POST #3 - Dodger Blues

The 2016 Dodgers have lived up to the rich traditions established by their their fore bearers from Flatbush.  The "Bums from Brooklyn" are alive and well in and underachieving in Los Angeles.  With the McCourts departure from Los Angeles like a case of explosive irritable bowel syndrome, Guggenheim Sports has picked up the reigns once held by the likes of Branch Rickey and Walter O'Malley.  The difference being a soul and deep sense of commitment and tradition, not to mention a few billion dollars.  Gone are Vero Beach, Robinson, Drysedale and Alston.  They have been replaced with Camelback Ranch, desperation and a series of managers that have faded into memory.  Oh, I didn't forget the Fox Sports years.  There just isn't a reason to remember them.  So rest assured, the reputation for finishing second or worse is alive and well.  I fear there is little Guggenheim Sports can do little to alter that fate.

Guggenheim Sports was heralded as the great savior of the Dodger franchise.  They rode in on a majestic white stallions to save the day.  They were closely followed by carts loaded with cash.  Frank Walter, Stan Kasten, Magic Johnson and the gang threw money around like a band of drunk sailors on shore leave.  The amount of money spent was viewed as obscene even by New York Yankee standards.  Money spent on overage half season rentals, overrated minor league prospects with glaring deficiencies and a bevy of dead arm pitchers who never had a career to start with.  At first Guggenheim could lay blame and throw Ned Colletti under the bus as the problem.  He was however banished to sportscasting on a channel only a small portion of Los Angeles can view.  Hell, they may have done him a favor as nobody knows where he went.  Guggenheim brought in their "Wonder Boy" in the name of Andrew Friedman and paraded him around like a prized show dog.  Friedman was given the lofty title of President of Baseball Operations and permitted to hire a bounty of former General Managers to assist the new General Manager Farhan Zahidi.  The Dodger front office and payroll exploded like a defense department contract budget out of control.  Friedmans' new philosophy of having a dozen chefs in the kitchen fused with a mixture of traditional scouting reports, saber-metrics and an old gypsy mystic with a crystal ball took over decision making.  Now in his second year in control of the Dodger front office Friedman and company are responsible for the product on the field.  A product that would most likely be subject to a recall if the FDA had any say.  Watch out Los Angeles, your show dog has a bad case of fleas.

We have sat back with great anticipation to see what type of innovative moves Friedman and company would make in bringing top caliber players to the team.  With each free agent market, non waiver trade deadline, and player draft we have waited like rabid dogs for a meal that never comes.  The Dodger front office and all of its super star talent hasn't produced a single rabbit from the magicians hat.  Instead we have watched top tier players pass on an opportunity to cash in for high salaries in Los Angeles to play for other teams.  While Theo Epstein is building a dynasty in Chicago with the previously pathetic Cubs, Friedmans' plane is stalled and in a free fall and nobody can find a parachute.  The collapse appears inevitable and blue blood will be splattered about Chavez Ravine like a Rorshach test gone way wrong.  There is something wrong in Los Angeles with this once great franchise and nobody seems to know how to bring them out of the stark darkness of the abyss.

With the exception of Corey Seager the Dodger farm system has provided little new talent.  The jury is still out on Trayce Thompson, Julio Urias and a couple other names.  What we have seen are the likes of Yasiel Puig, Alex Guerrero and Joc Pederson come up to the majors only to fail in dramatic fashion.  In the old days Vero Beach turned out a long string of high quality players and "Rookies of the Year" award winners who were disciplined and knew how to play baseball.  Now Camelback Ranch is turning out players with flawed swings, poor fundamental understandings of the game and little to no discipline.  The once great farm system is now merely a group of caretakers and camp counselors who have forgot how to teach the game or inspire the youth to learn.  People make fun of Tommy Lasorda but he made the youth want to learn and believe in themselves.  He made them winners and earned his place in the Hall of Fame.  When you talk to Dodger greats you always hear stories of how Vero Beach shaped and molded them into great players.  That is all now gone and we lost forever in time.

The Dodgers top priority for the last decade has been rebuilding their pitching staff.  The farm system and the front office have only delivered Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen.  This level of ineptness is only rivaled by the jackasses we keep sending to congress.  We currently are paying for players no longer om our roster like Alex Guerrero ($10,000,000), Hector Olivera ($23,300,000), Matt Kemp ($14,000,000) and Carl Crawford ($21,100,000).  The Dodger also are paying Yasiel Puig ($6,200,000) to play in the minors.  We cannot forget disabled list salaries of Hyun Jin-Ryu ($23,500,000) and Andre Ethier ($53,000,000).  Keep in mind these are all salaries related to transactions approved under Guggenheim Sports.  So much for their keen insight in identifying the best talent money can buy.  It's time we have Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zahidi and the rest of the Dodger Baseball Operations division checked for cataracts.  As for Stan Kasten, I am not sure if it is Alzheimers or plain old senility as his ability to run a baseball team as the President is in serious question.  He has approved all the transactions Andrew Friedman and his predecessor Ned Colletti have made since Guggenheim Sports took over.  Maybe Stan Kasten could work for the top movies studios as he is skilled at losing money on the scale of the Ghostbusters reboot or the train wreck that was Batman vs. Superman.  

At the end of the day we are not under the "Curse of the Bambino" like the Boston Red Sox were for decades or the "Curse of the Goat" that has maligned the Chicago Cubs still to this day.  The Dodgers have nobody to blame but themselves.  But we still love, "Them Bums,"