So, the Padres tried to play hardball with the Dodgers. The Dodgers (I guess?) stared them down. Eventually, the Padres realized that Matt Kemp’s hips don’t lie and, as was first reported (it seems like) many moons ago, completed the trade for the outfielder.

The Dodgers got Yasmani Grandal and some other players for Kemp and a backup catcher. They’ll now be able to complete their trade for Jimmy Rollins and all the excitement that last week brought will finally be (realized?).

This guy won twitter, with a nice breakdown of how this transaction might have been finalized.

Padres: "Kemp is hurt, can we have more money?" Dodgers: "no" Padres: "we wont make the trade" Dodgers: "ok" Padres: "Fine! We'll do it"

— Blake (@BlakeW47) December 19, 2014

So, for this night, Blake wins. Good job, Blake! Here’s hoping the Dodgers management continues to kind of get whatever they want for the remainder of the offseason.

And, here’s hoping the Padres remain doormats this season, because isn’t that kind of a rookie move?

Happy Holidays.

On the heels of the Dodgers making a bunch of moves, Owen and Jesse break-down the moves. So as not to appear completely biased toward the Andrew Friedman regime, we also brought-in fellow Dodger fan, Kevin to give the potential down-side of the Matt Kemp trade.

I better type fast. Before I’m done, the Dodgers might make another trade.

Here’s what we know — For almost two months leading the Dodgers’ front office, Andrew Freidman and company made very few public moves. Then, yesterday, the dam broke. Perhaps it just started to break.

At any rate, the Dodgers went from a shortstop-less team with a few big holes to what looks now like a team that is a lot more efficient.

Is this the New York Stock Exchange or the Dodgers’ front office over the past 24 hours. By Ryan Lawler (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Instead of a question mark at catcher, it looks like they’ll roll with Yasmani Grandal. (Perhaps Grandal is a question mark unto himself. But he will be a question mark with a high upside).

Instead of four outfielders and a bloated payroll, the Dodgers have made room for a young player

They’ve also made themselves better defensively up the middle. Replacing Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez, and Dee Gordon with Joc Pederson, Jimmy Rollins, and Howie Kendrick will result in a completely re-tooled and unquestionably better middle of the field defense. Giving Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford defined roles could do wonders, especially for Ethier who Scott Van Slyke starts to fit-in as a potential platoon player with. Without Kemp, the combinations start to fit better together — though trading Ethier or Crawford could still be in the cards. Joc Pederson is almost surely going to get a chance to play every day in center field and Yasiel Puig will man right field. That leaves one position for Etheir, Crawford, and Scott Van Slyke to somehow split. OK, there is still some inefficiency with outfielders, but not like before… .

For an organization who looked to the “nerds” to take the next step, Andrew Friedman and his geek squad might be bringing balance to the force.

Of all the players who they’ve acquired, I’m most excited about replacing Gordon with Kendrick. Quietly, the 31 year-old Kendrick has been a force for the Angels in recent years. Remember, the Angels team he was on last season had the best record in baseball. Gordon was a fan favorite — a young, fast, energetic player who I always loved to see on the base paths.

But Gordon’s peripheral numbers aren’t great and Friedman must have seen him as having had something like a career year last season. So he sold high and got a lot in return from Miami.

Kemp seems to have also been sold high. The Dodgers didn’t get as much back for him, though Yasmani Grandal might be due for a breakout year. Getting rid of Kemp is a possible roll of the dice, but they also get rid of about $70 of the money he is owed over the next few years, which brings us to the really fun part of this equation — the Dodgers, despite their bloated payroll — are starting to make themselves a lot more financially flexible without completely ruining the major-league product on the field. In fact, along with being cheaper, they might be even better already.

The final chip probably has yet to fall. A trade for Cole Hamels is heating up the rumor mill. So are free agents James Shields and Max Scherzer. If the reported trades all go through, the Dodgers have positioned themselves with prospects and freed-up cash to make a run at any of these three.

I haven’t even mentioned Brandon McCarthy, whose deal helps with depth at the back end of the rotation. That was an issue last season for the team.

Assuming Kemp, Rollins, McCarthy deals become official, #Dodgers will have made 6 transactions involving 19 players in less than 24 hours

— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) December 11, 2014

Lots of Dodgers fans are excited. Many are nervous about losing fan-favorites Kemp and Gordon.

Here are links to a few articles (below) that have put me at ease recently. Remember Dodger fans — don’t get too worked up quite yet. There are probably other moves to be made and, by the time you finish reading this, it will be incomplete at-best and possibly inaccurate. Because this Dodgers front office is making moves.

Marlins Pay Steep Price to not get Better – From Fangraphs

The older and better Dodgers Middle Infield – From Fangraphs

Dodgers, McCarthy reportedly near 4-year deal – From Dodgers.com

What are the Dodgers even doing? – From Deadspin

With all the recent excitement in the Dodgers front office, people may have forgotten the actual players. Going into the 2014 offseason after what was a very disappointing postseason run for the Dodgers, it seems as if they may not look the same come March. Hanley Ramirez seems a lock to not re-sign and the outfield situation needs to be finally solved. Josh Beckett is retiring and the bullpen needs to get rid of almost everyone. The Dodgers need to have a good off-season in order to reposition themselves as the class of the National League.

New president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has a large task ahead of him with the Dodgers. By Andrew_Friedman_and_Joe_Maddon.jpeg: Jennifer Huber derivative work: Delaywaves talk (Andrew_Friedman_and_Joe_Maddon.jpeg) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

With Beckett gone, starting pitching should also be looked at. The Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, and Hyun-jin Ryu as their front three starters, but the back end of the rotation is the key to winning championships. Like Brian Wilson, Dan Haren will return to the club after picking up his player option. Haren gives them a nice fourth or fifth starter, but they need another.

There are a many options the Dodgers can choose from but I suggest the idea of signing a fourth starter rather than a fifth. Some interesting names are available that include Ervin Santana, Hiroki Kuroda, and Jake Peavy. The Dodgers’ spending habits lately would indicate at least a mild interest in players Jon Lester or Max Scherzer, though new management might not be as excited at the idea of another huge contract.

Finally, the Dodgers need to solve their outfield situation and upgrade a few positions. The Dodgers have too many outfielders and need to do something about it. Who gets the boot?

Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, or Yasiel Puig? Puig is basically untouchable, as he should be. Kemp should be as well after his resurgence last season, which leaves Ethier or Crawford. They both have terrible contracts, which will make it tricky to trade them. Trading Ethier seems the most likely to happen. A team like the Detroit Tigers may be interested, especially with uncertainty surrounding Torii Hunter.

Upgrading at the catcher position would vastly improve the team. AJ Ellis commands the plate as well as any catcher in the league but his hitting isn’t what the Dodgers need to get them over the hump. The only clear option to replacing Ellis for the Dodgers is with Russell Martin. Martin would bring some extra power as well as his control of the plate to the Dodgers, a team he spent a large chunk of his career with.

With Hanley Ramirez half way out the door, the shortstop position is open while they wait for prospect Corey Seager to grow. Some intriguing options in the free agent market, but making a trade with the White Sox for shortstop Alexi Ramirez makes sense. Maybe an Ethier, prospect and money for Ramirez trade would work?

It is essential that the Dodgers have a good and productive offseason in order to repeat as NL West champions and hopefully mirror their Northern California rivals and hoist a World Series trophy for the first time since 1988.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have not made a World Series since 1988. With their loss this week, they won’t have a spot in the fall classic in 2014. A team with the highest payroll in baseball in one of the best baseball cities in America shouldn’t be eliminated from the playoffs as early as the division series. The Dodgers squad is made up of different types of talent that honestly don’t really work together to create a complete team. This season, their raw talent led them to the division title, and fans and experts alike looked past their obvious shortcomings.

Ned Colletti’s job could be in jeopardy after the team’s clear holes weren’t addressed. By PVSBond, via Wikimedia Commons

It has been two seasons since both trades went down and what do the Dodgers have to show for it? Two division titles and two playoff beat-downs at the hands of the St Louis Cardinals, who have are arguably become the San Antonio Spurs of Major League Baseball.

While the regular season winning is nice, when you spend that much money on a team it is championship or bust. So the question remains who is to blame for the Dodgers disappointments and what do they do about it?

Clayton Kershaw had a historic season. The Dodgers’ ace went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA, but his postseason demons struck again against a familiar opponent. He is now 3-7 with a 4.83 ERA against the St. Louis Cardinals and 70-22 with a 1.99 ERA against everyone else. Kershaw cruised through six innings in game one, only having allowed two runs before squandering a four run lead and giving up eight runs in the 7^th inning. While Kershaw deserves some of the blame, Mattingly also deserves some for not pulling out his star pitcher once the Cardinals had closed to 6-4. I don’t care who the pitcher is or how much you trust them, once they start giving up runs and putting the game in jeopardy you take them out especially in the 7^th inning of a home playoff game. Mattingly in his Dodger career has made a lot of blunder-headed mistakes but none like this playoff series.

His first mistake was with Kershaw in Game One. Then, in game three he took Hyun Jin Ryu out after the 6^th inning when he was pitching a masterful game on the road. After the game, Ryu came out and said that he felt fine to pitch the 7^th inning. Instead of bringing in a relief pitcher that has carried the team all season like Brandon League, he brings in Scott Elbert who promptly gives up a two run home run that sealed the Dodgers game-three fate.

In Game Four, with Kershaw pitching on three days rest, the Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead and Mattingly left Kershaw in for the 7^th against the heart of the Cardinals order, which lead to a three-run home run and the end of the Dodgers’ season.

All signs point to Don Mattingly and all-star pitcher Clayton Kershaw taking the majority of the blame. While they both made mistakes, they shouldn’t get all of fans’ ire. Mattingly made some dumb decisions, but in the end he isn’t the one who goes out onto the field and plays. The big hitters the Dodgers have didn’t produce and the bullpen, which was the weakest link of the Dodgers team all season, struck again.

The person who deserves the most blame for the Dodgers’ disappointments has to be general manager Ned Colletti. There have been rumors swirling that there might be changes in the Dodgers front office and I hope they are true. At the trade deadline, Colletti had opportunities to pursue bullpen help that might have saved the Dodgers season. Instead, Colletti went out and got back-end pitchers Roberto Hernandez and Kevin Correia neither of whom made the postseason roster.

While Colletti has built teams that made the postseason, he continues to disregard the team’s biggest needs and it ends up costing them late in the season. The Dodgers could use a new General Manager in their system and maybe then they will finally reach the World Series. The Padres and Diamondbacks have already changed their GMs so the Dodgers should continue the trend in the NL West.

Leave no doubt, this team needs some fixing. In order for this team to be fixed it is going to take major work. Much of the team is locked in for years to come in their respective deals. One solution would be to upgrade on a few positions including third base and catcher. Juan Uribe and AJ Ellis have been good clubhouse guys but their production on the field has been less than expected and more consistent production is needed from those positions. For me, the most important factor of the 2015 offseason will be getting bullpen help. Kenley Jansen is the only bullpen guy the Dodgers could rely on this season and even he has some issues.

Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford, Dee Gordon, Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Hyun Jin Ryu and Kenley Jansen should be the main players returning to the team next season due to their success. Trading Andre Ethier and re- signing Justin Turner should be priorities going into the offseason. This coming offseason is going to be a tough one on both the Dodgers front office and the players but this team will be back again next season and should again be favorites to win a championship. In the mean time, the front office needs to make some changes in both player personnel and front office personnel, because the Dodgers have the core talent to win a title but proving it out on the field is a whole different story.

After making it to the NLCS a season ago and going on their historic 42-8 run to make it there, the Dodgers seemed primed to be legitimate World Series contenders in 2014. Yet the start of the 2014 season seems oddly familiar to the 2013. The likelihood of them going on a run like they did last year, though, is very far-fetched. So the question remains what is wrong with them right now?

Currently the Dodgers hold a record of 19-18 and are sitting in the third place position in the NL West. They started out winning four of their first five games and were looking good. Recently though, they have dropped six of their last eight games. They are a pathetic 2-6 head-to-head against the Giants who are clearly the best team in the NL West right now. They have had some injuries including Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and A.J. Ellis but that shouldn’t be an excuse for a team with such a high payroll and as much talent as they have.

It’s been said before but if the Dodgers don’t start winning soon, Don Mattingly may be looking for a new job. By http://www.flickr.com/photos/pvsbond/, via Wikimedia Commons

Aside from their obvious struggles, the Dodgers have had some bright spots this season, including the play of Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Zach Greinke and Adrian Gonzalez.

Gordon, who  is leading the team with a .328 batting average, has also  stolen 21 bases already which is the best in baseball, nine more than the next guy behind him.

Free agent acquisition, Dan Haren, has shown why the Dodgers signed him with his 4-1 record and his 2.68 ERA. With all the injuries to the pitching staff, Haren has stepped up and played a huge role in keeping this team afloat.

Zach Greinke started out 5-0 only to finally lose a game where the Dodgers just couldn’t score any runs. His 2.35 ERA and 47 strikeouts lead the team and have carried the Dodgers while Kershaw was hurt.

Adrian Gonzalez, in my opinion is an early contender for National League Most Valuable Player. He is hitting .265 with 9 HR and 26 RBI. He also has an .861 OPS, putting him just below the range of his best three seasons. Gonzalez has carried the load offensively thus far while the rest of the team figures themselves out.

How to fix whatever is wrong?

Other than the injuries to the team the only two real problems with this team are the inconsistency of the bullpen and the lack of hitting in some games, both of which can be easily fixed. As for the bullpen, manager Don Mattingly needs to read the situations during games better and figure out when to plug certain pitchers in rather than go with a set bullpen rotation. With the kind of depth that the Dodgers have, its the only way to manage all those bodies.

Dodgers win and Mattingly only made three mistakes. I'll take it.

— Howard Cole (@Howard_Cole) May 10, 2014

The hitting will come around, I’m sure of that. The Dodgers have too much depth and talent on their roster for it not to. It’s still very early in the season and the Dodgers just need regroup and get things together. Although it was over a month ago, the unorthodox trip to Australia could still be affecting them, since it cut their spring training and usual time to prepare for the long grinding season short. The Dodgers will get it together and I expect to see them being the team we all expect them to be come the second half of the season.

What do you think? Will the Dodgers turn it around or will they stay at .500 and be a disappointment all season?

Hyun-jin Ryu turned out to be a great pickup for the Dodgers last offseason, but the team has more subtle changes to be made this year. By Owen Main

Last offseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers made some huge splashes in the free agent market by signing Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu to multi year contracts. Both signings panned out for the Dodgers during the 2013 season as both Greinke and Ryu pitched very well in both the regular season and postseason helping to guide the Dodgers to the NL West title. After being eliminated in the NLCS, many people wondered what the next big move for the Dodgers would be during the offseason. Would they make a trade for former Cy Young Award winner David Price? Would they trade away star outfielder Matt Kemp? Neither have happened to this point. Here’s what has happened so far:

The winter meetings have passed and the Dodgers have remained very quiet this offseason. The biggest signing so far is that of Dan Haren to close out the pitching rotation. Since the new ownership of the Dodgers has taken over they have been willing to spend money whenever they want with no price limit, so the lack of movement this offseason has confused some folks. Aside from the Haren signing the team has re-signed some key players from last season including Juan Uribe, Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell. The team’s quiet signing of these players and lack of a big splash so far has been a blessing in disguise for the Dodgers. Sometimes, less is more.

Even with their lack of moves, the Dodgers should still should be the favorites to win the title this season. Re-signing such major players to their team as Uribe, Wilson and Howell was very important for the team and its chemistry. Consistency is a major factor for any team playing any sport and keeping mainly the same players around and having them grow together with the ups and downs wins championships which is the Dodgers ultimate goal. The type of players the Dodgers have in their clubhouse is extremely important. They did lose some utility players and clubhouse presences to free agency and retirement (Skip Schumaker, Mark Ellis, Nick Punto, Jerry Hairston, Jr.), but for the most part the rest of the 2013 team is there.

The Dodgers management should get more credit than they deserve for finally putting a winning product back onto the field in Los Angeles. Both the players and fans of the Dodgers should be excited for the upcoming season regardless if any more moves are made. For the first time in a long time, the Dodgers are looked at as the favorites to win the World Series and end their 26 year title drought. And, with a team this talented, they aren’t just making moves to make moves.

In a season that saw the Los Angeles Dodgers with the highest payroll in MLB history slip down to a 30-42 record to start the season. At that point, if I said that they would end up two wins away from making their first World Series since 1988 nobody would believe me. The 2013 season had many down times but also many positives.

Hopefully Matt Kemp can stay healthy in 2014. By SD Dirk on Flickr (Originally posted to Flickr as “Matt Kemp”), via Wikimedia Commons

Of all the playoff teams, the Dodgers had the worst record at 92-70. But they met up with the NL East division winner Atlanta Braves in the NLDS and won the series in four games, and drew St. Louis in the NLCS.

The Dodgers knew the Cardinals would be a tough test. It didn’t help that the best hitter on the Dodgers, Hanley Ramirez, had his ribs broken during the first inning of game one. That one pitch defined the entire series as Ramirez was never the same hitter or fielder that he was during the second half of the year. The Dodgers would drop the series in six games leaving many disappointed after such a successful season.

Despite the series loss, the Dodgers have a lot to look forward to in the future. They played more than half the season without Matt Kemp, who is arguably the best hitter on the team when healthy, and they still were two wins away from the World Series. Much like the start of the season, injuries played a key role at the end of the season for the Dodgers. Along with Kemp being out, Hanley Ramirez had broken ribs, Andre Ethier dealt with a bruised shin and could barely run.

The Dodgers will most likely improve the roster this offseason and look to improve on a great season. Playoff failures a lot of the time, make a team hungry for more and hopefully the Dodgers come out next season looking for redemption. For example, the Lakers in 2008 were completely embarrassed in game 6 of the NBA Finals by the Boston Celtics only to come back and win the title in 2009. This season’s success will only help the Dodgers and the future looks bright for the boys in blue. And with all things considered, two wins away from the World Series is the closest the Dodgers have been to the fall classic since 1988 and is an accomplishment for a team that wasn’t projected to win anything this season. As Magic Johnson would say, Dodger Nation is back and better than ever!

We haven’t done a “What if Wednesday” in a while. It’s time to bring it back.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Carl Crawford hadn’t have gotten hurt? By Owen Main

What if?

It’s a question that more successful people than me don’t ask themselves very often. For me though, the question of what could have been can be quite cathartic at worst and super interesting at best.

During spring training, Dodgers brass continually gave the same answer. It didn’t matter how well the young Cuban phenom was playing, they weren’t going to put him into the big leagues to start the season. And if they weren’t going to pull the trigger after a spring during which he batted .526, then Dodger fans would likely have to wait another year to see Puig grace the hollowed grounds of Chavez Ravine.

Fate, though, works in interesting ways. In the midst of a hugely disappointing start to the season, team leader Matt Kemp landed himself on the disabled list. The Dodgers decided to stand pat on Puig and use Skip Schumaker and Jerry Hairston Jr. instead. Then Carl Crawford went down. With Kemp already on the disabled list, the Dodgers had reached their threshold of need and decided to call Puig up. At the time, the team was 23-32.

Now, the Dodgers are 69-50. They gave the kid a shot and it’s worked out pretty nicely. With Puig on the major league roster, the team is 46-18, including winning 39 of their last 47 games.

When Puig was called up for the game on June 3, the Dodgers stood 7.5 games back and in last place in the division. Today, they are clearly the division’s best team, 7.5 games ahead of second place Arizona.

I find myself asking today, “What if”?

What if Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford had not been hurt at the same time? It was somewhat predictable that one or both of them would have been on the disabled list at some point during the season, but the Dodgers obviously felt that one of them being hurt was no reason to bring up the precocious and raw Puig. (ed. note — You can see why they were hesitant to bring him up this year. He makes stupid baserunning and defensive decisions and is a lightning rod for controversy. His batflip, while magestic, is sure to continue to enrage pitchers and opponents).

If the Dodgers had chosen to keep Puig down on the farm, we might have seen Joc Peterson — the team’s next best outfield prospect. He might have done all right, but he’s no Puig.

Had the Dodgers chosen to let Kemp and Crawford come back, they would have. It’s doubtful though, that the Dodgers would have even maintained striking distance at all with any of their division rivals in the mean time.

Had the team continued to wallow, the Dodgers would have lost so much of the momentum their new ownership and “Whole New Blue” campaign gave them. Being irrelevant in Los Angeles is worse than being in last place, though. So the team did the only thing they could have done — they picked up the phone, called Chattanooga, and brought Puig up to the big club.

Winning or losing, the team was instantly relevant once again. That meant that when they did finally go on their current winning streak, everyone was already watching.

Everyone still is.

______________________

It’s a mild October evening in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are in the midst of a division series, or NLCS, or World Series. It’s a crucial moment in a post-season that the Dodgers would never have gotten to without the spectacular play of a young rookie.

That young rookie steps to the plate. What if he delivers the big hit? What if he goes from nice story, to Fernando-like legend. Will you be watching?

Ever since Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez picked up their shovel and started pouring coal into the furnace of the Dodger train, the locamotive has been picking up momentum.

The already-surging Dodgers could get another boost when Matt Kemp returns. By Owen Main

It seems like yesterday that the Dodgers were mired in last place, Puig was in Chattanooga, and the outlook seemed bleak. As of yesterday morning, the team was 9 games above .500, 27-6 over their past 33 games. They are 3 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks and 11 games up on the last-place Giants. If this isn’t blue heaven, I don’t know what is.

To turn a turd into something positive, their potentially best player has been on the disabled list for most of their run. If Matt Kemp comes back healthy, this lineup could be devastating.

The clubhouse is as good as the team is playing right now. Veterans like Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke, Mark Ellis, Jerry Hairston, A.J. Ellis and Skip Schumaker must be doing something right. Their experience mixed with the youthful exuberance of players like Puig are creating a combination tastier to Dodger fans than ice cream out of a blue helmet on a hot summer day.

Yes, there are still a lot of games to be played. Yes, this team is quite capable of losing 12 out of 15 games and dropping back into a battle for the NL West. But I’m going to be an optimist here. I said earlier in the year that I thought the National League West winner would win 90-93 games. I stand by that. As of this morning, the Dodgers sit at 8 games above .500 (57-49). That would get them 85 wins on the season. To win 90 games, you have to be 18 games above .500. With 56 games left to play this year, the Dodgers would have to go 33-23 the rest of the year. I think this train has enough to get over the hill this year. I think they can, I think they can… .

Do you?