Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting

The Dodgers came to terms on contracts with both A.J. Ellis (1-year, $2 million) and Ronald Belisario (1-year, $1.45 million) on Friday. Both players avoided arbitration by signing, as Chad covered. —– Austin Gallagher was released by the Dodgers. On Friday, he received a 50-game suspension from baseball for testing positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned substance. The team also released ... Read More »

The Dodgers have signed former Braves righty reliever Peter Moylan and former Nationals backstop Jesus Flores to minor-league deals with invitations to Spring Training. Flores has shown enough flashes that he could feasibly challenge for the backup job should Tim Federowicz falter, though he’s almost certainly going to spend the majority of the season in Albuquerque. Moylan figures to be minor-league ... Read More »

The Dodgers have signed Dominican outfielder Ariel Sandoval for $150,000, according to Baseball America‘s Ben Badler. The scouting report on Sandoval is promising: Sandoval is 6-foot-2, 180 pounds and impressed the Dodgers with his potential to hit for both average and power from the right side of the plate. He’s an above-average runner who should begin his career in center ... Read More »

Matt Kemp has begun upper-body workouts for the first time since offseason shoulder surgery. Kemp’s agent, Dave Stewart, relays that The Bison is pain-free three months after his surgery. —– Chad Billingsley continues to progress from his elbow injury and has reported no setbacks thus far, according to Ken Gurnick. “Physically, Chad’s doing great, and he’s excited about the year,” ... Read More »

The Dodgers have invited 12 players to their Winter Development Camp, which, after operating for its first five years of existence at Dodger Stadium, will move to Camelback Ranch due to construction at Chavez Ravine. Zach Lee, Joc Pederson, Chris Reed, Onelki Garcia, Paco Rodriguez, Chris Withrow, Steven Ames, Matt Magill, Tim Federowicz, Matt Wallach, and newcomers Jeremy Moore and ... Read More »

The Dodgers have dealt John Ely to the Astros in exchange for minor-league lefty Rob Rasmussen. Rasmussen, a SoCal native and UCLA graduate, was selected by the Dodgers in the 27th round of the 2007 draft but declined to sign and instead became a Bruin. He was drafted by the Marlins in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft and ... Read More »

The Dodgers have sent a lot of guys to play in winter ball following the conclusion of the Arizona Fall League. They are well represented in the Caribbean Winter Leagues and it’s nice to see some guys getting consistent playing time. —– Dominican Winter League Geison Aguasviva has a 7.71 ERA in 2 1/3 innings. Juan Abreu has thrown 6 2/3 ... Read More »

Dylan Hernandez reports the Dodgers have acquired Skip Schumaker from the Cardinals, sending minor-league shortstop Jake Lemmerman the other way. Chad has more on the deal here. My reaction: meh. —– The Dodgers have designated Scott Van Slyke for assignment in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Schumaker. Van Slyke was the Dodgers’ 2011 Minor League Player ... Read More »

Zack Greinke and the Dodgers have agreed to a 6-year, $147 million mega-deal, the largest in MLB history for a righty and one that makes him the highest-paid pitcher on an average annual value basis. Greinke slots in behind Clayton Kershaw in the rotation and gives the Dodgers a formidable 1-2 punch while lengthening the staff. Speaking of Kershaw, he ... Read More »

The Dodgers promoted a number of front office personnel, most notably future GMs (of the Dodgers, I hope) Logan White and De Jon Watson. White will now serve as Vice President Of Scouting, while Watson takes on the role of Vice President Of Player Development. —– Via Eric Stephen, Alfredo Silverio and Ozzie Martinez have signed minor-league contracts and received ... Read More »

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 ... Read More »

The Arizona Fall League wrapped up this week with the Mesa Solar Sox — the team with eight Dodger prospects — finishing in last place with a 10-20 record. Now, it wasn’t all the Dodger prospects fault, but there were some, shall we say, not-so-great performances from some of the fellas. I’m going to keep my eye on the Puerto ... Read More »

The Dodgers are facing an interesting situation heading into the 2013 season — at least, the Albuquerque Isotopes and Chattanooga Lookouts are. Following a Twitter exchange with Chris Jackson (@TopesWriter) and Evan Chavez (@newmexicofan), it occurred to me: The Isotopes and Lookouts are going to have some awfully crowded outfields — especially the ‘Topes. The following outfielders are, at this ... Read More »

The Dodgers officially announced the hiring of Mark McGwire as hitting coach, replacing Dave Hansen. McGwire spent the past three years with the Cardinals as their hitting coach. Under his tutelage, the Cards offense was top-five in OBP in each of his seasons at the offensive helm, leading all of baseball last year. McGwire has stated that his philosophy includes ... Read More »

Chris Jackson of the Albuquerque Examiner tweeted to me and said that Dodgers left-hander Onelki Garcia hasn’t appeared yet in the Arizona Fall League because of an oblique injury, but he was unable to confirm it. If true, I wouldn’t expect to see Garcia play at all in the AFL, though he could still pitch in another winter league. —– ... Read More »