The Lost Angeles Doggers

Yesterday was one of the most embarrassing losses that the Lost Angeles Doggers have ever experienced. A 13-0 One-Hitter which really should have been a perfect game. To say it was an ugly game would have meant being extremely kind to ugly. To add insult to injury, former Dodger Cody Bellinger was 2-4 with hits 5th HR and is now hitting .301with a .381 OB% and a .943 OPS. Some will blame Andrew Friedman for not signing him. I think the blame for not signing Cody was elsewhere. I blame Mark Walter and Guggenheim Partners for not allowing Andrew to do so!

In any business, including the business of baseball, the President is involved heavily in the Day-to-Day Operations while the CEO gives him the budget and direction. Of course, I cannot prove this (at least right now), but I believe that Mark Walter instructed Andrew Friedman to get under the Lux Tax Threshold in 2023. Now, some of you may dispute that (“Nowhere did they say that.”) but if Walter didn’t, why did AF not really get involved with any free agents, and after it was all over and it was apparent that the Dodgers could not get under the Lux Tax, why sign a David Peralta?

I mean, at the very least, Andrew Friedman could have tried to sign Dansby Swanson… and likely would have been successful, considering his close friendship with Freddie Freeman. Tell me how the lineup would have looked with Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson in the lineup, hitting 6th and 7th! Why didn’t Andrew Friedman sign any significant free agents? Even Ray Charles can see that he was under orders to cut spending. When it became apparent that they could not get under the cap without gutting the farm system, they did sign David Peralta, who may ultimately become a good signing.

For the record, I do not blame Mark Walter for wanting to get under the Lux Tax Threshold… but they weren’t able to do it, so they “half-assed it.” I would have been OK with getting under by getting rid of players like CT3 and Bellinger and not signing Syndergaard and Peralta. Make it a full-blown youth movement! Instead, they were more interested in building an office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion than building a baseball team. That’s all I am going to say about that right about now because it will rear its ugly head later!

How would the Dodgers have looked with this lineup:

1. Betts RF
2. Freeman 1B
3. Smith C
4. Muncy 3B
5. Martinez DH
6. Bellinger CF
7. Swanson SS
8. Outman LF
9. Vargas 2B

This is not to say that there is no hope. There is! But I was bummed when the Dodgers let Cody walk, and now that it looks like it wasn’t his swing as much as it was the healing that his shoulder needed, I am even more bummed, and I put the blame directly on Mark Walter. Notice I did not mention Justin Turner (God rest his soul). JD Martinez is a better player right about now, and the Dodgers are done with him after this year, allowing Max Muncy to go to DH. The Red Sox will experience a steep decline with JT next year.

Speaking of the Red Sox, old friend Alex Verdugo is hitting .341 with a .931 OPS and Kike is up to .233 with his usual antics. Kenley Jansen has not been scored upon in 7 games and is 5-5 in save opportunities. I’m just saying!

Andrew Friedman has proven that he can build a team on the cheap… but it means that every three to five years, he is going to get rid of the players you have grown to love. That model works, but fans don’t like it, and this is part of why Tampa Bay doesn’t draw fans as they should. This is not a lost season, but it is more complicated by the fact that Mark Walter wanted to get the team under the Lux Tax Threshold. Don’t shoot the messenger – Andrew Friedman!

P.S. Watford should get a kick out of the title.

Dogger Minor League Notes

• Hunter Feduccia did nothing last night… because it was a day of rest for him. He is still knocking… LOUDLY!
• Jonny DeLuca was 3-5 last night with his 3rd HR (.273 BA/.939 OPS)
• River Ryan gave up six hits in 2.1 IP, allowing 3 BB and only 1 ER as he struck out 5.
• In an effort to get Dalton Rushing more at-bats, he is leading off at GL.

Today’s Game

11:20 AM PDT and 2:20 EDT. Dustin May needs to right the ship.

The Dodgers are the only team in the NL West with a positive run differential. The D-Bags are at -0, the Friars are at – 17, and the Doggers are +10. The D-Bags are still (in my opinion) a .500 team. The Padres are classic underachievers… so far.

Seth Godin – One of my Favorite Blogs

“But what if it doesn’t work?”

“The best way to win a short-term game is to bet it all on one strategy. Someone is going to get lucky and it might be you.

But we rarely thrive in the long run if we persist in playing a series of short-term games.

Instead, organizations, individuals and teams do better when they understand the value of resilience.

In the last year, we’ve seen well-funded and heavily hyped crypto companies hit the wall and fail. That’s because it was easy for them to get funded and grow fast by making a simple bet, and in a bull market, everyone looks like a genius.

But their less flashy competitors are still around. They understood that resilience is expensive and resilience is worth it.“