Picture of Greg Maddux from Sports Illustrated

So I love this article on Greg Maddux from ESPN:

It was truly not hard to like the guy.  He wasn’t the ace, but he was a great addition to the Dodgers twice.  As much as Ned Colletti receives flak, I do like his philosophy of bringing in the known veterans for the young players, as well as for the fans.  I and others went to the game, just to see Greg Maddux in a Dodgers uniform when he first came.  Players like him, and Nomar Garciaparra, and even Jeff Kent, are just strong players that people like to see.  I’m convinced that the Dodgers will be a strong player for Randy Johnson this year too, for that same reason.  He brings in the fans, helps the young pups, and can put up solid numbers.  The price is lower and it’s a short term good deal.

My favorite memory of Maddux as a Dodger will forever be him pitching in relief in the playoffs.  The Dodgers were trying to finally go somewhere and knowing he was available in the pen was a cool relief as a fan.  It was just cool to know you had a future hall of famer to help button it up.  He was classy and everyone one agrees on it.

Tip #1 for the Dodgers:  Hire Maddux as a consultant for Billingsley and the young pitchers.  He was a great help for them last year in the playoffs.

Tip #2 for Derek Lowe:  Put Maddux on retainer to watch every game you pitch and then call talk about it.  Derek’s numbers got better both times Maddux was on the bench with him, and he shouldn’t miss part of the reason.

Maddux knew the game and has a great legacy.

So my last post on Arbitration was a classic case of being the bay area and being disconnected from L.A. I took Rafael Furcal not getting Arbitration as a potential good thing….according to the L.A. Times I’m a little off. I also finally got the L.A. Times RSS feed on the News page fixed, so hopefully this won’t happen again.

Anyways, here’s the link to the L.A. Times article.

Basically, they didn’t offer arbitration because he played so little last year (not a Type A or B free agent), and they don’t want to pay him more than last year.  Fair from the Dodgers point of you, but if he really can get a 4 year deal from the A’s, then he’s probably gone.  It may change, but it does seem that Coletti really favors the short contracts. 

It will be an intereting off-season, because the team may look very different next year without Furcal, Manny, Kent, Nomar, Penny and Lowe.  The team always makes a splash, but they may end up with more holes again.

So Arbitration to Manny, Lowe, and Blake, but no one else. Hmm. It is an easy assumption to think those are they guys they think they are going to lose, therefore they are protecting themselves…especially since two are type A. Having said that, why no Furcal? Hopefully negotiations are going good with him. We’ll see. If anything, Manny may be on the way out.