Dodgers: MLB Insider Talks Lack of Winter Meetings Bombshell Move for LA
After a bunch of hype leading up to the winter meetings for the Dodgers, they came away with almost nothing. They were outbid by the Yankees for Gerrit Cole and spurned by Anthony Rendon for Orange County. It’s starting looking like another relatively quiet offseason for the Dodgers, and MLB.com columnist Richard Justice went on Hot Stove and explained why.
https://youtu.be/cZQBWs7fsw4?t=119
“They were in on it, they discussed it. Anthony Rendon did not want to play in LA, that’s basically that,” Justice said. “And they got outbid, or however you want to say it, for Gerrit Cole. I think it would be fair to say that the Yankees did a phenomenal recruiting job.”
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However, the insider said he doesn’t believe the Dodgers are done. He brought up the possibility of trading for Francisco Lindor as well as adding another starting pitcher to complement Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw. Bringing back Hyun-Jin Ryu is a possibility, although Justice claims the Dodgers have put him on hold as they explore all their options.
“They’re still going to do something,” Justice said. “But this idea that they’re going to do a major shakeup of the roster, that may not happen at the end of the day.”
Justice added that he doesn’t believe the Dodgers need a major change in the roster, he likes their current lineup that has brought them a lot of success, albeit not in October.
It seems that Andrew Friedman and company could ultimately be comfortable heading to spring training with the club as is. While reports have Los Angeles in on a Lindor trade, and/or possibly signing free agent reliever Dellin Betances, the idea of big trade deadline moves seem to suit Friedman better.
NEXT: Morosi Talks Dodgers Need for Big Bat and Starting Pitcher
Won’t be going to a game this year after this weakness by the Dodgers to put them self over the top. Pathetic offseason so far. In the end the Dodgers will save a lot of money but won’t be getting any of mine.
Wine with the cheese.
Andrew Friedman needs to Resign
He has literally done nothing for this organization since he got here. Obviously he can bring a team like Tampa out of obscurity but he doesn’t have what it takes to make deals for a higher profile team like to Dodgers.
He has however talked a good game but lack of action he has drug this team down instead of propped them up for success.
It is sickening. I have given him the benefit of the doubt every off season waiting for him to do something. Were still waiting. We exited quickly this year from the playoffs and it was obvious that we needed to go all in and sign some Free Agents and winter meetings came and went he did nothing as per usual and the Fan’s are fed up. He doesn’t have what it takes to be a great GM For this team. He needs to Resign so we can move on and have some hope for 2020.
Hang on DB, it’s not easy making deals in this league if you’re the Dodgers FO. Nobody wants to play here in this platoon system of sabre metrics. Wanting to ply the Dodgers deepness of young talent, asking prices are always going to be steep, much steeper than you could get anywhere else in the bigs. I share most of your sentiments and disappointments with these inopportune and lackluster offseasons, but I think it is very difficult to make moves in this Dodger world.
Yes, you got it Ralph. Andrew was hired to do exactly what he has done. Have the seats filled and cut payroll. They never promised a title. Guggenheim versus O’Malley’s, are two completely different mind sets. Guggenheim keeps the fans just hopeful enough to have them thinking “this might be that year.” The FO have their eyes set on getting the stadium ready for the All Star game, and nothing else, because it markets the Dodgers even more.
Mike makes a excellent point in describing the differences between a family that cared deeply about the city, the team, and most importantly-the fans juxtaposed with a conglomeration of big money investors who only care about their return on investment. Sad, but true. I’m wondering how sustainable their business model is when the World Series drought continues, say another 5-7 years? Sad for Dodgers fans seeing teams in much smaller markets, than the second largest in the nation, win WS titles while we have become the Buffalo Bills of MLB. Oh well…
Ralph, exactly correct, and I said this before that nobody wants to come here as long as Roberts is the manager and for a starting position player, Dodgers are not an attractive draw because those players do not want to see their playing time compromised just because of the hand the opposing pitcher throws with. I am so sick of Freidman and Roberts it’s not funny, it’s pitiful!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m so done as a fan. I fly out a few times a year buy tickets spend money and why? None is going into the team to make it better. This is becoming a disgusting situation like the Wilpons ownership in New York. This team is so close, the payroll is down and the players were available. People need to stop showing up at games to really send a message. The question I have is this Friedman or ownership dictating it. How could you spend so much money for 5 years and then when you can really win you stop spending to get over the top. I for one will spend no money on the Dodgers this year unless something happens in next few months to really make an attempt.
100% spot on.
Tom, you will keep coming. The Dodgers know that their fan base will keep coming. Guggenheim is an investment group, not a baseball family like the O’Malley’s. If you need proof, how much have they fought to get the games on local TV? Not at all. They blame Spectrum, yet, Spectrum did not create a contract all on their own. Two groups were in agreement. Guggenheim made $8,000,000,000. The sooner we grasp that, the better it is. They will just keep playing the Gibson homerun, over and over. The FO keeps dangling the carrot. I go to games depending on my finances. This year will be a bit tighter for the budget. Maybe more Quakes games. It’s the reality of the times.
So what exactly was the reason to stay under the luxury tax if they weren’t going to spend to put us over the top? I’d love to hear what they have to say. My guess is it was just for their wallets and not to spend on the team
Uh, so they won’t have to spend more money. Isn’t it obvious? You’re starting to figure it out. Guggenheim is an investment firm, like McCourt was, not a baseball family like the O’Malley’s.
Friedman was hired to spend like Tampa, (very little) and make the Dodgers contenders. As long as the NL West is trash, the Dodgers will look like kings. The Dodgers barely made the 2018 post-season and lost in the first round last year. This “juggernaut” is more marketing. It would have been better to have 89 wins and lose, than 106 wins. That was the second biggest choke after the 116 wins Mariners. And still, nearly 4 million tickets sold. THAT is why Friedman is a success.
Really disappointed….
You people are so spoiled. They made the world series 2 of the last 3 years and are in the playoffs every year.
How quickly people forget the McCourt years.
Where’s the championship you fool. No fanbase would be happy with just playoff appearances are you kidding me? Ask any fanbase if they made it 7 times in a row with nothing to show for it if they would begin to get frustrated and restless and wonder what is going on over there in the ownership and FO who seems to have no intention of changing what’s clearly not working come October
RIGHT ON Richard. Pretty much the way most here feel. To say this fan base is angry and disappointed is an understatement.
?What are we suppose to think. I’d really like to know. Here is my team. A team I give my heart and soul too. A team that I watch every night and that means, on most nights living in Dallas, until 1 or 2 in the morning. And there are millions of us. But they don’t believe enough in us to pay Madison enough to get him.
Truly, what are we suppose to believe. That Madison or Cole or Lindor or I guess ryu don’t want to play for us. Are we suppose to believe that had we offered Cole 350 or mad 100 or the Indians joc and lux and one of our 8 number 3 pitchers that we could not have gotten Lindor. Or are we suppose to believe that this management team refuses to pay whatever it will take to get us a World Series. Don’t we deserve more. After 32 years. In the second market in America. Where 4 million of us travel to the stadium annually. I guess these owners think a dodger dog is enough.
Please do not get me wrong. There is no better organization at drafting and building a farm. There are few organizations better at mid-season gets. But after 32 years isn’t it time to try something different?
How about management giving it’s fans a true and honest explanation behind these decisions. I know, as a fan. I have given the dodgers everything I have.
Steven, I hear ya man because I feel the same way. Freidman and Roberts are nothing but lying frauds!
We should all boycott the Dodgers ! stop going to their games and stop buying Dodgers merchandise.
Gabe, that is easy for me since I live in Southern Oregon over 850 miles away. But another thing I can do is not renew the MLB Extra Innings Package for this year. that was how I got Dodger games almost daily but why spend the $$ on a team that is not worth it?
The explanation is simple. Their goal is simply to make the playoffs, thus keeping the fan base somewhat mollified and hopeful, while spending as little as possible. Prospects are cheaper than stars, so as long as they can keep LA competitive there won’t be any prospect for proven star trades. The only money they’re willing to spend is to resign popular stars (Kersh, Belli) to prevent fan backlash. Otherwise it’s all talk no action.
So maybe the intense focus on the “Playoffs” is the problem. The Astros were the best team last season. They got beat by the best team of the 2nd half of the season. Only 1 team having success a season is a convoluted way to bring yourself enjoyment. I’ve long advocated for Season (Title) and Tournament (Series) winners.
Liars and con men! Sound harsh? Listen to Stan and the smug look on his face! Friedman and his arrogance! Roberts and his pre meditated di-ss of a white house invite! They truly think they are baseball genius and their failed brand of money ball and analytics are as gov ” new some” puts it, the new normal! Ignorant of something as simple as a lead off hitter that hits 300 , a sac bunt in a tie game, or a hitter that’s red hot remain the lineup! Simple basic baseball that the Nat’s just showed king. I believe these guys think they’ re innovators and their pseudo intellectual brand is the ” only” way. I think many of these players don’t think much of their ideals.
Andres soto , why do you think the dodgers won’t spend big on any free agents that they need?
Mike
Let me put this as Dodger Blue as possible for you.
My Grampa and my dad were Brooklyn fans. They were over the moon when the team moved to their back yard. You can root for any team sport in our household except for baseball baseball. your mind was already made up for you. a dodger fan and that was the end of it if you wanted to live under my father’s roof. Some of my fondest memories and 1st memories are when I was 4 years old at dodger stadium. We barely came back against the cardinals and walked them off in 10th inning.
Me my brothers and my entire family have been dodger fans our entire lives. Watching this team has given me more joy and heartbreak then just about anything in my life. Yet we believe that every year will be our year to celebrate a world series championship. One magic moment when Gibsons shot clears the out field wall when I was 9.
I am a returning Iraq/Afghanistan combat veteran. My back and my knees are shot. Sitting in a car for a lengthy period of time is excruciatingly painful. I live at the Southern gate of Yosemite easily 6 hours to Chavez with out any traffic. Yet I make the trip with my wife, son and daughter (5 and 3 years old) because I want the same kind of magic moments for them as I experienced as a kid. Because the Dodgers are a family institution for us. We average between 8 to 12 regular season games. And we have gone to 3 post season games in 2017 and 4 In 2018 seasons. Including game 163. We easily spend 250 to 350 a game in the stadium.
I sit in the heart of giants country and defend my team every year (easier recently then in the past) because we believe in the Dodgers. Last year exit showed me that if this team wasn’t willing to sign Kershaws replacement and JT replacement. I cant justify putting my heart and sole into a team where the front office FAILS time and time again to flex there economic muscle and get’er Done. Money ball only gets you so far before you have to spend money. A great farm system only props you up it doesn’t put you all in so to speak.
I will always love the Dodgers but we will no longer pay stock holders. I would much rather pay for a hard working Dodger Blue collar player who has made good because of there work.
As for me and my family we will continue to love our team but no longer will we be spending any money (until we feel like the brass gives a $h![ about more than the stock holders.
I know it’s only a tiny drop in the ocean but it means something to me and it should mean something to dodger fans everywhere.
Folks, I told you this before the winter meetings and when the official off season began:
No player wants to come to the Dodgers mainly because of the inept Roberts and his puppet master Freidman. The way their mind set is and how the run things is the main reason why too. So the end result is that Dodgers will remain too LH hitter heavy with no real stars on this team and no real impact RH bat. And look for the same stuff to go on every time the team faces a LHP and why? Because most of these players are not good enough to hit evenly well against both hands of a pitcher. And the pitching? Same weaknesses will exist in 2020. I am fed up with Dodger management and maybe a 100 loss season might just open up the owner’s eyes, but IDK ..
Why is no one talking about the fact that if the Astros didn’t cheat we more than likely win the 2017 World series??
And… who knows what kind of junk Alex Cora pulled in 2018 with the Red Sox.
Everyone wants to say that this FO can’t do it in October… They already did!
I’m just as disappointed as everyone else that we didn’t get Cole but you can’t argue that Freedman knows how to build a baseball team.
We just got cheated out of it… pure and simple.
Ralph?
are you saying it is so hard to sign any players. This is MLB. Difficult deals get done all the time??
That is rubbish How many millions of dollars is the front office being paid to get incredibly hard and complex deals done. In the Dodgers case to not get them done. I think that’s why you sign general managers correct? to get difficult deals accomplished! With the farm system and the amount of money that the dodgers have there are 0 excuses let me be crystal clear 0 excuses that they can’t sign top free agents. there is no want or in their minds need to sign free agents. the difficulty it’s the fact that they would rather count their money then put the best possible team on the field.
Another fan’s comments here:
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Fact this team hasn’t made a significant move this winter speaks volumes. They don’t care. They’re in for the profits and being competitive, but winning a title doesn’t matter. Bowing out in the world series or NLDS doesn’t imapact their bottom line, but signing a 9 figure free agent does.”
Come on now Paul, they got Blake Treinen. Another one of that moron Friedman’s major deals. And Roberts said the Dodgers will be more “aggressive” this winter.
I’ve been running into a lot of fans around town and the usual fist pump and let’s go dodgers conversations aren’t centered around the usual fan talk. The conversations instantly become Friedman oriented, and How greedy the org is. This is actually a good sign guys, because after this years repeat of another failed championship, heads are gonna role! Usually when ownership is greedy they can just blame it on the G.M., but in this case the fan base already knows that the president and also the G.M. are all in with ownership and screw the fans. Next year at this time we will see changes!
It is a bit tiring, especially when prices keep going up. Fewer games, and more last minute seats will be the norm for me. Since the Angels are the only team on local TV, I might watch Angels more often.
Funny how the Angels are the original Los Angeles team. Born here in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are the transplants. My dad loved the old minor league Angels. Too bad they aren’t doing so well.
Lifelong dodger fan who has come to conclusion that dodger priorities are as follows:
1. Cash spectrum check
2. Be entertaining enough to fool 3 million fans to support McCourt for parking and ownership to make more $
3. Stay under salary cap
4. Sell merchandise
I’m frustrated because this is my team and they dont realize how they won in 1988. The manager demanded the best from each player (does our present manager) and they had a player leader who competed each game every play and demanded the same from his teammates. Do we have that player? They get a pat on back if homer or strikeout. Pitchers are patted as they leave after giving up game losing hits. Can’t win in this environment