Well it has arrived, baseball’s annual waiting game. A few dominos have fallen already with a couple of trades, a few free agent signings and some movement of players on minor league deals.
But the big fish, they are still on the market. It was announced today that Imanaga will most likely be posted on Monday. Yamamoto has already been contacted by at least half the league according to MLBTR.
The Dodgers news has mostly been rumors about their talks with the White Sox about Cease, more chatter about a deal with Milwaukee for Burnes, and gauging their interest in Ohtani.
We all know where the team’s biggest needs are. It will take more than just one major move to fill the holes. Pitching, pitching and more pitching. A corner outfielder, and if no Ohtani, a DH or third baseman so Muncy can move into the DH slot.
I can see LA signing at least one of the big free agents. AF almost has to make that kind of deal. The fan base is getting restless, you can tell by the comments on various Dodger blogs, and the Dodger stream on X, formerly Twitter.
The universal outcry is for Ohtani. Seems to me that most fans will not be happy if he is not wearing a Dodger uniform next year. And he is not going to be cheap.
Others call for them to bring back JD Martinez who did a great job for the amount of money he made. First time in Dodger history that four players have exceeded 100 RBI’s in the same season.
Even the Boys of Summer never did that. But it was the pitching that was the Achilles heel. At least health wise. Losing all five of the penciled in starting staff to injury at some point in the season was unprecedented.
Then Julio got into legal hot water. It still amazes me that this team won 100 games. The opposition is looking to load up too. The Giants and D-Backs are said to be interested in several players on the market, and the D-Backs made a trade to get Suarez from the Mariners.
The Padres might be looking to move Juan Soto since they want to cut payroll. And the Yankees seem to be the destination most mentioned by the media.
Cody Bellinger might be coming back into the division if the Giants have anything to say about it. They are said to have a lot of interest in his services.
But the fans of all teams right now are in waiting mode. This usually happens from Thanksgiving until the winter meetings start. So the time for real action is coming soon. Meetings are now just over a week away.
Lee to be posted in early December.
I sincerely hope everyone had a great turkey day.
My hope or something close.
Yamamoto
Cease or Burnes
Buehler
Miller
Imanaga
Pepiot
Freeman 1b
Gleyber Torres 2b (trade with Yankees)
Brendon Donovan 3b ( trade with Cards)
Lux ss
Outman lf
Robert Jr cf (trade with WS)
Betts rf
Smith c
Martinez dh
Much to ask for, lets see what happens.
Yamamoto
Buehler
Miller
Pepiot
Sheehan
Kershaw
2B Betts
1B Freeman
SS Witt (Lux, Stone, Grove, Pages, Cartaya, + ?)
DH Ohtani
C Smith
CF Outman
RF DeLuca
RF Heyward
3B Muncy/Gleyber Torres (swap)
2B Betts
1B Freeman
DH Ohtani
C Smith
3B Muncy
SS Lux
RF Heyward/Deluca
LF Taylor
CF Outman
Cease/Burnes/Yamamoto
Buehler
Miller
Pepiot
Sheehan
Stone
Kershaw
Rehab candidate
I still believe Witt (and Bichette) won’t be traded. Torres is a possibility.
I also doubt whatever our guesses will be in the coming days we will be wrong.
And we wait.
“I also doubt whatever our guesses will be in the coming days we will be wrong.”
I disagree, Badger, since we’ve now guessed every conceivable trade and free agent combination known to mankind.
I like your pitching setup with one of those 3 at the top followed by a recovered (hopefully) Buehler and then Miller/Pepiot/Sheehan, all of whom gained valuable experience last year. I think Stone is still in need of some work at OKC and I’m not at all certain that Knack isn’t actually closer to MLB at this point.
With regard to the lineup, adding Ohtani and Lux makes it better than last year, but I’d really like to see someone else in left field on a daily basis. I don’t view CT3 as an every day player, although he’s a valuable piece to have on the bench.
Putting Kershaw #6 in the rotation is really seeing the pitching world through rose colored glasses, Fred.
Shoulder surgery always seems to take longer to recover from than estimated and CK himself says he won’t be back until at least mid season. I’m guessing he won’t even pitch next year, although he may very well return in 2025. You need to come up with another #6 starter. I humbly suggest Ryu who probably won’t require more than a one year (reasonable) deal and who pitched well once returning from injury in the latter part of 2024.
I’m fine with your suggested Witt trade. The Royals won’t be.
Torres is probably worse at third base than Max is. I think it’s been determined that he’s a second baseman and that’s it. And no, you can’t move Mookie to third and use Gleyber at second. I make the rules here!
Playing DeLuca and Heyward both in right field and not having a left fielder is ideal strategy when facing a lefty hitter but could really hurt us when facing righty hitters. But I like this outside the box thinking.
I was going with a 5 man rotation with Kershaw contributing at end of season. I should have been more detailed but I assumed obviousness allowed me to keep things shorter.
That obviousness gets me every time.
I’ve noticed that
Well Noah Syndergaard is available!
Yoshimbu Yamamoto was sitting front row behind the basket at the Laker Mavs game a couple nights ago.
Obviously he’s now a Lakers fan and thus should be signing with us within 2 weeks
Bobby, what do you think about all the paint on the floors around the NBA?
Maybe he’s a Mavs fan and plans to sign with the Rangers.
Behind the basket?
giants will give him Warriors courtside.