Friday, July 04, 2008 |
Robothal's Improbability Drive Kicks Into High Gear With Dodger Trade Noise
The Brewers aren't the only team pushing hard for Indians left-hander C.C. Sabathia. The Dodgers also are heavily in the mix, according to major-league sources.Oh, that's rich. The Dodgers have re-committed to weaning themselves off free agents, right? Eh, not so fast. Via Sons, the most damning thing written yet about Colletti's intentions:However, the Dodgers' bid for Sabathia is complicated by their pursuit of Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson as a replacement for the injured Rafael Furcal, sources say.
To get Wilson, the Dodgers would need to trade the Pirates some of the same players that the Indians want for Sabathia, leaving Los Angeles with a choice of one deal or the other.
Sabathia, 6-5 with a 2.16 ERA in his past 14 starts, is scheduled to pitch twice more before the All-Star break. His next start is Tuesday, but several baseball people expect he will be traded before then.
While the Dodgers might not offer a prospect better than Brewers Class AA left fielder Matt LaPorta, their proposal for Sabathia would include three players, sources say.
Class AA right-hander James McDonald, Class AAA shortstop Chin-Lung Hu and third baseman Andy LaRoche are among the Dodgers' prospects likely drawing consideration form the Indians.
"We're more open-minded to who we may have to move," Colletti said.Got that, you stubborn cuss Matt Kemp? You've got between now and the trade deadline — which, by my count, is a little under a month — to show you're improving every day, listening to coaches, not moving trash cans, and whatever other nebulous witch-doctory the Dodgers have set up so they can justify trading you. Maybe this isn't on the order of the idiotic Carlos Quentin trade/Eric Byrnes re-signing, but it has every possibility of becoming Ned's Waterloo. Ignore, for the moment, the possibility of Ned pursuing Sabathia; Dodgers pitching is the best in the league, something that even Ned ought to understand. Consider the following:Asked if he were referring to the young players, Colletti said, "They're not really young kids anymore."
Colletti's comments echoed what owner Frank McCourt told me earlier in the week when asked about the possibility of trading some of the kids. He said the ones they will hold onto are "the ones who are prepared to put in the work, listen to coaches and get better every day." The kids who they would be willing to part with are "the ones that can't do those things."
- As we already know, Colletti cannot tell a good player from a bad one.
- The Dodgers "position of need" is offense at short. (As Buttercup showed us, a weak GM makes his dumbest mistakes when being overly concerned about what he's losing at one position instead of what he can do to improve elsewhere.)
- Colletti has already shown he's willing to deal for junk in the middle infield (e.g. Julio Lugo), even on a short-term rental.
Finally: a word from the BTF thread linked above:
McCourt: Are you a Windows or a Mac guy?Colletti: Huh?
McCourt: Welcome aboard.
Labels: dodgers, morons, rumors, trades
Their real problem, as you correctly observe, is that they have trouble scoring runs. Perhaps they're tantalized by Sabathia's career .300/.317/.475 line; that SLG would be second highest on the team, after the disabled Furcal.
The starting staff isn't nearly as good, with Clayton Kershaw league average, and Brad Penny a total mess. Derek Lowe is a positive contributor, but just, Hiroki Kuroda has turned into a solid signing (perhaps the best Japanese pitcher signed in the last two years, and that's saying something considering what Boston got out of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima last year and this). Chad Billingsley is a stud, of course.
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