At first, one thought the Dodgers were making a move just for the sake of making a splash when they took three huge contracts off the hands of the Boston Red Sox. But when you look at the kind of talent that might be available in free agency for the next couple years, that trade and the Hanley Ramirez deal make a lot of sense.
By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles
With their audacious reaches for trades, the new Dodgers owners are bidding for the love of their fans. But you know who loves 'em already? The owners of the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox. One suspects there will be others.
Two clubs have dusted their hands of major contract problems, thanks to Guggenheim Baseball. The Dodgers have become speculators in bloated contracts, and if it doesn't work out well in the end for the Dodgers, you can already say it's worked out great for the Marlins and Red Sox.
In total, the Dodgers have unburdened the Red Sox and Marlins of $311 million in outstanding contracts, the pro-rated portion of this season included. The Red Sox are feeling $273 million of relief after the Dodgers took Adrian Gonzalez (owed $131 million through 2018), Carl Crawford (owed $107 million through 2017) and Josh Beckett (owed $35 million through 2014). A month earlier, the Dodgers took Hanley Ramirez and $38 million through 2014 off the Marlins payroll.
In those deals, the Dodgers also received Nick Punto and Randy Choate. In those deals, the Dodgers gave up Nathan Eovaldi, James Loney, Allen Webster, Ivan DeJesus, Scott McGough and two players to be named, including Rubby De La Rosa.
It can't work out badly for the Dodgers, and it might even be the best this club can do for itself for a long time. It can't work out badly because the Dodgers have money to burn. They can afford some mistakes. And it's probably the best the Dodgers can do for a long time because ... look at the free agent lists.
The free agent roll this winter features no one like Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder or C.J. Wilson. Everyone who makes the star test -- Robinson Cano, David Wright, Curtis Granderson -- has an attractive club option for 2013.
Jake Peavy will be out there. He has one of the most hilarious provisions ever placed in a contract -- a $22 million club option for 2013. Like there was ever a chance the club would pick that up. He's a real good pitcher, though. Next, you might look at Jose Valverde, a fine closer for the last six years, picking up a fair number of Cy Young and MVP votes here and there. His numbers are down this year, particularly his strikeouts, but he puts on a show. If he's on, Dodgers fans would love him.
That's kind of where the free agent list leads. The pickings are slim. The next possibility one imagines comes from way out of left field: Mariano Rivera. He's 43 now, he will be coming back from ACL surgery, and he is not under contract with the Yankees for 2013. Remember, he was going to retire after this year, but he has vowed that he will not go down that way. You want a star? That's a star. And if talks for 2013 are going a little slow between Rivera and the Yankees, are the Dodgers audacious enough to make a move?
No wonder Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said this to reporters at the trade announcement: "July and August may have been our free agency." One might think he meant it was the Dodgers free agent season for 2012. But it's probably their free agent season for 2013, as well, because that free agent class is nothing. And forget about 2014, which is an even worse class. Your best players there are Nelson Cruz and Hunter Pence, No. 6 hitters on a good team. A 30-year-old Tim Lincecum is on the list, but it's anyone's guess what his value will be at that point.
Viewed against this backdrop, these recent Dodgers trades aren't merely bold, nor are they as wacky as one might first think. They make a lot of sense.
The Dodgers are acquiring the very best players that are available, period. Their problem isn't that they have money to burn and they're burning it. Their problem is that they have money to burn and there is no other way for them to use that money on top-drawer players than the way we have seen them do it. Namely, by relieving other clubs of contracts that they don't want.
It's not an entirely new strategy. During his years as the general manager in St. Louis, Walt Jocketty picked up Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen when their old clubs were fine with seeing them go. If a player and his club aren't seeing eye-to-eye, that doesn't mean the guy can't play.
These days, it isn't even that personal. The magnitude of a player's contract makes him expendable. Can you imagine the flash that went before the eyes of Red Sox executives when they realized that the Dodgers would really take these contracts off their hands? This was a once-in-a-freak-lifetime opportunity. The Red Sox took almost nothing. It was very sly of the Dodgers to include James Loney.
Every club out there has a contract or two that has the general manager walking the floor at night. Now they have relief. The Dodgers will take your contract that you no longer want, if they want that player. It's the only way they're going to find big league players.
For now. The team president, Stan Kasten, emphasized that the organization won't be where he wants it until the Dodgers are producing a steady stream of players, homegrown stars, Dodger players playing for the Dodgers. That's the ideal.
Player development has always been the true pride of the baseball operation, though, until not long ago, it happened in the shadows. Now, the fans are involved, and they love to talk about the up-and-coming talent. It's safe to say these new owners care a great deal about how they are perceived, and they know there is a lot more to be gained by creating talent than by writing checks to free agents.
Fortunately, for the Dodgers, it's not a matter of cost effectiveness like it is in smaller markets. It's a matter of creating the right kind of baseball culture, and the kind of teams that are really intimate with the fans. It's going to take years. The Dodgers didn't have a lot happening before the trades, and now the pipeline seems next to bare. But they can afford to buy their players until they start piping in their own guys.
In the meantime, love the pyrotechnics as the Dodgers lay out to win now. It is to be hoped that the baseball will be as interesting as the trades.
By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles
With their audacious reaches for trades, the new Dodgers owners are bidding for the love of their fans. But you know who loves 'em already? The owners of the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox. One suspects there will be others.
Two clubs have dusted their hands of major contract problems, thanks to Guggenheim Baseball. The Dodgers have become speculators in bloated contracts, and if it doesn't work out well in the end for the Dodgers, you can already say it's worked out great for the Marlins and Red Sox.
In total, the Dodgers have unburdened the Red Sox and Marlins of $311 million in outstanding contracts, the pro-rated portion of this season included. The Red Sox are feeling $273 million of relief after the Dodgers took Adrian Gonzalez (owed $131 million through 2018), Carl Crawford (owed $107 million through 2017) and Josh Beckett (owed $35 million through 2014). A month earlier, the Dodgers took Hanley Ramirez and $38 million through 2014 off the Marlins payroll.
In those deals, the Dodgers also received Nick Punto and Randy Choate. In those deals, the Dodgers gave up Nathan Eovaldi, James Loney, Allen Webster, Ivan DeJesus, Scott McGough and two players to be named, including Rubby De La Rosa.
It can't work out badly for the Dodgers, and it might even be the best this club can do for itself for a long time. It can't work out badly because the Dodgers have money to burn. They can afford some mistakes. And it's probably the best the Dodgers can do for a long time because ... look at the free agent lists.
The free agent roll this winter features no one like Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder or C.J. Wilson. Everyone who makes the star test -- Robinson Cano, David Wright, Curtis Granderson -- has an attractive club option for 2013.
Jake Peavy will be out there. He has one of the most hilarious provisions ever placed in a contract -- a $22 million club option for 2013. Like there was ever a chance the club would pick that up. He's a real good pitcher, though. Next, you might look at Jose Valverde, a fine closer for the last six years, picking up a fair number of Cy Young and MVP votes here and there. His numbers are down this year, particularly his strikeouts, but he puts on a show. If he's on, Dodgers fans would love him.
That's kind of where the free agent list leads. The pickings are slim. The next possibility one imagines comes from way out of left field: Mariano Rivera. He's 43 now, he will be coming back from ACL surgery, and he is not under contract with the Yankees for 2013. Remember, he was going to retire after this year, but he has vowed that he will not go down that way. You want a star? That's a star. And if talks for 2013 are going a little slow between Rivera and the Yankees, are the Dodgers audacious enough to make a move?
No wonder Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said this to reporters at the trade announcement: "July and August may have been our free agency." One might think he meant it was the Dodgers free agent season for 2012. But it's probably their free agent season for 2013, as well, because that free agent class is nothing. And forget about 2014, which is an even worse class. Your best players there are Nelson Cruz and Hunter Pence, No. 6 hitters on a good team. A 30-year-old Tim Lincecum is on the list, but it's anyone's guess what his value will be at that point.
Viewed against this backdrop, these recent Dodgers trades aren't merely bold, nor are they as wacky as one might first think. They make a lot of sense.
The Dodgers are acquiring the very best players that are available, period. Their problem isn't that they have money to burn and they're burning it. Their problem is that they have money to burn and there is no other way for them to use that money on top-drawer players than the way we have seen them do it. Namely, by relieving other clubs of contracts that they don't want.
It's not an entirely new strategy. During his years as the general manager in St. Louis, Walt Jocketty picked up Mark McGwire, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen when their old clubs were fine with seeing them go. If a player and his club aren't seeing eye-to-eye, that doesn't mean the guy can't play.
These days, it isn't even that personal. The magnitude of a player's contract makes him expendable. Can you imagine the flash that went before the eyes of Red Sox executives when they realized that the Dodgers would really take these contracts off their hands? This was a once-in-a-freak-lifetime opportunity. The Red Sox took almost nothing. It was very sly of the Dodgers to include James Loney.
Every club out there has a contract or two that has the general manager walking the floor at night. Now they have relief. The Dodgers will take your contract that you no longer want, if they want that player. It's the only way they're going to find big league players.
For now. The team president, Stan Kasten, emphasized that the organization won't be where he wants it until the Dodgers are producing a steady stream of players, homegrown stars, Dodger players playing for the Dodgers. That's the ideal.
Player development has always been the true pride of the baseball operation, though, until not long ago, it happened in the shadows. Now, the fans are involved, and they love to talk about the up-and-coming talent. It's safe to say these new owners care a great deal about how they are perceived, and they know there is a lot more to be gained by creating talent than by writing checks to free agents.
Fortunately, for the Dodgers, it's not a matter of cost effectiveness like it is in smaller markets. It's a matter of creating the right kind of baseball culture, and the kind of teams that are really intimate with the fans. It's going to take years. The Dodgers didn't have a lot happening before the trades, and now the pipeline seems next to bare. But they can afford to buy their players until they start piping in their own guys.
In the meantime, love the pyrotechnics as the Dodgers lay out to win now. It is to be hoped that the baseball will be as interesting as the trades.
