Dodgers: Potential Roadblocks to Signing Freddie Freeman
The Freddie Freeman sweepstakes are far from over, but with the lockout still underway, it will be some time before the Braves’ first baseman finds a home this offseason.
MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes recently looked at a few potential suitors for Freeman in the event that he doesn’t return to Atlanta, including the Dodgers. And while Los Angeles has long been a rumored destination for Freddie, Tim has a few reservations about the team’s ultimate desire to strike a deal.
The total years
Dierkes’ biggest issue with any deal for Freeman is the number of years it would likely take to pry him away from the Braves. With multiple reports stating that adding a 6th year was the biggest hold-up in a potential deal between Atlanta and Freddie, giving him that guaranteed money might be necessary for any team to lure him away.
Handing out multi-year deals to aging players has never been Andrew Friedman’s preferred way of doing business, but there are recent examples to showcase that he is willing to do so for players he believes in. As Dierkes himself mentions, the deals for AJ Pollock and Mookie Betts are recent examples of Andrew Friedman opening up the checkbook for long-term deals that take players through their mid to late 30’s.
The bottom line? If Friedman believes in your potential to help the Dodgers, he will find a way to make it work. Freddy Freeman is one of the rare players in today’s game that has proven to be as consistent as they come, which makes him the perfect exception to the long-term contract trend for LA.
The loss of draft picks
The second argument (and perhaps the most pertinent) is the draft pick forfeiture that would be needed in any deal for Freeman. There are two factors to consider here: Freeman’s qualifying offer status and the Dodgers’ competitive balance status.
With Freeman turning down the $18.4 million qualifying offer from the Braves this offseason, any team that signs him outside of the Braves will have to forfeit draft picks and international signing bonus pool money. The total draft capital that needs to be forfeited depends on a team’s competitive balance tax status, otherwise known as the luxury tax.
Since the Dodgers are one of the teams to have paid the luxury tax in 2022, they would be subject to the heaviest penalties if they were to sign Freeman or any other free agent who declined a qualifying offer. The damage? Forfeiting their 2nd and 5th highest draft picks in 2022 along with $1 million in international signing bonus pool money.
This is a heavy price to pay for any team, but the Dodgers are one of the few who might be comfortable with the tradeoff. Their continued success in finding hidden gems in the draft and internationally could give them peace of mind if they were to make a move. Either way, Freddie Freeman is one of the few remaining players who would be worth the cost.
Related: Should the Dodgers Bring Back Albert Pujols in Free Agency?
Final Thoughts
There are plenty of hurdles that would need to be cleared for Freeman to sign with the Dodgers, but there is a path there if the team chooses to follow it. While the price would be steep, they need to replace the left-handed production of Corey Seager with a proven bat. A 6-year deal would take Freeman through his age-38 season, but his production is based on more than power. There is reason to believe that he would be able to age well, especially with the DH likely coming to the National League in the near future.
Los Angeles is the city of stars, and Freeman would shine brightly for the Dodgers if given the chance. With so much uncertainty going into the 2022 season, signing the veteran infielder would go a long way toward another World Series run.
NEXT: Making a Trade for Reds’ Sonny Gray Work
The elephant in the room is starting pitching Luis Castillo should be a much bigger priority than Freddie Freeman. We already have Muncy and he mashes. We didn’t not loose in the playoffs because of Freeman we lost because our starting rotation was taxed. We have no one beyond Buhler and Urias. Dustin May is out for half the season. Kershaw is at the end of his career and would be the 4 or 5 starter. Pitching Pitching!!!
Luis Castillo is highly overrated I just looked at his career numbers. In no way is he worth giving up top prospects for
Shane Bieber and or Kyle Hndricks would be better options.
Preston, while I agree that pitching and DEFENSE, killed our chance to repeat. I don’t however think Castillo is the answer. Yes we got the two studs up front, but I really don’t have a problem of giving some runway to others we already have “in house.” Carrot top we get back mid season and has already shown us signs of brilliance. To me Mitch White and Andre Jackson both availed themselves quite nicely, sure they ain’t household names. But hey, you know some of those Braves “starters” in the WS??? My point! I would love to see Ryan Pepitot and Bobby Miller be given a shot to see what they can do.
Let’s face it, 21st century baseball ain’t about the starters anymore….it’s the BULLPEN!!!! Dodgers have an awesome PEN! I like our chances!
Roadblock 1: Snitker knows how to manage a team Roberts can’t even manage a 280 million dollar roster
Roadblock 2: The Braves showed the ability to win it all with less and in a full season
Roadblock 3: The dodgers will be going somewhat cheap for a few years
It’s popular to have a Christmas wish like Freeman, but it makes absolutely zero sense for Him to leave a winning team, with a certified MLB manager like you say Don. Atlanta fans love him, he is a Huge part of their culture and the Dodgers really can’t offer him anything better than what he has.
Consider the injury list for the Dodgers during the series against Atl, not to mention the Bauer situation. And we still had a shot to win that series.
Yes they still had a shot and blew it. Despite all that they still had a better team but terrible managing and hitting approaches cost them
Roadblock 4: Manfred and the MLB Lockout.
Roadblock 5: Freidman and Drrrrrr relying on that lefty/righty computer to manage both position players and pitchers in each game.
AMEN PAUL
Paul, but the biggest road block will be the MLB in lock step with the Hoax agenda like the NFL is. They’ll just throw a few hundred F-positives to manipulate rosters whenever they feel like it. Manfred forgot about a little thing called the nurem ….Berg Trials…So be ready for that B.S.
What insider information do you have the Dodgers are going cheap? Not paying Mr Dead Arm 130 million for his late 30s? Not paying injury prone Seager 325? Newsflash, half their key players were hurt last october. It wasn’t a 280 million dollar team.
finally someone told the truth about 2021. Literally I think they had the starting team for maybe a dozen games all year
Still way better than the other teams but once again beat themselves
The biggest roadblock in getting Freddie Freeman is the Braves. You know. The guys who just won the WS. And almost knocked the Dodgers out in 2020.
Dodgers are not even close to signing freeman just like they weren’t close to signing scherzer they’re just using dodgers to get more money from Braves.
Luis, the dodgers just got hit with a Monstrous Luxury tax penalty. They hired Friedman for his dumpster dive frugal genius, and ability to manage small payrolls and be competitive. It’s quite obvious with his BIG moves so far that there won’t be any BIG MOVES.. Freeman? Greinke? The owner’s group just gave Drrrrrr the checkbook and massive attempt to win it all and he failed. The Should have been Dynasty is over, the checkbook will be managed, and that means no money in the stockings. The farm is ranked poorly, there weren’t any players that showed they’re MLB ready so be looking for a International if ANYTHING type players that won’t break the bank and will be able to contribute.
Friedman genius? Oxymoron!
D4L, you are a blabbering oxymoron!
kirk, keep living on Fantasy Island. I know you like it there.
They shouldn’t have re-signed Sherzer anyways! He signed for more than Gerrit Cole, and was showing some signs of decline. We need a 3rd starter. The priority should be Luis Castillo without a doubt!
No way!
Gee perhaps you could give us an example of the dodgers considerable success in finding hidden gems in the draft and and internationally. I think I must have missed the successes you are referring to. I am assuming you mean in the last 5/6 ( ie the Friedman era) years not the last 20 years
Freeman just may like the intense publicity he would get as a Dodger. That always means more cash to charity minded guys
Gee perhaps you could give us an example other than the obvious. Did anyone ever say the Dodgers weren’t capable of finding hidden gems in the draft or internationally. Maybe you should understand that there is a state of development that needs to happen for guys in the draft. We lost in the playoffs because our starting rotation was taxed. May is out for half the season. Kershaw is 4 or 5th at best. Heaney blows. What are you left with? Buhler and Urias. Let’s go spend top dollar on Freeman when he is not the reason why we lost in the playoffs. When we already have Muncy. How much does Muncy make vs Freeman? Also there is a reason Muncy plays 1b because his defense is not very solid. So to put him at 2b would not be very smart in the grand scheme of things. Money would be better spent on a third starter then on Freeman just saying.
Solid argument, Preston. It should be obvious to anyone who takes a rational look at the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Quote: You Can NEVER have too much pitching….especially relevant when you don’t have enuff.
Freeman is a beautiful piece of XMAS Candy (great guy, great stick) and we need the Meat & Potatoes (pitching) …. and to be redundant: We got MAX!
I’ll leave it to others to make more intelligent/inciteful comments.
OUT.
Give him what he wants Friedman.
Ahahah yeh Dodger Prince let’s go over pay for something we don’t need!!
Are you high on something? We need a left handed bat and he would be the answer. Muncy won’t be ready for the start of the season.
And the new Barrage of Moderators all show at the same time……..
we don’t need Freeman with Muncy back. We need starters please
Solid argument, Preston. It should be obvious to anyone who takes a rational look at the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Quote: You Can NEVER have too much pitching….especially relevant when you don’t have enuff.
Freeman is a beautiful piece of XMAS Candy (great guy, great stick) and we need the Meat & Potatoes (pitching) …. and to be redundant: We got MAX!
I’ll leave it to others to make more intelligent/inciteful comments.
OUT.
we dont know whether muncy will even bounce back after dave drove half the team to the disabled list or the i.l. and ruined some careers . we dont even know the full extent of that until we see which pitchers from last year develop potential arm damage over the next few years. then we might be able to trace it back to daves thinking processes and perplexing moves where j.t. and pollock bust some hamstrings and muncys still in the 162nd game and frisco had a big lead over their opponents the last game and were about to lock up the western division and dave still kept muncy in the game. he was going to make sure that muncy pollock jt and taylor play every inning almost even though they all hit about .220 the second half except for pollock who was hitting like a god until dave decided inexplicably to have him attempt to steal third late season against pittsburg. at that point the gist of the incredible offense was slumping from fatigue and overuse from weak game planning and with pollocks injury history and the fact of poiiock hitting absolutely great with the rest of the team slunping heavily pretty much fheres no way i wouldve even considered trying to have him make a steal attempt in that situation. and he tried to steal third base where the catcher has a shorter throw. and pollock aint no teeny little speed demon either.and hes well past 30. you cant be stupid and expect to win in baseball or as a species where the stars and their energy are expected to last trillions of years and eternity is real and lasts torever. and thats a long time. to survive in this universe you have to take your brains to the next level and your knowledge has to increase x amount of times to where the money system becomes obsolete. and thats kind of hard to acheive when everybody is generally stating that they want to go up but the reality is the brakes are always being applied. where we could create a scene where we could all have multiple sex choices on a daily basis. then we could really live the way we were meant to without all the interference recieved by various factions where one could expect various lower level intellects to show up constantly like clockwork and destroy any hope of ever breaking free from being slaves in the money system.
mike, you can’t even get your facts straight. AJ was stealing 3rd against the Vigiants! I won’t even go into the rest of your mis-guided diatribe.
no it was against pittsburg and pollock was the only hitter who was red hot with trea and seager just steady with the bat. you need advanced calculation to see it.
Do the Dodgers receive draft compensation for losing Seager? If so, would that negate or help to negate lost draft compensation if Freeman is signed?
i like freeman but free agent contracts are risky too. freddy is 32, and then theres draftpick compensation. you have to be sparing with your free agent spending and basically let them walk in alot of situations. the right way to build a team is to develop your talent wisely. their cost is low theyre younger and more resilient to injury and the team sleeps better. the future looks brighter and since theyre younger all that youth and innocence can much more easily create a brighter outlook on a teams prospects and rubs off on the atmosphere better than having your roster bogged down with dead weight from all those aging superstars in decline. statistically speaking. and when your young guys do get injured its generally easier for a team to recover because you would retain alot more cap flexibility so you can have the space to manuever more freely in constructing a roster the right way.
You just that you looked at Castillos numbers Don he’s better than what is available which is not much. Don. He’s better than Gray, Montas, and Meanea which is basically what we’re looking at here. Btw Atlanta won because they were the hottest hitting team in baseball and our rotation was taxed from the Giants series. Trea Turner did not produce, and we did not have Muncy. That about sums it up, and we still need starting pitching more than Freeman and Castillo is still a better option than over paying Sherzer 130 mil would have been.
And as Ned Colletti once said: ‘if you don’t have enough good starting pitching ya might as well go home’.
Preston, did you even watch the WS? Braves didn’t win it with hitting! The back of their PEN was UNTOUCHABLE! Same problem Dodgers had was experienced by the Cheatstros! Minter, Tyler “Untouchable” Matzek, Smith shut the door on many an attempted rally by the best offense in BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Folks, get a clue!
D4life!! It was so quiet around here. Are you just going to laud? and drool over the Braves forever? Who cares how the Braves won, but what you always fail to mention about their success was the precision managing. Their manager didn’t sit hot hitters over a computer equation, nor did he burn up his starters when that Bull pen was firing, nor did he pitch to our #4 hitter with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1st base open etc etc etc. That’s why they won, he had a RESTED Staff because of his management of it period.
But as far as our manager is concerned
That’s Drrrrrr for ya…
Kirk did the Braves have the injuries we had all year? We’re the Braves in Race with the Giants all year? Did the Braves have to play a play in game? And then go the distance with the Giants toe to toe where we had no choice because of injuries, but to stretch two of our starters into dead arm. How much do think not having Muncy in the line up affected us as well especially when he protects other bats in our line up. Let me know when that all sinks in as to why we lost in the playoffs!!!
Preston, we lost in the playoff’s for many reasons and those many reasons were because we have barney fife managing the 280 million roster. First off the race with the Vagiants was blown by his incompetency. Don’t say we had all of these injuries when EVERY team has injuries. The Vagiants went half the season without Belt and Longoria not to mention their starters as well. It was the managing of their injuries by Kapler aided with the mismanagement of the dodgers that decided the seedings in the play off’s and ultimately the division. Drrrrr played players Out of position example: Putting Smith at 1st base against the Vagiants in the 9th inning where he mis played a throw from Trea that cost the Dodgers the game. Then of course after settling for the WC, he starts Lux in center in the NLCS where Lux cost the Dodgers that game if Not the series. How many games did we lose by? Drrrr played favorites example: Bellinger-Mckinney-Souza-and anyone else with a 15o BA while Beaty and Lux rotted in OKC. Both Lux and beaty were better options at the time but Drrrrrrrrr had a bias against playing his better options, arrogant and conceded, thinking he was this Master Joe Mcarthey prodigy. Drrr started 4 150 hitters in a division race twice against the Cardinals in August basically handing the Cards the games, and how many did we lose by? Drrrrrrr sits Hot hitters example NLCS Pujols goes 2-3 with 3 RBI’s in a big win and he sits him the next game. The ONLY reason they got Pujols was for Post season and big games, but the computer manager drrrrrr , sits him just like he did with freese, Russ Martin etc. in the past. All of these examples are the reasons this 280 million team flubbed in 21. They weren’t allowed to succeed because they have a incompetent manager. and let me tell you another thing preston, nothing will ever change regarding winning another title until they rid themselves of Drrrr Fife!
Amen Preston.
There staff was “RESTED” Kirk because they didn’t have a play in, nor were they in a race all year with the Giants, nor did they go 7 games with the Giants. Nor did they have depleted pitching staff like we did which forced us to overuse our staff to compete. They had a fully healthy staff which took all the pressure off there pen. Read between lines. It’s not even a comparison to what the Dodgers thru.
Who’s the one drooling over the Braves Kirk and there management again? The Braves did not have the injuries that we had nor did they even come close to having the same difficulty of path and variable’s throu the playoffs. Nor did they have to compete with the Giants all year!!
Preston, if we would have had a decent manager we would not have been in a race with the Giants. Uncle Dave’s pathetic decisions had cost us at least a 4-5 game lead we should have had at the end of the season and it would have become a moot point about resting the pitching staff. Kapler had to deal with numerous injuries to his starting lineup as well as pitching staff but did a laudable job managing his lineup. Baseball writers took note of Uncle Dave’s stupidity by leaving him in 5th place for manager of the year.
DodgerGlen, Please show me a better managerial record for 5 years than Roberts. Oh ya, you can’t. Because there isn’t one! Nuf sed.
Dodgerfan4life, it’s not about his record you moron, it’s all about Uncle Dave’s decisions that have cost us numerous games and probably a couple more WS. Again, look what the Baseball writers thought of your brilliant manager. Only got 6 3rd place votes with both LA writers giving him 3rd place. 24 writers thought so much of his skills that they did not even give him any votes! Nuf said.
Greatest need? Pitching, pitching & pitching!
Montas? Bassist? Castillo? Someone else? Definitely!!
Need to add at least 1, preferably 2 number 3 or 4 pitchers!
Yes Yes and more YES!
Are you hi Prince that’s why we have Cody! We don’t need Freeman guy!! We need front line pitching way more than a left handed bat sorry tell you, and Muncy is not out for that long lol.
Starters are going the way of the Do Do. Braves won the WS with a bunch of rookie starters who went 3 innings a piece then shut the lights out on the BEST OFFENSE IN BASEBALL with a kick a$$ PEN!
There’s not one way to win. Bullpen was big last year but the Dodgers won in ’20 with one of their starters closing the NLCS and World Series. The Nats won in ’19 on the backs of their 3 starters. A good starting rotation is still important if you want to win.
That’s the problem with the dodgers. Always a year behind. In 2022 some team will win it all a different way
Morton is not rookie, Fried is not rookie, Anderson is not a rookie, Chavez is not rookie. All those guys were healthy and not over used from a one game playoff, and going 7 games and battling with the Giants all year. How much pressure does that take off your pen to perform vs what we went throu? It’s not even a comparison. That’s not management’s fault either those are the cards we were delt in the playoffs and In order to compete we had to over use our staff because of injuries.
The NLDS is a 5 game series
Jee so sorry Don that’s not point. Point is the Braves we’re not in a pennant race all year with the Giants nor did they have one game play in. Nor did they go 5 games against the Giants. Nor did have the injuries to there pitching staff that we did which caused for over use just to compete in the playoffs and there fore there was no pressure on there Pen at all.
Preston, True that Morton and Fried aren’t rookies…Anderson is still classified as one. Kyle Wright started a game and some other unmentionable started another. It equated to 3 straight rookie starters on the biggest stage! Furthermore, facing the #1 OFFENSE in BASEBALL. Offense doesn’t mean diddly in October! When will you guys finally realize that???
Who cares lol. The Braves did not have a one game playoff there’s 1 starter for us that the Braves didn’t use. Then against the Giants 5 games of over use. Against a fully rested staff that did not go through a pennant race with the Giants with a combined over 200 wins between the two. Braves did not go thru that. How much pressure does that take off there club. Again hate to say it hottest hitting club in baseball in playoffs and fully “RESTED” let that sink into to your thick scull!!!
The Braves did not tax all there starters like we did. Braves the hottest hitting team in baseball at that time. We had injuries all year. And not having Muncy was a dagger too. Thank you I watched all the playoffs and the reason we lost is not because of the Pen…lol
The reason we lost is because of the Barney Fife factor…….
Your hi as a kite Kirk sorry to tell you!! We lost because we did not have a full pitching staff, and we struggled with injuries all year. You cannot compete with that sorry to tell you!! Those are the cards we were delt in the playoffs period. We never had a fullly healthy club all year. We did not have Kershaw or May. Gonsolin had shoulder issues all year and struggled with command. We were forced to over use our staff just to make it thru the Giants. Bye the time we played Atlanta they were taxed and had dead arm jacktard!! Also not have Muncy to protect other batters was another dagger. Atlanta did not have to deal with any of that and had a fully healthy pitching staff. You don’t know baseball, and you use 0 logic. Atlanta is not even a comparison as to what we went thru and you should be happy we even made it that far. Let me know when you come back to earth and you can use logic Barney Fife boy!!!
Preston, You make some very good points for sure. Braves had a much easier go of it through the playoffs no doubt. Kirk has an agenda and an axe to grind against Roberts because he got out managed by him in his Little league days LOL.
Hey Barney Fife how many healthy starters did Atlanta have vs the Dodgers? Did Atlanta play in a one game playoff? Sorry to tell you we had more injuries than the Giants did moron. Did Atlanta go 5 games against the Giants. It’s management’s fault that we had injuries right. Do the Giants or Atlanta have the depth that we do Barney boy? How much more difficult is that to manage? Did Atlanta go thru a pennant race with the Giants all year. We were healthy for like the first 10 games and that’s it and still kept pace with them. Did Atlanta have to deal with a 40 million dollar big mouth pitcher that ruined our team, and had to be replaced with another expensive pitcher just to compete. Also dumbass if you complain about management then complain about the guys upstairs because they are the ones that run the analytics not Roberts. Roberts has way more to control than the Giants or Atlanta because of depth. Not saying Roberts is great but you use 0 logic in your reasoning at all as to why we lost and your comparisons to the Giants and Atlanta are way off base Barno!!
Lol so your saying it’s all bull pen now. So maybe we should get rid of Buhler and Urias and get all Pen guys. We shouldn’t re-sign Kershaw either! And we shouldn’t have signed Sherzer and Bauer ever either. Not going to say there is not a little truth to what you are saying but that still is not why we lost. Two starters overused and had dead arm. You still need front line pitching in today’s baseball period! I never said that we would not be using youngsters in the mix this year however that still doesn’t mean that we are not going to invest in more seasoned arms, and that is what you have to account for with youngsters. and who ever said Grenkie would be good if that’s the case we would have kept Sherzer. The Dodgers are not going to go backwards and get Grenkie…lol I would not be expecting a big splash at all with the Dodgers this year. And the biggest splash is going to be pitching because that is the biggest weakness and I’m not expecting a lot because there is not a lot available anyways for front line starters. That coupled with luxury tax, and the Bauer decision has a lot to do with it.
i was thinking freeman the other day but baseball isnt operating with much sense these days and i had to reevaluate the situation which is a continuous process where errors are unavoidable. for everyone. the thing is long term contracts make no sense from a risk standpoint. and if we didnt even have baseball we wouldnt even miss it. its absolutely sickening watching these freaks cash in for all that money they dont deserve. and then they act like its not even fair unless theyre paid off into the stratosphere and it better be andromeda tomorrow or else. contracts should all be maxed out at 3 years for value and to keep these clowns playing hard for the next one. draft pick compensation was an additive that makes no sense either. its a waste of energy we could use for nore important problems which are infinite in nature whether or not our species continues to evolve or perishes in time. with plenty of free agents on short term contracts it makes no sense to have service time constraints after maybe 3 years in the major leagues. that way theyd have to compete for the cash until we evolve beyond the insanity of capitalism.which may not happen in our lifetimes. how can you operate a team when a cap is unbalanced with free agents which are basically dead weight in general? it has to be balanced out by developiong your farm system. its getting bad because peppiot already hired boras to be his agent and he hasnt even pitched an inning in the bigs yet! but if everybody was a free agent everybody would have to compete for those dollars and it would be harder to ride for free if they want to continue onto the next contract which might stimulate the competitive drive alot better. im army mike and i school the planet. even billionares and the entire ivy league couldnt touch my talent level. even aliens and ai;s that last for eternity arent in my league. stop kidding yourselves. i scoff at the ivy league,.
Mike, I couldn’t agree more with your idea of a 3 year max contract. Keep the players motivated. Just as the main problem with this country…..no term limits on Congress! Those retards haven’t had a winning season ever! I say put ’em on Commission!
Bauer will pitch in 2021. They can’t prove anything or they would have already. He just needs to do the Dem Socialist “I’m sorry” spiel, get into a Feel sorry for me program and he’ll be our #3 starter. he’s already said he’ll be honoring the contract.
I’d love for that to work but I don’t see the dodgers wanting someone like that back. Consensual or not it’s not a good look in their minds I’m sure. I personally wouldn’t care because in sports nice guys finish last and there’s no justice (2017) we need all the pitching we can get
The problem is Don that the players Union is responsible for Bauer’s rights. The lock out right now is dealing with this very topic. The 40 million dollar elephant in the room will either be paif off from the already strapped friedman and his luxury tax, or he plays. Players didn’t like gibson in the club house either, so wahhhhhhhhhhh to the millionaire boys club…
Ahahaha Kirk what planet are you on? The Dodgers are not going invest in Bauer at all regardless of if they can’t prove anything because of his mouth and how his decisions affected the team, and the money it cost them sorry to tell you. He is cancer to the clubhouse and no one liked him, and none of the players want him on there either. Keep dreaming!!
Preston, don’t waste your breath on Kirk…he’s a refugee from Fantasy Island.
22
On Dec 1 MLB launched a new off-season t.v. show remake called “Arrested Development”. Had that not been the case we would see progress re the team rebuild comments above. Simply put, we have to endure a frustrating waiting period and it sucks!
I’m certain that Andrew knows we need two more reliable pitchers one each for the front and back-(ish) of the rotation. The front end will cost us prospects and the back-ender could be a Greinke type perhaps. Those reinforcements would not rule out signing Freeman per say. The obstacles to acquiring Freeman are outlined well in the article above. This does not necessarily have to be an either or scenario…pitching vs Freddie. However, the luxury tax and it’s affect on our draft picks ahead is huge and cannot be ignored. The Dodgers will ramp down to near or below the luxury tax line over the next few years and Friedman will not fail us or work outrageous miracles either. But, paying for Buehler, Urius, Muncy, Bellinger, Trea, etc is going to get real interesting re the tax.
If we get Freeman, Great!! If we don’t, we keep our #2 and #5 draft picks next year and $1 million in international signing bonus bucks. Either way works for me. Muncy’s ability to play first is not relevant in the Freeman scenario but is very relevant in discussions of other 1B replacements. Also Muncy’s free agent status post 2022 is a factor in all this. Think Trea/Cory.
One other thing to consider: The real reason our team broke down in the NLCS is we tried to beat the Giants to the pennant. We could have backed off and backed in to the wildcard game with more rested players. In hindsight that was a mistake but kudos to the front office for having the stones to try to win the pennant. They did it for us…the fans but it cost us the NLCS! Those of you commenting on the fact we didn’t have our best on the field all season due to injuries are right on…very frustrating. The team, including its’ leadership, deserve credit for navigating that stinking mess as successfully as they did! It wasn’t pretty but we almost pulled it off.
My main worry currently is how much prospect capital we will have to give up to rebuild our roster and how we will get it all done in the very limited time available to the front office post lock-out. Seems a lot more valid to worry about that than whether A.F. has the knob for the job he’s in. Keep lobbying for the two sides to get to work on their differences and how disappointed we are in them. Particularly the owners. Maybe they’ll hear that!
I’m not going to say that there are not many things on the table here or that we could not get both Freeman and pitching, or that Muncy is not up for FA in a year. My argument is this according to needs and weaknesses there is a far greater need for front line pitching in our current situation than Freeman, and if I’m going to use prospects to acquire both of those types of players then I’m going to choose to use my prospects on pitching because that is the biggest weakness. Muncy would still sign for less in FA than Freeman will. Also we need to consider JT and how long he will be at 3b, and is Lux the answer at 2b. Also do I want to use all my prospects especially when most of them are pitchers. Obviously we have to sign a couple pitchers to bridge the gap for our youngsters. We also have Cody who can play 1b. Also even thou Albert is old he is still a hall of famer. And he is one of the biggest pieces on this team that kept us together during an injury riddled season.
65yr, don’t “over-value” prospect capital please. Prospects are simply that, prospects. Swap them for proven Major League type everyday and twice on Sunday! Hoping Trea can make us forget about having to give up Gray and Ruiz. Gray will never be great IMO, Ruiz might. Even so, Trea is the reigning batting champ and a much better fielder than that injury prone brick wall with holes in it $325m over paid Seager.
Kirk, Don’t be a jerk; leave your politics at the door. This site is for “BASEBALL”, buddy.
Tell that to Manfred John boy. What was moving the All Star game all about BUDDY? And don’t be a paid shill!!
Paid?
You sound like a pretty angry guy.
As far as Manfred, I have no respect for him since he gave Houston a slap on the wrist.
My problem is with anyone using a sports fan forum to spout politics, whichever side of the aisle.
I’m just a life long Dodger fan and lover of the sport. I have my feelings on the state of the Dodgers and baseball in general though know that doesn’t add up to a hill of beans.
Sorry about the “jerk” quote though; it was dumb..
Nuff said.
John, I actually think it was just the truth.
no ones going to squeal if the dodgers pick up freeman but he is 32 and atlanta has a point of not going beyond 5 years. he may be dead weight in 2 or 3 years and we just cant tell for sure. we have to step back think soundly and get this team back on track. we have to get the salary cap under control so we can pick and choose our options as the best oppurtunities open up. and we have to balance our needs and desires of how were going to construct the roster. and improve upon our weaknesses creating a team that can excel in october. we have to look at where we went wrong as unpleasant as it could seem and improve upon our weaknesses that cause the dodgers to fail very miserably every postseason where the teams weaknesses are exposed . sure it looks bad. but its all fixable. dave has to go. he had his chances. 6 years of complete and total ineptitude and theres no way the dodgers will ever win a 162 game season with dave at the helm. he simply cant handle the job intellectually. anybody with a developed enough intelligence can see that. anyone with less than that cant reason too well. and the dodgers dont spend their money wisely. theyve been making too many mistakes. they need to wake up to that. theres a whole history of it. blunders and all. and they havent filled their needs well enough from the farm system. the dodgers ability to develop stars is low. they spend alot. but they dont produce at the same level as their expenditures seem to indicate. you gotta keep the farm system chugging with a whole new crop of rookies every 5 or 6 years all coming on about the same time to build camaraderie which tends to fall apart when things get stale. as usual. trades can help. but do you want to give up prospects that could develop into stars? you cant just trade for anybody like montas and sonny gray. marginal talents at best. and you wanna make good deals so you have salary cap flexibility. so when those special oppurtunities arise you can get the right players for the right price. and ideally you dont ever wish to create dead weight at the backend of a contract. that means youre not operating at the top level of intellect or reasoning with enough clarity. and of course we gotta get the pitching fixed. but we dont have a young kershaw greinke maeda ryu or rich hill anymore with buehler and urias in the wings ready to step up. alot of the dodgers chances were tied into getting great talent at a discount like jt jansen and hill. the fact is the dodgers may not put a solid team together in 2022 until they install new pieces and improve strategically and tactically. so far the sad truth is theyve been okay to fair but lagging in those departments blind to the situation. the cba and the game may change some of the more optimal strategies but we would have to see if if the people would even opt for the best potential options in handling service time and bad ideas like draft pick compensation and qualifying offers for free agents. both are probably unnecessary. if you lose a free agent just go sign a different free agent. why would you need to hinder the free agent with the baggage of draft pick compensation attached to him signing with another team?its incredible that nobody else really sees all this stuff. thats how i know im reallll good.and unique in an infinite way . im way over anybodys head in many ways. not every way. but in a number of departments i gotta skill set thats lights out.
I like your skill set regarding getting rid of Barney Fife to start….
The braves didn’t suffer any injuries all season Preston. RONALD ACUNA JR, no he doesn’t count MVP type player. There is no argument about the Braves playing in a weak division and had a easier road to their championship. They had a much easier road in the NLCS facing Drrrrrrr as well, especially when drrrr pitched to Riley with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1st base open TWICE= 2 Braves wins …… How about the Dodgers with runners on 2nd and 3rd NO OUTS, the batting champ up who is the fastest man in the game, lead off hitter and Drrrrrrr doesn’t bunt. Trea K’s at pitches in the dirt…SNitker being the professional competent manager he is threw him pitches in the dirt knowing that Drrrrrrr wouldn’t play situational baseball. This is a manager calling a game against the habits of another manager and Snitker schooled drrrrr as most managers always do in the post season. Trea could have laid off, but OUR manager allowed him to swing away, Oh and did i mention Snitker knew 1st base was open and didn’t pitch to the batting champion? When will any of you so called baseball experts and Drrrrr apologists start talking reality and startegy of the games. Am I the ONLY one around here that watched the entire season studying the in game incompetent moves of our incompetent manager? Give me examples of the Moves in 2021 that drrrrrr made that NO Other manager could have made with the talent of the roster he had. Bottom line is if we had Snitker managing this team, we’re not even having this conversation and talking more about championship #8.
dave is a big problem but some of the main hitters werent working the counts in situations and playing an inferior grade of baseball science all year long. mookie and lux swinging at 3-0 pitches and popping up with runners on in game situations that indicated such and pitchers having trouble locating. trea was real bad swinging at everything. i wouldve straightened them out quick. and they wouldve agreed with me because im so good. i know how to win. im more talented than the entire major leagues. they cant hold a candle to what i can do. but their not looking for major league talent. theyre more into the artificial show and a watered down version of real baseball. where as im looking to win like its supposed to be theyre just pretending that they can even though theyre not that good. they think thats a challenge and theyre just going to ride a wave of emotion but i know how to play and the rest of the game doesnt stand a chance against army mike. free agents should be limited to 3 year deals. service time in the bigs to 3 years or until prospects hit 28 years old and draft pick compensation along with qualifying offers should be eliminated opening up a plethora of free agents to fill the market every year. you dont want dead weight on the back end of any contracts. that would kill cap flexibility. players get too complacent and 3 year max deals keeps everybody more honest. especially if they want another contract.you gotta keep boras in line too. i would never be dumb enough to be swayed by his tricks. even wealthy people are suckers too.
mike, have to agree with you on the whole free agency idea. Current environment is a complete joke.
What does Acuna have to do with pitching moron??? Atlanta had a fully healthy staff, and they were the hottest hitting team in baseball in the playoffs. Once again Barno logic!!!
Preston, you were whining about how the ONLY the dodgers had injuries and that’s why the Braves beat them. I mentioned several reasons why your apologies for Drrrrrrrr and injuries don’t jive. Their pitching was healthy but they didn’t have the best player in the national league because he was injured Joe biden Jr. ALL teams deal with injury and the Braves had them also wake up …….Put the gonja down……..
Mr. Fantasy Island, Acuna went down pre trade deadline. Superior front office re-did the entire outfield! Affff out done by his underlings AGAIN! Muncy went down in game 162! Completely different outcome if 162 doesn’t go down that way. Braves win 88 games and get HFA against 106 win Dodgers….BS! Manfred the tool needs to be shown the door.
Hey Barno the planets all have to align to win a WS. It’s the hardest championship to win in all of sports!! Injuries and slumps happen to all teams. Once again Barno the guys upstairs are the one that crunch the numbers. I hate analytics too especially when it comes to hitting. I agree that more small ball is needed to be implemented but again those are the idiots upstairs not Roberts. How has management done compared to McCourt and Murdoch? How is our farm system? The strongest in all of baseball still. How do you think we are able to acquire a lot of the players we have? Keep complaining Barney Rubble as if you could do any better!!!
Hey Barney Rubble 9 times out of 10 the hottest hitting team in baseball wins the WS! Also who was the hottest hitting player that Atlanta picked up? Rosario. We were not the hottest hitting team! CT3 and Betts were basically the only guys that were hot on our team. Seger a few glimpses, Bellinger a few glimpses, Will Smith a few glimpses, and a few glimpses from Lux. Pollack started to slow as well. When your hot your hot and when your not your not period. There pitching was fully healthy ours was limping at best! Rosario filled Acuna’s shoes! Do I think we could do a better job with out hitting approach and less analytics sure I do, but that has nothing to do with being hot Rubble!!
Actually the Stanley cup is the hardest. You have to win four 7 game series. Also the hottest team winning has nothing to do with the stars aligning and everything to do with who has the best hitting approach as a unit and who knows how to manage properly. The Dodgers once again had a putrid hitting approach as a team and boneheaded managing
Tell that to the Cheatros….by far the #1 OFFENSE IN BASEBALL…silenced by rookies! Offense don’t mean squat come OCTOBER.
Survey says ehhhhhhh Don. Sorry Baseball is the hardest championship to win because of all the elements and variables that go into it. Never said that mechanics and approach didn’t have anything to do with it, but that is a very small part compared to the big picture Don. Every player goes thru slumps and injuries has a lot to do with that. I could have all my mechanics right and still not hit, and I’m sorry to tell you but 9 times out of 10 the hottest hitting team in in baseball wins period it’s simple math! How many times did we leave runners stranded on base? CT3 and Bettts were the only 2 guys that were hot on our team period. Everyone else was just ok. Atlanta had a fully healthy staff it took the pressure off there hitters and PEN we did not period, and our offense was not hot, and we did not have Muncy to protect other bats. I’m not saying Roberts is some G he’s not he’s made a lot of situational mistakes, but those are all magnified when we’re fans and we didn’t win. It’s not all Roberts either hitters have a responsibility too they have to manage counts and protect the plate, and when your back is up against the wall, and you are struggling with pitching, and at the plate the pressure is on, and that means players press, and that causes even more struggle’s at the plate. As I have already told baseball is a game of a lot of peaks and valleys and I’m sorry tell you but there are not even close to as many games in Hockey lol. Let’s look back at the Nationals series sure Roberts made situational mistakes. Again hypotheticals. We played a 106 games we had already peaked with our offense that year. The Nationals were peaking at the right time. There pitching was way more dominant than ours in the playoffs. They also were the hottest hitting team at that point. Why because we had already peaked offensively earlier in the year and shot our wad. Simple logic would tell you that despite some of Roberts situational decisions we lost for a lot of the same reasons. Leaving runners stranded on base and not hitting. Again Roberts is not a G, but this is mostly why we lost and yes it hurts as fan, but things are magnified as a fan when you loose and they die when you win. That’s how baseball is for the most part. When your hot your hot and when your not you’re it’s as simple as that!
Egads, you mean I have to agree with Kirk on something? Say it ain’t so! Yes, DR did an abysmal job in the NLCS. He did great in the WC, so-so in the NLDS and a total face plant in the NLCS. There Kirk, you win.
I will, however, still go to bat for the guy on his overall record and consider his mis-management of the NLCS as a one off. He had to navigate the 162 with an atrocious roster provided by the incompetent one AFfffff. He’s the Barney Fife!
Practically nobody sees this clown for the guy he really is. A dumpster dive specialist signing broken arm after broken arm. Trading away Yordan Alvarez for Josh Fields? Really?? Not re-signing Kike “Babe” Hernandez? The list is too long to mention. The unfortunate part is he has ownership completely bamboozled.
Hey Dodger Glenn Dave has no control over injuries to our pitching staff moron. No Kershaw, no May and Gonsolin had shoulder injuries. What does that force you to do as a manager to compete Lol. It caused us to over use and tax our pitching staff!! Grab a shovel and keep digging buddy injuries to our pitching staff are uncontrollable and have nothing to do with Roberts and once again Roberts is not the one that crunches numbers an analytics it’s the guys upstairs btw who do the Giants have as there GM? That speaks for itself. All cylinders have to firing to win a WS period. We were only healthy for like the first 10 or more games of the season. Our pitching staff was limping against the Giants because of injuries and taxed playing Atlanta. And we were not the hottest hitting team. Those 2 things killed us! To win the WS take’s dominating pitching and 9 times out of 10 the hottest offense in the playoffs. We didn’t have both of those. That has 0 to do with Roberts moron!!
All cylinders firing doesn’t happen by magic. It happens by going about the game the right way. In October against the best pitching you need to have an old school hitting approach up and down the whole lineup. That generates a hot offense when production begins occurring and big hits are had. The pitching had injuries but was still better than every team in the playoffs and with any other manager would’ve been good enough but no, Roberts had to use Julio as a setup man for literally no reason and hand the Braves a 2-0 lead. That’s just one blunder of his.
Preston, so few here can understand the concepts you just described…y? IDK. Perhaps it requires brainpower? Most here can’t think for themselves and band together to carryout a personal dislike for someone irrespective of that particular individuals outstanding record.
Thank you buddy!! I’m glad you understand simple logic and how baseball works. I’m not praising Roberts at all. He’s made a lot of situational mistakes, but to blame him on hypotheticals is ridiculous sorry. To win the WS you have to have dominant pitching we didn’t have that we also had injuries to our staff which caused us to have to press and over use guys just to compete, and as I’ve said b4 to these guys 9 time out of 10 you need to have the hottest hitting team and you can’t leave runners stranded on base we didn’t have that and we didn’t have Muncy to protect other bats. These guys are all internet coaches / managers that speak in situational hypotheticals all magnified by hating on someone because we lost. Instead of looking at the real logic. We went the distance last year with Atlanta the difference is we had a fully healthy staff and were hot hitting. Atlanta had no pressure this year compared to us and our staff. Roberts or not. Yes they lost Acuna however they picked up the hottest hitter in the playoffs which was Rosario. Thank you for your support and logic Dodgers4life and thank you for not being some idiot that brings politics on a baseball page ahahah hilarious.
I’m not going to deny Roberts mistakes in using analytics against the Nationals in the hitting department, however since then it has gotten better! Also yes we had a better staff however injuries and math is what it has to with here. We had to use one of our starters for a playin did Atlanta? Then we went 5 games against the Giants where we had to use everybody just to get bye them. Even using staters in relief rolls. Atlanta pitching staff was fully rested because they didn’t have to go thru that period. That takes the pressure off your PEN and your hitter period. Do you think anyone in baseball would have told you at the beginning of the season the Giants would’ve won as many games as they did? They had 2 pitchers on there staff that pitched off the charts most of the year. Second one of the things that hurt us this compared to years past due to struggling with injuries is we lost most of the games against the Giants that were close like 1 run and games that were close in general. In years past we won those games. Betts didn’t even catch fire till the playoffs because of getting hit in the arm early on. Bellinger had injury after injury and could never get his swing dialed in because of that. He finally changed his approach in the playoffs and started choking up and there was improvement but he definitely was never hot, not having Muncy to protect other bats was also huge. Trea Turner never got going, and JT who has been one of the biggest players on our team to get other players going was a non factor. Other than Betts and CT3 we were not hot. Yes Acuna was injured but Atlanta had picked up Rosario who was the hottest hitter in the playoffs.
Btw you are talking to a guy here who cannot stand analytics especially when it comes to hitting! Sacrificing strike outs for HR and glory is moronic. Not moving base runners, by bunting and stealing bases I agree with it all and I know that is manufacturer’s more runs. We can all sit here and talk about that until we are blue in the face. Definitely still a need for old school bats, bunting, and base stealing especially in the playoffs where the pitching is more dominant. However most of us here are old school and we understand that. But the reality is this that’s not today’s baseball and as much as that hurts it’s just the facts. People want the glory and HR’s over winning. Some of you guys act like the Dodgers are the only ones that use analytics. Every team in baseball uses analytics despite what you and I think, and I could not agree more with all of you regarding that. It angers me to the bone especially in the playoffs. I agree Roberts has made critical error in line up changes like the Nationals, but he has gotten better. We stole quite a few bases with Betts in the playoffs. Bottom you still have to hit and you cannot leave runners stranded on base, and again and despite us having a better pitching we had injuries and our staff was over used and by the time we played Atlanta due to a play in game which used 1 of our starters and then we used everything against the Giants just to get thru them in 5 games vs a fully rested staff in Atlanta that takes pressure off the entire team, PEN hitters everything. Also as I said b4 Muncy protects other bats!
Thank you Dodgers4life Kirk is a couch manager!! I’m not going to say that Roberts has not made critical situational errors. However who has been the top two GM tandems in Baseball almost 10 years? Friedman and Farhadi!! If Roberts was as bad as Barney Rubble/ is saying then he would not still have his job. Hmmm couch manager I think Friedman and Farhadi know more about baseball than you do….Drrrrrrrrrrr!!!!