A look ahead; what the Dodgers should do in the offseason | travis talk

I know most of this wont happen, but this is just for fun.

Let Rafael Furcal, Derek Lowe, Casey Blake, and Jeff Kent all leave as free agents.

Resign Manny Ramirez to to a 3 yr 60 million dollar deal with a mutual option for a 4th year. Move Tony Abreu to 2nd base to replace Jeff Kent. Abreu played 2B in the dominican winter league, so he can play it in the majors. Bring up SS Chin-lung Hu to replace Furcal.

Trade James Loney to the White Sox for Josh Fields. (The Sox would do this only if Thome and Griffey left) Just for fun, lets say they do. The Sox now get a good 1B for the long term while Swisher plays CF and Konerko DHs.

Sign Mark Teixera to a 7 yr, 136 million dollar contract. Loney is gone, and the Dodgers need more offense. Tex is a good fit.

Then the Dodgers waive Andruw Jones. I know they would have to eat his contract, but he is just taking up a roster spot. Once he is gone, bring up Delwynn Young to take his roster spot. Manny, Kemp and Eithier would start; Pierre and Young would split backup duties in the OF. Nomar Garciaparra and Angel Berro would be the primary infield backups.

For a lineup theyd have: CF Matt Kemp, 2B Tony Abreu, LF Manny Ramirez, 1B Mark Teixera, C Russel Martin, 3B Josh Fields, RF Andre Eithier, and SS Chin-Lung Hu.

On to the pitching staff. Like I stated earlier, LA shhould lat Lowe walk. They would set up their rotation like this. No 1 Pitcher: Chad Billingsley No 2 Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw No 3 pitcher: Brad Penny No 4 Pitcher: Hideki Kurida No 5 pitcher: Jason Schmidt

That staff would be solid. Hung-Chih Kuo would take over is Schmidt gets injured or fails in the starting role. Takashi Saito would close, Broxton would set up, and Procotr would be the primary middle relief pitcher.

If the Dodgers could do this they would be in good shape for next year and with JOe Torre managing this team could be a serious contender.

Comments (5) Add A Comment

August 10, 2008 04:14 PM ET

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That would make a good team but they should give manny a contract with yearly options because he gets bored on the same team and might stop trying so if he did they could just not pick up the option

Anythings…

Boston, MA

Total Comments (2135)

Texeria though will be wanting 25 million a year if not more

August 10, 2008 04:15 PM ET

Why let Blake leave though hes a good 3B

August 10, 2008 04:31 PM ET

Texeria though will be wanting 25 million a year if not more
KG Fan Come on Phelps | 08/10/08, 04:14 PM

He can want that all he wants.....He is not getting anywhere close to that.

travis31

Springfield, US

Total Comments (17798)

August 12, 2008 02:43 PM ET

thats absurd. Chin Lung-Hu has proven he doesn't have a big league bat...Berroa and Hu, basically equal the same player. We should resign Furcal to an incentive laden 1 year contract with mutual options for years 2 and 3. We should resign Casey Blake as DeWitt isn't the answer and trading Loney who is earning a mere $411k per season would be ridiculous. We should trade Pierre and Hu to Baltimore for Brian Roberts to replace Kent at second. And as much as I love Manny, he has attitude issues, a massive contract and Boras as his agent...as far as Im concerned we should ditch Lowe and Manny and begin the process of ridding Boras based clients from our roster (leaving only Jones who will be gone after next season anyways). The loss of Kent and Lowe should provide ample cash for us to pursue CC, who has expressed interest in playing for the Dodgers, who we can sign to a longer term deal to solidify the front of our rotation. Leaving our team looking like:
1. Roberts (2B)
2. Furcal (SS)
3. Martin (C)
4. Kemp (LF)
5. Ethier (RF)
6. Loney (1B)
7. Blake (3B)
8. Jones (CF)

Rotation:

1. CC
2. Penny
3. Billingsly
4. Kershaw
5. Kuroda, Schmidt, Kuo

Thats how I see it.