Dodgers -the deal

Here's the deal. Forget about my going on about the sunshine and soft So Cal living. What's happening goes back to when Guggenheim purchased the club. They spent a lot of $$ on the farm system (good thingy) and to keep fans in the stadium a lot of $$ on free agents. After last year the stakeholders came and said its time to pay the piper. Sooooo-while ALL the teams in last years playoffs-including the Astros-spent dough on IMPROVING their team the Dodgers did nothing.
And like any sound business model you have to keep moving forward or you fall behind. The Dodgers let their top bull pen reliever-Morrow-go; they let their top verterans on the bench (besides Chase) Ethier, Gonzales go and decided to add zilch to the pitching staff. I can't fault them for that. That is what the stakeholders demand. So be it. What they didn't count on was that it left them VERY weak when it came to the possibilities of injuries and as can be seen that has left them far more vulnerable than any of the other playoff teams. (i.e. 3/4ths of the infield out)

So its not surprising the Dodgers have not performed like they did last year. What IS surprising is how BAD they HAVE performed. The only explanation is the coaching. I doubt-if this continues-we will see Roberts back (sad IMO). Most of the coaching staff will be gone.

No matter what any of us think-Friedman, Walter, Kasten answer to Guggenheim. The stakeholders are calling the shots. It isn't a matter of Pedersen and Bollinger swinging for home runs and striking out. It's about the money. Give the Dodgers about 2-3 years of so so baseball and they will be back to spending the money.

Another problem: More than any other team in the majors the Dodgers have bought into analytics when it comes to on field strategy. Their data shows that the most productive runs come from home runs as opposed to bunting and base running and hitting into the holes created by smart base running. That's likely true so that players agents are now structuring their client's contract with incentives that encourage the home run swing. (i.e. strikeouts).

Maybe there is no real answer to this other than suffering through it all. The Dodgers need an entire new pitching staff (bull pen include). Kershaw, Hill, Wood, Riu, Maeda, are all done IMO. They need two stoppers and a bull pen that includes someone like Morrow to bridge someone like Jansen-although I'm not too sure about him any more.

But all that takes money-and time.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2018 09:23PM by waterfield.