In the winter of 2007, Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti handed out $116.85 million to these four players: Jason Schmidt, Juan Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra and Luis Gonzalez.

   

After one year and nearly $40 million in sunk costs, I think it’s safe to say the fleece factor is pointing at Colletti for all 4 transactions.  Let’s take a look:

1) Jason Schmidt received a 3-year, $47 million deal to become the ace of the Dodgers.  The then 33-year old was coming off a season in which he went 11-9 with a 3.59 ERA for the Giants.  His career ERA was 3.94, and his career BAA was .245.  Unfortunately for LA fans, the Dodgers still haven’t seen that pitcher.  Schmidt only made 6 starts for the Dodgers in 2007 and was shelled in most of them (1-4 with a 6.31 ERA).  He was then shut down and underwent season ending surgery to repair a torn labrum.  He is currently throwing on flat ground, but may not even be ready for spring training.  Ouch.

2) Juan Pierre was handed a 5-year, $44 million deal.  We’ve talked a little bit about Pierre before, pointing out his obvious flaw.  Despite selling himself as a leadoff hitter, he simply does not get on base enough.  This was no secret either.  Colletti signed Pierre to be his leadoff hitter despite successive OBP’s from Pierre of .326 and .330 in the prior two seasons.  Add that to his putrid .374 slugging percentage, and you have a guy that shouldn’t bat higher than 8th in your lineup earning money that only true leadoff hitters deserve, and stealing at-bats from more productive alternatives.  Fleece.  (Colletti basically admitted his mistake by signing Andruw Jones last month.)

3) The Dodgers also re-signed Nomar Garciaparra to a 2-year, $18.5 million deal last winter.  The plan was for Nomar to play first base and perhaps a little 3rd base despite the presence of top prospects James Loney and Andy Laroche.  In Colletti’s defense, Nomar was coming off a .303/.367/.505 season for the Dodgers in 2006, and even provided 20 home runs that year.  So I can understand the rationale in bringing him back as a crutch in case Loney or Andy Laroche couldn’t handle the infield corners…for one year.  But two years?  Do we really need to bring up Nomar’s injuries?  Anyway, Nomar was terrible in 2007, hitting .283/.328/.371 with only 7 homers in 431 at-bats.  And again, this was predictable as Nomar hadn’t strung together two straight productive seasons since 2002-2003.  Why the second year?  Why not just offer him 1 year, and bring in a lesser-known player to back up Loney if Nomar declines?  Or is that too logical?  Fleeced.  The Dodgers will now have to sit through another year of first pitch pop-ups from Nomar in 2008.

4) Finally, we come to Luis Gonzalez, who stole $7.35 million from the Dodgers last winter.  Gonzalez provided the Dodgers with a healthy dose of mediocrity for a corner outfielder (.278/.359/.433), horrible defense and clubhouse issues. (Gonzalez seems to think it’s still 2001.)  Somehow, Gonzalez is poised to fleece a team into a 7-figure contract again in 2008.  Unreal.

So there you have it: Four major deals made by the Dodgers last winter that would have to be considered fleeces so far.  I wonder if Ned Colletti was expecting a frosty winter in Southern California the way he was collecting fleeces.  The Schmidt deal still has time to change, but who knows if the big righty can stay healthy after shoulder surgery.  I feel confident that the other three deals can be written off as fleeces already.  Thoughts?

Filed under: Los Angeles Dodgers, _A Look Back