Shohei Otani has announced today that he will hold a press conference on Sunday, and, according to Sanspo, the expectation is that he will say he has chosen to stay in Japan with the Nippon Ham Fighters. —– On Dec. 7, Nippon Ham announced that Shohei Otani will hold a news conference on Dec. 9 in the Iwate Prefecture. It’s ... Read More »
The Zack Greinke saga is the story of the Winter Meetings, not only because he’s the top free agent out there, but also because he’s holding up the deals of other free agents, as they’re all waiting on him. Whatever he decides, it figures to be at least borderline historical, as Jon Heyman notes. Strong belief by people close to ... Read More »
The Dodgers made an offer to Hyun Jin Ryu, but it was rejected by Scott Boras, according to Ned Colletti. The Dodgers made a long-term offer to Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin on Tuesday, but it was rejected by agent Scott Boras. “Predictably, it fell a tad short,” said general manager Ned Colletti. The Dodgers have until Sunday to sign Ryu ... Read More »
Zack Greinke news is dribbling in slowly, especially given that talks were expected to escalate quickly. The latest speculation is that the Dodgers and Rangers are out ahead, according to Bill Shaikin. The Dodgers and Rangers appear to be the favorites for Greinke, with the Angels as the dark horse, tweets Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. So apparently ... Read More »
The Dodgers will offer Zack Greinke the most money to sign, according to Jon Heyman, because they have no concept of a budget. The Dodgers have an interesting strategy that’s been employed only rarely: Sign the best, no matter the cost. “They are like theSteinrenner Yankees of the ’70s,” one competing GM said. Rival executives are beginning to wonder of ... Read More »
Shohei Otani, who once declared definitively that he was headed to America, is having second thoughts about that decision after meeting with the Nippon Ham Fighters, which was the thing I feared the most at the time of the announcement. Shohei Otani, 18, who had vowed to sign in MLB, might now lean to staying in Japan, per Japanese media. ... Read More »
As most everybody knows by now, the Dodgers are in on Zack Greinke and desperately want him to be a part of the club. Dodgers executives met with Zack Greinke in Los Angeles yesterday, Yahoo’s Tim Brown reported last night. The Dodgers view Greinke as critical to their pitching staff, Brown reports. Greinke is believed to have enjoyed pitching for ... Read More »
Grantland: Part 1 of Jonah Keri ranking the 50 best players in terms of trade value. No Dodgers here yet, but Carlos Santana finds a spot at #43. The other two catcher rankings are the ones likely to elicit the most hate mail. In the first draft of this list, I had Santana considerably higher. Twenty-six-year-old switch-hitting catcher, career .806 ... Read More »
The Rangers are favorites to land Zack Greinke, according to Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register. For what it’s worth, I was told today the #Rangers are the favorites for Greinke. It could all just be posturing now. Wait and see. That goes against what Jim Bowden of ESPN said though. Los Angeles Dodgers are considered the front runner ... Read More »
Los Angeles Times: Steven Cohen has been implicated in an insider trading scheme. Tuesday the Wall Street Journal reported that Cohen had been implicated in a massive $276-million insider trading scheme. Remember him? The guy who was once the front-runner for the Dodgers? Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd that’s why some of us didn’t want him as owner. —– The Book: Tom Tango argues ... Read More »
The Dodgers television contract will total between $6 billion and $7 billion over a 25-year span, thus potentially tripling the sale price of the team, according to Deadline‘s Nikki Finke. Insiders tell me that Fox Sports is close to clinching the exclusive TV rights for the Los Angeles Dodgers by paying between $6 billion and $7 billion over 25 years ... Read More »
Didn’t realize it until I was done typing it up, but this is an exclusively Japanese player rumor update. Anyway, Kyuji Fujikawa is reportedly down to five teams, with one of them being the Dodgers. Fujikawa has reportedly met with the Dodgers, Angels, Orioles, Cubs and Diamondbacks. The Rangers are also said to have interest in the 32-year-old, who has ... Read More »
Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike Petriello has a list of the players up for the Rule 5 Draft along with who he thinks will be protected on the 40-man roster. True Blue LA: Brandon Lennox has basically the same thing but from his perspective. Both are interesting reads, and I was considering doing one myself, but this off-season has been/will ... Read More »
The Dodgers are the favorite to win the Zack Greinke sweepstakes, according to Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. According to an industry insider, the Dodgers are the favorites to wind up with top free agent starter Zack Greinke, with the Angels and Rangers on the outside looking in. And no starting pitcher on the market is going to be ... Read More »
I had the opportunity to speak with Chris Reed before his Nov. 8 Arizona Fall League game. Edited for sanity, because nobody wants to read “uh” and “um” and laughs and transitions and crap. —– Pitching in the AFL is always difficult, so are you making any conscious adjustments to that or is it just specifically working on things beyond ... Read More »
Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
