Dodgers News: Kasten Speaks on Lack of Activity
Easily the top concern among Dodgers fans right now is how little has actually been done since the 2015 campaign has ended. It’s pretty safe to say that if Andrew Friedman, Stan Kasten and Farhan Zaidi walked into a Los Angeles bar, there wouldn’t be a rush to buy them a drink.
Not that they’d need it, given their collective bank accounts, but it’s still nice to get a free beer every so often.
ICYMI: Dodgers Appear Ready To Contend Now And in Future
Kasten spoke recently about the criticism executives get because of the positions they hold, but he spoke Wednesday about the Dodgers, specifically.
This, via ESPN’s Mark Saxon:
I understand people wanting as much good, positive, big news as early as they can get it. I totally get that, but I also know that nowadays all of us tend to overreact to everything, both good and bad. If you’re feeling down right now about the Dodgers, I think it’s unwarranted as well as way premature. We had all kinds of scenarios when the season ended. We did reach for some big-ticket items very early that didn’t work out for various reasons.
He’ll come back to the “big-ticket items” in a bit, but he had more to say on the dynamic building for the immediate competition and long-term.
We are going to be, at a minimum, a contending team again and maybe better than last year by the time Opening Day gets here. Even more important, we’re much closer today than we were three years ago to being the long-term, self-sustaining organization, and that doesn’t get enough attention. Fans look at the short-term snapshot and maybe don’t have enough time to reflect on what we have been spending a lot of our time and energy and money building here in L.A. We all know the next wave of players is very close to getting to the majors this coming year. Behind them, we think two to three years from now we have a very, very deep roster of other prospects highlighted by the investments we’ve made internationally. There are two movements on the way and that’s what we said we were trying to do from the day we arrived.
What he says is fair. Their goal has been state very clearly since taking over the Dodgers: Compete as best they can by investing heavily early on (think the Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett trade) and focusing on the farm system afterward.
Now, with top-notch prospects ready to impact the team either by their own play or being involved in a bigger trade, the second goal is much closer than people give the front office credit for.
NEXT: Dodgers Looking at Left-Handed Starting Pitchers, Too
I have been reading many posts recently about the lack of moves the Dodgers have made thus far in the off season. I believe the owners approach will pay dividends long term. Patience is not easy, but is will payoff nicely in the end. I want to the Dodgers to long term success, not “sell the ranch” as in the previous years
RussellAlverson I think you mean “sell the farm,” as in farm system. The Dodgers have not done that in recent years, under Friedman or Coletti. Both protected their best prospects skillfully. Long term success is only partly dependent on prospects, however, since most minor league players, including many highly touted ones, never make an impact in the big leagues. Putting all your marbles on minor league development can backfire.
Blue58 RussellAlverson But they didn’t put all there marbles on the farm system.They invested a lot of money over the last few years to no avail, but theres hope that the next crop of major league ready prospects will contribute immediately and in the future. The world doesn’t end this offseason. There are still big free agents classes coming up, specifically the 2018 class.