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Head Coach
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Seven miles up
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1988 Post Season and Awards
Big news in LA, big news for the entire team.
First and foremost. Tommy Lasorda has retired from baseball as a Dodger. This does save the team from some embarrassment. The team will be hiring a new manager to start the 1989 season.
Next, as expected Mike Schmidt made his contract vesting, and Dave Winfield failed to meet his. Winfield was 31 plate appearances shy. The injury at the end of the year did him in.
Last, Rickey Henderson has decided to stay in LA! It's a big deal. That means that he is committed to us for 3 years. This makes me happy for sure. Thank you Ricky!
Gold Glove Winners
AL
P Chris Bosio TEX (1)
C Mike Lavalliere MIL (1)
1B Wally Joyner TEX (1)
2B Jim Gantner CAL (1)
3B Terry Pendleton KC (2)
SS Alan Trammell DET (4)
LF Barry Bonds CHI (3)
CF Devon White CHI (1)
RF Dave Martinez NYY (1)
NL
P Mike LaCoss NYM (1)
C Dave Valle CIN (1)
1B Andres Gallaraga MON (2)
2B Robby Thompson NYM (2)
3B Brook Jacoby ATL (1)
SS Ozzie Guillen SD (1)
LF Joe Orsulak PIT (1)
CF Dave Henderson CIN (1)
RF Jose Canseco CIN (1)
LA resigns Frank DiPino, Kelly Downs, Mitch Webster, Curt Wilkerson, John Franco, Ken Howell, and BJ Surhoff to 1 yr extensions. Downs was the top pitcher, Franco was the closer, Howell was consistent, and BJ Surhoff was a starter before going down for the season with an injury.
Rolaids Reliever of the Year
AL
Dave Righetti NYY (5-6, 37/40 Saves, 1.51 ERA)
NL
Tom Henke PIT (11-5, 36/43 Saves, 1.50 ERA)
Silver Slugger Awards
AL
C Ernie Witt TOR .270/21/75 .804 OPS (2)
1B Mark McGwire CAL .302/52/151 1.022 OPS (2)
2B Paul Molitor CHI .319/11/85 .854 OPS (1)
3B Howard Johnson DET .269/42/104 .880 OPS (1)
SS Roberto Alomar CLE .337/15/65 .863 OPS (1)
LF Barry Bonds CHI .310/24/119 .920 OPS (4)
CF Kirby Puckett MIN .318/23/111 .862 OPS (1)
RF Dwight Evans TOR .283/12/73 .822 OPS (4)
DH Wade Boggs BOS .365/6/72 .959 OPS (1)
NL
P Dwight Gooden NYM .241/0/5 .578 OPS (1)
C Craig Biggio ATL .294/15/61 .811 OPS (2)
1B Will Clark STL .343/33/96 1.005 OPS (3)
2B Julio Franco PHI .320/4/65 .802 OPS (2)
3B Victor Madden CHI .286/31/87 .887 OPS (1)
SS Barry Larkin HOU .335/14/85 .865 OPS (2)
LF Reuben Sierra NYM .307/27/99 .866 OPS (1)
CF Robin Yount MON .359/14/90 .945 OPS (3)
RF Jose Canseco CIN .343/30/97 1.003 OPS (1)
AL Rookie of the Year
Ken Griffey Jr BAL .316/18/77 .886 OPS 5.9 WAR
NL Rookie of the Year
Henry Cotto CHI .267/9/36 .704 OPS 1.9 WAR
AL Manager of the Year
Mark Leggio SEA
NL Manager of the Year
Bill Virdon HOU
AL Cy Young Winner
Roger Clemens CLE 19-6 2.14 ERA (2)
NL Cy Young Winner
Doc Gooden NYM 22-8 2.26 ERA (4)
AL MVP
Mark McGwire CAL .302/52/131 (1)
NL MVP
Doc Gooden NYM (3)
8 of the 25 Dodgers on the recent roster have filed for free agency. They are:
P Don Robinson
P Kent Tekulve
P Fernando Valenzuela
P Don Aase
SS Ozzie Smith
1B Larry Parrish
OF Dave Winfield
SS Roy Smalley
The team has some money to fill those positions, but it's not like they can go crazy on the market.
The Champion Astros have aggressively added talent early on. A trade with the Yankees brings Joe Carter to town, and Reliever of the Year Tom Henke from the Pirates has come in on free agency. Reminds me of the old Expos free agency runs.
Well, the Dodgers have finalized a deal, the biggest of free agency so far, and I'm not sure it's good? It's a lot of money, and I'm leery of these deals. Anyway. 6 year deal for Twins southpaw Frank Viola. The deal is worth 10.8M/6yrs and Viola can opt out after 3 years. Viola won the Cy Young and MVP in 1984 for the Twins. He's a 2 time All Star with a career record of 105-77, with a 3.93 ERA. He'll be 29 at the start of next year. He was 12-12 with a 3.16 ERA for the Twins last year.
LA keeps it going, adding to the bullpen with the big 6'5” 225lb, true to life closer, Lee Smith. Smith is a 2-time All Star and he's been the Red Sox closer for the last 3 years. He gets a 3yr/800k deal. Very affordable for the team for what he brings. He has 209 career saves, with a 3.50 ERA in 475 games.
Don Robinson is heading to the Mets on a 1 yr deal.
Kent Tekulve is heading to the Tigers on a 1 yr deal.
Ozzie Smith signs a 4yr/2.1M contract to return to the St Louis Cardinals.
Dave Winfield stays in town, but moves down the freeway to the California Angels on a 2yr/1.76M deal.
LA signs OF Juan Samuel to a 3yr/2.1M deal. Samuel has been a 5 yr starter in Philadelphia. He is a good player, with power and speed, having reached 20/20 twice. On the verge of his 28th birthday, Samuel is a career .272 hitter who averages about 17 HR's and 38 steals each year.
LA also signs Angels shortstop Dick Schofield to a 3yr/1.75M deal. Schofield won the Gold Glove in '87. He's an above average defender, but nothing special with the bat. He's got some speed averaging 27 steals each of the last 3 years. He's a career .247 hitter with 62 career HR's.
LA brings in Independent minor league star pitcher Chris Welsh. Welsh will be 34 when the new season fires up next year. He last time donned a major league uniform in 1982 for the Padres, where he had a 2.21 ERA in 41 games. He was sent to the minors and then released. Since then he's been pitching for overloaded independent minor league teams at the A level where one year he went 29-5 and threw 291 innings. Four years he has toiled, and now he's with LA on a minor league deal.
1988 Rookie Draft
First 5 Rounds
OF Bill Masse (1.38)
P Patt Rapp (2.16)
C Brian Johnson (3.18)
OF Michael House (3.23)
SS Mike Mordecai (4.16)
3B Jose Oliva (5.16)
The Dodgers have announced that they have hired Adam Abercrombie to be the new manager of the highest payroll team in baseball. This hiring was met with taunts and derision from pretty much everyone. Abercrombie was the manager for the Twins A-level Visalia Oaks baseball team. His career record is 481-597, and in 17 years, pretty much has no reputation to think of. His 1 yr deal will pay him 110k. It's less than half of what the team payed Lasorda. This is no bueno.
LA has selected IF/OF Armando Moreno from the Cardinals in the Rule 5 draft. Moreno, 24, is a 3-time minor league All Star, and was 3rd in the '85 MVP race in AA.
LA brings an old face home. Great news! LA completes a trade with the Phillies to bring Pedro Guerrero back home again. LA sends the Phillies OF Mitch Webster and recently acquired minor league pitching prospect Rueben Monett. Guerrero, 32, may have seen his best days. He's missed a lot of the last 3 years with some serious injuries. Last year, he only managed 58 games. He still batted .298/.374/.476. Pedro can still play some left and first base, but he's not skilled by any means. He's a 5-time All Star, 2-time Silver Slugger and he's got 1 year left on his contract. Pedro is a career .308 hitter, with over 1100 hits, and 169 career HR's. Welcome home Pedro!
LA makes another swap for depth. This trade sends the Red Sox former 2nd round pick and top prospect C Bill Haselman and minor league IF Jim Jones in exchange 30yr old 2B Marty Barrett. Barrett batted .320 last year for the Red Sox and sports a career .306 average in 6 years. Barrett has been with the Red Sox his entire career, and has over 1000 career hits in 887 career games. He's been the Red Sox starter at 2nd for all 6 seasons.
LA signs southpaw reliever Joe Price, 32, who was 0-2, with a 5.14 ERA with the Twins, to a 1 year deal.
Sadness as Fernando heads to the White Sox on a 1 year deal.
The team signs all top 5 picks, with the exception of 3rd rounder Brian Johnson.
Hall of Fame Voting is in!
Here is the Hall of Fame Class of 1989!
SP Gaylord Perry 96.5% in his first year
LF Pete Rose 94.4% in his first year
LF Carl Yastrzemski with a 93% in his first year.
C Johnny Bench 77% in his first year.
Tough class of guys right there. Jim Palmer, Jim Kaat were the next closest and Reggie Jackson was the closest not in his first season with 52.3%.
That's it for the offseason. (editors note: I expected expansion, as all my settings were automatic, but for some reason, no expansion, no realignment for '89, and that makes me a little sad).
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He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops.
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