A Checkup From the Neck Up

So… many Dodger fans and Dodger Bloggers and Dodger Journalists are saying that the Dodgers are cheap and ran like the Tampa Bay Rays because they won’t go out and trade bushels of top prospects for Kluber or Realmuto or that they won’t sign Bryce Harper to a 14 year/$420 million dollar contract. Look, there is no dumbass vaccine and I am convinced that fans who want that are mentally ill.

Of course, we already know that the bulk of the garden variety Dodger journalists are indeed mentally ill. Look at them. Look at the drivel they have written so eloquently to try and influence Dodger fans everywhere who are too weak-minded to think for themselves

“OMG, we have to sign a big name free agent to a huge, long contract, so that our team can be financially hamstrung for years, like the Angels (Josh Hamilton. Albert Pujols) or Diamondbacks.”

The correlation between signing guys like Bryce Harper or Manny Machado to crazy-stupid long-term contracts and winning is that there is no correlation. How about a correlation to losing? Absolutely! That’s the correlation. That’s what usually happens to long-term deals. Guys like Cueto, Samardzjia, Pujols, Greinke, even Price (to a degree) have hamstrung teams. The teams who sign those bigs deals are often headed for rebuilding. The Cubs are hamstrung with Heyward and Darvish and could go either way right about now.

As your own young players become Arbitration Eligible and eventually Free Agents, you have to have the financial flexability to sign them. Adndrew Friedman has made his share of dope-fiend moves, but they were calculated moves that would not hamstring the team. He signed Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Brett Anderson to short-term contacts, the biggest being for $48 million, instead of playing $105 to $234 million for overpriced starters, who would be a financial boat-anchor to the team.

He got lucky in being able to dump Matt Kemp early in his tenure and the got lucky again in being able to dump A-Gon who wasn’t A-Gon anymore in his last few years. The Dodgers got some value last season from Kemp, but after dumping him again, they are still paying the price, which is over after this season.

I case you haven’t noticed, most of the teams who spend BIG MONEY for Free Agents or overpay in trades are not winning teams. They are losers! Boston got lucky and signed JD Martinez for $105 million/5 years and he will likely opt out, but they got the best hitter in baseball for a song and no big contract. If you could have JDM, Machado or Harper, who would you take. I’d take JD over Harper or Machado, in a New York Minute, but the Dodgers are cheap because they won’t sign either one for $200 to $400 million? Are you ill?

MLB teams are starting to realize what the Astros and Dodgers have been preaching. You are not likely to see 8 or 10 year deals and many deals over $100 million. Those are stupid moves. Be thankful that Andrew Friedman is not mentally ill like some fans, bloggers and journalists.

Let me make this clear: Guggenheim and Company (of whom I am not a fan) paid $2.1 Billion Dollars for the Dodgers. That’s their money and unless it is your money, you do not have a say in how to run the team. If you think you have that right, you are mentally ill! In the time they have owned the Dodgers they have been at or near the top in payroll expendatures, so take something for that mental illness.

It’s their money and they have a right to spend it how they want… the same as you have a right to spend your money. It’s that simple. If I don’t like how you spend your money, I will just move on. Why am I going to tell you what to do. If I did, I would be mentally ill. If you don’t like the way the Dodgers spend their money, pick another team. How about them KC Royals? Enjoy!

In case you have been living under a rock for a while, the Dodgers have won their divison and been to the playoffs for six, count ’em, 6 straight years. It’s time that the players step up. They have been to the World Series the past two years. The facts are: some players whom Andrew Friedman had no hand in obtaining have choked BIG TIME in the playoffs, including our Ace and Closer.

I think they are intent in fixing that and I believe they will. I believe they are intent in re-writing their legacy. We also have to hope that is the case. Clayton Kershaw’s contact could end up being a boat anchor, but that’s a risk Friedman had to take to keep a Hall of Fame Pitcher a Career Dodger. There was no question – he had to do it! Clayton is still young and I have a feeling, that as good as Striker Buehler is going to be, Clayton will bounce back and be the Generational Pitcher he was in the past. Yes, I know, some of you think I am mentally ill, but Clayton is still our Ace and will be for the next three years!

“You may be right, I may be crazy… but I just may be the lunatic you are looking for...” — Billy Joel

DISCLAIMER: I am not mocking real mental illness, which is a very serious thing, and no mentally ill people were harmed in the writing of this blog.