Is that splash in LA a sinking ship?
Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers found out about the big six player deal on Friday the same way I did. By watching ESPN.
The Dodgers television crew said that Odalis Perez was sitting on a couch in the clubhouse as the trade came across ESPN's Bottom Line. He immediately passed the news along to his teammates that catcher Paul LoDuca, pitcher Guillermo Mota and outfielder Juan Encarnacion were headed to Florida for pitcher Brad Penny, first baseman Hee Seop Choi and a pitching prospect. In a deal that should become official soon, the Dodgers will also get catcher Charles Johnson from the Rockies for a prospect.
General Manager Paul DePodesta failed to confirm that story at his press conference at Petco Park by saying, "the reason I'm here and not at the office is I felt it was important to tell these guys face to face."
I guess DePodesta wouldn't want to admit to not breaking the news to his own team, but never mind that. This trade needs some explaining. The Dodgers have been red hot since just before the all-star break. Los Angeles was 17-2 over a recent stretch and vaulted over San Francisco and San Diego into first place in the National League West. So Paul, why give up your starting catcher, starting right fielder and top set-up guy? To get Randy Johnson and Steve Finley right?
"We do not have a deal in place for Randy Johnson. "I don't even think it(getting both Johnson and Finley) is in the realm of possibility"
Hmmm…I'm confused. The players in the deal don't seem to match-up from a talent standpoint. LoDuca was the heart and soul of the Dodgers. While he wasn't a great defensive catcher, he was valuable to the team offensively and had a great rapport with the pitching staff. DePodesta said it wasn't easy for him to include LoDuca.
"Paul has been a big part of the Dodger organization, it's the only organization he's ever been in, and it kept me up the last couple of nights thinking of us without him."
But it must have been difficult from a talent standpoint to include Mota. Mota was the bridge to Eric Gagne and allowed Gagne to only have to work one inning. Mota's ERA from the start of last season through July 30th is 2.04 in 168 innings. This is a guy the Dodgers can't afford to be without right?
"Mota was a luxury for us with the role we had him in. I think Duaner Sanchez and Darren Dreifort can eat up a lot of those innings for us," said DePodesta.
Let's look at the numbers entering Friday night's game.
| NAME | G | W | L | IP | ER | K/9 | ERA |
| G. Mota | 52 | 8 | 4 | 63.0 | 15 | 7.43 | 2.14 |
| D. Sanchez | 40 | 2 | 1 | 50.0 | 18 | 4.68 | 3.24 |
| D. Dreifort | 52 | 1 | 1 | 44.0 | 16 | 11.66 | 3.27 |
Mota is clearly the best reliever of the bunch. Expecting a guy like Sanchez with no late inning experience and Dreifort with his multiple knee and elbow surgeries to fill that role is foolish. Dreifort rarely can pitch on back to back days, a must for a good set-up man. Teams that go deep into the playoffs consistently have great bullpens and the Dodgers just traded away their second best reliever.
If there was one player in the deal who was expendable it was Juan Encarnacion who heads back to Florida. The Dodgers have several outfielders including Jayson Werth who has seen a dramatic increase in playing time and responded to the trade with another home run Friday night.
So, despite who he was giving up, as DePodesta put it, ""I know what they meant to us on the field, I also know what they meant to us in the clubhouse. But the guys that we're bringing in, we're adding quite a bit."
What he added starts with a young starting pitcher with upside in Brad Penny. Penny is having his best season of his short career in 2004, posting a 3.15 ERA to go with an 8-8 record. Penny does give the Dodgers rotation a much needed boost with the disappointing season of Hideo Nomo and the tendency for lefties Kaz Ishii and Odalis Perez to falter in the second half.
Hee Seop Choi is only in his third season and his numbers have improved every year. He is a "Moneyball" player that fits DePodesta's Oakland background. Choi is currently hitting .270 but his OPS is .883, a number that undoubted has led to the Dodgers acquiring him.
The pitching prospect is Double-A left-hander Bill Murphy who is high on several prospect lists but still is a prospect. We won't know about him for a couple of years.
Charles Johnson is nothing more than an aging catcher who won four Gold Gloves early in his career. He isn't anywhere near the player he was when taking home that hardware. His bat has slowed so he can't handle a good fastball and will be an overall downgrade from LoDuca.
What makes these moves even more confusing were DePodesta's comments about the reason for them.
"If we were going to add some guys, I wanted to add guys who have been to the World Series. I think we've added some valuable October experience."
Shouldn't the Dodgers be worried about even making it to the postseason instead of being worried about the World Series. The last time they won a playoff game was in the 1988 World Series. Simply reaching the playoffs and getting past the divisional series is a bigger obstacle than the World Series.
As for the players, Penny did throw well in the post season last year going 3-1 but Johnson last played in a World Series in 1997 and isn't the same player he was back them. Choi and Murphy are players that will improve over time but can't be counted on in October this season. It seems like this deal could work out for the Dodgers over the long term but if the team is trying to win this year, why make this deal?
"I thought the worst thing we could have done was be sitting here on Saturday at two o'clock and have done nothing with a first place team."
Do first place teams usually give up three members of their core in the middle of the season? DePodesta's comment that he thought the worst thing he could do was nothing indicates that he wants to make a splash. He and Owner Frank McCourt want to put their stamp on this team and make a bold move that would win over the fans of Los Angeles. Instead they've made a move that has gutted the team of its heart and soul and disrupted the bullpen which keeps the Dodgers in all of the close games that they play. The Dodgers now must get the Big Unit or Finley or both to make this move pay off.
I understand that DePodesta wants to do something for his team but if the Dodgers stand pat after this, the only splashing that will be heard are Dodger fans abandoning the Dodgers sinking ship in September.
File last modified August 08, 2004
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