What’s the name of that Cory Doctorow book? Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. Well, it looks as if the departing Greg Maddux will be replaced by a certain free-agent pitcher who was last with a certain Northern California team.
“Schmidt says he’s joining Dodgers”
The Dodgers apparently are on the verge of acquiring the power pitcher they’ve coveted, as free-agent right-hander Jason Schmidt on Wednesday told former Giants teammates he accepted a three-year, $47 million offer to pitch in Los Angeles.
In acquiring Schmidt, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti would succeed in a key step of his offseason Plan B — accumulating surplus starting pitching that not only improves his starting rotation, but could lead to the culmination of Plan A, a power hitter.
We could, for example, turn around and trade Brad Penny in a package for a corner outfielder with plus power. Or we could go into the season with this crazy-good rotation:
- Jason Schmidt
- Derek Lowe
- Brad Penny
- Randy Wolf
- Hong-Chih Kuo/Chad Billingsley
And that doesn’t count Mark Hendrickson, Brett Tomko, or Elmer Dessens.
Of course, sports news outlets and blogs all over the country were falling over themselves making “Schmidt” puns. A sampling:
- “Schmidt Will Happen In L.A.”
- “Schmidt happens: Dodgers land free-agent pitcher” (They also couldn’t resist “A piece of Piazza: A’s reach agreement with catcher”.)
- “Dodgers Get Their Schmidt Together”
- “Oh Schmidt! Jason leaves Giants for hated Dodgers”
- “Schmidt-less in St. Louis”
There are plenty more out there. I hope the LA media can show some restraint in the years to come. ;)
Meanwhile, the Mike Lieberthal signing is officially official, so we now have our backup catcher locked up for the season. The ticking just got louder on the Toby Hall countdown timer.
“Mike is a veteran catcher who can help our club in a lot of different ways,” said Colletti. “As a former Gold Glove Award winner, he has a lot to offer Russell Martin and he’ll be able to provide valuable leadership in the clubhouse. He’s another local player who knows what it means to be a Dodger.”
Late today, a report emerged that the rumored signing of Luis Gonzalez was in fact, fact.
The deal is expected to be officially announced Thursday, the final day of the Winter Meetings. The club has targeted Gonzalez, who spent the last eight seasons with Arizona, for outfield help since J.D. Drew’s departure and beat out the Orioles and Cardinals for the veteran’s services.
So, a relatively better news day than yesterday, although there are still questions to be answered.
