Turns out, the Dodgers aren’t going all that young behind the plate.
The Dodgers have signed veteran free agent catcher Matt Treanor to a one-year contract that The Times’ Dylan Hernandez reports is worth $1 million. He will receive $850,000 next season. There is an option for 2013 at $950,00 with a $150,000 buyout.
Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti told The Times’ Mike DiGiovanna he expects Treanor to play between 50-60 games.
Treanor is pretty much a miserable hitter – the seven-year veteran has a .225 career batting average and a .307 slugging percentage – but is well regarded behind the plate.
His signing follows Tuesday’s earlier news that the Dodgers had signed second baseman Mark Ellis, another excellent defensive player.
"We got a real good defensive second baseman, and we wanted to be as strong up the middle defensively as we could,’’ Colletti said. ``He's a good catch and throw guy, he has a good feel for leading a pitching staff, and he can help teach our younger guys, A.J. (Ellis) and Tim (Federowicz)."
The Dodgers aren’t expecting to make a run at top-line free agents Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols.
Asked Tuesday of the possibility of adding a big bat this winter, General Manager Ned Colletti said, “As of today, it looks less realistic.”
Fielder was at the top of the Dodgers’ wish list at the start of the winter, but Colletti said he has no meetings scheduled with Fielder’s agent, Scott Boras, at the general managers meetings in Milwaukee this week.
In fact, the Dodgers’ payroll in 2012 will be less than it was this year, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Dodgers’ payroll was around $110 million last season.
The Dodgers finalized an eight-year, $160-million contract with Matt Kemp on Monday. Colletti wouldn’t confirm the deal, which is expected to be announced in the coming days.
Without a premium bat coming in, Colletti said, “we’re going to have to find other ways to produce runs.”
He said he is counting on Andre Ethier, James Loney and Juan Uribe to produce as they have in seasons past.
“Their seasons weren’t indicative of their careers,” Colletti said.
The Dodgers are closing in on a deal with light-hitting catcher Matt Treanor, according to baseball sources. Treanor would back up A.J. Ellis.
Colletti said he would like to add a backup infielder capable of playing shortstop, but wouldn’t mind starting the season with Justin Sellers as the utility man.
Colletti said he is also looking for a starting pitcher, adding that Hiroki Kuroda hasn’t told him whether he would re-sign with the Dodgers.
The Dodgers are on the precipice of losing their favorite little super utility player, Jamey Carroll, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
Carroll is close to signing a multiyear deal with another team, sources said Friday. They didn't say which team.
Carroll, who will be 38 in February, is coming off a two-year, $3.85-million contract with the Dodgers. Due to team injuries, he played more like a starter, batting .290 in 803 at-bats during his two seasons with the Dodgers.
Now Carroll reportedly wants a starting position, and despite his success in Los Angeles and an opening at second base, the Dodgers are apparently not looking at Carroll as a regular.
The Colorado Rockies, one of the veteran’s previous teams, were reportedly interested in signing Carroll but were thought to be balking at an asking price that approached the two-year, $8-million deal signed by light-hitting infielder Omar Infante with the Marlins. The Braves have also shown interest in Carroll.
The Dodgers don’t have an obvious in-house candidate to start at second base. They could re-sign free agent Aaron Miles, another utility player last season. Otherwise they're looking at bringing in a free agent. Justin Sellers is a candidate for a utility role.
Stow, the Giants fan who was brutally beaten in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on opening day, is the largest unsecured creditor. The Stow family lawyer, Tom Girardi, has suggested that damages could approach $50 million.
Whoever buys the Dodgers will inherit the lawsuit, so Girardi reasons it is in the best interest of Frank McCourt, the Dodgers and MLB to know what the damages will be heading into the sales process.
Also on the Web:
-- The Times’ T.J. Simers thinks you can’t go home again, and believes Peter O’Malley is the wrong man to take the Dodgers into their future.
-- The Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzales takes a look at the background of Dennis Gilbert, the L.A resident and White Sox executive who has expressed strong interest in Dodgers ownership.
-- In a video, Lasorda tells CBS Channel 2’s Jim Hill that he wants an owner with L.A. roots.
-- NBC Sports’ Matthew Pouliot and MikeSciosciasTragicIllness’ Mike Petriello both think Ned Colletti rushed and seriously overpaid outfielder Juan Rivera at $4.5 million.
-- In a video, Fox Sports’ Rick Harrow -- the sports professor -– examines why that despite their problems, the Dodgers will still attract a hefty sales price.
-- MLB Trade Rumors has its list of projected arbitration salaries, and it is estimating Matt Kemp could earn $16.3 million, Andre Ethier $10.7 million and Kershaw $8.4 million.
-- In a video, MarketWatch.com’s Matt Futterman and Dennis Berman explain why they think the Dodgers may yet attract the largest sales price of a professional team in American sports history.
Were you crossing fingers and holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, the Dodgers would actually be a big-time player this off-season?
Did visions of Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols dance in your little baseball dreams? Did you rationalize that some massively deferred contract would be offered by the bankrupt team and accepted by one of the game’s premier sluggers?
Frank McCourt finally relinquishing his death grip on the franchise means he’s not about to add more debt to the team before agreeing on a sales price. That’s even more money out of his pocket.
"Historically, when a Bankruptcy Court and a selling owner are the ones managing the off-season, the focus is far from the field."
Boras, of course, represents … Fielder!
So get ready for peripheral additions, such as the Dodgers re-signing outfielder Juan Rivera. Old veterans with a year or two left, not prized hitters in their expensive prime.
If the Dodgers are going to make the leap from a third-place team to division winner, it’s going to largely have to come from within. All those promising kids will need to take a step forward in 2012.
Major League Baseball wants this to be a remarkably quick sale, and is hopeful of having a new Dodgers owner in place by opening day. That’s pretty ambitious timing.
The only possible way a Fielder is nabbed is if the new owner is identified early and the first baseman is still on the market. And good luck with that.
Hope you believe in the way the Dodgers played the final two months of the season, because that same group figures to return in the spring, just tidied up a bit.
Former Dodgers Manager Tom Lasorda said on Wednesday night he felt torn about the Dodgers’ impending ownership change. He talked about how Frank McCourt treated him well, but said he understood the fans demanded new leadership.
“That’s quite a surprise,” he said. “He did it before. The people loved him. He could make a big impact. He knows what it takes to balance an organization. He knows what it is to win.”
Lasorda said O’Malley should be asked to run the team by whichever ownership group wins the auction.
“I think whoever gets it should have him because they love him in the city,” Lasorda said. “People love Peter O’Malley.”
Lasorda said he wanted the Dodgers’ next owner to have strong local ties.
“For me, I’d like to see a local man,” he said. “Local owners, they know the stadium, they know the team, they know the fans.”
Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier’s agents said Wednesday they were unsure what the Dodgers’ impending ownership change meant for their clients’ futures in Los Angeles.
General Manager Ned Colletti went into the off-season saying one of his top priorities would be to sign Kemp and Ethier to long-term extensions. Both players are eligible for free agency at the end of the 2012 season.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of questions,” said Dave Stewart, who represents Kemp.
Ethier’s agent, Nez Balelo, said he thought he didn’t know enough about the situation to speculate how the Dodgers’ present situation would affect negotiations with his client.
Money, money, money. Not the kind you and I make, and not the kind we can even imagine spending.
We're talking the big money that star players make. The Dodgers currently have two mega-stars, and unfortunately at this bankrupt time, both are approaching major contracts.
Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw are arbitration-eligible this off-season; Kemp for the last time, Kershaw for the first.
Last year at age 32, Jayson Werth signed for $126 million and 30-year-old Carl Crawford for $142 million, both for seven years. Kemp is only 27 and coming off an MVP-caliber season.
Dodgers farm director De Jon Watson will interview for the Baltimore Orioles’ vacant general manager position, according to a baseball source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Watson has been the Dodgers’ head of player development for the last five years. His system sent the likes of Javy Guerra, Dee Gordon, Jerry Sands, Nate Eovaldi and Justin Sellers to the major leagues this year, sparking a turnaround that allowed the bankrupt club to finish above .500.
Watson hasn’t had much to work with: The Dodgers rank last in player development spending, according to a filing in bankruptcy court by Major League Baseball.
Watson interviewed for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ general manager position last year, losing out to Kevin Towers.
As pleased as he was to salvage his season with two brilliant months, Dodgers left-hander Ted Lilly said he couldn’t help but reflect on 2011 with a sense of regret.
With the Dodgers finishing 11½ games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks, Lilly said he wondered what-if.
“If we were able to sneak into the playoffs, it’d be really easy to forget about the first half,” Lilly said.
Lilly was 7-10 with a 5.02 ERA through July 29. At that point, he had given up 23 home runs in 22 starts. Opponents had stolen 23 bases off him.
Over his final 11 starts, Lilly posted a 2.09 ERA. He didn’t give up any home runs over his last five starts.
The winner of five of his last six decisions, Lilly finished the season 12-14 with a 3.97 ERA.
“I was locating my fastball a little bit better,” said Lilly, who pitched through elbow pain early in the season.
Lilly, who turns 36 in January, said the way his season unfolded served as an important reminder.
“It’s a reminder of how important it is to get off to a good start,” he said. “I need to do a better job for six months, not two.”
