Dodgers – Why Him, Not Somebody Else?
This is an interesting couple of days we are keeping track of as we pass the mid-way point in baseball free agency. Most of the big names have come off the board, and now we await the second serving of baseball headlines, the trades just around the corner.
And more than anywhere else, the attention will be paid to the Dodgers and what they do with the traffic jam of outfielders. They cannot all play, there’s another one on the way from the farm system, and there is the budget issue, a payroll bursting the seams.
Rumors are rampant.
The Dodgers want to trade extra outfielder Andre Ethier, good team guy, dedicated to his craft, but whose numbers have dropped much the past couple of years.
The Dodgers have high priced Carl Crawford, the ex-Red Sox and Rays outfielder, who has never put up the numbers expected for the contract being paid.
The Dodgers have Matt Kemp, former MVP, who had five different injuries in 2-plus year, plus surgeries, but bounced back last year with a strong second half.
What are they going to do?
Ethier is more affordable than the others, but the least productive, and he is owed 4-years and 56M on a contract. Crawford has had injuries, has not produced mega numbers to equal the mega dollars, and carries with him 3-years left worth 62M. Kemp’s bounce back season has made him the most marketable, but he is the most expensive to take on, with 107M left for the next five seasons.
Lots of people need lots of bats, but few can take on these salaries, unless the Dodgers pay a piece of the freight. They might if they get the right players back in the deal.
Baltimore has lost two big bats in a week, Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, has pitching to deal and would love Kemp. But I am not sure a package of pitchers like Dylan Bundy and Brian Matusz gives LA equal value.
The White Sox surely don’t want big salaries, so Ethier for shortstop Alexi Ramirez makes sense, but Ramirez has plenty of mileage on those tires, and has Ethier become ‘just a guy’..
Seattle is still interested in Kemp, and they have a young shortstop Brad Miller and two blue chip pitchers, Tijuan Walker and James Paxton. The Mariners won’t include them all in one deal, but you have to give to get.
Philadelphia out of nowhere now seems to be a player in all this. They need a bat, Kemp, plus they want prospects, possibly P-Zach Lee, Cuban SS-Alexander Guerrero and other pieces. And they have Cole Hamels, at the peak of his career, owed 90M still on his last contract. Hamels has a no-trade clause, but who would want to stay in a rebuilding situation in Philadelphia, rather than be in a pennant race in Chavez Ravine?
These are interesting times in LA. The budget is bulging, and they’d like to trim some. But how do you move a real established bat in Kemp, without shooting holes in your batting order, which has already lost free-agent shortstop Hanley Ramirez to free-agency?.
I won’t use the word ‘uncertainty’ to describe Joc Pederson, the 33-home run hitting outfielder in Albuquerque, headed to LA. You surely won’t discount Yasiel Puig, though his second half was really sub-standard and streaky. Taking Kemp out of that order really weakens LA.
I’d keep Kemp, cut your losses and eat some contracts with the others, rather than rip apart your lineup, unless that phone call comes from Philadelphia. Could you imagine a rotation headed by Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke, Hyun Jin-Ryu and then Hamels?
Why Kemp rather than someone else? Who should stay-who should go? That questions goes back and forth in these non-stop meetings with this new leadership group at Dodgers Stadium. The next seven days will probably give us the answer.
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