Seems like that Hee-Seop Choi game was about ten years ago.

Bench him for Juan Pierre.

The Dodgers really took advantage of the brief period when Billy Beane thought poor anger management was the new market inefficiency.

There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an Ethier binge.

What was the reason for the A's to trade Milton Bradley for ten cents on the dollar?

He was coming off the dl, and wanted to go back to being a full time starter. The A's had other outfielders they wanted to give playing time to, including Cust, and decided that an unhappy part time Bradley was worse than no Bradley at all, so they dfaed him.

The Dodgers really took advantage of the brief period when Billy Beane thought poor anger management and repeated injury problems were <strike>was</strike> the new market inefficiency.

Fixed.

He was coming off the dl, and wanted to go back to being a full time starter. The A's had other outfielders they wanted to give playing time to, including Cust, and decided that an unhappy part time Bradley was worse than no Bradley at all, so they dfaed him.

And he and Beane had an angry meeting, where Bradley later said that he wished he had decked Beane.

Clayton Kershaw has an era+ of 115 and over 9k/9IP as a 21 yr old starter in the majors. That's decent.

But apparently he's not enough to get the Indians to trade Cliff Lee. Heh.

But apparently he's not enough to get the Indians to trade Cliff Lee. Heh.

Was that a rumor somewhere? I don't know the backstory to that...

Just a Rosenthal rumor that the Indians would require either Billingsly or Kershaw as a center piece to get Lee. I assume the Indians wouldn't ask for much more, but the idea that the Dodgers would be the ones to add a player or two to the deal seems pretty funny.

Ken Rosenthal wrote a rumor piece saying that the Indians wanted a package of prospects with the centerpiece built around a 'Bucholz' or 'Tommy Hanson'. Then said the Dodgers and Indians were in extensive talks, and listed Billingsley and Kershaw of that caliber. The implication that the Indians wanted more than Kershaw to make a deal.

Edit: coke to Kyle C.

I wondering if that was during the stretch when other teams were trying to rape the Dodgers in trades.
A typical rumor was Johan Santana to LA, with MIN receiving Billingsley, Kemp, Kershaw and LaRoche.
So, Cleveland may have been willing to part with Lee for Kershaw and a bunch of other prospects.

Edit: Yeah. What they said, too.

The rumors hasn't really started since last week this year though.

By this time last year, we had multiple rumors of the Dodgers trading for C.C., Holiday, etc. Even a ridiculous on its face yet reported anyway Matt Kemp for the Pirates Jack Wilson rumor.

These rumors, I believe, led to Colletti receiving an unwarranted amount of #### from his detractors.
The haters would hear something like the Santana rumor and then call Ned a moron - although no trade like that was made or would _ever_ be made.

Well, the Dodgers did give up a lot to get Casey Blake.

But this year I doubt there's the same level of discussion, since the Dodgers have a large lead, are about to get Manny back, and their most valuable trade pieces are mostly up in the big leagues, contributing to the Dodgers having a large lead. The Dodgers can stand pat unless the right deal comes along, and nobody will question the decision.

Well, the Dodgers did give up a lot to get Casey Blake.

Santana/Meloan is nothing like Billingsley/Kemp/Kershaw/LaRoche - yet people judge Colletti as if he had traded away the latter.

Rosenthal should watch out next time he's at Dodger stadium

Anyhow, supposedly Jason Schmidt is almost back. So that'll solve LA's rotation problems

Damn - looking at Blake's defensive stats, I just now noticed he has 22 DPs to 5 Es this season. A 2-to-1 ratio is considered very good; better than 4-to-1 is insane.
In 132 games at 3B for the Dodgers, Blake has 32 DPs to 7 Es. Considering he was 98-75 at the moment of the trade, I wonder what's changed.

Anyhow, supposedly Jason Schmidt is almost back. So that'll solve LA's rotation problems

I don't understand why Torre keeps waffling with Weaver as a starter vs. reliever.

If you read the Yankees Years, you'd understand why.

I wouldn't mind looking into Cliff Lee but Billingsley/Kershaw is laughable.

Elbert's back and doing well, but he's probably not a sexy enough name for Cleveland.

Santana/Meloan is nothing like Billingsley/Kemp/Kershaw/LaRoche - yet people judge Colletti as if he had traded away the latter.

And Blake is nothing like CC. He has done some overpays. But you're right, he's avoided trading the best prospects - even the good prospects he's traded have mostly been guys who've fallen out of favor of the Dodgers or were blocked - although at times he's gotten almost nothing back for blocked players, which seems to me would mean you should keep them instead.

We didn't need to trade Carlos Santana for Casey Blake, but the Dodgers did anyway.

But I doubt the Dodgers trade for anyone like Cliff Lee, or even Washburn. Teams are going to value their own players too much to deal for prospects.

A pitcher I've always liked is Aaron Harang. Is he available?

Anyhow, supposedly Jason Schmidt is almost back. So that'll solve LA's rotation problems

I sure hope so. When Schmidt was with the Giants he was a top tier starting pitcher, I'd go as far as saying he was as good or better than Derek Lowe with LA, the top pitcher on two playoff teams. A healthy Schmidt would make that rotation just plain sick, even with Wolf's predictable drop off.

Jason Schmidt's fastball only tops off at 89 now.

I'm not counting on Schmidt for anything. If he comes back and is the best fifth starter option for the Dodgers, I'd be surprised. It'd be great if he were actually a middle tier starter, but I don't expect it. More likely he'll take a few starts that a better fifth starter option could handle, and then goes back on the dl with "fatigue" or something like that until September, when he'll be part of an even more expanded staff, allowing the Dodgers to get three innings from him without wearing out the bullpen.

even the good prospects he's traded have mostly been guys who've fallen out of favor of the Dodgers or were blocked - although at times he's gotten almost nothing back for blocked players, which seems to me would mean you should keep them instead.

Colletti took over in November 2005. Here are is trades since then:

December 13, 2005 - Traded Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez to the Oakland Athletics. Received Andre Ethier.

January 4, 2006 - Traded Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schmoll to the New York Mets. Received Tim Hamulack and Jae Weong Seo.

January 14, 2006 - Traded Chuck Tiffany (minors) and Edwin Jackson to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Danys Baez and Lance Carter.

March 31, 2006 - Traded Jarod Plummer (minors) to the Kansas City Royals. Received Wilson Valdez.

April 24, 2006 - Traded Cody Ross to the Cincinnati Reds. Received a player to be named later. The Cincinnati Reds sent Ben Kozlowski (June 1, 2006) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade.

June 27, 2006 - Traded a player to be named later, Dioner Navarro and Jae Weong Seo to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Toby Hall, Mark Hendrickson and cash. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Justin Ruggiano (July 19, 2006) to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to complete the trade.

July 23, 2006 - Traded Sandy Alomar to the Chicago White Sox. Received B.J. LaMura (minors).

July 25, 2006 - Traded Blake Johnson (minors), Julio Pimentel (minors), Odalis Perez and cash to the Kansas City Royals. Received Elmer Dessens.

July 28, 2006 - Traded Willy Aybar, Danys Baez and cash to the Atlanta Braves. Received Wilson Betemit.

July 31, 2006 - Traded Sergio Pedroza (minors) and Joel Guzman to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Julio Lugo.
Traded Cesar Izturis to the Chicago Cubs. Received Greg Maddux.

August 31, 2006 - Traded Jhonny Nunez (minors) to the Washington Nationals. Received Marlon Anderson.

March 26, 2007 - Traded Elmer Dessens to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Brady Clark and cash.

March 29, 2007 - Traded ptbnl to the Chicago Cubs. Received Tomas Perez.

May 26, 2007 - Traded Tomas Perez to the Chicago White Sox. Received Dwayne Pollok (minors).

July 31, 2007 - Traded Wilson Betemit to the New York Yankees. Received Scott Proctor.

August 9, 2007 - Traded a player to be named later to the San Francisco Giants. Received Mark Sweeney. The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Travis Denker (August 25, 2007) to the San Francisco Giants to complete the trade.

April 8, 2008 - Traded Eric Hull to the Boston Red Sox. Received Christian Lara (minors).

June 6, 2008 - Traded Juan Rivera (minors) and cash to the Kansas City Royals. Received Angel Berroa.

July 26, 2008 - Traded Carlos Santana (minors) and Jonathan Meloan to the Cleveland Indians. Received Casey Blake and cash.

July 31, 2008 - As part of a 3-team trade, traded Bryan Morris (minors) and Andy LaRoche to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox. In addition, the Boston Red Sox sent Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Pittsburgh Pirates; and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent Jason Bay to the Boston Red Sox.

August 19, 2008 - Traded players to be named later, ptbnl and ptbnl to the San Diego Padres. Received Greg Maddux (minors). The Los Angeles Dodgers sent Eduardo Perez (minors) (September 30, 2008) and Michael Watt (minors) (September 30, 2008) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

Looking at the players Ned traded off, I'd say there's no one who contributed to their new teams either immediately or consistently. EdJax is having a good year, but it's the fourth season since the trade. Navarro was an all-star last year, but has fallen off the cliff. Really, the one player I wish we could have back is Cody Ross.
As for what Colletti got in return, I suppose the contributions of Manny, Maddux, Blake and Marlon Anderson are enough to wash out the damage done by duds like Lance Carter, Mark Hendrickson and Julio Lugo.

Speaking of Andy LaRoche. Wasn't he supposed to be a power guy? .269/.344/.372 for a 95 OPS+ this year.

Maybe he's still having issues with his wrist.

Cody Ross would have been a good 4th outfielder. Jason Werth would have been nice to keep but I understand why they released him after 2 injury years.

Carlos Santana has a good chance of biting us in the ass if the Indians ever moved away from the V-Mart era. Or at least the Kelly Stoppach era.

Jason Werth would have been nice to keep but I understand why they released him after 2 injury years.

I pin the loss of Werth squarely on the Dodgers training staff of the time.
Those fools couldn't keep Cal Ripken Jr. in the lineup

The Navarro trade was stupid - they figured they didn't need him with Martin around, but have struggled to find an adequate backup catcher since then. If he were going to be traded, the return should have been better at least - heck, the Red Sox have been desperate to find a young catcher for the past few years, for instance, and prior to the trade he'd had major league success. They didn't have space for Jackson at the time, but given his potential the return wasn't great - but I count him as one the team was down on. Ditto for Guzman. Werth being non-tendered was a money saving move based on his history of injuries - but I suspect also because he was one of the first guys DePodesta brought in.

I had no problem with the Manny trade at the time - it was obvious that LaRoche's wrist wasn't right, and getting a great player is going to cost. I liked the first Maddux trade - dumping Izturis' contract was nice on its own, and Maddux was still a useful starter (not so much the second time around).

The big problem I have with Colletti's trades isn't that he has traded future stars, but that he has stripped the minors of much of its depth in trades that were unlikely to help, rather than conserving the depth for trades that actually would help. Manny was supposedly being shopped before the 2008 season, and while Navarro wouldn't have been a centerpiece, he might have been a very useful part of the trade, and in the meantime maybe Martin might have been getting more rest during the season. Guzman didn't work out, but as a former top prospect he likely had some actual trade value. Ditto for Jackson if he'd been a swingman for the Dodgers.

When Schmidt was with the Giants he was a top tier starting pitcher, I'd go as far as saying he was as good or better than Derek Lowe with LA

Don't go too far out on that limb. Soon it might think about shaking.