Michael Busch ‘Wants to Beat’ Dodgers After They Traded Him to Cubs
The Los Angeles Dodgers traded Michael Busch and Yency Almonte to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope last January. Busch rose to the Dodgers major league roster in 2023 after they drafted him 31st overall in 2019. During that 2023 season, Busch went .169/.247/.292 with two home runs and seven RBIs during 26 game appearances. He never got an extended runway to showcase his talent at the MLB level, though.
The Dodgers didn’t have a spot for Busch heading into this year, so they made the deal to send him to Chicago, where he’s getting everyday playing time — and making the absolute most of it.
Busch tied a Cubs’ franchise record with five straight games with a home run, and has been one of Chicago’s best and most consistent hitters all year long.
Busch recently caught up with Bob Nightengale of USA Today, and said while there are “no hard feelings” after getting traded away by the team who drafted him, he now feels competitive about the prospect of facing his former team.
“I’ve got no hard feelings, there’s no bad blood, nothing like that,” Busch said to Nightengale. “Everybody gets in a sense. But I’ve got pride too. You want to beat them now. It’s that competitive spirit, almost like a brotherly competitive spirit.”
Busch has already gotten the chance to beat the Dodgers, with the Cubs going 2-1 against Los Angeles during their three-game home series earlier this year. Even better for Busch, he was dominant for the Cubs during that series.
During the Cubs’ first win against the Dodgers, Busch had his first home run in a Cubs uniform. Two days later, Busch had three RBIs during a dominant 8-1 win.
So far this season, Busch has hit .317 with six home runs and 13 RBIs. Busch and the Cubs are off to an overall successful start, beginning the year 11-7.
Photo Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
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THE VECCHIO FACTOR SAYS…
04/17/2024 at 9:59 PM
No matter how many MVPs you have or how much money you spend, you still have to play the game, and baseball is the hardest of all sports to play!
It seems to us that the Dodgers, with all the constant line-up changes and platooning that the inept Dave Roberts employs, the players look unsettled. The juggling and player movement, creates mental unsuredness. Players are wondering if they’re going to play that day or night, be sent down, traded, or just taking a roster spot in case of an injury.
A manager needs to manage players on all player levels, including the mental preparation to get ready to play, and the Dodgers, at this moment, seem to be disjointed, with Roberts experimenting with different lineup moves. With the Dodgers’ plethora of players, it feels like they’re still trying to figure out the everyday team as if they were still in Spring Training. Other than the Big Three, plus Smith and Teoscar Hernandez, it looks like a number of players are pressing, not feeling confident, and LA’s baseball management team needs to figure it out, and correct it quickly in order to gain important team chemistry.
As an example, Michael Busch was one of those unsettled players, and we’re wondering what Dodger baseball operations genius decided James Outman was a better choice to keep than Busch? Outman is not the pure hitter Busch is, and it’s another loss for LA via their Hedge Fund baseball decision-makers, in our opinion, none of which are highly knowledgeable baseball player evaluators.
P.S. Busch is now flourishing with the Cubs, one of a number of other former DODGER players let go by LA, such as Yordan Alvarez in Houston.
Pitching-wise, the Dodgers have a slew of injured pitchers; a number of them coming off surgeries, and others still inexperienced, and not ready for MLB Prime Time. Brasier & Vesia are also two under-achievers this year, performing well below what they’ve shown over the last 2 years.
As it stands now, LA is NOT a lock to win the World Series in 2024. We realize things may change, but what we’ve pointed out is reason for concern.
Note; Shohei Ohtani has hit 2 home runs in over 100 at bats in his career at Dodger stadium.
Bottom line, yes it’s early, but there seemingly are many holes to fill, such as, Roberts’ pet, Max Muncy, who can slug, but he’s not a reliable bat-to-ball hitter. Plus, he can’t field his position well enough, and he’s not a good enough hitter to be batting 5th! 6th or 7th is his spot. Gavin Lux is a bust, a ONE dimensional player, since he can only play ONE position, second base, and can’t hit well enough to perform in this lineup. LA should consider Muncy and Lux as trade bait. We believe Nolan Arenado wants to come home!
Lastly, have you noticed Dave Roberts is ALWAYS eating something when they show him in the dugout, while other managers are flashing signs, and writing notes?
Dave Roberts leaves the top five batters in no matter if the pitcher throws left or right. His revolving door for the next four batting spots is not the case. Let a hitter hit! This has not panned out now or in the playoffs.
Busch can eat shidt. I can’t wait for him to get back down to earth. Y’all remember Billy Ashley (?) .. no, of course you don’t. He came up in 93 along with Mondesi. Hes 6 7″ 250. Beast of a guy. He hit 5 hrs in like… 9 games. Couple more with a few dbls next week. Then….. POOF! he managed a 5th place ROY that year, Mondesi winning ROY. same fn guy as ( hairy) Bush
– yours truly, Sammy Boy Smith ( no relation to Davey boy)
I agree his head is so big now he can barely hold it up, he’s lucky we let him go to help advance his career and now he wants revenge, like he did so much with us, yes the kid can play but be humble bushy,