Editorials

The Dodgers Can’t Go Big Just To Make A Splash

Andre Ethier

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If the goal is to build organizational infrastructure, there are no shortcuts. At some point, teams have to draw a line in the sand with their prospects, and refuse to cross.

The structural problems to bloated payrolls can be significant, too. The Dodgers can afford to overpay by 15 or 20 percent, but every team has a financial limit and no team can make a habit of eating contracts.

Expensive players clog rosters, which is fine when they’re good — nobody cares what Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, or second-half Matt Kemp make because they produce — but it’s incredibly problematic when they don’t. Highly paid players expect to play, and can are headaches waiting to happen for managers forced (by numbers or performance) either to shoehorn them into different positions or sit them altogether.

They are hard to trade, particularly when they come with deep flaws, whether health/defense (Carl Crawford) or a total inability to hit left-handed pitching/unpleasant disposition (Ethier). They tend to get less productive and more expensive as they age, exacerbating all the aforementioned issues. They block younger, potentially more talented players who otherwise could be contributing.

There’s absolutely no reason to believe Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi won’t roll those Guggenheim dollars out liberally. The Dodgers have already done great work beefing up their organizational infrastructure, bringing in brainpower, investing in the stuff producing great players, not just the players themselves. Friedman and Zaidi have the great luxury of creating and stocking an elite development system, but unlike the worlds of Tampa and Oakland actually get to keep the good players it produces.

None of this says the Dodgers shouldn’t throw their financial weight around, either. Jon Lester, for example, makes a ton of sense. He’s consistent, durable, productive, provides insurance should Greinke leave after next season (or, as has been suggested here, gives the Dodgers a chance to fill other holes by trading him, though that seems unlikely), and potentially gives the Dodgers an absurdly good starting rotation.

Plus, there’s no pitching version of Pederson in L.A.’s system blocked by Lester’s presence, and potentially keeping Lester from the Giants isn’t a bad idea, either. Brandon McCarthy isn’t as sexy a name, but would fit nicely and is less expensive. Could Hiroki Kuroda, who had a great second half in New York last season, be lured back for a year or two? There’s nothing wrong with filling hole with money, and any number of ways to do it.

What the Dodgers must avoid, though, is the disease currently ailing the Lakers – namely an obsession with stars moving past appropriate to counterproductive, and the feeling the market demands consistent splash-making. It’s ok if the Red Sox or Yankees spend more in any given offseason or trade deadline, if the options available don’t serve an organizational vision.

High payrolls only help if the money is spent on good players, not just name players. The two aren’t always the same. Meanwhile, young, elite players, the kind providing high end production and an organization’s lifeblood, almost never land on the open market.

The Dodgers have an obligation to be competitive every year. To do it most efficiently (meaning they don’t do things throwing obstacles in their own way) means spending money and prospects strategically in ways not compromising the foundation. No easy task, given how maintaining a high payroll often exerts a certain type of behavior.

Currently, the Blue are too heavily tilted towards the Major-League roster in ways that aren’t sustainable. At some point, the hard work of fixing that problem has to happen. That the Dodgers don’t think they can cheat, even at the cost of quality wintertime PR, is encouraging.

If the Dodgers can create legitimate bullpen depth, a process they’ve started already, the players on the roster now mean they’ll be good, even if shortstop is filled with a no-stick-all-glove option like Miguel Rojas. They won’t go into next season with the same glut of outfielders. Nobody wants that.

But while the roster will evolve, it may or may not pick up another big name, which is fine. It’s been a long time since the Dodgers had a smart, overarching organizational plan, plus the commitment in money and manpower to execute it.

If they can execute it, everyone is better off.

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4 Comments

  1. It’s about return on investment. Production and wins per $ spent, not how much you spend. And the Dodgers have been one of the worst organizations in baseball in recent decades in that regard. New ownership & management will right this ship – but it takes some time to completely restructure an organization & develop a minor league & international pipeline of talent & depth.

  2. This is why we have to stick with Kemp. We’ll never get what he’s worth because teams are purposely undervaluing him so they won’t have to pay his salary. We pay, they get an all-star. No thanks. Just keep supporting him like we have been and he’ll be fine. We are going to have to eat some $$ one way or the other though whether we want to or not. Ethier and Crawford are paid way too much for what their roles are here. I like Andre, but we have to let him go play every day somewhere even if that means taking most of his salary in return for relief help or prospects. Same with Crawford. Van Slyke has earned a shot even if it is a (huge potential) platoon with Pederson. SS is a mystery. The $$Cuban kid in the minors and Seager deserve a shot as does Turner who has done everything + more that we could expect from a utility player. He’d probably be happy in that role a bit longer considering the love he gets in LA and how he got treated elsewhere. (Mets fans) An Upgrade at Catcher is a MUST. Sorry A.J. you’re a decent backstop, but name 1 team in the playoffs that didn’t have a decent if not great hitting catcher. {Posey, Weiters (injured) Molina, Martinez, Ianetta, Martin, Norris, Perez and even Ramos} Now name 1 team to win the WS lately without one. Last but definitely not least. Don Mattingly is a horrible manager. Just in the most important games of all, he brain farts. Starting Kershaw in that last game was a no brainer. BUT in an elimination playoff game, on the road, on short rest, in the late innings, up by 2 runs, against the Cardinals you DO NOT.. let that pitcher dictate whether he stays in the game or not. You DO NOT send him up to bat with runners on base with a chance to pad the lead. You DO NOT (after watching him struggle the inning before) let him put 2 men on consecutively and still leave him in. You DO NOT leave Ramirez in at SS , with a lead, late in the game, on the road etc etc…. when you’ve been taking him out all year in order to avoid exactly what happened. A base hit off the end of his glove easily caught by the slick fielding vacuum cleaner Rojas. Not to mention (why do people say that just before mentioning something?) using Puig to pinch run instead of hit when he , along with van slyke, were the only players available with the power to tie the game with 1 swing . Then NOT even let Puig use his speed to disrupt the pitcher in any way, let alone steal second. The man doesn’t use the hit and run, doesn’t use the squeeze (despite some of the best bunting pitchers in baseball) and doesn’t seem to have any management philosophy other than “well, when you have this much talent, things will work out”. He had no professional management experience before the Dodgers and was only hired to brown nose Joe Torre. Whew I’m tired now…lol

  3. Dodgers still need a leader on the field!!! There’s no real onfield leadership except for every 5th day when Kershaw starts… The Dodgers needs are the most elusive needs of all… Chemistry/leadership that much talent and payroll needs a Jeter (NY Yankees for example) A front man.. no matter what arena.. every team environment cannot escape the importance of true leadership.

    1. I disagree, Gonzales and Uribe are excellent on the field leaders,these guys perform, gold glove winners if not contenders every year. Locker room guys, that the rest of the team looks up to, Kershaw is a great pitcher, still not a leader, leading the league in stats just makes him great at what he does, pitching, hes a pitcher.

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