KingFish
01-25-2002, 10:11 AM
:hmm: Well it could be a rough year ahead for the Blue Crew. Lets review;
1) The new management team has a very difficult task ahead of them.
2) A high salary structure with several over priced long term contracts with marginal veterens.
3) Three injured starters coming back.
4) Weak up the middle in the infield and center.
5) Questionable depth coming off the bench.
6) A farm system ranked near the bottom and few if any real hopes for the near future.
7) Teams in the west have made solid moves towards improvement or are coming of age.
That all equates to a very rough road. We'll take it a bit at a time.
Management
I've been impressed with the new front office and field management. They have made several very tough decisions. Two have been very unpopular with the fans here. Sheffield going produced an apathetic feeling. Yeah he is a stud hitter but his routine gets old in a hurry. A pampered sport star that has never matured. Let the whining commence. Park was another story altogether. There is a very large and loyal Asian community here that were huge supporters of Park. My personal opinion of Park was that he was a guy I wanted on my team. Not only is he a premier starter with nasty stuff but the impression was that he was a good guy. He will be sorely missed. What led to this? Well to be honest the Dodgers signed Dreifort to a long term big money contract first. Of course he crashes and burns but that contract is still in place. The ownership just does not seem to be inclined to shell out more money. A deal wasn't to be done. So Park is gone and the injured Dreifort recovers. Still do you blame team management or do you look higher to the corporate ownership offices? I feel the management has been doing the best they can with the cards they have been dealt. O'Malley simply would never have allowed this situation but those days are gone.
Summary: Even with a decent front office and field management overall this has to be counted as a negative only because of influence from ownership.
Over priced veterens
Well the recently departed management group and the new ownership have to share the blame for a majority of the contracts that are questionable. Can they fix this to free up funds? Not easily, that much is for certain. Not many, if any teams are willing to absorb those high salaries. what are the options? Few and most are painful. See Sheffield and Park as proof of the pain. What else can be done? Not a lot until those contracts are paid off I fear. Karros will be here for a while yet and hopefully a lot healthier. Dreifort should eventually come back to form because of his youth, good physical condition and attitude. Brownie will be there (I'm knocking on wood on this one as it is key!) Ashby projects to be ready for spring. Jordan replacing Shef still gives a decent and aggressive bat to fill the hole and actually much better defense but age and style of play may limit overall production from Brian. At least his salary is somewhat in line with his ability and production. Green is worth what he is paid but not much more and he has to be viewed as the team leader now but is this a role he can carry without effecting is on field production?
Summary:It will be several years of hard decisions and unless Lady Luck saddles right up on the field a very rough road lies ahead but with perserverance this problem can be resolved. It's broken but it can be fixed. Overall this is a negative for the team but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Ownership change may be the best or worst of what lies in the future.
Three injured Starters returning
The key of course is Brown. If he is and can stay healthy for the season it is a huge step in the right direction. His competivite nature is sorely needed on this staff and on the field. Without him the problems are greatly magnified. With Ashby we have a veteren with decent stuff and seems to work well with Brownie. Things are looking up from what I can tell on both of these guys. Dreifort is another story. Just prior to his injury he appeared to be coming into the form that had been predicted for so long. Then BAAM! Season over and a whole lot of questions. At this point it appears there is a chance of a mid season return. His age and overall physical condition before the injury are both postitives that could lead to a quick and complete recovery.
Summary:With some still to be answered questions the distinct possibility of two of the three injured returns ready for spring has to be viewed guardedly as a positive.
Weak up the middle...
Loduca is the anchor behind the plate but with one hole in the middle infield and another in center, the chain has a couple of obvious weak links. Cora and a whole host of OF's are not the answer up the middle. The Dodgers are now saying that they are backing off bringing Pokey here. I think that's a good move. The SS youngster they picked up this winter may or may not be the long term fix but with their current financial considerations this approach may be the correct one. Center field is a different story. I think that their best option may be to move the excellent glove and arm of Green to center and let the bench ala Aven, Hiatt, Goodwin (Oh Lordy) Grissom(Oh Lordy, Lordy!) and a host of others fill in in right. The farm offers one possible OF but little beyond that. Free agency does not appear to be an avenue they should or would take.
SummaryLong term this is an area that can be improved upon but it will take some time and fan/management patience. Short term this has to be viewed as a negative as neither of the two holes up the middle have solid producers ready to fill them.
Questionable depth coming off the bench
Let me see now, Grissom, Goodwin, Hiatt and Aven. Groan. Hanson, yea, a real bat coming off the Bench. The only reliable one that is. Perhaps he can play right on a regular basis but then that leaves the bench pitiful, high priced, aging and dysfunctioal. Is there help coming? Doesn't look to be coming up from the farm that is for sure. Are there free agents out there? Oh there are some but the asking price is prohibitive in most cases and we already can see the results of taking that approach.
SummaryNothing to good can be said here. One solid bat does not a good bench make. A major negative in my mind.
Farm system
Well with one OF and one potential SS coming along and not much else except a couple of developing arms the farm system is devoid of any real potential stars of the future. In the past the Dodgers had a history, argueably the very best history in baseball, of developing home grown talent. Most of the scouting and field management that took part in that era of back to back to back to back Rookies of the year are still in place. Now if we can just manage to quit trading away prospects for a while and hold it together the Dodgers farm system can and will produce. For now we wait.
SummarySimply has to be a negative for now. Give it a year or two and things may look up without making any major adjustments here.
Teams in the West have improvedSD, SFG, D'Backs have all made moves over the off season that have argueably improved their teams. New faces, young faces and old are all projected to help at weak positions. Only Colorado and the Dodgers have really made little progress. Both have lost major contributors while plugging in less productive replacements ala Sheffield/Jordon and Cirillo/Zeile. Both have dealt away some pitching and have questionable farm depth with Colorado having a slight upper hand over the Dodgers here.
Summary:You have to say this is a negative. The Dodgers simply were not in a position to sign any big money free agents.
Overall Summary:With few exceptions the overall assessment of the Dodgers is gloomy to say the least. A middle of the pack finish may be the best they can hope for unless there are some true Blue miracles ahead. Tough to see that happening right now but stuff happens and things change.
Hopefully you Dodger fans take the above the right way. I'm a Dodger home boy that has attended several games every year since 75. I am a former Sleeperpicks Dodger moderator and I follow the team closely. I know the above sounds bad but it is my perspective on my home team.
:ohno:
1) The new management team has a very difficult task ahead of them.
2) A high salary structure with several over priced long term contracts with marginal veterens.
3) Three injured starters coming back.
4) Weak up the middle in the infield and center.
5) Questionable depth coming off the bench.
6) A farm system ranked near the bottom and few if any real hopes for the near future.
7) Teams in the west have made solid moves towards improvement or are coming of age.
That all equates to a very rough road. We'll take it a bit at a time.
Management
I've been impressed with the new front office and field management. They have made several very tough decisions. Two have been very unpopular with the fans here. Sheffield going produced an apathetic feeling. Yeah he is a stud hitter but his routine gets old in a hurry. A pampered sport star that has never matured. Let the whining commence. Park was another story altogether. There is a very large and loyal Asian community here that were huge supporters of Park. My personal opinion of Park was that he was a guy I wanted on my team. Not only is he a premier starter with nasty stuff but the impression was that he was a good guy. He will be sorely missed. What led to this? Well to be honest the Dodgers signed Dreifort to a long term big money contract first. Of course he crashes and burns but that contract is still in place. The ownership just does not seem to be inclined to shell out more money. A deal wasn't to be done. So Park is gone and the injured Dreifort recovers. Still do you blame team management or do you look higher to the corporate ownership offices? I feel the management has been doing the best they can with the cards they have been dealt. O'Malley simply would never have allowed this situation but those days are gone.
Summary: Even with a decent front office and field management overall this has to be counted as a negative only because of influence from ownership.
Over priced veterens
Well the recently departed management group and the new ownership have to share the blame for a majority of the contracts that are questionable. Can they fix this to free up funds? Not easily, that much is for certain. Not many, if any teams are willing to absorb those high salaries. what are the options? Few and most are painful. See Sheffield and Park as proof of the pain. What else can be done? Not a lot until those contracts are paid off I fear. Karros will be here for a while yet and hopefully a lot healthier. Dreifort should eventually come back to form because of his youth, good physical condition and attitude. Brownie will be there (I'm knocking on wood on this one as it is key!) Ashby projects to be ready for spring. Jordan replacing Shef still gives a decent and aggressive bat to fill the hole and actually much better defense but age and style of play may limit overall production from Brian. At least his salary is somewhat in line with his ability and production. Green is worth what he is paid but not much more and he has to be viewed as the team leader now but is this a role he can carry without effecting is on field production?
Summary:It will be several years of hard decisions and unless Lady Luck saddles right up on the field a very rough road lies ahead but with perserverance this problem can be resolved. It's broken but it can be fixed. Overall this is a negative for the team but at least there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Ownership change may be the best or worst of what lies in the future.
Three injured Starters returning
The key of course is Brown. If he is and can stay healthy for the season it is a huge step in the right direction. His competivite nature is sorely needed on this staff and on the field. Without him the problems are greatly magnified. With Ashby we have a veteren with decent stuff and seems to work well with Brownie. Things are looking up from what I can tell on both of these guys. Dreifort is another story. Just prior to his injury he appeared to be coming into the form that had been predicted for so long. Then BAAM! Season over and a whole lot of questions. At this point it appears there is a chance of a mid season return. His age and overall physical condition before the injury are both postitives that could lead to a quick and complete recovery.
Summary:With some still to be answered questions the distinct possibility of two of the three injured returns ready for spring has to be viewed guardedly as a positive.
Weak up the middle...
Loduca is the anchor behind the plate but with one hole in the middle infield and another in center, the chain has a couple of obvious weak links. Cora and a whole host of OF's are not the answer up the middle. The Dodgers are now saying that they are backing off bringing Pokey here. I think that's a good move. The SS youngster they picked up this winter may or may not be the long term fix but with their current financial considerations this approach may be the correct one. Center field is a different story. I think that their best option may be to move the excellent glove and arm of Green to center and let the bench ala Aven, Hiatt, Goodwin (Oh Lordy) Grissom(Oh Lordy, Lordy!) and a host of others fill in in right. The farm offers one possible OF but little beyond that. Free agency does not appear to be an avenue they should or would take.
SummaryLong term this is an area that can be improved upon but it will take some time and fan/management patience. Short term this has to be viewed as a negative as neither of the two holes up the middle have solid producers ready to fill them.
Questionable depth coming off the bench
Let me see now, Grissom, Goodwin, Hiatt and Aven. Groan. Hanson, yea, a real bat coming off the Bench. The only reliable one that is. Perhaps he can play right on a regular basis but then that leaves the bench pitiful, high priced, aging and dysfunctioal. Is there help coming? Doesn't look to be coming up from the farm that is for sure. Are there free agents out there? Oh there are some but the asking price is prohibitive in most cases and we already can see the results of taking that approach.
SummaryNothing to good can be said here. One solid bat does not a good bench make. A major negative in my mind.
Farm system
Well with one OF and one potential SS coming along and not much else except a couple of developing arms the farm system is devoid of any real potential stars of the future. In the past the Dodgers had a history, argueably the very best history in baseball, of developing home grown talent. Most of the scouting and field management that took part in that era of back to back to back to back Rookies of the year are still in place. Now if we can just manage to quit trading away prospects for a while and hold it together the Dodgers farm system can and will produce. For now we wait.
SummarySimply has to be a negative for now. Give it a year or two and things may look up without making any major adjustments here.
Teams in the West have improvedSD, SFG, D'Backs have all made moves over the off season that have argueably improved their teams. New faces, young faces and old are all projected to help at weak positions. Only Colorado and the Dodgers have really made little progress. Both have lost major contributors while plugging in less productive replacements ala Sheffield/Jordon and Cirillo/Zeile. Both have dealt away some pitching and have questionable farm depth with Colorado having a slight upper hand over the Dodgers here.
Summary:You have to say this is a negative. The Dodgers simply were not in a position to sign any big money free agents.
Overall Summary:With few exceptions the overall assessment of the Dodgers is gloomy to say the least. A middle of the pack finish may be the best they can hope for unless there are some true Blue miracles ahead. Tough to see that happening right now but stuff happens and things change.
Hopefully you Dodger fans take the above the right way. I'm a Dodger home boy that has attended several games every year since 75. I am a former Sleeperpicks Dodger moderator and I follow the team closely. I know the above sounds bad but it is my perspective on my home team.
:ohno: