Well, it looks like we may be re-signing Rafael Furcal after all. He's been awesome when healthy, he's still only 31, and he's probably taking a paycut from the $13 mil. we were paying him on his prior deal. Also, I'm pretty sure Mr. Falcon approved this deal in a prior post, so I'm on board. Get it done Ned! We do not need a full season of the Berroa/CLH two-headed monster playing shortstop.
While this was welcome news, I am still pissed at the overall tact it seems like the team is taking. McCourt (and his cunty wife) continue to act as though they need to bunker down in these dire economic times. I'm sorry, I guess it was some other team that turned a reported $50 mil. profit last year alone, not to mention the fact that the Dodger franchise has appreciated in value hundreds of millions of dollars since McBankrupt bought the team. Word was when McCourt bought the team that the other owners were thrilled because he's such a cheapskate (part of the reason they are very reluctant to bring on Mark "Have I Got a Stock Tip for You" Cuban as owner of the Cubs). I'm on board with the youth movement and with waiting out Boras rather than bidding against ourselves for Manny. On the other hand, there are some moves we've made recently that make no sense at all.
1. Non-tendering Saito: the guy was basically in line for a raise from a little over $2 mil. to roughly $3.5 mil. Statistically, he's been the best closer in baseball the last two years. I know he had injury issues last year and is 39. However, Asians age extraordinarily well (that Bolo guy kicked Bruce Lee and Van Dam's asses decades apart). Also, Saito has pitched most of his career in the Japanese league where they play like 10 games a season, so he doesn't have a lot of miles on the tires. $3.5 million for an elite closer is nothing. It is barely a drop in the bucket for an above average relief pitcher either. The only reason to not sign Saito at this price is if the Dodgers medical staff knows something we don't, although I would be leery of trusting the folks who said Jason Schmidt was 100% healthy and who couldn't fix Jayson Werth.
2. Not offering arbitration to Beimel: same value question as before. Was in line to make about $4 mil. His stat geek numbers were down last year, but he's a proven commodity. If we were going after somebody else then great, but looks like we are counting on Elbert to fill the role. Strikes me as a don't pay and then hope for the best move rather than having faith in a young player.
Anyway, there are more of these grievances to come but I am tired of typing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Good post Purple Stuff.
I think Torre was only using Beimel as a situational lefty so they didn't want to go to $4MM. Grady Little used Beimel in the Corey Wade role, which is worth more. However, I would've been OK with Beimel getting $4MM and getting used more.
Also, I definitely think that we haven't closed the door on Saito. Did u guys realize that he had stem cells injected into his elbow rather that have surgery???
My other big complaint, which had already been mentioned, was the passing on Penny's option. Seems weird to give up on a reasonably priced guy with such a proven track record. Again, it is one of those moves where either there were clubhouse problems (makes no sense because anybody could get along with the big TP) or the med staff thinks he won't recover (and with their track records I don't trust any of those cocksuckers).
Post a Comment