Friday, July 24, 2009

Is the Pressure on Ned Colletti?

The A's have traded Matt Holliday and $1-1.5 million to the Cardinals for three prospects. The Phillies are the reputed front-runners for Roy Halladay. Even the Rockies made a trade. If the Phillies trade goes down, that will mean teams in every NL division will have made a concerted effort to catch the major league-best Dodgers.

But does this necessarily mean that Ned Colletti has to make a trade to keep ahead of the competition? Maybe the perception of the Dodgers standing pat may work against them in the media and those damn blogs, but perception doesn't win games. Let's hope Colletti has learned from his past mistakes and doesn't make a trade for the sake of making a trade.

8 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

what's the word on the Insider link on the right of the Holliday article? It says "Rumors: Halladay now seems LAD-bound." Anybody got an Insider account?

Or does it know your websurfing habits and substitute the your favorite team's abbreviation at the end? I wouldn't put that past ESPN

Wicks said...

This is all I can find on insider send post the link and I'll post it.......



Baseball Prospectus: Is Colletti willing to part with his best prospects?


When a team is relying on comebacks from improbable blasts from the past such as Jason Schmidt, Eric Milton and Jeff Weaver, you begin to wonder whether another Fernando Valenzuela comeback isn't in the offing. Add in the concern that young lefty Clayton Kershaw -- the club's best pitcher, with a .608 support-neutral winning percentage -- will need to be given a break to avoid overwork so he's fresh for October, and you can understand the interest.

By getting in on Halladay, it's clear general manager Ned Colletti plans on not just his club taking its best shot at a pennant, but also having a four-man rotation that could take down anybody the American League could run out there: Halladay, Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Randy Wolf or Hiroki Kuroda. That's not just impolite; it's nasty. It also is obvious the Dodgers are willing to put Logan White's farm system to work. In 2008, that cost them Andy LaRoche and (more painfully) catcher Carlos Santana, dealt to the Indians in the Casey Blake deal. They're willing to part with talent to get what they want. The question is whether or not, beyond any high-upside pitching, they'd be willing to part with Ivan DeJesus Jr. or Devaris Gordon and Josh Bell or Pedro Baez, because the Jays should really want to get a shortstop and/or a third baseman in this package. - Christina Kahrl

Wicks said...

Here is it......nothing new....jusr ESPN being stupid as usual!!!!

The latest in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes has Angels owner Arte Moreno telling the Los Angeles Times his team remains interested in landing a top-of-the-line starter such as Halladay or Cliff Lee. Moreno appears willing to pay a hefty price if necessary.

"We're keeping all our options open," Moreno told the LA Times. "We don't have any financial constraints."

ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney said Thursday that the Blue Jays will probably begin their trade talks for Halladay in earnest sometime in the next 72 hours, according to sources.

The Phillies still appear to be the team that matches up with the Blue Jays, in terms of their level of interest and in the quality of the prospects they might offer. The lingering question is just how aggressive they will be in trying to make a deal for the former Cy Young Award winner. "We're going to find out soon whether this thing has any legs to it," said one official involved in the conversation.

Earlier, Dodgers assistant GM Logan White has been in Toronto for the last two series, and L.A. is still hoping to stay in the Halladay sweepstakes, according to ESPN's Peter Gammons. Contrary to reports from other teams, the Dodgers will take Halladay's contract, and they have several Single-A and Double-A prospects to trade, such as shortstop Dee Gordon (Tom's son), 3B Josh Bell, OF-1B Andrew Lambo and OF Ethan Martin.

Thursday morning, ESPN Insider's Keith Law said the Brewers and the Cardinals are both still "kicking the tires" on the Halladay deal. The Cardinals may have to move Colby Rasmus, however, who Law says is an All-Star center fielder at his peak.

Dusto_Magnifico said...

Mark Kotsay

If we didnt have Pierre eating up plate appearances from Kemp, Ethier, and now Manny, Kotsay would be a nice bench option in the Doug MankevaitchZkth form. THough I expect Doug back pretty soon. Kotsay would be a fair share better defensively than Pierre too.

Fred's Brim said...

Thanks, Wicks. i knew I had better ask because ESPN has tricked me with that stuff before :)

Mr. LA Sports Czar said...

I hate the ESPN insider crap.

Wicks said...

Espn does suck with their headlines! Some day we may see this.

Koufax to come out of retirement......(click link)

to be the unoffical part time pitching coach for one hour a year during December for off season winterball tryouts.

hahahahahaha

Steve Sax said...

I can't believe the Rockies picked up Nuno Betancourt. That guy is extreme, man. He's more than words.