NOTE: If I can get Jeff Dominique and Dodger Chatter to each post once a week, then I also have Bear and DodgerRick who want to post… maybe I can see a way to keep this thing going. I am going to reach out to Rick, Bear, and B & P and have a conversation about what, when, and where. What I am doing here is a 10-minute exercise. Here we go.
As the Dodgers head into the offseason, they have two Top-of-the-Rotation Starters in Striker Buehler and Julio Urias and nothing else guaranteed. Going into the offseason, that is a nice #1 and #2, but there are no guarantees after that. These are my opinions. Let’s look at who is behind Buehler and Urias:
Clayton Kershaw – I think the Dodgers will sign him… unless he retires (which is a real possibility) but they can’t count on him. He is an unknown.
Max Scherzer – I would not sign him unless he is willing to take a big discount. He is a candidate just like Justin Verlander… to go down with TJ. If you sign him for three years, he may miss a year and a half of it. Bye!
Dustin May – Look for him in June. He is a big part of the solution. He will have to be handled with kid gloves in 2022.
Tony Gonsolin – Are his shoulder issues perpetual or temporary? He will be 28 next year and has four pitches. Starter or reliever? I think he is a starter, but either way, he is on the staff.
Bobby Miller – He could most definitely be on the staff as a starter in 2022… when? Time will tell
Trevor Bauer – If the DA does not prosecute, I would find it hard to believe they could give him more than “time served.” He would slot in as an extremely good #3. Most of the suggestions I have heard about trading him or that he will be suspended is just wishful thinking. Yes, I know I am crazy. Humor me!
Danny Duffy – Does he want to pitch at home? Does he want to pitch with a winner? Is that a factor? We don’t know.
Mitch White – I like him better in the bullpen, but they still consider him a starter.
Andre Jackson – He showed us flashes and he is 25 years old.
Ryan Pepiot, Landon Knack, Clayton Beeter – Any one of them could project as a starter. How soon? All are old enough.
As you can see, there are lots of arms that are possibilities. If Bauer is gone, it changes a lot. That will force the Dodgers to seek free agent help, but they do not need Top-of-the-Rotation Starter. They need a solid innings-eater… or two! I might target Jon Gray or old friend Alex Wood. There is a lot to be decided! What do you think? What does Andrew Friedman think?
Can the Dodgers come up with 6 or 7 starters from that list?
Teacher, Leave Our Kids Alone!
Hopefully, the metaphor and nuance are not lost on us.
Rumor has it that Rob Manfred is considering awarding the World Series Trophy to Denver!
The Astros have been to the World Series three times in the last five years and still have not WON it!
Discussion (20)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Odubel Herrera and Andrew McCutcheon are now free agents as the Phils declined both of their options.
With the announcement of Buster Posey’s retirement, there have been a number of reports that Buster’s next stop is Cooperstown. Since 1960 a total of 7 catchers have been voted on and inducted into MLB Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers of America. There have been a total of 19 catchers inducted, second lowest of any position other than 3B (17). Of the 7 catchers since 1960…
Roy Campanella (18 years – 10 MLB and 8 Negro League)
Yogi Berra (19 years)
Johnny Bench (17 years)
Carlton Fisk (24 years)
Gary Carter (19 years)
Mike Piazza (16 years)
Pudge Rodriguez (21 years)
Another contemporary, Ted Simmons, was voted on by the Veterans Committee played 21 years.
Posey’s career batting line is .302/.372/.460/.831. He threw out 33% of attempted base stealers. His numbers seem to be HOF quality, however he only played 12 years. He was a league MVP one time, and a 7 time AS. Miniscule accomplishments compared to the seven.
Campanella – 3 time MVP, 11 time AS
Berra – 3 time MVP, 18 time AS
Bench – 2 time MVP, 14 time AS
Carter – 11 time AS
Fisk – 11 time AS
Piazza – 12 time AS
Pudge – 1 time MVP, 14 time AS
He would be favorably compared to Ted Simmons who had 0 MVP and 8 AS.
Joe Maurer will undoubtedly get votes when his turn comes up in 2024. Maurer’s numbers are very comparable to Posey’s at .306/.388/.439/.827, in a 15 year career. However, Maurer was a catcher for only 11 years. He was a one-time MVP and a 6 time AS. Maurer was also a 3 time batting champ. Posey enthusiasts will have to gauge Maurer’s HOF votes to determine where Buster stands. I think at the end of their 10 year voting window, both will eventually make it, but neither should be close on first ballot. Just my opinion.
Cant stand the Midgets, but Posey has been the man behind the dish for years…
Hopefully in a couple years we’ll be saying the same thing about Will Smith…
Other baseball news, Profar exercised his option and will be a Padre again. Many gripped about Bellinger’s lost season, and it was bad, but, Jackie Bradley Jr. is exercising his option for the Brewers. He was worse than Bellinger hitting a miniscule .163 with 3 long balls. Now Brewers are on the hook for his 9.5 mil option. Yusei Kikuchi declined his option with the Mariners and is now a free agent. Dodgers might look into this guy. He posted a 48.5% ground ball rate and almost 25% K rate. He faded in the second half, but with the Dodgers coaches he could improve. Keirmeyer had arthroscopic knee surgery.
Just read about Posey. He probably got tired of all the Giants suck chant at Dodger Stadium…no? ok, just his time. DC has 4 new coaches. One of them with Dodger ties. Eric Young Jr., Gary DiSarcina, Darnell Coles and Ricky Bones. Dodgers not picking up Kelly’s option either..Hey Eric, your boy Soria is a free agent too.
Kenley Jansen “Weak minded?”
Started out as a catcher;
Switched to reliever;
Has a boatload of saves;
Faded in the Playoffs and World Series;
Came back to be dominant;
Had to deal with major heart issues;
Went through a bad stretch and then figured it out and was unhittable; and
Probably will be in the hall of fame.
So unless someone knows something I don’t, Weak-minded is not a word I would use in describing him.
2.37 Career ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 350 saves, 37 wins. Weak-minded? Bad choice of words!
Another shocking report is that Trevor Bauer is NOT going to opt out of his final two years. Who would have figured?
Buster Posey will announce his retirement tomorrow
They claim to have done really detailed research for this article. Really? If you want to know what research means, together with all the scientific data, questionnaires, reports, verified reviews, etc. go to compacom.com. Any article on this website resembles a good expert speech designed for the people in order to help them and not confuse even more.
Here is my list of free agents that I would look into if I was in charge. I haven’t looked through all of the relief pitchers stats so I might not be done.
Position players in alphabetical order:
Kris Bryant
Corey Seager
Chris Taylor
Pitchers in alphabetical order:
Kenley Jansen
Clayton Kershaw
Corey Kluber
Corey Knebel
Max Scherzer
Noah Syndergaard
Justin Verlander
Here’s an interesting article that articulates the intricacies with a pending Trevor Bauer suspension.
https://unitednewspost.com/news/sports/a-wrinkle-in-mlbs-domestic-violence-policy-may-complicate-a-trevor-bauer-suspension/
After you read this, go ahead and post why you still think he’s be suspended for the entirety of the upcoming season. I say he’ll be back before the All-Star break.
From everything I’ve seen it seems that Trevor is very interested in proving his innocence or at least getting his side of the story out there. So, there’s virtually no chance that Trevor will choose to opt out of his current contract. Barring a conviction, the Dodgers won’t have grounds to void the contract as some people have suggested. So, the only way he’s not on the team next year is if AF can work out a trade or if they choose to DFA him. If they DFA him, they will be on the hook for his record salary.
First trade almost completed. Reds trading C Tucker Barnhardt to the Tigers for a prospect.
Astros are going to bring back Baker on a one year deal it looks like.
Before we go signing any free agents or doing any roster adjustment, we need to see if they are going to work out their differences and get some sort of labor deal. All signs so far do not seem to bode well for a quick resolution to the problem. In 5 days players will be declaring their free agency and that list will grow even bigger when the non tender’s and outright released players are added. Then towards the end of the month, the teams have to decided who they are going to protect from the rule 5 draft. The GM’s meetings are coming up, and the winter meetings scheduled for the 6-9th of December. There is going to be a glut of pitchers available. Some good, some not so good. Some will be considered projects because they have not reached what some might believe is their potential. Gray is one of those guys. He has electric stuff. He turned down a 40 mil plus extention from the Rockies. The Giants and Padres are the Dodgers only real competition in the division. Padres at this point are a more complete team than the Giants. The Giants have only one starter, Webb, who is not a free agent. The Padres on the other hand, have all their starters under contract. Most of their free agents are relievers. Pham and Profar are their major offensive players who are free agents. They are however trying to move Myers and Hosmer. Good luck with that.
Add Joc to the list of players who won consecutive rings in different cities. That has been done 9 times. Here is the list. Zobrist, 15-16, Royals-Cubs, Jake Peavey, 13-14 Red Sox-Giants, Ryan Theriot, 11-12, Cards-Giants, Jack Morris, 91-92, Twins-Blue Jays, Don Gullett, 76-77, Reds-Yankees, Bill Skowron, 62-63, Yankees-Dodgers, Clem Labine, 59-60, Dodgers-Pirates, Allie Clark, 47-48, Yankees-Indians… Besides Joc, three exe Dodgers on that list. Theriot, Labine and Skowron. Nice to see Joc get another. He now has more than CK and all the other Dodger players save Mookie and Pujols.
My favorite headline so far today ………
<<MLB’s Woke Chickens Come Home to Roost as Braves Bring World Series Championship Back to Atlanta<<
I’m just going to go ahead and give me congratulations to the Braves once again. Thank you for beating those cheaters in Houston. As Carlos Correa prepares to move on and cash in on a big payday, it looks as though the cheating team will have just one Championship to show for their tortuous rebuild. If it weren’t for the cheating and the horrible non-remorseful attitude afterwards, I would be happy that they got the one ring with their homegrown core of Correa, Springer, Altuve and Bregman. Now that half of that core is moving on, their window is starting to close. Hopefully, they’ll have a drought proportionate to the Red Sox or the Cubs and I won’t see them in the World Series again in my lifetime. They’ve done enough cheating to get what they deserve for a very long time. The tanking for several years, the trashcan and the fathers of the sticky stuff, they have a legacy that outweighs their lone World Series title.
The Braves feel a lot like the Nationals too me. They’re another team with a homegrown core, it’s too bad that Acuna wasn’t a part of this big win. We’ve seen them and sent them home a couple of times in the postseason, before they finally got past us, just like the Nationals. Unlike the Nationals, the Braves had a cheating scandal as well when they had to forfeit all those international signings a few years back. It seems that MLB has a cheating problem.
Now that the season is over, we have a potential changing of the guard with respect to our own beloved free agents. Mainstays Clayton Kershaw, Chris Taylor, Corey Seager and Kenley Jansen are all in free agent purgatory this offseason. Will they wind up like George Springer and Carlos Correa? Or, will they stay home?
I’ve read recently that Kenley might be moving on. I’m not putting a lot of stock in rumors like this because it seems that sportswriters just want to have something to write about. They all claim some “Insider” has some information to back their claim. Just like when some “Insider” said Nolan Arenado would be a Dodger by Christmas last year.
Predictions seldom come to fruition just like projections. They’re about as useful as DRS and WAR, but they give us something to talk about. So, I’ll go ahead and make some predictions with our own free agents and we’ll see if I do better than the “Insiders”.
Kenley Jansen – The big dog will come back. He’s made a ton of money for a reliever and he knows he can slip into bad habits at any time. He’s got deep running personal relationships with most of the players on the team and he’s a little weak minded, so he’s going to stay where he’s comfortable.
Clayton Kershaw – The other big dog will also come back. He’s not ready to retire and he’ll want one more shot at a ring. He’s not going to pitch for another team so his choice is to sign a contract or retire. He’ll sign on the dotted line, or he’ll take the QO if he’s really thinking about retirement, just kicking the can down the road for one more year.
Chris Taylor – Goodbye CT3 we’ll miss you just like Joc and Kike. Someone will pay him to be a starter and he’ll take that opportunity just like Joc and Kike. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I don’t want anyone with 160+ K’s in a year, something he’s done twice in the last 4 years.
Corey Seager – Saving the best for last. I love Corey, he’s possibly my favorite player. He’s so even keeled, it’s hard to get a read on him. AF is also a poker face, so It’s equally hard to get a read from him. Ultimately, I think he stays, but I think there’s a small chance he doesn’t. AF likes to go big after impact players, and I think that Seags fits that bill. I also think there’s a couple other free agent shortstops that also fit that bill. There’s just too many variables to pick this one, but my gut tells me he stays.
Now that we’ve resigned a Starting Pitcher, our Closer, and our star Shortstop, there’s little left to do except round out that starting rotation.
Even with bringing back Kershaw, I can see AF signing two additional free agent pitchers. But, there’s a lot of unknowns here as well. The Bauer situation is at the top of that list. AF had a quote recently about Bauer and he chose to deflect to the league saying it’s in the hands of the MLB office right now, nothing has changed since July. I’ll comment after it’s settled with MLB’s office.
Now that the season’s over, I expect the DA to make a decision (to not charge Bauer) before Thanksgiving. In fact, I’ll take the under on that date. Once that happens, Bauer will meet with MLB’s office to interview him. I don’t think that Manfren wants to have an additional shit show to go along with negotiating the new CBA, so I don’t think he’ll get a one year suspension. But, I do think Bauer will be screwed enough so he won’t be able to start the year as a member of the Dodger’s pitching staff. He’ll get somewhere between 6 months and 1 year. Manfred isn’t going to want to do battle with Bauer’s legal team in the midst of negotiating a new deal with the players association.
With all this in mind, I think the Dodgers will go after one more arm they can count on and another arm they can take a flier on. The flier will be Danny Duffy. The reasons is that he wants to pitch for the Dodgers and he’ll be interested in one of those, re-establish my value for a payday kind of deal. At 33 years old next season, if he pitches well like he did when he wasn’t injured this year, he’ll be able to cash in a decent deal the following year. He also has experience pitching in the postseason and in the bullpen. The Dodgers will have him and Clayton as lefty options for the pitching staff at the end of the year and we all know how they like to match up.
As far as the arm they can count on, it’s an a total crap shoot. Mad Max did his thing by saying he wants to be here and he sure looked like he was having the time of his life this postseason. He looks like he fit right in and he belongs on the team. At 37 years old and coming off another Cy Young type season, I don’t think he’ll sign with our red headed step child in Anaheim. He’s in it to win it and will only sign with team that’s going to have a good chance at the post season. He’s my top pick to resign.
But, there’s too many interesting names on the free agent list. Man, if you’re looking for pitching, this is the year to get some. Here’s a list of interesting names to consider…
Kevin Gausman
Jon Gray
Corey Kluber
Steven Matz
Wade Miley
Robbie Ray
Carlos Rodon
Max Scherzer
Marcus Stroman
Noah Syndergaard
Justin Verlander
Alex Wood
Clayton Kershaw
I really like the thought of Verlander, Syndergaard, Stroman, Scherzer, Rodon, Ray, Gray and Gausman. If it weren’t for Kershaw’s history with this team, I would take any of them ahead of Kershaw all things considered.
Could you imagine a fully healthy staff at the end of the year and having a postseason rotation with Bueller, Urias, Bauer, Verlander and Syndergaard to choose from?
Between 2019 and 2021 Houston has lost 5 out of 6 home games in the WS. Just saying.
I have no problem if we sign CK, but I wouldn’t count on him for very many innings. He deserves a contract but I don’t think you can say if we have him we need one less starter. His arm could go at any time.
Scherzer is a gamble but if we don’t have Bauer I think it’s a risk we have to take. We are going to need 3 top of the line starters to get to the WS next year. Buehler, Urias and Wood/Gray/etc won’t cut it. You say if the D.A. doesn’t charge Bauer you don’t think he could get more than time served, but that time was at full pay. Sam Dyson wasn’t charged and MLB suspended him for a year WITHOUT pay.
I’m all in favor of trying to sign Verlander, an excellent pitcher whose surgery is now behind him. And word has it that he wanted to come to L.A. before Houston got him. He also lives here already.
Any or all of the guys you mentioned could contribute next year, but none of them is anywhere close to a sure thing. We need three strong, established starters at a minimum.
I see the Cardinals making an offer to Scherzer, it makes a lot of sense, he is from there, they have the need and also the money, a 1 and 2 between Scherzer and Flaherty would be very good for them, I think MS could end up in SL, but never discount the magician Freidman, this will be the most entertaining offseason of the Dodgers, fasten your seat belts and enjoy the trip.