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Friday, September 09, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves
Stinking Roster Selections
The Times gives us a dose of that consuming the Halosphere for some time now, namely, how the hell could Bill Stoneman leave Bobby Jenks and Derrick Turnbow off the 40-man while protecting the likes of Wil Nieves (now a Yankee), Josh Paul (appeared in 31 games this year), Tim Bittner (released), Matt Hensley (60-day DL, missed the entire year due to a shoulder injury incurred in spring training), and Scott Dunn (never called up to the big club)."You make your decision at a certain point of time with the best information you have," Stoneman said. "Once you start second-guessing yourself, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. There were a lot of factors that went into it, but I'm not going to get into the details of any of them."Both Jenks and Turnbow had elbow troubles, but... well, again, it'll be interesting to see how Stoneman extricates himself from this scrape.
Saunders Saturday's Starter
In that same article, looks like Joe Saunders is Saturday's starter against the Chisox. Saints preserve us.More On Hochevar Negotiations
Talk yesterday about Dodger first-rounder Luke Hochevar dismissing Scott Boras as his advisor and then re-hiring him goes through yet more contortions. This time we learn that Hochevar's mother denies the agent swap, but that's not the half of it. The Times story has the Dodgers sweetening their offer to $2.98M, but only if Hochevar fired Boras.Hochevar also claims he was told the $2.98 million was available only in a package deal with Sosnick and that he would have 10 minutes to decide. Hochevar said his mother, Carmen, was told Saturday by White that the more lucrative deal might not be reachable if Boras were involved. Finally, Hochevar said Sosnick told him, "Contact Scott Boras and I'll deny everything. So will the Dodgers."The Player's Association is investigating. Now, I'm not in favor of this kind of thing; it sounds remarkably like bad faith negotiating. Or the kind of underhanded negotiating tactics that Scott Boras would use.
Post-Dog-Walking Update: a couple thoughts after taking our canines around the block:
- It's been said that the current offer to Hochevar represents the largest bonus ever offered to a Dodgers prospect. While that might be understandable considering where the Dodgers have been drafting lately, it also might be a sign of some of the reasons why the Dodgers haven't had so many impact players come out of the farm. Where, for instance, is Franklin Gutierrez, the return on the Milton Bradley trade? Better not to ask.
- If the Dodgers indeed were willing to give out a bonus for working with anybody-but-Boras, they should open up right now and say it. Instead of cowering behind a veil of secrecy, take out billboards. In a stroke, it would destroy his alleged negotiating advantage, and other clubs might take up the same tactic. It's hard to enforce a cartel, but Boras has so many other teams annoyed with him it just might work.
“The Dodgers wanted to sign him, and Luke wanted to sign, so it was a pretty quick negotiation,” Sosnick said. “We got within $100,000 of each other and were informed that the Dodgers would not go over $3 million, so we agreed to a $2.98 million bonus.Boras didn't like dealing with Logan White:“The number came from a negotiation with the Dodgers. Luke wanted to sign for $2.3 million--he told me that on the phone Friday afternoon when we first spoke about this. He wanted to sign and get going, and I said, ‘What do you have to lose by letting me try to help you?’ ”
Sosnick says the contract called for the entire bonus to be paid by the end of January 2006 and required Hochevar to pass a physical, in addition to the other basic terms of a standard agreement.
“Paul DePodesta is someone I have worked with very closely,” Boras said, “and we’ve had no difficultly working on items at the major league level. I believe Paul DePodesta had no involvement or knowledge with what went on Friday.Update 2: even more on this in the BTF Thread.“I don’t know Logan White . . . I only know Logan White from his conduct on Friday.”
A Pair On Koufax
Two articles on Sandy Koufax, upon the anniversary of his perfect game; first, Ross Newhan pens a commemorative special column, with the interesting nugget that of the fifteen perfect games pitched since 1960, six have involved the Dodgers (4) and Angels (2).Second comes Rich Lederer and his hauling up of his dad's column from that day. Those wishing to hear Scully call the last inning of the game can do so here.
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