October 25th, 2014 at 6:39 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s hard to argue that exiled Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti wasn’t good at his job. After all, it was on his watch that the Dodgers acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Zack Greinke, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Hanley Ramirez, Justin Turner, Mark Ellis, Jamey Carroll, Nick Punto and drafted Clayton Kershaw, Joc Pederson, Zach Lee, Chris Reed, Chris Anderson, Tom Windle and Corey Seager – among many others. But when push came to shove and all the chips were on the line, Ned Colletti failed.
Former Dodgers GM Ned Colletti failed to address the Dodgers most glaring need at the July 31 trade deadline. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Even though Colletti stood his ground and refused, absolutely refused to trade away the Dodgers top three prospects at the July 31 trade deadline (for which he is to be commended), he did not address the one glaring weakness facing the Dodgers – their completely inept bullpen; and it cost him his job as the Dodgers general manager.
If ever there were any doubt as to what a bullpen should look like, it is that of the Kansas City Royals. The performance of Kelvin Herrera, Branden Finnegan, Wade Davis and Greg Holland on Friday night in Game-3 of the World Series against a Giants team that makes a habit out of scoring runs late was an absolute clinic.
Royals closer Greg Holland is congratulated by catcher Salvador Perez after collecting his seventh postseason save on Friday night. In his 10 innings of work this postseason, Holland has allowed only one earned run (0.90) while striking out 13. (Photo credit – Kyle Terada)
In their combined four innings of work on Friday night, the Royals bullpen allowed zero runs, zero hits, two walks and four strikeouts against the likes of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence. It was like watching four closers and it had to make Ned Colletti squirm in his seat. This is what a bullpen is supposed to look like. This is the type of bullpen that Colletti was unable to assemble. Why didn’t he? Because he was bound by the salaries that he doled out over the past two seasons. He had no choice to but to keep them on the playoff roster.
Oh sure, the Dodgers offense went ice cold during the Division series and couldn’t even score four runs for the guy who almost singlehandedly got them into the playoffs, but in the four games against the Cardinals, the Dodgers bullpen allowed six earned runs in 8.1 innings for an unacceptable 6.48 ERA.
But alas, the Dodgers season ended earlier than everyone expected and Ned Colletti has since been relegated to Special Advisor to Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten (whatever that means) – at least until his current contract runs out in two years or the unlikely chance that some other team offers him a GM job.
It’s not what Colletti did that got him fired, it’s what he didn’t do.
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Wade Davis(29) was acquired from the Rays in the James Shields trade and converted from starter to relief.
Kelvin Herrera(24) was signed by the Royals as an amateur free agent.
Branden Finnegan (21) was a 2014 first round pick
Greg Holland (28) was a 10th round selection in 2007.
No overly priced veterans on the way down.
I’m wondering how long the KC trio of Harrera, Davis, Holland and the rest of their bullpen can keep it up, especially if Yost intends to use them every night or every turn.
I’m thinking they have two more games in them OBF.They won’t be used if behind by a bit and will get a travel day off if needed.
As you mentioned Ron, Colletti did a lot of good as well as some bad.
He got Ryu for cheap, 6years/36mil.
Also, at the start of the season, everyone including myself wanted Brian Wilson on the team. We all praised Colletti for adding him. No one knew he would be terrible.
As for acquiring relivers, I heard that Colletti’s hands were tied during the deadline, by management for financial reasons.
Cy – I seriously questioned the wisdom of signing Wilson for $20M over two years based on 19 good innings in 2013 after coming off a second TJ surgery. I felt it was a misplay then.
He exercised his $10M player option for 2015 and why wouldn’t he? Maybe he will rebound in 2015 as he isn’t ancient turning 33 in March. His loss of velocity and 29 walks in 48 innings was troubling.
I can’t believe Ned’s hands would be tied for a few million dollars with a WS appearance clearly on the radar. I think there are now financial considerations with a bloated payroll as the Dodgers aren’t getting a bang for the bucks, at least not a big enough bang. The Guggenheim group will still want a good return on their money and in the next 2-3 years the payroll will be reduced in my opinion. On the other hand I don’t think it will ever be restrictive for good signings and development.
Then I would say good call Harold, because I think it’s safe to
say that many Dodger fans were very pleased about the Wilson signing. He was the best reliever last year imo. Better than Jansen, so his quick fall was surprising to me. Sometimes players don’t pan out.
As for Colletti having his “hands tied” during trade deadline, I heard that from Dodgertalk. Not sure how true it is.
I agree with you Cy, but apparently nothing he did good was appreciated by the team and it looks like they wanted to try a new route.