Can’t be too upset about this.
These Dodgers never were very good. They had a hot two weeks in September to finish a modest 84-78, only the 15th-best record in baseball, but that was enough to win an awful division. Then they ran into a Cubs team that chose that weekend to go into a coma … and then played a real team in the National League Championship Series and lost four out of five.
There can be no question which team was better here, the Dodgers or Phillies. Philadelphia had better starting pitching, a more dependable bullpen, a much stronger lineup and better defense. Not much else to consider.
Dodgers fans should think of the past 6-7 weeks as a pleasant interlude, during which they could fantasize that the franchise has turned some sort of corner and could contend for a World Series.
Fans even had an intense moment of unreality, that moment in Game 4 when the Dodgers were up 5-3 in the eighth inning, six outs away from tying the series at 2-2. And then the bullpen imploded. (What is Cory Wade doing as the club’s primary set-up man, anyway?)
Even, and still, they weren’t going to win two of the next three, not with two of them in Philly.
The Dodgers had all sorts of problems, even here.
Rafael Furcal’s rust hurt the club, particularly in the field. He made four errors in the series, which is awful, and the first was a killer — the fairly routine play in Game 1 when he threw away a ball that ignited the Phillies’ winning rally. The two errors that led to two runs in Game 5 didn’t help at all, either.
If the Dodgers had any real depth, they wouldn’t have had to rush Furcal back out there after missing four months with back problems. But considering the option was Angel Berroa or Pablo Osuna …
Jeff Kent was hurt, and nearly useless. No, change that. Totally useless.
Same with Nomar Garciaparra.
Blake DeWitt is a nice kid, and I like him, but he never will be a star, and he isn’t a second baseman. He might not be an everyday major-leaguer.
Russell Martin is competent, solid, but he also isn’t a star and he certainly shouldn’t be hitting cleanup. But Joe Torre had to put somebody in the 4 hole, and it was poor, overmatched, wrung-out Russell Martin, who hasn’t been an above-average player since the first half of the 2007 season.
So, what next?
The Dodgers easily could go the other direction. They have scads of guys in their free-agent season, led by Manny Ramirez, the man who ignited their rush to the playoffs. Who probably will take New York Yankees money and be gone. (Hard to imagine the Dodgers outbidding someone the Yankees really want and, remember, Manny is from New York.)
Furcal, Kent, Nomar, Casey Blake, Derek Lowe … all of them can walk, and the club ought to let most of them. (They can sound out Furcal and Blake, maybe Lowe.) Brad Penny has a $9.2 million option the club can buy out for $2 million and probably ought to, given his arm troubles.
The bullpen is an issue, too. Takashi Saito broke down late (a development that probably sealed their fate in the NLCS), and is 38, and he might not be back. Jonathan Broxton probably is ready to close, but then who sets up?
This is about all the club knows for sure: It has Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andre Ethier and Martin in the field. It has Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw and Hiroki Kuroda in the starting rotation. It has Broxton, situational lefty Joe Beimel and a bunch of question marks in the bullpen. And it has three enormous contracts for near-useless players — Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt and Juan Pierre.
Is Ned Colletti the man to make sense of this? Probably not, but the Cubs’ collapse, which put the Dodgers one step from the World Series, probably saved his job. Ack.
Two years ago, Colletti thought he had fixed his team by signing Juan Pierre and Schmidt. Last year, he fixed things by giving $36.2 million to Jones, over two years.
It’s all rather depressing. At this point, Dodgers fans, I recommend thinking back on the pleasant memories that you got the past month, out of nowhere. All those Manny moments. Loney’s grand slam in Wrigley. DeWitt’s bases-clearing triple at Chavez Ravine.
It was more than anyone expected. More than this collection of talent deserved.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Dennis Pope // Oct 16, 2008 at 9:25 AM
Andre Ethier is the worst.
If he can’t hit fastballs batting in front of Manny Ramirez, he’s not gonna hit anytime, anywhere. How many times did kill inning by hitting into a DP with ManRam on deck? At least twice.
2 Dennis Pope // Oct 16, 2008 at 9:39 AM
Andre Ethier is the worst.
If he can’t hit fastballs batting in front of Manny Ramirez, he’s not gonna hit anytime, anywhere. How many times did he kill an inning by hitting into a DP with ManRam on deck? At least twice.
And Chan Ho Park? Does this guy have nine lives? Get his out of there.
And while I’m at it… Jeff Kent is an abomination. Seriously, the guy is shit.
3 Char Ham // Oct 16, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Get rid of Kent, whose arrogant attitude tells me he should have been let go/traded 3-4 seasons ago. Penny should get real & retire. Same with Nomar, enjoy your life as Mr. Mia Hamm & raise your twin kids. No more Andruw Jones & Juan Pierre, just anchors weighing down the team.
4 Ryan // Oct 19, 2008 at 6:59 PM
Ethier struggled in the playoffs, but he’s not the first guy to have an awful playoffs in his first go around. Let’s not overreact and judge this team based on a single playoffs. Is Ethier the guy who raked all of September? No, but he’s a solid ballplayer who can hit .290 with 20-25 homers and play good defense.
Speculating about what the Dodgers will do this offseason is a colossal waste of time until we know what the budget will be. You can’t resign Manny if you’re not going to raise payroll because you have holes at short, third, in the rotation and in the pen. That is too many holes to fill with not a lot of money.
Now in reality the payroll should go up drastically. The Dodgers finished 2nd in the majors in attendance and are in the second biggest media market in the country, yet they started the season with the 8th highest payroll in the majors. We started the ’08 season with a payroll of $118.5 million and it will be inexcusable if the payroll doesn’t reach at least $135 million in 2009 considering the attendance, media market, players they got for free this season (Manny, Blake) and impact of a NLCS appearance (merchandise, playoff attendance, increase in season tickets for 2009).
If the budget is indeed $135 million, the Dodgers could put together an awfully nice team. They’re currently on the hook for $69.92 million (not including Martin, Ethier and Broxton who will be eligible for arbitration). Broxton should get about $2 million, Ethier $3 million and Martin $5 million. That brings the payroll to roughly $80 million.
If they can get Manny for $25 million a year they’re at $105 million. They can resign Furcal for $12 million and bring payroll to $116 million. This is where it gets iffy. Can the Dodgers move Pierre and get away with only picking up half of his contract freeing up $5 million? Do the Dodgers think they Ivan DeJesus is ready for the bigs and play him at second? If both of those things happen the Dodgers can sign CC for $20 million (similar to Johan’s contract with the salary escalating to $25 million in future years) and have $4 million left to get a left handed bat off the bench and another bullpen arm.
Of course this is all hypothetical and the odds are 1/100 this all comes together, but the point is if McCourt is willing to spend what his market and attendance dictates, the Dodgers can be a very good team next year. It also means that any guessing, which I just did, is useless until we get an idea what the budget will be.
5 Ryan // Oct 19, 2008 at 7:01 PM
Consider this as a team though:
P- CC Sabathia, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Clayton Kershaw, James McDonald
C- Russell Martin
1B- James Loney
2B- Ivan DeJesus
3B- Blake DeWitt
SS- Rafael Furcal
LF- Manny Ramirez
CF- Matt Kemp
RF- Andre Ethier
That kind of roster, with a good bullpen and solid bench (which are both very possible) is a World Series contender.
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