The Winter Meetings are set to start in Las Vegas in a few days, and what the Dodgers front office will accomplish is anyone’s guess. Fans who are watching other teams make deals can’t wait to see the Dodgers make some deals of their own.
As we’ve not had much player news to talk about so far this offseason, I’m going to make my final pitch for the Dodgers to go all in—at the Winter Meetings and beyond. There are a couple reasons for this wish, so let’s start with the most important
The last two seasons sucked—Or, I guess I should say, the endings sucked. The last two seasons were obviously incredible seasons, each in their own way. 2017 was magical until right at the very end, and last year was a huge struggle all the way to through. But both of them ending in World Series losses leaves a bitter taste in so many fans mouths. I know that a lot of teams’ fans would be happy with the success the Dodgers have had while their own team or favorite player wastes away in mediocrity. While I am grateful for the two World Series runs, these are the Dodgers, a team and legacy that deserves another ring.
The NL is going to be a whole heck of a lot better this year—The NL East in particular is looking pretty scary. The Braves were a year ahead of schedule last season, but still won the division and now look to go for a deeper run in the playoffs. The Phillies also have a great young core, and possibly could add either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper to that mix. The Nationals and Mets are both fortifying their squads to compete in that division and beyond. Whoever makes it out of the East is going to be a really tough opponent in the playoffs.
Similarly, the St. Louis Cardinals were pretty good for awhile last year, before they petered out at the end. With the addition of Paul Goldschmidt, they will give the Brewers a run for their money for the division. The Dodgers’ own division should not be as competitive, but you just can’t immediately rule all the teams out of contention.
The AL still has the Red Sox and Yankees—So, if the Dodgers somehow manage to make it back to the World Series for the third straight time, they have to contend with whatever beast the AL sends their way. While the Dodgers should have beaten the Astros in 2017, the Red Sox were a far superior team this time around and will most likely still be in 2019. The Yankees are pushing to get better. The Astros will still be good.
There are too many variables—Clayton Kershaw has been declining. Rich Hill is 39. Justin Turner is 34. Hyun-Jin Ryu hasn’t had a full, healthy season since 2014. They don’t have a catcher besides Austin Barnes. Max Muncy could end up being a fluke. Alex Wood, if not traded, may not be what he once was as a starter after his demotion to the bullpen. Kenley Jansen struggled with more that his heart last season. It’s not enough to rely on the young core the Dodgers have to get them through.
There’s been an idea of what the Dodgers going ‘all in’ this off-season would look like, and it is this—acquire Trevor Bauer or Corey Kluber from the Indians, acquire J.T. Realmuto from the Marlins, and sign Bryce Harper. The Dodgers have the players and coffers to get this done. It would require some favorite players being traded away, a prospect or three developing somewhere else, and more money spent than the front office feels comfortable spending. But isn’t finally being World Champions worth it? I think most fans would say yes.
One reason Dodgers won’t go all in this winter. Guggenheim’s sketchy finances!
Andy, I think a lot of us dodger fans would be happy if just one of those things happen, I like your go big or go home attitude, I just hope you have some pull with Andrew.
Dodgers went big already. They increased payroll when many blog dummies insisted they would immediately shrink payroll when the Ray’s philosopher and known analytics addict was hired to run things. It didn’t work. Now we are committed to staying under the CBT (allegedly) and with 3 questionable guys making near $70 million, and already within minutes of the cap, an “all in” move isn’t very likely.
I will stand by my early prediction of more of the same. We will strengthen the bullpen with a M.A.S.H-er, sign a journeyman catcher, and trade one of our excess outfielders, a minor league catcher and an arm for Bauer.
I say this with an admission my crystal balls haven’t been functional for some time now. I’m floating these ideas on intuition.
All in is for gamblers. Friedman isn’t a gambler. Win the Division and “roll them bones” in Post Season. Again. It’s who we are. It’s what we do.
I could live with that Scoop
Scoop, I think you hit the proverbial nail right on the head. I also expect no world shaking deals. It would totally surprise me if he did a multiplayer trade even. It is kind of funny since the Dodger website says they are looking for Marquee players at the meetings. There are those kinds of guys out there, but they will not come cheap
Other teams are mentioned more often than we are. The National League teams are all chasing us so it figures they will be the ones swinging for the fences this winter. Nobody in the NL wants us getting Harper. They don’t want us getting anybody. giants would sign Harper just so we didn’t. I suspect Andrew will float faux fascination on the big names even if he’s not really interested. I know I would. Maybe drive the price up. We won with Harper on another playoff team. Obviously we don’t need him to win. Besides, $30 million will buy 2 Brandon McCarthy’s. Bad example. $30 million will buy Brett Anderson and Yu Darvish. Wait….. another bad example.. Alex Guerrero and Yadier Alvarez? No….Matt Latos and Scott Kazmir? Brandon League, Jim Johnson and Brian Wilson? I don’t know. You can do a lot with $30 million.
How about 30 million will buy you about 60-70% of Mike Trout’s 2021 season.
The senate passes a bill that awards the Medal of Freedom to the first black player in the AL, Larry Doby. Way late in my book. Mike Napoli retires after 13 big league seasons.
The guy we really need to get this week is Haniger. We know that even if we somehow keep Kemp and Puig this year, they’ll likely both be gone next year and we need a right handed power hitting outfielder. Haniger is that guy, and the nice thing is that his splits are pretty even. He could be one of those guys who played every day. And he’s got 4 years of control. DiPoto has indicated that he wouldn’t be totally averse to trading him in the right deal. Do we agree to take Seager or Gordon or King Felix or Santana or Jay Bruce or do we just overwhelm them with prospects? What does everyone think? Is Haniger the guy we need? If so, what do we send them and/or take back?
IMO it would have to be a prospects driven deal, if we take on a bad contract we won’t have the money to address our holes at catcher, second base, and bull pen. I would love to have an outfielder that wouldn’t have to be platooned,but I think it would be a tough deal to make. Maybe a three team deal move pedersen or Wood for a prospect or two to go to Seattle, and add a couple of our prospects?