Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
The Dodgers announced their full coaching staff for 2013:
Don Mattingly – Manager (3rd Season)
Chuck Crim – Bullpen Coach (1st Season)
Trey Hillman – Bench Coach (3rd Season)
Rick Honeycutt – Pitching Coach (8th Season)
Davey Lopes – First Base Coach (3rd Season)
Mark McGwire – Hitting Coach (1st Season)
Tim Wallach – Third Base Coach (3rd Season)
Ken Howell – Assistant Pitching Coach (1st Season, 6th On Staff)
John Valentin – Assistant Hitting Coach (1st Season)
Manny Mota – Coach (34th Season)
Steve Yeager – Coach (2nd Season)
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As Chad noted, the Dodgers recently hired a slew of international scouts. Credit to the new ownership group for their renewed emphasis on building a farm system that includes international players.
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Matt Magill and Steven Ames were added to the 40-man roster, bringing the total for the club to 38.
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The Dodgers signed former Mets first/third baseman Nick Evans to a minor-league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, as reported first by Chris Jackson. Evans will likely be stationed in AAA, as Jackson notes, but could feasibly find himself at the back of the bench with a monster Spring or if an injury arises.
Additionally, the Dodgers added RHP Juan Abreu, RHP Hector Correa, RHP Greg Infante, LHP Kelvin De La Cruz, LHP Thomas Melgarejo, C Wilkin Castillo, and SS Miguel Rojas on minor-league deals. Also, 3B C.J. Retherford was re-signed.
I keep reading articles talking about the Dodgers “thin farm system”, but it makes me scratch my head because it was the Dodgers who just traded Eovaldi for Hanley, RDLR for Gonzalez, Lindblom for Victorino and yet have still held onto guys like Zach Lee & Chris Reed and somewhat recently graduated guys like Ellis, Tolleson, Paco, Gordon and Guerra to the ML club. If they’re referring to what is now left in the minors, then the Dodgers have already started re-stocking with Puig, Saeger, Valentin, Onelki, Paco (already mentioned), etc. Is this amount of farm activity considered low for most teams or are the Dodgers just held to a much higher standard than most?
You just named five players, one of which is a reliever, two of which haven’t proven they can handle A-ball yet, one of which is making like $7 million a year and hasn’t faced advanced pitching yet, and one of which hadn’t pitched competitively in two years.
I think it’s more than fair, especially given that Zach Lee doesn’t have #1 stuff and Chris Reed has struggled lately.
It’s definitely fair. The Dodgers have a bottom-third farm system right now. It going to take a lot of work to get back to the days of Kershaw, Kemp, Billingsley, et al. That’s what happens when you have a cheapskate owner more interested in profit than winning.
The Dodgers are on their way, though. The 2012 draft class could be really good and, coupled with international signings, could be a boon for the club.
In putting together my top 50 prospects and I find myself including a lot of guys from the ’12 class. Should be an interesting season.