[PilotMan]

1985 Hot Stove Notes and Updates


It's not a great start to the year. The Dodgers have brought on a total unknown pitching coach by the name of Jim Gulley. He does a better job with groundball pitchers, but overall is a total unknown.


LA has resigned a few players to 1-year deals -


Stubbs, Sax, Pena, Niedenfuer, Marshall, Kittle, and Tony Phillips are all coming back on affordable deals. They also resigned Nettles to a cheap deal. At the age of 41, you can't expect much from that deal though.


Free Agency is ugly for LA. It's a complete turnover. The team didn't extend a lot of the guys. Here's a list of the current Dodgers, who have just filed for free agency:


1B Andre Thornton, IF Toby Harrah, C Buck Martinez, P Dennis Eckersley, P Jerry Reuss, IF Frank White, P Milt Wilcox, OF Dwight Evans, 2B Willie Randolph.


That's 9 guys from the 24-man roster. Maybe someone will be back, but not before they go out into the world. Meanwhile, we have plenty of room for new blood. I expect a busy off season, except that the budget might be constrained.


LA locked up a key starting pitcher by getting Rhoden, who was going to be a free agent after this, extended for 3 more years. Rhoden has been 35-22 for LA and been the #2 guy in the rotation. Same pay as Jim Beattie, better return.


We lose Willie Randolph to the Mariners. He gets a 6-yr deal worth over a mil per.


LA's first off season signing is inning eater Allen Ripley. Ripley went 12-14 for the Tigers last year, and boasts a 58-84 career record with a 4.32 ERA. He lead the NL in losses in 1984, losing 18 for the Cubs. He did win a Gold Glove in 1983. He gets a 1 year deal.


LA's outfield situation appeared to be settled with a mix of Stubbs, Marshall, Kittle, and Murphy. However, the team wasn't satisfied with that set up. With Evans still out there the team has gone and spend 2.56M over the next 2 years for Fred Lynn. Lynn, a center fielder makes Murphy's spot on the roster questionable. Murphy has 4 years left on his contract at 1.2M per. Meaning that the team is currently spending about 2.5 M on 1 position. That's a little disheartening. Murphy didn't have a very good year last year, hitting .260 with 6 HR over 49 games. Lynn will be 34 when the season starts, but his resume is much deeper. He's a career .296 hitter with 211 HR's. He hit 26 last year while batting over .300. He's a ROY, MVP, 4-time Gold Glove, and 9-time All-Star, most recently last year.


1985 First Year Player Draft
LA picks #25 out of 27 in the first round.


Bernie Williams is the #1 overall pick, but the Giants.


First 5 rounds for LA


OF Paul Sorrento (1^st)
OF Pete Incaviglia (Sup 1^st)
OF Jerome Walton (2^nd)
OF Billy Beane (3^rd)
P Ricky Bones (4^th)
IF Hensley Meulens (5^th)


It looks like outfield was important for the team with 4 picked with the first 4 picks. There aren't any huge names in there, but there's a couple of guys who had nice careers. Not terrible, but nothing to get too excited about. There might be some trade fodder in there too as LA is known to use.


The Blue Jays made a steal of a trade with Baltimore. The Jays didn't pursue Willie Upshaw in free agency and instead sent prospects Mike Macfarlane, Willie Fraser, Chris Johnston and Alexis Marte to the Orioles for 29-year old 5-time All-Star, 2-time Silver Slugger Eddie Murray. Eight days later they sign a contract extension for 6 years with a team option to 7. Wow.


The Expos are going to repeat as champions. You'll see why later.


Dwight Evans has signed a 2 year deal with the Mariners for 1.17M per year. Reuniting with Randolph.


LA has signed 2B/3B Jim Morrison for a cheap 142k for 1 year. Morrison is a pretty good fielder and a .257 career hitter with 95 career HR's. He played 72 games for the Royals last year and batted .210.


Joe Torre becomes the only HOF inductee this year with 78.6% of the vote.


Milt Wilcox has signed a 1 year deal with the Cardinals.


Failure. Of LA's draft picks in the first 5 rounds, only Sorrento and Incaviglia sign.


Another 1 year deal for the Dodgers. This time it's 33yr old, corner infielder, Ray Knight, he will earn 304k for the year. Knight is a 1-time selection to the All Star game and Gold Glove winner. Knight is a career .281 hitter with 50 HR's. He's got limited range, but decent skills in the field. He played for Houston and Milwaukee last year and played in 107 games, batting .311.


Guess third is a sticking point for LA. They've signed another old guy. This time it's 35 yr old Doug DeCinces. DeCinces spent the last 2 years in Detroit where he hit 38 HR's. His only award was a Silver Slugger back in '82 with the Angels. He's been a regular starter, but hasn't played more than 108 games in a season the last 2 years because of injuries. He's better defensively at third than any of our other options like Knight, Smalley, Morrison or Phillips. His deal is for 3 years/2.66 M with the third year a vesting requirement based on plate appearances.


LA is going to need a nursing home for all these old guys. The newest face in LA is a 6-time All Star and for MVP and Cy Young winner, but all that was a long time ago. 36-year old Vida Blue is going to be in Dodger Blue. Seems like a perfect pairing. He gets a very affordable 1 year, 270k deal. He spent the last 2 years with his former club the A's where we went 23-20 and averaged 34 starts. He's got 223 career victories and 2312 K's in his career.


Jerry Reuss heads to Detroit for a year.


Buck Martinez and Steve Garvey end up in SoCal with the Angels for a year each.


Frank White lands a 1 year deal with the Red Sox.


LA sustains a couple significant injuries that will impact the year. The biggest is to Allen Ripley. Ripley was projected as the #5 starter initially has blown out his elbow and he is done. His contract will expire before he ever gets to the field in Dodger blue. Next, Vida Blue, who might have been in line to take his place has a strained shoulder is is going to miss all of April at least. Last, is to Tony Phillips. Phillips was looking to have short locked up, but he's sprained his thumb and is projected to be back by mid May.


That's it for this offseason. LA added some players, but I'm feeling pessimistic about the value of the guys that were brought in. The bullpen looks amazing, and the rotation looks about average. The starting lineup looks to have talent, but with these old guys, you really don't know what kind of performance you're going to get from them.




The preseason prognosticators have us predicted to win the West, but it'll be close with the Padres right on our heels. The Reds are down in 4^th. The Expos are predicted to have the best record in baseball with at least 104 wins. The big surprise though is that the Mets are also expected to have 104 wins, so that might make for a good season.


So the Expos. They're going to repeat. Their starting lineup is bonkers and the rotation isn't quite on that level the bullpen is. The lineup has 23 All Star appearances, 6 Gold Gloves, 14 Silver Sluggers, 1 MVP and 2 ROY's. The pitching staff has 20 All Star appearances, 1 Cy Young, and 2 Reliever of the Years. What does that line up look like? Well...


Young prospect Andres Gallaraga takes over at first. Second is Lou Whitaker. Third is Paul Molitor. Short is Vance Law. Left is Tim Raines. Center is Robin Yount and right is Andre Dawson. The Expos still have Reardon and Quiz in the pen with the Candy Man. The rotation added the Ryan Express. As a Dodger fan, it's a bunch of bullshit.