Thursday, April 16, 2009

What Ned Colleti Has Done To The Dodgers

As I'm writing this I'm watching our very Giants down 3-2 in the top of the fifth and our favorite manager Joe Torre has come out of his dugout dwelling to converse with the one and only Eric Stults on how to attack Rich Aurilla. But something struck me while I was watching the game. The Dodgers, believe it or not have some very good homegrown fixtures in their lineup and rotation (ie Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russel Martin, Andre Either if you count him, Chad Billingsley,Clayton Kershaw and Johnathan Broxton) You can attribute this to a combination of front office fixtures scouting director Logan White, former GM Paul Depodesta, current giants scouting director John Barr or Colleti. The majority of talent was amassed before Colleti got there however with the exceptions of Either whom he directly traded for and Kershaw who was drafted during his regime. While all looks peachy currently in Dodger land it's safe to say "what could have been."

Going over Colleti's trade history there are no glaring holes, though I have the hunch trading switch hitting stud catcher Carlos Santana and dependable future setup man Jon Meloan for a mediocre Casey Blake will be uttered in the same sentence as the Kazmir and Liriano trades. If anything he has done fairly well picking up a dependable run producer, current and future right fielder Andre Eithier for a disgruntled Milton Bradley. And the cherry on top, being the Manny Ramirez trade that put them over the top and is still paying dividends. On this front I'd give the man a B/B+ but once you delve deeper you find disturbing parallels between Colleti and his former boss. (Sabean)

Take for instance the curious case of Jason Schimdt. Two years into his 3 year 47 million dollar contract he has thrown a whopping 25 innings. So up until this point Shmidt (who earns 15.5 million this year in the final year of his contract) has made 31.5 million dollars over 25 ip in two years lets due the math. Thats 1 million 240 thousand per inning. Mind Blowing sure you can say whatever you want about the terrible Zito signing. But at least the guy eats innings albeit at 18 million a year. Then You have the Andruw Jones signing. Oh boy I don't even know where to start on this one. First off Jones is being paid by the Dodgers 18 million dollars a year to play for the Rangers. During his time in Los Angeles Jones, amassed only 3 home runs and 14 rbi's over 238 at bats. Realize, Jones has made twelve million dollars per home run and 2.57 million dollars per home run. In the same period of time the Giants have paid Randy Winn around 17 million give or take the past 4 years. During that time he has amassed 694 hits the past four seasons (counting his half season in Seattle) which means he has been paid around 2,400 per hit. Whereas Jones who collected 33 hits in his only season in LA (which cost the team 36 million dollars) was paid one 1.09 million dollars per base hit. Juan Pierre is in the third year of a 5 year 44 million dollar contract and while it's not his fault he has been releagted to the role of a fourth outfielder. He is making approximatley 14 thousand dollars per base hit, while not terrible compare it to Randy Winn who makes two thousand per base hit and throw in the fact that Winn plays elite defense and you have the superior bargain. 
Ned Colleti is directly affecting the farm system. Yes I said it and I'll say it again. The Dodgers  were ranked 23rd heading into this season and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. Sure, the Dodgers have consistently been amongst the top 6 but those rankings were helped by the likes of Matt Kemp, James Loney, Clayton Kershaw, Russel Martin and Chad Billingsley. During those years Colleti had the chance to leave his own thumbprint upon the system but questionable selections such as Preston Mattingly and James Adkins have left the Dodgers system well, lifeless. I'll commend him for his selections of Andrew Lambo, Ethan Martin and Josh Lindbolm looks like a keep but besides that trio there farm system in very unimpressive. I will go as far to say I could have run a better draft. True there's still time to turn thing around but they aren't nearly as aggressive in Latin America as they used to be. The reason why they had to unload Christian Santana along with Jon Meloan is because they couldn't take on a substantial amount of money so the Indians took better prospects in return. The point of the matter is 127 million dollars the Dodgers have spent over the past 3 seasons. For a return of 25.1 terrible innings, 3 home runs and 14 rbi's and for a quality fourth outfielder. The reason why Colleti isn't looked at as a terrible GM is due to the fact that much of the talent the Dodgers are using right now to claim first place in the National League was in place before he ever walked into Dodger Stadium. Their farm system is only getting worse and his terrible decision making has cost them millions, and victories. Either way you slice it......the Dodgers still suck

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