My brother Chris sent me a link to an article where Eric Gagne is complaining about management, requesting that they get their act together.Here is the link.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/
la-sp-gagne7oct07,1,4027905.story?coll=la-headlines
-sports
Here is my response to Chris.
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The thing is... the Dodgers did exactly what Gagne is asking LAST year. The issue was injuries.
The 40 HR guy that the Dodgers "need" to get, they got. JD Drew. They signed a 30 HR guy in Jose Valentin.
They signed Brad Penny... pre-injury, one of the top 10 pitchers in ALL of baseball, in my opinion.
They signed the best power hitting 2B in the Majors in Jeff Kent.
It just didn't work out because of injury. Valentin was also hurt for most of the season... Izturis was hurt for most of the season. Bradley was hurt for a lot of the season. Drew. Gagne. 4 guys from the starting lineup AND The best closer in baseball... OUT.
I do not believe that with this current team (healthy) that the Dodgers can ever be a lock for the the World Series... but a division title is easy.
Remember, when healthy, the Dodgers posted the best starting record in the history of the franchise.
Brazoban blew 6 saves (4 of which the Dodgers lost)... Duaner blew 4 (3 lost)... that's 7 games right there we lost due to injury WITH Drew and Bradley out for a substantial part of the year. With Gagne, you know that most, if not all, of those are wins... and with those guys in the lineup, there would have been more opportunity for Gagne. The Dodgers lost 22 games by 1 run.
The issue is the same as it always is... fans want a change if the team isn't a winner. And, as you know, most fans have no idea what they are talking about. In this case, it is a PLAYER who is not seeing the big picture.
If there was an error, it was that the Dodgers took a KNOWN injury risk in Drew. BUT, think about it... what else was out there? On paper, based on last year's stats, Drew was the 2nd best player available. The first? Carlos Beltran. He was probably the biggest disappointment of all free agents last year... plain awful. Delgado, in hindsight, would have been the best choice... but, on paper, I would have gone for Drew, as well. Beltran, in fact, would have been my first choice, but he was already taken. Thank God for that.
Sure, the Dodgers could have resigned Beltre. Or Finley. I know you know Finley's stats... take a look at Beltre's... those stats would have helped?
Nah.
