An article in the Arizona Republic — Batista offered arbitration — has this informative bit near the end:
“By not offering [Luis] Gonzalez arbitration, it could make it a little easier for him to sign with another team. Because Gonzalez is a Type A free agent, his next team would have had to forfeit its own first-round pick to the Diamondbacks if Gonzalez had been offered arbitration.
“Gonzalez on Friday received his first contract offers, which came from Baltimore and the Los Angeles Dodgers, his agent Terry Bross said. Bross also anticipates offers from two or three more clubs.”
Grain of salt, of course, but it’s hard to figure out where the “other” LuGo (AKA Gonzo) would fit in now, absent some bodies moving east in a hypothetical trade for Manny Ramirez.
Speaking of Manny, there was a revealing bit of talk in a Dominican Today article — Dodgers want the Dominican Manny — quoting Grady Little:
“I know how to handle Manny Ramírez. I respect him as a player and he was a marvellous [sic] ballplayer in Boston. There aren’t many like him and the Dodgers need a player of his stature,” said the Dodgers manager.
“Manny would be a great Christmas present. Who wouldn’t want a gift like that?” added Little, who was attending trials for young players at Santo Domingo’s Olympic Stadium along with the general manager Ned Colleti [sic] and other executives from the Dodgers.
Indeed.
(Via Google News. Jon Weisman also quoted it in this post regarding the Greg Maddux arbitration situation.)
The Phillies, as expected, did not offer arbitration to Mike Lieberthal, so we can expect to see more news soon about him signing with the Dodgers, barring a problem in his physical.
And the Dodgers did offer Julio Lugo arbitration, though he probably will not accept, as he can get a better deal elsewhere, thus bringing the Dodgers compensation in the form of draft picks. On the flipside, the Giants offered Jason Schmidt arbitration, thus requiring compensation if he is signed somewhere else — like LA.