Why Casey Blake Is So Important to the Dodgers Offseason

I should try to sneak into the Bellagio, but I won't. But if I did and somehow managed to sneak into Ned Colletti's suite he would probably be babbling on about why he has to get a deal done with Blake. Stupid fan that I am would ask him why the heck is he bothering with bitch-ass Casey Blake when he could've answered C.C. this afternoon in the hallway with a shouting, "Yes! I want you to be a dodger too!"

Here's the answer...I think. Casey Blake plays third base. He's an average third baseman. Nobody really needs him because they have better...except of course the dodgers.  The dodgers have hardly any infield with the mass exodus of free agents. Committed payroll is about 60 million for 2009. Shortstops and second baseman are so hot they are still mulling and in the case of Furcal outright rejecting offers. The calculation is that it's much easier to pay Mr. Mediocre to shore up third base, shift Blake DeWitt to second base, and allow young players to fight it out for shortstop if Furcal generates offers enough to leave the dodgers behind. Of course the market for Furcal may implode and he may come crawling back, but the dodgers can't afford to wait that out while Casey Blake signs elsewhere.

So the cost of waiting and the cost of filling the infield with a high priced second baseman and/or shortstop that a ton of other clubs are interested versus the cost of quickly and cheaply filling third baseman and then focusing on pitching and left field happens to make Casey freakin' Blake the linchpin for a successful dodgers offseason.  Not signing Blake probably would make for a dodgers offseason without a competitive offer for Sabathia because they'd either spend too much time bidding over infielders that their money is too tight to make a competitive offer to Sabathia  or they win protracted battles for O-dog and/or Rafael Furcal and be too broke to.  Either way, Casey, you save the day.