I posted a couple days ago about how the Dodgers were negotiating a Milton Bradley for Barry Zito trade, and I expressed a bit of concern that the Dodgers might throw in some valuable minor leaguers to make it happen. Rumor today has it that the Bradley/Zito talks have died, and I am a little bit relieved.
Also, I read this in Jayson Stark’s article on the Dodgers today:
The one part of this team’s operation that’s in great shape, the farm system, will come in handy as [Dodgers General Manager Ned] Colletti attempts to pull off all this magic. But there are limits to how much of it the GM is willing to plunder for the sake of winning now.
And those limits are known as James Loney. And Russell Martin. And Chad Billingsley. Who are the current poster boys for that system.
“If I wanted to fix things and have half a farm system, I could have done that yesterday,” Colletti said. “But that’s not the plan. The plan is to be better and still hold the course, to develop and win at the same time. That’s probably the hardest thing to do in baseball — develop and win at the same time. But that’s what we’re trying to do.”
I hope Colletti isn’t just blowing smoke, because as bleak as the present and the immediate past may be, the future looks very bright for the Dodgers.