Returning the Dodgers to Prominence (1989)

[CBeisbol]

I grew up a Dodger fan.*

I saw them win the 1988 World Series behind some historic performances:
Kirk Gibson's home run
Orel Hershiser's dominant run


Since then
They've had some excellent (and terrible) teams and some Hall of Fame players
They have not won a World Series
They have not had a player inducted into the Hall of Fame despite bringing up 3 Hall of Fame talents in Mike Piazza, Pedro Martinez and Adrian Beltre.* All 3 left LA under less than ideal circumstances

This exercise is to see how things could have gone differently

I should note that I started this some months ago, and have already completed the 1989-1992 seasons.* I'll write about those retroactively and will pick up with the 1993 season.

I had 3 main goals when starting this
First - to win a World Series before the real life Dodgers (so, before the 2020 season - or maybe even later)
Second - to have players enter the Hall of Fame as Dodgers
Third - to amass individual awards and milestones
And a fourth - to have fun playing my first real historical game in OOTP. I almost always play fictional or future games experimenting with alternative ways to use rosters.

I'm using historical players, of course, with rookies assigned to their real life teams,* and 3-year re-calc.

While I don't have perfect knowledge of baseball history since 1988, I certainly have a general idea.* I, for example, know that Ramon Martinez' younger brother (and Jesus Martinez' older brother) getting traded for Delino DeShields would be a massive mistake.* So, SPOILER, I'm unlikely to do that, for example.*

This definitely gives me some advantages.* To negate this advantage, I'll mostly be trying to use some personal restraint: Not looking up the details of players' careers, trying to justify OOTP wheelings and dealings with their real life counterparts, some house rules including using a random decision maker to, well, randomize some decisions (such as which player to include in a deal). I'll also have trading on the Hard setting (not,* though, Hardest. I find this makes trading too unrealistic). I'll also target players that did play for the Dodgers, though I may use them in different seasons and different capacities.* I'll be partial to some of my favorite players.

There will be some other challenges.* Such as trying to balance keeping some Dodger icons in blue and white while trying to win championships. For example, Orel Hershiser.* In real life after the 1988 season he was the Dodgers. He had another very good 1989 season, then was injured and never the same.* He went on to have some good, not great, seasons with the Cleveland baseball team and the Mets before returning for a forgettable year with the Dodgers.* In this version, he will stay with the Dodgers.* Meaning I'll keep a Dodger icon but, I'll be tied to a sometimes mediocre pitcher.

Regarding injuries.* My players will be subject to real life injuries.* Each season between the end of spring training and opening day, I go through each player and see who looked like they missed time during the season.* Then I check their game logs to determine which days they were on the real life DL (now IL).* Then I use the editor to give them injuries during that time. Because of this, I will be editing many OOTP generated injuries.* I don't want my players to be in double jeopardy when it comes to injuries.* So, day-to-day or short-term injuries I will leave alone; those I will have to deal with.* Longer term injuries I will edit down to 15 days.* I think this will give me a good balance.*

I'm be using real life league evolution.* So, Rockies and Marlins in 1993 and DBacks and DRays in 1998.* The DH may come to the NL in 1998.* We'll see.

I will typically employ a manager (and will assign mostly real life coaches to my MLB and minor league teams (development is off but coaching is on) and will sim most games.* I usually manage spring training games, opening day, a few games around the trading deadline to get a feel for my team, all games with expanded rosters and a few games here and there to keep myself engaged.*

[CBeisbol]

RESULTS
1993 97-65 Won NL West. Won NL. Lost World Series
1992 81-81 3rd NL West
1991 110-52 Won NL West. Won NL. Lost in NLCS
1990 101-61 Won NL West. Won NL. Won World Series
1989 96-66 Won NL West. Won NL. Won World Series

MVP
1991 Rickey Henderson
1990 Bobby Bonilla

CY YOUNG
1991 Ramon Martinez
1990 Mike Morgan

GOLD GLOVES
1991 2B Willie Randolph
1990 2B Willie Randolph
1989 P Tim Belcher, 2B Willie Randolph

ALL STARS
1993 P Mark Langston. P Tim Belcher, SS Jon Valentin
1992 P Lee Smith
1991 P Ramon Martinez, P Mike Morgan, LF Rickey Henderson
1990 P Tim Belcher, P Mike Morgan, LF Rickey Henderson, RF Bobby Bonilla
1989 P Orel Hershiser, RF Bobby Bonilla

ROOKIES OF THE YEAR


MANAGER OF THE YEAR
1994 C. Beisbol

MILESTONES
1992 Nolan Ryan 300 career wins
1992 Nolan Ryan 5000 career strike outs
1992 Rickey Henderson 2000 career hits
1991 Rickey Henderson 1000 career stolen bases
1991 Lee Smith 300 career saves

[CBeisbol]

What Really Happened:
The Dodgers returned most of the 1988 team
The biggest addition was Eddie Murray who was to provide some much needed offense at first base after 1988 first baseman Pedro Guerreo was traded in season for Jon Tudor. Second baseman Steve Sax went to NY and the Dodgers replaced him with former Yankee 2B Willie Randolph (at a fraction of the salary)

1989's pitching was very good
1989's offense was not
The team missed the playoffs


What Happened in OOTP:
The offense was a problem in 1988.* But the team overcame it.* I wanted to give them some more help

Instead of Jeff Hamilton at 3B, the '89 OOTP Dodger started the season with Bobby Bonilla (acquired with stuff for Tim Leary and stuff)

The SS position was also a question.* I assume Alfredo Griffin was a fine person, and one of the best baseball players in the world, but not one of the best players in MLB.* We decide to start the season with a couple of bat first players competing for time at SS - Mariano Duncan and Mike Sharperson. We have Dave Anderson's glove to help them out. It'll be fine,

The team looked like this to start the season*
C: Mike Scioscia, Rick Dempsey
IF: Eddie Murray, Willie Randolph, Bobby Bonilla, Mariano Duncan, Mike Sharperson, Dave Anderson
OF: Kirk Gibson, John Shelby, Mike Marshall, Javier Ortiz, Jose Gonzalez, ???
SP: Orel Hershiser, Mike Morgan, Tim Belcher, Fernando Valenzuela, John Tudor
RP: Jay Howell, Alejandro Pena, Ricky Horton, Ricky Honeycutt, Tim Crews

The Dodgers were behind a very well constructed Padres team in July.* Mike Marshall was injured.* Bobby Bonilla was raking and committing errors like a maniac st 3B. We brought in decent hitter and good defender Brook Jacoby to play 3B and moves Bonilla to RF.* Marshall was traded to the Cubs for reserve OFer Mitch Webster.* Things started to look much better.*

Then Kirk Gibson tore up a (real life) hamstring.* This didn't bode well.* The Chinese word for "crisis" is not composed of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity" but there is truth to that idea.* In real life July of 1989 Ricky Henderson was traded to the Oakland A's.* In July of 1989 Kal Daniels (if not for injuries he would have been a monster) was traded to the Dodgers.* In OOTP July 1989 Rickey Henderson was traded to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers passed the Padres in September

Beat the Mets in the NLCS
Rickey Henderson hits a two-run home run for the only runs of game 6 and the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series,
And became back-to-back World Champions

Key moves and decisions were
Trading for Bobby Bonilla
Moving Bonilla to RF and acquiring Brook Jacoby to play 3B
Letting Mariano Duncan play SS.* He had a 117 wRC+ (including a league leading 17 triples) and -0.6 ZR despite 36 errors. All in all, he had a 4.3 WAR season.
Getting Rickey Henderson

[CBeisbol]

That was easy. Why haven't the real Dodgers been able to win in 30+ years?
Don't answer that.


What Really Happened:
After a disappointing season, the Dodgers did some minor retooling.* Trading Mike Marshall and Alejandro Pena to the Mets for CF Juan Samuel and signing Hubie Brooks to replace Marshall.*

Injuries to Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser early in the season set the Dodgers back. Juan Samuel wasn't working out in CF and Willie Randolph was traded to Oakland to allow Samuel to play 2B.* Ramon Martinez lept onto the scene.


What happened in OOTP:
The Dodgers brought back Rickey Henderson on a 3 year deal (5 years with an opt out).* He's on a Hall of Fame course and we want him wearing an LA hat when he goes in.* So, what happens to Kirk Gibson when he comes back?* In real life Daniels was slated for LF and Gibson played CF.* We'll do that too.* We sign defensive whiz Gary Pettis to play CF while Gibson is on the mend.

We make the painful decision to not re-sign Fernando Valenzuela - instead bringing back John Tudor.* No one is happy about this.

C: Mike Scioscia, Tim McIntosh
IF: Eddie Murray, Willlie Randolph, Brook Jacoby, Mariano Duncan, Mike Sharperson, Dave Anderson
OF: Rickey Henderson, Gary Pettis, Bobby Bonilla, Javier Ortiz, Ty Gainey
SP: Orel Hershiser, Mike Morgan, Tim Belcher, Ramon Martinez, John Tudor.
RP: Jay Howell, Alejandro Pena, Rick Honeycutt, Lee Guetterman, Mike Hartley, Tim Crews
DL: Kirk Gibson

Orel Hershiser makes 4 un-Hershiserish starts before going under the knife. Jim Neidlinger does a heroic Hershiser impersonation.*

Mariano Duncan is a disaster in the field and isn't hitting much better. Mike Sharperson isn't the answer either, but is a definite step up. We look high and low, and settle on Dickie Thon to try and bring some stability to the SS position.

Kirk Gibson comes back and does not work out in CF.* He's not hitting and the defense isn't much better.*

The extremely formidable Padres are out in front, things look bleak.

We rectify our mistake and bring Fernando back to replace John Tudor.* We add another lefty, Bob Ojeda.* We pick up Jim Eisenrich on the cheap to provide the left-handed bench bat that a dejected Kirk Gibson can't give us.* Dickie Thon is mediocre and Mike Sharperson takes over as SS.*

The team catches fire and it's an epic battle with the Padres down the stretch.* They lose in the final game of the season, and the Dodgers empty their bench mid-game to celebrate.

We beat the Cardinals in the NLCS
We beat the White Sox in the World Series

Bobby Bonilla is the league MVP.* Henderson finishes second.

Key Decisions:
Getting the good mojo with Fernando
Jim Eisenrich who hit .315/.366/.443 (152 wRC+) with LA

[CBeisbol]

What Really Happened:
Orel Hershiser comes back. Not quite as good as before
The Dodgers begin compiling a hometown team by signing CF Brett Butler, RF Darryl Strawberry and SP Bob Ojeda.

It almost works as they miss winning the NL West by 1 game.


What Happened in OOTP:
The owner wants a hometown player so the Dodgers trade for Brett Butler.* The owner is happy
We bring back Willie Randolph who's blend of league average offense and gold glove defense has made him a fan favorite and 4 win player. The owner is happy
Mike Sharperson impressed last year but isn't a SS. Brook Jacoby leaves in free agency and Sharperson is penciled in as the starting 3B
We hope to solve last season's SS woes with a 2B - Jose Oquendo



We start the season like so:
C: Mike Scioscia, Carlos Hernandez
IF: Eddie Murray, Willlie Randolph,* Mike Sharperson, Jose Oquendo, Jack Howell, Paul Zuvella
OF: Rickey Henderson, Brett Butler, Bobby Bonilla, Mike Huff, Bill Bean, Lloyd McClendon
SP: Mike Morgan, Tim Belcher, Ramon Martinez, Bob Ojeda, Rick Reed
RP: Jay Howell, Alejandro Pena, Mike Hartley, Tim Crews, Dan Plesac, Jim Poole
DL: Orel Hershiser

The team is a juggernaut.* So good that our AAA pitchers are making the Major League All-Star Game (Rick Reed who pitched brilliantly as a starter while Hershiser was injured and as well in relief once Hershiser was back, but was sent to AAA just before the All-Star break).
One of the few weaknesses is Eddie Murray putting up a sub 100 wRC+.* We give 3B/1B Dave Hollins a shot - he joins the juggernaut party.* Rick Reed is traded for Lee Smith.

The team wins 110 regular season games.
Rickey is the MVP


Lee Smith is pummeled in game one of the NLCS by the Mets and the Dodgers are eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in 3 post seasons.*

Key Decisions:
Signing Jose Oquendo. Stellar defense (+8.6 UZR) and a ..364 OBP.*
Bringing Brett Butler aboard.* A .391 OBP
Going with Mike Sharperson at 3rd.* He responds with a 3.1 WAR season.

[CBeisbol]

What Really Happened:
Disaster! 99 losses.
The dream outfield of Eric Davis, Brett Butler and Darryl Strawberry sputters.

What Happened in OOTP:
Coming off a 110 win season but a playoff disappointment, we have some medium size decisions to make.

What to do with Mike Morgan and Eddie Murray are the biggest.
Morgan has been superb (leading the NL in ERA the last 2 seasons, 13.6 WAR during those seasons) but is going to be 32.
Murray had a terrible 1991 (.242/.292/.399 for a 99 wRC+).

I think about moving Hollins to 1B to replace Murray - but worry that his bat isn't really enough for 1B.* I think about moving Bonilla to 1B and finding someone for RF.* I think about re-signing Murray.* I think about signing free agent catcher Mickey Tettleton to play 1B.

While I'm thinking about this, Mike Morgan signs with Toronto.* We dance with Roger Clemens but he signs with the Angels. Nolan Ryan is coming off a rebound year where he managed 20 starts for the first time in the OOTP era.* He's 16 wins shy of 300 and 86 K's shy of 5000.* We sign him to a lucrative one-year contract.*

Murray signs with the Royals and the Astros offer us Dave Winfield. We accept. Bonilla is our first baseman, Hollins will man 3rd and Mike Sharperson deserves to start somewhere. He's traded to the Royals for SP prospect Dave Nied.

During spring training we realize we need a backup SS and CF.* We sign Gary Pettis and Jose Uribe.

We start the season like this

C: Mike Scioscia, Carlos Hernandez
IF: Bobby Bonilla, Willlie Randolph,* Dave Hollins, Jose Oquendo, Dave Hansen, Rafael Bournigal
OF: Rickey Henderson, Brett Butler, Bobby Bonilla, Mike Huff, Bill Bean, Lloyd McClendon
SP: Mike Morgan, Orel Hershiser, Ramon Martinez, Nolan Ryan, Bob Ojeda
RP: Lee Smith, Rod Beck, John Wetteland, Larry Anderson, Dan Plesac, John Patterson

Uribe and Pettis are getting a few more PA's in AAA

The boss wanted more home runs. Replacing Sharperson's 4 with Hollins (7 homeruns in 10 games last September) and Murray's down season with Winfield should do the trick.


Jose Oquendo lasts 2 innings before he tears a hamstring.* We have to rush Jose Uribe up.* He never starts hitting.* Ryan spends most of April on the DL.* Dave Nied looks great in his place.* Henderson is on and off the DL.* Willie Randolph finally starts showing his age on defense.* Hollins looks like a 1B playing 3B. Hershiser after signing an extension in the off-season is getting bombed regularly.* Mike Scoscia has like a 50 wRC+. We try Jose Offerman at SS.* He somehow has a -8 UZR in 3 weeks

I keep thinking things will turn around.* They don't.

At least Ryan got his 5000th strike out in May (his IRL 5000th strikeout victim was Rickey Henderson.* This time Rickey is his teammate).* 300 wins looks like a long shot.

We call up catching prospect* Mike Piazza who has hammered the ball at every stop.* He's an improvement over Scioscia with a 70's wRC+.

Dave Winfield is miserable.* This isn't what he signed up for.* We send him to the Yankees for OF Roberto Kelly who has been languishing in AAA.

Bob Ojeda, after 61 starts with OOTP LA (he made 60 real life starts in LA), is put on the trade block.* The Red Sox offer a SS, John Valentin.* That's not a fair trade.* We spin the wheel of chance and throw in IF Eric Young as well.*

Willie Randolph, Ramon Martinez and Bobby Bonilla go down with season ending injuries.* Willie Randolph leads off one final late season game as a pinch hitter (had an opener in the leadoff spot who pitched the top of the first so Randolph could take one last PA) in LA so the fans can say goodbye to him.*

The youngsters, largely, performed down the stretch
Piazza hit .288/.413/.558 in September
Jose Offerman looks much better at 2B than SS in Randolph's absence.
Eric Karros has a productive few PA's in Bonilla's stead.
Billy Ashley homers in his first MLB PA
Catcher Darrin Fletcher is throwing out wouldbe base stealers left and right (10 out of 19)

Though David Nied, who, in April, looked like a viable starter for 1993 is getting absolutely shelled

One old guy had a good Septmeber too.
Nolan Ryan won pitcher of the month with 5 wins and a 1.04 ERA
He ends the season with 17 wins
If you recall he needed 16 to win his 300th.
Congratulations, Nolan.

And we finished on a slight positive.* Or, at least not a negative.* 81-81


Key Decisions:
I really don't know what I could have done differently
It was largely injuries and guys with previously steady performances who didn't perform.

Every position player bedsides Brett Butler had a down year
C Scioscia from 3 WAR to negative WAR
1B Bonilla from 9 WAR to 3 WAR
2B Randolph from 4 WAR to 2 WAR
3B Hollins from 167 wRC+ to 119 wRC+ and 29 errors at 3rd. But, 3 WAR
SS Oquendo from 4 WAR to 0 WAR
LF Rickey from MVP to 3 WAR
RF Winfield was good, Kelly has been negative WAR

I lost like 15 WAR with Scioscia, Bonilla, Randolph, Oquendo and Rickey

To start thinking about next year
Tommy Lasorda retired.*
Rickey has an opt-out.* Will he leave after a down year?* Will he want to come back?* We'll certainly try to bring this future hall of famer back.
We got Nolan Ryan's 5000th K and 300th win to happen in blue.* Do we bring him back for another year?

We have expansion
We'll have to protect 15 players from the draft.* Who will they be?* And who will be unprotected?

[CBeisbol]

Tommy Lasorda retires!
Did not see that coming.
Perhaps, though, it's one of those proverbial blessings in disguise. Tommy and I didn't always see eye-to-eye on things. While, it's hard to deny his success, this is a chance to bring in some, also proverbial, new blood.



The following players are free agents
LF Rickey Henderson
SP Nolan Ryan
SS Jose Oquendo
CF Gary Pettis
RP Bob Patterson

Minors
C Carlos Diaz
RP Joe Kraemer

And these players are eligible for arbitration
SP Ramon Martinez
RP Tom Bolton
RP Tony Fossas
RP Mike Hartley
LF Mike Huff
LF Bill Bean
RF Roberto Kelly
RF Lloyd McClendon

We have these players (in addition to the arbitration eligible players listed above) on the 40-man roster
C Mike Piazza
C Darrin Fletcher
C Carlos Hernandez
1B Bobby Bonilla
1B Eric Karros
2B Jose Offerman
3B Dave Hollins
3B Dave Hansen
SS Jon Valentin
IF Rafael Bournigal
IF Clay Bellinger
CF Brett Butler
OF JT Bruett
OF Billy Ashley
SP Tim Belcher
SP Orel Hershiser
SP Pedro Astacio
SP David Nied
SP Jim Neidlinger
SP Dennis Springer
RP Lee Smith
RP John Wetteland
RP Rod Beck
RP Jose Melendez
RP Darren Holmes
RP Mike Christopher
RP Jim Poole
RP Mike Munoz

The following players need to be added to the 40 man roster or will be eligible to be selected in the Rule V Draft.
IF Mike Benjamin
IF Eddie Pie
OF Raul Mondesi
SP Mark Mimbs
SP Mike Mimbs


To further complicate matters, the expansion draft is occurring in a few weeks. We'll need to protect 15 players and the rest of the team will be eligible to be selected in that draft.

[hillm2ca]

Just curious, what happened to Jeff Hamilton? I played in a summer men's league against him a few years after he retired (in 1999). He hit a home run off of us in the only game we played against his team.

[CBeisbol]

Re-sign Rickey Henderson to a 5 year $20 million contract with no-trade clause.
Rickey wants Hollywood and Hollywood wants Rickey.


Just prior to the expansion and Rule V drafts we work out a deal trading 1B Eric Karros, RP Mike Hartley and P Jeff Hartsock to the expansion Rockies. This move clears 2 spots on our 40 man roster.

The Rockies need players ready for the majors and Karros, who had to be protected or who was likely to be drafted, has put up 3 consecutive 3+ WAR seasons in AAA. But, as a first baseman only, we haven't had room for him on the MLB roster. Similarly, Mike Hartley has 179.2 big league innings over the last 4 seasons with 3.81 ERA (105 ERA+), 3.62 FIP (93 FIP-) and 1.2 WAR. But he's fallen behind Beck and Wetteland on the depth chart. Both guys should get a shot in Colorado. Also going is AAA starter Jeff Hartsock (359 AAA innings, 92 ERA+, 100 FIP- and 4.2 WAR). We get 3 guys destined for the lower minors. IF Neifi Perez (19), IF Vicente Garcia (17) and CF Edgard Clemente (16) in return. Clemente has plus range and some power potential, his discipline and contact will need to improve. Garcia is similar. He's an above average infield defender but might be pressed at SS. He's also got power for a middle infiedler, good discipline, but contact issues. Perez is athletic enough for all 3 infield positions. Has some bat to ball skills and is said to be mature beyond his years.



We go through arbitration with no surprises; everyone comes back except OF Lloyd McClendon who we wish well.


Protection lists for the expansion draft are due
The first few names are easy
LF Rickey Henderson, SP Ramon Martinez, C Mike Piazza, 3B Dave Hollins, 2B Jose Offerman, SS Jon Valentin, OF Billy Ashley, SP Pedro Astacio
Mostly young players who have exhibited some major league success. And a future Hall of Famer.
(Note: Piazza and Astacio were not technically available for the draft having less than 3 years professional experience) but, in the name of making the game more difficult I decided that I'd include them because they had had major league experience.)

The next few weren't that difficult of decisions to make
SP Orel Hershiser, SP Tim Belcher, 1B Bobby Bonilla and CF Brett Butler. All established players with multi-million dollar contracts, but who are expected to produce in excess of those contracts.

Now it's getting more difficult. We finally settle on:
RP John Wetteland and RP Rod Beck. Both were dominant last season and have multiple years on control left.

One last spot
We thought that Dave Nied would have been included in the original group. However, his performance down the stretch was worring. He's still young and has 5 years on team control left, though.
Then, there's Lee Smith. Smith might be hall of fame bound. He's regularly putting up 2 WAR seasons out of the bullpen. But, he'll be 35 this year and only has one year left on his deal.
Both players are very likely to be selected.
Would we rather lose 1 year of an established closer?
Or potentially 5 years of a young fireballer?

Originally Posted by hillm2ca

Just curious, what happened to Jeff Hamilton? I played in a summer men's league against him a few years after he retired (in 1999). He hit a home run off of us in the only game we played against his team.

Retired after the 1992 season to prepare for summer leagues. His stated goal is to hit 2 home runs vs hillm2ca's team.

[CBeisbol]

Top Prospects

#1 SP Pedro Martinez
#2 OF Raul Mondesi
#3 OF Ruben Rivera
#4 SP Pedro Astacio
#5 OF Todd Hollandsworth
#6 C Paul LoDuca
#7 SP Ismael Valdez
#8 C/OF/IF Jerry Brooks
#9 OF Chris Latham
#10 OF Roger Cedeno
#11 OF Billy Ashley
#12 IF Willis Otanez
#13 OF JT Bruett
#14 IF Neifi Perez
#15 OF Karim Garcia
#16 IF Eddie Pye
#17 OF Willie Romero
#18 P Omar Daal
#19 OF Scott Bullett
#20 SP Mark Mimbs
#21 SP William Vanlandingham
#22 IF Wilton Guerrero
#23 IF Roberto Mejia
#24 IF Mike Busch
#25 IF Eddie Rios
#26 CF Edgard Clemente
#27 C Doug Newstrom
#28 1B Brian Traxler
#29 IF/OF Gary Ingram
#30 RP Darren Holmes

[majormet]

This is interesting, the 1988 Dodgers were the bane of the Mets,

Sorry for the title in this thread, I meant to post a new thread but I like the idea of this thread

Hope Todd Hollandsworth develops into the prospect he should have been.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by majormet

This is interesting, the 1988 Dodgers were the bane of the Mets,

Sorry for the title in this thread, I meant to post a new thread but I like the idea of this thread

Hope Todd Hollandsworth develops into the prospect he should have been.

If I recall, the 1988 Mets were the bane of the regular season Dodgers.
I re-watched that series a few months ago. And it was incredible. So much drama and weird things that happened. Jay Howell getting suspended. The rain out and muddy, sloppy game after. Not remembering who won each game, I was in suspense nearly the whole time.

As for Hollandsworth. I am playing with 3-year recalc. So, he's not likely to have much more of a career than he did in real life. But he was a useful player for a while.

[CBeisbol]

We know we are going to lose a few players in this draft. Now, we wait to find out who they will be.

The first pick, by the Florida Marlins is IF Bip Roberts from, nemesis, San Diego
Followed by the Rockies taking OF Moises Alou from St. Louis

With the 16th pick we, surprisingly, lose RF Roberto Kelly to the Florida Marlins.

Soon after, with the 38th pick, more surprisingly, the Rockies take Dave Hansen

Then, less surprisingly, but more disappointingly, the 43rd pick nabs RP Lee Smith for the Rockies.


Immediately after the draft, the Rockies' lineup looks like this
3B Rene Gonzalez
C BJ Surhoff
LF Moises Alou
1B Eric Karros
SS Ozzie Guillen
CF Mike Devereaux
2B Jeff Gardner
RF Scott Brosius

with the following pitching staff
SP Wally Whitehurst
SP Pete Smith
SP Dave Weathers
SP Tim Wakefield
SP Jeff Hartsock
RP Lee Smith
RP Mike Hartley
RP Jeff Shaw
RP Fernando Valenzuela
RP Dennis Cook
RP Marvin Freeman

A few familiar faces we'll be seeing a few times a year with 6 players who spent time as a Dodger

The Marlins look like this
2B Bip Roberts
LF Felix Jose
RF Darryl Hamilton
C Sandy Alomar Jr
CF Roberto Kelly
SS Royce Clayton
3B Jack Voigt
1B Monty Farris

SP Ron Darling
SP Greg Hibbard
SP Mark Gubiza
SP Tommy Greene
SP Roger Pavlik
RP Mike Stanton
RP Jeremy Hernandez
RP Steve Reed
RP Randy Hennis
RP Eric Hillman
RP Mike Remlinger

The Marlins have only Roberto Kelly who used to play for LA.

That didn't go the way we expected. We thought the expansion teams would take players from our upper minors (C Darren Fletcher, IF's Eddie Pye, Mike Benjamin, Rafael Bournigal, OF's Jerry Brooks, JT Bruett, SP Mark Mimbs), instead we lose 3 players expected to contribute this season in LA and now have to be replaced.

That leaves our off-season shopping list looking something like this
2 starting pitchers
A starting right fielder
A reliever
A backup infielder

[CBeisbol]

We've made some headway in addressing our roster. But, have yet to finalize any deal.

We've been focusing on
-Bringing Nolan Ryan back. Ryan had a good comeback season in LA last year, and we'd like him to continue his career here.

-To replace Smith, who was lost in the expansion draft: We've had some talks with the Rockies about bringing him back. We've also looked at free agent Jim Gott. Gott has a 116 ERA+ over the last 2 seasons and a 78 FIP-. That's 2.3 WAR. Smith had a 185 ERA+ and 60 FIP- during the same time. Smith has been better, but he's 2 years older and will cost around a million dollars more. Plus, whatever players we'd have to trade to acquire him.

-We've also talked to the Rockies about bringing back Dave Hansen. We like his left-handed bat off the bench and his defense at 3B and ability to play 1B and 2B. We've also looked into Chris Donnels (also selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft). We had discussion with the Cubs last year regarding Donnels, but eventually decided to go with Hansen. Free agent IFer Dale Sveum is also on the radar.

-The Red Sox approached us with an interesting player - SP Mark Langston. Langston was a favorite of mine. He's getting older, 32, but has put up 3, 4 and 5 WAR seasons the last 3 years. He has one year remaining on his deal at just over $2,000,000. Unfortunately, the Sox' asking price of Ramon Martinez was way too high. Other discussion involving minor league players have continued, but no agreement has been reached.

-The RF hole. We've looked at a number of options for filling this spot. The simplest would be to acquire a RFer. We've checked in with Tom Brunansky (1, 3.6 and 2.1 WAR the last 3 seasons). We've also talked with Bobby Bonilla about returning to RF allowing us to acquire a first baseman. Former Padre nemesis, John Kruk, is a free agent, but probably a bigger deal than we are looking to make. Andres Galaraga is a free agent, but he hasn't performed in the OOTP era (3.5 WAR in 4 years). Former Dodger Eddie Murray is available. He had 2 solid years in LA, then struggled in 1991 and had a bounce back year with the Royals and Mets last year (125 wRC+ and 4.2 WAR). Another option we've looked at is moving Dave Hollins to first and acquiring a third baseman. Gary Gaetti is a free agent, but struggled badly last year (67 wRC+) after consecutive 2 WAR seasons. He's a huge defensive upgrade over Hollins, though. We also toyed with the idea of signing SS Barry Larkin and moving Jon Valentin to 3B – but nothing came of that. Similarly, the Expos are offering IF Tony Fernandez. He could play 3B or SS but doesn't have the power we are looking to replace. The Reds are also shopping 3B Chris Sabo. Bo Jackson is also said to be recovering from his hip replacement. There's some temptation there.

-Lastly, we've made an offer to a player who doesn't fill any of the above holes, but was a favorite of mine as a kid. We'll see what happens with that.

[CBeisbol]

We didn't go away emptly handed.

We added infielder Chris Donnels. We expect him to backup 3B and 1B. He can also play 2B. He's also a decent left-handed hitter off the bench (career 103 wRC+ in 909 PA's with the Cubs and Mets). Donnels is in his first year of arbitration and is owed $190,000.

The Rockies preferred CF Frank Smith in return for Donnels. Smith has an 80 wRC+ in 3 years in the low minors. He's an average base runner and average defensive Cfer.

(Note: using the Make This Work Now button in the trade dialogue, I selected a number of players I would have included in a deal for Donnels – including Roger Cedeno, Todd Hollandsworth, Gary Ingram, Paul LoDuca, Ruben Rivera and Ismael Valdez. Then I used the random decision maker to see which player the Rockies would receive.


Eddie Murray signed with the Tigers for 2 years and $4.9 million

Barry Larkin signed with the Brewers for 4 years and $21.6 million.



We finalize another trade just before the meetings end. SP William Vanlandigham, OF Ruben Rivera, IF Garey Ingram, C Jerry Brooks and P Todd LaValley were sent to Boston in exchange for SP Mark Langston. Langston, as mentioned above, is a guy I really liked, and I'm happy to have him in the rotation in 1993. We manage to hold on to our high end prospects, but give up some quality players. It was especially hard to part with Brooks and Ingram. But, with the Rule V draft coming up, we had to shed some 40-man roster players (Brooks) and Ingram was likely to be drafted leaving us with nothing.

(Note: using the same Make This Work method as described above, some extra players were included in the deal because the deal the Red Sox agreed to felt too light.)

[majormet]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

We didn't go away emptly handed.

We added infielder Chris Donnels. We expect him to backup 3B and 1B. He can also play 2B. He's also a decent left-handed hitter off the bench (career 103 wRC+ in 909 PA's with the Cubs and Mets). Donnels is in his first year of arbitration and is owed $190,000.

The Rockies preferred CF Frank Smith in return for Donnels. Smith has an 80 wRC+ in 3 years in the low minors. He's an average base runner and average defensive Cfer.

(Note: using the Make This Work Now button in the trade dialogue, I selected a number of players I would have included in a deal for Donnels – including Roger Cedeno, Todd Hollandsworth, Gary Ingram, Paul LoDuca, Ruben Rivera and Ismael Valdez. Then I used the random decision maker to see which player the Rockies would receive.


Eddie Murray signed with the Tigers for 2 years and $4.9 million

Barry Larkin signed with the Brewers for 4 years and $21.6 million.



We finalize another trade just before the meetings end. SP William Vanlandigham, OF Ruben Rivera, IF Garey Ingram, C Jerry Brooks and P Todd LaValley were sent to Boston in exchange for SP Mark Langston. Langston, as mentioned above, is a guy I really liked, and I'm happy to have him in the rotation in 1993. We manage to hold on to our high end prospects, but give up some quality players. It was especially hard to part with Brooks and Ingram. But, with the Rule V draft coming up, we had to shed some 40-man roster players (Brooks) and Ingram was likely to be drafted leaving us with nothing.

(Note: using the same Make This Work method as described above, some extra players were included in the deal because the deal the Red Sox agreed to felt too light.)

I like the Mark Langston trade, you didn't have to give up Randy Johnson like the Expos did to get him... The Red Sox got nothing back for him.

Chris Donnels,.. he always looked like a player, but never really amounted to much... maybe your sim will give him a good alternate reality

[CBeisbol]

I lucked out on that one. I put some decent players up for him. But the random decision maker didn't pick them.

I hope.

Dodgers sign Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan agrees to a one-year $4.5 million deal. Ryan was excellent for us last year, and we hope we can have a better season around him this year. We think our starting rotation for 1993 is now complete: Tim Belcher, Ramon Martinez, Orel Hershiser, Mark Langston and Nolan Ryan.

[CBeisbol]

So many drafts.

This time the Rule V draft. On draft day we have 7 open slots on our 40-man roster.

We add IF's Eddie Pye and Mike Benjamin. Benjamin, we expect to compete with Rafael Bournigal for the backup SS position. Pye, we don't have room for him on the major league roster, but he's garnered enough trade interest that we aren't comfortable leaving him off and taking the chance on him being drafted.

We also add OF Raul Mondesi. Mondesi probably isn't quite ready for the big leagues but he's a future big league player. We don't want to lose him for nothing.

That leaves us with 4 open spots and 3 outstanding free agent offers. We were hoping to have those resolved by now, but, they are not.

We elect to leave twin brothers Mark and Mike Mimbs off the 40 man roster and hope they'll still be with the Dodgers after the draft.

We leave one slot open in case someone comes available that we think can help us in the draft.

We've scouted the following interesting players
RP Troy Percival: 7/8 stuff. 2/8 control. Pedestrian numbers in developmental league last year. Not ready
RP Bobby Ayala: 6/8 stuff. 4/8 control. 2.6 WAR in AAA last season.
C Pat Borders: 5/8 contact, 5/8 power, 3/8 eye, 4/8 catcher rating. Had 3 WAR season in the bigs 3 years ago. Played sparingly since.
C Joe Girardi: 5/8 contact, 4/8 power, 4/8 eye, 5/8 catcher rating. 1.7 WAR part time in AAA last year.
IF Rich Amaral: 6/8 contact, 3/8 power, 5/8 eye, 6/8 at 2B. The Rockies' expansion pick has .9 WAR in about a full season of MLB playing time spread out over 4 years. He looks like a better hitter than either Bournigal or Benjamin. He certainly doesn't have Benjamin's defense.
OF Geronimo Berroa: 5/8 contact, 6/8 power, 5/8 eye, 5/8 LF. Looks like he can hit. Has about a 125 wRC+ over the last 2 seasons in AAA.

[CBeisbol]

Results

The Rockies take SP Steve Schrenk 1-1
The Rockies lose IF Rich Amaral to Florida 1-2
C Pat Borders goes 1-5 to the Red Sox
Texas takes OF Geronimo Berroa 1-10
Former Dodger OF Wayne Kirby goes 1-13 to Pittsburgh
C Joe Girardi goes 1-18 to Seattle

The Dodgers neither select, nor lose, a player in the draft.

[CBeisbol]

Dodgers Gott our man

Jim Gott agrees to a contract with LA. It's a one-year deal with an $830,000 salary and a team option for the same amount for next season. The buyout is $300,000.

Gott has been successful the last 2 seasons with 2.3 WAR over 135 innings.

We expect him to rack up some saves in Lee Smith's stead, while Beck and Wetteland get important outs in the earlier innings.

(Note: Gott was a IRL Dodger from 90-94).


Padres Try to Continue Gwynning Ways

Tony Gwynn returns to the Padres for 5 more seasons on a $17 million deal.
Gwynn has 10 consecutive seaons with a .300+ batting average. Last year was a down year for him with just a 110 wRC+ (carrer 132) but he still managed 5 WAR.

The Padres traded for Robin Yount earlier in the off-season. Their crowded OF now includes: Gywnn, Young, Shane Mack and Kirby Puckett.

They are still looking to replace free agent 1B John Kruk and retired C Brian Downing.

2B Roberto Alomar, 3B Steve Buechele and SS Carlos Baerga round out the lineup.

White Christmas for Dodgers

In a bit of a shocking move, the Dodgers signed CF Devon White to a 5-year $19,925,000 contract. The deal includes a no-trade clause and bonuses for MVP and All-Star appearances.

White is coming off a ..299/.134/94 (OBP/ISO/wRC+) season with the Braves. He adds some speed on the bases (43 steals 4.3 BSR) but his true value is in his defense. He's been +25 runs or better in 3 of the last 4 seasons in CF (+12 in the other season).

It's unclear what the Dodgers will do with incumbent CF Brett Butler (.404/.043/122). He's not the defender (-2.4 ZR in 1992) that White is so the Dodgers may move him to LF or RF. Hard to forget the Dodgers have Rickey Henderson in LF. Would he be willing to move to RF?

(Note: I really loved me some Devon White back in the day. I was happy he spent some time with the Dodgers, but that was well after his peak.)


Also, former Dodger releiver John Patterson, signed a one-year deal with the Phillies.


Charlie Liebrandt, who we looked into, but was behind Langston on the wishlist, signs with Minnesota for 2 years and $9 million. He had an excellent season last year. 14-11 2.62 ERA. Just 3 HR and 34 walks in 250 innings leading to a 2.45 FIP, 62 FIP- and 8.7 WAR.

New Year, New Team for Gaetti

Gary Gaetti signs a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $735,000. Gaetti is coming off a down year with the Astros in which he hit just .268/.098/63 (OBP/ISO/wRC+). Though he had 2 WAR seasons the 2 seasons before last. He still plays solid defense (+2 ZR last season).

OF Tom Brunansky, whom the Dodgers had been in contact with, signs with the Tigers for 2 years and $3.5 million.