The Dodgers made a huge splash in free agency by signing Trevor Bauer, and we go over all that comes with it, including the sticker shock of the first two years’ salaries, competitive balance tax implications, what the Dodgers are actually getting in Bauer the pitcher, and the reasons many are not pleased with the deal.
We also made Super Bowl predictions, so you could laugh at how wrong we are while watching the game.
Please send all of your questions to tblapodcast@gmail.com, or tweet us at @ericstephen or @jacobburch. Kudos to producer extraordinaire Brian Salvatore for his work behind the scenes.
Dodgers rewind
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This week we look back at Tim Belcher, one of four No. 1 overall draft picks to play for the Dodgers (if and when David Price pitches in 2021, he’ll be the fifth), and a key part of the Dodgers rotation during their 1988 championship run, as a rookie.
Belcher pitched four years (and part of a fifth) for the Dodgers, and was traded along with John Wetteland to the Reds for Eric Davis and Kip Gross. Belcher won 146 games in 14 major league seasons, pitching for seven teams.
The Dodgers got Belcher from the A’s in September 1987 as the player to be named later in a trade for Rick Honeycutt. But how he got to the A’s three years earlier was even more fascinating to me, from unsigned No. 1 overall pick by the Twins in 1983 to unprotected by the Yankees because of a procedural quirk in the free agent compensation draft in 1984.
Podcast links
Episode link (time: 1:24:49)