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Dodgers lose three players in Rule 5 draft
The Dodgers lost three players on Wednesday in Major League Baseball’s annual Rule 5 draft, which allows clubs to select certain players from other organizations who haven’t been added to their 40-man rosters.
With the second pick of the draft, the Oakland Athletics selected Ryan Noda, a 26-year-old first baseman who batted .259 with 25 home runs in triple A last season.
With the very next selection, the Pittsburgh Pirates took Jose Hernandez, a 24-year-old left-handed reliever who posted a 3.32 ERA between high A and double A last season.
At 18th overall, the Milwaukee Brewers grabbed Gus Varland, a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher who had a 6.11 ERA in double A a season ago.
The Dodgers had the last selection in the 30-pick draft, but elected to pass.
The Dodgers will receive $100,000 from each club who selected one of their players, and will have the chance to re-acquire them for $50,000 if they don’t stay on the active Major League roster of their new teams for the full season.
The Angels didn’t lose any players in the Major League portion of the draft, and weren’t able to make a selection since their current 40-man roster was full.
Dodgers have shed millions in payroll. Will they sign a star or try to reset the luxury tax?
With the Dodgers losing Trea Turner and Cody Bellinger, among other free agents, and with Justin Verlander signing elsewhere, we revisit this story from last month that raised some key offseason questions:
The first wave of the Dodgers’ offseason is complete.
And as they march into winter, they have any number of possible roads lying ahead.
Through the opening weeks of free agency, the team has largely shed payroll.
With the expiring contracts of Trea Turner, Craig Kimbrel, David Price and other free agents — not including pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who is expected to finalize a one-year contract next week to return to the team in 2023 — the Dodgers already had about $70 million coming off the books.
The Angels already have a third baseman. So why did they acquire Gio Urshela?
The Angels have a new infielder on their roster.
Gio Urshela, who has played third base and shortstop, was traded Nov. 18 to the Angels from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league pitcher Alejandro Hidalgo. The Angels designated pitcher Jhonathan Diaz for assignment to make room for Urshela on the 40-man roster.
In signing Urshela, the Angels addressed at least one of the big problems they had through much of this past season: major league-level depth at third base and shortstop, with the ability to also play first base, and a proven offense.
Angels exceeding tax threshold would depend on ‘opportunities’: Minasian
SAN DIEGO — There’s a possibility the Angels could exceed the luxury tax threshold, according to general manager Perry Minasian.
“There’s no mandate that we can’t obviously,” Minasian said Wedneday at the winter meetings. “I think it just depends on the opportunities. You know, I think we talked about it yesterday where, we want to add to this club, we want to try and continue to make this club better.
“That means going over the tax thing, I think it’s a possibility.”
In the last 20 years, the Angels have exceeded the luxury tax threshold once. That was in 2004, after extending Garrett Anderson, but not by much, and they were assessed a bill of $927,000 for it. By comparison, the New York Yankees had a luxury tax bill of $25 million that year.
Team owner Arte Moreno has in the past said that he would be willing to exceed the luxury tax threshold for the right player, though a splashy signing has not yet prompted an egregious rise over the tax level.
“That would be talked about and discussed if that’s an opportunity that presents itself,” Minasian said. “You basically lay out, ‘All right, these are the ramifications of doing XYZ.’ So that’s something that in every deal we talk about. So what the effect is this year and next year, the year after. I think those are all things we obviously explore and look at.”
Teams are assessed an increasing tax rate when they exceed the luxury tax, more formally referred to as the Competitive Balance Tax. For 2023, the threshold, set in the collective bargaining agreement, stands at $233 million, a $3 million increase from 2022.
The increases in an individual club’s tax raises depend on the number of consecutive years the club has exceeded the threshold and by how much they exceed it.
The New York Mets and Yankees are so far projected to be first ($285.1 million) and second ($264 million) in surpassing the threshold for 2023.
Team USA would welcome Clayton Kershaw on WBC roster
SAN DIEGO – If Clayton Kershaw wants to pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, he would be welcomed with open arms.
“We had some conversations around Clayton,” Reagins told reporters Tuesday. “I know he had had his contract situation resolved We’d love to have him if he wants to be a part of it. So, you know, as more to come on that one.”
On Monday, Kershaw confirmed he was interested in pitching for the American team, but the decision ultimately depended on conversations with the Dodgers and his throwing program. Kershaw said he started throwing Monday — a month earlier than he did last offseason.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner signed to a one-year, $20 million contract with the Dodgers on Monday after posting a 2.28 ERA in 22 starts in his 15th season.
Team USA’s WBC opener is scheduled for March 11 against Great Britain in Arizona, eight days before Kershaw’s 35th birthday. Fellow Dodgers Mookie Betts and Will Smith have already committed to play the U.S. Kershaw could follow.
“I’m not going to announce anything before Tony Reagins announces it,” Team USA manager Mark DeRosa said. “I would love to have him. But I ain’t going to say he’s 100% in until I see that tweet.”
Shohei Ohtani and Major League Baseball take a hit over FTX ties
Revisiting this column from last month:
NEW YORK — This should be a banner week for Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s truly global superstar.
This is the week the American League most valuable player and Cy Young awards are announced; Ohtani finished fourth in Cy Young voting and is a finalist for MVP. On Thursday, Ohtani declared that he would participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, joining Angels teammate Mike Trout as high-profile entrants in an event too many of baseball’s best players have skipped in previous years.
Alas, this also is the week Ohtani was named as a defendant, one of eight sports stars sued in a class-action lawsuit against FTX, the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.
Angels star Mike Trout helps Team USA net big fish for WBC
SAN DIEGO — The three-time American League most valuable player who was so reluctant to participate in the World Baseball Classic for the past decade helped unleash the wave of superstars who will populate Team USA’s roster for next year’s event.
When Tony Reagins was named Team USA’s general manager earlier this year, his first call was to Mike Trout, the Angels center fielder who was drafted out of high school in 2009, when Reagins was the Angels GM.
Trout turned down an opportunity to play in the 2013 WBC after his 2012 AL rookie-of-the-year season, with his agent, Craig Landis, saying at the time that Trout “just wanted a regular spring-training preparation.”
Trout turned down the WBC again in 2017, the year after he won his second MVP, saying at the time that “it was a personal decision” not to play in the event.
But when Reagins, who is also Major League Baseball’s chief development officer, asked Trout before last July’s All-Star Game if he wanted to play in the 2023 WBC, the response was much different.
A blue wave at Chavez Ravine? Here’s a look at the Dodgers’ top prospects
SAN DIEGO — The seed was planted in early November when Dodgers president Stan Kasten told The Times that “we think we are now on the precipice of the next wave of young guys” and that the team “needs to make room to allow that to happen.”
Does that mean a full-fledged youth movement is about to sprout amid the veteran core of a club built to contend for a World Series title every year? Probably not.
Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations, admitted in November that there is some risk to adding too many prospects at once, and that the Dodgers “need to figure out the right way and the right timing to integrate some of these talented young players.”
Whether that infusion of youth is more trickle than wave, there are at least five highly touted prospects — pitchers Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone, infielders Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch and outfielder James Outman — who appear poised to contribute at some point in Chavez Ravine next season.
“I think it’s one of those groups that has a chance to be impactful going forward,” said Travis Barbary, who managed all five at triple-A Oklahoma City at various points of the 2022 season. “You don’t know how soon that impact is going to come, but it’s a very special group.”
Who has the most upside of the five? Who has the best chance to carve out a significant big league role in 2023? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
A closer look at the Dodgers’ Fab Five prospects with input from Barbary and two major league talent evaluators — we’ll call them Scout One and Scout Two — who are familiar with the upper levels of the Dodgers’ system and were granted anonymity to speak freely about the players:
Shohei Ohtani as a two-way player in the WBC? Japan’s manager hopes so
SAN DIEGO — Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama said Tuesday that he is hopeful of deploying Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic as a two-way player.
“I’m wondering if he can do both,” Kuriyama said in Japanese.
Ohtani announced last month that he informed Kuriyama that he would like to play in the tournament. Kuriyama said he has spoken to Ohtani about the different ways he could be used.
“I’m thinking about the possibility of him starting and I’m thinking of the possibility of him closing,” Kuriyama said.
Whether Ohtani pitches, and if so, in what role, won’t be decided until February, when Kuriyama has a better idea of where Ohtani is physically. Kuriyama said he would like for Ohtani to participate in Japan’s training camp in Miyazaki, which opens in February.
Angels manager Phil Nevin on struggling outfielder Jo Adell: “He was rushed here.”
SAN DIEGO — The Angels’ acquisition of veteran right fielder Hunter Renfroe will push Taylor Ward from right field to left field and Jo Adell to the bench or triple-A, further diminishing the role — and muddling the future — of a 23-year-old outfielder who was the organization’s top prospect for several years.
That doesn’t mean the team has given up on Adell, a 2017 first-round pick who has struggled both offensively and defensively during three big league stints over the last three seasons.
“I think everybody who was around us last year knows how I feel about Jo, and the relationship I have with him is something I feel really good about,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said at the winter meetings on Tuesday. “I love the kid, I love his work ethic, I love the way he goes about his game.
“He’s a talented guy, but he’s [23] years old, and he was rushed here. And he really hasn’t had one place to play or get better and create those valuable relationships with a coach, or where he can be comfortable and get better.”
Rob Manfred: Angels would like sale completed by opening day
SAN DIEGO — In August, Angels owner Arte Moreno put his team up for sale. The bidding has not started yet, and that process is expected to begin no sooner than January.
When the 2023 season starts, will Moreno still be the owner?
“My understanding is that the club would like to have the sale resolved before opening day,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday. “Whether that happens, I think, depends in part on the bidding process and how quickly you can get documents done.”
‘We knew this was a possibility.’ Cody Bellinger signs with the Cubs
SAN DIEGO — Five years ago, he was the National League Rookie of the Year. Three years ago, he was the NL Most Valuable Player. And even amid prolonged struggles in the couple of seasons since then, he had remained a fixture in the lineup and favorite among much of the fan base.
In recent years, few players have had a bigger presence among the Dodgers than center fielder Cody Bellinger.
But on Tuesday, less than three weeks after he was non-tendered by the team and became a free agent, the slugger’s roller-coaster tenure in Los Angeles ended.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is searching for answers for Fall Classic funk
SAN DIEGO — In the wake of Cody Bellinger’s departure to the Chicago Cubs, the Dodgers are looking for a replacement outfielder.
With Tyler Anderson now on the Angels and Walker Buehler expected to miss the season as he recovers from reconstructive elbow surgery, they would welcome another starting pitcher.
Dave Roberts identified another problem the Dodgers have to address, only this problem doesn’t have an obvious solution.
Almost two months removed from his team’s postseason elimination at nearby Petco Park, Roberts offered a troubling review of what transpired in that National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
Dodgers’ payroll could be affected by Trevor Bauer decision
SAN DIEGO — Holiday joy is all around at these winter meetings, with Christmas trees and poinsettia plants throughout the lobby, and millions of dollars in the stockings of Trea and Clayton and Cody.
For the Dodgers, the ghost of a Christmas past looms.
Two winters ago, the Dodgers celebrated their first World Series championship in 32 years, then welcomed a hometown star by showering $102 million upon Trevor Bauer.
Aaron Judge to remain with Yankees after reaching a nine-year, $360-million deal
SAN DIEGO — Aaron Judge has issued his ruling: Court remains in session in the Bronx.
Judge is staying with the New York Yankees on a nine-year $360-million contract, according to a person familiar with baseball’s biggest free agent deal ever.
The person spoke to the Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the AL MVP’s contract had not been announced.
With Aaron Judge re-signing with Yankees, it’s not been a great week for the Padres’ golden era
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres have been a joy to watch, and a bit of a financial mystery, as they have basically declared themselves a large-market team over the past few years.
Manny Machado is here. Fernando Tatis Jr. is here. Juan Soto is here, and Yu Darvish, and Blake Snell, and Josh Hader, too.
The team that once set franchise records by spending $83 million on Wil Myers and $140 million on Eric Hosmer spent this week taking on some of the grand old teams of the sport, dollar for dollar.
The Padres lost, twice.
On Monday, Trea Turner selected the Philadelphia Phillies and their $300-million offer over the Padres, leaving $42 million on the table. On Tuesday, the Padres reportedly met with Aaron Judge and, on Wednesday morning, the Padres learned Judge had accepted a reported nine-year, $360 million deal to stay with the New York Yankees.
At first glance, no worries: Turner is an East Coast guy who loved playing with Bryce Harper in Washington and adores the Phillies’ hitting coach, Kevin Long.
And Judge? He gets to be the pride of the Yankees: the new captain of the team, and the satisfaction of knowing that he turned down $213.5 million from the Yankees before last season and hit so many home runs that the Yankees had to pay 69 percent more to retain him.
But look at all those Padres stars in the second paragraph. Of those six players, Machado is the only one who signed as a free agent, for $300 million. Tatis signed his $340-million extension after he had played 143 major league games.
Soto, Darvish, Snell and Hader all came in trades. Soto is eligible for free agency after next season. Darvish, Snell and Hader are eligible for free agency after this season.
Machado can opt out of his contract after this season.
Joe Musgrove happily signed a $100-million extension to stay with the Padres, but San Diego is his hometown. We’ll see what the other players do — and there are plenty of stars still available in free agency this winter — but this era of Padres baseball might not be as long and glorious as the great fans here had hoped.