The Los Angeles Dodgers have landed the biggest free agent prize of MLB's offseason signing ace RHP Schmidt to a 3 year deal.
Link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_yl...ns#schmidtdone
Here are my thoughts (for the 1 or 2 people interested, lol) on these moves and the Dodgers future:
I will admit that I have been opposed to the Gonzo signing, maybe I am a Homer, but I am not so upset with it as long as Ethier starts in RF. Gonzo is a solid veteran presence and could pop around 20 Hrs and 45 2Bs.
Loney being on the big club and spelling Nomar once to twice a week, while being the first option off the bench is acceptable to me. This leaves Saenz as the #2 pinch hitter which is very good. He is a great bench option and decent at the corners. Martinez is a solid hitter/fielder bench player and Repko provides great D and great base running ability. Lofton ?
We now have a great rotation top to bottom and have basically kept all of our top prospects(Under the "Colletti era".) We added Ethier and Betemit, unloaded a headache (Bradley) and have seasoned the rest with Bills showing much promise in the bigs.
I think Coletti has a great understanding of what is going to get us to the WS THIS YEAR!! He has also shown that he will make the big move when needed.
We are now deep at SP and should keep it that way unless a blow your mind offer arises ie:Cabrera, Texeira, etc. I am not happy with Hendrickson and Tomko on the team in any capacity, however when Brazoban and Kuo come up, they will hopefully be gone.
I have truly felt for the last couple yrs that the Dodgers will win the World Series in 2007 and today's moves make me feel even more confident. As another poster earlier stated, the playoffs/WS are won generally by top of the line SP and we now have two very good ones (Schmidt,Lowe) and potentially two more (Penny,CBills) with a solid fifth (Wolf) to man the bullpen in the playoffs.
On a sentimental note, I hate to see Gagne go, but he is not worth the money he reportedly demands with the lofty hopes that he becomes the next Trevor Hoffman. We got what probably are his best years and I wish him well, but he will probably be replaced by Brazoban (on the roster, not as closer) when he recovers. Saito and Broxton have the late innings sewn up and Beimel is great vs. lefties.
I say call it quits for the offseason and injuries notwithstanding (a big if) I see us winning it all this year.