Steve Phillips is a Genius...

Just listened to Steve Phillips give his prescription to make the Dodgers a contender once again. In a segment on ESPNews on the introduction of Joe Torre as Dodgers' manager (who, by the way, looked really odd in a Dodgers cap and jersey), Phillips mentioned two areas that the Dodgers need to upgrade in order to add power to the lineup.

First, third base. According to the former Mets' GM, the Dodgers should get in on the trade talks for the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera. Failing that, the Dodgers should check with Scott Boras to see what the price would be for A-Rod.

Second, center field. Move Juan Pierre to left and pursue Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter. If unable to entice one of those two, make a call to Aaron Rowand or Mike Cameron.

Lastly, once you've gotten those two positions addressed, give the Twins a call and trade for Johan Santana. Genius!!

I'm not sure how Phillips was ever fired! Why hasn't anyone else in MLB thought of this?

Let's see here. Let's say you sign A-Rod (30 mil per) and Hunter/Jones (15 mil per?). The Dodgers spent around 90 mil for their entire payroll last year. So, McCourt, an owner who reportedly took on a great deal of debt just to purchase the Dodgers and has not thus far demonstrated the will or ability to REALLY loosen the purse strings, would increase his payroll by 50%? Whoops. Forgot about Santana's extension. After all, you're not going to trade some combination from the pupu platter of Martin, LaRoche, Lu, Loney, Kemp, Ethier, and Kershaw and then lose Johan in a year. So, another, what, 23 mil for Santana? That brings the final total to around 160 million a year, trailing only the Yankees in total payroll.

Take a different route and you're likely going to have to shell out a similar amount of money to extend Cabrera, sign Cameron/Roward, and extend Santana. In that case, it's doubtful that, after trading for Cabrera, you'd have the necessary pieces for Santana unless the Dodgers choose to completely gut the farm system they have spent the last 7 years building.

Listening to Phillips is like listening to a drunken fan speculate on what Colletti should do. The only thing that would make this worse is to listen to the two Steves debate their differing viewpoints. No wonder you don't hear this guy's name come back up for a vacant GM job. Idiot.