Repko Released

Jason Repko was released after the Dodgers placed him on waivers Tuesday.

The move saves the team $375,000, according to Ken Gurnick. That money probably ends up with Jamie McCourt. Having fun Frank?

Repko Waived

And he was re-signed for what reason exactly?

Rafael Furcal is safe once again.

Repko Placed On Waivers.

Brian Giles? It Just Never Ends

The Dodgers have signed Brian Giles - Brian Giles?!?! - to a minor league, 1-year deal. Invitation to Spring Training included.

I really don't know what to say anymore, and I've stopped guessing what the hell Ned Colletti is trying to do. My initial thought: Xavier Paul, Brian Barton, Jason Repko, Reed Johnson.

Giles, 39 and a native of El Cajon, CA, has played for 15 seasons, splitting time between Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and San Diego.

The career numbers are actually quite impressive: .400 OBP, .502 SLG %, 136 OPS+. The man knows how to take a walk. All of this would have been great, if not for the fact that he's 39. Oh, and he may have beat his girlfriend, while pregnant, causing her to miscarry. Lovely.

Dodgers Rumored To Be Seeking Relationship With One Garret Anderson

Tim Brown Tweets the Dodgers are interested in ancient, washed-up former Angel Garret Anderson, "among others", as the possible number four OFer.

Let's make this simple and get to the point:

1.) NO (career .326 OBP, .465 SLG %, .791 OPS, 104 OPS+).
2.) Xavier Paul, Brian Barton, and Jason Repko are still alive.

Dodgers Sign All Arbitration-Eligible Players

First it was Jason Repko, then Chad Billingsley, then Matt Kemp, and now comes the remaining arbitration-eligible players.

Jonathan Broxton and Andre Ethier sign 2-year deals, ala Kemp, while Russell Martin, James Loney, Hong Chih-Kuo, and George Sherill all ink 1-year deals.

No arbitration hearings this year for the Dodgers.

Dodgers Sign Jason Repko, Avoid Arbitration With Rafael Furcal's Worst Nightmare

Repko signs a 1-year-deal for $500,000, avoiding arbitration.

He'll probably win the 4th OF's job, but I prefer Xavier Paul and Brian Barton for the reserve OF spots.

Dodgers Sign Pair To Minor League Deals

Russ Ortiz and Michael Restovich have been picked up off of the scrap heap by Ned Colletti, signing minor league deals. Both have received invitations to Spring Training.

Ortiz will be 36 in June, and has pitched for San Francisco, Atlanta, Arizona, Baltimore, and Houston. Restovich, 31 and an OF, has played for Minnesota, Colorado, Pittsburgh, the Cubs, and Washington.

Ortiz has a career FIP of 4.68 over 11 major league seasons, while striking out 6.45/9 IP and walking 4.65/9 IP. He did not appear in a major league game in 2008, and has also pitched for the minor league affiliates of Colorado and the Yankees. And if you think he's only here for the postseason, well, his numbers get even more pretty to look at: a 4.96 FIP and a 1.73 WHIP (click "Show Postseason" on the above link).

If Ortiz pitches for the Dodgers in a major league game, he will hurt the team. Plain and simple, he will only do damage. Pitching is an organizational strength, so Ortiz should not even sniff the majors.


Restovich has a career .313 OBP and .377 SLG% over 297 plate appearances, spread over 6 seasons. He last appeared in a major league game in 2007 and proceeded to produce and OPS+ of -6. Yes, that's a negative sign in front of what would otherwise have been a very, very manly OPS+ of 6.

Restovich is easily behind Xavier Paul, Brian Barton, and Jason Repko in terms of reserve OFs. I would also put him behind every other minor league OF in the organization, and I can only name a handful off of the top of my head. He's minor league depth, simply put; at least he should be if Colletti and Torre are smart.

Robb Quinlan? God No

The Dodgers are interested in Robb Quinlan, Tweets Lyle Spencer. Spencer says the Dodgers view Quinlan as a 4th OF.

Of course, we already three capable 4th OFs in the organization in Xavier Paul, Brian Barton, and Jason Repko. I never thought I'd call Repko capable, but he most certainly is when compared to Quinlan.

Quinlan is 33, and will be 34 for the entirety of the upcoming 2010 season. Oh, and he is a horrendous player.

A career .326 OBP (.275 [!] last season) to go along with a career OPS of .734 (.614 last season). An OPS which has declined the last 4 seasons. All this is made more comical by the fact that Quinlan possesses a career .317 BABIP. It's comical and refreshing to see that he's this atrocious even with a good career BABIP.

Quinlan is, of course, just the kind of player Colletti loves. Old, more expensive than the better in-house options we have, and veterany.

Lyle Spencer, you better be wrong.

Ned Colletti, you better talk to someone intelligent before you do something stupid.

Dodgers Sign Brian Barton (UPDATE)

To a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, reports Dylan Hernandez via Twitter.

The Dodgers will now be inviting 10 players to Spring Training who have signed minor league deals with the club.

Barton, 27, was born in LA and signed as an amateur free agent in 2005 by Cleveland.

Barton, an OF, has appeared in 83 games over 2 seasons, amassing 179 plate appearances with a .354 OBP.

His minor league numbers are impressive, with a slash line of .300/.398/.451/.849 in 5 seasons.

I really like the idea of Xavier Paul and Barton being the 4th and 5th OFs, though the team does have a love affair with Jason Repko that I can't explain.

Nice signing by Ned.

Barton's career:

• May 14, 2005: Signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent.
• December 6, 2007: Drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals from the Cleveland Indians in the 2007 rule 5 draft.
• April 20, 2009: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Atlanta Braves for Blaine Boyer

UPDATE: Thanks to commenter louisinsf over at Dodger Thoughts (and verified by the ever reliable Wikipedia), Barton was drafted by the Dodgers in the 38th round (1137th overall) of the 2000 MLB Draft, but did not sign and instead attended Loyola Marymount University.

YES! Juan Pierre Has Been Traded! (UPDATES)

Juan Pierre has been traded to the White Sox, according to Tim Brown and Ken Rosenthal.

Brown reports the Dodgers will pick up about half of Pierre's remaining salary, and will acquire two minor league pitchers.

Dylan Hernandez Tweets the minor leaguers will be named later.

Buster Olney Tweets the breakdown of salary as: $8 million to be paid by the White Sox, $10.5 million to be paid by the Dodgers.

As the title of this post clearly demonstrates, I am ecstatic at this news. Now, I just hope Xavier Paul wins the 4th outfielder job over Jason Repko, which appears to be more of a challenge than it should be due to the Dodgers love affair with Repko.

I don't really even care who we get back in return for Pierre (though hopefully there's some nice upside with the two minor leaguers); I'm just thrilled Juan Pierre is no longer a Dodger.

You can follow along and stay up to date with this transaction through MLB Trade Rumors and their excellent coverage.


UPDATE: Eric Stephen over at True Blue LA gives his take on the trade, including the statistical information I was too lazy to link to, though that information should be known by everyone today. Shockingly, many don't understand baseball statistics, or just choose to ignore them when it comes to Juan Pierre, using awful statistics like batting average and steals.

UPDATE # 2: Jon Morosi of FOX Sports Tweets that, according to a "source", the prospects coming to LA are John Ely, 23, and Jon Link, 25.

UPDATE # 3: Jayson Stark reports that the pitchers the Dodgers will acquire are likely to be ready to hit the show in 2010, which lends credence to the pitchers being Ely and Link, as Morosi reported. Ely has already reached AA, while Link has reached AAA. Ely has over a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio and has struck out roughly 8/9 IP in his minor league career, while Link has struck out more than a batter per inning and has an almost 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio in his minor league career.

UPDATE # 4: The Dodgers have announced the trade. The players to be named later will be announced no later than January 7th of 2010. I'm hoping the players are Ely and Link, or at least comparable players. Ely and Link in particular make me love this deal even more than I already do.

UPDATE # 5: Juan Pierre looks baller with that mustache in the above photo. I'd like him a bit more if he grew it back. Not enough to want him on the team, but hey, it would be a start (again, a start that didn't end with him on the Dodgers).

UPDATE # 6: Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts gives his take on the Pierre trade. A great read.

Dodgers To Tender Contracts To All Arbitration-Eligible Players

The list:

• Matt Kemp
• Chad Billingsley
• Jonathan Broxton
• Andre Ethier
• Hong-Chih Kuo
• James Loney
• George Sherrill
• Russell Martin
• Jason Repko (?!?! - Oy vey)
  

Winter Meetings News

Jon Weisman passes along multiple Dodger moves:

• Jamie Hoffmann was taken with the first selection in the Rule 5 Draft by the Yankees.
• The Dodgers are going to offer arbitration to Jason Repko. Color me fucking stunned. He must have pictures of someone in the organization.
• The Dodgers acquired Carlos Monasterios from the Mets, who selected him in the Rule 5 Draft. The price: CASH. Wasn't a lack of cash the problem? The reason why we couldn't offer arbitration to Wolf and Hudson? Oh wait, it was a "baseball decision". Fuck.
• The Dodgers acquired Armando Zerpa from the Rays, who selected him in the aforementioned Rule 5 Draft.
  

Waiting For Hoffmann

To re-sign ends.

I'm thrilled he's back with the organization. Only 25 years old, gives us good depth, a hell of a lot better than Repko, and I think he could have made a difference, even if it was just a small one, coming off of the bench down the stretch.

I think he's earned a bench spot next year, but hey, I don't get to make those decisions.

Bye Bye Jamie

Jamie Hoffmann has been designated for assignment. This allows Jim Thome to be added to the 40-man roster and be available for tonight's game. One more move will need to be made to allow Jon Garland to be added to the 40-man.


--------------------------------------------------------------

And yet it won't be Jason Repko.

Joining Repko as September call-ups are Scott Elbert and A.J. Ellis.

Repko should have received the DFA tag, as Hoffmann is younger and has more upside than the perennially-injured Repko. Great job Ned.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The Dodgers will pay $1 million of Thome's remaining 2009 salary.

Who Gets The Letters DFA By Their Name? (EDIT)

To accommodate the acquisitions of Jim Thome and Jon Garland, two guys need to be designated for assignment from the 40-man roster. This really shouldn't even be an issue.

DFA: Mark Loretta

DFA: Jason Repko

Repko is the 5th OF (6th if Xavier Paul returns), and with the additions of Thome and Ronnie Belliard, Loretta should be let go. Adios gentlemen (please Ned, do the smart/right thing).

Loretta gone would open a spot on the active roster. With his performance tonight, I think it's safe to say James McDonald purchased himself a trip back to AAA to open a spot for Garland. Though I would prefer McD to stay up and Garland to go away.

------------------------------------------------------------

DFA: Will Ohman
DFA: Eric Milton

Neither is on the 40-man roster, but both should be long-gone by now.





EDIT: Once Thome and Garland are added to the 40-man roster, there will be no issue in adding them to the active roster. With all the chaos and roster moves in the past few days, I completely forgot that rosters expand today. Lucky lucky Loretta (perhaps?).