Loyalty Versus Change

Written by Bumsrap…

Duke Snider.  Hall of Famer.  For many of us he was our favorite player back in our much younger days.  We still love him.  He was a star player on a very good team for many years.  He was certainly my favorite player by far.  He caught my attention as an 8 year old and stayed in my heart. But, as I have matured and evolved I have become more impressed with Pee Wee Reese, Gil Hodges, and Roy Campanella and wish I had allowed them as much room within me as I did Duke.

I used to like Don Drysdale better than Sandy Koufax but that changed as I realized that Sandy came closer to my personality than did Don.  How could anybody not like Sweet Lou Johnson?  The Toy Cannon was a great addition and fit with the Dodgers.

I haven’t figured out why I like a prospect but a few will make it into my heart regardless of their eventual success and stay there even if they don’t reach the success I wanted for them.  James Loney would certainly be an example.

As we look at the prospects in the Dodger organization I remind myself of players that were knocking on the door in past years—some I have embraced and others I didn’t appreciate because of the threat they posed to someone I liked.

The first player that threatened to take a position away from one of my favorites was Don Demeter.  How dare he threaten to take Duke’s spot in centerfield?  I didn’t like to hear about Jerry Royster either as he was the up and comer to push out Ron Cey.

I was ready for Mike Marshal and Greg Brock to take Steve Garvey’s job and I didn’t seem to like the way Davey Lopes responded to Steve Sax.  So for me it was Steve Sax, Gregg Brock good; Don Demeter, Jerry Royster bad.

I will hang in with Joc but I admit he is scaring me.  He is so unassuming and has so much kid in him that for me, his success will be so much more fun to watch than watching a player that has already removed question marks and doesn’t show the kid within.  We are watching players in their 20’s that are carrying on their backs the success of a major corporation.

So, who do we want to watch being successful?  Who do we discard in hopes of a younger player being better?  I have wanted to watch Pederson, Seager, and Bellinger play together.  I have been interested in Peters since I saw how he played a ball off the fence in spring training.  I like the Toles story.  I like the speed that Smith might bring to the catcher position.  I like the way Stewart climbed from A to Z in a single year.  I love what Wood might become.

I am ready to enjoy what we have.  In the off-season I will entertain myself with crazy trade ideas.  I like what the Dodgers have in the pipeline and I like the concept of Machado coming to the Dodgers as a free agent but if he takes Turner’s spot at third then that could put Turner at first for the rest of his contract and that would keep Bellinger in the outfield for a couple more years.  Until I know who gets pushed out with a Machado signing, I am not sure if I will like it.

My first question to everybody is, do you have patience, loyalty, and a sense of the personality you like to see in Dodger players or do you prefer to run players through the grist mill and wind up going with the hot hitter?

My second question is why do some commenters keep repeating what they don’t like about a player?  There are not that many people making comments in here that we can’t keep track of each other’s likes and dislikes.  Personally, I have taken a break from looking in here because I got tired of a few being negative. — Bumsrap