By Steven Booth
Ugly, ugly, ugly, and I’m not talking about the Dodgers disappointingly quick exit from the NLCS. Yes it was heartbreaking to see what was markedly better team than last year suffer basically suffer the same fate as the 2008 team, but that’s baseball. The smoke and mirrors starting pitching ultimately did them in, with the help of some bullpen meltdowns, a lack of clutch hitting, and the Phillies re-discovering their mojo.
Ugly is Frank and Jamie McCourt announcing their separation on what could’ve been and might well be the eve of the Dodgers return to being a true presence in baseball. What silly and tacky timing. I’m sure the guys on the field didn’t care, but now they have to know that this will somehow affect them. Los Angeles never had to deal with this crap from the O’Malleys or even Fox. It wasn’t so much that the Mc Courts had problems in their marriage, it was the timing of it. They could’ve hired a monkey to do their PR and he could’ve thought of something better. They seem to not care that they are taking a classy franchise down the toilet. They could’ve waited until after the playoffs, but somebody somewhere got a hard-on and it all had to come out. This is beginning to smell like Frank’s doing.
Ugly is Frank firing Jamie as CEO. Instead of maintaining some semblance of normalcy, he has to fire his soon-to-be ex-wife. Maybe that couldn’t have been avoided, only the McCourts and their lawyers know for sure. Jamie did let it be known that she wanted the franchise for her own, and was lining up investors, so maybe Frank felt like he had to move. Appropriately, TMZ of all sources is all over the story, and got ahold of the termination letter
The letter begins, “Dear Jamie — This is to inform you that your employment with and positions as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairperson of Los Angeles Dodgers LLC, as well as any and all of the positions that you hold … are hereby terminated effective immediately.”Though hard to believe, it gets even colder:
“Because your employment is held at-will, the Organization is not required to have cause to terminate your employment and may do so for any reason or no reason at all. .”
However, your actions, including, but not limited to, your insubordination, non-responsiveness, failure to follow procedures, and inappropriate behavior with regard to a direct subordinate, have made this decision necessary
Read it for yourself:
http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/1023_jamie_doc_wm_2.pdf
It’s basically the same letter you give to a dishwasher when you need to let him go. This is only the latest salvo in a war that is going to get ugly, and my gut feeling as a lifelong fan that these two clowns don’t give a rat’s ass if they tear the whole organization down as long as they get over on each other. Frank did a good job re-signing Ned Colletti, who seems like he may be the perfect guy to work in a situation like this. He made some good moves even when the Mc Courts didn’t give him a whole lot to work with.
Sort of like the good organization guy who gets a raise while the place is burning down, Colletti is optimistic.
“I have no inclination that anything will change from how the Los Angeles Dodgers do business,” he said two days after the team was ejected from the NLCS.
For better or for worse, most of the tools that brought the Dodgers to a 95 game win season will be back, but they are the same tools which came up short in the playoffs.
The only infield position with uncertainy is second base, with both Orlando Hudson and Ronnie Belliard up for being free agents. It would be nice to see James Loney and Rafael Furcal have better years with the bat, and Casey Blake is solid, but not spectacular, but he shouldn’t have to be if the other power hitters do their jobs.
The outfield should all be back. Hopefully Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp will come back as dominant as they were last year. Hopefully Manny Rameriz will either re-discover his mechanics or find another doctor to regain his bat speed, but although he has an option to leave, neither Manny or Scott Boras would be stupid enough to turn away a guaranteed 20 milliuon bucks. let’s just hope given the ownership situation, the checks don’t bounce.
Hopefully Russell Martin isn’t aging prematurely. His average and power numbers took a dip last year. The Dodgers should talk Brad Ausmus into coming back for another year. The bullpen should stay intact, and despite a meltdown or two in the playoffs, they were very solid.
The big problem is the starting pitching. Clayton Kershaw had a fine year, and although he will be the ace one day, he may not be ready to step into that role. Chad Billingsley had a solid first half, but was shaky in the second half. Randy Wolf was solid, but he is a free agent, as is Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla. All those guys together with Hiroki Kuroda make up a solid rotation, but none were dominant in the way a Cliff Lee, a Roy Halladay, or an Adam Wainwright are. Not a big deal in the regular season, but it is a factor in the playoffs.
Colletti said it well:
“You’d like to find an ace, but you got one hanging around?” he said. “It’s not like you have a choice of five or six (free agents) that you can pick from.”
They’d like it to be Kershaw, and this may be his year to emerge, but it is something that needs to be mulled over in the offseason. Drama aside, anything less than a World Series appearance would be a disappointment next year. The McCourts should turn away from the baser instincts andf not let their tearing each other apart tear apart the team also. The recent circus suggests otherwise.
Ugly, ugly, ugly
