Dodgers Sign Cuban Yasiel Puig: $42M/7 Years

You know, I think I like these new owners. BUT CAN HE PLAY FIRST BASE?

• Dodgers closing in on record deal with Cuban prospect Yasiel Puig (Dylan Hernandez, LA Times)
  
• Dodgers have deal with Yasiel Puig (Enrique Rojas, ESPNLA.com)
  
• Dodgers sign Cuban prospect Puig for $42 million (Danny Knobler, CBSSports.com)
  
• Breaking News - Dodgers bring a Puig to the Farm (Phil Gurnee, True Blue LA)
  

UPDATE: From "Deal with Cuban Yasiel Puig shows Dodgers are operating like a big-market franchise again" by Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports:

After years of marginal involvement in the Latin American market, the Dodgers were aggressive in their pursuit of Puig. Assistant general manager Logan White spent several days in Mexico City, where he not only scouted Puig, but took him to dinner. In reviewing videos of Puig and watching his recent batting practice, the Dodgers see him as a player with five tools, all of which could translate in the major leagues.

The agent, Torres, said of Puig, "He's a very nice kid. Very friendly. Very smart. Great smile. He told me, 'I don't care about the money. I want to play.' "

To that end, Torres said, Puig chose the Dodgers in spite of at least one better offer.

Dear New Owners: Please...

1. Long-term Clayton Kershaw. Self-explanatory.

2. Figure out Andre Ethier. Can he remain healthy enough to bat next to Matt Kemp? Was that Gold Glove a true indicator of his defensive talent? Can his dickishness be overlooked? If yes to all three, lock him up.

3. Put Ned Colletti on notice. He may have been handcuffed lately, but that doesn't excuse poor signings like Jason Schmidt, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre, Juan Uribe, etc. Logan White, Kim Ng and/or De Jon Watson are waiting in the wings.

4. Find us a catcher. It's arguable if Russell Martin is the one that got away, but it's less arguable that A.J. Ellis is the long-term solution. Ever since the Carlos Santana debacle (which was preceded by the Mike Piazza debacle), the backstop position has been a source of great inconsistency.

5. Sign some free agents. Cole Hamels and Matt Cain will be free agents after this season, and Joey Votto will be after 2013. Just some names to consider.

6. Beef up Dodger Stadium security, unobtrusively and consistently. When Frank McCourt did it, it seemed reactionary. When you do it, it'll seem responsible.

7. Restore international scouting and player development. The Dodgers were once forerunners in this field, and it's time for them to return there.

8. Make Magic the public face of the franchise. We love Magic, have you noticed?

9. Get players out in the community. To be fair, the Dodgers did a good job of this under the McCourt regime, but it's more important for guys like Kemp and Kershaw to show their faces around town than, say, forcing new signees to make donations to ThinkCure.

10. No nepotism, no Vladimir Shpunt, no "perquisites." Thank goodness you dudes are already loaded, because the McCourts' nouveau riche act wore thin really fast.

11. Lower beer and parking prices. Show Arte Moreno who owns L.A.!

Scenes from a Coronation

"These baseball cards are huge."

"We winners gotta stick together."

Cy Youngsters: Fernando, Newk and Kershaw.

From "Clayton Kershaw's Cy Young is a connection to Dodgers tradition" by Bill Plaschke at the LA Times:

Clayton Kershaw was preparing to walk across the diamond and into Dodgers history Thursday afternoon when he spotted a man standing alone, staring at him like a father would stare at a son.

It was Dodgers scouting boss Logan White, tossing his phone from hand to hand, rocking on his heels, trying to act composed, failing miserably.

"What are you doing over there?" Kershaw shouted. "You need to hug me!"

On the infield dirt they embraced, the new Cy Young Award winner and the man who was responsible for scouting, drafting and signing him.

"Thank you, thank you," whispered Kershaw.

"A great day, a great day," whispered White.

If you understand baseball scouts, you will understand why White views Kershaw as his child.

You will also understand why, after they hugged for a long minute, White's sunglasses could not hide a long trickle of tears.

"It's like watching somebody grow up," said White. "What a wonderful day."

1&2: AP; 3: @Dodgers

Dodgers Draft College Boy

Chris Reed.

From "Dodgers draft Stanford lefty Reed 16th" by Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

Although Reed hit the Dodgers' radar as a reliever, [Logan] White sees him as a Major League starter.

"I think he can definitely start," White said. "He's big, strong. He throws 92-95 [mph] with a hard slider 80-85 and actually has a good changeup. I could see him become one of our best left-handed pitching prospects. I definitely want to make him a starter."

White said that Reed had been on the Dodgers' radar since last fall, and he made a big impression last week closing out a postseason game against Cal State Fullerton, with White and Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda watching.

"He was in a tough environment, throwing 94, 95 -- didn't show any fear," said White. "It was a good catch, seeing him right before the Draft." [...]

And there is the [Scott] Boras factor, although White did all he could to downplay the bitterness that might linger from the contentious Hochevar negotiations.

"I'm confident," said White. "I would never say it's a slam dunk, but I'm fairly confident about it. It's an honorable, good family. I think the kid really wants to play; he's given us every indication that he wants to go play. He wants to start.

"Scott and I get along fine. I've had fine dialogue with the Boras Corp. I don't have resentment from that standpoint. There's always some concern. Like last year, I felt we would sign [Zach Lee], but I couldn't say 100 percent. This is the same way."

The Dodgers sure love their pitchers, don't they?

photo by Zach Sanderson/StanfordPhoto.com

Draft Thread

Via @bennypmlb: 2011 Dodger Draft Team.

• MLB.com Draft Central

The Dodgers have the sixteenth pick in the first round of the draft. Tommy Lasorda (health permitting) and Maury Wills will represent the team in Secaucus, NJ. Will Logan White unearth the next Clayton Kershaw? Let's find out.

Wednesday Notes, M. Knight Shareathon Edition

• Courtroom dramas don't die; they just file extensions and appeals. McCourt lawyers file statements (Molly Knight, ESPNLosAngeles.com)
• Molly Knight's been busy. So has Logan White. Logan White waits on word from Mets (Knight, ESPNNewYork.com)
• MSTI is handing out grades. MSTI’s 2010 in Review: Catcher
• James Loney lovers won't enjoy this next one. MSTI’s 2010 in Review: First Base
• 3 years, $33M. This deal will look good in April. Dodgers, Lilly finalize three-year deal (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)
• Kirk Gibson - 1988 World Series Jersey & Bat (VSIMH)

Logan White, on David Price

Friday's WSJ had a big piece on starting pitching, called "The Year of the Ace". Buried halfway through the article was the story of how David Price was discovered by the Dodgers' Assistant GM Logan White (no link):

As the game's economic scale continues to grow, and the pressure to make safe, conservative decisions intensifies, this year's postseason pitching stars paint a remarkable picture. In each of their cases, a scout bucked conventional wisdom and focused on other traits less obvious than the glaring flaw staring him in the face. "You have to be able to pick out the exceptions and just throw out the body types," said Paul Cogan, a scout for the Cleveland Indians who urged the team to choose Mr. Sabathia in the first round of the 1998 draft. "History will make a fool of you if you don't."

Like any sport, baseball is a game of archetypes, and none is greater than the big and sturdy hard thrower, preferably from Texas or somewhere in the middle of the country, with thighs and shoulders fit for wrestling steer and helping to propel a baseball more than 90 miles an hour. Adrian Bejan, a Duke University professor of mechanical engineering who has studied the evolution of body types in sports, says the conventional wisdom has a scientific foundation. Bigger pitchers can take advantage of the "falling-forward speed" of the human body that generates power. Also, they generally have longer arms, which produce more leverage and momentum.

To be sure, baseball's Hall of Fame is filled with star pitchers who looked nothing like this. Sandy Koufax was gaunt and wiry. Greg Maddux, with his slight shoulders and paunchy waist, resembled a middle manager at an accounting firm. David Wells, one of the great postseason pitchers of all time, looks like the bouncer who tosses you out of a Hell's Angels bar.

And yet, the classic intimidators—like Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan and Mr. Halladay—remain the position's Platonic ideal. They're big and broad-shouldered, with powerful thighs and big rumps that drive their bodies through one of the more violent actions an individual athlete can perform. [...]

There was little doubt about Tampa Bay's Mr. Price by the time he was taken first in the 2007 draft out of Vanderbilt. But as a senior at Blackman High School in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 2004, Mr. Price was scrawny and unpolished, which, combined with concerns about his price tag, caused him to fall to the 19th round. Still, the Los Angeles Dodgers liked his athleticism and took him with the 568th pick, just in case he decided not to go to college.

Logan White, assistant general manager for the Dodgers, said the franchise actually would have drafted Mr. Price higher, but after making inquiries, the team decided that signing Mr. Price would likely require a larger signing bonus than the team was willing to give. Still, they believed he had first-round talent. "We loved him, and we had Tommy Lasorda call his dad and ask him if he would take $1 million instead of going to college," Mr. White said. "He was a projection guy. I actually like the kind of body he had, because the kids can fill out and get even stronger. Of course, we're not always right. Some guys don't ever get any stronger at all."

We'll see if Price gets another chance to show his stuff this post-season.

Egg-Zach Lee What We Needed

...some good news!

• Dodgers, first-rounder Lee come to terms (Ken Gurnick, Dodgers.com)
• Sources: Dodgers, Joc Pederson agree (Tony Jackson, ESPNLosAngeles.com)

Logan White searched his sofa cushions and somehow scraped together $5.25 million to sign the unsignable Lee. According to Josh Rawitch, the Dodgers have "a total of 30 of their 50 picks signed, including nine of their top 10 and 13 of their top 15." Does this mean that Frank McCourt is ready to start re-investing in his farm system, or that White is a miracle worker? Whatever the case, Dodger fans now have a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

Friday Notes, Arms Folded Edition

This poster will be given to the first 20,000 fans at Dodger Stadium on Friday, July 9 (vs. Cubs). Nice to see Kuo in his native garb.

• On the short list of candidates to replace fired Diamondbacks' GM Josh Byrnes? Logan White and Kim Ng (again). Let the hand-wringing begin. Diamondbacks Fire Josh Byrnes And A.J. Hinch (MLBTR)
• Big things are afoot at Memories of Kevin Malone. First, Greg Zakwin (né KempKershaw), is joining MoKM. Also, Chad just released Prospect Rankings: July 2010
• Insight into consistency. Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda bears psychological scars from taking a line drive to the head (Dylan Hernandez, LA Times)
• ThinkCure is auctioning off a rare Porsche from Manny Ramirez's collection. Next up: SoSG Orel's 1993 Altima. Manny Ramirez to Auction Rare Porsche to Benefit ThinkCure!
• I'm probably late on this, but here's a useful link for you media diehards. Dodgerspressbox.com

Sunday Notage

• 2010 is going just great! Dodgers' Lambo suspended 50 games (Tony Jackson, ESPNLosAngeles.com)
• Jeff Weaver is making his way back. Weaver ready for rehab appearance (Dodgers.com)
• Bill Shaikin thinks Logan White is wearing McHandcuffs. Dodgers have become penny-wise on player development (LA Times)
• The Short Stop. I must visit this place soon. A place where everybody knows your name, and all the Dodgers’ names too (LA Times)

photo by Kathy Willens/AP

Last Call for March Notes

Josh Lindblom pitches in yesterday's game.

• Mark of LADodgerTalk.com is developing quite a relationship with Logan White. Logan White Interview
• Goodbye, Stults & Repko. From @DodgertownUSA:

  Eric Stults and Jason Repko have been officially placed on release waivers by the #Dodgers

• Howard of BaseballSavvy.com has a pee story to share with you. No really, it's worth a read.

photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

Dodgers' First-Day Draft Picks

Frank McCourt, Logan White (Assistant GM, Scouting) and Tim Hallgren (Director, Amateur Scouting) show off the fruit of a hard day's draft.

White and McCourt confer.

From Ken Gurnick at Dodgers.com:

The Dodgers selected Aaron Miller, a left-handed pitcher from Baylor University, as their top pick in Tuesday's First-Year Player Draft. [...]

Miller is 6-foot-3, 205 pounds and a two-way prospect, but the Dodgers drafted him as a pitcher. He went 3-3 with a 5.12 ERA in 13 games, with 65 strikeouts in 51 innings. As a hitter, he batted .310 with 12 homers and 47 RBIs in 186 at-bats.

"Aaron is a physical athlete who has had a limited amount of time on the mound," said Logan White, assistant general manager of scouting. "With the help of our player development staff, we see a bright future for him as a left-handed pitcher in the Erik Bedard mold. He is a terrific competitor and a first-class person with great makeup. ... He's definitely a prospect as a position player, but we like him better as a pitcher." [...]

Miller, a friend of Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw from their Texas high-school days, worked out for the club at Dodger Stadium on Monday to seal the deal and indicated he will be a quick sign because he wants to "get innings under my belt."

"The Dodgers are one of the great baseball teams, an A-plus club," Miller said. "I couldn't be more ecstatic." [...]

Round 2 (compensation pick), Blake Smith, OF, University of California: He's 6-2, 220 pounds and some scouts consider him a pitcher, but the Dodgers drafted him as a power-hitting corner outfielder, especially after the long-ball display he put on during a workout Monday at Dodger Stadium, where he showed a shoulder injury was healed.

Round 2 (regular pick), Garrett Gould, RHP, Maize High School, Kansas: The athletic Gould, projected as a first-round pick because of a nasty curveball, dropped in the Draft with a commitment to Wichita State. He's still looking for first-round money and just might get it. He's 6-4, 200 pounds and was a quarterback on the football team and a forward on the basketball team. He went 6-1 with a 0.78 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 45 innings.

Round 3, Brett Wallach, RHP, Orange Coast College: The son of Dodgers Triple-A manager Tim Wallach, Brett helped lead his school to the state title. He throws a hard sinker that White compared to Orel Hershiser's. His brother, Matt, was drafted by the Dodgers in the 22nd round in 2007 and is a catcher in the farm system.

And from the Daily News blog:

It is important to note that all four of these guys do have eligibility remaining, meaning that they could return to school and not sign with the Dodgers. Reports have indicated that Gould could very well choose to do so and honor his commitment to Wichita State.

Will Garrett Gould become the next Luke Hochevar? Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
Dodgers Draft - Day One Recap (True Blue LA)
2009 MLB Draft-Dodgers-Day 1 Recap (Fire Ned Colletti Now)

top photo by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers; bottom photo via Diamond Notes

For Those Worried About Losing That Draft Pick

From Diamond Leung's live chat today:

11:12
The Press-Enterprise: Everyone, Logan White is standing behind me and says hi to the readers. I just asked him about losing the 17th pick. He said : For the O-Dog? I'm happy. Look at Russell Martin, 17th rounder. We'll find him. We'll make it up.

Always nice to hear it straight from the man himself.

Worth Reading: The Dodgers' International Signings (Or Lack Thereof)

An excellent article about international signings from Dodger Thoughts poster CanuckDodger:

When the Dodgers' scouting czar Logan White engaged in an online chat at Dodgers.com on June 12, he was asked, "Are the Dodgers looking to sign any top flight Latin American players?" White replied, "Absolutely." At that time, the next signing period for international amateur players was only a few weeks away. The window to sign Latin talent opened on July 2, and on July 7 Dominican Today quoted White as saying, "We're aggressive. We're going to spend money. The word is out the Dodgers are a player, baby." The problem with what Dominican Today quoted White as saying - aside from the fact that in 2007 the word "baby," used the way White used it, shouldn't be heard from or attributed to anyone who isn't a character in a rerun of Kojak - is that the Dodgers ended up being anything but a "player" in the market for Latin American talent. Again.

Read more....

Logan's Run?

As most of us are aware, one of the bright lights in the Dodgers' front office over the past few years has been the remarkable work of one Logan White, Assistant General Manager, Scouting. Among the current Dodgers drafted during White's tenure are Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Eric Stults, not to mention future studs such as Clayton Kershaw. For as much as I have wailed about Trader Neddie's proclivities to trade away prospects for middling pieces like Lurch, Lugo, and the Other Sweeney, I was usually soothed by the thought that White's skill at drafting would keep the Dodgers' pipeline of young talent well -stocked. To make a bad pun, I thought that some White-Out would cover up Neddie's mistakes.

According to the rumor mill, there has been quite a bit of discord behind the closed doors in Chavez Ravine since the weeks leading up to the trade deadline. Apparently, this could get ugly for those of us who appreciate what Logan has meant to the Dodgers organization. From this afternoon's chat at Baseball Prospectus:

crigsley (Redondo Beach): Is Frank McCourt as terrified as Dodger fans at the prospect of Logan White leaving?

Christina Kahrl: I would be; if he isn't, he's about to join the Singing Cowboy on the list of lamented and lamentable owners in the greater Los Angeles market.

ESPN Discovers NL West, Grants Division "Page 2" Status

...after all, we wouldn't want to displace any of that fine AL East coverage, including the latest analysis of A-Rod's used kleenex.

But hey, ESPN.com's Page 2 does say the NL West race is the best in baseball, at least right now (a 13 game lead will naturally have one searching for drama elsewhere). And though the paragraph below focuses on the Padres, the next point analyzes the Dodgers:

2. The Dodgers' youth movement has progressed gradually -- so far, so good. But they might want to step on it soon.

Thanks to scouting director Logan White and his staff, few if any teams own a better collection of young talent than the Dodgers. Russell Martin has been the best catcher in the National League by a wide margin; Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley have been great setting up Takashi Saito in the pen; Tony Abreu is off to a hot start as the team's new third baseman.

Some of the team's top prospects are still plying their trade in the minor leagues, thanks to a batch of deals handed out to some name veterans. Luis Gonzalez has been solid (.284/.373/.443) on a short-term contract in left field, even if he's not the same slugger he used to be. But Nomar Garciaparra hasn't offered much at first base (.286/.335/.350, just one homer) and center fielder Juan Pierre has been one of the worst hitters in the league (.273/.303/.324). Top first-base prospect James Loney has struggled in Vegas and doesn't look ready to supplant Nomar.

But the heir apparent in center, 22-year-old Matt Kemp, is hitting a robust .317/.371/.522 in Triple-A (albeit in the hitter's haven of Las Vegas). He's an obvious candidate for a promotion, while Billingsley deserves a shot at the starting rotation. There's also enough talent elsewhere in the system to trade for an upgrade at first base or in a corner outfield spot. Led by Brad Penny (more on him later), the Dodgers are among the league's elite on the mound. A few well-crafted moves could provide a big lift to the offense -- and give the Dodgers the upper hand in the NL West race.

The piece goes on to mention how Randy Johnson is the Methuselah of the Diamondbacks, and how the Giants will pick up $5M of recently-departed Armando Benitez's salary (with the Marlins picking up the remaining fraction of $333K). And in my benevelont objectivity, I agree with ESPN that this Giants blogger's take on the Benitez trade was creative and pretty funny, if not consistently funny through all six quotes (two out of six ain't bad (right, Barry?)).

Kemp Projected to Propel Dodger Offense

So Nate Silver and the good folks at Baseball Prospectus released the 2007 Weighted-Mean PECOTA Projections yesterday. What's a PECOTA, you might ask? Just the dead on balls accurate projection system that some of us have been using to dominate our roto leagues for the past few seasons. While I won't spoil all of the surprises (and, really, you should subscribe to BP to get some of the best baseball content outside of Sons of Steve Garvey), I thought I'd pass along a couple of quick points of interest.

1. Matt Kemp's weighted-mean projection leads the Dodgers position players with a VORP (that's Value over Replacement Player for the uninitiated) to the tune of .295 AVG/.346 OBP /.507 SLG. Not too shabby of a forecast for a 22 year old.

2. Andy LaRoche, the 23 year old 3B prospect, projects to be the Dodgers' second-most valuable hitter with a VORP of 32.5 (.285/.356/.490). Furcal (30.2), Kent (28.2) and "Gentleman" James Loney (23.0) round out the top 5.

3. Baseball Prospectus has another metric called WARP (Wins Above Replacement Player). Loney's WARP projects to 3.7 Wins. While that may not sound like much, Beloved Nomar's WARP projects to just 2.6 Wins. So for the $X Million more a year that the Dodgers are paying Mr. Hamm, playing him over Loney over the course of the season could cost the Dodgers in the Win column. Given how tight the NL West is likely going to be (particularly with the Unit returning to the D'Backs), Grady would be better served to put his Beantown loyalties behind him and try to accumulate as many marginal wins as possible.

4. Finally, for those sadists interested in this kind of thing, J. D. Drew and Julio Lugo project to have a VORP of 19.6 and 15.6, respectively, for Boston. For that kind of money: Ouch.

Basically, hats off to Logan White for his terrific job in scouting. Now let's just hope that Trader Neddie realizes that his younger and cheaper players may even be the better ones.