Manny Ramirez Returns to the Dodgers
by Eric Stephen on Mar 4, 2009 8:24 AM PST
in Los Angeles Dodgers Roster
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The Dodgers and future Hall of Famer Manuel Aristides (Onelcida) Ramirez have an agreement in principle on a two-year, $45 million contract. Tony Jackson has the details.
The face-to-face meeting took place early this morning -- VERY early, apparently. There is now an agreement in principle on a two-year, $45 million contract, with the final hurdle of Manny passing a physical exam. Once that happens, he'll sign the contract and report to spring training, guessing he'll be here tomorrow morning. Ned Colletti and Joe Torre, who went to Los Angeles for the meeting with Manny and McCourt, are on their way back here to Glendale now.
For quite some time, it seemed the market for Manny consisted of only one team -- the Dodgers -- yet the negotiations plowed on at a snail's pace. Now that the deal is done, we can move on and realize what this means for the Dodger offense.
Simply put, the Dodger offense has a chance to be awesome. Sure, there are many question marks:
1) Can Orlando Hudson and Rafael Furcal stay healthy?
2) Will Manny's 37-year old knees hold up over a full season?
3) How much will Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier improve, if at all?
But there sure is a lot of reason to love this offense. For one, I expect Manny to join this list in 2009.
Historically, since moving to Los Angeles the Dodgers haven't been known for their offense. Even adjusting for park (Dodger Stadium for most of its history has been a pitcher's park, often extremely so) the Dodgers have still had a team OPS+ of 110 or higher only four times in LA:
| Year | OPS+ | Finish |
| 1974 | 118 | 102-60, World Series |
| 1978 | 115 | 95-67, World Series |
| 1962 | 113 | 102-63, Lost 3-Game Playoff |
| 1979 | 110 | 79-83, 3rd place |
The only two years the Dodgers have led the league in runs scored were 1974 and 1978. I'm not sure if the 2009 squad will match that, but this offense will be a force to be reckoned with. If they don't lead the league in runs scored, they will be darned close. Let this lineup soak in a little bit:
| SS | Furcal |
| 2B | Hudson |
| LF | Manny |
| RF | Ethier |
| C | Martin |
| 1B | Loney |
| RF | Kemp |
| 3B | Blake |
I'm sure this will come back to bite me, but the Dodgers will average 5 runs per game in 2009. Mark it down.
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Furcal is a big reason
With Furcal, no Manny last year: 32 games, 5.38 runs/game
With Manny, no Furcal: 54 games, 4.63 runs/game
I’m banking on the “no holes” lineup and the combo of Manny and Furcal, along with a .360+ OBP from O-Dog, to ignite the team.
If Manny and Furcal each play 140 games or more
then I think we can do it. This lineup is going to be exciting!
by Brendan Scolari on Mar 4, 2009 11:06 AM PST up reply actions
Excitement
Eric,
Some teams would love to put Kemp in their #3 spot, while you have him batting 7th! I think that alone is a positive sign for this season.
YES!
2) Will Manny’s 37-year old knees hold up over a full season?
Shades of ’88, perhaps?
I'll take 1988
Those two knees won an MVP. At the time, I thought it was ridiculous given Gibson had 25 HR & 76 RBI compared to 39/101 from Straw. However, on further sabermetric review, Gibson’s OPS+ was 148. While that wasn’t quite 165 for Straw, Gibson also did steal 31 out of 35 bases (not to mention scoring from 2nd on a wild pitch!) compared to 29/46 for Straw. I forgot what the win shares were, but that was close as well. Close enough to justify Gibson’s hardware in hindsight. :)
Baserunning, defense give Gibson the edge
According to rally:
http://www.baseballprojection.com/war/g/gibsk001.htm
http://www.baseballprojection.com/war/s/strad001.htm
Gibson 7.3 wins above repl., Strawberry 5.9. Gibson graded well in TotalZone (rally’s retrosheet-based defensive metric), but he was a monster on the base paths!
Thanks Eric!
You made me proud with the new TBLA tagline!
Just leave Heidi Androl alone!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Mar 4, 2009 10:22 AM PST up reply actions
Sounds like
McCourt will be keeping the payroll under 100 Million as we head into the season. Didn’t think he could sign Manny and keep the payroll under 100 Million. Amazing really. Hats off to Frank n Ned but it does make you wonder why they have to defer so much money. Still that is a worry for another day or year and right now we have quite a lineup.
I asked Tony Jackson this
since there are still no details as to how each year is broken down (only the cumulative 10/10/10/10/5 breakdown) since it seems Manny is likely to opt out. My prediction for the breakdown is as follows:
2009 $25m: 10/5/5/5
2010 $20m: xx/5/5/5/5
by Eric Stephen on Mar 4, 2009 10:23 AM PST up reply actions
Who gets DFA'd?
I’m voting for Ardoin, but there are a number of guys who could fall victim to those dreaded letters.
I'm still holding out hope for a phantom injury
and someone getting placed on the 60-day DL.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 4, 2009 10:42 AM PST up reply actions
Re:
Castillo needs to pitch so I don’t see that one happening. If they play Repko today he could easily be hurt by the end of the day.
I love
that we are now picture happy. :)
We have unlocked the code to greatness.
by Eric Stephen on Mar 4, 2009 11:06 AM PST up reply actions
Haha
At least I have.
Think how much the lineup has changed though in such a short time. Just in the middle of last year there were times when Pierre, Andruw, Berroa, Kent, and Dewitt were all starting. Now all of those spots have been upgraded basically and Pierre and Dewitt are depth. Now we have better than average bats for their position everywhere but 1st and 3rd. And we don’t have one below average hitter in the whole lineup!! :-)
by Brendan Scolari on Mar 4, 2009 11:12 AM PST up reply actions
re:
Now we just need the current lineup to still be standing come Sept. Or at least most of it. Especially the outfield.
Yes for sure
hopefully Raffy, Hudson, and Manny can stay pretty healthy this year. If they do I think we will win the West and be as dangerous as anyone in the playoffs, at least in the NL.
by Brendan Scolari on Mar 4, 2009 12:35 PM PST up reply actions
Here's a slight question
Who paid for Manny’s flight to Miami? I’m inclined to think McCourt footed the bill for that, but I’m just wondering.
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