Kuzul

Just look at the names in this week’s UTK and you’ll see the issue. Giancarlo Stanton, Zack Greinke, Troy Tulowitzki, Stephen Strasburg—these are big-time stars, with most making big time money or carrying the hopes of a franchise on their back.

Instead of being on the field, these players and more are in the training room or worse. The inability of Major League Baseball to keep even their biggest stars healthy is a true indictment of the last decade. Some can’t be helped, but some can, and those opportunities to save money and keep the talent on the field are often being missed.

Let’s take a look around the league to see what’s going on with the biggest names and biggest injuries in another week of Under The Knife:

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A number of MLB teams are not at full strength at this point in the year because some of their players are still recovering from offseason surgeries and spring injuries.

These players can provide a big boost once they return, and they can help change a team from one that is struggling to one that is fighting for a playoff spot.

Sometimes, the impact is more than what the player does on the field. In certain cases, their leadership ability is invaluable.

The following players will have a big impact on their team’s performance once they return.

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Managers love players who can move around the diamond. Having such flexibility allows them to give tired or injured players days off, while keeping a productive bat in the lineup.

The ability to learn a new position opens up many opportunities for players as well. Aging shortstops may prolong their careers by moving to second or third base. A la Cal Ripken Jr. A team might also employ multiple impact players with the same natural position if one of them is able to learn a secondary spot, like when Alex Rodriguez moved to New York, where Derek Jeter was entrenched at shortstop.

These slides will not include players who only play outfield and have merely moved between outfield spots. Nor will they include catchers who play occasional games at first base to rest their knees.

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The plan for the Los Angeles Dodgers going into the 2013 season was to play Hanley Ramirez at shortstop. 

Despite that commitment, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and general manager Ned Colletti wanted to see Ramirez improve his defense at shortstop.

According to FanGraphs’ Ultimate Zone Rating, Ramirez cost the Dodgers nearly four more runs on defense than the average player at the position.

In early December, Mattingly told the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez that he felt Ramirez could make improvements, but added “We need him to put time in to be a better shortstop.”

Here’s where the problem has developed. Ramirez hasn’t put in that time to become a better shortstop. 

As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports, a shoulder injury restricted Ramirez to playing designated hitter during winter ball in the Dominican. However, he won’t be able to make up for that by playing plenty of shortstop during spring training.

Ramirez will play in the World Baseball Classic for the Dominican Republic. With Jose Reyes and Erick Aybar on the roster, Ramirez doesn’t figure to see any time at shortstop. Perhaps even worse, Ramirez won’t play any third base either, because Adrian Beltre has that position locked down.

Playing as a designated hitter through most of March—depending on how far the Dominican Republic advances through the WBC—is not what the Dodgers had in mind for Ramirez this offseason. 

As the Los Angeles Times‘ Steve Dilbeck points out, the Dominican Republic is favored to win the WBC and if their team gets to the championship game, Ramirez won’t report back to the Dodgers until after March 19.

That gives him just over a week to practice before Opening Day on April 1. 

Of course, Ramirez could take ground balls at shortstop during the WBC, but fielding grounders in practice isn’t the same as doing so during a game. (Obviously, he could do both during spring training.) Besides, Reyes and Aybar figure to get most of the practice time time for the Dominican Republic. 

This confirms the Dodgers’ worst fears. Mattingly didn’t want Ramirez to play in the WBC so he could concentrate on playing shortstop. But he understands Ramirez’s desire to play in the tournament.

“It’s hard to discourage a guy from playing for his country,” Mattingly said to the OCR‘s Plunkett back in December. “If I could — if he would listen — I would certainly talk to him because we would like him to play short.”

Should the Dodgers be rightfully concerned about Ramirez and his ability to play shortstop during the regular season? 

The team does have options. Luis Cruz will likely play the position while Ramirez is absent from spring training. He should probably be the Dodgers’ regular shortstop anyway, based on defense that FanGraphs’ UZR measures at above-average. 

Knowing that Cruz might have to play at shortstop frequently in Cactus League play might also explain the Dodgers’ interest in free-agent third baseman Scott Rolen. According to the L.A. Times’ Bill Shaikin, the Dodgers don’t necessarily view Rolen as a starter for third base, but he could provide infield depth. 

Colletti’s approach since the Guggenheim Baseball Management group took over ownership of the team has been to stockpile talent and figure out how it all fits together later on. The roster is loaded with extra outfielders, utility infielders and starting pitchers right now. 

Following that philosophy, perhaps the Dodgers would be taking a look at Rolen anyway. But would their interest be as strong if the team didn’t have questions about Ramirez making any improvements at shortstop? 

If that’s the feeling in Chavez Ravine, Colletti isn’t saying so publicly. 

“I think it’s great for him to be able to represent his country,” Colletti told the Los Angeles Daily News‘ J.P. Hoornstra. “It’s not like we’re asking him to play a new position, being shortstop. He’ll have plenty of time to be ready for the major league season.”

However, Colletti likely knows that Ramirez is a player who has to be treated delicately.

Before getting traded to the Dodgers in July, Ramirez began the season as the Miami Marlins‘ third baseman. He had to switch positions to accommodate the jewel of the Marlins’ offseason, free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes. But as the Miami Herald‘s Clark Spencer reported, Ramirez wasn’t happy at all with the move.

The Dodgers likely fear a repeat of that situation in Los Angeles. Ramirez played shortstop after coming over from the Marlins, and the team surely accommodated his preferences to prevent upsetting clubhouse harmony. 

But Ramirez’s bat also justified him playing shortstop if that’s what he wanted. He batted .271 with a .774 OPS, 10 home runs and 44 RBI in 272 plate appearances after joining the Dodgers. Few teams get that kind of offensive production from a position where defense is a priority.

The question now is whether or not the Dodgers will eventually emphasize defense at shortstop if Ramirez doesn’t show the improvement the team was hoping to see from him. Will Mattingly make an issue of this or will Ramirez’s offensive production obscure his defensive flaws?

Follow @iancass on Twitter

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Jeffrey Loria is the worst.

The owner of the Miami Marlins has orchestrated another fire sale of his roster, reportedly jettisoning high-priced starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle to the Toronto Blue Jays along with catcher John Buck, outfielder Emilio Bonifacio and high-priced superstar shortstop Jose Reyes for what amounts to a sack of baseballs and a few Fungo bats.

Loria duped Marlins fans into believing his team could be a contender as he opened his new stadium last season. After seeing the roster now, why would any of them trust him again? More importantly, why would anyone ever pay one dollar to line his pockets with money after this latest move?

The fans were used by the Marlins ownership. How can anyone support this unbelievable level of deceit?

Things looked so promising last year. After a very public flirtation with Albert Pujols, Marlins fans settled for only getting the likes of Buerhle and Reyes, a clear sign the newly branded Miami franchise had every intention of creating a contender. In September the Marlins announced the hiring of manager Ozzie Guillen. In December, Buehrle was signed to a four-year deal, Reyes was signed for six years and reliever Heath Bell was inked for three.

Less than 12 months later, they are all gone, and Marlins fans are left with a brand new stadium and very little talent to play in it.

Loria couldn’t even give his fans a single year of hope. Heck, he couldn‘t even give them a single season. The Marlins opened their new stadium last year thanks to millions of dollars in taxpayer money, and as soon as the team fell out of contention, the fire sale started and hasn’t stopped.

Miami traded Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante in late July, jettisoned Hanley Ramirez two days later and completed the in-season roster dump by sending Gaby Sanchez out of town just for the heck of it. The Marlins were out of contention at the time of the trades, sure, but these transactions made little sense in the grand scheme of Miami’s new plan—unless another shoe was going to drop in the offseason.

All the shoes just dropped.

After seeing Loria unload all his remaining high-priced talent to the Blue Jays, it was clear the moves of Sanchez, Infante and Ramirez were nothing more than the pre-sale before the liquidation. Maybe we should consider this a pre-Black Friday sale. Everything must go!

Fans should have seen this coming (no, really), but a new stadium has invigorated so many baseball towns that it seemed plausible Loria would use the new-found interest in the team to reinvest in the product on the field.

The question Marlins fans should now be asking is whether Loria had planned this all along. Was the fire sale planned all along, using the big-name players as a payoff to getting the stadium built last season with no intention of keeping them? Or was he spooked by the dwindling attendance during the second half of the season and realized the new park and big-ticket superstars would never be a big enough draw in South Florida?

Rather than threaten to move the team to Las Vegas or some other faraway town he could use to leverage that new stadium getting built, Loria may have planned this salary dump all along, cutting payroll and going with another group of young players with something to prove.

This trade almost makes sense when you look at it that way. If the new Marlins Park wasn’t going to be filled anyway, the best way for Loria to make a return on his investment would be to lower his payroll by tens of millions of dollars.

What about the return on the taxpayers’ investment? What about the fans’ investment? It’s left to the fans now; they need to stop showing up to send a message that this kind of ownership model is not acceptable.

Marlins fans need to show how fed up they are with being played by an owner to whom they’ve dedicated their time and money. Fans need to quit on the team completely.

Can there be a bigger statement than a completely empty stadium on Opening Day? Would Loria get the hint that fans are not OK with his model of building a team just to break it down every few years when nobody showed up?

The Marlins averaged just over 27,000 fans last season, filling Loria’s new playground to just over 73 percent capacity each game. Wouldn’t it be a better statement if none of them ever came back until Loria stopped pulling this nonsense (or sold the team to someone who actually respects the fans)? 

Maybe they should all become Blue Jays fans. That seems far more rewarding than rooting for the Miami Marlins now.

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When the Los Angeles Dodgers secured the lineup of Matt Kemp, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier, it looked like money could buy success.

At least on paper.

Now, after a record of 6-15 since they put this new team together—and with injuries to key players piling up—it looks like success will be much harder to come by.

Kemp has recently been out of action due to a shoulder injury he got when running into a wall in Colorado.  Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw missed a key start against the Giants due to a sore hip.

Both men may return tonight, but it may not matter in the greater scheme of things this season if they keep playing so poorly.

As of now, the Giants have taken a five-game lead in the NL West, and the Dodgers only hope of making the playoffs seems to be to overtake the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild-card spot.  L.A. trails by one and a half games and will host the Cardinals this weekend.

But to claim that second wild card, the Dodgers have to score more runs.

In Sunday’s game against the Giants, the Dodgers were 1-for-23 (.043) with men in scoring position, a stat that has become the tale of the tape for L.A. in the past few games. 

Gonzalez has been pretty pathetic, batting.249 since the trade and .202 with RISP.  Kemp, probably due to his injury, has three hits in his last 30 at-bats.

After the trade, the Dodgers are averaging 3.03 runs per game.  Before the trade, they averaged four runs per game.

Numbers don’t tell the entire story, though, as the anemic run production has been the result of a variety of factors:  poor managing by Don Mattingly, a lack of chemistry, suspect pitching, injuries and a general lack of hustle.

The lack of hustle was very apparent against the Giants when Juan Rivera hit a ball down the right-field line and watched it as he trotted to first base, eventually making it to second in a leisurely fashion.  Had he taken off fast and not looked at the ball—as he was taught in Little League—he may have had a triple. He eventually got stuck at second.

At shortstop, Ramirez is anything but slick and seems way too nonchalant. We may have been spoiled by the rocket arm of Rafael Furcal, but Ramirez, no matter what the play, just seems to sling the ball over to first base, with the ball, often times, barely beating the runner.

The highly regarded shortstop and one-time NL batting champ came to the Dodgers with a bad rap for being lazy and disinterested.  Is that what the Dodger fans are going to get from him?

Ramirez is batting a meager .254 for the season, and while he has had some timely run-producing hits, he has only two home runs and four RBI in the last 10 games.

In addition to having temporarily lost Kemp and Kershaw, the Dodgers in recent weeks have lost Chad Billingsley, Kenley Jansen and Adam Kennedy for the season. There is no question that Kemp and Kershaw are the spark plugs for the team, and if they should go out again or cannot produce at their normal levels, the team will be in even more dire straits.

The Dodger pitching remains strong (3.48 ERA) thanks to solid recent performances by Josh Beckett, Chris Capuano and Brandon League, who is filling in nicely as the closer.  But is there really a lot of confidence in Joe Blanton, Aaron Harang and the newly assembled bullpen?

The hardest part of putting together a bunch of new players is getting them to gel.  In this case, the Dodgers threw together a bunch of talented individuals who, on paper, should comprise a winning team.

But what about chemistry?  Should we really expect them to unite quickly, give each other high fives and then go out there and beat the competition to death.  They barely know each other, and they barely know each others’ tendencies.

Anyone watching the games knows that Ramirez is a pull hitter and a first-ball swinger. In a recent game, Gonzalez was at third base with a sizable lead, and Ramirez hit the first pitch on a hop to the third baseman.

Gonzalez had no chance of getting back to bag.  What was he doing off it in the first place?  Maybe he just didn’t know Hanley’s tendency to pull the ball. Why didn’t third base coach Tim Wallach have him back at the bag?

The upshot was yet another run was left stranded.

Ultimately, it is up to the manager to manage all of these details, psych up his team, get them to hit and run, run and hit, move quickly on the bases, bring the heat at the right time and the curveball at others. For the most part, Mattingly has met those responsibilities quite well.

But he could do a lot better.

As a former player, Mattingly may have given his new players a bit too much leeway as they were getting acclimated to their new surroundings.

Perhaps there was a bit of a honeymoon period in which he wanted to observe how they worked individually and together as a team.

Well, Don, the honeymoon is over, and it is time to kick this team into gear or this will look like one bad marriage.

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Just over one year ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers were a team on the verge of Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  On May 1, 2012, the team’s fortunes changed dramatically as the Guggenheim group, fronted by Magic Johnson, purchased the team for an astounding $2.15 billion.  Under this new ownership, the Dodgers have become big spenders in a hurry.

In just two months, the Dodgers have acquired a group of big-name stars, including Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford.  With the acquisition of those last three players alone, the Dodgers taken on a quarter of a billion dollars in contracts from the Boston Red Sox, a team intent on a salary purge.

However, these moves should come as no surprise, since the Dodgers are under new ownership that expects a cash windfall for local TV rights.  The current deal expires at the conclusion of the 2013 season.  Estimates are that a new deal with Fox could yield $4 billion.  Thus, the team has gone from frugality to big spending seemingly overnight.

Of course, investing large sums of money in top free agents is no guarantee of victory.  The Red Sox, perennial contenders during the first decade of the 2000s, have consistently ranked among the top three in MLB payroll for years.  Still, Boston has not won a playoff game since 2008 and won’t make the postseason this year.  The Yankees, who annually spend more than any other team, have won the World Series—the only measure of success in the Bronx—just one time in the past decade. 

Recently, the Yankees have talked about fiscal prudence, and say they aim to cut payroll in order to avoid the luxury tax imposed on clubs that exceed a salary of $178 million.  Both New York and Boston seem to be looking at the success models of AL East rivals Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays, who have fielded competitive teams despite having two of the lowest payrolls in the majors.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, there is an arms race, albeit in different leagues.  The Angels inked a 20-year local TV contract with Fox Sports last December worth more than $3 billion.  The infusion of cash allowed the team to invest more than $300 million in Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson. 

Following the Frank McCourt era, in which the team was cash-strapped and the ownership unlikeable, the Dodgers began to lose some of their relevance in Southern California. Now the team is investing in All-Star players and will certainly have significant dollars available to retain 24-year-old NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, whose contract expires in 2014.  Naturally, Kershaw—and his agent—anticipate that the Dodgers will be the frontrunners to retain his services.

Baseball’s eyes will be turned out west as the 2012 pennant races wind down.  The Dodgers have reloaded in their efforts to catch their longtime rival San Francisco Giants and beat out the St. Louis Cardinals for a wild-card spot.  If the Dodgers fail to win it all this year, I would not be surprised to see them pursue big-name free agents Josh Hamilton and 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke in the offseason.

The question moving forward will be whether the spending on player salaries—by the Dodgers as well as all the other teams—is sustainable in the long term. 

Jed Hughes is Vice Chair of Korn/Ferry and the leader of the executive search firm’s Global Sports Practice.  Among his high-profile placements are Mark Murphy, CEO of the Green Bay Packers; Larry Scott, Commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference; and Brady Hoke, head coach of the Michigan Wolverines.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Hughes coached for two decades in professional and intercollegiate football where he served under five Hall of Fame coaches: Bo Schembechler (Michigan), Chuck Noll (Pittsburgh Steelers), Bud Grant (Minnesota Vikings), John Ralston (Stanford) and Terry Donahue (UCLA).  Follow him on Facebook, Twitter @jedhughesKF.

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MLB personnel moves are frequently prefaced by fan speculation, media probing or an executive announcement. Somebody usually spoils the surprise.

This article celebrates 10 exceptions to that norm that were completed in 2012.

The players involved ranged from future first-ballot Hall of Famers to lifetime reserves. The reasons for relocation varied, too.

However, they all understand what it’s like to be moved in a shocking trade.

Let’s review their experiences from the past year.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped a half game behind the crippled San Francisco Giants with a gut-wrenching home game loss yesterday. The loss came despite another brilliant performance by Clayton Kershaw in which he only allowed six hits over eight innings with two earned runs and 10 strikeouts. 

However, in spite of blowing a chance at putting some distance between themselves and San Fran—with a pitch outing that the Dodgers’ hitters should have taken advantage of—the boys in blue will still win the NL West and make a run through the postseason.

The new-look Dodgers have already excited fans in the L.A. area by acquiring several solid pieces before the trade deadline, all which have shown up in games. Hanley Ramirez has been particularly good and is showing he just needed a change of scenery, and Shane Victorino has made his veteran presence at the top felt. Randy Choate and Brandon League have been solid additions to the bullpen. The only player that has seemed to struggle is Joe Blanton in the No. 5 pitching slot.

In addition, with the loss of Melky Cabrera for 50 games (and maybe more after his attempt at trickery), the Giants have lost their best contact hitter and and their tone-setter. While he wasn’t hitting for a ton of power, the loss of a .346 batter that had already scored 84 runs will definitely sting for a team that, at times, struggles to produce offense. The impact hasn’t been realized yet, but the loss of Melky will hurt the Giants overall.

However, neither of these are the reason the Dodgers will triumph in the NL West and make noise in the playoffs. That true reason is the resurrection of Chad Billingsley.

By failing to obtain a legitimate No. 2 starter behind Kershaw at the trade deadline, the Dodgers looked to be a piece short in moving forward in October. Some groaned when they didn’t pull the trigger on a a deal for Ryan Dempsey, knowing that the price (Allen Webster) would be too steep for a 34-year-old rental, who may sign with them in the offseason anyway (That is IF they want him and IF his feelings aren’t hurt).

However, Billingsley has made those thoughts all but disappear. The former All-Star, who has struggled mightily over the past couple of seasons after showing such promise early in his career, has reemerged as an ace, showcasing his skills over the last six contests. Billingsley is 6-0 over that period, while posting a jaw-dropping 1.30 ERA.

We have seen Billingsley shine before and then regress, but this time it appears that he’s healthy and ready to be the second starter needed for a successful October run. With Clayton catching fire again, the Dodgers now have a fairly formidable lineup, with two excellent pitchers at the top of their staff. If they can reach the playoffs and win the NL West, then the rest of the NL should watch out for this dark horse in blue come October.

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The Oakland Athletics are in the heart of the playoff hunt, but are they legitimate contenders?

That question’s answer would easily be yes if they could work out a trade for Hanley Ramirez.

Just yesterday, I explained why Oakland shouldn’t trade for Chase Headley, but acquiring Ramirez would be a completely different story.

The A’s lack production from both positions on the left side of the field. They rank last in the AL in terms of WAR from shortstop, according to FanGraphs. They are fourth-worst from third base. Luckily for the A’s, Hanley can play either position.

Ramirez had been the starting shortstop for the Marlins since coming up in 2006. Only until this season when they signed Jose Reyes did Hanley start playing third base on a regular basis. He’s having an off-year, but would still be a major upgrade over Cliff Pennington or Brandon Inge.

Pennington is hitting .197/.259/.282 with 17 extra-base hits in 82 games and Inge is hitting .210/.272/.386 with nine home runs in 56 games with Oakland this season. On the other hand, Hanley is hitting .246/.322/.430 with 14 home runs, 47 RBI and 49 runs this year—a pretty big upgrade.

The A’s would be a great fit for Ramirez, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. Going off of that, Oakland has shown interest in Hanley, but their level of interest is still to be determined and nothing is close to happening yet, tweeted FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that the A’s could even be the favorites.

The Oakland #Athletics have now become the most aggressive team, Marlins exec says, pursuing #Marlins infielder Hanley Ramirez

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 25, 2012

It’s a stretch that the A’s could make a run for the AL West title with their current lineup, but they’d definitely be contenders if they were to acquire Ramirez.

By adding Ramirez to the No. 3 spot in the Oakland lineup, with Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes surrounding him, the A’s would have a very solid heart of the order. Hanley also brings more speed to the team to add to Jemile Weeks and Coco Crisp.

Ramirez gives the A’s plenty of flexibility, mainly because of his ability to play either shortstop or third base. Since neither position has played well this year, it could be a difficult decision as to whom to immediately replace. My first instinct says shortstop, just because Pennington lacks power and usually hits ninth.

The Marlins aren’t even asking for a lot in return for Ramirez, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami is looking to acquire young players who have decent potential, wrote Jackson.

Oakland has several good prospects that they’ve acquired through recent trades who may be of interest to Miami, including Brad Peacock, A.J. Cole or Derek Norris. Michael Choice would be too much to give up, in my opinion, but Oakland could decide to trade Sonny Gray or Yordy Cabrera. Of course, this is all just speculation, but the A’s clearly have the pieces.

With the trade deadline nearing and the A’s still in the race, it makes sense to make a blockbuster move like this. Hanley Ramirez would not only make the A’s contenders for this season, but for the next few as well. 

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