Has this been the worst hot stove season ever for the Dodgers? By now we’ve all become accustomed to the Yankees and Red Sox throwing money at the top free agents (and in the case of CC, Burnett and potentially Tex throwing it wisely) but now the Dodgers are falling behind even mid-tier teams like the Braves and the A’s and are in danger of being shut-out of the free agent signings altogether. While there are still some bargain outfielders available (Abreu, Burrell, Dunn) and Giambi (who needs to DH) who will all probably end up signing for less than they made last year, the club seems reluctant to sign another OF while Satan Jones and Pierre occupy $20MM and two bench spots between them. The departure of Nomar, Kent, Penny, Lowe and assorted other minions has left LA with money to play with but so far the Dodgers have managed to use that money on Mark Loretta re-upping the uninspiring, workmanlike Casey Blake. Nice work, gentlemen.
TJ Simers is usually nothing more than a blowhard but he’s dead on with his McCourt/Colletti take from today’s Times. The highlights:
Do you believe [McCourt]‘s not afraid to spend whatever it takes to bring a world championship to Los Angeles?
Do you think he knows what it takes to inspire and lead?–SNIP–
The big-market teams are responding like most fans might expect big-market teams to react.
Good god, if we head into Spring Training with an infield of Loney, DeWitt, Hu and Blake is that the least imposing group of men in the entire game? I like Loney more than most but can we please, please, please go after Tex and then try to move Loney? Or at least get Furcal? Slots 6-9 in the lineup are going to all have an OBP hovering around .300 which means we’re giving away an assload of outs over the course of a season, essentially giving the Dodgers only 6 innings of offense any given night. Sweet sweetness.
