Well, the Dodgers have finally begun to make some needed changes to their lineup. James Loney will become the regular first baseman and Nomar Garciaparra will move to third base. While we suggested this move about two months ago we can hardly claim much credit since it was such a patently obvious move to make. The three main guys they have tried at third are hitting a combined .220 and six home runs (all by Wilson Betemit). Tony Abreu has hit OK and fielded well, but he's the second baseman of the future (and notice he's getting a lot of playing time there over Jeff Kent). Andy LaRoche just wasn't ready, but everyone knows he's the third baseman of the future. Loney can hit and hit with power and he's probably going to be a perpetual gold glove at first base. Garciaparra, if he wasn't such a good guy and good team mate, would probably need to have his bags sitting by the front door come trade deadline day. He can play third well enough and perhaps he can start hitting. His current .275 average is deceiving, he has only 13 extra base hits (1 homer, 12 doubles). He's hitting well with RISP but he's only hitting singles.
We get to see Billingsley again tonight and he should remain in the rotation the rest of the year. The only other change really left for the Dodgers is to put Kemp in every day in center and put Pierre on the bench.
The trade deadline is coming so all the speculation can begin as to who may go where. In this situation some teams are (1) Sellers (they aren't going anywhere and they either need to rebuild, or want to get some value from a apotential free agent whom they are not going to sign); (2) Buyers (they perhaps need one or two pieces to help them get into or go deeper into the playoffs), or (3) Holders (their team is in place, they have all they need or they type of player they need isn't available for a price they are willing to pay).
For the Dodgers, they are probably somewhere in between all of those. We could envision a trade that sends Kent, Hendickson or Tomko away to a buyer. Maybe Betemit, but I wouldn't just give him away. We could only hope that someone would want Juan Pierre and Ned Colletti could get a mulligan on that signing. Maybe someone will ask about Garciaparra, but he's little more than a utility player now, probably not a final piece in anyone's puzzle. I don't think they tamper with their young upcoming talent, and probably should hold.
The National League sellers are:
The San Francisco Giants: (it does my heart good to see them doing so badly). The Giants should be the biggest sellers because they have to blow up that team and start over. Given the state of their farm system they are going to only get worse before they get better. Their GM Nick Sabaen probably should not order new office furniture any time soon.
The other NL West team, the Colorado Rockies, probably should stay put unless they can get value for Todd Helton. They aren't going to win the division, but they do seem to be on the upswing with some young players, so no big changes seems to be the order of the day.
The National League Central sans Milwaukee: None of these teams are going anywhere. Pittsburgh may be on the upswing with some young players, but they are a couple of years away from serious play off contenders. It is remarkable how bad Cincinnati has been this year. They obviously need to rethink what they are doing, something is clearly wrong (some people picked them to win their division this year). Ken Griffy has value and perhaps he would waive a no-trade clause to go to a contender, who would want to keep him beyond this year. Adam Dunn may go as well, although his value is limited because of his below average fielding and rally killing strikeout totals.
The Cubs are a basket case at several levels. Bottom line is that this underachiving team is managed by dinosaur Lou Pinella who should be gone at the end of this year. His style of managing and his massive ego (read here the trade of Michael Barrett who apparently tried to tell Pinella the truth about what the team thought of him) will drive this team deeper in the hole than they already are. When the Tribunne sale is final I wonder how long it will take the new owner to sell the Cubs?
Washington, Florida and Atlanta: The Braves best players are past their prime and so they need to rebuild. It is almost impossible to rebuild and stay contenders at the same time. They've had a pretty remarkable run of about 15yrs but they are not going to be contenders for a few years. If Florida actually has a plan for the future I'm not sure what it is (Another really odd owner, with the talent they've assembled in the past, they should be almost a dynasty right now). Probably they and Tampa Bay will never be settled until they get a stadium built or move out of a state that simply does not care about regular season baseball. Washington is five plus years away from contending, so they might as well get as much value for some established players as they can.
In the American League Texas and the White Sox are probably obvious sellers (Eric Gagne will be pitching in the post season for someone). With the White Sox, I think their problem is the same as the Cubs, their manager. Ozzie Guillen is one of those "Billy Martin" type high energy "us against the world" sort of managers. They do well, they win championships, but their schtick wears players out and after about 4yrs you've got to replace them to bring some sanity back to your organization.
Minnesota is treading water and I don't think they have the talent to pass either Cleveland and Detroit, so they might sell (they are also dominated by one of the worst owners in baseball). Kansas City may get value from a couple of players since they are also 5+ yrs away from contending.
In the American League East, no one except Boston is going to be in the post season. The Yankees won't be sellers because the cap means nothing to them. Tampa Bay is pretty hopeless until they move to a new city that actually wants a baseball team. Maybe Baltimore is finally going to develop a coherent plan for their organization (although with their owner I doubt it will last).
Well, that's all for now. We'll check on the rumors in the next couple of weeks.
Posted by Narnia3 at June 26, 2007 3:31 PM | TrackBack