The Dodgers and Failures of bloated Payroll Teams

With the New York Mets win in Game Five of the NLDS, the Los Angeles Dodgers are again eliminated from the playoffs in the early rounds.  The reality is the Dodgers payroll is 60 million dollars more than the combined payrolls of both the NLCS teams in 2015: Chicago Cubs and New York Mets.

 

We return to the old conundrum in Baseball, something that hasn’t changed for decades on end: you can’t buy a World Series Title.  Whether its George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees high payrolls, or post-2008 World Series Philadelphia Phillies overpaying half their roster, or the Rupert Murdoch’s FOX failed ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Baseball history has shown us that throwing money at the problem doesn’t “fix” losing.

 

Despite all the hundreds of millions of dollars blown on players over the last 25 years, still the lessons of history are never learned.  The 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers arguably have more talent on their roster than both the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets combined, but talent alone does not win championships. Remember the 2003 Florida Marlins and 1990 Cincinnati Reds beat teams that were arguably “more talented”.

 

The 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers insisted that this year would be different by acquiring numerous players such as Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Alex Wood to add to a team headlined by Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Adrian Gonzalez.  Throw in young talent such as Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig, this team is on paper one of the best in baseball.  So again, we delve into the question that has been asked of so many talented rosters that did not win World Series titles in years past: What Happened?!?

 

The answer is both simple and complicated.  The Simple explanation is the answer to the question: “Will big dollar free agency signings and exotic trades create buzz and build a roster full of talent ball players?”  Neither of these actions will create chemistry nor solve every problem. 

 

Most of these moves are made to cover up roster weaknesses and place overemphasis on certain elements of the game.  Having a roster full of great pitchers or hitters doesn’t equal postseason success.  Having a roster full of players who feed off each other wins championships.  Every player on a roster is meant to complement other players, putting the team in the best position to be successful. 

 

Now for the complicated answer. The 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers do not complement each other.  This may sound crazy but lets break it down:

 

-Not enough pitching depth behind Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. 

 

Sorry but Brett Anderson, Mike Bolsinger, and Carlos Friars do not exactly strike fear in opponents.  Even when the 1990’s Atlanta Braves were led by Cy Young Award winners Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, they still had John Smoltz, Steve Avery and Denny Neagle to add depth to the rotation.

 

-Too many similar players in the batting order.

Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins are offensively very similar players.  The same can be said of Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson offensive skills.  Also, why so many left-handed hitters? There are eight players on the Dodgers roster who all would bat left versus right handed pitching.  Furthermore, there are only TWO players on the roster with over 100 at bats on the season with a batting average higher than .300: Corey Seager and Enrique Hernandez.

 

Team sports like Baseball and Football need complementary players on the roster in order get to be successful in the postseason.  You cannot always depend on the superstars to come through every time.  Let’s be brutally honest about this oddity:  offensive greatness in baseball is signified by being successful at least 30 percent of the time as hitters.  There is NO other sport in which such a low percentage number of success can equal “greatness”; so, in Baseball, it is very important to have several players with different skill sets.

This offseason, the Dodgers need to take an objective look at their roster to assess the short and long term future.  This team as constructed is not setup to win a World Series title, and the way the franchise has been going about building this team has not yielded any success beyond merely reaching the postseason.  A team with high expectations like the Los Angeles Dodgers owe their fans more than being “above average”. Spending tens of millions on numerous players has to add up to wins, not just jersey sales.  I’m not saying the Dodgers need to “blow it up” and start from scratch with their team.  Instead, the time is now to find a new mold and throw out the old formula.  The time has come to take a look at other teams around Major League Baseball and learn from their success, learn from their own failures, then apply it to their own team. 

 

“Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan

New York Mets & the long history of Baseball in NYC

Over the weekend the New York Mets clinched their first playoff appearance since 2006.  Of course Mets players and coaches were excited, but so too are their long suffering fans.  While on the road this past weekend I heard numerous Mets fans calling local New York radio stations talking about how much their team making the playoffs means to them.  For fans of teams such as the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and San Francisco Giants this reaction may seem ridiculous, but context is important when discussing baseball fans in the New York Metro area.

The first half of the 20^th century New York City was a hot bed of baseball with three Major League Baseball franchises in the city boroughs.   The New York Yankees (who at the beginning of the century were named the New York Highlanders because they use to play games at Hilltop Park in Manhattan) have resided in the Bronx since 1923.  Until the 1950’s two other teams played ball in New York City: the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers.  For three decades the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Upper side of Manhattan Burroughs were the home to 20 World Series Champions (most of those winners played in Yankee Stadium).  In fact, for the first half of century New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and Boston all were home to two or more baseball franchises.

But the 1950’s ushered in changed across the baseball landscape as teams began moving to new cities, among them being the Giants and Dodgers who both prospected the potential of moving to California.  The two long standing New York borough staples were losing attendance battles with the younger franchise located in the Bronx, the Yankees.  So the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the Giants moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.  Their moves left many New York Metro region baseball fans heart broken and the National League with two less teams in the Northeast.

Before the 1950’s the National League had four teams in the Northeast; after 1957 they were down to only the Philadelphia Phillies as the Dodgers and Giants moved to California while the Braves left Boston to their new home in Milwaukee. 

New York baseball fans certainly were not going to cheer for rival cities Philadelphia or Boston and most National League baseball fans were not going to jump on the Yankees bandwagon.  With the help of powerful lawyer William Shea the New York Metropolitans became the new National League team in New York City.  The team that became known as the Mets paid homage to the teams that proceeded them by adopting Orange and Blue as part of their team colors.  The Mets began play in 1962, making their home in the old New York Giants ballpark, Upper Manhattan’s Polo Grounds.  Beginning in 1964 the Mets began play in another New York City Borough, Queens, where Shea Stadium was built for them.

While New York Metro region baseball fans were happy to have another baseball team in NYC to root for, they had to suffer through the growing pains of an upstart franchise.  From 1962-1968 the Mets were one of the worst baseball teams statistically for any stretch in MLB history.  These years would not be the last time the Mets were bottom dwellers of the National League.  Despite winning the World Series in 1969 and reaching another in 1973, the rest of the 1970’s was a difficult stretch for the team playing in Queens.  This trend would continue for the Mets franchise the next few decades as the Mets’ fans would see teams play great for short stretches, then fall back down the standings.  Meanwhile the Mets would continually be overshadowed by their cross-town counterparts in the Bronx.  The Yankees have won eight World Series championships since 1962.  Yes the New York Mets have won two World Series titles (1969, 1986) and reached the October Classic on two other occasions (1973, 2000) and they are still considered by many that “other team” in NYC.  Adding more insult to injury, since the Giants and Dodgers left town, those two franchises have combined to win eight championships in October. 

The reality of being a New York Mets fan is that your team is not a perennial playoff contender, despite all the talented players to wear the Mets uniform.  From Tom Seaver to Keith Hernandez to Dwight Gooden to Mike Piazza to David Wright, the Mets franchise is one that has tormented their fan base more often than most teams.  Looking back on the history of the Mets, the only consistent part of the franchise has been their tormented, but loyal, fan base.  I know the ballpark doesn’t always sell out, but the reality is that baseball game tickets in New York City are among the most expensive in all of Major League Baseball.  You can’t blame their fans for not wanting the dish out between 55-200 dollars per ticket for good seats to watch a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2006.  In fact, baseball television ratings in New York Metro region is among the highest in the country.

I am not among the New York Mets cheering section, but I am happy for their fans that their team is making is back to postseason play.  I can also appreciate how any sports franchise with as much losing history as the Mets when their fans get so excited about making the playoffs.  But seriously, “Joey from Queens”, relax with the World Series championship’s prognostications, you still have to get to the October Classic before we discuss winning it.