Happy New Year!
With my first post of 2015, here's some news about the ever-changing roster.
First of all, Brett Anderson has been officially signed to a one-year deal worth $10 million, plus another $4 in incentives. This has been in the works for over a couple of weeks, but due to the holiday season, it's taken awhile to dry the ink.
Anderson, a lefty who pitched for the Rockies last season, slides into the rotation as the team's new #5 starter behind Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and newly signed Brandon McCarthy.
While Anderson posted a great ERA of 2.91 last season, it was done making only eight starts due to a variety of injuries. The word "injury" has pretty much followed his career, as he was a promising rookie with the A's back in 2009, going 11-11 with a 4.06 ERA and 1.28 WHIP. After that, it was one trip to the DL after another.
The Dodgers must not be too concerned about his injury history, as they're willing to give him a shot. GM Farhan Zaidi pointed out that management chose to spend $22 million on McCarthy and Anderson to fill out the back end of the rotation this year rather than go for broke on another ace like James Shield or Max Scherzer. Considering the money that's been spent on Kershaw and Greinke in the past, you can't blame them for choosing this strategy.
With one man's arrival means another man's departure, and in this case, it's Arruebarrena. His DFA did come as a surprise, as it was all of one year ago when then-GM Ned Colletti signed him for five years and $25 million. And with the way the deal was structured, there's still $22 million left on it. That's a whole lot of dough to just wave goodbye to.
But then again, is Arruebarrena really going away? I doubt it. Barring a trade, I can't imagine any other team wanting to pick up that contract for a guy who flat out cannot hit. Sure, he has an amazing glove, and is about as smooth as it gets at short. But when you have 41 at-bats and collect only eight hits (.195), it's hard to feel confident that he's the shortstop of the future.
With that said, considering the wheeling and dealing the Dodgers have done this offseason, look for a possible trade with Arruebarrena in the near future.
Showing posts with label Arruebarrena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arruebarrena. Show all posts
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Gordon could go from All-Star to traded
While the Matt Kemp to San Diego rumors continue to dominate talk about the Dodgers at the Winter Meetings, here's another tidbit that could be interesting - Dee Gordon is being made available by the new management.
Who knows what the level of "available" is, as this doesn't initially strike me as something the Dodgers are hotly pursuing. I get the feeling it's more of an "If you like him, let's talk" type of thing.
One team that perhaps would like to talk is the Marlins, who might already be showing some interest.
There are a couple of reasons to believe that Gordon really could be on his way out. For starters, the Gordon we saw in the second half of last season did not come close to matching the All-Star reserve at second base we saw in the first. His average was around the same (.292 before, .284 after), but his OBP went way down (.344/.300). He also started striking out a bunch more, and while he led all of baseball in stolen bases at 64, he started getting caught more in the second half despite playing in much less games.
The other reason is that the Dodgers have Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarrena waiting in the wings, and they're not cheap. They're pretty much opposites of each other right now, as Guerrero has the bat, and Arruebarrena has the glove.
A major factor that could keep Gordon right where he is is that Hanley Ramirez is now in Boston. Perhaps the Dodgers would be satisfied with Arruebarrena at short and Guerrero at second, but that's a lot of inexperience up the middle on a "win now" club.
I'm not ready to give up on Gordon for slowing down in the second half, as his 148 games far outpaced his next highest career total of 87 in 2012. I think a smaller, speedy guy like him just naturally started feeling the wear and tear of a long Major League season. If you recall, he bulked up some before last season started, and helped the Dodgers solve their leadoff issues.
Right now the Dodgers are waiting to see if Jon Lester comes aboard, and maybe finalizing the Kemp trade to the Padres. After that, then possibly this talk of moving Gordon begins to take on more importance. Stay tuned.
Who knows what the level of "available" is, as this doesn't initially strike me as something the Dodgers are hotly pursuing. I get the feeling it's more of an "If you like him, let's talk" type of thing.
One team that perhaps would like to talk is the Marlins, who might already be showing some interest.
There are a couple of reasons to believe that Gordon really could be on his way out. For starters, the Gordon we saw in the second half of last season did not come close to matching the All-Star reserve at second base we saw in the first. His average was around the same (.292 before, .284 after), but his OBP went way down (.344/.300). He also started striking out a bunch more, and while he led all of baseball in stolen bases at 64, he started getting caught more in the second half despite playing in much less games.
The other reason is that the Dodgers have Alex Guerrero and Erisbel Arruebarrena waiting in the wings, and they're not cheap. They're pretty much opposites of each other right now, as Guerrero has the bat, and Arruebarrena has the glove.
A major factor that could keep Gordon right where he is is that Hanley Ramirez is now in Boston. Perhaps the Dodgers would be satisfied with Arruebarrena at short and Guerrero at second, but that's a lot of inexperience up the middle on a "win now" club.
I'm not ready to give up on Gordon for slowing down in the second half, as his 148 games far outpaced his next highest career total of 87 in 2012. I think a smaller, speedy guy like him just naturally started feeling the wear and tear of a long Major League season. If you recall, he bulked up some before last season started, and helped the Dodgers solve their leadoff issues.
Right now the Dodgers are waiting to see if Jon Lester comes aboard, and maybe finalizing the Kemp trade to the Padres. After that, then possibly this talk of moving Gordon begins to take on more importance. Stay tuned.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Signing Arruebarrena sends a message
The Dodgers have officially inked Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to a five-year, $25 million deal on Saturday, with a $7.5 million signing bonus. He's still in the Dominican Republic working on getting his visa, then is expected to start the season somewhere in the minors.
After that? It's full speed ahead in LA and into the future.
Ned Colletti made no bones about it - he sees Arruebarrena as the starting shortstop of the future. The praise for his defense has been high, and he also brings some pop with his bat. It's acknowledged that his offense does need some work, but they're hoping he can hold his own at the Major League level while providing great defense up the middle.
So, what's the message that is being sent? It pertains to Hanley Ramirez. He needs to prove he can stay healthy over the full course of a season in order to get the extension he's looking for, and he needs to be willing to move to third in a year or two.
As great as Ramirez has been since becoming a Dodger towards the end of 2012, he definitely has had his injury issues (thumb, hamstring, back, ribs...). I can certainly understand his desire to get a huge deal worked out, but from the Dodgers' point of view, that will only happen if he spends more time on the diamond and less in the trainer's room.
Juan Uribe is currently etched in at third for the next two seasons, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. Suppose Uribe goes back to his old ways of... well, doing a big pile of nothing. Then it's not out of the question to see Ramirez slide over to third, while Arruebarrena becomes the everyday shortstop.
If Colletti is serious about promoting Arruebarrena to the big club sometime in 2014, then his signing is also a message to Uribe, so has been benched plenty of times in the past. Is it possible to see an all international infield of Ramirez, Arreubarrena, Alexander Guerrero, and Adrian Gonzalez starting in the playoffs? It certainly could be.
On a side note, in order to make this signing official, someone had to be the odd man out on the 40-man roster. That guy is Justin Sellers, who went from starting shortstop in 2013 to DFA'd a year later. Ouch. Unfortunately, it's really not a surprise. He simply never showed an ability to hit Major League pitching, so it's the right call.
After that? It's full speed ahead in LA and into the future.
Ned Colletti made no bones about it - he sees Arruebarrena as the starting shortstop of the future. The praise for his defense has been high, and he also brings some pop with his bat. It's acknowledged that his offense does need some work, but they're hoping he can hold his own at the Major League level while providing great defense up the middle.
So, what's the message that is being sent? It pertains to Hanley Ramirez. He needs to prove he can stay healthy over the full course of a season in order to get the extension he's looking for, and he needs to be willing to move to third in a year or two.
As great as Ramirez has been since becoming a Dodger towards the end of 2012, he definitely has had his injury issues (thumb, hamstring, back, ribs...). I can certainly understand his desire to get a huge deal worked out, but from the Dodgers' point of view, that will only happen if he spends more time on the diamond and less in the trainer's room.
Juan Uribe is currently etched in at third for the next two seasons, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. Suppose Uribe goes back to his old ways of... well, doing a big pile of nothing. Then it's not out of the question to see Ramirez slide over to third, while Arruebarrena becomes the everyday shortstop.
If Colletti is serious about promoting Arruebarrena to the big club sometime in 2014, then his signing is also a message to Uribe, so has been benched plenty of times in the past. Is it possible to see an all international infield of Ramirez, Arreubarrena, Alexander Guerrero, and Adrian Gonzalez starting in the playoffs? It certainly could be.
On a side note, in order to make this signing official, someone had to be the odd man out on the 40-man roster. That guy is Justin Sellers, who went from starting shortstop in 2013 to DFA'd a year later. Ouch. Unfortunately, it's really not a surprise. He simply never showed an ability to hit Major League pitching, so it's the right call.
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