When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

10.31.2007
Chavez Ravenous

The stage is set for Joe Torre to take over the helm in Los Angeles now that Grady Little has stepped aside for mysterious "personal reasons." Torre could be in Nasty Blue by the end of the week, and with that, let the media frenzy re. A-Rod to the Dodgers begin.

What's that? It already has begun? I'm a bit behind the times; the three-hour feeding/diaper change/catch some sleep cycle tends to keep a guy away from the Net-o-Webs.

The LA Times has already pontificated on what Torre's star power would mean to a city obsessed with Q-rating. Any sports article that makes a veteran Hollywood publicist the first person quoted will be as useful to a baseball-minded reader as a glossy page ripped from the latest Us Weekly when you've run out of toilet paper. You won't be any closer to a solution, you'll just end up smearing things around.

I think I've been changing too many diapers.

Thankfully there are a few signs of intelligent life on the planet. ESPN's Keith Law has this food for thought on Torre-as-Dodger:

If the rumors of Torre's going to the Dodgers are true, it may signal an organizational commitment to an older roster rather than a continuation of the youth movement that forced itself on the club this season. Matt Kemp and James Loney may be established by now, but players like Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu are in more danger.

The Dodgers still have several holes to fill, including one or two rotation spots (depending on whether they cut bait on Esteban Loaiza and how Jason Schmidt recovers), but their bullpen is intact, including one Torre favorite in Scott Proctor. If the Dodgers choose to continue their youth movement, it will put the fates of players such as LaRoche, Abreu, Chin-Lung Hu, and even Chad Billingsley in Torre's hands. It would certainly be interesting to watch; Torre hasn't been handed difficult youth versus experience decisions on playing time since he left St. Louis.

Question: how much did Scott Boras's classless move -- announcing during game four of the World Series that Rodriguez would opt out of his Yankees' contract -- hurt A-Rod's upcoming payday? Do you think he's really going to get the $30 million a year he thinks he can get? Any guesses on who signs him and for how much?
 
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[October 31, 2007 7:03 PM]  |  link  |  reply
David said

Screw basaeball, we want baby pictures! Come on Lefty, let us see little la Malita.

[October 31, 2007 7:17 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Erin said

I had to "tag" you. Jack Cobra made me do it, so don't blame me. See my site for the info.

[October 31, 2007 10:34 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Cyrus said

Congrats on the baby, Lefty.

My answer is most definitely not. To turn down even meeting the Yanks at the negotiating table, Boras already has a deal in place for A-Rod, so announcing it during Game 4 didn't hurt the deal, maybe just delayed it to let the PR nightmare die down.

As for the team? My guess would be the Dodgers. It looks like they want to make a huge splash this offseason. And they haven't had a bonafide stud hitter (Piazza was, kind of) in forever. So this may be the perfect opportunity for them, and the perfect star power performer to get the lukewarm LA crowd to show up to the Ravine.

[November 1, 2007 3:49 AM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Sorry, Erin, no time to do the tag game. But I promise to post a baby photo in the next entry.