Baseball seems to put Spring in your step when Spring is in the air. It’s been a long, cold winter here – I usually enjoy the winter, but my surgeon told me that the first winter would be rough on my hip and it has been a bear. Stiff, sore and constantly aware of it, I am. I am counting the days until Florida – March 7th, and then Camelback on March 20-27th. I will have the Spring back in my step when the Boys of Summer start reporting tomorrow.
“Pitchers & Catchers, Start Your Engines.”
Here are a few things to chew on until then:
- Jon Weisman reports that Ned Colletti said he believed that Randy Wolf would have accepted the Dodgers offer of arbitration (which is something I have been telling you for some time now). According to Jon, Ned offered the following:
“The reason (we didn’t offer arbitration) was we thought he would take it. At $12-13 million a year, we weren’t prepared to do that. And you know what, the people I’ve talked to since, that are very close to him, say that ‘You know what, he would have taken it.’ And I wasn’t prepared to pay him $12-13 million for one year, nor was I prepared to pay him $8 or $9 million for three years.”
Now, I suppose if you have been in the camp where you have accused McCourtof being Cheap and now wanting to sign draft picks (which is absurd) you now have the options of choosing one of three responses in order to save face, especially after what happened with Orlando Hudson:
- “Ned is a liar. He doesn’t really think that!”
- “Ned doesn’t have a clue. He doesn’t know of what he speaks.”
- “Maybe Ned know more than me. Maybe he’s closer to the situation than me and knows more than I do.”
You pick it!
- Tony Jackson of ESPN/Los Angeles reports that the Dodgers have signed Eric Gagne to a minor league deal. The question on the table, is not whether he is “Game Over” but whether his “Game is Over.” You can speculate all you want, but we will see in the Spring or Summer. It would be great to see him return to the mound in LA, but that seems like a long-shot. In part, Tony writes:
Gagne received offers from the Dodgers and Colorado Rockiesafter separate throwing sessions in front of club officials, although multiple sources said his session for the Rockies was underwhelming. Not that it mattered, because Gagne had made it clear to the Dodgers that he preferred to pitch for them.
The move carries virtually no financial risk because it includes no guaranteed major league money unless Gagne makes the club in spring training, and it is difficult to envision him accepting a minor league assignment if he doesn’t. The deal contains an escape clause, allowing Gagne to again become a free agent if he doesn’t make the team, something that is fairly standard for minor league deals signed by major league veterans.
They say you can never go home again! Who is “They?”
- What better option than to have Joe Torre hit Matt Kemp #2? 30 HR/30 SB/40 Doubles/10 Triples to go with a .300 BA and 100 RBI would be nice in the number two spot!
- There comes a time, when you have to just trust your minor league system to supply you with the answers you are seeking. This is especially true with pitching and our #5 starter, in particular. Starting this year, we have about 15-20 pitchers who will be “major league ready” by 2012. They will start filtering in as soon as NOW. I like Stults or Haeger for the #5 spot right now (subject to change).
- Whether the Dodgers contend for the Championship will depend a lot upon which Manny Ramirez we get.
- I believe the most OVERRATED team in baseball is the Colorado Rockies.
- As your stomach turns: Jamie McCourt has asked for about $1 mil a month in temporary support, according to Bill Shaikin of The LA Times. Sounds about right to me.
- If you pay players $25 mil a year and want to take $30 mil a year home, well that’s your business. It is a business afterall…
