Simple philosophy… kill the outfield competition (with focus on getting rid of the unreliable, but high-value-at-present Matt Kemp), sign a very rich, seasoned, spanish speaking player to bond with Yasiel, Alex Guerrero, Erisbel A (but particularly Yasiel), and fix the one glaring Dodger weakness (relief pitching).
The relief is already hamstrung by Brian Wilson accepting the option of 9,500,000 in his contract. We considered putting out a hit on Wilson, but risk too high for potential reward. Instead, we sought out stud RPs who we could hopefully buy cheap on.
We said goodbye to Kensley Jansen who, in our view, was not worth the $10,000,000 price tag when we could potentially buy three possible closers for the same amount.
And, that’s what we did.
We traded prospect Zach Lee (everyone and their mother seems to love this guy… you can have him), Kenley Jansen, and Juan Uribe for relievers Addison Reed and Oliver Perez.
The Dodgers set their sights at buying low on a very promising closer in Addison Reed. Addision has struggled… but he has struggled in two hitters ballparks in Chicago and Arizona. We feel he will fit in perfectly as closer of the Dodgers, and to show that we believe in him, we gave Addision a $200,000 raise. Our closer only cost us (with raise) $738,500.
Perez had a stellar season but let’s face it… could be awful. Still, he is cheap enough to throw in the pen… but we need better.
We were able to make two huge middle relief signings (both can also close) in Sergio Romo and Pat Neshek. We end up signing Neshek, Romo, and Reed for less than Kenley’s pricetag. Mission accomplished.
We maintain the same catching core… fortunately, Ellis had a bad season at the plate (an aberration, in our view), so we did not have to give him a raise.
Now, to the blockbuster.
We were able to let go of Juan Uribe by signing the perfect, rich, seasoned spanish speaking player. Arod.
We are convinced that he will be a strong leader for the spanish speaking contingent… particularly Yasiel Puig… who will see his potential future of fast cars, big houses, and pretty ladies. Arod’s contract expires when Yasiel’s expires… so, we hope that Arod will help Yasiel transition from kid with super potential to superstar so that when we say goodbye to Alex, we say hello again to our homegrown superstar and give him a much fatter contract that he is happy with.
We ask Arod to be a leader. We ask him to give us 400 ABs, 20 HR, 75 RBI, and a .270 average. We are confident he can do this… he has a lot to prove… and he is very anxious to do just that.
Naysayers will cry foul that we gave up Kemp in the deal. Kemp has not helped us become a winner… and the clog in the outfield has hampered Ethier and Crawford’s play substantially. Now, those two can relax and know that they have a starting spot… and when they need rest (or Crawford tears another hammy), we have a strong backup in Van Slyke.
The acquisition of David Phelps in the Arod deal is the element that most folks will ignore. His last two seasons, hitters have tallied an above average BABIP against him… moving from hitter friendly Yankee Stadium and pitching in the 5th spot, we are confident that this 28-year old has some very serviceable innings ahead of him… and at 1,400,000 for 2015 as an Arb 2 player going into the season, we are happy with the risk/reward.
The hole is at SS. A lot of pressure will be put on Erisbel Arruebuena and Alex Guerrero. If they don’t work out, though, we re-signed Justin Turner (breakout campaign in 2014) to fill the gap.
Lineup:
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
2B: Dee Gordon
SS: Erisbel Arruebuena/Alex Guerrero/Justin Turner
3B: Alex Rodriguez
OF: Yasiel Puig
OF: Andre Ethier
OF: Carl Crawford
C: AJ Ellis
P: Clayton Kershaw
P; Zack Greinke
P: Dan Haren
P: Hyun-Jin Ryu
P: David Phelps
CL: Addision Reed
RP: Pat Neshek
RP: Sergio Romo
RP: JP Howell
RP: Oliver Perez
RP: Brandon League
Magic is pleased.
Individual Salaries
Los Angeles Didgers
As the Yankees GM, I can tell you that I did not want to include Phelps in the Arod deal. I like Phelps a lot and I could really use him after sending Michael Pineda to Colorado to get Tulo. I toyed with various counter offers but in the end I decided I wanted to get this deal done before you came to your senses and decided that you didn’t really want to add a malignant tumor of a human being to your roster.
I would not be pleased if I was a Dodger fan.
not a bad team actually i thought the arod trade was terrible at first but ur reasoning makes sense i would change neschek and russel around thou i see neschek as a much more reliable closer
Look, I understand that everyone is doing their best with probably an unfamiliar team, but I have some questions:
1. If everyone is in love with Zach Lee, why did you only get a reliever that hasn’t pitched consistently effective and a reliever that you admit could stink?
2. Did you shop Janssen to the Tigers or several other teams like Toronto or Cleveland that need relief help and depth?
3. Does ARod speak Spanish? Is he the role model you want leading Puig when you have a great Spanish speaking role model in AGone there? ARod grew up in the states, what does he know about a kid that grew up in poverty under military law?
4. Did you try offering Kemp to the Mets for Murphy, Familia, and Mazzoni? I bet if you ate $10MM per year, you could have done it. So, improve the team and keep payroll the same because Murphy would have signed an extension for the $11MM per year difference that you would have paid Kemp over the $10MM you gave the Mets, and you fixed your bullpen.
5. You realized that the Dodgers have the #3 prospect in all of baseball in Corey Saeger whom they deem ready to take the SS job?
6. Last question: Why not get a player like Aramis Ramirez for 3B, who also speaks Spanish well and you know has not sat out a year and is healthy?
How about Arod? 🙂