Salary Chump?

I wanted to wait and post this after a Dodger loss, for obvious reasons. So, today seemed as good a time as any. Let’s go back to when Kemp, Puig, Wood and Farmer were traded to the Reds, and many garden-variety Dodger fans were aghast. Listen to what they said:

• Judging The Dodgers Puig, Kemp Trade to The Reds, Possibly One of The Worst in Dodgers History
• Friedman better go out and sign someone like a Harper, Machado or acquire a JT Realmuto. Because while I do think the Dodgers can survive without Puig and Kemp, a large market behemoth like the Dodgers salary dumping like this for no reason not only sends a really bad message to the fan base but it makes them look awful in the eyes of the sports world. The way to make up for this stupidity is to fork out the cash and sign Harper. Otherwise the Friedman fans get to cheer again about how much money he saved. His wallet never looked thinner.
• Dumbest trade ever? I think it will definitely rank up there in the top.
• The Dodgers gave away 4 major league players for nothing. The two prospects may or may not ever make a major league club but you can bet Freidman has no idea if they will or not. Bailey has never been any good and will probably be released and very possibly never play MLB baseball again. Friedman banks on convincing fans that saving money and getting below the luxury tax is just as important as winning. Some fans cheer when he does this. Where is the team success figured in and I mean winning a WS? Friedman does this crap all the time and it is really past old. Some say Kemp should have been traded because of the 2nd half of the season, when in reality the reason he did not play well was because he was put on the bench by Dummy and left there to rot except for a little platooning which is very unentertaining. Again we will be made to wait and wait and wait for something good to happen. The ownership should be ashamed of themselves for putting that kind of an asshole in charge. We now get to see if the great Joc, Cody, Chris, Kike, Muncy and the rest can win without those they let go.
• The offense lost 3 key contributors (Puig, Kemp and Grandal). They’ve replaced Grandal with a 36 year old who hit .190 last year. They’ve replaced Puig with Verdugo (I assume) and Kemp with Pollock. They should have better bat to ball skills assuming that Pollock can stay on the field (which he hasn’t 6 out of 7 seasons). I know – the new hitting coach is more magician than coach and will fix everything by waving a magic wand (or bat).
• The Farmer trade was a salary dump/player dump. It cost the Dodgers 5 or 6 WAR and they took back negative WAR in Bailey. They signed Pollock (about 2.5 WAR), but lost Grandal (about a 4 WAR player last year). But they’re better!
• The real issue this off-season is that the Dodgers have largely tread water. They have lost Grandal and replaced him with Russell Martin. They have lost Puig and Kemp and replaced them with – well, probably Alex Verdugo and AJ Pollock. They have lost Machado and Dozier and replaced them with the still-rehabbing Cory Seager. They have lost Alex Wood and replaced him with Wild Man Kelly. The guys they lost produced 10 bWAR. (This only includes Machado’s production with the Dodgers and not his entire season of work.) That’s if you believe in WAR. Really, will the players who will get the playing time equal or surpass the production of last year’s lost players? You can make a case that they will except for catcher – this is the obvious place where the Dodgers will not be as good this year.
• But by trading Wood, Kemp and Puig, if they do nothing else, they are worse than they were before they traded them. The trade only makes sense if they use the additional money under the “tax cap” to acquire major league talent. I’m just not sure that there’s anyone that they can obtain that will make the Dodgers better in 2019 without giving away the store in prospects (Realmuto or Kluber) or in $$ (Harper). If they don’t, then it’s a salary dump.

And on and on it went. I was criticized for criticizing “the great Dustin Nosler” who hated the Farmer Trade and I was routinely mocked by someone who took umbrage because he was continually wrong (repeatedly, year-over-year, deal-over-deal) in his analysis of the Dodgers. He repeatedly mocked my takes and finally, I called him delusional or moronic on it. “If you dish it, you have to take it.”

He was all over me, saying I should rename the team the “Los Angeles Friedmans,” and on and on, Well, I guess he didn’t like the heat, so he got out of the kitchen. I actually liked the guy, but EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING he wrote was negative… why? I have no clue. Come back and take your medicine! It won’t hurt. Get on the Andrew Friedman Train because This train is headed for a third straight World Series.

All the above comments were DEAD WRONG! Most were from another website, but some were from here. They all were moronic and/or delusional as the Dodgers are currently one of the best offensive teams in baseball and have the most wins in the NL after what I would characterize as a “slow start.” The bullpen has been a big problem… which is working it’s way out. The fact of the matter is that the Dodgers have not missed Puig, Kemp, Wood or Farmer and are in fact, simply a better team without them… and they received two outstanding prospects.

You are free to make little jabs at me… or even big jabs. Just know that if it turns out I was right, you probably have a Big One coming. I have taken a lot of heat in my support of Cody Bellinger, Kike Hernandez, Austin Barnes and Alex Verdugo, but I think some of you are beginning to see that was coming from a point of vision. Some people just see and others have vision. That’s all I have on that subject. Peace out.

• You aren’t going to win may games with just two hits.
• Ryu pitched well enough to win in his return.
• Chase Anderson is a Dodger killer.
• Move on – Live to fight another day.
• I’ll miss today’s game because I’ll be at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse, seeing the Pacers get swept!

Minor League Report

• The Iowa Cubs slaughtered the OKC Dodgers 11-1 as the Dodgers only had 4 hits and it’s not worth recapping.
• Tulsa lost 6-4 to Arkansas. Estevez is smoking hot going 3-4 and Ruiz was 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBI. Estevez is hitting and insane .443 and Ruiz is up to .265 after a horrid start.
• RC won 11-4 as Sheffield closed out the game and kept his ERA at 0.00.
• Great Lakes won 8-3 over the Bowling Green Hot Rods. Outman, Amaya and Heyer were the hitting stars. Sorry for the brief coverage, but I’m outta’ time. Bye.