Betemit
There will be more on this later, but in case you aren’t watching or listening to the game, we activated Brett Tomko and acquired Wilson Betemit from the Braves for Willy Aybar, Danys Baez and cash considerations. I’m guessing you all knew this, but we’ve been running around like crazy with all the logistics, as this literally took place about five minutes before first pitch.
Inside the Dodgers 
i dont like it, we gave up too much, aybar and betemit are a wash, so wat did we get for baez?… i hope colletti is not taking advice from tommy…
Benemit has more power & is more advanced in his career, I like the trade, plus we unloaded 4,000,000.00, wow Ned good job.
I posted this on the other thread.
sorry “rayloveselaine” aybar is doesn’t have either the power or the glove that Betemit has, and Baez has been aweful this year.
The real question is what’s going to happen to Izturis? Second? or traded?
I liked Aybar, but it might take him a couple of years to develop power numbers. Baez was going to leave anyways. Trade, trade, trade…get the most talent we can, while still being respectable this year. In this division, we can still win it with even good young players like Betemit and hopefully others.
Okay…Tommy’s Konerko and Reyes for Shaw wasn’t the best long term move.
J.D. Drew Grand Slam? ummmmmm….. WOW.
A key is how much $ do we have to pay, im assuming these details will be forthcoming- in anycase- maybe well win today!!!!
Wow. This trade is o k. But I really liked Aybar. Hopefully Baez doesn’t goto Atlanta and start pitching like an ace.
Did any1 else notice that Ned traded away Seo and Baez – both of which he just traded for? Kinda ironic.
In any event. I wish Aybar the best. I know he will have a great career. Hes lucky to be playing for such a great coach in Atlanta – i forgot his name- but he is good.
Welcome to LA Betemit!
This is a *super* trade imho. Scouts rave about Betemit – and his defense too is better than Aybar’s. He could be starting for a lot of teams. He’s really good, trust me. Baez, well, I wish him luck, but that was some addition by subtraction there. And hey, if nothing else, just the idea of a trade seems to have woken up the Dodgers tonight!
12-1 with J.D. finally out of his dinger slump. (grand slam) wow!
hey Josh, clear up Betemit’s real age please. Alot of confusion whether he is 26 or 24.
He turned 26 today
If there’s one thing I can say about Ned Colletti, it’s his creativity.
I can say now that I don’t have a clue what to expect by August.
He turned 26 today
Posted by: alex41592@aol.com | July 28, 2006 10:01 PM
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And there lies the confusion.
What does this mean for Laroche? Betemit is young.. I’d like to Andy up at 3rd.
Ned – We already got a 3rd Baseman.
How about a pitcher or Outfielder?!?!
what’s Ned’s for name by the way?? (wondering out loud)
Betemit is 24 years old. He was born in November of 1981. He changed his birth certificate to in order to appear older, so he could be signed earlier. The Braves were disciplined for signing him prior to his 16th birthday.
i was ready to see andy laroche soon, but i guess he’ll just have to wait.. and there is no way betemit is our future third baseman.. but finally! a win!
BELIEVE IN THE PONCHO!
This trade is really encouraging.
We “sold” Baez but we got someone that helps now at a position of need and who is also versatile…not to mention young and cheap.
My wife and I really liked Aybar. We saw a lot of him in AAA and he plays like he is hungry. He plays with a lot of confidence and shows power. I think it is a matter of time before he becomes something. I don’t know if his defensve struggles were nervousness because he looked fine in Vegas. No doubt though…Betemit is a better ballplayer now–especially defensively.
I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to run this trade by my dad to see what he thinks of it, to get a Braves fan’s perspective. I imagine he’s not going to like it, though, because he think’s Betemit is good enough to be an everyday player for Atlanta right now. Aybar will be put right into action as Chipper Jones continues to be injured; I have to wonder where Bobby Cox puts him in the lineup.
That said, I will admit I’ll miss Aybar. I thought he stood out as a bright spot last September, and I was sad to see that he wasn’t entrusted with the hot corner to start the season. I particularly enjoyed seeing Aybar, Ethier, Martin in the lineup, like that was just the way the order should work.
I think each of these players will look good in their respective new clubs. Betemit, though, is further in his development and a better player now, not to mention a bit better defensively. Betemit has one more year of service time under his belt, meaning he’s closer to arbitration and free agency, but only by a year.
As for Baez, the market for relievers is ridiculous, as could be seen in the Austin Kearns trade, so maybe more could have been gotten for him. But this trade was for the immediate term (freeing a roster spot for Tomko), the short term (Betemit at third), and the long term (Betemit has 4 years after this one before he’s a free agent).
I will say I like this trade, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing what Ned Colletti does before the deadline.
Read the LA Daily News on the trade, apparently the Dodgers are picking up the rest of Baez’s salary.
I am now confident that Colletti will not destroy the future. When he keeps saying the Dodgers are buyers, he means they’re nice enough to shell out the cash to make the deal work.
I hated the Hendrickson and Perez trades, but I actually like this one. Betemit only has one more year of service time than Aybar and not only is he a better player right now, but he has the potential to be better in the future as well (although I like Aybar). Good trade that helps the team this season WITHOUT sacrificing the future (thats the key).
BTW let me qualify that last comment by saying that Betemit HAS TO BE THE STARTER AT 3B in order to make this trade a success. Izturis can’t hit, he needs to be moved into a utility role.
Hey Trapp before izzy started to feel the injury last year he was hitting .300 and he cann sacrifice better then most and is extremly defencive with the glove… all of you Izzy haters need to get off him because he’s alot better SS then what we have playing that spot.Someone said something about him costing us .23 runs per game but it you have grondball pitchers getting groundball hits off them and the infielders allowing them then what good is a groundball pitcher?The areas that need improvement are the infield center mass and the outfield center mass . To be Blunt and in order Lofton CF Furcal SS and Kent 2B. The scorers are Kind to Kent as a Vet but alot gets thru the middle that shouldn’t.With the new Guy at third and Izzy at 2nd that should shorten furcals area of coverage down to a very managable area if he adapts well to the new ranges.Aybar was a cool kid to watch and i hope he doesn’t come back to bite us on the butt and I think we did good in this trade baez was not for us and maybe our new kid is.I don’t look at it as a possible going away as much as a here and now future coming.This is the best in season trade yet but I would really like to see a real SP who we can keep come across.New Streak New Blue Keep on Keepin on Blue!
Betemit is 26. While it is true that Atlanta was penalized for signing him for being younger than he really was, it was actually an incorrect guilty verdict at the time (I believe 2000 is when they were punished).
Most media outlets accepted this story however, and amended Betemit’s age based on this guilty verdict. Between 2000-2003, Betemit was recognized as being 18-21.
However, in 2004 the US Govt investigated all foreign birth certificates, and found Betemit to be lying about claims of being younger than he really was. He actually was of legal age when the Braves signed him. He was then recognized for his orignal age (the age when Atlanta thought they were signing him).
All of the media outlets made note of this, and restored Betemit to his proper age.
Betemit’s claims of being illegally signed by the Braves were a lie that was proven by the US’s crack down on foreign birth certificates. Why Betemit would lie about his age, and claim he was actually younger, was obviously to increase his market value back in 2000…
Hopefully, he has learned from this mistake and is not a reflection on his character.
so he’s 26?
i guess i like the trade, but don’t love it.
sorry to see aybar go and again – we are giving cash considerations – apparently picking up baez’s salary for the rest of the year…
what i really don’t like (still) was the contract extension for kent. what happens next year? kent stays at 2b and izzy goes?
kent moves to 1b and izzy to third and we let nomar go?
maybe izzy will go in a trade as well.
and where did repko go!?!
I think Izzy is the odd man out, But I hope Kent ops/wants us to trade him, I know for a fact that Ned & Little love Izzy’s glove.
ps Ned signing Furcal was a bad disition.
& yes we’re paying all of Baez’s salary 1,000,000.00+ left in his contract I think.
Good trade. Baez was not for us and now there is a 3rd baseman with some pop. Dessens and Tomko in the pen will help there as well. So… Blue is better off than a week ago with probably more trades to come. I certainly hope Izzy remains a Dodger.
Big win last night. Here’s hoping Lowe regains command and we can head in a new direction.
Baez will be setting up for Wickman over there, so he’s still not a closer, let’s see how he responds. I think ith him and Aybar we gave up alot, Willie should be a career .300 hitter, the question is will he develop power which I’m sure he will. Betemit is a above average fielder, and when he’s gotten the chance he’s shown a very good stick with pop. And he’s a switch hitter as well. Bottom line, both teams did well in this trade. It will be interesting what SP Ned goes after, Maddux would come the cheapest, but there are a few other possibilities as well depending on what we want to pony up. Up until last night, teams stopped calling us because we were asking alot for our prospects, which is a great thing.
This is an upgrade for the Dodgers at third. That’s one of the things that they needed. Let’s see what else Ned has in store. Bottom line it’s a good deal.
This Week in Baseball just showed Wilson Betemit making a great bare handed play at 3rd base as part of the best plays this week in major league baseball.
Looks like a good trade!
Fisher,
Izturis can’t hit.
His career OPB is .295. He can’t hit for any power either, his career SLG is .338. He’s an above average defender, but definitely not enough of one to make up for his bad offensive output. He should be a bench player/utility guy in the mold of Oscar Robles or Ramon Martinez, possibly a starter on a bad team but only at SS. He should not in any way be starting regularly for this team, there are too many other options that are better. Look for him to get traded before the deadline hopefully as he is probably overvalued on the market compared to his true worth. As Jon Weisman stated on Dodger Thoughts….”He is who he is. A great-fielding No. 8 hitter.”
As for Furcal, he is a much much better player than Izturis. He has a career OBP of .348 and a career SLG of .404, he’s also a much better base stealer than Izturis (he has 214 SBs compared to Izturis and his 59 SBs). He slumped in the first half of the season, but he’s been one of the best hitters on the team in the 2nd half.
Ok Trapp you like numbers thats fine with me. Here are Furcals numbers as a fielder.
he has played in 913 games for 7,771 inn has commited 152 Errors 22+ per year and has a .965 fielding percentage he has commited 20 errors thus far as a dodger and alot less since Izzy came back and is covering ground next to him.His Hitting Has improved Drastically in the same frame as well.
Izzy Lifetime Has 629 games for 5,286 inn with 54 errors less then 10/yr. with a season high of 16 and 4 so far this year while coming back from major surgery.Granted yes Furcal is a better hitter when he is hitting but I’ve seen too many times of starting the game where he hits a mid depth OF fly he tries to hit for power but c’mon he’s not a power hitter he’s a leadoff hitter and needs to play that role better.They both hit dingers once in awhile and sorry to burst your bubble but every team has to have a #8 hitter. Martin was ours for some reason Now He’s Tearing up the 6 spot Before the end of next season Kent might be in the 8 hole.
My Point is This Izzy is a great fielder and Likes being a Dodger and makes 3.2 mil this year.Furcal makes More this year then Izzy Has Made in Baseball…. and is an ok leadoffman.If you are gonna go to the Numbers you have to include all of them in the equation.WE NEED Starting Pitchers and if we can Get Zito or Josh Johnson from the fish then I’d say Izzy was ok to Trade but I don’t think he’s as disposible as you think.Go Blue!
Think of it this way fisher:
On a scale of 1 to 10:
Furcal:
Hitting: 7
Fielding: 6
Speed: 9
Total: 22
Izturis:
Hitting: 2
Fielding: 9
Speed: 3
Total: 14
22 (Furcal) > 14 (Izturis)
Make sense now?
I agree every team needs a number 8 hitter….but the Dodgers don’t need Izturis to be theirs.
So that means that Furcal should be getting a third Higher pay not triple by your miscalculations.He is Not 3 1/2 times the hitter….nor 3 times the speedster furcal gets shot down plenty and never tries to bunt for a hit.
Maybe you miss the point that I’m making in that Izzy is a part of this team and has been so for longer then anyone else he is flexable and has alot of Heart.As a True Dodger Fan i hate this constant state of flux and would Like to see a solidified team hit the field.
In conclusion dumping Izzy for less then a Major increase in SP for less then 2 years would be a mistake. Nice seeing eyed double Izzy Go Blue!
He is definately 3 1/2 times the hitter than Izturis is, (and I might be selling him short)…..those are just the facts, look at the career numbers.
As far as speed, 214 SBs compared to Izturis and his 59 SBs tells me that Furcal is a much much better basestealer as well, I don’t care whether he tries to bunt for a base hit or not.
You seem to have an emotional attachement to Izturis for some reason, enough so to overlook his flaws apparently. I can understand you having a favorite player, but I’d like this team to have the best chance to win. I’m a Dodger fan over and above a fan of any particular player.
So you think its ok for a 5’9″ leadoff hitter to flyout on the first pitch to start the game and to flyout with a runner at 1st with no outs in a close game while behind? or even worse strikeout? Makes no sence its all moot now anyways and opinions are like ******……everyone has one.Got a good starter for Izzy and that was my point in the beginning.
” but I don’t think he’s as disposible as you think”
– apparently he is, because Ned just moved him for a 40 year old pitcher with an ERA over 5.
That’s the best aneswr of all time! JMHO