Offseason To Do List

[halomatt]

Re-sign Vargas. 

Resign Blanton. 

Try to make a trade to get a young starting pitcher with upside.  Everybody currently on the team should be in play, excluding Trout. 

Re-work the bullpen.  Try and sign some "dependable" bullpen guys.  (We all know about the wild variances in performances with relievers year-to-year.)

Keep Scioscia, Butcher, DiPoto. 

[Docwaukee]

I liked stoneman but I think he is too much the opposite of what we have now.  We can keep going from one extreme to the next. 

 

He was great at building but he lacked the fortitude to make the move to put a team over the edge. 

 

I have no problem with Arte wanting to spend money on FAcy or approve the right trade. 

 

I think Reagins got fired because he just didn't know what he was doing and didn't have the respect within the industry. 

 

Arguably, Dipoto has actually been as bad if not worse yet if he survives this year it will speak volumes as to the level of influence that Arte has had. 

[austin724]

What GM's are available? Who could we get?

[Homebrewer]

Yes, the GM who made this team competitive for almost a decade.  The one who had the farm system in great shape.  The one who brought this team a championship.

 

Yeah, him.

Yeah...lets go back to the Stone-man age.

That should work.

[greginpsca]

I would keep Frieri and DDR only for the pen. Then i would be looking at minor league free agents, who are ML ready and have been blocked. Especially, hard throwers that can throw strikes. No more of this nibbling crap, that leads to too many walks and speeds up hitters bats. Old fashion hardball. Hopefully, we can find 3 pen arms this way. Then let the rest of the guys fight it out for the remaining pen spots. The most feasible way to fix the rotation will be thru trades. Kendrick,Aybar, and Borjous are the most likely bait.

[Docwaukee]

I'd start with Mujica and Joe Smith. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

In all seriousness:

1. Extend Trout long term! We really can't trade any of our club controlled players until we know if we got him locked up long term.

2. If Trout is extended put up Calhoun, Bourjos, Trumbo, and Kendrick on the trade block. We can part with two of those plus maybe a minor leaguer and get us two starting pitchers! Kendrick should get us one by himself.

3. Rebuild the bullpen...finally.

I'm all for fixing the bullpen. It sucks, has for 3 years.

But lets be honest. The starting staff has been just as bad. And weaver is no longer young (nor cj). As bad as the bully has been, the sp hasn't helped (although weav and cj have been very solid).

After that, ee have to build a bench. I say that because of how weak the farm is. Weve had a handful of decent fill ins this year, but none who I see as being long term players (maybe calhoun).

Pujols is a ?. Old, declining....but still pujols. A healthy albert hits .270/340/500 next year. Hardly fearful, but a definite bat in the lineup. I've never liked hamilton, but no way he's this bad, and he's still young. I see a bounce back next year, prob not all star, but solid. Those two plus trout equals a very decent MOTO.

But simply fixing the pen won't be enough if we still expect vargas (who might leave), hanson and a combo of jerome and richards to start every 5 days.

[Angel Oracle]

Jepsen has to go. Nearly 30 and 11 years in this org is long enough.

Even though Kohn is 27, he's only been pitching since 2008 (last college season) and missed 2012 due to TJ surgery. He's shown signs in 2013, albeit not very good lately.

Crazy stat: in 41 innings, he's allowed just 29 hits but also 6 HRs.

His WHIP is a solid 1.17, unlike Jepsen's 1.50.

He also has nearly 1 K/inning with 38.

Kohn >>>> Jepsen.

I would keep Burnett, DDLR, Kohn, Frieri (no more closing), and Williams.

Then I would go find a veteran closer who is a solid mentor to lead the pen.

No leader whatsoever exists currently.

Then at some point in 2014, get Morin up here.

Finally, hope that Alvarez harnesses his control, because he has the heat and breaking pitch to succeed up here.

[Angel Oracle]

How about this idea?

Kendrick for Kenley Jansen

[rick99gtp]

*sigh* how old are you? do you know how much of that 8 million he'd actually see?  and we're talking about this in comparison to the literally hundreds of millions he has the potential to make.  8 million isn't much at all. 

 

What does age have to do with it?

 

8 million is more than enough for anyone.  Unless you are stupid and use it all to buy a big house, many cars, take trips to see the world.  People are living on $50,000/year.  What makes you think 8 million isn't enough?  Stupid argument.

[sneaky_flute]

poor athletes can't live on 10 million a year

[eaterfan]

How about this idea?

Kendrick for Kenley Jansen

 

I'm all for a rebuild, but seriously?

 

3 years of a relief pitcher for 3 years of quality 2nd baseman? Jansen will put up about 2 WAR per season and relief pitchers are very unprojectable. He could easily post a 1 WAR. Kendrick is over a 3 WAR player. Even if Lindsey brings exactly what Howie brings next year it's still a downgrade.

[fan_since79]

Kenley Jansen is practically unhittable this year and he hardly ever walks anyone. 0.817 WHIP and 12.7 SO/9 innings.

 

The best part is he's only 25 years old. This is a legit closer who can dominate hitters.

[mtangelsfan]

What does age have to do with it?

 

8 million is more than enough for anyone.  Unless you are stupid and use it all to buy a big house, many cars, take trips to see the world.  People are living on $50,000/year.  What makes you think 8 million isn't enough?  Stupid argument.

 

If you leave 100 million on the table then you are an idiot, plain and simple.  If you want to live on the 8, then think about how much good you could do with the 90 left over.

[eaterfan]

What good is a closer if you never have the lead? This team isn't exactly lighting up the scoreboard. Even if Jansen pitches 70 innings he's probably only pitching 315 PAs. Assuming he plays a full season, Howie will have nearly twice that number of PAs. Add in fielding chances and the value of an above average 2B is not even close to even the most dominant reliever.

[Torridd]

We have to give to get and we can't play with the bullpen anymore because we need reliable arms.

 

The organization has to ask who is more easily tradable: Aybar, HK, or Bourjos? I don't want to trade any of them but if we can't acquire a SOLID bullpen arm or two we have to sacrifice one of them to get that person in here.

 

More than anything the bullpen needs to be fixed. It's been a problem for years and it eats the soul when we have so many tough losses in late innings year after year. If we have to, I think we can afford to trade from our offense. 

 

I don't advocate firing Scioscia or Dipoto, but if I had my choice it would be Scioscia. Allow Dipoto to pick his manager and the new manager to pick his coaches. I think Dipoto deserves another year. Too much bad luck this year, but I stress that we can't play roulette with bullpen arms any more.

[eaterfan]

I'm all for trading Kendrick, but a bullpen arm isn't what the target should be. It needs to be prospects/young starting pitching. Relief pitchers are as unpredictable as they come. Aside from which, I know everyone here is upset because the bullpen is bad but the difference between a reliever with a 3.00 ERA and a 4.00 ERA is only 8 runs over the course of 72 innings. The difference between Kendrick and Lindsey could be that in 1/3 of a season.

[Angel Oracle]

Kenley Jansen is practically unhittable this year and he hardly ever walks anyone. 0.817 WHIP and 12.7 SO/9 innings.

 

The best part is he's only 25 years old. This is a legit closer who can dominate hitters.

And to also address the other posters WAR thoughts, what if having Jansen filters down better success to the rest of the bullpen.

Sometimes, it just takes having the right few late innings guys in the pen to make the others better.    That increases the WAR significantly because bullpens are so important now. 

Think of this too: a starter affects 1/5 of a team's games.   A good bullpen helps more than that.

Also, Jansen would be under club control for 3 more years.   His BBs rate has decreased significantly in each season, and has dropped from 22 in 2012 to just 11 so far in 2013. 

[Angel Oracle]

What good is a closer if you never have the lead? This team isn't exactly lighting up the scoreboard. Even if Jansen pitches 70 innings he's probably only pitching 315 PAs. Assuming he plays a full season, Howie will have nearly twice that number of PAs. Add in fielding chances and the value of an above average 2B is not even close to even the most dominant reliever.

Lindsey is probably close to being MLB ready anyway.    They can still add a 5th pitcher via FA, and it may not even cost them a 2nd round pick (assuming being in the bottom 10).   There are some pitchers out there who haven't been great lately, but could be with a fresh start. 

 

If they re-sign Vargas, and Richards continues to improve, that's 4/5 of a rotation with Williams available as a spot starter when needed.

[VariousCrap]

I like a lot of the ideas mentioned in the thread.  Pitching is the most important aspect for this team to address in the offseason.

 

1.  Get at least two solid bullpen arms.  If you can get a third, do it.

2.  If they can trade for a solid #2 type of starting pitcher do it.  If they can't, sign the dude from Japan or Garza.

3.  Resign Vargas, if that doesn't work, Phil Hughes.

4.  Show Blanton and Hanson the door.

5.  Get a new hitting coach and pitching coach.

6.  If there is anyway to improve production at 3B, do so.

[VariousCrap]

How about this idea?

Kendrick for Kenley Jansen

 

 

 

I have no problem with this idea, I'm just wondering why the Dodgers would do it?  Jansen has been one of the best closers in the MLB this season.

[mtangelsfan]

To me it never makes sense to trade a slightly above average everyday player for a reliever.

 

If you can get a starter for Howie, or starter prospects for Howie, that's fine.

[Homebrewer]

I have no problem with this idea, I'm just wondering why the Dodgers would do it?  Jansen has been one of the best closers in the MLB this season.

Jansen was pretty shaky early in the season, and League flat out sucked. Hunnycut has done a hell of a job getting Jansen straightened out. ( how nice it must be having a real pitching coach) Plus they now have The Beard, who closed today and was throwing low 90's in his first game back...lookin pretty good.

Wilson might be the guy to go after, I think he is only signed through this season and will be a FA after.

[DMVol]

To me it never makes sense to trade a slightly above average everyday player for a reliever.

 

If you can get a starter for Howie, or starter prospects for Howie, that's fine.

Unless the relievers name is Mo Rivera....

[mtangelsfan]

Well................

 

fair enough.