A Dodgers Fans’ Ultimate Test: Patience
Shortly after it was announced that Johnny Cueto had signed with the San Francisco Giants, twitter erupted with frustrated Dodgers fans, most of them expressing shock, anger and disbelief that another division rival had swooped in and acquired a top free agent, leaving the Dodgers empty handed yet again.
One message read, “and we all thought LAST off-season was rough… at this rate, maybe next year we’ll trade Kershaw & Vin Scully for 2 minor leaguers.”
Ouch.
ICYMI: Rival Executives Impressed by Dodgers’ Haul
As harsh criticism continues to flow through the madness that is social media, I offer some suggestions. Relax… breathe… and double-check the calendar. It may be just a tad early to phone in the 2016 season.
Believe it or not, trying to “look on the bright-side” of things is not usually my forte. I’m a pessimist by trade. Not because I like to be; it just often works out that way.
In fact, the above mentioned tweet was my own, wrote in that first moment of disappointment, as though I was channeling my inner Yasiel Puig after a strike out. And though I didn’t have a bat to break over my knee, I did have a keyboard nearby.
But after my initial pessimistic reaction, I took a minute to step back and think about everything, and decided that maybe it’s not that bad just yet. Crazy, I know.
Look, I fully understand the current outcry coming from many Dodgers fans. We’re coming up on almost 30 years since our last World Series. We’ve come up short in the post-season for the last three years despite enormous payrolls, and rosters that have been filled with All-Stars.
This winter, fans have had to stand-by as division rivals improve their rosters with ambitious trades and acquisitions of sought-after free agents — one of whom being that Greinke guy. All-the-while, the consensus from most is that the Dodgers have stood pretty much idle, if not regressed, this off-season.
Patience is running thin for the Dodgers faithful.
But before we all go on full-fledged attack mode with 140 characters or less, maybe we should realize that the off-season is not over yet, and there’s a good chance the roster we see today probably won’t be the same one we see on Opening Day.
Consider this: There are still about 65 days until pitchers and catchers report, 80 days before the first spring training game, and almost 4 months until the Dodgers step on the diamond to play ball “for realsies.”
As Andrew Friedman said himself, “It’s all about what we look like in early April.” A statement like that would seem to indicate there’s more to come.
NEXT: How The Offseason Could Be Salvaged
Bull@#$%, a starting 5 of Kershaw, Anderson, Ryu???, Wood, and Bolsinger, does not strike fear in the hearts of out division rivals. It doesn’t matter how deep our outfield is, or how good our defense is. You can’t stop the 3 run homer with that staff, and going in to every 8-9 inning 4 runs behind doesn’t help Kenley Jansen.
I’ve been patient for 27 years, a couple more ain’t gonna kill me
Sorry Brian but as many of us have watched Dodger baseball since we were kids My first game as a kid with my Dad in 1958 and played it from HS to adult fun games. It has been my favorite sport. Many of us understand baseball and many of us can evaluate moves fairly.
Kasten and this Front Office was brought in with great fanfare as the Genius Crew. And I have to admit they seem to make trades and grab washed up players and play with the 40 man roster as if they are playing Fantasy Baseball with a vengeance. But lets be realistic they have been outbid and out maneuvered by the Dbacks, Giants, Cubs and Red Sox this year. Not what we expected from the Genius Crew! Plus they have over 8 billion dollars from a TV contract that assures most of us cannot watch the games and they had the gall to raise ticket prices sharply for what looks to be a team that is not as competitive. Yes it is not April. Also it is not essential to have the best starting rotation.
However they are giving us mixed messages. They would not go one more year for Greinke but they signed a 37 year old Iwakuma that had injury issues. Does that make sense to you? Really We are not fools out here. They were out played.
The Dodgers if they start today would rank somewhere around the 6-8th best team in the National League. It has been 27 years since a WS and the Giants have recently won HOW MANY>>>
So instead of spending the extra money for Greinke. Money that they have in spades. They are going to probably use prospects that are a finite resource to fix the problem they created.
Also one last thing. Do these Brainiacs have a problem with speed? They foolishly traded Gordon. We had one guy that could have brought some speed dynamic to the offense and they trade him. Speed on the base paths can be the x factor when you are in the playoffs and have their ace against our Whatever we will have. Speed makes defenses make errors and moves the runner over. Ask Dave Roberts about speed.
And talking about the Gordon trade. They always say evaluate after a year or two,. Well Gordon turned out to win the bating title. And they are saying they are not too interested in signing Hendrick because his defense metrics have slipped. Meanwhile the Angels have Heaney a potentil left handed 1 or 2 young hurler with star potential so they lost that trade also..
So yes Dodger Nation is mad thee fools are getting their tails kicked. Genius ya think? duh…
Don;t even get me started on the Kemp trade…
dcp1247 That Brett Anderson is nothing more than a short or middle reliever ,pressed into a starting role,by the Front office, out of desperation. he certainly is no Rick Rhoden ,that’s for darn sure !
but the point of the article is that maybe some moves are still going to be made. what if they acquire Fernandez, sale, or gray?
i totally agree on gordon. didnt like the trade then and still don’t. But my point with this off season is that other moves may still be coming. Im not excited about how its went so far but its not over yet.
BCRobitaille Yes I agree. But the one thing these idiots have is Money. Not signing Greinke made NO SENSE, Then they turn around and sign Iwakuma? A broken pitcher that is about as old as Greinke will be at the end of the contract they would not OK? Plus we are all in Awe of Greinke the surgeon pitcher. his type of pitcher will be able to pitch until he is close to 40 effectively.
Now it will cost these clowns prospects. Prospects that we all were hoping would address the Bull Pen and maybe 2nd base now that they have traded away Peraza. And they are so slow…. They need to flush out the Outfield. It is maddening that they have taken several steps back and the Cubs, Dbacks and Giants are better. That is the thing. This is about winning a WS. I say we are a lot further from that now. And I will predict we are at least 3 years from that now. Can you say Kershaw opting out frustrated with this Genius Crew?? i want to strangle these Morons…
BCRobitaille
Yes your article was hopeful and well written. Your articles have been consistently insightful and passionate. I appreciate them.
My point is yes I am sure they will acquire some type of decent pitcher in some type of convoluted strange trade. But this one will cost them prospects when Greinke would simply have cost them Money.
The amount of money spent for the Roster will go down radically as the contracts of Crawford, Etheir etc go down and they have a very viable plan to continue to grow the Minor League system and buy international players. That is all good business and commendable. As they are a business they plan to make a ton of money, good for them. The Team in the next few years will consist of Home Grown cost controlled players we get it.
But the point is most of us,from what I read on the blogs are crazy mad, because we feel and see they are throwing away this year and possibly next and we have had 27 years without a WS.,
The Best baseball move was to sign Greinke. Not signing him was a serious mistake both for the Dodgers and allowing a very good team with a young offensive group, the Dbacks, to become very competitive due to the Dodgers allowing them to steal away the best Pitcher in the FA market. It seriously weakened us and strengthened a rival. And the Giants now have a very formidable starting rotation also.
Plus without Greinke we do not match up with the Nats, Cards, Cubs, Dbacks or Giants…..
Yes it is April but they are wasting their resources. And being true Baseball Fans and study the game we know they were outplayed and that cannot be tolerated.
Another point we all agreed that at the end of the year. They needed to:
Fix the Out Field situation:
Acquire a BP arm capable to bridge the 7-8th inning to get the ball to Janson
Fill the 2nd base slot
Sign Greinke
So far they are 0-4 And Dodger nation is Pissed Off.
Tmaxster BCRobitaille Pissed off indeed. I understand and agree to a certain extent. Even if I don’t express it in articles all the time, I’ve been pretty critical of the moves by the front office, not only this off-season but last year as well. I would have loved to have Zack come back. I hated seeing Dee go. But now we have to think about what to do to salvage this off-season. True, it may cost us prospects, but it’s at the point now where we have a plethora of them. Urias, De Leon, Montas, Holmes, Buehler, Alvarez, Anderson… and those are just our pitchers. All of them won’t be able to make the club so if their value is high, maybe it would be time to part with a couple (although I really really don’t want to give up Urias or De Leon just yet.)
With the news now about Iwakuma, I think the front office will be forced to so something. We’ll see exactly what, but I obviously now they need to make a move. I agree, so far, not impressed by the direction we’re heading. But everyday is a new day to turn it around. Here’s hoping for the best.
Thanks for reading.
BCRobitaille Tmaxster As stated earlier I enjoy your articles and point of view and yes the same passion we all have for the team.
I think as we are disappointed over the way this off season has gone so far. We are wanting to hold the Genius Front Office accountable. I read on the internet and in the LA Times that the Dodger Front Office is surprised by the all the negative press and comments they are getting. I say put on your Big Boy Pants. You are in the Big Leagues you aren’t in Podunk Florida anymore you are with one of the storied Baseball Franchises with a very loyal and knowledgeable fan base. The work force the way it is today. If anyone makes as big a mistake as letting Greinke go, not knowing about the Chapman issue when the BoSox knew months ago, getting out traded in the Gordon trade and the Kendrick/Heaney trade. Not to mention the Heasey fiasco, the Latos, Johnson trade, I can go on… And they have only been here a year!!
I think in the normal work world that we live in that many screw ups and you are fired…. The only reason they are around is cause that would look worse. But they have to know they have not made any really good deals and a lot of really bad ones. The team is not as competitive since they have taken over and less so now.
They took over a team with a lot of good prospects, loads of money and one of the best rotations in the league. Their first signing was McCarthy… Nuf Said
In June you’ll be saying,there’s a 100 games left.So what if they’re already 12 games out of first
and 10 games under .500.It’s early,be patient.This is what I would expect from a mouthpiece of
the Dodgers.The Dodgers 2016 season ended when they let Greinke walk out the door.
you’re talking about june and we’re in December, lol. If they’re 10 games back by then, no, i won’t be preaching patience, that i can assure you. But you’re right, season is over. We shouldn’t even field a team this year. Let them rest up for 2017… smh
By the way Brian. Thanks for the service. Northern Virginia is very pretty country. I was in the AF back in the Nam years. Last base was Davis Monthan. Hope you and yours are healthy and safe for the NY!
Thanks for your insight this year.
Go Dodgers….No matter what these Morons are up to.
thank you sir! my dad was in vack then, but he was army. i was smarter so i went AF, j/k. Here’s hoping for some dodgers moves made SOON!