It Took The Cubs 108 Years! How Long Will It Take The Dodgers???

No Comments November 6, 2016 Dodgers By John Stellman

The Chicago Cubs just hoisted their first World Series Trophy in 108 years.

Hopefully it won’t take the Dodgers that long.

28 Years And Counting

Los Angeles hasn’t hosted a Fall Classic since 1988.

And to think that $233,352,402 can’t even buy you that elusive World Series ring is staggering.

That was the top 2016 payroll in all of baseball.

Middle Of The Pack

The Cubs?

They ranked 14th at $116,654,522.

The Cleveland Indians’ journey to October was even more remarkable.

American League champions came in at No. 24.

$86,339,067!

That’s right. Under $100,000,000!

Outsiders

Despite spending more money than any team in baseball over the last three years, the Dodgers were once again on the outside looking in.

Four straight National League West titles kind of leaves you with that empty feeling.

After all, how much more can their frenzied fans endure?

The natives may be restless, but they continue to fill Dodger Stadium.

Baseball’s Best Draw

A total of 3,703,312 faithfuls shelled out big bucks to witness a 91-win season that was both successful and disappointing.

Their drought my be worse than the lack of rain that falls in southern California.

So what does the brain trust have up their selves?

What’s Next?

President and Chief Executive Officer Stan Katsen, President Of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi will begin the tedious task of constructing a roster that they hope will culminate with a ticker tape parade through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.

The executives have a solid foundation upon which to build.

They hope to blend seasoned veterans and maturing rookies into a well oiled machine that can churn their way to the 2017 Fall Classic.

And prevail!

What’s the solution?

“Obviously, it a tough question to answer right now.” Friedman told The Southern California New Group.

“Our focus is on being as good as we can be and kind of balancing the now with the future.

“We have had four highly successful regular seasons in a row.

“Winning the NL West four consecutive years is really difficult. It’s not done that often. That’s our regular season goal.

“We want to construct a team that we feel very confident about accomplishing our regular season goal which then puts us in a position to hopefully accomplish our ultimate goal, which is to win the World Series.”

How Many Years?

Hopefully that will occur before 2096.

And it has to start with pitching.

The Dodgers have the quantity. But does it translate into quality?

Los Angeles utilized 15 starters last season.

Back for an encore will be Clayton Kershaw (12-4, 1.69 ERA) and friends.

Mid-season acquisition Rich Hill (3-2, 1.85 with Dodgers) will receive free agent offers from several teams. The Dodgers will be among those teams.

The rest of the corral will include Kenta Maeda (16-11, 3.48), Brandon McCarthy (2-3, 4.95), Scott Kazmir (10-6, 4.56), Alex Wood (1-4, 3.73), the oft injured Brett Anderson (1-2, 11.91) and Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-1, 11.57). Injury limited Ryu to just one start.

Pitchers galore!

But it doesn’t end there.

The Dodgers have a plethora of pitching.

Also getting their feet wet this summer were Julio Urias (5-2, 3.39), Ross Stripling (5-9, 3.96), Brock Stewart (2-2, 5.79) and Jose DeLeon (2-0, 6.35).

“With starting pitching depth, the only real way to have it and have it with quality is to have really good, young prospects at the Triple-A level who are kind of knocking down the the door to get to the major league level,” Friedman continued.

Missing In Action

“We didn’t have that in ’15. We definitely had that this year and we relied on quite a few of them.

“I think we’re getting to the point where we have a number of young guys that have put themselves in position to come in and compete for a the job this year.”

K & K

Like Kershaw, Kenley Jensen will head up the relief corps.

In addition to the aforementioned hurlers, J.P. Howell, Pedero Baez, Luis Avilan, Josh Fields, Jesse Chavez, Grant Dayton and Joe Blanton could all possibly be in the mix.

Hill is not the only free agent hurler.

Anderson, Jensen, Howell, Chavez and Blanton have expiring contracts.

Trio Can Leave

Around the infield, Chase Utley and Justin Turner are also free to go elsewhere.

Josh Reddick is the lone outfielder who has his freedom.

Eight other outfielders could be in Glendale, Arizona when spring training opens in mid-February.

Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Andre Eithier, Andrew Toles, Kike Hernandez, Howie Kendrick, Trayce Thompson and possibly Scott Van Slyke (arbitration eligible) could all be looking for work.

“Having a good number of talented outfielders is a great problem to have,” Friedman admitted.

“We have time to work through it and see what makes the most sense.”

Power Bat?

Revisiting conversations with Milwaukee regarding the availability of Ryan Braun is another possibility.

Braun cracked 30 home runs a drove across 91 teammates while putting together a slash line of .305/.365/.538.

A possible subtraction from the roster might be the extremely talented but often moody Puig.

In 104 games, the 25-year old Cuban hit .263, slugged 11 home runs and drove in 45 teammates.

Valuable Or Not?

“What he’s capable of doing to impact the game in a number of different ways is something we all value very highly.

“As far as how the winter unfolds on a number of different fronts obviously remains to be seen,” Friedman concluded.

When asked to compare what you saw this season to what you’ll see in 2017 Friedman answered:

“I think there are definitely scenarios in which we look pretty similar.

New Look?

“Most often, you see some changes.

“What that means, we don’t know yet.

“But we have a lot of talented players that are free agents.

Lots Of Chatter

“I expect that we’ll have ongoing dialogue with essentially each and every one of them.”

For Friedman, whose Tampa Bay Rays lost the 2008 World Series to Philadelphia in five games, it’s all part of the plan.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t take forever!

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John Stellman

I was born with sports in my blood. I began coaching little league baseball at 15. I was the sports editor of my high school newspaper. I did football play by play for the college radio station. I broadcast high school basketball for a local commercial station. But baseball was always my passion. During the 1970's I covered the Angels for the Orange County Register. And now I am back where I belong...