Where s Mookie?

My grandkids enjoy playing “Where’s Waldo”   That is until they don’t.   You see, while you think it would be easy finding a nerdy-looking bespeckled man, dressed in a bold red and white striped shirt, wearing a red and white beany, the artist has made a career out of crafting immense visual puzzles, complete with mammoth oceans of people, spiraling buildings, and mythical beasts that make spotting the elusive Waldo an exercise in patience and frustration, even for the most eagle‑eyed fans. This how I’m beginning to feel about the trade with the Redsux.   Where is Mookie????

This past week there has been so much written about the on, off, on-again, off-again trade, non-trade between the Dodgers, RedSux and Twins, much of it well articulated on this blog, that I’m hesitant to throw my two cents in, but, oh well, I had to write about something, so for spits and giggles, I thought why not.  I haven’t commented much this week, but I have been very impressed with the various different takes posted by many of you.   I’m proud and pleased to be a part of this community.

•      Last week I wrote that I wouldn’t mind at all if my post is replaced by one, announcing the happy news that the Dodgers acquired Mookie Betts in a straight-up trade for Dylan Floro.   Little did I know that I would only miss by a couple of days.  On Monday, lo and behold, Dodger fans got the bold move we have been waiting for all winter:   Mookie Betts was being traded to the Dodgers.  And we got to keep Dylan Floro!!!    The price, Alex Verdugo and Kenta Maeda(who actually went to the Twins for somebody named Gatorade, I think, who was then flipped to the Redsux).  The Dodgers also agreed to take on David Price and his bloated salary.   Okay, that seemed pricey, but then I learned that the Redsux agreed to pay half of Price’s salary.   Well wow!   As usual with an AF trade, I’m pretty certain nobody saw that coming.   Certainly not in that precise form.  

•      From a fan’s perspective, it was especially sad to see Verdugo and Maeda leave.  However, from a purely baseball perspective, all I could find myself saying was: “We just got Mookie “freaking” Betts!”   Double wow!!   Talk about bold, this was it.  

•      And wait there was more.  Later that night there were reports that the Dodgers had traded Joc, Chicken Strip and Andy “My Back” Pages (I needed a Dylan song reference today) for Luis Rengifo and others yet to be determined.  Once again, I found myself saying “Wow!”   Initially, I was not enamored with this move.   Don’t get me wrong, it made good baseball sense in light of the other trade.  However, Ross Stripling is currently one of my favorite Dodgers, and I feel the same about the Dodgers trading him as I did when the Dodgers traded Trevor Oaks to the Royals.  It stings to see those you truly like to go to another team.  But, as I did with Don Demeter, I knew I would get over it in time.   I also spent some time looking at Rengifo’s stats and found that at comparable ages, statistically, he was better than Kike and CT3.   Last year, his stats were not that far off from Kike’s and he’s 5 years younger.   Okay, the trade was sounding a little better.   Still, for me, this trade depended on the other players we were going to receive from the Angels.  I began holding out hope that maybe Jeremiah Jackson and Chris Rodriguez would be the 2 additional prospects.  

•      Tuesday was a wonderful day, basking in the joy of what our lineup would look like come opening day.   The day was spent waiting for the official announcement on both trades.   We would soon find Mookie and all would be well. 

•      Wednesday, still looking for Mookie.   On this day we learn more about the trade with the Angels.  Still a mystery as to who the Dodgers would get but, it seemed that Pederson, Stripling and Pages were definitely headed the other way.  

•      On Thursday the search for Mookie became more frustrating.  We still hadn’t found him and there were rumblings of problems with Gatorade’s medical records.  In light of the fan backlash, the  RedSux thought “oopsey, we’ve sort of changed our mind.”  Apparently, it came as a surprise to the RedSux management and all of their analytical department that Gatorade might only be a relief pitcher, a very good one mind you, but still only a relief pitcher.   It also came as a shock to them, that this information was readily available on-line and known to the average baseball fan.  It appears that while they working so very diligently on advancing their form of “Codebreaker”, the Redsux forgot how to use Google search.  They also learned, it seems, that Mookie Betts is a very good baseball player, and their fans were unhappy to see him go.   In a momentary lapse of common sense, the Redsux fans also forgot how to use Google and felt as if though all they were getting in return for Betts was chicken feed.   For the Redsux fans who get lost and read this blog for enlightenment, let me tell you, Verdugo is not chicken feed!   He’s a very, very good player, whom you are fortunate to receive in return for a one-year rental and immense salary relief.  You would not be able to draft a comparable player with the draft pick you will receive for losing Betts to free agency.   On top of that, you might also have received your future closer.  Mookie was getting harder to find, but alas, we did have a momentary diversion over the announcement that Mad Max signed a multi-year deal.  That was cause for another “wow!”   Of course Joc also had his arbitration hearing, which seemed odd under the circumstances (more on that below), but it paled in importance in light of everything else going on.   Things were shaping up, but we’re still looking for Mookie.  Where is he?  

•      On Friday, came the announcement that CT3 had signed a 2-year deal.  That was nice.  Good to have him in the fold for a couple of years.   That was good news, but the search for Mookie had become more frustrating.   The Redsux were reported to have asked for more compensation from the Dodgers and Twins or anyone else, for that matter, who was willing to donate to the GoFundMe page the Redsux had established to help their billionaire owner with his financial woes.  This obviously upset the Dodgers and Twins(and millions of fans).  Not only was this deal in jeopardy, this development also threw a kink into the deal with the Angels.  Everything and everyone was on hold.  The trucks were leaving Los Angeles for Glendale with all of the Dodgers equipment, but Verdugo, Stripling, Pederson, Betts, Price, Brusdar Graterol, Luis Rengifo and others had no idea where they were headed.   Also, Arte Moreno, Tony Clark and Scott Boas were reported to be mad about the situation for differing reasons.  There was no word on whether Rob Manfred was mad or not.  

•   Then came Saturday (when the first draft of this article was written).  Twitter and MLB Rumors were buzzing all day long: the trade is on, the trade is off, the Twins are out, the Twins are in.   This literally made me want to do the hokey pokey and shake it all about.  Despite the fact that it was Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, which started a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening and continued until Saturday evening and most of those involved are Jewish, and not likely to be doing any work, the reports persisted, all day long that we could be hearing something definitive ay any moment.   But alas, there was no word, and we’re still looking for Mookie.

•      Now it’s Sunday and I’m doing an edit to my original article.  Still no Mookie.   Maybe, as has been reported, the Dodgers and Twins will complete their portion of the trade.   But then again, maybe not.   However,  just as I start to complete this paragraph, I read that we have found Mookie!!!  Subject of course, to the review of the medical records.  My head is spinning and have to go back to my Bob Dylan reference above, and I quote from that song:  “Lies that life is black and white spoke from my skull, I dreamed, romantic facts of musketeers foundationed deep, somehow . . . . Good and bad, I define these terms quite clear, no doubt, somehow ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.”  I’ve never fully understood what that song means (nor any Dylan song for that matter), but it seems like an adequate description of how my mind feels about all this right about now.  

•      To try and get my mind around this situation in a non-sports context, I ultimately came up with the following scenario: 

“ Good morning Jim, we want to thank you for your 10 years of faithful service here at Google.  You’ve been an absolutely great employee.   That said, we’ve decided to trade you to Apple for 2 of their younger employees.  They don’t get paid as much as you, and they can provide us with some versatility that you can’t quite provide us.   You know how it is, no matter how much you try, your just not a right-brain thinker and we need a little more of that here at Google.   By the way, this employee swap is contingent on another employee exchange we’ve worked out with Amazon for two of their upper-level management employees.  One of whom will replace you and the other who provides us with some much-needed depth and versatility elsewhere.  Unfortunately, that employee exchange has hit a little snag.  It appears that one of the employees we are shipping to them, despite his excellent work performance, has some issues with his academic records.  Apparently, they aren’t as strong as Amazon would like them to be.  It seems Amazon envisioned him working in a different capacity than he’s presently working in and, as a result, they’re unsure if he can handle the different role.   Not to worry though, we’re working the kinks out of that deal.  However, there remains a teeny-weeny chance that the employee swap with Amazon won’t go through.   If that happens, well, then you’ll just continue with your job here.   That wouldn’t be a problem, would it?   We’ll keep you posted on whether or not the exchange goes through, and let you know where you’ll be working as soon as we can.   In the meantime, go on home and enjoy some time with the wife and kids.   Maybe you can work out where to send the kids to school, and what you’re going to do for housing.   Oh, and by the way, I also just found out that we don’t have to pay you as much as you wanted to be paid.   Bummer for you isn’t it?   When, or if, this swap goes through, you’ll work for the lesser salary, either with Apple or with us.  Hey, I hope you have a good weekend.”

•     No matter how you analyze or slice and dice this system, and how this has all played out this past week, the system stinks!   It matters not, that these employees are “playing a game” for a living.  Nor does it matter that Joc, or whomever else we pick, should be happy because he’s being paid $7.75 million.  When there are fewer major league baseball players than brain surgeons and the baseball industry makes as much money as it does, I believe the players should be compensated accordingly.  The shelf life of the average MLB player is very short.  According to a new study by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team: The average career of a Major League Baseball player is 5.6 years. The study also revealed that one in five position players will have only a single‑year career and that at every point of a player’s career, the player’s chance of ending his career is at least 11 percent. 

•      In addition to looking for Mookie, I can’t help but wonder, where has Rob Manfred been?   His office has been strangely silent throughout this week.   Oh wait a minute, I found him.  He’s having cocktails with John Henry and Jim Crane.  It seems weird, but they are all laughing uncontrollably.   Wonder why that is?   I think I heard him say:  “P. T. Barnum was right, there’s a sucker born every minute.”

•      I was happy to read that the Dodgers settled with Max Muncy and CT3.  In my opinion that was wise for all parties.   It’s good to know that they will be with the Dodgers for the next few years. 

•      As to the arbitration hearing between Joc Pederson and who knows whom, all I can say it was doomed from the start.  From a lawyer’s perspective, it made absolutely no sense to hold the arbitration hearing before it was determined for whom he was going to play.   I would have done exactly as was done by his representatives and the Player’s Union and move for a short continuance of the hearing.   According to the collective‑bargaining agreement a hearing “may be postponed by the arbitration panel upon the application of either the Player or Club based upon a showing of substantial cause.”  Apparently this request was opposed by MLB.   According to Ken Rosenthal, “MLB’s position on Pederson, backed by the arbitration panel, was that the hearing could proceed because the player had not yet been traded officially, and might never be. The league also was confident that the Dodgers would win their case against Pederson and perhaps feared establishing a precedent for delays would embolden other players to seek ways out of hearings in the future.”   There is a lot troubling to me about that statement, not the least of which is that “The league also was confident that the Dodgers would win their case against Pederson.”  If that was true, where in the world did they obtain that confidence?   I wonder if MLB is holding back on announcing the Redsux punishment until this fiasco is resolved?   Just a thought. 

•    In today’s Athletic, Pedro Moura wrote this in his mailbag: “Joc Pederson, whose trade to the Angels is also pending, revealed last year that in past seasons he had complained to Dave Roberts about not playing every day.”  “I’ve played their game,” Pederson said. “I’ve done that, where I’m in his office, asking, ‘Can I play versus lefties? Let me play.’ And then I’m not even successful against righties because I’m f____d up in the head. I’m losing, and who looks bad? I look bad.”

Joc seems to be a popular player with his teammates and some fans (me included, although it is painful to watch him being interviewed by Alanna Rizzo).  I suspect, however, that his desire to be a full-time player probably affected his interest in signing a multi-year deal with the Dodgers.  Therefore, he became a prime candidate to be traded.  There would be a risk in holding on to him.  Perhaps he would have had another year like last year.  If he did you could make him a qualifying offer when goes into free agency.   On the other hand, should his performance take a step backward, he would walk and the Dodgers would get nothing in return.    

•       Jim Bowden speculated that the “Dodgers should trade Maeda to Twins for Graterol and keep him for their own bullpen.”  They should then “trade Verdugo, Gonsolin and Downs for Betts, Price and cash.”   The “Dodgers should then complete trade with Angels.”   My initial response was “No Jim, that’s not what the Dodgers should do.   The Redsux should keep their word and complete the deal.”   Turns out he was close to being right.   I’m glad we keep Gonsolin and May, but sad to see Downs added.   Maeda for Graterol might not be that bad.  Though it would depend on a thorough review of his medical records (see what I did there?). 

•     I have mixed feelings.   In my heart of hearts, I thought the Dodgers should tell the Redsux to pound sand and let them live out the year with Mookie and Price.   But then again, he is still Mookie “freaking” Betts and now, he’s our Mookie “Freaking” Betts.   Welcome to the Dodgers, I’m glad we found you!!!!

•    I wrapped my initial version of this article, with an adjusted version of “Cry Me a River” (Joe Cocker version of course!).    I still think it’s appropriate, but can include the Redsux fans. 

Now, you say that you want more in the trade

After giving me your word

I want you to cry (Cry me a river)

I want you to cry (Cry me a river)

Over me (Cry me a river)

I want you to cry (Cry me a river)

Over me (Cry me a river)

Oh yeah (Cry me a river)

Well, I cried a river over you

Now, you say that you’re sorry

Oh, for being so untrue

I want you to cry (Cry me a river)

Cry for me (Cry me a river)

Oh(Cry me a river)

I want you to leave (Cry me a river)

Want you to cry (Cry me a river)

You drove me, nearly drove me out of my head,

All the work I did to make it work for you

Remember, I remember all that you said

How you told me that this deal was tough for you

and now you’ve decided to renege on what you said

Come on, Bloom and Redsux fans (Cry me a river)

Want you to cry(Cry me a river)

Put down your head in shame and

won’t you cry me a river (Cry me a river)

Cry me a river

Cry me a river

Cause I cried a river over you   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHA2afBxmbs