The Washington Nationals, the same team that skated by the Dodgers in extra innings, just secured their first-ever World Series title, putting an end to the 2019 Major League Baseball season. A season that saw two teams eclipse the 2018 New York Yankees’ all-time home run record, a season in which we all witnessed four clubs surpass the century mark. At the end of the day, however, the only thing significant about this season to Dodgers fans is that it was another failed October, another year tacked on to the now three-plus decades of seasons ending without LA’s very own hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy.
What Now?
It’s hard to argue that much of anything needs to change for a franchise that just set the new single-season record for wins in a regular season. With MVP candidate Cody Bellinger and emerging ace Walker Buehler still yet to even reach their respective primes, this franchise is in good hands. Even if the Dodgers opt to do absolutely nothing this offseason, they would still enter the 2020 season as the odds on favorite to win the National League Western Divison for the eighth season in a row.
With that being said, division titles are simply not good enough anymore. This is not a small market organization who can hold their heads up for simply being there, this is a heavyweight titan that by all means should have nabbed at least one World Series title over this run of divisional dominance. The Dodgers have been a colossal failure in the league despite all the regular-season success. And unless the correct changes are made, 2020 will be no different than any year post-1988.
According to Albert Einstein, insanity is defined as “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” We get it, being the most irresponsible spenders in the league does not necessarily equate to championships. Any intelligent baseball fan knew not to buy into the hype of the Philadelphia Phillies simply because they signed Bryce Harper to a record contract. Hell, Mike Trout is the richest professional athlete of all-time, how has that worked out for the Angels?
And more times than not, big contracts in baseball are failures, in fact, almost every massive contract doled out to players in modern history has largely wound up looking like a disaster by the paying team. A player in their prime hits the open market and is (potentially) overpaid because of what the market dictates their value is, we have seen this happen before with players like Alex Rodriguez, Jason Heyward, and David Price. With that being said, what do these three (albeit overpaid players) have in common with each other? If your answer was that they aided in netting their respective team a championship, you would be correct.
Why then have the Los Angeles Dodgers refused to use some of their well-documented riches to bring in a star player? The Dodgers operate like the small-market Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays, playing Moneyball, hoarding prospects and never committing too much money over a long period of time to any player, no matter how dominant. After seven straight division titles and zero championships, not to mention watching both Oakland and Tampa Bay fail to bring home the trophy as well, it is fair to classify this Dodgers organization as insane if this winter winds up as another offseason where no significant difference-makers are added to the roster, while the organization perpetually gets younger.
Nobody loves a great farm system more than yours truly and I commend the Dodgers for building their core through the farm. It is admirable when a team’s starting lineup is composed mostly of homegrown talent, as many of the recent World Series winners were. Don’t get me wrong, a crucial component to most great teams is producing a core of guys from the farm. To play for the organization that drafted, internationally signed or gave a chance to on a minor league deal, play alongside teammates all through the minors and then gets the promotion with your brothers (teammates) breeds chemistry and greatness, I get it.
With that being said, the Dodgers have a core of homegrown talent at the major league level as we speak. Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Will Smith, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Kenta Maeda, and barring a trade for a bigger named superstar shortstop (which I am about to get into) Corey Seager headline a talented, young roster that should make the Dodgers a contender for years to come. I failed to mention Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Kenley Jansen because their promotions were previous to the Friedman era in which the farm became valued as the prime staple of the organization. Max Muncy wasn’t mentioned either because despite being completely irrelevant during his cup of coffee in Oakland, he was still a major leaguer with another club.
Even the Dodgers depleted a big name or two from the minors right now (Lux, Ruiz, May) and lost a couple of the upper-to-mid level guys (Gray, Downs, White, Peters), they would still remain in the top half of MLB’s farm system, only rising with last years draft picks, surging like they always do, in addition to whatever studs this intelligent player development department decides to add with this June’s draft.
It should be crystal clear at this point, the Dodgers draft and develop players better than (just about) every team in the league, the franchise will not go into dismay if a few of these young guns are let go.
What might send fans and the media into dismay is if the Dodgers fail to capture the World Series next season, stretching this horrific drought another year longer, with no end in sight. Sure, statistically speaking, the postseason is a crapshoot, any team can win the World Series and there are no guarantees, fine, we get it.
With that being said, I refuse to accept the fact that the last three of the last four World Series champions having a top-five payroll in the league is chalked up to coincidence. Those teams won because they had the best players, and they had the best players when push came to shove. Chicago not only spent big the offseasons prior to breaking the curse, but they also traded the remainder of their farm system in order to acquire arguably the best closer at the time. That closer they acquired wound up leaving in free agency, going back to the team that had just traded him that July. Fast-forward to the present day, that closer agreed to an extension with that club and the top prospect that was shipped away from the Cubs is an all-star, leading his new team. The Cubs meanwhile, are a far cry from their championship team of 2016. A new manager is in town and the roster is aging rather unflatteringly.
Sure, it is easy to say that the Cubs right now could benefit from the services of that top prospect they traded away, but when it is all said and done, who won the World Series and who is still nothing more than a “favorite” to win next season?
If the rumor about Francisco Lindor is indeed true, you can expect Cleveland is looking for a king’s ransom in exchange for arguably the best shortstop in the game. This same logic applies to Mookie Betts and other elite talents across the league on teams willing to give them up.
And yes, there is a great chance that if the Dodgers buck this trend of modesty and conservatism, far too timid to divulge into the farm system AND payroll, it may leave them with somewhat of a disadvantage a couple of years down the road, similar to the Cubs. There very well may be a perennial all-star in the minors right now who may wind up being adored by another city and fanbase.
But ask yourself this Dodgers fans, would you be willing to give up a player if it meant that you would get to witness your favorite baseball team hoist the trophy? Would it be worth it to see all the guys you love so much put on those championship shirts, bathing in champagne as we all watch one of them drive off in a free Chevrolet because they were named Most Valuable Player of the series? I think I side with the vast majority of Dodgers fans when I say that I would take that in a heartbeat.
Photo Credit: Harry How, Getty Images