Citing the high asking prices for top players on the trade market and the lack of quality among free agents, Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti hinted Monday that Manager Joe Torre could be the team's only high-profile acquisition of the off-season.
That would leave the Dodgers with a team that again would be short on experience, something Colletti and Torre said they didn't mind when speaking at a news conference announcing their exhibition game at the Coliseum against the Boston Red Sox on March 29.
"There's potential for change, but as we look at the young players that we played a lot this past year, we're less likely to fill in [positions with veterans] as much as we have in the past and more likely we'll give the younger players a greater opportunity," Colletti said. "I'm curious to see how our young players, who really had a chance this past year to play full time, I'm curious to see what another year does."
Torre said he is "comfortable" with the team's nucleus being what it is today. Torre said that despite the reliance on youth, he is convinced that owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are "determined to bring a winner here."
"I've managed teams that when you present [something] to the organization, they say, 'We can't do it today,' " Torre said. "That's not the case here."
Colletti called pitching a "constant priority" and Torre said that facet of the game would be the key to the team's success. But Colletti said that trade demands for "the pitching that draws your attention is the same" as those for a middle-of-the-order bat -- that is, very high and more than the Dodgers are willing to part with.
When the Dodgers approached the Florida Marlins about All-Star third baseman Miguel Cabrera, they were asked for four players in return.
The top pitcher on the trading block, Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins, is a free agent at the end of the 2008 season and has a no-trade clause in his contract. Signing him would not only cost the Dodgers multiple players, but probably also a six-year contract extension that would start in 2009 and be worth in the neighborhood of $20 million per season.
The Dodgers made that kind of commitment to Kevin Brown when they signed him to a seven-year deal that made him baseball's first $100-million player leading up to the 1999 season. Brown was frequently injured and averaged nine wins over the duration of the contract.
