Unofficially at least, it is being reported that Padres bench coach, Dave Roberts, is the new manager of the Dodgers. They are expected to announce it tomorrow.
Big surprise since club President Friedman was really pushing for his guy, Gabe Kaplar. According to the story I read, Roberts gave such a good interview with the club that he impressed the owners and they ultimately made the choice.
I always have respected him and think he just might become a great manager for us.
I heard about Dave Roberts in LA this morning. Surprising because Kapler and Gibson were the only two names I had heard any serious chatter about previously. As a Red Sox fan, I can’t help but love Dave Roberts.
Speaking of the Red Sox, sounds like they’re putting some feelers out for Jose Fernandez. Don’t know what he’d cost, but he would be the ace the so desperately need at the front of the rotation. And only 23 years old.
He’d likely cost an arm and a leg though, even with the injury history. The Red Sox would likely have to part with either Bogaerts or Betts in the package to get him.
Maybe we can trick them into thinking that JBJ is as good as his last month.
The Blue Jays have signed J.A. Happ to a 3-year, $36 million deal. Happ, who’s never been a great pitcher but did have a good eight weeks with Pittsburgh (though six of his seven wins came against the NL’s worst teams) must feel like he won the lottery.
The mood here can only be described as “resigned.” It’s a ridiculous signing the team will clearly regret, but allows them to not sign a really top notch free agent and still say “hey, we did something.” Clearly they’re giving up on the Price deal and just going with B-level guys.
Zimmerman signs for Detroit 5yrs/110 mil. What a bad signing for a pitcher starting to decline. Which means its great for the rest of us AL fans.
Jed Lowrie is back in Oakland after being traded back from the Astros for a relief pitching prospect. (Looks like a good relief pitching prospect, but if there’s no such thing as a pitching prospect that goes double for relievers).
Weird career movement for Lowrie but makes sense; he’s a great hitter for a shortstop and a good one for a second baseman (when healthy which is a huge issue for him), but both those positions are locked up long-term (barring injury) and the Astros even have a halfway-decent (and cheap) backup for both positions in Marwin Gonzalez. As a part-time 1B/3B who can fill in at other positions he’s probably below average. OTOH, signing him during the off-season was a reasonable call as it really wasn’t realistic to expect Correa in the majors in 2015 at the age of 20 and coming off a leg injury.
Speaking of David Price, that Zimmerman deal makes things all that much more interesting. Boston is reportedly very interested in Price and I gotta tell ya, I’m not crazy about him. Especially having heard that Dombrowski is willing to overpay for him.
Seems like the Jose Fernandez trade talk blew over, so that sucks.
Price is consistently good every year. If you’re going to overpay for a pitcher, why not him?
And like it or not, $30 million a year for 6-8 years isn’t overpaying anymore. That is what the Cy Young contenders cost now.
Why not? Price has 2-7 record in the playoffs, with an ERA over 5.00. I know there are several things that could contribute to this, but any team signing him will be taking a risk due to those numbers.
Kershaw is 2-6 with a 4.59 ERA in the postseason. How hesitant would you be to sign him?
Fair point, but I’ve read where Price’s postseason numbers could be a factor in any contracts offered.
I am sorry, but that’s a ridiculous reason to not want him. It’s a tiny and essentially meaningless data sample. Many, many, many players have done poorly in the playoffs and then suddenly become playoff heroes, or played extremely well in the playoffs and then had a dreadful playoff run. I can cite examples all day. Price is likelier to pitch well in the playoffs than almost any other major league pitcher.
MLB teams will not hesitate at all to sign him due to his having a few bad playoff starts (I HAVE heard some are leery of his mechanics, but oh well, all pitchers get hurt sometime.)
If you don’t want him because of his postseason record, I’ll take him for my team. In a heartbeat.
Also, would you willing to overpay for Daniel Murphy? (no, seriously, the Mets would love the draft pick :))
I didn’t say that I didn’t want him on my teams. But that’s going to factor into some GM’s decision when contract negotiations start.
As a Cub fan, I fully support him coming to Chicago
Reports were that Dombrowski was willing to outspend other teams by tens of millions of dollars for Price. Nothing you can do about it now, but it’s frustrating that I can get Price now for $30M per year or I could have signed Lester for a shade over $20M per year last winter.
Also coloring my perception is that I still remember David Price being a whiny brat with the Rays.
Price seemed like a great guy in Toronto.
I like Jon Lester but he is not as good as Price. Price was the ERA champion of a better league than Lester pitched in.
Maybe Price is more mature now, but remember when he had a bad outing against Boston in the postseason and he lashed out at the media after the game? Said they’re not even good enough to be a water boy and so on. It was not a good look.
Johnny Cueto turned down 6 years, $120M from Arizona. He’ll get more than that. I like to watch Cueto pitch, but still not sure he can be as effective in the AL, or else I’d wish for him in Boston.
They have the money, so let them spend it. I just want the best team on the field, and the team is certainly better with Price than without him. They do need more, though.
Let him down a few cervezas with Papi and it’s all bueno.