Some quick LA Dodger/Hot Stove Thoughts

So after day 3 of the MLB Winter Meetings, my Dodgers have been quite busy. Here are my thoughts on each move, gain or loss. Each move will be given a letter grade, which is not necessarily a prediction of future returns on the move. Moves are listed in no particular order If I forgot anything, I do apologize.

- Signing Jason Schmidt (SP) for 3 years and $47 million: ridiculous on paper, especially at > $15 million per, but I love this signing. It serves multiple purposes: 1) it takes a key piece out of an NL West foe, 2) it keeps Schmidt in the pitcher-friendly NL West, which can't be a bad thing, 3) even for the high annual salary, it was only a 3-year commitment. Ned Colletti's insistence on relatively short, high-$$$ contracts for vets worked last year, and I think this contract will pay for itself in many ways, one of which gives the Dodgers flexibility to trade a pitcher (Brad Penny) and a prospect (James Loney? Matt Kemp?) for a corner outfield bat we need. The only concerns I have involve his age (33) and his shoulder. Grade: A/A-
- Signing Luis Gonzalez (LF) for 1 year and around $7 million: another short-term, high-$$$ contract that I have no problem with. Similar positives as with the Schmidt signing (keeping Gonzo in the NL West, taking him away from an NL West foe, short-term commitment). Besides, with the projected OF of Ethier, Pierre, and Loney, we obviously needed another veteran bat in the OF. Loney can spend another year as a valuable 1B/OF utility man. If we can get 15-18 HR, and 75+ RBI with around a .270 average, I'll be OK with the signing. He's not Manny Ramirez (duh), but he's also not Manny (in that other sense). Grade: B
- Signing Mike Lieberthal (C) to a 1 year, $1.25 million contract: nice, cheap backup to Russell Martin, since current backup C Toby Hall wants to be traded. Not much to say about this contract signing, unless we pick up anything remotely decent for Hall. Grade: eh, B?
- Re-signing Takashi Saito (CP) to a 1 year, $1 million deal. This is a great deal. For what this guy did for us last year, he could miss the entire season, and the deal would still be worth it. Besides, he's clearly a stopgap until Johnathon Broxton is ready to assume the closer's role (if he ever does become ready). It doesn't suck that this is yet another short-term investment, though I would not have been annoyed if they gave Saito an extra year, or at least an option year. Grade: A
- Signing Randy Wolf (SP) to a 1 year, $8 million contract. I mentioned in an earlier blog posting that this was the best signing so far for the Dodgers, and although this signing was replaced by the Schmidt signing, this was still a good pickup. Wolf projects to be our SP4 (3 if Penny gets dealt), and the 1 year deal makes this signing a bad gamble, at worst, and a gem at best. Clearly, Wolf is nothing more than a stopgap for the likes of Billingsley and Scott Elbert to continue maturing. Never mind the fact that Wolf was, a few years back, quite the accomplished pitcher. I thought the dollars was a bit much, but the 1 year commitment makes me happy. Grade: A
- Signing Juan Pierre (CF) to a 5 year, $44 million contract. Somewhere on this list had to be a signing that didn't please me, and here it is. Why pay ~$9 million per year for a slap-hitting speedster on a team that has nobody to drive him in? By the way, don't we already have a guy like that playing shortstop? Never mind the fact that Pierre will be 35 when his contract ends, and he's pretty average defensively. A 1 year offer to Kenny Lofton, even at a price of ~$5-6 million, would have been a much better investment, despite the fact that Lofton pretty much disappeared in the postseason. Nothing about this signing makes me particularly happy. Pierre could make me happy if he continues to steal ~ 50 bases/year and continues to hit as he has in recent years. I'm not sure if I see that happening, though. Grade: C-/D+
- Re-signing Nomar Garciaparra (1B) to a 2 year, $18.5 million contract. I believed this signing would not have happened if that unnamed guy who used to play RF for the Dodgers didn't stab us in the back and chased more money (it's a shame he won't play LF in Boston...I would pay to see him run smack into the Green Monster, Wile E. Coyote style. His leaving practically forced us to re-sign Nomar. It's hard to argue against what Nomar produced last year (.300+, 20 HR, 93 RBI), and I'd expect a similar performance in 2007, due to the fact that he'll most likely remain at 1B. Yes, I would rather see James Loney at 1B in 2007, which is why I wished this was a 1 year deal instead of 2. However, it's still a pretty good deal, assuming Nomar plays at least 100 games this year. Who knows? Maybe he'll be lost in June, and Loney blossoms at 1B, the way Ethier did last year (until the end of the season). Grade: A/A-

Next blog: my thoughts on the players that will be, or are already, lost, including a certain RFer...