford and a couple of mid-level prospects for Brandon Phillips). Get rid of Crawford at all costs.

Lineup:
2B-Howie Kendrick
3B-Justin Turner (2nd guy in lineup hits the most over the course of the season - I want my best hitter there, but will change if he falls)
1B-Adrian Gonzalez
OF-Yoenis Cespedes
SS-Corey Seager
OF-Joc Pederson
C-Matt Wieters
OF-Kike Hernandez
P-Starting Pitcher

You have balance of leadership, experience, hitting, youth and cost controlled players. You have a closer, a setup man and I'd bring in Tony Sipp/Neal Cotts for left handed relief and Tyler Clippard/Ryan Madson for right handed relief to pitch outta the bullpen as well. Re-sign Anderson.

Clayton Kershaw
Zack Greinke
Jose Quintana
Brett Anderson
Alex Wood

Bullpen:
Sipp/Cotts
Clippard/Madson

Setup:
Jansen

Closer:
Robertson

Ranma · Post #5 » by **Ranma** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 8:19 am

[tweet]https://twitter.com/billplunkettocr/status/654905311589863424[/tweet]

Quake Griffin · Post #6 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 7:27 pm

Kilroy….do you mind updating the thread title this offseason with the news? Ex. putting (Mattingly Fired) on this when it happens? I know it's just a small forum with 4 of us but it's still dope to do things in order and attract as many Dodger fans as possible. The Raider forum gained one steady contributor this season and it helps.

Quake Griffin · Post #7 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri Oct 16, 2015 7:47 pm

Ranma wrote:I still want both Greinke and Price for the Dodgers this offseason. My primary concern with Greinke is the length of his contact. That also applies to Price but to a lesser extent, but I'm also concerned about the average annual salary of his deal as well. Greinke is quite comfortable in L.A. now so hopefully his agents won't be too demanding in negotiations. Watching the Rangers implode all around Cole Hamels should hopefully have Zack particularly appreciative of the Dodgers.

If we sign an extra pitcher, somebody is gonna have to go.

Of Urias, DeLeon, Wood, Ryu….there's just not enough space in the rotation to keep everybody around if we have 3 pitchers that are gonna be on the team for the next 5 years.

This is where I like what our organization has done.
We're completely flexible we have tons of pieces that can be used to fetch something that we want and still throw a solid 5 out on the mound. Another bat. An SS.

There's SOOOO much opportunity for this team to get better over this winter it's not even funny.

Neddy · Post #8 » by **Neddy** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 2:58 am

nitetrain8603 wrote:Honestly, they need to get consistent hitting. I may be grilled for saying this, but I'd even look into dealing Adrian Gonzalez. Here's what my plan would be:

Forget about David Price if you plan on resigning Greinke
Trade Yasiel Puig & Andre Ethier, Urias for Jose Quintana and David Robertson. The White Sox need hitting, the Dodgers should dump salary and dead weight. If they resign Greinke, this gives them a legit #3 pitcher who's a workhorse. His ERA+ is 116 since coming into the league. He's cost controlled and helps you cut salary. You get a legit closer, move Jansen to setup which improves your bullpen.

Sign Yoenis Cespedes - Use the money you saved from not signing Price and getting rid of Ethier and Puig's salaries for a legit OF bat. Why Yoenis? He can play two OF positions, he's a bopper, and he's Friedman friendly - won't cost you a pick.

Sad Matt Wieters on a 1 year deal. Get rid of Ellis or Grandal

Re-Sign Howie Kendrick (Or if ballsy and you can spend some dough, sign Daniel Murphy or trade Carl Crawford and a couple of mid-level prospects for Brandon Phillips). Get rid of Crawford at all costs.

Lineup:
2B-Howie Kendrick
3B-Justin Turner (2nd guy in lineup hits the most over the course of the season - I want my best hitter there, but will change if he falls)
1B-Adrian Gonzalez
OF-Yoenis Cespedes
SS-Corey Seager
OF-Joc Pederson
C-Matt Wieters
OF-Kike Hernandez
P-Starting Pitcher

You have balance of leadership, experience, hitting, youth and cost controlled players. You have a closer, a setup man and I'd bring in Tony Sipp/Neal Cotts for left handed relief and Tyler Clippard/Ryan Madson for right handed relief to pitch outta the bullpen as well. Re-sign Anderson.

Clayton Kershaw
Zack Greinke
Jose Quintana
Brett Anderson
Alex Wood

Bullpen:
Sipp/Cotts
Clippard/Madson

Setup:
Jansen

Closer:
Robertson

I wouldnt trade for Jose Quintana straight up for Urias alone. you are giving away lefty Pedro Martinez for his brother Ramon. heck, Jose's been regressing every year he is actually at Alex Wood's level in terms of K/9, BB/9, his BABIP increased for the worse each season, and his FIP is about Brett Anderson. in fact, healthy Ryu dominates Jose.

I would not be against trading anyone if the right deal was on the table, but I would probably hold on to Puig for two reasons. 1) he is so young and still adjusting to American life and its culture, a baseball one as well. it took a few seasons for ryce Harper to put it all together, Puig may do the same. 2) do not like selling low.

I don't think we are looking to replace and displace Jensen from closing role, but looking for his set up man. if cost isn't the issue, Craig Kimbrel might make a good one.

I like Cespedes idea, and we truly need to dump Carl at all costs.

but #1 public enemy in my view is Don Mattingly and his decision making skills or lack there of.

Quake Griffin · Post #9 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:08 pm

I also wouldn't mind if we decided to solve a lot of our issues internally while getting rid of the clutter….our front office has done a great job bolstering the depth of this organization and it could be worth it.

In this scenario, I leave Seager and Turner where they are and DO NOT begin to look for that elite SS like Simmons. I'd let Austin Barnes, **** and Jose Peraza duel it out for the 2nd Base role and get a compensation pick for my man Howard.

Hopefully Barnes (he's gonna be a great OBP bat and should handle the MI well….as well as he's able to get behind the plate) or Peraza win the gig and **** can just move to LF.

re-sign Greinke.
get a healthy Ryu back.
Call up Urias and DeLeon

Pitchers:
Kershaw
Greinke
Ryu
Urias
DeLeon

Lineup:
Barnes/ Peraza….i like Barnes because he's gonna draw walks.
Seager
Turner
A-Gon
Puig
Yasmani
Joc
****
Pitcher

The internal options can work imo if we want to keep this team together.

However, if we begin to sign players, we're going to have to move players off of our roster.
This is a good problem to have.
Ex. Sign Heyward. Puig needs to be moved. Puig isn't chop liver, he can fetch us a solid return.
Ex. Re-sign Greinke and sign Zimmermann/ Price/ Cueto….then a young arm has to be dealt….Any one could fetch us a solid return.

Quake Griffin · Post #10 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:20 pm

“Dodgers higher-ups are said to give Don Mattingly big credit for the way he’s handled the clubhouse,” Heyman writes. It’s not certain that Mattingly will return in 2016, but Heyman notes that the approval of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke doesn’t hurt his case.

oh and then there's this.

Quake Griffin · Post #11 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:26 pm

nitetrain8603 wrote:Honestly, they need to get consistent hitting. I may be grilled for saying this, but I'd even look into dealing Adrian Gonzalez. Here's what my plan would be:

Forget about David Price if you plan on resigning Greinke
Trade Yasiel Puig & Andre Ethier, Urias for Jose Quintana and David Robertson. The White Sox need hitting, the Dodgers should dump salary and dead weight. If they resign Greinke, this gives them a legit #3 pitcher who's a workhorse. His ERA+ is 116 since coming into the league. He's cost controlled and helps you cut salary. You get a legit closer, move Jansen to setup which improves your bullpen.

Sign Yoenis Cespedes - Use the money you saved from not signing Price and getting rid of Ethier and Puig's salaries for a legit OF bat. Why Yoenis? He can play two OF positions, he's a bopper, and he's Friedman friendly - won't cost you a pick.

Sad Matt Wieters on a 1 year deal. Get rid of Ellis or Grandal

Re-Sign Howie Kendrick (Or if ballsy and you can spend some dough, sign Daniel Murphy or trade Carl Crawford and a couple of mid-level prospects for Brandon Phillips). Get rid of Crawford at all costs.

Lineup:
2B-Howie Kendrick
3B-Justin Turner (2nd guy in lineup hits the most over the course of the season - I want my best hitter there, but will change if he falls)
1B-Adrian Gonzalez
OF-Yoenis Cespedes
SS-Corey Seager
OF-Joc Pederson
C-Matt Wieters
OF-Kike Hernandez
P-Starting Pitcher

You have balance of leadership, experience, hitting, youth and cost controlled players. You have a closer, a setup man and I'd bring in Tony Sipp/Neal Cotts for left handed relief and Tyler Clippard/Ryan Madson for right handed relief to pitch outta the bullpen as well. Re-sign Anderson.

Clayton Kershaw
Zack Greinke
Jose Quintana
Brett Anderson
Alex Wood

Bullpen:
Sipp/Cotts
Clippard/Madson

Setup:
Jansen

Closer:
Robertson

And you.

please stick around the forum.
Would love new ppl to contribute.

Quake Griffin · Post #12 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 2:22 am

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=13900297

Peep this podcast guys.
Olney and Keith Law discussing the loss of Game 5 the day after and our future.

Worth the time to peep.
Very interesting to see Olney say that we have NO CULTURE and the players in our locker room have no bond around the 36 minute mark.

nitetrain8603 · Post #13 » by **nitetrain8603** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 2:32 am

Quake Griffin wrote:http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=13900297

Peep this podcast guys.
Olney and Keith Law discussing the loss of Game 5 the day after and our future.

Worth the time to peep.
Very interesting to see Olney say that we have NO CULTURE and the players in our locker room have no bond around the 36 minute mark.

I think that's a byproduct of the team wanting a quiet lockerroom (Greinke) and the leaders being naturally quiet. I mean, usually your leaders are the alpha males on the field. This team has a mix of alpha players being quiet like Greinke, AGone, Kershaw. I think Puig was actually a good nominee for leadership but they quickly neutered him.

Quake Griffin · Post #14 » by **Quake Griffin** » Thu Oct 22, 2015 3:18 pm

Don Mattingly and Dodgers agree to mutually party ways!!!!!!!11

YES!!!!!1

edit:
I certainly appreciate the way Management has handled this in the media by declaring that they have mutually parted ways. It keeps them from seeming like they're smearing Donnie in the media and prevents people from acting like they're putting the entire blame on him.

That press Conference was

A lotta tough questions. I appreciate who tight lipped our organization is about these things. Keep the controversy low…let the moves speak for themselves.

Post #15 » by **Kilroy** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 1:48 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:Kilroy….do you mind updating the thread title this offseason with the news? Ex. putting (Mattingly Fired) on this when it happens? I know it's just a small forum with 4 of us but it's still dope to do things in order and attract as many Dodger fans as possible. The Raider forum gained one steady contributor this season and it helps.

I'll do that, but if we're really trying to generate fan participation, it would be better to start new threads for this information instead of dumping them in this thread.
The big thread concept works better on active boards to remove clutter... Frankly the clutter on this board is because there aren't enough new threads to push ancient info off the first page.

So let's start new threads for new articles... For instance, the press conference for Donnie's ouster would have been a good new thread.

Neddy · Post #16 » by **Neddy** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:45 pm

Kilroy wrote:
Quake Griffin wrote:Kilroy….do you mind updating the thread title this offseason with the news? Ex. putting (Mattingly Fired) on this when it happens? I know it's just a small forum with 4 of us but it's still dope to do things in order and attract as many Dodger fans as possible. The Raider forum gained one steady contributor this season and it helps.

I'll do that, but if we're really trying to generate fan participation, it would be better to start new threads for this information instead of dumping them in this thread.
The big thread concept works better on active boards to remove clutter... Frankly the clutter on this board is because there aren't enough new threads to push ancient info off the first page.

So let's start new threads for new articles... For instance, the press conference for Donnie's ouster would have been a good new thread.

you bet we will have a brand new spanking thread once we hire a new manager!

Quake Griffin · Post #17 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 5:19 pm

Will do Kilroy.

Anybody interested in trading for Aroldis Chapman this winter?
Hatcher 7th
Chapman 8th
Kenley 9th

GOOD LAWD!
not even KC would be able to touch that 7th 8th and 9th combination.

Why would I like trading for him? His **** is electrifying #1 and he's showing no signs of a dip in velo.
#2 Somebody is going to pay him at season's end. Get him in the winter and the QO will most certainly turn into a draft pick IF we don't find it necessary to re-sign him.
The return even on the compensation pick would be more than what we'd even need to get him.

Kenley would still be my closer. I wouldn't pull a Papelbon/ Storen on him ever. I'm just loyal that way.

Ranma · Post #18 » by **Ranma** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 7:42 pm

[tweet]https://twitter.com/markasaxon/status/656950361844940800[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/Kazuto_Yamazaki/status/656943960045129728[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/truebluela/status/656951809739722752[/tweet]

Ranma · Post #19 » by **Ranma** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 5:25 am

Quake Griffin wrote:Anybody interested in trading for Aroldis Chapman this winter?
Hatcher 7th
Chapman 8th
Kenley 9th

GOOD LAWD!
not even KC would be able to touch that 7th 8th and 9th combination.

Why would I like trading for him? His **** is electrifying #1 and he's showing no signs of a dip in velo.
#2 Somebody is going to pay him at season's end. Get him in the winter and the QO will most certainly turn into a draft pick IF we don't find it necessary to re-sign him.
The return even on the compensation pick would be more than what we'd even need to get him.

Kenley would still be my closer. I wouldn't pull a Papelbon/ Storen on him ever. I'm just loyal that way.

I'd love to add Aroldis Chapman to our bullpen with the righty-lefty combination in relief since, if you recall, I've advocated trading for him. However, I'm concerned about the price it would take to get him especially now that he is another year closer to free agency. If we can get him for Chris Anderson and Grant Holmes, then I might be convinced to sign off on that, but that would also mean giving up our #5 and #8 prospects in the system, so I'd like to see what else we can get back from the Reds. Both Julio Urias and Jose DeLeon would be off-limits for Chapman.

At this point, I'm more inclined to deal for Jake McGee, especially if he can be packaged along with Evan Longoria in a deal for Yasiel Puig.

Ranma · Post #20 » by **Ranma** » Sun Oct 25, 2015 8:03 am

Quake Griffin wrote:If we sign an extra pitcher, somebody is gonna have to go.

Of Urias, DeLeon, Wood, Ryu….there's just not enough space in the rotation to keep everybody around if we have 3 pitchers that are gonna be on the team for the next 5 years.

This is where I like what our organization has done.
We're completely flexible we have tons of pieces that can be used to fetch something that we want and still throw a solid 5 out on the mound. Another bat. An SS.

There's SOOOO much opportunity for this team to get better over this winter it's not even funny.

Outside of Julio Urias, I'm not really sold on any of our pitching prospects as frontline starters. Jose DeLeon and Yadier Alvarez certainly have the potential, but I think DeLeon is probably better off as a 4th or 5th starter for a few years to start off his Major League career or at least that's what he should be in the Dodgers' rotation. Alvarez is quite a few years away from contributing anything of significance. While DeLeon may get a shot at the rotation for the 2016 season, it seems more likely that he'll be given a legit chance the following season. The earliest projections have Urias contributing to the big club in late-2016 maybe mid-2016 before getting a full shot at a roster spot in 2017.

I have Alex Wood penciled in as our #4 starter for 2016 with a chance to move up to #3 in the rotation, but I'm concerned about his long-term sustainability given his funky delivery. I look forward to seeing what he can do for a full season as a Dodger but I'm not counting on him to be a mainstay in the rotation.

Hyun-Jin Ryu obviously would be a great option as the #3 starter, but I'm starting to think of him as the left-handed Chad Billingsley, which may be unfair but it's a concern, nonetheless. If we have to push him to #4 starter, would that really be a bad thing?

Brandon McCarthy obviously won't be ready to start the season and Brett Anderson will likely sign elsewhere with a compensatory draft pick coming our way.

At this point, all we can count on is Clayton Kershaw as our ace and Alex Wood as our #4 starter. That's 2 out of 5 slots. Getting two aces to fill the #2 and #3 slots may be overkill to some but I think it's exactly what we need for 2016 and beyond. If we have to eventually trade away extra pitching, there are worse assets to have as trade chips.

I'm all for developing our starters from within the organization but there isn't anybody on the horizon in the developmental pipeline--again, outside of Urias--who I'm hyped to take over a frontline slot in the rotation in the near term, which is why I've been disappointed with our drafts in not going after higher upside prep arms. Urias wasn't even drafted, but rather signed by the Dodgers out of the Mexican League. DeLeon was a 23rd-round selection in 2013 and represents more of a testament to our developmental program than draft acumen.

We've since drafted Walker Buehler, Kyle Funkhouser, Grant Holmes, Chris Anderson, and Zach Lee with 1st-round draft picks. I like Buehler as an eventual #3 starter but he's recovering from Tommy John surgery. Funkhouser probably did us a favor by going back to college so that we'll get a replacement pick in the 2016 draft. I view Holmes and Anderson more as bullpen arms with Holmes having closer potential. Lee is a solid pitching prospect but more of a #4 or #5 starter at this point in his career.

In fact, here is a recent article that points to our draft failures with regard to selecting pitchers:

Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times (10/24/15)

The draft has been a disaster on the pitching front, at least so far. Of the 12 players the Dodgers have selected in the first round since Kershaw, 10 were pitchers.

Of those 12 players, the one with the highest WAR (wins above replacement, which accumulates over the course of a career): Corey Seager, a shortstop with one month in the major leagues.
...

Help is on the way, but probably not in time for the start of the 2016 season. Left-hander Julio Urias and right-handers Jose De Leon and Grant Holmes were among the top 50 prospects in Baseball Prospectus' midseason rankings.

Urias, 19, finished this year at triple A and figures to start there next year. De Leon, 20, finished this year at double A and could start there next year. Holmes, 19, played all season at Class A.

Dodgers, Disarmed by Draft Failures, Will Have to Buy Pitching Again This Winter

I think we have plenty of arms to give opportunities at the #4 and #5 slots in the pitching rotation, which is why I don't want to sign any more Brett Anderson's or Brandon McCarthy's. Zach Lee, Joe Wieland, and Mike Bolsinger should be close to ready for such duty. If we're going to go the free-agent route, I want us to go big with names like Greinke, Price, and Cueto.