2015-2016 offseason thread

[lasportzphan]

I think the Dodgers have had some bad luck, but I'm optimistic the club will be pretty squared away come April. Don't think the FO is going to war with what they have right now and I think they've been sensible in what they haven't done. Expecting some sort nice moves over the next 30 days.

Luck is the residue of design.

- Branch Rickey

 

[Villain]

Now that we have a better idea of who we can expect to see, it's time for some way-too-early rosterbation about the Opening Day roster.

Assuming the best for all injuries (aka, Ryu being ready to go) and that no trades happen:

Starting Rotation:
1. Kershaw
2. Kazmir
3. Maeda
4. Anderson
5. Ryu

Infield:
6. Gonzalez, 1B
7. Utley, 2B
8. Seager, SS
9. Turner, 3B
10. Grandal, C

Outfield:
11. Puig, RF
12. Pederson, CF
13. Ethier, LF

Bench:
14. Hernandez, 2B/CF
15. Crawford, OF
16. Van Slyke, 1B/LF
17. Crawford, RF/LF
18. Ellis, C

Bullpen:
19. Jansen
20. Hatcher
21. Howell
22. Baez
23. Avilan
24. Wood
25. Beachy

DL:
Brandon McCarthy

Notable players left off:
Alex Guerrero*
Yimi Garcia
Adam Liberatore
Trayce Thompson

*Yeah, I know I said no one would be traded or hurt, but come on. Alex Guerrero doesn't have a damn spot on this team, regardless of what his shitty contract demands.

-----------------

Scattered thoughts:

• That roster doesn't look half-bad to me.
• I really want to give Trayce Thompson one of Ethier or Crawford's spots. Maybe we'll finally see one or both of them get traded. Surely one of them will pull a hammy or something so he can get called up and contribute.
• Wood and Beachy won't be bullpen fixtures. I wouldn't be surprised to seem them share starts with Maeda or Ryu as long relievers. I really want Beachy to succeed and if you look at his contract, he has bonuses for starts and relief appearances so that tells me he's open to do either.
• I wish Austin Barnes was the backup catcher instead of Ellis.
• Liberatore and Garcia are not to shabby as choices to be the first ones called up due to injury.
• Mike Bolsinger, Joe Wieland, Zach Lee, Carlos Frias are not bad names to have waiting by the phone in AAA
• There's also exciting depth from ready-to-almost-ready prospects we could see action from this year - Jharel Cotton, Julio Urias, Frankie Montas, and Jose De Leon being the biggest names. Ross Stripling and Chris Anderson just behind them.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I didn't know that Trayce Thompson was related to Klay Thompson, kind of cool.

Maeda did pitch with his shoulder and elbow issues last year so as long as we're careful with him, we should be fine. As you said, if he gets injured then he gets paid a negligible amount.

 

[Villain]

I didn't know that Trayce Thompson was related to Klay Thompson, kind of cool.

Trayce has the potential to be special. He's kinda like a right-handed Pederson in a way - speedy CF with excellent defense and pop in the bat. His problem is that he struggles to make contact (this is all from what I've read). I don't know how his OBP or K% compare to Joc, but they are similar in terms of upside and downside.

At the worst, elite defense and a few dingers here and there.

 

[Villain]

N
Bench:
14. Hernandez, 2B/CF
15. Crawford, OF
16. Van Slyke, 1B/LF
17. Crawford, RF/LF
18. Ellis, C

I listed Crawford twice. That means that Trayce Thompson has a possible spot to be on the Opening Day roster.

 

[lasportzphan]

The front office rallied well this off season and built in some serious depth for future deal fodder or roster juggling. On paper, team looks solid.

But can this team hit well and generate runs to support the arms in place? Personally, I don't see this team hitting for consistency over 162 games which could make for a nail biter playoff race.

Nonetheless, hard to disagree with much of what is being said.

 

[Villain]

Well there's a lot of reason to be optimistic about the offense. The first reason being that the offense was pretty good last year - the Dodgers lead the NL in wOBA and 2nd in the NL for wRC+ so that's a pretty nice starting point for a team that didn't make enormous roster changes.

However, one big change is shortstop. Rollins couldn't hit for shit. Swap out him for Seager and that's already a massive upgrade. Then, you get a healthy Yasiel Puig - who will hopefully be a little more mature and calm with Dave Roberts as the manager. Grandal's end-of-the-season slump can be tied directly to his shoulder injury. Well, his shoulder is all better now so I see that as a reason for optimism. Kike Hernandez has established himself as a valuable contributor on offense so more PAs from him means more offensive production. Joc Pederson has had all winter to try and address whatever was wrong, we'll see what happens there. I refuse to believe that his first half was a fluke. Something was wrong, so here's hoping that something was fixed. I'm excited to see what we get out of Trayce Thompson, too.

Those are a lot of signals that point towards the positive, as far as I'm concerned.