Series Thread (Games 8-10): 4/6-8 @ Giants

Fri, 7:15p postponed until 4/28: Kenta Maeda vs Derek Holland
Sat, 1p: Rich Hill vs Chris Stratton SF 7, LAD 5 (14)
Sun 1p: Clayton Kershaw vs Ty Blach LAD 2, SF 1 (10)

Fear not, Dodger faithful! Our front office's extremely proactive off-season is about to pay off!

I know, it's hard to believe Stan Kasten loosened the purse strings so the Dodgers could trade a few scrub prospects for mega-slugger Giancarlo "Don't Call Me Mike" Stanton, but he did! Now Stanton is playing for the team he grew up rooting for!

And what luck we had when double threat Shohei Ohtani decided to pick the Dodgers to play for, joining his countryman Yu Darvish, who was signed when Friedman & Farhan dug in the couch cushions to find some spare change to shore up the rotation.

And thank god the Dodgers finally cut bait on deadweight Pedro Baez and re-invested in a real middle reliever, Brandon Morrow.

We're locked and loaded! It's going to be a great year, Dodger fans! Let's play — WAKES UP

DAMMIT

(cries)

Game 1 Thread: Apr 2 vs Padres, 1p

Clayton Kershaw (0-0, -.--) vs Jhoulys Chacin (0-0, -.--).

Whaaaaaat, did you think we forgot about you? Fear not, the Sons are out of rehab and down for another season of high hopes followed by the inevitable weight of soul-crushing disappointment grinding our love for game into the dirt—

Ah shit, sorry about that — didn't mean to get all doom and gloom on you. Yes, I know that many media outlets and finer sports-betting establishments are picking the Dodgers to win it all this year. And our GM is a nice guy. And our clubhouse has *gasp* chemistry.

But we've been here before, what with the astronomical payroll and lofty expectations. Who isn't glad that Kenley and Turn Down for What are back? And even Old Man Utley? But let's see some results on the field. Then we'll know what this year's team is made of.

P.S: Best of luck to Joe Davis, making his home-game debut today!

UPDATE: Can confirm that SoSG Stubbs is actually not out of rehab yet.

Just...no.

Samardzija Signs With Giants, Saving SoSG From Inevitable Typos Every Fifth Day

With Jeff Samardzija going to the Giants, San Francisco picks up a starter who went 1-8 with a 9.24 ERA for a stretch of last season:

The San Francisco Giants landed a top-tier starter to complement ace Madison Bumgarner, agreeing with free-agent right-hander Jeff Samardzija on a five-year, $90 million contract Saturday, a day after losing out on pitcher Zack Greinke.

The Giants said a formal announcement will come once Samardzija passes a physical, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

The 30-year-old Samardzija chose the Giants over the Dodgers and Cardinals, a source told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.

This marks the third large contract for a pitcher this week. David Price joined the Boston Red Sox on a $217 million, seven-year deal, then on Friday night Greinke chose the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Giants and three-time defending NL West champion Dodgers, his former team. Greinke's deal is for six years, according to ESPN and media reports, and is worth a total of $206 million, a source told ESPN's Pedro Gomez.

Samardzija joined the White Sox via trade at the 2014 winter meetings to take over as the club's No. 2 starter, only to have an inconsistent 2015 season.

Heading into the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, he delivered 10 consecutive starts of at least seven innings. After not being traded at the deadline, he immediately went 1-8 with a 9.24 ERA over his next nine starts.

To their credit, I suppose, at least the Giants have deployed Plan B (post-Greinke). I'm sure we've got something up our sleeves. Unless Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi are into short-sleeved shirts, that is.

Uh oh.

GM Zaidi Confident in Mattingly; Alanna Rizzo, Not So Much

First let's start with the story: Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi gave Dodgers manager Don Mattingly a vote of some confidence recently:

"We're looking at games that are going to be tight, going to be low scoring," general manager Farhan Zaidi said. "So you're looking for a manager that is going to be able to handle the pressure and handle the personalities and the added pressure of the postseason." [...]

"His preparation has been tremendous. We spend some time with him before every game. We see how thorough he is," Zaidi said. "In every other industry, being a manager is managing people. In this industry we think it's just X's and O's. But the reality is, you're being a manager like you would manage a business, but you also have to make X's and O's decisions."

One advantage for the Dodgers is home-field advantage for the first round. Los Angeles tied St. Louis for the best home record at 55-26, and the Dodgers have had their road struggles, posting a 37-44 record.

While Mattingly will take the heat or earn the credit for the Dodgers' success or failure, Zaidi doesn't subscribe to the idea that all the credit or blame should be put on the manager.

"If you're going to tell me that the team's success is solely driven by the manager, I just don't think that's how it works," Zaidi said. "Managers make strategic decisions, but a lot of the decisions they make are 52-48 or 55-45."

Look, I defintely think Mattingly's strategic decisions, or lack thereof, have caused us a game or two or five. And from the look on her face, Alanna Rizzo is with me on this one:

John Wooden used to say, "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail." Let's hope Mattingly's preparation pays off this postseason.

Another Reason Momo Is...

• Los Angeles Dodgers' front office think tank is a force to be reckoned with (Ramona Shelburne, ESPN.com)

This is a great article that puts this off-season into perspective. We might be returning to this piece in a few years once we see how Friedman & Zaidi's plan has come to fruition.

Berkeley Guy Having Trouble Hiring Top Analysts?

At least, that's what Ben Baumer is insinuating, reflecting on the Dodgers not being in the top tier of analytic-driven MLB teams:

At the moment, the Dodgers are the most difficult team to assess. They paid a record $35 million for new president Andrew Friedman, snatching him from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Dodgers also lured Farhan Zaidi from the A's to be general manager. Their new president-GM combo -- with Friedman a former Bear Stearns analyst and Zaidi a Berkeley economics Ph.D. -- has the talent to make the Dodgers the analytics leaders in baseball.

But under the current five-headed ownership group and CEO Stan Kasten, the Dodgers have not been a strong analytics organization. Over the past few years, the Dodgers were nearly a bottom-tier team despite canyon-deep pockets. And Dodgers fans have seen this play out badly before, when a previous ownership regime hired "Moneyball" legend Paul DePodesta as GM, then fired him after two seasons. Friedman and Zaidi have started hiring, but the group of analysts they've inherited is nowhere near the cutting edge.

That said, this rating reflects our expectations that the Dodgers' expensive new front office hires send the signal that the Dodgers are now believers and are ready to continue investing, with the potential to move up into the upper echelon quickly.

To be fair, there is no other NL West team mentioned in the top MLB tier (which comprises nine teams; only the A's and Astros represent the West (further indicating a true East-Coast bias). The Dodgers, in the second tier ("Believers"), are in that tier with the Padres.

Dodgers Shave Beard, Take $10M Chance

• Brian Wilson designated for assignment by Dodgers (Eric Stephen, True Blue LA)
  
• Source: Dodgers land lefty Anderson with $10 million deal (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)
  

It's official: 2015 is Andrew Friedman's "Undo Colletti's Terrible Deals" Year. And Friedman/Zaidi may not be done: Rumor has it that Brandon League is on the trading block. Talk about cleaning house!

From Colletti to Zaidi: Front Office Gets Brainier

Dodgers will name Oakland's Farhan Zaidi the new general manager later this week, according to baseball source.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) November 5, 2014

Source: #Dodgers will name Farhan Zaidi their new GM this week. Josh Byrnes will be a senior executive.

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) November 5, 2014

New #Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi went to MIT, has doctorate from UC Berkeley. Read this by @susanslusser. http://t.co/UjpabkQ8Ru

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 5, 2014

Farhan Zaidi is incredibly smart, someone who listens and works well in collaborative environments, and is Canadian. Dodgers did well.

— Jonah Keri (@jonahkeri) November 5, 2014

With Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi and Josh Byrnes, the Dodgers have a front office with brains and audacity. A force to be reckoned with.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 5, 2014