Boys of Summer League - Los Angeles Dodgers 2013

« Los Angeles Dodgers 2013 »

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
Dec 24, 2009, 12:48am

Boys of Summer League :: Boys of Summer League :: BSL Sports Illustrated :: Los Angeles Dodgers 2013

Author

Topic: Los Angeles Dodgers 2013 (Read 118 times)

scullyscorpse
Full Member

member is offline

Joined: Aug 2009
Gender: Male

Posts: 181

Los Angeles Dodgers 2013
« Thread Started on Oct 30, 2009, 10:21pm »

LOS ANGELES--Today was a day that will go down in LA Dodgers history as General Manager Peter M. Rodriguez-Jackson held a 3 hour press conference to announce a new manager, a re-vamped bullpen, two new infielders, and a new starting pitcher.

Mr. Rodriguez-Jackson promised Dodger fans that this off-season would see much improvement in the lineup and pitching staff for the team, but it wasn't known who and most importantly how these improvements would be added, as well as what the cost would be. It’s been a very active off-season thus far for the Dodgers and Mr. Rodriguez-Jackson was kind enough to sit down with us on a Saturday afternoon and go in depth and explain each of the moves made so far this offseason.

Los Angeles Times: Alright nice of you to be here Mr. Rodriguez-Jackson.

[image]

Rodriguez-Jackson: No problem, I'd be playing golf otherwise. Thought I'd spread some information to our fans about what we were doing this off-season instead.

LAT: Before we get started, you said you’d talk to the fans and the media with regularity, yet it didn’t happen last season what was the cause of that?
PRJ: I was dealing with personal issues; however, it did not affect my job as General Manager of this ball club. I tried to improve this team the best I could adding young third basemen Alex Gordon, but I couldn’t be available to the media.

LAT: Let’s get to this off-season you have made quite a few moves this off-season what was your biggest priority this offseason?

[image]

"I was awful this year and I will probably never see the majors again" - Cody White, after the 162nd game of the 2012 season

PRJ: Priority number one was the bullpen; we spent most of the season with Troy Patton and Cody White as our left-handers in the bullpen and it clearly wasn’t working out. Troy was having problems preparing for bullpen work as he had never worked out of the pen before with any success so we plugged him into the rotation and until he was injured he was pitching very well for us. Cody then was just put in a very unfortunate situation, he just isn’t a major league pitcher, he’s a great guy and he did a pretty good job but he wasn’t very good for us and we knew we had to upgrade.

LAT: What was your second biggest priority?
PRJ: Getting on base, I’m a big proponent of the idea that getting on base creates runs. That’s pretty indisputable, if you have a bunch of sluggers who hit a bunch of solo shots your team won’t fare very well. We need to get on base so when those bloopers and seeing-eye singles happen they could be knocking someone in or putting them in scoring position to score more runs.

LAT: Lastly what was your third biggest priority?
PRJ: Simply getting production out of the first-base position. We didn’t get anything out of first base last season with Luke Scott who unfortunately had a bad season and Joe was forced to play Alfonso Soriano at first base, something that winning teams just do not do. So we knew we had to upgrade there, and Garrett Atkins, bless him just wasn’t good enough defensively for us to move him there permanently, we had to upgrade.

LAT: Let’s look at each move made thus far shall we?
PRJ: We shall!

Trade with the Boston Red Sox:
Dodgers get:
Catcher Jon Still
Right fielder/third basemen/first basemen Kevin Youkilis

Dodgers trade:
Closer/middle reliever Jonathan Broxton
Minor league reliever Higinio Mejia

LAT: Now the first move you made this offseason was getting Kevin Youkilis, and he cost you the 2010 Comeback Player of the Year in Jonathan Broxton. Why do you think he was an important piece to add to this year’s Dodger team?

[image]

The Greek God and uber bear Kevin Youkilis is ready to find himself some twinks in LA this season

PRJ: As I said before we would like to add guys who get on base at a good pace and Kevin Youkilis is doubtlessly that guy. He plays great defense, and he adds a right handed bat to plug into the middle of the order to break up all the left-handers. Not to mention that he is a fantastic defensive first baseman, something we did not have last year. Now he cost us Broxton who had a down year and even lost his closing job, however Boston needed help in their bullpen and we did too, but we felt that adding someone like Youkilis superseded the head-case issues Broxton brought to this team. You never knew what was going to happen with him; we felt we could add more consistency to our team through additional moves. And the addition of Jon Still I feel is the forgotten piece in the deal, he’s another guy that will get on base and he absolutely mashes left handed pitchers. He will be our back up catcher next season and he can play a little first base as well adding more versatility to our already versatile bench.

LAT: Moving on to your first signing of the free-agency period you signed right-handed starter Mike Pelfrey formerly of the New York Mets to a deal worth $30-million over five years. Your starting rotation was the strength of the team last year, why did you think it was necessary to add another arm?

[image]

Mike Pelfrey is ready to eat NL West hitters alive!

PRJ: I have been a fan of Mike Pelfrey since he was drafted, he’s the kind of pitcher that I love, he keeps the ball down, and he doesn’t throw it past hitters all the time while he has the ability to do so. In the last couple of years he’s shown to be one of the more intelligent pitchers in the major leagues, getting the most out of every pitch and every batter faced. He’s been extremely consistent and consistent pitching is hard to find, when you find it you better jump on it. Like the old baseball cliché goes: you can never have enough pitching.

LAT: That same day you announced the signing of well traveled left-handed pitcher Rich Hill, through his career he’s been used as both a starter and a reliever, what are your plans for using him this season?

[image]

Rich Hill is no longer a starter but has found success pitching out of the pen to keep a job in the major leagues

PRJ: Well he was signed to be a reliever; however the fact that he has had success in the past starting was certainly a positive. He was used out of the bullpen for the first time last year in St. Louis and did a very, very good job. Left-handed relief was a huge issue for us last year so it was good to add a quality arm to our pen.

Trade with the Oakland Athletics:
Dodgers get: Middle reliever Jeff Niemann

Dodgers trade: Double-A starting pitcher Ian Vetter

LAT: Explain the deal with Oakland to bring in Jeff Niemann.
PRJ: Well we’re very familiar with Jeff we had him here in 2011; he did not however dress for a game with us. Jeff is a quality reliever with a variety of pitches, he is one of those rubber arm types that can come out of the pen and pitch just about everyday if asked to, he hasn’t really gotten an opportunity to pitch on a consistent basis in the last couple of years so we’re going to give him a shot and see what happens.

LAT: Shortly there after you added Craig Breslow signing him to a two year deal worth four million dollars, as well as claiming Jeremy Bonderman from the Detroit Tigers. Go into some detail about those moves.

[image]

"Hi I'm your new LOOGY!" Craig Breslow's first words to the LA press

PRJ: Well first off, the Bonderman move was simply for depth he doesn’t cost much and if we have a cataclysmic season it’s always nice to know you have former major leaguers in AAA to step in and play. Now the Breslow signing gives us another left-handed reliever to come out of the pen giving us two quality left handers to come in. Breslow will be utilized as more of a late innings lefties only guy, while Rich Hill will be facing more right handers and will pitch more lower leverage innings.

LAT: You recently dealt two minor league prospects first baseman Austin Gallagher and starting pitcher Dan Danielson to St. Louis for cash considerations, does that mean this team is in financial trouble?
PRJ: Not anymore. [smiles]

Trade with the Kansas City Royals:
Dodgers get: Middle reliever/closer Joakim Soria
Second baseman Cesar Trevino

Dodgers trade:
Left fielder/first baseman Chris Carter
Second baseman Mike Fontenot
Middle reliever Joel Lima

LAT: Now tell us about the deal you made today with the Royals.

[image]

"It feels so good to wake up in the morning and actually want to live." - Joakim Soria on being traded from Kansas City

PRJ: Certainly. I’m not sure many fans know about these guys but we certainly added some quality players today. Joakim Soria was at one time the closer for the Kansas City Royals and he has absolutely dynamic stuff, he’s very, very good. He had requested a trade to the West Coast and believe you, me, we were more than happy to oblige. Along with him we added second baseman Cesar Trevino he has a poor season last year, but regardless he is an on-base machine something this team needs desperately. We were 25th in the major leagues in walks last year, I assure you we won’t be that low this season. Walks create runs, and we will score runs. It hurts to give up Chris Carter for sure, he had a great year, but I feel this deal makes us a better team and helps our bullpen and the top of our lineup greatly.

LAT: Do you have any other moves to announce?
PRJ: Not quite yet.
LAT: Thank you for your time.
PRJ: No problem at all, have a great one.

« Last Edit: Nov 6, 2009, 12:59pm by scullyscorpse »