Original Draft Series: #8 – Los Angeles Dodgers

For those that missed the guidelines I am using for this series of posts, you can find them here.

Team #8: Los Angeles Dodgers

General Managers(since 1994)

Fred Claire (1994-1998): 397-347
Kevin Malone (1999-2001): 249-237
Dan Evans (2002-2003): 177-147
Paul DePodesta (2004-2005): 164-160
Ned Coletti (2006-Current): 349-299

Team Performance

Playoffs			Division Finish
WC	League	Playoff App	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Last
0	0	7	6	4	4	2	0

All information is drawn from Baseball Reference.

Position	Name	Acquired	Years with Org.	Stats with Organization	Left?
C	Russell Martin	2002 – 17th Rd	8	2 All Star Appearances, 1 Gold Glove, 1 Silver Slugger 667 gm, .272/.365/.396, 54 HR, 300 RBI, 66 SB	Currently with Org.
1B	Paul Konerko	1994 – 1st Rd (13)	4	55 gm, .212/.271/.298, 4 HR, 16 RBI	Traded to CIN – 7/4/98
2B	Blake DeWitt	2004 – 1st Rd (28)	6	230 gm, .262/.340/.379, 12 HR, 86 RBI, 5 SB	Traded to CHC – 7/31/10
3B	Adrian Beltre	Int’l FA – 1994	10	1 Silver Slugger 966 gm, .274/.332/.463, 147 HR, 510 RBI, 62 SB	Left via Free Agency – 10/28/04
SS	Juan Castro	Int’l FA – 1991	8+1+1	270 gm, .205/.258/.271, 3 HR, 32 RBI, SB	Traded to CIN – 4/1/00
LF	Shane Victorino	1999 – 6th Rd	5	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Rule 5 Selection of PHI – 12/13/04
CF	Franklin Gutierrez	Int’l FA – 2000	4	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to CLE – 4/3/04
RF	Matt Kemp	2003 – 6th Rd	7	1 Gold Glove, 1 Silver Slugger 588 gm, .289/.338/.472, 81 HR, 310 RBI, 101 SB	Currently with Org.
DH	James Loney	2002 – 1st Rd (19)	8	586 gm, .292/.350/.442, 53 HR, 337 RBI, 24 SB	Currently with Org.
SP	Ted Lilly	1996 – 23rd Rd	2+1	4-0, 1.29 ERA, 28 IP, 26 K, 4 BB	Traded to MON – 7/31/98
SP	Edwin Jackson	2001 – 6th Rd	4	6-4, 5.50 ERA, 75.1 IP, 48 K, 39 BB, 1.566 WHIP	Traded to TAM – 1/14/06
SP	Clayton Kershaw	2006 – 1st Rd (7)	4	24-20, 3.24 ERA, 436 IP, 448 K, 210 BB, 1.298 WHIP	Currently with Org.
SP	Hiroki Kuroda	Int’l FA – 2007	3	25-28, 3.66 ERA, 448 IP, 321 K, 104 BB, 1.203 WHIP	Currently with Org.
SP	Chad Billingsley	2003 – 1st Rd (24)	7	1 All Star Appearance 57-37, 3.58 ERA, 780 IP, 703 K, 338 BB, 1.365 WHIP	Currently with Org,
RP	Hong-Chih Kuo	Int’l FA – 1999	11	1 All Star Appearance 12-15, 3.34 ERA, 5 SV, 250.1 IP, 290 K, 101 BB, 1.194 WHIP	Currently with Org.
RP	Joel Hanrahan	2000 – 2nd Rd	6	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Left via Free Agency – 10/15/06
RP	Dennys Reyes	Int’l FA – 1993	5	2-7, 4.16 ERA, 75.2 IP, 69 K, 38 BB, 1.533 WHIP	Traded to CIN – 7/4/98
RP	Takashi Saito	Int’l FA – 2006	3	1 All Star Appearance 12-7, 1.95 ERA, 81 SV, 189.2 IP, 245 K, 52 BB, 0.912 WHIP	Left via Free Agency – 12/12/08
RP	Jonathan Broxton	2002 – 2nd Rd	8	2 All Star Appearances 23-16, 2.96 ERA, 77 SV, 367.1 IP, 483 K, 144 BB, 1.171 WHIP	Currently with Org.
CL	Joakim Soria	Int’l FA – 2001	3	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Released – 10/12/04
BN	Andy LaRoche	2003 – 39th Rd	5	62 gm, .217/.348/.316, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 2 SB	Traded to PIT – 7/31/08
BN	Delwyn Young	2002 – 4th Rd	6	110 gm, .267/.331/.394, 3 HR, 10 RBI, SB	Traded to PIT – 7/31/08
BN	Xavier Paul	2003 – 4th Rd	7	55 gm, .230/.281/.333, HR, 12 RBI, 3 SB	Currently with Org.
BN	Miguel Cairo	Int’l FA – 1990	5	No Major League Appearances with Org.	Traded to SEA – 11/29/95
BN	A.J. Ellis	2003 – 18th Rd	7	38 gm, .159/.213/.183, 10 RBI	Currently with Org.

June Amateur Draft

The Dodgers have done really well of late, getting a lot of their first round picks to the Majors in short order. Their current pitching staff relies on both Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw, who were both first round picks in the past 8 seasons. Blake DeWitt, recently traded to reacquire Ted Lilly, was also a first round pick, but he has not been quite the performer they expected yet. James Loney was also a first round selection, and has become a solid Major League regular. The team has also done well with other rounds, getting All-Star closer Jonathan Broxton (2nd), Gold Glove outfielder Matt Kemp (6th), and Delwyn Young (4th), who was used to help acquire Manny Ramirez during the 2008 season. Even some of the later round picks have been productive, with catcher Russell Martin being the best of the later round picks. There even have been some excellent players who didn’t really play much with the team, with both Paul Konerko and Shane Victorino becoming All-Star caliber players with different organizations.

International Free Agency

The Dodgers have always been considered to be one of the leaders in looking for new talent markets, and international free agency has done well for them as well. While they have had more success with some of the professional free agents they have signed (Takashi Saito and Hiroki Kuroda), they have also seen some success with signing young players out of both the Latin American countries as well as the Asian markets. Adrian Beltre had probably the best single season of any of the IFAs, earning himself a huge free agent contract after a 48 homerun seasonin 2004. They have also had some players who kind of got away who have turned into solid Major Leaguers, with Franklin Gutierrez and Joakim Soria the highest profile ones.

Overall Grade

A-. The Dodgers, who generally have a lot more money to play with than a lot of organizations, still do very well to build their team from the inside, and add pieces as needed. They have had their few players who were essentially given up on (Victorino, Soria), but they generally haven’t missed on too many of their high level prospects. The team has also had quite a few homegrown All-Stars, with Russell Martin, Jonathan Broxton, Chad Billingsley, Hong-Chih Kuo, and Takashi Saito all representing the Dodger Blue. They also have a lot of high end prospects on their way in the minors, led by Dee Gordon, Chris Withrow, Ethan Martin and Jerry Sands, and should continue to be competitive in the NL West.