Dodgers: Kevin Kennedy Shares What Club Should Do in Offseason
The winter of 2019-2020 is poised to be a historic one. Names like Betts, Lindor, Cole, and Arenado do not become available very often. The Dodgers should pounce — but will they? Recent history shows that they might not. However, of course we hold out hope that we can possibly land one or two difference-makers via trade or free agency this offseason.
The longtime radio voice of the Dodgers with Rick Monday, Kevin Kennedy shared his thoughts on what the Dodgers should be looking to do this offseason and how they can learn from the past to not mess around this offseason.
Here is the link to the full discussion on AM 570 LA Sports:
.@KevinKennedyMLB shares what the #Dodgers should do this offseason. (@RogginAndRodney) https://t.co/H46xXClEZR
— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) October 30, 2019
Making Big Moves
When asked about what the Dodgers’ plan should be, Kennedy responded with some big names, unsurprisingly:
“I’d like to see them get a [Francisco] Lindor. I would like to see them not clean house because they had a great year, but I would like them to step up and get a Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg. Strasburg will opt out. I would even like to see them get an [Anthony] Rendon and move Justin Turner to first base. It’s a logical move. They have pieces to move.”
Francisco Lindor
Kennedy also went into detail about the Dodgers’ pursuit of Francisco Lindor:
“I don’t know if Cleveland would do that for Corey Seager. Lindor is a five-tool player. For the Dodgers, if they got someone like that…he has a smile on his face, he is very media-savvy, he’s energetic, he would represent LA and the Dodgers very well. I could see why they would want him, but the names that I am hearing do not match up with what Cleveland would want.”
Will the Dodgers Spend?
Kevin Kennedy apparently does not see the Dodgers spending a ton of money this offseason:
“No not really, if they want to stay under the luxury tax I don’t really see that. They have a great core that came up last year and I don’t think they are going to move those guys.”
He also emphasized the importance of making a big acquisition like Cole:
“If you get a Gerrit Cole, that would put you over the top and you would win that Game 5. When you add a guy like that, he could take you all the way to the World Series and win it.’
Overall
Will the Dodgers spend? Only time will tell.
Respect Kennedy, I do not see why everyone is down on Seager who at one time was projected to be a perennial MVP candidate.
The Nats showed you need two dominate guys. The Dodgers have one in Buehler and a few more in training in Urias, May and Gonsolin with Grey coming up fast. People forget that Urias was the next dominate pitcher he turned 23 in August and has overcome injuries. Let’s not get a torqued up on the hype of having to do SOMETHING! and lets allow Seager to have a injury free winter and Urias to have a good Winter. This team will win the NL West again.
They need to get rid of Roberts who does not understand how to manage in the Playoffs.
I do think they will move Turner around from 3rd to 1st.
I don’t see much change this year as with the new guys like Lux, Smith, Beaty possibly Rios and DJ Peters depending on trades they have new blood and the team should be better on paper than last years starting line up.
Tmaxter, but the game is not played on paper and watching this year’s WS all I could see is how inferior Dodgers were to both teams. And as long as Roberts is manager, whom as you say cannot manage in the playoffs, is totally right on! On MLBN, DeRosa said it best..ya got to have the great starting pitching and ya cannot nickel and dime your way through 162 games and then do that in the 11 games in the PS.
People never learn. Just because you get pieces from someone else’s championship team doesn’t mean they will perform the same way with your group especially the very next year after winning. The Nats had something special that the Dodgers haven’t had since 1988. Some might say we’ve had great chemistry the last 3 years but it’s more like not bad chemistry. They like each other they get along but it’s not the championship type chemistry that translates into winning big games in October you just don’t get the same vibe watching them in big games that you do on the nationals this October you look in their dugout you can just feel they mean business
Good take. Eric Davis, Darryl Strawberry, Kevin Brown, Manny Machado, Manny Ramirez, Shawn Green etc, etc, etc. Exactly how many rings did getting those guys produce?
The dodgers hitters need to start hitting in the post season because leaving 8, 10, 15 guys on every other night won’t make a bit of difference if the pitching staff was made up of Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux, and Nolan Ryan.
They need to clean house. These guys have shown that they don’t handle the big games. They need to be replaced and keep the guys that show up
Exactly, Manny.
lets look at the dodgers regular 8 plus 4 bench catcher is smith; 1st base is muncy; 2nd base is lux; shortstop is seager; 3rd base is turner; center field is bellinger; right field is Verdugo; that leaves left field lets say Pederson. now for bench you have 2 locks because of there versatility taylor and kike can cover 7 of the 8 positions; need catcher cant recall his name but bring up the guy who got hurt late last season. that’s 3 of the 4 bench filled leaves 1 spot between rios,; beatty and Pollack rios and beatty can backup at least a few different positions Pollack 1 .to me right now beatty is the best opton send rios to minors and either trade or cut Pollack and take the hit.
Kennedy is out of his mind! If I am the President of the Dodgers, Kennedy is looking for another gig in 2020! Perhaps that is why Kennedy is spouting off, he already knows that he is not coming back to the Dodgers broadcast team next season.
Shill
Get one or two real relief pitchers, one right-handed, one left-handed, who can get guys out with guys on base, to bridge the gap between starter and closer. The LOSERS who have been brought in year after year since Freidman arrived are sickening, as is he. There will be no WS title without these two guys – if they are out there.
Will the Dodgers spend? Only time will tell.”
My simple answer to this question is no.
It’s all about the pitching. You need two ACES for starters and a reliable closer and set up guy. The hitting and defense that they currently have will get the job done if make these improvements in pitching. Good pitching by the Nationals shut down good hitting from the Dodgers. The Dodgers were out pitched! A championship team should be built around a championship pitching staff. The biggest challenge for the manager in the playoffs is to effectively manage the pitching and Roberts fails in this area. Having said that, he would have been more successful with a better bowl pen to pick from.
Kennedy is a knowledgeable baseball man and he’s not far off. Imagine trading Jansen! that would sure send a message to the rest of the team that they want productive players who can help them win, loveable or not. But if they traded Jansen and Pollock they would have to eat a lot of money which would hinder other moves. But if they moved Pollock, Jansen, Pederson and either Taylor or Kike, and one of those young extra outfielders I;d be ok with that. There needs to be some turn over after these last 3 yrs of failure. Just on a psychological side you have to be changing the dna some.
It was nice to see ex-Dodgers like, Howie Kendrick and Daniel Hudson win it all with the Nats but, I wonder why the Dodgers dumped those two in the first place? They really could have used Hudson in the bullpen this year as he was way better than a Pedro Baez or, Joe Kelly. And Howie Kendrick has always been a consistent hitter since his time with the Angels. It’s just now he knows how to be clutch in BIG at bats. I think he is most remembered as a Dodger from when he made the final strike-out when we lost against the Mets in the 1st round in 2015. As for ex-Dodgers on the Astros side, why and how in the heck did we trade Yordano Alvarez? He’s like a well-behaved Puig who of course I do NOT miss. As for Grienke, we all know why he left and, ironically, I think he jinxed the Astros chances at a World Series win. Grienke has always been about himself and the money and, players like that do not help a team. Just ask Bryce Harper!
Hudson was part of the problem last year but in typical dodger fashion he shows up after leaving, Alvarez I was upset about until I saw his performance in October, his dodger genes came out he was terrible. Kendrick wasn’t as solid in the years after his departure but of course showed up this year. More dodger luck or lack there of
Many Dodger hitters did not show up in the Nats series but at the end of the day Roberts has no idea how to get the best out of many Dodgers during the playoffs. No creativity. Your number 4 hitter didn’t have 1 RBI in the playoffs this year but he batted clean up the whole time. Smith hit .077 and Martin remained on the bench. Took way too long to bench Pollack (who may have had the all time worst playoff series in history) and Freese warmed the bench inspire of his playoff prowess. Where Roberts is even worse is his use of the pitching staff in the playoffs. If Maeda is excellent out of the pen in the playoffs and Kershaw sucks in the playoffs, then only Roberts could get their usage wrong. He makes way too many mistakes. They will never win the WS with Roberts making the decisions.
$65 million coming off the books. They should anything and everything to change the makeup of the team to win games in October. Lindor, Rendon, Cole or Strasburg
Dodgers should buy their championship team like every other major market team because they can’t build from within. Lets put a hard cap on MLB so the small market teams have a chance to retain their players and create an equal playing field for all.
All these guys have major talent or they would not even be on a major league team. Like everything else in life. Excellence only come with exceptional management. You need a president that knows what WS winning coach looks like. You need a WS winning coach that knows what WS winning assist coaches look like. And you need a WS winning management team that knows how to put a WS winning team together. We are all fans we all mean well. But we don’t know anything other that we love our team and want them to win a World Series again. By the way. If you haven’t noticed the ownership is an insurance fund. All they are worried about is bottom line. As long as the stadium is sold out. They could care less if they win WS.