November 29th, 2019 at 12:31 pm 
by 0799291000348 Confession of a Dodger junkie: After the last Thanksgiving guests had departed, leftovers were crammed into the refrigerator, dishwasher running on max cycle, wife was napping, and first signs that turkey coma was fading, it was time to check to see if there was any Dodgers news. Source did not matter, even if it was wild suppositions from Jim Bowden, there was an insatiable craving for Dodgers news. As to be expected, there was nothing new available. A distraction was needed, or possibly a full-blown intervention.
Perhaps there was something on television that might offer a diversion? The NFL game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints? No thanks. Reruns of really old movies were better than Falcons and Saints, but that is more a critique on the NFL than the quality of old movies. The holiday to-do list was intimidating, so putting off for another day (or two) was a quick and easy decision.
A Dodger fan craving news and time on his hands is a recipe for 2020 roster meanderings. Which free agents to sign? What trade scenarios will build a roster to win 120 games and the World Series? Who are the untouchable players/prospects? How to dump an unpopular player on an unsuspecting team? What will be the first domino to fall?
‘The Domino Effect’ was coined by political journalist Joseph Alsop in the mid-1950s to describe a situation in which one event triggers another similar event and then another until there is a cascade of events that occur, all because of that first precipitating event. So, what will be the first meaningful Dodger domino to fall this Hot Stove season?
Roster construction for Dodgers president baseball operations Andrew Friedman is akin to a game of chess – plotting several moves ahead by using fringe players/prospects as pawns as he feigns moves intended to mislead his peers, who are engaged in their own games. But at some point, Friedman must decide which critical pieces he is willing to trade-off in order to achieve ‘checkmate’ for the 2020 season.
Only when Friedman has his strategy in place and his counterparts moves have been anticipated will he make the move that will trigger the sequence of events to improve the 2020 roster. Then and only then will the first domino fall.
One possible scenario for the first domino of the many available to the Dodgers would be to acquire Indians right-handed starting pitcher Corey Kluber, which triggers the trade of Kenta Maeda. Who goes to the Indians for Kluber? Who do the Dodgers receive in return for Maeda? Even more options, depending on Friedman’s overall strategy – it is only the first domino.
(Photo credit – Ken Blaze and Jae C. Hong)
What do you think will be the first, significant move the Dodgers will make?
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Posted in 
@DodgerFanWeekly Joc Pederson
Don’t know which one goes first, but I agree that Kenta and Joc both get moved.
I think you have it nailed, although trading Pederson will depend on which player the Dodgers acquire for the offense. If a third baseman the Pederson could remain in a left field platoon.
Remember Konerko… Peterson is the same….. one of the best homer in hitters we have…
Konerko hit for average also. He never showed what he can do with us, nor when we traded to the Reds, only after he was traded to the Whitesox’s did he put up those numbers. Not a good comparison at all. We all know what kind of player Joc is, .250 average about 30 homers average a year.
I’ll go long odds. Kershaw gets moved for minor league lottery pieces. The Dodgers sign Bumsnotter, fire Roberts, and hire Bochy.
Well those moves would generate a lot of discussion 🙂
First off someone take away Uncle Neds phone. I think we flip Pollock for a bad expiring contract and pay half of what he is owed.
trade him to the St. Louis Cardinals for left hander Andrew Miller — AAV for tax purposes very close. Or, this long shot — Pollock to the Giants for third baseman Evan Longoria — pay is almost identical, including buyout of final year.
I like that trade!
Longoria is as through as pollock. Two disappointing has beens
That’s what makes the trade doable. Fair exchange of salaries for a position we need for one they need. Plus Longo and Turner could both put time in at 1st.
Ruiz is most valuable prospect and will be part of a big deal but this could happen with several team… https://t.co/SZ96IDmcGy
I don’t think Ruiz will be traded. If something happened to Smith the team would be short on quality catchers.
Player to keep and trade for…..
Munsey 1B, Lux 2B, Seager SS, Donaldson 3B, Puig RF, Bellinger CF, Verdugo LF, Smith C
Beuller SP, Kershaw SP, Meada SP, May SP, BumGardner SP,
Peterson, Edwin Rios, Taylor, Beaty,
Kelly, Kolarek, Gonsolin, Mize (Baltimore), Urias, Floro, Ferguson, kopech (White Sox)
Trade Pollack, Hernandez, Jansen, Garcia, Baez, Turner, Stripling,
Well, no one is going to accuse you of playing it safe 🙂 That is an interesting roster. I am not familiar with Mize who is being acquired from the Orioles. Are Puig and Pederson platooning in RF? What is the over and under that Puig and Donaldson come to blows sometime during spring training. Thanks for the input.
I think Wingmill must mean the Tigers Casey Mize, the overall number 1 pick of the 2018 draft. He’d be a nice pickup, a Friedman kind of move, but can’t see it happening. Also, Wingmill must mean Sox closer Colome instead of Kopech. Colome would be a nice pickup, signed through 2020. We could use him.
Hate the Snot-rocket signing, if you’re going to give up a draft pick for one of the free-agents go BIG! I’d rather give the ball to Urias. For me, it was hard to understand Atlanta giving up a draft pick and 3 yrs, $39M for Will Smith. I for one am also glad Dodgers passed on Pomeranz at 4yrs, $34M (But no draft pick). I admit, I don’t know all the facts (health, etc.) behind Blake Treinen, but I’d be very interested in trading for him and his one-year $8M 2020 contract.
Puig? I was a big fan, but he lost me when I heard he wouldn’t cooperate with the analytical fielding positioning. Not a team player. I think we can all agree that, fielding shifts have been very effective, gotta figure a way to counteract them. How about our lefty batters learn to bunt/push the ball down the left field line when there isn’t a third baseman there?
Lastly, you can’t trade both Hernandez and Taylor. They aren’t perfect, but I believe they have had a HUGE part in the Dodger’s success the last few years with their fielding versatility. Just noticed Wingmill keeps Taylor, good , but I’d rather keep Hernandez or both.
Thanks for clarifying. I figured this was a sarcastic comment, so did not spend much time in analyzing. I agree on Bumgarner, and doubt he would sign with Dodgers unless they were the only bidder. I would much rather Dodgers get Cole, Strasburg, or Ryu. Yes, Smith was a surprise. I really thought he would take the QO from the Giants, but Braves made an offer too good to turn down. I turned on Puig after during his third season when it was obvious that he would continue to play for himself rather than the team. 100% correct, team cannot trade both Hernandez and Taylor. I would not be surprised if the team will keep which ever player agrees to a reasonable extension and trade the other.
I say reaquire Puig, whomever he plays for, the Dodgers, himself, he’s a plus. Then sigh Bumgarner, and wait for a good fist fight inn the clubhouse
A little perspective here please. Our team won 104 games the division by 20 games. Major surgery not needed. We need to add not subtract.
A few misconceptions need to be cleared up 1-kershaw did not lose the playoff series a lack of clutch hitting Roberts not using the bullpen correctly.
2-kershaw is clearly a part of a championship team like Corbin was.
3-moving Pollock for an Andrew Miller type is a fine gamble.
4-unless you are trading Joc P in a trade for a really good everyday outfielder I would not move him.
5-we don’t need a third baseman we need a SPitcher and two arms in the pen(Strasbourg or Cole).
Actually, we won 106 games, so I agree with you completely, no major surgery required.
Just look for value and add where we can. We also can’t forget the old saying “the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence”. Start by looking for value in our own back yard. As Jessie says, look to extend both Hernandez and Taylor. Additionally, I think we should also look to extend Baez one more year to 2022, 27 yr old Pederson for 2-3 years and Seager to a long term contract. Of course, I’m talking “reasonable” extensions. Reasonable extensions make these guys more valuable on the trade front, but they are also very good. If they don’t want to sign extensions and all of them are free-agents over the next two years, then need to seriously look at their current trade value.
I agree we look pretty good with current position players, Muncy can slide over to third base, but if Rendon would sign for 4 or 5 yrs, at a high AAV, we’d have to consider him. We just need our guys to start hitting in the playoffs, I think they can! And that includes both Seager and Bellinger. I didn’t want Pollock, but I’m even willing to give him another chance platooning in left with Pederson.
I’d love Cole or Strasbourg, but Cole’s projected at 8 yrs, $256M and Strasburg at 6 yrs, $180M. I’d rather go with what’s projected for Wheeler 5 yrs, $100M and Ryu 3 yrs, $54M. Two for the price of one coupled with a trade for a shutdown reliever.
I am with you 95% — I think Wheeler is too big a gamble; money, years, lose high draft pick, forfeit international bonus money in hopes that he will blossom as. Dodger. Spend the money on Cole, or Strasburg, or re-sign Ryu and trade for Kluber (assuming Maeda is traded)
You could be right on Wheeler. He’s a gamble, but so are Cole and Strasburg.
I am largely making my argument based on projected contracts. I believe, whoever signs Cole to that projected contract is going to hate it long before the eight years is up. If Wheeler, who’s about the same age, can truly be had for a little more than the QO AAV, on a shorter deal, seems like a good deal to me.
He has been an above average pitcher over the last two seasons:
3.96 ERA (4.54 MLB AVG)
3.48 FIP (4.51 MLB AVG)
8.98 K/9 (8.58 MLB AVG)
2.30 BB/9 (2.96 MLB AVG)
31.4 hard hit% (38.4 MLB AVG)
4.7 WAR (15th among MLB pitchers)
According to BaseballSavant, the most similar pitcher to Zack Wheeler based on velocity and movement last season was free agent Gerrit Cole. In 2018, the most similar pitcher to Wheeler was Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom.
Wheeler matches up well with those two because of how good his fastball is. He throws it at about 97 MPH and can top out at 100.
Zack Wheeler may never be Gerrit Cole, but he has a lot of upside. Wheeler will be entering his 6th season next year, and when Cole was at this point in his career he had roughly the same stats. Wheeler actually has a higher career K/9 than Cole had entering his 6th season. All it took for Cole to take that next step in his career was the Astros picking him up and fixing him. At the time, the Astros were known as one of baseball’s most advanced teams in player development instead of cheating. I’d like to see what Pryor can do with him.
Oh course Ryu is a no brainer at the projected salary amount and he might be enough with what the Dodgers have in house. I’d be OK with Dodgers going with acquiring only one-starter if they really strengthen the bullpen.
Most likely it will be something that I never expected.
It already fell… it was Rick Hunnicutt! Mark Pryor’s initial season in the bully was not inspiring my confidence as he moves into the dugout imho. Damn sure hope I’m wrong.
At 65 years old and after 14 years as a Dodgers coach (bullpen and pitching), Rick Honeycutt’s retirement and transition to ‘Special Advisor’ (like Tommy Lasorda) is very well deserved.
To be brutally honest, the primary job of a bullpen coach is to answer the phone when it rings and say “Ok” when told by the manager or pitching coach who they want to begin warming up. Granted, when Honeycutt was the bullpen coach, he was very ‘hands-on’ with his stable of relievers, but then, so too was Mark Prior in his first season as the Dodgers bullpen coach. Prior was an accomplished MLB pitcher in his own right, going 42-29 with a 3.51 ERA over five MLB seasons.
Rather than throwing Prior under the bus before even one game as the Dodgers new pitching coach, perhaps you should at least allow him an opportunity to succeed.
Dodgers like Yanks have no big time nerve. No more Branch, Buzzy, George S. to make bold moves. Andrew & the Steinbrenner sons are too worried about going the luxury cap. Dodgers passed on Lee twice and Verlander because of the $. The LAD could have won 3 WS titles in those years. Roberts stinks in the playoffs & WS.