Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2018 22:30:41 GMT -5
Surprised and emboldened by the extent of their success over the first half of the season, Dodgers ownership instructed team executives to take a "limited buy" approach to trading season this year.
What did that mean exactly? As ownership put it it that that meant to, if possible, make moves to upgrade the club in the short term - over the next 1-3 seasons, without dealing away players that were to form the core nucleus of the club over the next 3-5 years or longer. In other words, it was ok to deal away secondary and tertiary parts of the future, but do not deal away players that are considered building blocks of the club's future. If that meant acquiring older players that was fine so long as it was less costly in terms of talent given up. The future was not to be mortgaged for the present. The club expected to compete for a playoff spot this season, but anything beyond that would only be considered a great success.
So, the GM sprung into action. Throughout June and July - mostly July - the club made 7 deals. 4 of those were major deals that are expected to have significant impact on the club while 3 others were smaller scale that only affected the periphery of the major league roster.
The first major deal was with division rival San Francisco. Acquired were reliever Ray Burris and outfielder Willie Montanez for youngsters Brian Harper, Steve Shirley, and David Palmer. Shirley and Palmer were replaceable in LA and while Harper is a nice young catcher, the club preferred Tony Pena to share the load behind the dish with Don Slaught. Burris was viewed as an upgrade over Tippy Martinez in the setup role and Montanez could upgrade the teams depth at multiple positions and provide a threat off the bench in late game situations.
As a result of this deal, the club made a minor move with Atlanta, acquiring veteran backstop Thurman Munson to replace Brian Harper and allow Pena to finish his development in the minors and not be rushed into a backup job in the majors. The move cost LA nothing other than $1 million salary next season. Traded away was veteran Dave Skaggs who was due FA at the end of the season allowing Atlanta to save a bit of payroll room next season.
Next the club swung a deal with the Yankees and acquired veteran starter Clay Kirby for a first round pick and OF Carmelo Castillo. Castillo was another player the club considered expendable. While the first was tough to deal, it is expected to be the latest pick the current regime has had. Other options were considered to strengthen the clubs rotation for the stretch run. But other options were far more costly. The Dodgers felt Kirby was the best fit because at 34 he was the most reasonable rotation fit, arguably better than the other options pursued, and didnt cost any of the club's core pieces. While Kirby is a short term add, there are multiple options to replace him internally so the move cleared a spot for one of their talented youngsters and they could retain all the players they deemed critical to the future of the franchise, so it was a win-win move.
Now, having made these upgrades already, the goal was one more bullpen upgrade as Burris struggled out of the gate. Maybe he would fare better in middle relief instead of setting up. The goal was a young, controllable reliever who could provide the team with a 2nd closing option. Enter Montreal. The club dealt one of their 2nd tier talented young pitchers, albeit probably the best of that tier, for young reliever Jesse Orosco. Team executives felt that while Rob Murphy could start if necessary, his best role was probably lefty relief. So they acquired what they felt was an upgrade in talent for that role while giving up the added ability to start. The role Murphy was to fill was simply filled a year earlier than anticipated.
Having made multiple bullpen additions, Tippy Martinez became unhappy. He went from #1 setup to #1 middle reliever to mopup duty. He wanted a ticket out of town and the Dodgers obliged. Tippy was sent to Oakland on a frenzy deal that netted veteran southpaw Larry Gura - a FA to be that could provide depth in either the rotation or bullpen and reside in AAA unless needed. He was viewed as a good fit that covered multiple areas of depth after the previous moves.
Unknown at the time, the Orosco talks proved to be a starting point for a much larger deal with Montreal. This was the one move the club made in which they surrendered the core building blocks that ownership did not want to deal. However, the move was not made with the short term in mind but rather the long term. As the GM put it, this was a rearranging of the deck chairs.
Traded away were SP Bob Walk who had been amazing for the Dodgers this season with a WHIP below 1, starting shortstop and thought to be fixture Scott Fletcher, and 3B of the future Tim Wallach along with depth outfielder Dave Gallagher. In return the Dodgers acquired younger building blocks and favorites Lenny Dykstra and Kevin Mitchell along with another bullpen piece Ron Guidry and veteran utility man Rick Down. The team had grown frustrated with talented shortstop Scott Fletcher and felt a change of scenery was best. The club had Tom Brookens to fill his spot who had outplayed Fletcher the last 2 years and could replace the defense Fletcher offered while adding a bit more pop to the lineup and improved baserunning. Down will fill the role that Brookens had before. The club has invested heavily in SS/2B in recent years with Randy Ready, Marty Barrett, Brian Giles, Bryan Little, Jose Oquendo, and Dick Schofield. That group will now get every opportunity to eventually replace Brookens. Walks departure was about numbers - he was viewed as a 4/5 type and played a position where the club had their most depth. This will give one of the younger, higher upside pitchers a future rotation spot as a result. Mitchell brings power that is the biggest weakness on the club, but kicks the can down the road a bit. Wallach was expected to be the starting 3B in 1983, but Ron Cey has played extremely well and rumor has it the Dodgers are interested in keeping him around. If a short term extension can be worked out, he could be a bridge to Mitchell. If not, the club is expected to move RF Otto Velez back to 3B next season and promote prospect Brian Greer for RF.
No matter what happens, this was an exciting trade deadline for Dodger fans. They anxiously wait to see what impact the flurry of deadline moves will have on the club. In theory they not only improved the major league roster now, but also dealt from some areas of depth to create future opportunities for others in the organization.
What did that mean exactly? As ownership put it it that that meant to, if possible, make moves to upgrade the club in the short term - over the next 1-3 seasons, without dealing away players that were to form the core nucleus of the club over the next 3-5 years or longer. In other words, it was ok to deal away secondary and tertiary parts of the future, but do not deal away players that are considered building blocks of the club's future. If that meant acquiring older players that was fine so long as it was less costly in terms of talent given up. The future was not to be mortgaged for the present. The club expected to compete for a playoff spot this season, but anything beyond that would only be considered a great success.
So, the GM sprung into action. Throughout June and July - mostly July - the club made 7 deals. 4 of those were major deals that are expected to have significant impact on the club while 3 others were smaller scale that only affected the periphery of the major league roster.
The first major deal was with division rival San Francisco. Acquired were reliever Ray Burris and outfielder Willie Montanez for youngsters Brian Harper, Steve Shirley, and David Palmer. Shirley and Palmer were replaceable in LA and while Harper is a nice young catcher, the club preferred Tony Pena to share the load behind the dish with Don Slaught. Burris was viewed as an upgrade over Tippy Martinez in the setup role and Montanez could upgrade the teams depth at multiple positions and provide a threat off the bench in late game situations.
As a result of this deal, the club made a minor move with Atlanta, acquiring veteran backstop Thurman Munson to replace Brian Harper and allow Pena to finish his development in the minors and not be rushed into a backup job in the majors. The move cost LA nothing other than $1 million salary next season. Traded away was veteran Dave Skaggs who was due FA at the end of the season allowing Atlanta to save a bit of payroll room next season.
Next the club swung a deal with the Yankees and acquired veteran starter Clay Kirby for a first round pick and OF Carmelo Castillo. Castillo was another player the club considered expendable. While the first was tough to deal, it is expected to be the latest pick the current regime has had. Other options were considered to strengthen the clubs rotation for the stretch run. But other options were far more costly. The Dodgers felt Kirby was the best fit because at 34 he was the most reasonable rotation fit, arguably better than the other options pursued, and didnt cost any of the club's core pieces. While Kirby is a short term add, there are multiple options to replace him internally so the move cleared a spot for one of their talented youngsters and they could retain all the players they deemed critical to the future of the franchise, so it was a win-win move.
Now, having made these upgrades already, the goal was one more bullpen upgrade as Burris struggled out of the gate. Maybe he would fare better in middle relief instead of setting up. The goal was a young, controllable reliever who could provide the team with a 2nd closing option. Enter Montreal. The club dealt one of their 2nd tier talented young pitchers, albeit probably the best of that tier, for young reliever Jesse Orosco. Team executives felt that while Rob Murphy could start if necessary, his best role was probably lefty relief. So they acquired what they felt was an upgrade in talent for that role while giving up the added ability to start. The role Murphy was to fill was simply filled a year earlier than anticipated.
Having made multiple bullpen additions, Tippy Martinez became unhappy. He went from #1 setup to #1 middle reliever to mopup duty. He wanted a ticket out of town and the Dodgers obliged. Tippy was sent to Oakland on a frenzy deal that netted veteran southpaw Larry Gura - a FA to be that could provide depth in either the rotation or bullpen and reside in AAA unless needed. He was viewed as a good fit that covered multiple areas of depth after the previous moves.
Unknown at the time, the Orosco talks proved to be a starting point for a much larger deal with Montreal. This was the one move the club made in which they surrendered the core building blocks that ownership did not want to deal. However, the move was not made with the short term in mind but rather the long term. As the GM put it, this was a rearranging of the deck chairs.
Traded away were SP Bob Walk who had been amazing for the Dodgers this season with a WHIP below 1, starting shortstop and thought to be fixture Scott Fletcher, and 3B of the future Tim Wallach along with depth outfielder Dave Gallagher. In return the Dodgers acquired younger building blocks and favorites Lenny Dykstra and Kevin Mitchell along with another bullpen piece Ron Guidry and veteran utility man Rick Down. The team had grown frustrated with talented shortstop Scott Fletcher and felt a change of scenery was best. The club had Tom Brookens to fill his spot who had outplayed Fletcher the last 2 years and could replace the defense Fletcher offered while adding a bit more pop to the lineup and improved baserunning. Down will fill the role that Brookens had before. The club has invested heavily in SS/2B in recent years with Randy Ready, Marty Barrett, Brian Giles, Bryan Little, Jose Oquendo, and Dick Schofield. That group will now get every opportunity to eventually replace Brookens. Walks departure was about numbers - he was viewed as a 4/5 type and played a position where the club had their most depth. This will give one of the younger, higher upside pitchers a future rotation spot as a result. Mitchell brings power that is the biggest weakness on the club, but kicks the can down the road a bit. Wallach was expected to be the starting 3B in 1983, but Ron Cey has played extremely well and rumor has it the Dodgers are interested in keeping him around. If a short term extension can be worked out, he could be a bridge to Mitchell. If not, the club is expected to move RF Otto Velez back to 3B next season and promote prospect Brian Greer for RF.
No matter what happens, this was an exciting trade deadline for Dodger fans. They anxiously wait to see what impact the flurry of deadline moves will have on the club. In theory they not only improved the major league roster now, but also dealt from some areas of depth to create future opportunities for others in the organization.
