Thursday, December 31, 2009

A lump of coal?

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And to think I nearly escaped the holidays with nary a dud gift. Well, unless you count socks with cell phones on them, but that was a joke. I think. Anyway, Ken Gurnick passes along some news:

The Dodgers have opened discussions on a multiyear contract with Matt Kemp, but his agent said Kemp might prefer to go year to year.
"We've only talked about it a little bit, so who knows where it's going to go?" said former Dodgers pitcher Dave Stewart, who represents Kemp and pitcher Chad Billingsley.
I'm just a little confused. The title of the piece is "Agent: Kemp not thinking long-term deal," but nothing in the body itself indicates that he's leaning one way or the other. I certainly hope they can lock him up, buying out a couple years of free agency in the process. But I suspect that's just the sort of financial commitment the Dodgers are avoiding right now, whether they admit it or not. If they're worried about the possibility of Randy Wolf making $12 million in 2009, I can't imagine they're looking to add a Markakis-like commitment. The winter after he'd ticked past three years of service time (like Kemp now), Markakis signed a 6-year, $66 million extension with the Orioles. I'd expect that deal to be the touchstone of any negotiations on a Kemp extension.


On Billingsley, it would thrill me to no end if the Dodgers could buy low on him, as it were. For reasons I don't fully understand, people are down on the guy. I see him as a cornerstone of the franchise. He can start two games for my team in the World Series, that's for sure.
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Jon Weisman's got 33 theses for you to check out at Dodger Thoughts, including his prediction on the outcome of the McCourt litigation. If you haven't stopped by there in a couple days, it's well worth a few minutes.


Also, I posted a blog item about Kemp's comparables at The Hardball Times. Carlos Beltran? Yes.  Andruw Jones and Nick Markakis? Not necessarily.
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7 comments:

  1. I'm with you on Billingsley, he's still young and his last 2 or 3 starts of the season were solid, not to mention the relief appearance in the NLCS. I wondered what could have been if he had started that game.....

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  3. I don't get the Billingsley hate. He's brilliant.

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  4. Dodgers fans are fickle, many are fair-weathered, and frankly, many are plan ignorant/unaware of statistics and talent.

    Hence the insane amount of Juan Pierre love.

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  5. hope that opened discussion will be finished successfuly online term papers

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  6. I hope you do not stop writing these great articles!

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  7. I'm just a little confused. The title of the piece is "Agent: Kemp not thinking long-term deal," but nothing in the body itself indicates that he's leaning one way or the other. I certainly hope they can lock him up, buying out a couple years of free agency in the process. stitching unit , ladies tailor , custom tailor , tailor near me , tailor shop , Online Tailor Shop , tailoring company , custom tailoring services , stitching unit , best online tailor But I suspect that's just the sort of financial commitment the Dodgers are avoiding right now, whether they admit it or not. If they're worried about the possibility of Randy Wolf making $12 million in 2009, I can't imagine they're looking to add a Markakis-like commitment. The winter after he'd ticked past three years of service time (like Kemp now), Markakis signed a 6-year, $66 million extension with the Orioles. I'd expect that deal to be the touchstone of any negotiations on a Kemp extension.

    ReplyDelete