Here's a look at what I think the Dodgers should do this offseason-
There are several big contracts coming off the books. These are close estimates: Nomar (9M), Kent (9M), Lowe (10M), Penny (8M), Bennett (2M), Loaiza (7M), Furcal (14M), Beimel (1M).
Nomar- Let him go. That's WAY too steep of price. Money better used elsewhere. He's not a starter anyway.
Kent- He'll retire. Even if he wants to still play, Blake DeWitt is ready to take over at 2B, and gets paid the minimum.
Lowe- Good pitcher, but let me walk.
Penny- Let him go.
Bennett- Let him go.
Loaiza- Dead money. He's already gone.
Furcal- Bring him back (more on him below)
Beimel- Re-sign him for one year.
And here's what we do with the 45M we let go (Furcal's $$ above not included in 45M, but will not require 14M to resign him, so the 45M may be as high as 50-52M:
Resign Manny. Do whatever it takes, even 4 years/80M, which might get it done. So that's 20M per season.
Sign CC Sabathia. Again, do whatever it takes. His salary, even around 18M, would just be a replacement of Lowe and Penny. And with Penny going downhill and oft-injured, it's basically a Lowe for CC swap. And word is the Dodgers are his first choice, so it can be done.
Resign Casey Blake at the same 1 year/6M deal he has now to play third.
Resign Furcal for 2 years, heavy incentive laiden. Where he can earn up to 10M if he's healthy. If the gamble doesn't pay off, keep Berroa, or maybe Hu will be ready. In any case, there's nothing close to the potential that Furcal has out on the FA market. It's worth the gamble. If healthy, next to Manny, Furcal's our best offensive player. And our best defensive. To top it off, he WANTS to be resigned by the Dodgers.
Resign Park to one year deal, around 2M.
Add a 5th starter for 2-3M.
So with all of this, our payroll next season will be roughly the same, depending on a few things. Nonetheless, it would be a GREAT sell. We'd definitely be the team to beat, merchandise and attendance would spike with CC and Manny. Plus, after next season, 34M of dead money is freed up (Andruw Jones, Jason Schmidt). So if McCourt wants to slash payroll a little, he just has to bite the bullet for one year, then get the refreshing 34M off the books with these bums.
Our lineup would look like this:
Furcal SS
Ethier RF
Manny LF
Loney 1B
Kemp CF
Blake 3B
Martin C
DeWitt 2B
Our rotation would look like this:
Sabathia
Billingsley
Kershaw
Park
Unsigned fifth starter
Pen:
Saito
Broxton
Beimel
Wade
Elbert
etc..
This would win the division, no doubt. The other teams wouldn't be able to match up against us, when you include everyday lineup, rotation, and pen. And all this for the same payroll we have this year.
