and is reportedly headed back to his old team. While I would have loved Rafy coming back for one year it was not in the cards and the last thing I would have wanted is a 34 year old SS with a bad back. On the surface not giving into the demands of Furcal is a good thing but ONLY if we decide to go with our in house options of Hu, Abreu, or DeJesus.
If Ned then turns to Orlando Cabrera, Jack Wilson, or Berroa then it will be a mistake. If you are going to have a light hitting SS you might as well have a low cost defensive gem like HU then an expensive option like Cabrera or Wilson. Cabrera will cost us our number one draft pick plus whatever salary he can take from us. Wilson will cost us whatever it would take in trade value. Berroa would just cost us some money and might not be the worse option in case Hu still can't hit, Abreu still can't stay healthy, or DeJesus is just not ready.
Or maybe Ned will try to wrangle a different SS from some club that we are unaware is available. Tejada? Lugo? Hardy? Hall? Barlett? Brignac? Other then Hardy none of them are inspiring and Hardy would cost us a bundle.
Without signing Furcal the budget still sits at $70Million before any arbitration cases are resolved with Martin, Ethier, or Broxton. With Boras having Manny as his agent I have little faith that Manny ends up a Dodger. The Dodgers are being very cautious this winter and when was the last time a cautious owner signed a Boras client.
The 2009 season might look grim as the team currently is constituted. It is only December so before we start the woe is me chant, let us wait until we see how this plays out. We will add some pitching, of that I am sure. If we indeed make no other moves and this is the team for 2009, it may not be a championship caliber team headed into the season but the core of talent is still intact with Loney, DeWitt, DeJesus, Martin, Ethier, Kemp, Billingsley, Kershaw, Broxton, McDonald, and Elbert so that is a plus.
[UPDATE]
Not so fast says Yahoo's Tim Brown