Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

“You can’t buy chemistry.” – Brandon Belt, the first baseman for the San Francisco Giants. I believe in that quote, and you have to train young players to stay good for a long time, and have a couple of veterans to lead the way. 

It looks like the Los Angeles Dodgers and I don’t get along. 

Last year, the Red Sox and Dodgers made one of the biggest trades in baseball history, having a nine player deal worth more than $260 million. The Dodgers received veterans Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett while trading away first baseman James Loney, top pitching prospect Allen Webster, and infielder Ivan De Jesus. 

To be honest, nobody really won this deal. For the Dodgers, Adrian Gonzalez, 31, is the best qualified batter for the Dodgers, batting .297/.346/.456, which is down from years past but is still pretty good. Carl Crawford, 31 too, is also down from years past, batting .291/.342/.413 in 87 games. Still pretty good, but can’t steal or hit triples as much as he could before. Josh Beckett, 33, has pitched only 15 games for the Dodgers, going 2-8 with a 4.06 ERA in two years. 

The Red Sox didn’t get much out of it either. James Loney is doing great, but he’s on the Rays now. Allen Webster, 23, has put up a 9.57 ERA in six starts as a member of the Red Sox, and Ivan DeJesus is now in the Pittsburgh Pirates AAA system.

But remember, $260 million. Also notice that all three of the guys the Dodgers are over 30.

Yet they continued to spend. They also got Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins, who I will talk about later. They also signed Zack Greinke to a $19 million contract. Greinke, 29, has not pitched nearly as well since his Cy Young, 10.4 WAR year in 2009, but is 12-3 with a 2.91 ERA this year.

Exactly two months ago, the Diamondbacks were on top in the NL West, and the Dodgers were in last, and 9.5 games out of first. They were 31-42, the same record as the Brewers and had one more loss than the White Sox. It really started to seem that all of these expenditures were a waste of time and money. The organization were real close to firing manager Don Mattingly. 

Then two people came. One came back from injury, and one made his debut to the Major Leagues. One got all of the credit for the Dodgers now 75-52 record, and one got no credit whatsoever.

You know who got all of the credit. Puig. Whenever he starts, the Dodgers are 48-20. And to be fair, he has been a great impact. In his first season, Puig, 22, bats .346/.405/.556 with 12 homers and 28 RBI’s in 69 games. He also has an amazing arm, and is a good base runner. He also tries to do too much, though. At some points he’ll try and stretch out a double on a single, or he’ll get lazy and not catch a routine fly in center field.

Puig is good. But Hanley Ramirez is better. Yes, Ramirez is the one that nobody realized. In 62 games, Ramirez, 29, bats .348/.396/.620 with 12 homers and 40 RBI’s. Puig’s WAR is 3.7. Ramirez has a 3.9 WAR. Ha! (Don't pick Puig for your Beat the Streak right now though. Even with a .346 batting average, he's gone on a major slump lately).

The Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball. Much of that is because of this duo that has made the Dodgers, who have made the team batting average and OBP go to .268 and .330, which is the 4^th and 5^th best in the MLB, respectively. But remember, they also spend $220 million as a team, the most in the MLB. Adrian Gonzalez’s salary is more than the entire team salary for the Houston Astros.

But the Los Angeles Angels have a .264 batting average and a .330 OBP, and spend just as much money while having some of the biggest names in baseball. So why are they 55-71 while the Dodgers are 75-52?

The Dodgers have pitching. In fact, they have the best pitcher in the MLB. Clayton Kershaw has always been under the radar while big names have floated around these past four years. Kershaw has led the NL in ERA for the past three years, winning the Cy Young in 2011 and being runner up last year. This year, he’s 12-7 with an absurd 1.80 ERA. He’s scary good, and so are the Dodgers. They also have good pitchers like rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu and Zack Greinke. 

So yes, they do spend an absurd amount on players. And yes, they are first place in the NL West. They will win the division, but they might not win the World Series. And where do they go from there? How do they trade all of these guys?

They know nothing about the future. Next year, the Dodgers will probably still be good, give or take a few wins here and there. In five years, they’ll have a winning record, but won’t make the playoffs. After that, if they keep doing what they’re doing, they’ll be the worst team in baseball.

That’s my prediction, and you can quote me on that. Dodger fans, love the present while you can. Dodger bandwagon fans, go away.

Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd