Winter Meetings: Dodger Predictions (Part 1/SI)

There are few nouns that follow the word “winter” which make a person feel warm and fuzzy inside. “Winter Wonderland”, maybe, as it’s a nice Christmas ditty that has been covered by both Radiohead and Air Supply. “Winter Carnival”, the Dartmouth drink-fest week, also brings feelings of warm esophagi, if not liver linings. And for any baseball fan, it’s the event whose boring title belies the embedded hot stove excitement: Winter Meetings!

That’s right, Winter Meetings are here and start Monday, heralding a whole week in which GMs, crammed together in a hotel lobby at Disney World, construct convoluted three- and four-team deals to fill everyone’s team holes. We here at SoSG have listed the Dodgers’ holes so many times this off season (power bat), it would be unnecessary for us to keep harping on the same points (power bat), since Ned probably knows exactly what to look for among his fellow GMs this week (power bat). But Jon Heyman’s dissection of the key winter meetings storylines does mention the Dodgers in a number of spots:

Manny Ramirez rumors continue, with Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andy LaRoche, Chad Billingsley, and Jonathan Broxton mentioned as Dodgers’ prospects potentially involved in this deal;

Greg Maddux wants to play in Chavez Ravine but Heyman guesses he will end up with the Padres, continuing this year’s off-season game of NL West Shuffle;

Jason Schmidt may remain with the Giants (who are aptly described as “laying in the weeds” like the snakes that they are), but Heyman guesses that he will end up with the Dodgers.

Also of note is on the final page of the article (3 of 3), in which Heyman mentions a rumor that Julio Lugo is offering his services for the Juan Pierre-like rate of $36M over four years. Strangely, the Red Sox and Mets have not bit just yet. Funny how a .219 BA over 49 games with the Dodgers doesn’t bolster the resume—but then, I’ve been surprised before in this off-season.