DODGERS AND COLLETTI AGREE

TO LONG-TERM EXTENSION

GM is first in franchise history to reach postseason three of his first four years

 

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced that they have agreed to a long-term contract extension for General Manager Ned Colletti. Dodger Owner Frank McCourt made the announcement.

 

"One of our core promises to our fans is championship caliber baseball, year in and year out," said McCourt. "Ned has been instrumental in our going a long way towards fulfilling that promise. I couldn’t be happier for him, both personally and professionally. The stability and continuity that extending his contract provides will further help us achieve the goal of being a consistent winner and I’m thrilled that he will continue to lead our baseball operations into the future."

 

In his four seasons as GM, Colletti has seen his teams reach the postseason in three times, the first time a Dodger GM has accomplished that feat. During those four years, the Dodgers’ .539 winning percentage is the second highest in the National League behind the Phillies (.554). Among NL West opponents, the Dodgers lead second-place Colorado by 17.5 games during the four-year span.

 

The Dodgers recently finished the regular season with the best record in the National League for the first time since 1983 and swept the National League Division Series for the second consecutive season. The team is making back-to-back appearances in the NLCS for the first time since 1977-78.

 

"My time here in Los Angeles has been very special to me and I’m honored to be associated with this tremendous franchise," said Colletti. "I’m very proud of what our baseball operations staff has accomplished over the last four years and I’m grateful for the support of the fans who have truly made me feel at home. I’m hopeful that we can bring them the championship they deserve in the very near future."

 

Colletti is one of just three active Major League GMs to have reached the postseason in three of his first four seasons, joining New York ’s Brian Cashman and Boston ’s Theo Epstein.

 

"Ned’s leadership has created organizational consistency and the results speak for themselves," said Dodger President Dennis Mannion. "He’s a tremendous asset to the Dodger organization and I look forward to working with him to ensure the Dodgers’ success in the years to come."

 

Among the key contributors Colletti has added in midseason over the past two years are three likely Hall of Famers – Manny Ramirez, Greg Maddux, and Jim Thome – as well as veterans Casey Blake, Vicente Padilla, George Sherrill, Ronnie Belliard, and Jon Garland. Colletti’s first trade as GM netted outfielder Andre Ethier, while he continued to hold onto several key players who have become the nucleus of the team, including All-Stars Jonathan Broxton and Chad Billingsley, as well as Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, and Hong-Chih Kuo, among others.

 

With a focus on developing top talent, Colletti and his staff launched an offseason Player Development Program in 2008 that included instruction both on and off the field. He also created the Dodger Pride Awards, which honor the organization’s top minor league players each month at each level of the club’s minor league system who play the game with a hustling, smart, aggressive style.

 

His key free agent acquisitions include the re-signing of Ramirez and Blake as well as deals to sign Randy Wolf, Orlando Hudson, and Juan Pierre, among others. Colletti has also renewed the club’s focus in Asia, signing free agents Takashi Saito and Hiroki Kuroda out of Japan .

I am really confused on how to feel.

Based on any objective criteria, the man deserved an extension.

You cannot discount going to the playoffs in a sport where you generally have to win your division to reach it.

And in the end, that’s why he got it.

from Ed Price of AOL.com on Twitter:

Manny didn’t see Rollins hit. Was showering after coming out for Pierre. “What can u do? The Phillies are playing better. What can u do?”

In my opinion with the other strengths of the Dodger organization, this is all they need.

Timing is weird, my guess is there was an offer on the table for Ned and after a sleepless night he goes Yes!

I have to say this is the right move instead of hiring another GM to come in and make a whole bunch of new screw ups before learning from them and then getting fired. Besides if things ever go South, it will be a lot of fun to call for Ned’s head :)

I am a fan of organizational stability at least on some level. Unless the guy has been an incompetent buffoon (which he hasn’t been, at least not all the time), there is something to be said for not having to deal with turnover.

That those early moves were based primarily on what advice he got from the stafff already in place. That and his obsession about having depth.

I’m going to start rooting against the Angels today It would be to heartbreaking to see the Angels in the world Series and thinking of what might have been.

Starting next year, the Twins will be playing in a new ballpark, how will that affect whatever advantage they had by playing in the dome.

The real question is from a year from now, if the team is sold and then we get to do this dance all over again because any new owner is going to want his own guy.

I could go either way with Ned. He’s done enough that I can see the argument for extending him, he’s pissed me off enough that I could see the argument for going a different direction. That problem I have is that I have no idea what direction Frank might want to go with so in this case I’ll be happy to stay with Ned’s course.

Ned Pissed me of with three moves
Trading Edwin Jackson/Chuck Tiffanny for spare parts
Signing Juan Pierre
Trading Carlos Santana

He irritated me with releasing Jayson Werth when we needed outfielders after JD Drew opted out.
He irritated me with trading Abreu for Garland considering we will need a 2nd baseman next year
He irritated me when he gave Jeff Kent an extension

Other then that I could make a pro argument for every other deal he’s made even if they proved to be mistakes. He’s not my ideal candidate but after watching my ideal candidate fall victim to the same GM nonsense I don’t really have one anymore. Kim Ng has not proven to me that she would be any better or worse. The only thing we know about her is that she is great at the details of the job but we know nothing about what she thinks of using the farm to build the team from within or using the farm to build the team externally. The only free agent she ever signed was Cruz and he was released not long into his two year deal. It would be exciting to have the Dodgers give her a chance, but with this extension that chance will never come. Logan White we would expect to be friendly to the farm but other excellent scouting directors have become GM’s and not succeeded. It could easily be the Peter Principle in effect.

Now some say the core of the team is not his. The core from what i see is Loney, Kemp, and Martin among the position players. Only Kemp is an above average player so if your telling me that the core is the key to this teams success, I’ll politely disagree. Only Kemp is not replaceable.

The pitching staff is a bit different. Kershaw was drafted on his watch so among the current rotation I count only Billingsley as someone from the “core”. In the bullpen that would increase with Broxton, Kuo, and Troncoso. You could add McDonald/Elbert but since they just joined the team this year can you really count them as the core?

So is this core of Kemp, Loney, Martin, Billingsley, Broxton, Kuo, and Troncoso significantly impressive enough that he gained some huge edge over his competition? I don’t think so. What makes this team special is the addition of Andre/Manny/Kershaw, and the augmentation at other spots in the lineup and rotation.

For example the Diamonds have a core similar to the Dodgers.
Upton = Kemp, Conor Jackson = Loney, Martin = Montero, Billingsley = Sherzer but then they don’t have the bullpen core but we don’t have Steven Drew or Mark Reynolds. However when the Diamondbacks augmented their core they fell flat, and when we augmented our core we’ve won two Division championships in a row and have won six straight Division Championship games.

Sure I’d like him to trust the kids more instead of waiting for them to break the door down. Could DeWitt/Abreu have done what Hudson did by the end of the year? Probably but no one is going to trust a player who has missed close to two years of development time when building a team they hope to contend with.

Could Stults or Elbert or McDonald or Haeger done what Garland did? Maybe

Could DeWitt have done what Blake did? I doubt it

Should D Young have been kept instead of Minky? Hindsite says yes

Yes he trades our prospects without getting value in return. I’d much rather make one big trade for a superior talent then a bunch of little deals and end up with Garland, Blake, and Sherrill.

Bottom line for me is that the 2009 Dodgers are in the NLCS and we have been in the playoffs every year but one since he took over. Other GM’s might have done the same thing, but ours did and that is what we have to work with. This was a fun team to root for which also counts for something. My favorite pick for GM built a team I disliked so liking a team I want to root for counts for something for me.

Yusei Kikuchi

but Vicente Padilla is starting game 5.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/10/dodgers-vicente-padilla-to-start-game-5-not-clayton-kershaw.html

The Dodgers have to win 3 games anyway, so having Kershaw at home is fine by me.

3 for 6 with a HR.

Vic Mizzy, a film and television composer best known for writing the memorable theme songs for the 1960s sit-coms “Green Acres” and “The Addams Family,” has died. He was 93.

Two of the catchiest theme songs of all time.

Never heard boos so loud and so long in a play where Swisher was clearly out.

Angels have a tall order to fill against Sabathia to get 5 runs.

morales hits a solo shot to center

SUCKS. But which umpire doesn’t suck?

a freeway world series looks very bleak :(

http://www.truebluela.com/2009/10/20/1093521/why-the-manny-ramirez-shower