Allen Lieu
The right side of the infield is basically a lock with Adrian Gonzalez at First, and Dee Gordon at Second. Shortstop and 3rd base, not so much. Sure Juan Uribe played a stellar 3rd base with his glove and at the plate with his bat, but he only played 63% of the time, in 102 games. That left the other, almost, 40% of the season at 3rd base to be filled by Miguel Rojas (19 games) and Justin Turner (59 games). Due to his recent proneness to injury, diminishing stats, and need for a huge, multi-year contract, Hanley will not be a Dodger in 2015. So that leaves a void at Shortstop. Plus, let’s not forget, he ruined Clayton Kershaw’s Perfect Game. I still haven’t forgiven him.
The Dodgers have a big decision to make; they can either have a shortstop by committee, with Miguel Rojas and Justin Turner, sign a free agent, or bring up top prospect Corey Seager. The Shortstop free agent market is very thin, and the only name that is worth mentioning, besides Hanley, is former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins, who is past his prime and would possibly want a huge contract. Defensively Miguel Rojas is above average, with only 7 errors in 2014, opposed to Justin Turner’s 12, but Rojas did hit under .200. Turner’s errors can be overlooked because he did end the season with a .340 batting average.
They also have the option of bringing up 20 year old Phenom Prospect, Corey Seager. Seager spent most of the year with the Quakes in Rancho Cucamonga, Ca. There he led the Quakes in average, OBP, Doubles, and Slugging. Although it is High Class A rookie ball, he also took his impressive season to Double A Chattanooga, hitting .345 in 38 games.
A wild card to the roster would be to bring up Cuban prospect, Alex Guerrero. By nature, Guerrero is a Shortstop, but the Dodgers were attempting to convert him to a 2nd baseman, but with Dee Gordon having an All-Star season in 2014, I don’t see the Dodgers moving Dee to away from 2nd. So most likely if Guerrero doesn’t start, he can be a pinch hitter or a defensive replacement, possibly even playing Shortstop full time in the near future. Erisbel Arruebarrena was brought up in 2014 when there were more positions than skilled players available. He hit under .200 while in the majors with 3 errors in 9 games. Arruebarrena needs some fine tuning on his game, so he’s destined for the high minors in 2015.
The best case scenario next year is to have Gonzalez at First, Dee at Second, a healthy Juan Uribe at Third and, reluctantly, Rojas at Shortstop. Its only because of his defense, I chose him over Turner. Turner and Guerrero would rotate at 2nd, 3rd, and Shortstop, and be used for a needed day off or if a player were to go on the DL. Arruebarrena would be the next man up if the Dodgers are put I the same situation that brought him up last year. As he did last season in 21 games, Scot Van Slyke will be the viable back up at 1st base. Seager will most likely be promoted to Triple A from Double A, where he will be able to get used to Major League competition. He may be, at least, a year away from a permanent position in the Dodgers’ infield. Look for him in 2016. But like always, there are numerous veteran Spring Training invitees that have the potential make the 40 man roster, like Chone Figgins did in 2014, if some of the above mentioned guys don’t perform as expected.
It will be interesting to see what the Dodgers do this off season.
Go after Tulowitzki!!
Lol Frank
Troy Tulo from the Rockies would command four top prospects. It’s selling the farm and Corey Seager, Zach Lee and some other names would be in the mix.
I would try to get Hanley on a two year if not trade for Castro from the Cubs or even Weeks from the Brewers
So we go after Tulo? Hell no he’s injury prone & when he’s not playing in Colorado his stats aren’t great. As Jesse said it would cost us at least 2 of our top 3 prospects Seager, Urias , Pedersen. I’d be willing to part with Pedersen but only if we’re getting Stanton. We are going to have Beckett, HanRam, & Billingsley contracts off the books which will drop our payroll under $200mil. I expect Friedman to trade both Ethier & Crawford. Hopefully he can package them with some C level prospects so we don’t have to eat half their contracts. That’d save us $35mil. We could have a lineup 1. 2B Gordon 2. C R.Martin 3. 1B A-Gone 4. RF/LF Kemp 5. CF Puig 6. LF / RF Van Slyke/Pedersen 7. 3B Uribe/Turner 8. SS Guerrero 9. SP. Rotation 1. Kershaw 2. Greinke 3. Ryu 4. Haren 5. Lee/Fife/Stripling or we sign someone like McCarthy/Masterson/Peavy to a 1 yr deal. CL Jansen SU Howell/Withrow League Rodriguez Baez Wilson. I’d like to see us go after Andrew Miller. We don’t need to sign Lester, Max, Shields unless we think that we won’t be able to resign Greinke because he’ll opt out of his contract after next season to get another big contract. We should offer the Marlins Joc Pedersen, Alexander Guerrero, Zach Lee, & Chris Reed for Giancarlo Stanton then sign Stanton to a 8yr 200mil deal. With Puig acting out this year I’d be OK with trading Puig, Guerrero, & Lee for Stanton. Joc can play CF, Stanton RF, & Kemp LF. Then our lineup would be stacked. 1. 2B Gordon 2. C R.Martin 3. 1B A-Gone 4. RF Stanton 5. LF Kemp 6. CF Pedersen/Van Slyke 7. 3B Uribe 8. SS Turner/Rojas 9. SP