Monday, December 9, 2013

Winter Meetings Day 1 - Dodgers after Wright, Price rumors heating up, Kemp rumors abound, Numata official?

Jamey Wright? That's your ace in the hole, Ned?

Just kidding. Actually, Wright would be a pretty solid signing. The Dodgers need a long reliever (doesn't require him to be long in the tooth, though), and Wright would fill that role.

Ken Rosenthal tweeted Wright is deciding between his former team, the Rays, and his former-former team, the Dodgers. Honestly, he can't really make a bad choice. Both teams are in need of a long reliever and he had success at both stops.

In 2012 with the Dodgers, Wright put up some surprisingly good numbers.

67 2/3 IP
3.72 ERA
3.39 FIP
7.2 K/9
61.2 GB%
6.4 HR/FB

Wright wasn't retained and spent 2013 with the Rays. He, once again, posted some surprisingly good numbers.

70 IP
3.09 ERA
3.13 FIP
8.4 K/9
50.8 GB%
7.1 HR/FB

Something to note is the reduced ground ball percentage. The nearly 11 percent decline didn't result in an outrageous rise in his home run per fly ball rate, which was likely because he struck out more than a batter per nine innings more in 2013 than he did in 2012.

He'll be 39 later this month, so there's no guarantee the success will continue. But on a 1-year deal, Wright would be well worth a look.

Wright has made a Major League rosters in each of the last eight seasons as a non-roster invitee. This year, it seems he won't have to be an NRI, as NRIs don't usually get inked in December -- especially those who have been really solid the last couple of years.

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With the uncertainty surrounding Masahiro Tanaka (seriously, no one really knows what's going on), the David Price market is set to heat up.

The Dodgers, Mariners and Rangers are the teams in on Price at the moment, and the Rays figure to get quite the haul in return.

I still balk at Corey Seager and Julio Urias. I'm now starting to balk at Seager or Urias. I'm not even keen on including Joc Pederson, but the Rays are going to want at least one of the Dodgers' three best prospects in return for Price. Dee Gordon's name was even mentioned, for some reason.

I'd still rather the Tanaka situation be resolved and the Dodgers just throw gobs of money at him, but I've said it before: The Dodgers will end the offseason with either Tanaka or Price.

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Matt Kemp rumors are still out there, despite his medicals not being the best. The Mariners, Orioles, Rangers and Red Sox are the teams on him (and Andre Ethier).

In fact, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune tweeted this tonight.


I'm not sure if that means a whole lot at this point, but Kemp's name isn't going away in rumors. I wrote about what a deal to Seattle might look like at Yahoo Sports today. I'm still really against moving him.

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Remember Takumi Numata? Of course you don't, as I got a lot of questions on Twitter when I was retweeting him today.

He's the 19-year-old Japanese pitcher the Dodgers signed. Numata is the player who got himself a lifetime ban from the Japanese Amateur Baseball Association because he agreed to sign with the Dodgers. He circumvented the rules, which obviously didn't make Japanese officials too happy.

Well, Numata was apparently at Dodger Stadium today for his physical, a stadium tour and to likely make his minor-league deal official.

If I had to guess, he'll begin the season at either Ogden or Great Lakes -- depending how aggressive the Dodgers want to be with him.

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At press time, that's about it. Day 2 of the meetings could be a lot more eventful. The Dodgers are going to have start making moves sometimes, right?

Photo credit: Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons

1 comment:

  1. "Long reliever" isn't "an inning per appearance", is it? Isn't that the guy you bring in to go 3+ innings? It always has been. That's not Wright...he's been one IP per appearance for a few years and, at 39, that's not going to change.
    Good info about Numata, though. What else does he have besides a slow fastball?

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