| Joe Gutierez. 16th November, 2005 - 8:22 pm
 After weeks of speculation the Los Angeles Dodgers finally found their general manager in Ned Colletti. Colletti, 50 will now be ready to succeed former GM Paul DePodesta. The Dodgers formally announced the hiring of Colletti on Wednesday at a morning press conference. With the general manager now in place, the team can focus on pursuing a manager to lead the ball club. Kim Ng was also vying for the position, and was close to being the first woman GM in Major League Baseball history.
The Dodgers were also rumored to have contacted Theo Epstein days after he departed from Boston. Epstein was supposedly offered the general manger role and a small part of the ownership. LA can now focus on adding the important necessities to the team now that Colletti has come aboard.
With Colletti now a part of the Dodger organization, he inherits a struggling ball club that only won 71 games last year while losing 91 of them. Hitting is needed at different positions, and another starter plus a reliever as well. Most importantly as the team?s general manager, Colletti now has control over the Dodgers highly regarded farm system. The Dodgers farm system is one of the best in baseball, most recently being ranked in the top five. Players like Joel Guzman, Andy LaRoche, Chad Billingsley, and James Loney will be prized possessions that could end up being trade bait if Colletti chooses to do so.
Lets hope that things turn out better this time than the last. But it is also important to not be too critical on former GM Paul DePodesta. He refused to trade some of our highly talented prospects to teams during his tenure. Let the Colletti era officially begin in Los Angeles. |
