A Confederacy of Dunces
In 1980 a book by that title was released eleven years after the authors suicide, no doubt caused by the premise of the book, which is both depressing and true. The author John Kennedy Toole, was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Price. The premise of the book is that When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
In 1980 a book by that title was released eleven years after the authors suicide, no doubt caused by the premise of the book, which is both depressing and true. The author John Kennedy Toole, was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Price. The premise of the book is that “When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.” Just to be clear, “a dunce is a person considered incapable of learning.”
This morning, I perused about 15 Dodger Blogs on the web and, while there are a lot of smart fans out there, there are some who just do not have a clue. I shudder to think how they get through life. To a man, the Dunces are against FAZ (Friedman and Zaidi), call for their firing, and spend most of their waking hours deriding everything they do.
“Yeah, the Dodgers won, but it was in spite of FAZ.”
“Yeah, the Dodgers lost because of FAZ.”
“Yeah, but they won’t win 104 games again.”
“Yeah, they traded for so-and-so, which was stupid.”
“Yeah, they didn’t trade for so-and-so, which was stupid.”
“Yeah, they don’t understand sabermetrics.”
No matter the outcome, good or bad, the dunces (I prefer the word “moron”), spin it to make FAZ look bad! I wanted to stop and post on several blogs “What is wrong with you people?” But, I then realized you can’t tell dunces anything as they are incapable of learning. There! I feel better. Hopefully no dunces reside here.
Don’t get me wrong, FAZ has made plenty of mistakes and I don’t agree with everything they do, but under their leadership, the Dodgers are recognized as one of the best organizations in baseball and have a very robust farm system that is likely still Top 5. Actually, we have a lot of varying opinions here on this blog and most are highly rational and well-stated. We don’t all agree on the lineups and pitcher usage and some people fall in love with a player regardless of their warts. That’s what fans do. Let me remind you that hindsight is also 20/20,
The great Astros wasted two first round picks in back-to-back years on players who are now out of baseball. In 2014, they took Brady Aiken when Kyle Schwarber, Nick Gordon and Trea Turner were on the board. In 2013, the took Mark Appel when Chris Bryant, Jon Gray and others were still on the board. Bad picks, signings and trades happen to everyone. The Dodgers are loathe to trade certain prospects – whether that is the right decision will be decided by history.
You may not agree that the Dodgers have not traded for a big time player (Stanton) or pitcher like Gerrit Cole… and that’s fine. If Cole keeps pitching like he is now, it’s hard to argue with AC that he’s not worth Verdugo or Buehler, Diaz and a couple of other prospects. But, we don’t know. Time will be the judge. Also, what Buehler and Verdugo become will be part of the verdict. Right about now, the Dodgers could really use Cole and maybe their failure to trade for him has caused the Big Dodger in the Sky to curse the team this year. “I gave you the resources – now you are going to hell.”
It feels like that sometimes, but I don’t believe it. I just think the Dodgers have had a lot of bad luck: Turner, Seager, Puig, Hill, Forsythe, Ryu and Kershaws and Jansens woes. I do see value in Daniel Hudson, BUT HE NEEDS TO GO TO AAA AND GET HIS ACT TOGETHER. He ain’t there yet! Also, the vitriol against Grandal has started again, even though this is how he ranks among all catchers in MLB:
- 3rd in RBI
- 6th in HR
- 4th in BA
- 2nd in OPS
- 3rd in Slg
- 3rd in OB%
- 2nd in BB
He only has 2 passed balls and is 22nd in fewest wild pitches. I don’t know what they want, but they seem to think he can be traded (even though they say he is horrid) and Barnes and Farmer will lead the Dodgers to the promised land. Kyle Farmer is hitting .224 and has caught a total of 7 major league innings! Take off your dunce hats! Farmer is no catcher. He’s a utility guy who can also catch. Maybe Will Smith is ready, but that’s a big leap of faith. Grandal is not going anywhere.
Soon, Turner, Forsythe, Puig and Hill will be back. Ryu will be in July or August. Chris Taylor is heating up as I predicted. This team will have to make a run in the second half and it just might be fun to watch.
Then Again… Maybe The Dodgers are Cursed:
DODGERS PLACE CLAYTON KERSHAW ON DL
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers today placed left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day disabled list with left bicep tendonitis and recalled right-handed pitcher Brock Stewart from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kershaw, 30, has made seven starts this season going 1-4 with a 2.86 ERA (14 ER/44.0 IP) and has held hitters to a .234 average, while striking out 48 against just 10 walks. The southpaw last started on Tuesday against the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out six in 6.0 innings as he did not factor in the decision.
Stewart, 26, who will make his second stint with the big league club this year, made his 2018 debut on April 30 against the Diamondbacks, allowing one run and striking out three in 1.2 innings of relief with the Dodgers. The right-hander has made four starts with Oklahoma City this season, going 1-0 with a 2.41 ERA (5 ER/18.2 IP) and has struck out 20 batters against just six walks, while limiting the opposition to a .200 average. In 2017, Stewart appeared in 17 games (four starts) with Los Angeles, collecting one save and posting a 3.41 ERA (13 ER/34.1 IP), while holding batters to a .226 average.
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Discussion (70)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I figured something was in the works when Brock Stewart was pulled from his start at OKC yesterday. Now we know what it was.
Good news on the way………….Danny Espinoza signed to a minor league contract and is already at OKC. Yes, the same Danny Espinoza who hit .173 with 109 strikeouts in 295 plate appearances last year. Bargain basement hunting I can see!
Dodgers sign Danny Espinosa
For the record (then and now), IMO Buehler was and is untouchable. I have no idea if that is what Pittsburgh asked for Cole, but if that was required then I would have said emphatically NO. I have stated that FAZ could have put a package together better than what Houston gave up; pitchers Joe Musgrove and Michael Feliz, 3B prospect Colin Moran, and lottery pick OF Jason Martin. It was always NYY that was going to get Cole that I was concerned with because they absolutely have the prospects that would have given them Cole, but they backed off as well.
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I have also said I have no idea what kind of package FAZ was willing to offer, so it is unfair to criticize without knowing. If Alex Verdugo was the stumbling block, then I might have pulled the trigger. Yes Verdugo shows that he may be able to hit MLB pitching at a high caliber, but had not yet, but Gerrit Cole has shown that he can pitch very well at the MLB level already. Verdugo is a RF who can play CF, and the Dodgers had Puig already there who was coming off a good year. Alex was a luxury at the time. Albeit not so much of a luxury now.
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Do I think that FAZ holds onto their prospects too tightly? Maybe. I do believe that you build the team from within so I would move with extreme caution. But without any research, the only Top Ten talent that FAZ has traded that I can remember was RHSP Grant Holmes. I do not remember if Frankie Montas was top ten at the time. I believe his injury moved him out. I would much rather trade from strength for a difference maker with a reasonable contract. Since FAZ has been in LA, two starting pitchers meant that criteria…Chris Sale and Gerrit Cole. I do know that Urias was a deal breaker in any Sale deal, and IMO Sale was worth it. I cannot criticize because I do not know who else Chicago asked for. What Boston gave up was impressive so it might have been very hard to top. I also know that It will take more in a trade to get someone from the same league, so Pittsburgh may have asked for much more than Houston gave up.
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Just as I agree that we do not know all that is being discussed in trades, and hind sight is 20-20, I also do not accept that the Dodgers would be better in 2018 with Tom Koehler and Scott Alexander as the two big acquisitions. I do not count Kemp because that was a salary reducing transaction, and FAZ could not move Kemp as they wanted. I do give FAZ tremendous credit for getting under the luxury tax, but it will only mean something if they do not let $$$$ dictate what they do next year.
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Finally I do not buy that the Dodgers did not sign Morrow because of injury concerns. Injury concerns did not deter FAZ in signing Brian Anderson, Scott Kazmir, Brandon McCarthy, Rich Hill…..IMO it was either money or that Morrow wanted to close and knew he could not with LAD. I can accept the latter, not the former.
Cole would look good right about now or maybe a “lights out BP” but that’s another discussion. This team indeed has bad luck and a serious case of WS hangover. Kershaw probably opts in now and that’s a good thing.
JT to miss 40 games or so, Ryu out until after the AS break, Seager out for the year, Kershaw to miss some time, a submaximal offensive performance from CT3 and others a BP that stinks = a top 15 draft pick.
If the Dodgers win the division this year I’ll take back by cynical comments on FAZ realizing their depth decisions did indeed workout. If they don’t, I will continue to be critical that they gave McCarthy 48 million, Kazmir 48 million, exercised the qualifying offer on Anderson, traded and then started Darvish in game #7, exercised the option on Forsyth for 9 million, letting Morrow get away and signing Koehler.
We can continue to give them kudos for not trading away talent, but acquiring the right talent is also an element of running a solid FO. Forsythe, Koehler, Darvish, Reddick et al have been utter failures. CT3 was a nice trade, but some of their (FAZ) poor FA acquisitions have contributed to the team’s financial situation that forced them to get under the CBT and it wasn’t just the Punto trade that caused that.
I’ll still watch, I’ll still root and I’ll still bleed Dodger blue, but laud FAZ as the geniuses that some think they’re……can’t do that yet!
Well, this will continue to test the team’s so-called ‘depth’.
Update above – The unthinkable has happened!