Russell Martin Returns to Dodgers

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(AP photo)

Just when you thought the Dodgers weren’t going to make a move, they go ahead and make a deal. Late Friday morning, it was announced that the team acquired catcher Russell Martin from the Toronto Blue Jays in return for cash considerations and minor league right-handed pitcher Andrew Sopko, along with minor league infielder Ronny Brito.

The 35-year-old Martin started his career as a Dodger in 2006 after being selected by Los Angeles in the 17th round of the 2002 draft. With the Dodgers, Martin was an All-Star in 2007 and 2008 and helped lead the club to three postseason appearances in his five seasons. The upcoming season will be Martin’s 14th in the majors, and he owns a career slash line of .249/.349/.399 with 185 homers and 751 RBI with the Dodgers (2006-10), Yankees (2011-12), Pirates (2013-14) and Blue Jays (2015-18).

In 2018, Martin made 89 starts behind the plate and at third base for the Blue Jays, slashing .194/.338/.325 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI.

Sopko, 24, was selected by the Dodgers in the seventh round of the 2015 draft out of Gonzaga and has a career 27-17 minor league record with a 3.61 ERA and 363 strikeouts against 112 walks over four seasons.

Brito, 19, signed with the Dodgers as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic on July 2, 2015 and has a career minor league slashline of .259/.339/.418 with 15 homers and 104 RBIs over three minor league seasons.

This marks the second straight season that the Dodgers have brought back a former player, sparking many on social media to make a call for the return of their favorite former player (I’d like to have Puig come back, please). Martin is likely to be the back up to Austin Barnes, unless, in some bizarro world, the Dodgers still stay in on J.T. Realmuto. But one would think that this effectively takes them out of the running for the Marlins catcher.

Martin also made starts at both shortstop and left field while in Toronto, adding to the type of player the Dodgers’ front office likes—one with versatility.  He has also hit double digit home runs in eight straight seasons. According to David Vassegh, the Dodgers and Blue Jays have been talking since the winter meetings about a possible Martin trade.

As the Dodgers had 38 players on their 40-man roster, no corresponding move would be made to add Martin.

(Jon Chapper provided some information furnished in this report)

 

50 thoughts on “Russell Martin Returns to Dodgers

  1. Boy, that was fast Andy! Ya picked up the old slack really well. Along with being versatile, I think they got him back because his OBP is about .340. Better than some other players. They gave up lower level prospects, although Brito was ranked #23. I think they are out on Realmuto, but now the chatter is that they are looking and talking to Marwin Gonzalez and Josh Harrison’s agents. Could be that is the way they want to go. Utility like players instead of stars. Fits Ol Andy’s profile to a T.

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  2. Friedman announced this afternoon that with the recent departures of Farner and Puig, Von Scoyoc has now become the big league emergency catcher. He should be appointed to the 40-man roster by Monday.

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  3. There must be more to this. Those 2 prospects could have been used to get us more than an aging catcher. Martin is no better than Maldonado and we could’ve had him for about the same $ and no prospects lost. Tell me what comes next.

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    1. They are not paying them money Scoop. Toronto is picking up most of his contract. The Dodgers will pay a small portion of his deal. I do not think there is more to this because reports are coming in that the Dodgers have renewed interest in Harrison, M. Gonzalez and Wilmer Flores. All 3 of whom are typical Friedman like player. Although Rosenthal insists other wise and that the Dodgers are still in on Realmuto, the Marlins have not lowered their demands and can be offered a better package by the Astros.

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      1. Most of the contract Bear. Not all of it. How much? I read between 2-4 million, which brings me back to my point – we could get Maldonado for that much and use those two prospects for something else. Similar defense value, but Maldonado has a much better at CS%. Is it only because Martin will be here 1 year and Maldonado probably wants at least 2? Is it because Realmuto is also coming and Barnes is leaving? Tell me there is something else. I liked Brito and Sopko will probably pitch in the Majors next year.

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      2. You read what I did. Yes you are so right. They could have done that. Maybe Maldonado wanted 2 or 3 years, who knows with this bunch.

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  4. The Yankees seem to be out on Machado. Now he’s down to Philly and White Sox neither whom I think he wants to play for. Does AF meet with Turner and Seiger and see if they’re willing to move around to accommodate Manny and offer a 5-6 year deal with opt outs.

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    1. I like the idea, but I think his ego gets in the way. He wants the big money and the big fish deal. Harper most likely back to the Nats, with a slight chance he goes to the Phils. Both of those guys picked a bad time to be free agents.

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  5. Well they just announced that all of their arbitration eligible players have signed 1 year deals, so now all Ol Andy has on his plate is filling out the roster and AAA OKC’s roster. Ken Rosenthal is an asshole. I made a comment about the dealings with the Marlins about Realmuto and that little creep called me a name…….he would not try that crap in person and all I said was as long as Bellinger was in the discussion, there would be no deal…what a twerp.

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  6. Susac waived by the Brewers. Realmuto signs a 1 year deal with the Marlins. Maybe he feels that will help him get out of Miami.

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  7. Actually Susac was with the O’s. Seager to earn 4 mil this year. Salary’s of the other 6 not yet available. Lots of questions floating as to why Harper and Machado remain unsigned. Sherman and Heyman believe it is because so many of the long term deals have become an albatross on the teams neck, that teams are more cautious now.

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  8. I’m with you bear. I wouldn’t trade Bellinger heads up for Realmuto much less plus more pieces. Bellinger has way more upside and more control.

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  9. Jays sending the Dodgers 16.4 million of Martin’s contract, so they have to cover 3.6. Puig got 9.7 from the Reds. Pretty close to what the Dodgers had offered pre trade. deGrom gets 17 million in an arbitration settlement. Last Dodger to actually take the team to a hearing, Joe Beimel.

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    1. I’d prefer Maldonado. Maybe coulda sent Brito, Barnes, Alvarez, and whoever + $$ to Miami. Maybe still could, subbing Jeter for Brito. Realmuto is not staying in Florida. He will be traded eventually. You want the Realmuto, TAKE the Realmuto.

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  10. 16.4 mil is exactly what his contract is worth this year against the spending limit, so basically we gave them two prospects to get Martin for free. What kind of name did Rosenthal call you Bear? He always struck me as a very nice guy.

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    1. Lets just say Ken was not very complimentary. All I said was that there was no way Realmuto comes to LA as long as they keep talking Bellinger. Nothings free Jeff. Yeah, what they are paying is offset by the CBT, but he is 36. Expecting Martin to play 100 plus games like Grandal did? That’s a pipe dream in my estimation. C Martin, 1B Muncy, 2B Taylor, SS Seager, 3B Turner, LF Pederson, CF Bellinger, RF Toles/Verdugo, you really believe that lineup scares anyone? Not me. There is not even a pure leadoff man or 4 hole hitter in that bunch, although if Bellinger becomes 2017 Belli he would qualify.

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      1. Barnes will play 100, Martin 62 at catcher plus a few others elsewhere around the diamond. He shouldn’t have a problem with that. You say the lineup you mentioned doesn’t scare anyone. Well, it scares me. I’m afraid that lineup may not be enough to beat the Rockies let alone win a WS. So (and I hate to do this to you Bear), I’m going to remind you again that the off-season is not yet over. If, we’re right around the roster we have today in mid February, I’ll join your chorus, because I won’t be happy either. I’m just assuming we’ll add one or two more interesting (and by that I mean worthwhile) pieces before ST. Let’s hope for both our sakes that I’m more close to being right than you are.

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      2. 32 days and counting to pitchers and catchers report and then all the spring to set the lineup, I know the numbers. But I also know that unless he pulls off a multiplayer swap, he has room to add only 1 right now. The free agent market is full of his type of player, utility guys who play a lot of positions, but that IMPACT guy is not out there. At least not named Machado or Harper.

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      3. If no other moves are made they will each play over 100 games and split the at bats. There are no iron men anymore. Grandal lead all of baseball’s catchers last year with 135 games played. He averaged 3.8 PA’s for those games, meaning he didn’t finish a lot of them. It’s a very long season. There are only a few Dodgers that would even be considered every day players. Bellinger and Taylor are the only two with over 600 plate appearances last year. Only 4 had over 500.

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  11. That explains a lot Jeff, I was wondering why in the heck we gave up prospects, and still payed 3.6 mil, but we live in the CBT world, where only CBT dollars count. Who can complain about free.

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    1. It ain’t “free”. There is payroll and there is luxury tax. The Dodgers are paying $3.6 million. It just isn’t taxed.

      Maybe that was part of the motivation, which makes it worse in my mind. Is Martin the right guy or is he nothing more than another finance maneuver.

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  12. I’d be fine with manny falling back to us, but I still wouldn’t count the yanks completely out of it, plus the Phillies still have”stupid” money to spend, I never thought he would go to Chicago. As far as mannys play and attitude goes, he struggled in the playoffs, but he has not forgotten how to hit, he is still a very good hitter for a SS. I like a little bit of attitude, he is not going to put up with another player trying to intimidate him or show him up, that’s not attitude that’s competitive fire. That clown on first base for the bosox was trying to intimidate manny by not pulling his foot off the base. Leave your foot On the bag, get stepped on. You played ball scoop, I’ll bet you or your teammates got even with anybody that disrespected you. So bring manny on, I’ll take him, and or Harper. In all honesty this club probably makes enough money to afford both.

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    1. Wrong team, wrong playoff. It was the Brewers 1st baseman he stepped on, not the Red Sox. And if you watch the video that’s not what happened, Manny deliberately hit the guy and only his heel was touching the base. Thanks but no thanks and not just because of that incident. He was very pedestrian as a Dodger. His BA dropped over 40 points and his strikeouts went up.

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  13. I know he’s not free scoop, but it seems the FO is more concerned with CBT dollars than real dollars, which is kind of scary. It seems Andrew may not be allowed to exceed the cap, which is so rediculous, I don’t even want to get started again.

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    1. Yeah, often retaliation is part of the game. I never tried to spike anybody but I did know some tricks on how to deal with those who did. As an ump I immediately issued warnings. Never had to eject anyone for it.

      I’m with you on the cap thing. I read that Friedman said the Dodgers will remain under the cap until 2022. Two questions that immediately come to mind: why?, and why announce that publicly? I don’t pretend to know what goes on behind closed doors of large corporations, but from all I’ve read about the Guggs and their Dodger dealings…… it just feels like something is going on.

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      1. Selling the team maybe? Making the books look good to potential buyers? He has been the same guy since he got here. This is the 5th year of his reign and he has never gone after the prime player. Everything and every player is either a utility guy, or a star on the way down. Oh yeah, he made some deals at the deadline because to sit on his hands and do nothing would have really infuriated the fan base. And face it, none of those deals got the team the big win. They were going to win without Darvish no matter what in 2017. Anyone really believe that his 4 wins got them over the hump? He was 2-0 in the playoffs, and as we all know, 0-2 in the series. Now, Machado was not terrible like Reddick was or Granderson, but he was no where near the same player he was in Baltimore. He did bring some pop and pretty good defense, but his playoffs and world series numbers are not all that great. But fans continue to sing the praise because they have been to the big dance twice in a row, and the Dodgers have become a combination of the Buffalo Bill and 1990’s Braves…….a wallflower at the dance again. I am beginning to believe that this is the way it will be until either he leaves the team, or they are sold to someone else. Yes, they are a very talented and well run team. But they are in no way a Championship team. They have been very profitable, especially this year taking in a half billion dollars in profit, and to me, that seems to be their bottom line. Keep the team competitive and keep the cash rolling in, and a lot of Dodger fans still cannot see their team on TV.

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  14. Yeah, how come they can spend 300 mil a few seasons ago, but now they don’t have enough money to go past the cap? Were they losing 100 mil per season? I seriously doubt it. No good business man let’s his company lose that kind of money.

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    1. They have the money Keith. They made 1/2 billion in profits this year. They just are not going to spend it. At least not on player salary’s and not if it puts them above the CBT. They stated that early in the year when they said they wanted to stay under the CBT until 2022.

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      1. Like I said, I don’t pretend to know what is going on with the Dodgers investment group dealings but obviously something is. Google it and you you get a long list articles addressing it. This is an example of what language you will read:

        “Where does this leave the baseball world? It leaves them, at the most charitable, with an owner with possibly shaky financials and an SEC investigation, as well allegations they were using falsely-boosted assets to acquire the cash for the sale. I don’t think we’ve seen a fraudulent sale in baseball before, but if that was actually the case, it would make the McCourt ordeal look like kids fighting in the sand—this would bring damages and further debt on to a franchise that was supposedly free of it and its earlier era’s.

        This is ultimately one of the side effects of the ever-increasing values of franchises. As teams becomes so expensive that a single person cannot afford it, ownership and asset management groups become appealing.

        This is what made the Marlins deal a reality, another team saddled with debt, and now they have an ownership group led by another asset management mogul. If the last two decades have taught us anything, it’s that the finance sector’s dealings, if not inspected with a loupe, resemble nothing more than a house of cards using false value against what is ostensibly a real, human value in a physical team with a physical stadium, and physical fans—no financial games involved.

        It’s hard to say what the conclusion of the Guggenheim investigation/lawsuit will be, but you can even see problems with them just starting to comply with debt service rules after a five-year waiver. A team in debt led by an asset management group with faltering confidence is one thing, but one that made an allegedly fraudulent sale in the first place? That would be one of the most seismic ownership events in the sport’s history, so keep this story on your radar.”

        Above my pay grade. But it doesn’t take a genius to know insurance companies are under enormous strain as towns like Paradise are wiped out and payments are made. And they are being made. How does that effect Guggs? I have no idea. Maybe it doesn’t. But the language used above is troubling and it’s all over the internet. Maybe someone here can clear it up for us.

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      2. I’ve said before, if you make it to the world series, winning or losing doesn’t really matter from a profit perspective. As long as they make the post season the profits keep rolling in. Why would they want to spend an extra 3/400 million on player contracts especially when they know they will probably have to eat half of it. Financially they are fine and the playoffs are gravy.

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      3. Who said they want to? They obviously do not, but they have the resources that if they wanted to get impact free agents, they could. They are the second richest team in the majors. But Friedman has restraints and those were set by ownership when they mandated staying under the CBT for at least 4 years, which means until 2022. And that money they made came mostly from the fact that over 3,000,000 lemmings kept coming out to see the team. The players benefit from the series too. They got well over 200.000 apiece for losing the series.

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  15. I read about the investigation when that story first broke, but have heard nothing else since. Betts got 20 million to not go to arbitration, Arenado asked for 30 million in his walk year. Rocks offered 24.5. Looks like he might settle for a little over 27, which to me means he is going to be asking for 30 mil or more per season next year, but probably not for 10 years like Harper and Machado. Mystery team supposedly in on Machado…..doubt it is the Dodgers.

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  16. I do not profess to have any inside knowledge of how the Dodger FO works under Friedman. What I do know is Dodger history and I can track his history on baseballreference.com and see his tendency’s over the last 5 years. He has rarely surprised the fans with his winter moves. I do know he is getting hammered on twitter for the Martin trade. But mostly because they cleared payroll and have not gone after Machado or Harper. The Kluber ship seems to have sailed also, and as long as the Marlins keep wanting Bellinger, there is no way Realmuto gets traded to the Dodgers. I am fine with Martin and Barnes sharing the catching duties, and despite his lousy year last year, he has a career BA near .250, which is 10 points higher than Grandal We will miss Grandal’s power, but not his penchant for going into prolonged slumps and passed balls. Both Barnes and Martin are better defenders. Friedman is also probably feeling a little stung by the signings of McCarthy, Kazmir, and then the QO to Anderson that was a total waste of money. McCarty never lived up to that deal, Anderson did not pitch all that year, and Kazmir, despite starting off pretty good went into the tank also. Friedman’s deadline deals have had mixed results as have his end of August moves. He has been more liable to sign low risk high reward players than an impact player. It also seems he is under a mandate from ownership to stay under the CBT. Pitchers and catchers report in 32 days. I believe he will add at least one player before spring to the 40 man because he has one spot left. But I think also that the player will be more in the Kike mold than some impact bat. That’s his modus operandi. It is what he does the most. I do not believe that with the roster as it stands right now that they are anywhere near the best team in the NL. If anything, they weakened a team that got the division title by the skin of it’s teeth. Everyone thought that when they added Machado they would cruise to the title. That did not happen , they needed to beat the Rockies in game 163. Then they beat a young very talented Braves team, and got by the Brewers by the hair on their chins. Then they were totally outclassed in the World Series by a far superior team. He has not strengthened that team, if anything he has weakened it., He has 32 days to fill out his 40 man roster with 1 player. Yes, he could make a multiplayer deal, or he can simply sign 1 guy and head into spring with what he has. But other than Catcher, the holes that were there after the Kemp, Puig trade are still there. unaddressed, and we can pretty well surmise that neither Harper or Machado are headed this way. Kluber is most likely out of the question also, although to me, his biggest asset is his 2 years of team control, but he is owed 56 million over the life of his contract. You going to give up premium players to take on a 33 year old pitcher, even with his credentials? I think at this point, that is a stretch. We really will not know what we have until the 25 man is announced at the end of spring. But I am not at all that optimistic that they are going to be anywhere near as good as they were last year.

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  17. Sorry bear but I don’t agree. Last year we lost Seager for the entire year. He was hurt the little he did play. Turner was hurt and took half a year until he came back to normal. Kersh was out for couple months and Jansen was down for some crucial time. I like our team. Our starting pitching is good and deep with some good young talent right behind. I like our bullpen. Kelly was a big edition. Baez made a huge jump now that he has confidence in his slider and change up. If Jansen comes back,anywhere near his old self we have a strong bullpen. Is the team as it is good enough to win a WS. No but it’s good enough to win the West for sure if we stay somewhat healthy. We don’t need to make the move now when players are expensive but more options will open up at trade deadline. Heck if we bury Colorado Arenado could be available. We don’t need to pannick now!.

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    1. Over a full season we will get from the SS position what we got out of Machado and Taylor. But that is only IF Seager is fully healthy and back to his old self. Turner played in 103 games. He hit .312. It took him about 3 weeks to get back on track. But he is 34, Projections have him hitting .290 with 17 homers. Now he might and might not reach those numbers. Our starting pitching had exactly 1 pitcher with 10 wins or more, Hill. Kershaw was hurt that is true, but he is not the Kershaw of 4 years ago and although I expect he will win more than the 9 games he won last year, I doubt he will be as dominant as he once was. Kelly has had a sub 3 ERA exactly once in the last 7 years and that was in 2017. Last year he was closer to 4.5. I am in no way panicking. I am a realist, I am not counting on maybe’s and if’s If my grandma had wheels she would be a wagon. I think the best pitcher on this team this year will not be the 90 million dollar man, but the 2nd year rookie. I expect Maeda to be better than he was last year, but I would think that Hill might step back a little. After all he is 38 years old. The bridge to Jansen is not set in stone. Baez could just as easily regress. And the offense lost one hell of a lot of pop. They have not replaced that yet. Also, I would bet you are expecting Muncy to repeat last years performance. I think he surprised the league last year. If he hits 20 homers this year, he will be doing good. But remember, he does not have the same threats hitting behind him anymore. We will get some idea in spring as to what the offense will look like, and I think it is great you have that much confidence in them. But from where I sit, this is no where near being as good a team as they were last year. TOO MANY QUESTION MARKS>

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  18. As for Guggenheim I think they are totally financially questionable with some very shaky finances! But I think their end game with the Dodgers is the Chavez Ravine real estate and to eventually move to a new stadium and develop the real estate which could worth billions!

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  19. I hear you bear. No doubt there are a lot of guestion marks going into the season. But I would pick the Dodgers over Colorado 10 out of 10 times. And by the trade deadline we’ll have a better picture of who is performing and who isn’t and what exactly we’ll need to win a World Series. I think there will be more and better options at that time. AF has shown he will pull the trigger at the trade deadline.

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    1. Yes he has pulled the trigger with very mixed results. And this team is not nearly as well balanced and powerful as any of the AL’s big 3. BoSox, Yanks and Astros are all much better than the Dodgers. Stronger lineups, more power, good defense. Genuine star power, and some pitchers who are lights out. The Yankees have really improved this winter and Boston will have to replace a couple of bullpen pitchers. But their offense is still going to be very formidable. The Astro’s have yet to address their rotation since they have lost 3 of their starters. One to an injury, one so far to another team in free agency, and one other waiting to be signed as a free agent. But they still have Verlander, Cole, and McHugh. The Red Sox are 6 deep in the starting department and will have Eovaldi for the entire year. Price, Sale Eovaldi that’s a pretty good big 3. Yankees are also 6 deep, but will most likely trade Gray, but they have a kick ass bullpen with the addition of Britton. Honestly, do you think the Dodgers got the Machado they thought they were trading for? He was no where near the same player. When They got Darvish, he only won 4 games and they were cruising and would have won even had they not traded for him. They got less production than that when they got Hill who spent his first 4 weeks as a Dodger on the DL. None of his additions at the deadline have contributed enough to get them over the hump. Freese played better in the series and the playoffs than Machado did. As for the Rockies, I think you are under rating them a lot. They have some really good young pitchers. And their offense is pretty good. They are good on defense too. So I think they will be a lot better than you or most people think they will.

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      1. Are you holding Friedman responsible for Machado’s so-so performance in L.A. Bear? You say he never gets any stars and then when he goes out and gets one who then doesn’t perform as well as his reputation suggests he should you hold AF responsible for that? Totally agree with you on the Rox. Everyone is handing the Dodgers the division but it took us 163 games to beat them last year and they have basically the same team for 2019.

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      2. It is funny you say that Jeff. Because when some unknown is picked up and does well, everyone wants to give him credit. No, I really do not hole him responsible for Machado’s on field performance, but Machado is the ONLY offensive star he has traded for. And he sure did not perform like he was worth 5 minor leaguers. Darvish was probably the best pitcher available at the deadline that year, but he, like Hill, was coming off the DL, and spent part of his first few weeks getting healthy. I realize not all trades or signings work out. That being said, someone made the decision to get the player. So if the decision works out, the man is genius, if not, he gets the blame even though it is up to the player to perform. We all know that probably the best deadline pickup ever was Manny. No player in Dodger history had a 55 game stretch, and then outstanding playoffs like he did. I think most Dodger fans, at least the ones I know, thought they were getting that type of player. Now whether the pressure of being on a playoff team got to him or not, I don’t know. But he disappeared in the playoffs and was a total non factor in the World Series. I don’t blame Kershaw’s flame outs or Jansen’s on Friedman either. But they are home grown. Neither was brought in to help bring the title home. He has not to this point ever signed an impact player as a free agent, so what makes anyone think he will? His track record suggests he will continue the trend and not go for the high priced spread, but he has passed on some pretty decent players who would have been very affordable this offseason and they would have brought a lot more to the table that what he has added so far. There are some good players out there, but stars? They are few and far between. And remember, most everyone held Colletti responsible for his bad moves, so it comes with the job. But I am sure the owners love the guy.

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      3. Some good points here Bear. If we give a guy credit for the good signings/trades, it stands to reason we should clobber him for the bad ones, and vice versa. Boy do I miss Manny (Ramirez, not Machado). Those were some great times when he first got here. As far as not spending on anyone major this winter, the front office is saving up for Trout in two years. What’s that? You don’t believe me?

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      4. Could be. Kershaw will be in the last year of his deal. some of the young guns will be veterans then. And all will be entering their prime. And to pull Trout away from the Angels would be a huge PR win. Dodger fans would love that guy more than Harper. And yes my friend, Mannywood was must watch TV. Going back a little further, do you remember how BAD Dusty Baker’s first year in a Dodger uni was? 4 homers, 39 RBI’s and a .242 average over 112 games. And they had traded the hugely popular Jimmy the Toy Cannon Wynn for him. Wynn although hitting more homers and RBI’s hit a dismal .207 with the ATL and left the following season. Baker in contrast over the next 7 years was one of the Dodgers more consistent performers.

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  20. A lot of what you say is true rich, but, the team lost a lot of production in the reds trade, and have not done anything to replace it, I’m not expecting Seager to put up the #s he did before, at least not for a while, he had a pretty significant injury it may take him a few month or more to get back to his old self. If we go into the season with the team the way it is now we MAY be able to win the west, but this team as is won’t go far in the playoffs. Turner is the only sure thing in this line up. The rest of the guys have a ton of potential, but they all have question, are we going to get the good players they can be or the average players that they sometimes are. Can Muncy repeat his break out season? do we get Taylor of 2017, or 2018? same can be said of bellinger and Barnes, barnes is 29, and still hasn’t been a full time catcher, nobody is expecting Martin to do to much, if we get average production from him we’ll be lucky. pederson can be a KO machine he was better the second half last year, does he keep that up? Verdugo is a rookie with very few at bats at the major level, we think he will do well but no one knows for sure, rookies don’t always come up and play the way Seager, and bellinger did. If everybody plays to their potential, we’re golden, but I think they need to bring in a significant player, so there is at least one less question.

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    1. The same can be said of Toles. He has not played 100 games at the major league level and though he has had some success you see a lot of people saying just run him out there everyday. No one has a clue how he would be as an everyday player. We know what Joc, kike and Taylor are capable of and we know that Muncy had a season no one expected. But can any of them go out and do it again. Bellinger playing almost every day hit 14 fewer homers than he did his rookie year. Can he rebound? The veterans on this team, Turner, Freese, Martin, you have a good sense of what they can do. Freese hit 11 homers during the season as a part time player and he also hit for average. Turner, if he is healthy should be good for 20 plus homers and close to 90 RBUI’s and a solid BA. Martin, if he is healthy should be around his career average of .249 with double digit homers. But the rest of the team>? The are all question marks at this point. How good will Seager be? Do any of the non roster guys make any kind of contribution, is one of those guys this years Muncy. They lost a LOT and have NOT REPLACED any of it to this point.

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  21. Wasn’t paying attention when I finally posted comment. Now I see I just repeated a lot of what bear said, I guess I’m seeing things same way as bear, man that’s a scary thought.

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    1. Just goes to show you are a highly intelligent and passionate Dodger fan with a finely tuned insight to all things Dodgers!

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