The Dodgers will be paying someone to play in Japan next season as ESPN reports that Andruw Jones has signed to play there next year. No word as to which team. Does it matter? He'll flail away at breaking stuff, mail it in most of the time and hit the occasional long ball. In the end prolonging the stigma that former MLB players going to Japan don't work hard and are lazy. We all know that Andruw very well. If baseball doesn't work out, he may want to put on a few more lbs. and take up sumo wrestling.
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| Photo by: Christian Peterson/Getty Images 2008 |
One of my favorite Dodger message boards has moved over to a new yuku site, and is still known as "Big Blue Wrecking Crew." This place is populated by many former LA Times and Dodgers.com message board posters who got a bit tired of being banned for innocuous reasons. Some of the brightest minds amongst the Dodger population are over there. I mean really bright minds. I'd select 4 or 5 over there to staff the Dodgers front office and I'd feel completely confident about it. Check it out if you get a chance. LINKED HERE ( dodgers.yuku.com )
I'm paraphrasing but back in August, Ned Colletti said that his moves at that time would far supersede anything that he'd be able to do during the winter meetings. In this case, he was true to his word. I have no problem with him passing on Greinke if his representatives are actually asking for $180 million as Buster Olney stated yesterday. The message sent was that Greinke's reps said that the Dodgers would need to offer him $180 million in order to match a Texas Rangers offer of $150 million due to state income taxes in California vs. the non-existent one in Texas. I posted about this topic over at ThinBlueLA.com back in July. It looks like living in tax happy California is hurting the Dodgers when it comes to landing the big name guys. ( My July 6th ThinkBlueLA.com post is LINKED HERE )
Grant Brisbee over at Giants blog McCovey Chronicles opines that the Giants really don't have much more money to spend after forking out hefty contracts to Marco Scutaro and Angel Pagan this past week. It was an attempt to keep the core of their World Championship roster intact. A left fielder remains a need, but they can't afford players they covet such as Scott Hairston or Ryan Ludwick. That Giants payroll has reached in the mid $140 million range, a record high for the franchise that continues to shell out $20 million each year on the mortgage of their privately financed BallPark. That mortgage will be paid off in 2017. Brisbee's article linked HERE
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| Brandon McCarthy is now a Diamondback (AP Photo) |
Speaking of division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks signed an excellent starting pitcher today in Brandon McCarthy. He's had hard luck with injuries, the latest being that scary skull fracture caused by a liner back up the box requiring emergency surgery, but a two year deal for the starter for $15.5 million really isn't too bad a deal. I wouldn't have minded the Dodgers taking a flyer at him. McCarthy may just be the sleeper signing of the off-season. His numbers have been very good and consistent.
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