Every time I hear that it makes me wonder if the person who said it was repeatedly dropped on their head as a child. What other possible explanation could there be? Maybe insanity? Let’s just say that the fans who say that Guggenheim & Company are just “greedy bastards” – only concerned with profits are right. That’s all the more reason the greedy bastards would want to win. What? Why? Because it makes their asset (the LA Dodgers) much more valuable.
When Houston won the 2017 World Series, some experts estimated that it added as much as $500 Million to their valuation. So, even if Kasten, Walter, and company are the greedy bastards fans make them out to be, all the more reason to win a World Series. It makes them richer! Hopefully, you see that is a lame (read: dumb) argument and you should put that back on the dumb shelf where it belongs… or maybe you really were dropped on your head.
Any major league baseball owner wants to win a World Series, but some lack the requisite baseball acumen and others don’t have the resources (and I am not just talking about payroll). Baseball is rapidly becoming two groups: the teams who are growing and developing and teams who are sucking the life out of the sport. Something needs to be done to change the financial climate and competitive balance of the sport, but that’s a subject for another day.
Believe me, bringing a World Series Championship back to LA is the ultimate goal of the Dodgers ownership group because of the prestige it brings and what it does for the value of the team. If they win a World Championship… or multiple World Championships, then the value of their asset, the Dodgers will increase dramatically.
The fact of the matter is that Andrew Friedman has had the Dodgers in position to win it all since 2017 and to say he has not done enough is just plain silly… in light of the revelations about the cheating ASStericks and Bad Sox in back to back years. In 2017, the Dodgers were the best team in baseball, and Bill Plaschke of the LA Times said it so well:
The Astros cheated the title-starved Dodgers of far more than a championship. They stole a legacy. They robbed history. They changed the sports narrative of this city forever.
Andrew Friedman had the Dodgers exactly where they needed to be and it wasn’t Dave Roberts bullpen usage or choking by certain players that cost them the Championship. It’s now clear that the Cheating Astros were the ones at fault. It would be interesting to see the Dodgers sue the Astros who robbed them of a championship and caused real, tangible monetary damages.
One has to wonder about the 2018 Bad Sox and whether they cheated their way to a win. Did Steve Pearce know what pitch was coming? To many, especially the pitchers, this is worse than steroids or even gambling. Alex Wood said:
“I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming.”
Barry Bonds may have altered the home run record with steroids. Pete Rose may have illegally bet on his team to win, but he did not alter baseball history. I would argue that what the Astros (and maybe the Bad Sox) did is worse. They changed baseball history, stealing a championship that should have been the Dodgers and tainting the legacies of Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, and Yu Darvish. History was forever altered by their cheating.
At the very least, Dodger fans should have more compassion about Clayton, Yu, and Kenley and also acknowledge that Andrew Friedman did a pretty damn good job in building a Championship-Worthy team. It doesn’t matter what the punishment is… nothing can change what happened and there is no justice. Its time to move on…
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Dodgers will be right there again this year. Mike Petriello wrote an exceptional piece for MLB.com yesterday and ended it with this:
“No, if the Dodgers are going to spend, if they’re going to add the top-level star they need to be the best versions of themselves, it’s going to have to be via trade, whether that’s Betts, Lindor, Kris Bryant, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Semien, Josh Hader, Kirby Yates, Chris Sale, or any other combination of names you can think of. They’ll make a move because they’ll need to, and because they’ve done it before. It just might not matter so much if it’s now or six months from now. The only thing that matters is October.”
We all know that and Andrew Friedman knows that. Get ready for another in a long line of runs to the World Series. Money can’t buy a World Series, but sometimes it can help.
Parting Shot
In my mind, ASStericks Cheating Gate is the worst scandal in baseball – even worse than the Black Sox Scandal because the Black Sox did not take a World Series away from anyone. They were the victims, By throwing the games, they aided the winners, the Reds. The Reds may or may not have won without it, but no victims were really involved.
With Pete Rose’s crimes, there were no victims. With the Steroid Scandal, there may have been lots of victims, but we don’t know for sure. What we do know is that the Dodgers, Dodger Fans everywhere and the City of LA were robbed by the Astros Cheating. The Astros and the City of Houston will never erase what really happened from the annals of history.
Maybe, just maybe, this will galvanize the Dodgers players to show the world what they are made of!
Totally disagree. If Friedman and Friends really wanted to win a World Series, they would’ve spent money on the finest buzzers and finest trash cans money can buy, but instead they gave the cash to Brandon McCarthy. Damn you Dodgers!!
As horrible as this cheating stuff has been, I can’t wait to get back to spring training. I’m sure our team (and the Yankees too) are super motivated this year and have something even more to prove. Looking forward to a Dodgers Yanks series again.
Need a trash can giveaway night.
Parting Shot Update above!
So, I guess Mark wanted to stir the pot one more time on this issue. Probably won’t be the last time. He really enjoys stirring this particular pot. Which one of you with true outrage in his or her heart will jump into the fray?
The truth is it’s all about October. So it makes the most sense for AF to wait until the deadline to make a deal. It allows him to assess where the biggest need is. Who knows if Kersh develops a change up and has a Ryu year. If May, Urias and Gonsolin all hit it big and are Buehleresque! That would shut Cassidy up about needing a second ace. If Verdugo and Pollock are healthy and crushing it and Seager returns to all star form and we all say, can you believe we almost traded him for Lindor! Lux is rookie of the year and Joc has even a better year and we all say Betts couldn’t start for this team! Kelly starts throwing 99 on the corners instead of down the middle and Jansen and Treinen aren’t even giving up any hits much less runs with their sub 2 era’s. Point is we’ll have a much clearer picture by the end of July what we need to finish in October. And the cost to us in giving up young talent will be less for a shorter rental at 1/3 the salary. And the injury factor will be mitigated by 2/3rds. AF will once again strike at the deadline. It’s the smart move. And next year to be more cost efficient he will jointly sign a superstar with another California team. They get him for six months from April thru September at 6/7 th the salary and we get him for October!
I don’t know who said that “all the Dodgers want to do is win the NL West,” but it wasn’t I. What I do think, and have stated, is that the Dodgers ownership is not as committed as a few other ownerships to doing the things necessary to have the best team in baseball in a given year; i.e., the most likely to win a title.
And I will not go through all the players again whom the ownership apparently thought were too expensive or required too long a contract for them to sign. They invariably have passed
on them (Scherzer, Verlander), or offered too little in money or trade pieces (Harper, Stanton, Yelich, Cole). There are others. One can excuse this one or that one, or say that we are lucky not to have someone, or that they never really wanted to be here, but the pattern is unmistakable. It is obvious what the ownership wants to do, which is to maximize profits, not be saddled with long-term deals, have as many cost-controlled players as possible.
They can do it that way, they own the team. The fans are just along for the ride. But ask yourselves, which of these two franchises is more committed to winning a title, the Dodgers or the Yankees? You can say, “Well, the Yankees haven’t won one in quite a while.” But they have won plenty i n the last 20 years, and I can see them winning something like three of the next five. And the Cardinals, who have three titles in the last twelve years or so, and who are not a major market team, have rebuilt, adding Goldschmidt, and now possibly Arenado, who is someone who apparently has wanted to play for the Dodgers, but they somehow never manage to get him.
Now, because of the scandal involving the Astros, and to a lesser extent, the Red Sox, some are mentally awarding those two titles to the Dodgers. As bad as the scandal undoubtedly is, that does not mean that the Dodgers would have won otherwise. Maybe the Yankees, who lost to the Astros in seven games in the 2017 ALCS, would have won it. One cannot replay the entire season with the Astros not cheating, and know how it would have come out, though it is certainly true that the Dodgers looked like the best team that season. Had they gotten Verlander instead of Darvish, they would have won the title, even thoughtHouston was cheating., but they didn’t want to pick up his contract for the extra year, the bottom line for them. It’s disgraceful that the Astros cheated in that manner, but it does not validate everything the Dodgers owners refuse to do as far as building the best teams reasonably possible within at least some financial constraints.
Finally, we all know that Friedman said after the season that something was missing. He was right. Not least of which was a bullpen which was clearly deficient all season and which was scarcely improved during the trade period in midseason., and which ended up being a major reason why we lost in our first playoff series. Roberts expected more turnover than ever. Most baseball “experts” said that the two teams which most needed to do something at the winter meetings were the Yankees and Dodgers. The Dodgers got Treinen, certainly iffy, for one year. They signed Nelson, who is hardly a high-ranked talent now. They have done nothing else. They have saved another $30 million or so in payroll. One of their major owners says that because the profit margin is high, they are doing the right things. Most fans are upset, but it doesn’t ruffle the owners, as long as the fans pay up.
So certainly the ownership would “like” to win a title, as most would. But it is hard for me to understand why it is not more obvious to most fans that the Dodgers, more so than some other franchises, are more focused on maximizing consistent profits in order to satisfy their large group of minority owners, than they are on building the best team in baseball in any given year. I will note that the Dodgers have not been the favorites to win the championship in any of the seasons in which Guggenheim has owned the team, and they are not for the upcoming season. Which does not mean that they could not win it, but that they are happy enough with stopping at being contenders, and then hoping that one season things go their way and they win it all. If that were to happen, I think that they would trumpet that for another three decades (like they kept showing 1988 highlights for years on Dodger TV), and be satisfied, whereas some other owners would want to keep the championships coming.
Ultimately I can only speak for myself on any of this, and I would just say that I have followed the Dodgers for decades, as has almost everyone here; and that I do not believe that the Dodgers ownership is a committed to trying to win titles as some others. It was a different era, in may ways, and there is no doubt that Walter O’Malley loved to make money; but I always felt that the Dodgers of the ’60’s wanted very much to win titles. And I do not think that this current ownership cares all that much–or maybe it is that they care, but they are not willing to sacrifice any profits to get them, whereas some other owners are in any given season. That’s why we almost always get outbid for the big name players we are ostensibly going after–except for Greinke, whom the ownership saw as necessary to secure the multibillion TV deal. When there are big profits at stake, they can come up with the money. When it is only about championships, they find rationales to not spend it.
I don’t think that the primary object of the Braintrust’s approach to roster construction is to maximize profits – it’s efficiency. Win as many as possible as efficiently as possible. With that in mind, you rarely overpay for talent, but you miss out on players who might help you win. That’s what frustrates Dodger fans – at some point, you overpay for the right player if you think he pushes you over the top. The Dodgers haven’t done that even once in the Friedman era.
Both Roberts and Friedman intimated this off-season that there would be major changes to the Dodgers’ roster this in light of the 2019 playoff debacle – but the only major change is that 2/5 of the starting rotation from last season (including the Dodgers’ best pitcher from 2019) is gone and has been replaced by either the old and infirm (Nelson and Wood) or by largely untested kids with significant innings restrictions (Urias, May and Gonsolin).
I don’t think that this is the kind of change that Dodger fans anticipated when Roberts and Friedman said to look out for major changes this year.
As to the second point, no rational person believes that the Dodgers want to win the NL West and to go no further. However, I read constantly that all that a team needs to do is to get to the post-season and that luck or karma or something will take them the rest of the way. I do believe that is how the Braintrust operates the Dodgers. I would prefer to see them load up and try to have the best team getting to the post-season – not the luckiest.
I have been a Dodger fan since the mid-60s. Except for 1988, they have never been the luckiest team – just the opposite. Count on talent, not luck.
Good lord.
There is no easier endeavor than to run a baseball club in hindsight.
Dodgers traded for Darvish over Verlander because they are cheap bastards!
Or maybe Darvish was the better pitcher prior to the trade? Lower WHIP, higher strikeout rate. Younger. Manifestation of greed can always be identified by the sheer lack of ownership’s precognitive ability. How could they have not known that Verlander (who’s career appeared to be on the decline) would become a completely different pitcher post trade. How could they have NOT known that his WHIP would drop from 1.3 pre trade, to .6 post trade! All that money spent on advance statistics and those greedy bastards didn’t want to break out the checkbook and hire Miss Cleo! She even told them “Call me now!”
Miss Cleo could have helped all along. She would have told AD that Yelich batting average would jump 40 points and his home run numbers would more than double, post trade.
And she would have warned AD NOT to trade for the best player available at the 2018 trade deadline. Because, I don’t know, wed lose the WS anyway and AD wouldn’t ever get any credit for how little he gave up for Machado and people would call him a cheap bastard anyway.
And Miss Cleo would definitely have told AD to sign Harper. Because while she, like so many Dodger fans, believes she posses a flawless ability to predict the future; she is absolutely abysmal at math.
And Cole. Cheap bastards let the guy determine his own fate. What the hell is that? AD could have hired some ex KGB to abduct the guys wife or something. Let him know signing with the Dodgers was NOT his choice. But no. The relentless drive to maximize profits does not permit expenditures for such things as kidnapping, extortion and terrorist threats. So sad. Profit over winning.
I stand with you all. Cheap bastards need to stop waisting money on all that SABR metrics garbage, player development, put profits aside and hire a damn psychic and some ex KGB enforcers.
Because, apparently, that’s how we win!
I think your on to something. McCourt did has a psychic on his payroll. That got us to the playoffs. Obviously the missing ingredient is some ex KGB agents.
Verlander had been pitching really well since around late June of that year. I remember he one-hit the Dodgers. His ERA was around 2.00, I think for his last ten or so starts. Meanwhile, and admittedly I do not have the stats right here, Darvish was something like 4-9 that season when we got him, and he had been hammered in some recent starts. The Astros gave up some young talent, plus another year at $27 million, because Verlander was the key piece. I remember Bryan Cranston, a great Dodgers fan, hashtagging “Verlander in Blue” for a couple of months. He is hardly a baseball guru, but I think it is revisionist to see Darvish as the better pitcher that year. I know that I really wanted the Dodgers to get Verlander, and it’s not because he was famous once. Unless you think that somehow the Astros got him when he was struggling, and then he amazingly turned it around for the next three years
And I respectfully disagree that the Dodgers got Darvish because he was a better pitcher, they got him because he was the best they could get for a rental, and Verlander was not a rental. Darvish being young was irrelevant, because they had no intention of keeping him. Darvish seemed like a good option at the time, but not as good as Verlander was, as was proven out. But it’s not like a one-time thing; the Dodgers also passed on Jon Lester, who helped put the Cardinals in the World Series, and beat the Dodgers in the playoffs. According to Molly Knight, covering the team then, the Red Sox wanted Joc Pederson., although it’s likely that they would have taken a package of minor league talent. It’s always easiest to pass, it takes a willingness to risk and to spend more money, to consummate a big deal.
In hindsight, Verlander was obviously the better move. But I maintain, with information available at the time, that Darvish was a better acquisition all around.
Verlander had an absolute abysmal beginning to the season. Yes, he was better after June. But Davish had very solid underlying stats. And they were better than Verlander’s before the trade. I couldn’t care less what their respective W/L records were at the time. They both were playing on awful teams.
And yes, Verlander did become a vastly better pitcher the moment he went to the Astros. Vastly better. His career ERA was around 3.50. His ERA since the trade to the Astros is less than 2.50. His strikeout to walk ratio was 2.6 in 2017 pre trade. His K/W ratio was 8.6 post trade. And he has lead the league in that category in both 2018 and 2019, both years he threw more than 7 strikeouts to each walk. His career best before he was an Astro? 4.4! His K’s per 9? Prior to the trade it was around 8.5. Post trade? 12! He hit career highs in Ks in both 2018 and 2019.
In my view, Verlander was the bigger risk at the time. He was owed a pile of money, he was at the age where pitchers typically decline and he was showing signs of decline. There was no way anybody could have predicted he would instantly not just go back to pitcher he was 4 or 5 years previously, but actually become better! 2018 and 2019 are, without question, the best two years of his career. In his age 35 and 36 seasons. That is what I would call an anomaly. But in hindsight, it seems so obvious.
And I’m not sure what you mean with Lester. He never played for the Cardinals. He was traded by Boston to Oakland for Yoenis Cespedes. In 2014 there were all variety of trade rumors floating around. Most involved teams demanding Pederson, Seager and Urias. Lester would have been a nice acquisition. But lets not pretend like we have any actual information to know what Boston was asking. And he was a rental. I’m am really NEVER for giving up your top prospect in the system for a rental. And Lester certainly guaranteed success for Oakland, didn’t he? Do you know who started the Wild Card game for Oakland in 2014? Jon Lester. He gave up 6 runs in the loss. Even great pitchers can suck in the playoffs. There is no guaranteed anything.
NOBODY has a crystal ball. It’s really easy to look back, in hindsight, and play the “we should have” game. Running a team is vastly more complicated. Dodgers management are the better than anybody else at it. I am very happy this organization does NOT trade away their top 1-3 prospects for rentals. Do I wish we had landed several trades/free agents in the last couple years? Sure. But I don’t pretend to know all the circumstances. What I do know, AD’s best moves have been the ones he hasn’t made. The ones he did make, Darvish/Machado, were solid trades that landed us, arguably, the best players available at the deadline for minimal prospect cost. Last I checked our top prospects the last 5 years have been very valuable players. I’m very much glad we didn’t trade them all away.
I stand corrected on Lester, who I was somehow confusing with Lackey, who ended up with St. Louis after Boston. Lester did not help Oakland that much for the brief period, but he did well with Chicago in the early years after they got him. Maybe it was Lackey for whom Boston was asking for Pederson from us. I do remember Molly Knight commenting after Pederson’s All-Star earning first half, that AF was right in not trading him for some high-caliber pitcher. Unfortunately that was Joc’s best half-season ever. And guess it was Lackey who beat us in the playoffs, though Lester may have as well with the Cubs..
Why was Sadler dfaed and not White? Both out of options. Did they think White had more to contribute to the team than Sadler? Not sure I understand this move. Comments?
The Dodgers need RH bats, and that is what Tyler White has. He is a very much slimmed down version of himself, and I think that the Dodgers want to see what he can do without the weight. Sadler is one of many of what the Dodgers already have. White could still be DFA’d, and unless there is a trade of some kind, he is a long shot to make the 26 man. Nobody builds a 40 man better than AF, and it is bound to hurt some fans when one of their favorites does not make the cut.
How many teams will have better odds of winning a WS in the next 5 years?
I recognize this is a pot stirring topic, but in the middle of January what else is a worthy topic. I know I find it hard to come up with anything fresh. I know as much as Mark (or me) or others are dumbfounded with those that believe the Dodger ownership is not committed to winning, I know that we are not going to change the minds of those that believe the Dodgers ownership is not as much committed to winning. After reading both William’s and Dodgerrick’s counterpoint to Mark, I find Dodgerrick more reasoned, while I believe William’s is more emotional. Gee, reason and emotion in baseball. Go figure!
Minority ownership of a $3+ Billion dollar company is not at all concerned with annual operational income. Do they like it? Of course. But what Mark wrote with regards to the value of a franchise increasing very significantly with a WS championship is what all owners (minority and majority) desire. That is what makes an ownership share filthy rich. There are many investors (non-baseball) who like their dividends. They love to clip coupons. They love safety over wealth risk and loss. Then there are those that love to invest for the growth in value of an entity where they can cash in on the increased equity which will far outpace the dividend investor. My guess (a very educated guess) is that the Dodger owners are already very wealthy, and Dodger annual operational profits did not persuade them to become an owner or stay as one. They are not coupon clippers or dividend driven investors. They are equity driven. The best way to increase the value of the Dodgers is to win a WS.
I keep hearing about how the Dodgers blew it by not trading for Verlander. For those who believe that, you continue to refuse to recognize that the Dodgers had a VERY SIGNIFICANT debt compliance issue staring at them right in the face. They had substantial payroll already on the books with no easy way of getting out of the quagmire when they told MLB they would get under the CBT threshold by 2018. Trading for Verlander would have made that impossible, and while I have no idea what the penalties would have been, Dodger owners did and acted accordingly.
I continually wrote that I wanted the Dodgers to go BOLD for 2020. What that really meant for me was Gerrit Cole. Pay him above the previous historic contract amount. And they did offer $300MM for 8 years. That was $83MM greater than David Price full contract and the AAV ($37.5MM) was more than Greinke’s record AAV and greater than what he ultimately signed with NYY. LAD lost a contract battle they were never going to win, because NYY would have matched whatever LAD offered knowing that Cole had always wanted to be a NYY. In free agency, it is the player that gets to choose where to play for whatever reason. Cole wanted NYY and chose them over a better AAV offer from the Dodgers.
Another constant concern for me has always been the bullpen. But I am not sure what AF can do, other than what he did do last June Rule 4 Amateur Draft. Relief in MLB is so hit and miss (mostly miss) that when a team finds an elite reliever they are going to hold on to them. That is what the Dodgers did with KJ after 2016. Not a great return on the investment, but AF did show he was willing to spend on an elite reliever. He tried for Felipe Vazquez last year, and thankfully the Pirates could not pull the trigger on their side. This winter there was ONE quality FA reliever…Will Smith. Smith was going to play in either Atlanta or SF. He wasn’t talking with anyone else. Atlanta made a great offer within a few hours of Smith accepting the QO from SF. Now what? What FA pitcher has the highest ceiling, even with a big question mark? Blake Treinen. Treinen has indicated that there were better offers out there for him, but he wanted to pitch for the Dodgers. He has no ego when it comes to closing. He will be satisfied to be KJ’s setup. If he comes anywhere near what he did in 2018, the Dodgers will be the recipient of a great back end bullpen. I suspect those that are critical of Treinen now will be eating those words as they did for Joe Blanton and Brandon Morrow.
A couple years back baseball people were talking about how close Jimmy Nelson was to becoming an elite SP in MLB. Then his shoulder blew up. Interesting that Nelson is younger than Ryu was when he returned from shoulder surgery and we all saw what Ryu did last year. How about we give Nelson a chance to prove or disprove that he is capable of being a quality pitcher. Of course, very few thought that Ryu would have been as good as he was, and it is understandable that Nelson would not be well received by those who do not trust AF or ownership.
Alex Wood was an All Star and was the best SP in the 2017 WS at Houston. Now to Dodgerrick, Alex may be infirm, but he is not old. At least I do not consider 29 to be too old for a pitcher. Driveline is the current hot button for pitchers trying to increase the MPH and spin rates. Wood apparently has been more than solid after his work at Driveline. I know I do not have to say how much of a fan of Alex Wood that I am. I just cannot wait to watch him again in a Dodger uni. I hope he goes off and signs an extension this summer. Interestingly enough KJ has been working with Driveline to work on his cutter spin rate. Rob Hill and Mark Prior are going to be big difference makers for the pitching staff.
So what it boils down to me is that there is no difference is who wants to win more…LAD or NYY. They both want to win, but have different philosophies as to how to get it done. William points out while NYY has not won in a while, they have won multiple championships since 1988. But what he continues to overlook is that NYY did it with primarily home grown talent rather than high priced FA. Once they started down the high priced FA path, their dynasty ended.
We are all Dodger fans. We just have different ideas how best to build the organization for a WS championship. I do think AF will make a significant trade at the deadline to address what he perceives the need is to get the team across the finish line. I also expect all of the criticism to come out at the same time.
AC, I also think that Treinen was a good pickup, well worth the risk. I do not think much of the Wood pickup, he was ineffective for us in 2018, and we traded him as part of a salary dump, and to pick up a couple of prospects. He was hurt most of last year and was not effective when he wasn’t. But maybe he can help us out of the bullpen. If he has to start, that means that one of proposed starters has not done the job. I think the starting five as presently constituted, is very risky, but we will see how it goes. I think that it is based more on necessity, since we did not choose to sign Ryu, and we could not or would not land any proven starter.
The one advantage we have had, is that there is little if any competition in our division, though in 2018, Colorado obviously just missed relegating us to the Wild Card and a trip to first Chicago, and then maybe Milwaukee, in the playoffs. So if we do win the division, then we are only two steps away from the World Series and obviously would have a chance, though I think that if St. Louis gets Arenado, they and Atlanta may well be better, and Washington still has a better staff than we do. I believe that the Yankees are much better. And that is what bothers me the most, that I think that we are comfortable with ceding position to a couple of other franchises each year, maybe different ones at times. To win the title, you have to be the best team. I think that Houston and New York were better than we were last year, and apparently Washington was for the last two months of the season. Yes, surprises can happen in the playoffs, but it is usually with a team like Washington which developed a great starting staff, or Kansas City, or the SF GIants, which developed great bullpens which were handled by managers to had a knack for it, unlike ours.
I think our best hope for winning the title is that the Yankees have a bunch of injuries again, or that somehow they have terrible luck in the AL playoffs. I would think that they would beat us easily in a World Series, if we were to get there. They won 102 games with many injuries, and then added Cole. If it is indeed true that we had no chance at Cole, we should have figured that out quickly, and had a very viable plan B to upgrade the starting staff, which we obviously did not, or thought we could get away with the one we are going with.
Thank you.
What was MLB thinking putting a live replay feed right next to the dugout and then tell everyone they can’t look at it? Did they really not foresee the problems?
I suggest you read the nine page report – it clearly states that Cora arranged for a technician from the video replay room to install a monitor immediately outside the dugout where players would decode the signs. MLB had nothing to do with the placement of the monitor.
I read the report. The video replay room isn’t far away and can be accessed by each team with real time data by employees of their organization. Did MLB not foresee any problem with this?? I have a hard time believing nobody saw this coming.
How much time elapses from the catcher’s signals until the pitch? Perhaps 5 to 10 seconds? I doubt that anyone considered it a problem with multiple players, coaches, or video room employees trying to run back and forth to another room between pitches, or even using the telephone. It was Cora’s decision to mount a monitor by the dugout so that the players / coaches had immediate access to the signs and could beat the drum (trash can) for the signal. Don’t forget that Manfred had clearly stated that breaking the rule regarding electronic sign stealing would result in the punishment of the GM and the on-field manager. Luhnow, Hinch, Cora, and now Beltran have paid the price.
Thank you AC.
Ask the Yankees if they’d like to unload Stanton”s contract. You bet they would! Would anybody here want Harper and Machado’s contacts? Not me! Muncy outperformed both of them. Fact is most mega long term contracts have been a bust. AF went all in on Cole as was the right move. But unlike here not everyone is a Dodger fan and Cole was a Yankee fan. Nothing AF could have done. One of the best things AF has done is that we are not saddled with a debilitating long term contract. The best way to build a sustainable winning team is to develop young talent and add that winning piece. That piece wasn’t Haywood for the Cubs! And Epstein is supposed to be one of the best in the business. Stop complaining about the past. Everyone is a perfect armchair qb! Give me a move they should make this year to win a WS. And we won’t really know what that final piece may be until the trade deadline! And we did have the best team in 17 thx to AF and the Astros had to cheat to take it away from us!
People need to stop defending Pete Rose. He gambled as a player and as a manager. Every time he has a story it gets proven to be a lie. Let’s pretend he didn’t bet on them to lose, how we’re the games managed differently when he bet on them to win. How did he use his roster differently? How did that affect the days he didn’t bet? What message did it send to the bookies when he didn’t bet. The guy broke the rules, he lied, he’s changed his story, then gets caught lying again because they have boatloads of evidence against the bum. The guys records a memorabilia are in the Hall. That’s good enough.
Agree 100%
I agree 100% on Rose being banned from baseball for many reasons:
When caught he showed little contrition.
He denied the charges for far too long.
He avoided prosecution by accepting a lifetime ban.
He sticks to the story that Giamanti planned to lift the ban after short a time. Bart had the bad form to die so we’ll never know.
Petey broke the cardinal sin of baseball. Gambling almost ruined the game in 1919. Every clubhouse door has 2 rules; Don’t touch an umpire and don’t gamble. These were not negotiable.
People now point to drug use, steroid use, PEDs, spouse abuse and now sign stealing but all these are under the negotiated agreement with MLB and the Players Union. These are negotiated and penalties agreed upon. In 1919 there were no negotiations. Kenesaw Mountain Landis laid down the law, right or wrong, to save the game and that was it. No players Union. No MLB answering to anybody.
That is why gambling is handled differently than all the later indiscretions.
I think cheating by using technology to gain an advantage violates the integrity of the game just like gambling did in 1919 and I’m for the severest of penalties.
Casey Sadler was traded to the Cubs for 24 year old utility infielder/outfielder Clayton Daniel. Clayton was a 2018 draftee with the Cubs (31st round) after four years at Jacksonville St. Last year he hit a combined .305/.397/.402/.799 at Low A (Midwest League) and AA (Southern League). He is 5′ 7″ and 170 pounds. He has probably been told his entire baseball life that he was too small to play MLB.
He is a MiLB utility player so his chances at making the Show are remote, but who knows. He is a good lottery pick for a reliever that was not going to make the LAD 26 man roster.
I am sure DC will have a complete write up on our latest Clayton.
Some good bat-to-ball skills (K’d 53 times; BB 52 times as a pro) – 2 seasons went from rookie ball to AA; and his fielding stats look very good. Good pick up for a guy who was not likely to make the Dodgers active roster.
Good luck to Casey Sadler. Sorry to see him go. He was one of the good guys to have on your team. Do well Casey in Chicago.
I agree AC and I actually enjoy Mark continually stirring the pot on various issues. This particular issue has drawn a great deal of interest, especially from those who don’t think the Dodgers have done enough. That’s true on this site and with some people I talk with, plus it has shown up in media stories, which seem to appear every couple of days or so. It has been a popular subject on MLB TV and radio. Pretty much the endless discussion although the Astros cheating scandal has pushed some of it aside for the moment.
This is a fun site because Mark and others make it fun by offering interesting topics and most of the commentary is excellent, no matter if you agree or disagree with each other. And yes, Mark does like stirring the pot to see what rises.
Some people are unhappy the Dodgers don’t pursue some free agents and actually land them. Then there are trades where some may prefer keeping prospects if the costs are deemed too high and others who want to make the big trade now, no matter the cost. If not now, when?
I always do the surveys the Dodgers send me and because I’m a ticket holder someone always calls and follows up. The Dodgers are actually quite good at seeking fan feedback.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the Dodgers actually follows what is being said on this and other sites.
I told the Dodger staffer (same guy calls every year) a couple of years ago that I wanted them to sign Bryce Harper, not because the Dodgers needed him, but because they raise the price of season tickets every year and I think he would fun to watch. I want to be entertained, especially if they keep increasing the cost. Some players are entertaining and some are not. Zack Greinke was fun, which is one of the reasons I wasn’t happy when they failed to re-sign him. I think Lindor would be fun to watch, but I like Cory Seager, just a good player, but one who seldom shows emotion.
Maybe I’m wrong, but Anthony Rendon just doesn’t look a really fun player. Just not enough Hollywood in him. Justin Turner does that Hollywood style, which is why I really didn’t want the Dodgers to pursue Rendon. It would have also messed up the Gavin Lux starting at second.
If you actually take a hard look at big time players, they often don’t make a difference. Manny Ramirez did. I thought Gerrit Cole was the only real difference maker among the free agents. The Dodgers made a great offer. Oh well. But missing out on the others, sorry I just didn’t think there was anybody who have put the Dodgers over the top. This is really an elite team and only a truly elite player can make a difference and most likely be a pitcher. I’m guessing the front office felt the same way.
I certainly didn’t want the Dodgers to pursue David Price. Hey, he might help you win a World Series. Or he might be hurt and miss most of the season. Then he could be healthy and just not be very good.
I was actually happy to see the Dodgers sign AJ Pollock and Joe Kelly last winter. Still glad they did, part of the solution. Pollock can flat out hit, he just has to stay away from freak injuries and Kelly has some of the best stuff I’ve seen, he just needs to find consistency for an entire season. Both are worth the risk.
This year I wanted them to sign Blake Treinen and bring back Alex Wood, then take a shot on Jimmy Nelson. I think they’ve done what needed to be done. Yah, I like a big time star, but who and at what cost?
We may have to wait for July for any major acquisitions. But I like this team.
The Dodgers look for elite difference makers. AF was criticized for not making any deals at last year’s trade deadline for a reliever. It was not for lack of trying. Felipe Vazquez was the difference maker they were looking hard at. Thankfully it did not happen. IMO they did not miss out on any of the other relievers that were traded. Not Shane Greene, Mark Melancon, or Chris Martin who the Braves traded for. Brad Brach? Mychal Givens? Ian Kennedy? Ken Giles had arm concerns and had a “make it feel good” shot right at the deadline. The year before it was Machado, and they landed him. But the results were not what they were hoping for, and they did not look to re-sign him at all.
This winter they went all in on Gerrit Cole. I think William mentioned that the Dodgers should have known sooner about Cole and pursued Plan B. They did. There were no other FA difference making pitchers available. Certainly none that AF believed were better than Urias/May/Gonsolin/Stripling. So many have complained that it is not a reasonable expectation for any of those four to pitch 170+ innings, so what did they do, they went out an picked up two pitchers that may very well bounce back (it is certainly not unheard of) but can nevertheless keep the innings down for the four youngsters. Many may not want to believe in Wood and Nelson being Plan B, but to AF it does what he thinks is best. It keeps his “kids” ready to go with help and if not needed as starters, then both can be effective relievers. Wood has certainly been a quality reliever in the past. I recognize 2018 was not a banner showing in relief, and he probably had a bad attitude about having to go into relief. I think he has cleared those issues up or AF would not have signed him if he still had concerns.
Many may not want to hear it, but Cole was Plan A, and low risk high reward pitchers were Plan B. If Cleveland did not ask for Gavin Lux for Clevinger, perhaps they could have come up with something to make it work, but why should Cleveland trade him? It is not AF’s fault if a team does not want to trade their Ace to the Dodgers without a significant overpay.
I agree that Gerrit Cole was the big difference maker. Stephen Strasburg would have been too, but if as some say he was always going back to the Nats then he was another off of the board.
I really liked Zack Wheeler. I know that his numbers are pretty pedestrian, but he has been very good for about a year an a half and his stuff is explosive. Ryu and MadBum were also possibilities. I would have been reluctant to sign Ryu for 4 seasons given his age and injury history, and Bumgarner has been on a downward trajectory for a couple of years and has a lot of mileage on his arm. Wheeler might have been a difference maker though – I guess we’ll see how he does in Philly next year.
The 3 guys the Dodgers signed all had negative WAR in 2019. Yeah, I know they were hurt and all, and they were inexpensive to sign. (Although $10 MM to Treinen for a year is pretty good for a guy who had an ERA of 4.9, a WHIP of 1.6, and negative .3 WAR without a major injury – he’s not a strike thrower.) They are all lottery tickets. Will any of them pay off? Who knows. But none of them are sure things. All are frail reeds upon which to hang one’s hopes.
I liked Zach Wheeler as well. However, his wife insisted on him staying on the East Coast, and we know Happy Wife = Happy Life. Plus at $118MM for a #3 as a NYM seems a little steep. The Mets seem happy with Steven Matz and Marcus Stroman as their #3 and #4. But if he were willing to pitch on the West Coast, I agree he should have been considered for that overpay. I have to believe that a top of the rotation pitcher will become available at the deadline. And with a trade, the player does not have a say, except if he has a no trade clause.
Why do people insist on saying that the Yankees are better than Dodgers? They have Cole, and so what? He was not perfect, he also lost some games, why do you suppose Dodgers would not be able to beat him? Besides, he won’t have the help (cheater) he had in Houston…
The season is not yet started, come on, not even the spring games and they are almost taking it for granted that we can’t beat NY!
What’s worse, what the Astros did or what Pete Rose did? I think it’s what the Astros did, and if you don’t ban the Astro players involved for life, then Pete Rose shouldn’t be banned for life either. Go ahead and ban him from participating in any MLB activities, but to not have the player with the most hits EVER in the game not in the HOF is ridiculous. Lying is wrong but cheating is worse.
He is in the hall for having the most hits. He doesn’t need to be enshrined. There was a stretch where every time he didn’t bet on the Reds was when Gullickson pitched. He also finished all four Gullickson starts with the same scrub pitcher. The Reds lost all four. Tell me that doesn’t affect the integrity of the game. The Astros title should be vacated and Pete Rose can keep trying to sell his autographs in Vegas.
Because right now their bullpen is much better and their starting pitching is better and our post season offense has been disappointing so advantage Yankees. How do you think it goes for the Dodgers with October Kershaw pitching twice against that right handed power Yankee lineup? Hint- not well! That’s why I’ve been saying our biggest need is for a second ace to pair with Buehler and for either Urias or May to transform into stardom quickly
The Astros were ahead of the Dodgers with Driveline Baseball. Freidman is frantically trying to catch up, which is why he hired Rob Hill (I am sure that was an expensive hire). Driveline and other analytics-driven sources were responsible for “fixing” Justin Verlander and making him even better than he was before.
The Dodgers are hoping Rob Hill can help deliver that same kind of “magic” with Clayton Kershaw, Blake Treinen, Joe Kelly, Kenley Jansen, Jimmy Nelson, and Alex Wood. Will Hill and Prior be successful on all six pitchers… probably not, but 3 or 4 are a possibility. This stuff is not voodoo. It’s real, it’s solid and it works.
Also, they have a second year of RVS. That could be huge.
I would say to William, that the Dodgers did not make any big moves because they didn’t need to. They will let the game come to them. If it turns out they have a need at the Deadline, they will make a move… if not, then why?
Here’s an actual quote I read today about the punishment the Astros received:
Whatever they give those guys for sentences they ought to give the Dodger owners and Friedman for cheating their fans out of enough talent to win a World Series. They suck.
As Jimmy Buffett said, “There is no dumbass Vaccine.” That guy just took a lethal dose of No Brains.
CAWS!
What crows say?
Stupid ones!
Obviously you know a lot more than I do on the subject, but what you’re saying is when Pete Rose was a manager. I’m not saying he’s a HOF manager but should be in as a HOF player regardless if he lied about his gambling addiction. Did he EVER not give 110% while he was a player? You’d have a hard time convincing me that he didn’t.
1. I do not like Pete Rose.
2. I respect him as a player.
3. He was kicked out of baseball for what he did as a manager.
4. How can the Hall of Fame not include the Greatest Hitter of All-Time (most hits)?
5. He can be banned from baseball but be in the HOF as a player.
His accomplishments are in the Hall. I used to think the same way. He doesn’t need a bust. He’s got caught in lie after lie to the point where I lost all sympathy for him. He gambled as a player too.
Mark is correct. The HOF isn’t bound by MLB’s rules. It’s a private, unaffiliated organization. However, they have respected the Permanently Ineligible list since the 1980s.
Most people are completely unaware, Joe Jackson was on the HOF ballot in 1936. He received 2 votes. There is still a persistent myth that it is his status as Permanently Ineligible that has kept him out of the HOF. It was a lack of votes.
Sometime people prefer the myth.
Baseball Writers HOF eligibility rule e: Any player on Baseball’s ineligible list shall not be an eligible candidate.
That was a change in the rules in 1991, largely in response to debate regarding Pete Rose. The HOF informally chose respect the Permanently Ineligible list in the 80s. But there were factions that wanted Rose on the ballot anyway. So they made the rule formal in 1991 to end the debate. The Veterans Committee didn’t formally exclude players on the list until 2006. Again, because Pete Rose was about to become eligible. Rose was the catalyst for both rule changes.