Luis Gonzalez
So far the Dodgers have lost Greg Maddux, JD Drew, & Julio Lugo, and have added Jason Schmidt, Luis Gonzalez, & Mike Lieberthal, in addition to re-signing Takashi Saito. So far the Dodgers are WAY ahead!!! The trade off in paying Schmidt rather than Drew the BIG money is HUGE!
Luis Gonzalez has played in 145+ games in eight of the last nine big league seasons, and smart money says the 39 year old lefthanded hitting outfielder will play in more games than Drew in 2007. While Luis isn’t going to steal bases or patrol the outfield as well as JD, he did rip 52 doubles and score 93 times in 2006 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gonzo’s best season came in 2001 when he launched 57 long balls, with 142 RBIs, and 128 runs scored. Granted his best days are behind him, but he’ll be out there everyday this upcoming season, leading LA to a 1st place NL West Crown.
Jason Schmidt
LA got a BIG pitcher for BIG money, and he will be well worth it in 2007. Schmidt will be the #1 of a solid rotation, joining Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, & Randy Wolf. Heck the Dodgers even have Hong-Chih Kuo & Brett Tomko waiting in the wings, should anyone falter. Although Jason’s best year was 2003 when he was 17-5 with a 2.34 ERA, he still has plenty left in the tank.
Mike Lieberthal
The former Phillies catcher has agreed to play a backup role for his hometown LA Dodgers. Glendale’s Lieberthal made his debut at Dodger Stadium June 30, 1994. Mike is a former Gold Glove Award winner and will have alot to offer the young Russell Martin.
There go the Dodgers signing another solid veteran, who still has alot to offer.
Teddy, remember that the mastermind behind all those Dodger moves is a Chicago native. :-) He actually attended college with my neighbor. You’ll hear his brother’s name every week if you listen to the Bears on the radio, he’s the stat guy.
Somewhere along the line we were discussing the Sox and their off-season priorities, and before I could respond Kenny moved last night. But here’s the way I see things.
1) Middle relief
2) Take care of starters/find a place for McCarthy/lower payroll in starters. Here’s where I thought we could get some help; I really thought we’d get more for either Freddy or Javier. Is there a PTBNL coming to the Sox in the Garcia deal?
3) Straighten out the CF excess of talent and find a solution to left.
And somewhere down the line is “don’t let the Crede situation linger”.
One more thought on Freddy-when he came to the Sox, Ozzie made a big deal about how he was part of his family and he could talk to him, blah blah. Did that make him more valuable to the Sox than to any other team: i.e., did those comments lower his trade value?
I really don’t know we couldn’t have gotten more for Freddy Garcia, he’s better than Lilly or Meche, and right up there with Schmidt, IMHO. But are CORRECT, SIR, we do need to find MIDDLE RELIEF & CF! I’d like to see Josh Fields get a shot at LF, could he be any worse than Scotty in the field? We also do need to LOCKUP Crede, then if we wanna trade him, at least he’s signed. Dunno if I’d have traded Garcia, Javier would be out the door yesterday!
It has been a few years (like, 20) since I’ve thought of the Dodgers as one of the well-run teams that really knows what they are doing.
I’ll have to give this a little more consideration.
About Joe Crede: How many solutions are there to the Crede Situation when his agent is somebody the White Sox REFUSE TO TALK TO? Also, don’t you think Joe Crede will demand a no-trade contract? Would he sign a contract with the team he wants to play for without insuring that he actually plays for that team? Not if he has a good agent. And he does.
Dunno how many solutions there are to the Crede Situation, but I for one don’t want “Robin Ventura Redux” lingering into the two weeks right before the trading deadline. Get something done going into spring: everyone gets a full year with their team, less clubhouse disruption, the whole nine yards. All the no-trades etc. will have to be negotiated sooner or later, so start now. Personally I’d like to place him into the NL, but that may be a pipe dream.
DonS, I know that you know that Jerry R. will make a deal with ANYONE, given what he thinks is the “right” deal. If the money is right, he’ll shake hands.
Teddy, I was confused with the PTBNL with Garcia. The two pitchers are the sum total of the compensation coming back to the Sox.
I think they originally announced the 4th pick guy who they’re trying to rehabilitate “AND” a PTBNL. But later that same day, they disclosed the player as Gio Gonzalez. So as I went thru the day, I got bits and pieces of info and was looking for that last player.
Hey, did everyone see the Wall Street piece last week Friday that contrasted “output” with salary? DonS will be happy to find out that Big Hurt was considered one of the biggest bargains out there. But OTOH, the Angels way overspent on some of their players too. This week Friday they do the same with pitchers.