Yikes. This last hour of the trade deadline is always nerve-wracking.

UPDATE: Well, much ado about nothing, as usual. :) Barring some August waiver-wire deals, this is it.

Why in the name of all that is holy would you trade either of these young guns to get a 31-year-old pitcher who will cost you over $10 million a year? Oh, and he’s only yours for one full season and part of another, with no guarantees he’ll stick around after that.

The Dodgers are in that position right now with Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw. Why would we trade either one of our aces, both of whom will otherwise be in Dodger Blue (and cheap) for years?

They are both good right now, whether you go by stats or by observation. They both will likely be great by next year.

Yes, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee are awesome pitchers. It would be killer to have either one of them in Dodger Blue. But if getting one of them costs us Bills or Clayton, the price is too high. Why trade for one or two years’ worth of increased chances for the World Series when we could have five years’ (or more!) worth of increased chances?

Doesn’t make sense to me, and I’ll bet it doesn’t make sense to Dodger management either.

Now Roy or Cliff plus Bills and Kershaw as the 1-3?

Heh heh heh. [evil laugh]

Jon over at Dodger Thoughts posted a handy guide to the Dodgers’ pitching situation 2004-2009, showing that the current staff is not as iffy as it might seem.

Still, you can never have too much pitching depth. With that in mind, I’d like to echo others’ suggestion for one more Dodger pre-season move* — let us undo the great wrong perpetrated upon us and sign Pedro Martinez.

And with our long national nightmare at last at an end, just think of the Pedro/Manny reunion!

Unfortunately, it looks like Nomar won’t be in on the fun. More on this later.

* What’s up with re-signing Joe Beimel?

Also reportedly, the Dodgers want to pick up some more bullpen help after their first two priorities — Manny and a starting pitcher — are taken care of.

If you’re Ned Colletti, do you bring Gagne back as a middle reliever?

Does Gagne have any value to the Dodgers?

Would he even come back?

Too much baggage?

Update: So much for that idea…

An MRI recently revealed that Gagne has labrum and rotator cuff damage in his pitching shoulder. He was given the option of having an injection and trying physical rehab, or undergoing surgery.

Either way, Gagne was not going to be able to make the Brewers’ roster this spring. He signed a minor-league deal that guaranteed him a $1.5 million salary if added to the roster by March 26. That deadline became moot when Gagne was unable to pitch in a game.

Update 2: …or maybe not

With the bullpen being the Dodgers’ greatest question mark, who should make an appearance at Camelback Ranch on Friday but the team’s greatest reliever of all time, Eric Gagne.

Gagne, the 2003 National League Cy Young Award winner and three-time All-Star, said it’s not “Game Over” for him just yet.

“[The Manny Ramirez situation] is like watching the San Andreas fault,” Colletti said. “Some days you can see it move probably, and other days, it’s just going to sit there. And in a week or two, it may move a lot.”

Via Diamond Leung

Trolley Dodger, do not obsess on baseball rumors until at least the Winter Meetings. Nothing of significance happens until then, and mild insanity driven by obsessive reloading of MLBTradeRumors.com and other Hot Stove blogs, not to mention thousands of wildly ill-informed comments, is not the best way to spend your November.

That said, I hope Manny and Furcal come back. CC, sure. Wouldn’t mind Beltre if that could work out.

Otherwise, I am putting my hands over my ears, shutting my eyes, and singing “LA LA LA LA! I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” until Monday.

The team was written off by most everyone, then came back to win the division. No one thought they had a chance against the Cubs, and they swept.

And now the Phillies. Clearly, they were firing on more cylinders than were the Dodgers, though not everything was going perfectly for them. In the playoffs where every small mistake is magnified tremendously, ours accumulated faster and more damagingly. Congrats to the Phillies on winning the pennant.

2008 has not been a magical ride. It has been a hard ride, full of frustration. With injuries, growing pains, melodrama, and good old-fashioned inconsistencies, this has at times been a hard season to watch.

But even so, there were magical moments, memories that will stay with me for a long time.

After a little break to recharge the batteries, I’ll be looking forward to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. In Arizona.

Of course there’s the annual Hot Stove insanity, which got started immediately after the game — see this LA Times story and scroll down to “Peavy to the Dodgers?” Yeah, right.

Thanks to the Dodgers team for trying their best this year — congratulations on a great year of learning and growth. Also thanks to the Dodger organization for reaching out to the Internet fans and expanding their online presence. And to my fellow Dodger bloggers, thanks for thousands of entertaining words this year.

Just wait ’til next year. Anything could happen.

–

Naw, probably not, but it’s time for the annual “Where’s Manny getting traded?” roulette wheel. To listen to the Boston Media, they’re super serious this time about Manny Being Manny elsewhere. Just like every year.

Buster Olney seems to think the Dodgers (among several other teams) might match up:

They could make a deal with the Dodgers, who are overloaded with outfielders but have a manager in Joe Torre who is accustomed to dealing with star players with diva issues. The offer from L.A. would start with third baseman Andy LaRoche, conceivably.

While I’m sure the Dodgers would love to have that power in left field, I don’t see it happening at all before the deadline, for the simple fact of how much we would certainly have to give up. Besides, if the Red Sox are serious about getting rid of him this time, we can wait till they test the waiver waters in August, or even wait till the off season.

And how much you want to bet the Andruw Jones Effect* has the Dodgers front office a bit leery of taking on big contracts?

* AJE — rhymes with “age”

And the countdown begins to Vin’s first mention of “Casey at the bat“. :)

ESPN.com: “Source: Indians, Dodgers close to deal sending Blake to L.A.”

The Cleveland Indians are closing in on a trade that would send third baseman/outfielder Casey Blake and cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor leaguers, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

The teams were in the process of finalizing the deal early Saturday and it appeared the trade could be completed by the end of the day.

While Blake won’t make that much of an impact — it’s not as if we’re getting A-Rod — he will likely stabilize the 3B position for the rest of the year. As a rental, he could also net us a draft pick or two if we let him walk at the end of the season.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see DeWitt sent down where he should have been the last month or so, with LaRoche on the bench as 2B/3B backup. Unless Andy winds up in some other trade.

The two minor leaguers heading the other direction for Blake are said to be Carlos Santana and Jon Meloan.

Dylan Hernandez, Diamond Leung and I got a few minutes with Ned Colletti in the tunnel after the game. Said he might be getting close to acquiring a veteran utility infielder who could better plug the gap while Furcal is out, or if Furcal is out again later in the season.

Esteban Loaiza for Wilson Betemit anyone? ;)

Now in the final season of a four-year, $36 million contract he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2004 season, Lowe will be a free agent again in the fall. While there are already indications that the New York Yankees will be among Lowe’s suitors during the offseason, the pitcher will have a most obvious strength when it comes time to sit at the bargaining table: Durability.

And since he wouldn’t have to pitch in Coors Field, he’d be just fine, I’m sure. ;)

Nomar Garciaparra insists he will be physically ready to open the regular season, but even if he is not, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti is not going to rush into a trade for a third baseman.

“We’re not going to make a long-term move because we believe [Andy] LaRoche and [Blake] DeWitt are going to be here for a long time at that position,” says Colletti.

As far as the outfield goes:

Andre Ethier has had what appears to be a breakout spring, but with Juan Pierre’s contract untradeable, the Dodgers will open the season with Ethier, Matt Kemp, Pierre and Andruw Jones in the outfield mix and let manager Joe Torre deal with one daily unhappy camper.

And the lefty phenom with the atomic fastball and nasty curve:

As for Clayton Kershaw, it sure sounds as if the Dodgers believe he will be a factor this season; the issue will be limiting his innings early in the season so that he is fresh come August, which means 150-160 innings for the whole season.

Ignoring last year when the Pirates futzed with him, his stats seem decent enough for the price.

Do the Dodgers wait out the 72-hour waiver to see if the Marlins drop him, or do they work out a trade to make sure they get him? Do they even want him?

Update: So much for that: “Giants Claim Jose Castillo”