Dodgers agree to deal w/ Kente Maeda

[davell]

I guess Wood goes to the pen, if they're all healthy? Or with this group, is it possible Kershaw goes every 5th day, while the others pitch every 6th? Maeda is small framed, Kazmir, Ryu, and Anderson are injury risks, and Wood has a delivery that screams issues down the line.....Could that work? Or does it disrupt things too much when one of that group goes down? Would putting them back on a 5 day program all at once be scary to try at that point?

[Post Count Padder]

Yo, eff the Dodgers.

 

Thought I guess we could take Wood off their hands.

[davell]

8 year deal. Only 24 mill guaranteed. Lots and lots of incentives. I can't wait to see what this thing looks like.

 

24 mill is all he got guaranteed though, I've got to wonder if the Dodgers were the ONLY team that covered the 20 mill posting fee?

[toonsterwu]

I really like the Kazmir/Maeda moves for them. Maeda, obviously, gives them a righty to throw in the mix, and considering that it seems to be heavily incentive/performance laden, it feels like it should be fine. Kazmir gives them an arm that's been solid and durable the last couple of years, and being in a pitcher's park should help. Worst case seems to be they get stuck with bad contracts for a few years, but with a lot of money coming off the books soon (namely, Ethier and Crawford after 2017), plus the fact that they have that financial strength ... they can probably live with that (and McCarthy's comes off after 2018, if I'm not mistaken).

 

That said, I'm going to be surprised if they end there. They've given themselves depth in case of durability concerns, but now, they've got some pieces they can shop. Namely, Alex Wood in a trade seems like he could fetch a decent return, or be a part of a bigger package. I think they'll probably make a run at a SP (Tampa is still the better fit for them, as Indians want immediate offensive help), but if not, I wonder if they try to swing a trade for a pen arm. Honestly, the move that makes sense to me probably isn't the one that would happen (Alex Wood/2nd tier, non Urias/Seager prospects) for Zach Britton, but I do wonder if they decide to use their depth and go the route of bulking up the bullpen. Certainly could see Drew Storen as a target for them, and wonder if the Red Sox may move a veteran.

 

If Alex Wood isn't used in a trade, I think the best route would be to stuff him in AAA and keep him stretched out and/or "showcased". Still, I tend to think Wood's best value to them now may be as a trade chip in this market, particularly for teams that aren't inclined to spend big on pitching.

[davell]

Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan 2m2 minutes ago

 

Once Maeda reaches 90 IP, he gets $250K for every 10 IP up to 200 ($3M total). He also gets $1M for 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th and 32nd starts.

 

So 25 starts and 150 innings per year would get him to 7.750 a year. That's such a nice deal for the Dodgers....

[treebird]

so this just has to be a situation where he was only interested in going to the dodgers and the dodgers knew it, right?

[davell]

so this just has to be a situation where he was only interested in going to the dodgers and the dodgers knew it, right?

 

Couple of things......1) There WERE rumors he preferred the west coast. So they may have benefitted from that. But 2) and I think this was more important.....Was when he was posted. His team posted him with a max posting fee(20 mill) attached to him. And most of the contenders that were after upper end guys had already filled them, by then. My honest guess, especially based on the contract he received, is that the Dodgers were the ONLY team even willing to pay the 20 mill fee at the time. Which would help explain why he got such a team friendly deal. He likely had no one else to negotiate off of.

[Guest]

so this just has to be a situation where he was only interested in going to the dodgers and the dodgers knew it, right?

 

Couple of things......1) There WERE rumors he preferred the west coast. So they may have benefitted from that. But 2) and I think this was more important.....Was when he was posted. His team posted him with a max posting fee(20 mill) attached to him. And most of the contenders that were after upper end guys had already filled them, by then. My honest guess, especially based on the contract he received, is that the Dodgers were the ONLY team even willing to pay the 20 mill fee at the time. Which would help explain why he got such a team friendly deal. He likely had no one else to negotiate off of.

 

Apparently some teams wer scared of his health after the physical he took for all MLB teams when he was posted.