January 5th, 2015 at 7:00 am 
by Evan Bladh As I walked through Barnes and Noble the other day, the post holiday sales were in full force. Coming across the “Calendar” section, I figured this would probably be a good time to purchase one for 2015. Naturally my eyes gravitated towards the sports related calendars and there it was, a Los Angeles Dodgers calendar of all things. Not an easy find at Pentagon City, in Arlington, Virginia.
In the end I couldn’t buy it though. This wasn’t a calendar that represented the Dodger team at present. Half the guys on that calendar are gone. Dee Gordon, Matt Kemp, Brian Wilson, and Hanley Ramirez were prominently shown. Heck, even Dan Haren had a month. And if you believe that Andre Ether will still be rocking the interlocking LA logo on his hat by April, I’ve got news for you. I don’t think he’ll be around either.
The new Dodger administration has let it be known that they won’t hang on to a player with an outlandish contract just because they want to “try” to get a bang for their foolishly spent bucks. Ridding themselves of Wilson, Arruebarrena, Kemp, Haren, and Gordon, while eating much (and “all” in many cases) of their contracts was proof of that.
Two days after Dodgers new general manager Farhan Zaidi told the media that Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was not being shopped, the Dodger slugger was traded to the San Diego Padres – along with $32 million of his lofty contract. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)
The transition from power spenders to power roster reconstructionists happened lightning fast. Ned Coletti’s work has been dismantled by the new brain trust in a few short weeks. This group simply has an agenda in place to construct a Dodger team that will compete within reasonable spending constraints, and they probably are expecting to do that rather quickly. There’s another important change that many fans don’t understand and that is that the days that the front office will telegraph their upcoming moves are gone.
That was evident when Farhan Zaidi announced that Dee Gordon and Matt Kemp were not being shopped when in reality they were. Dodger fans were out and out lied to on sportstalk radio the days prior to the winter meetings, and that has upset some fans leading to the following question:
Do we as fans have a right to be upset when key front office personnel mislead us?
I really don’t think so. Our need to know what is going on in the back rooms of the Dodger administrative brain trust is probably not in the best interest of the club, and they know it. In sports team building, honesty and transparency is definitely not the best policy, especially when considering the cutthroat world in which teams vie to acquire the assets that a winning club needs. That may include feeding false rumors to the media to mislead the competition.
Case in point were the media stories that circulated stating the Dodgers had interest in Jon Lester, thus driving up his price tag to such teams as the Giants and Cubs. The same is going on with Scherzer presently. Now we are seeing that the truth was Zaidi and Friedman had their eyes on more prudent and less risky moves over the long term with Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson. For the cost of one year of Jon Lester, the new front office inked two back end starters. They also unloaded Dan Haren in the process of attaining their starting middle infielders.
In this age where we are inundated with immediate news of baseball transactions via such marvels of electronic media, we’ve been spoiled to the point that we expect to get immediate access to the latest transaction news. That’s real nice for the impatient lot of Dodger fanatics that we have become, but do we really need this?
I recall off-seasons where news of a baseball transaction between November and January were few and far between. Maybe that was a better time. I’m sure it was for GM’s who didn’t have to contend with fever pitch rumors constantly circulating, thus driving up values of players.
So as the time shortens between now and Spring Training, we all wonder if the Dodgers are done. The truth is, I haven’t a clue, and if you’re looking for any hints from Zaidi on a local interview show, don’t expect to hear the truth. That’s something that we won’t know until the team breaks camp and the 25-man roster is announce in late March.
The only thing I can suggest is that you not buy that favorite player’s jersey unless it’s Clayton Kershaw. Heck, maybe he’s not even safe.
(Editor’s Note: This guest piece was submitted by Evan Bladh of the Opinion of Kingman’s Performance blog site).
Posted in 
It’s too early to really know how I feel about his new front office. I think we’ll all have to see how it all plays out in 2015.
I like a trade being announced when the time is right. I hate negotiations made through the press and things leaked to drive a price up or down.
I expect it is a matter of semantics if we were lied to. Shopping a player to me means asking other teams to make an offer. For example I expect Andre Ethier is being shopped.
If a name simply comes up in talks then the player is not being shopped and a resulting offer may be seen as too good to pass up. I also expect there were inquiries about Matt and the Padres had what was most needed. I expect the Dodgers were almost desperate to move Crawford and/or Ethier but Matt’s name kept coming up. Something had to be done about the outfield so Matt became expendable.I truly believe that if Andre and Carl could have been traded Matt would still be a Dodger.
RT @Think_BlueLA: New: Honesty not the best policy for Dodgers new front office – http://t.co/5pjREyrZsV #Dodgers @OpinionKingman
RT @Think_BlueLA: New: Honesty not the best policy for Dodgers new front office – http://t.co/5pjREyrZsV #Dodgers @OpinionKingman
@Think_BlueLA @OpinionKingman good read
Excellent article, Evan, and I couldn’t agree more that we, as fans, are not entitled to or privy to knowing the inner workings of trade talks or negotiations.
By the same token, I absolutely disagree with Bluenose Dodger that it is “a matter of semantics” that we were lied to. How can “We are not dangling Dee Gordon” or “Matt Kemp was the best player in the league in the second half and is not be shopped” be taken any other way than a blatant lie when both were traded within days of those statements by Zaidi? Rather that lie about them, why not just remain silent about them until the deals are done?
I also question Bluenose Dodgers’ “…hate negotiations made through the press and things leaked to drive a price up or down.” Is this hate towards the media for reporting what Zaidi told them or hate towards Zaidi saying them?
Whether one chooses to utilize the immediateness of social media as a source for their news or not is an individual choice, but don’t shoot the messenger just because the news is not what you want to hear.
I perhaps should not have used the word “hate” and I certainly do not hate the media.I think I am part of it now when I post on the blog or maybe you have to earn that by writing to a larger audience. I take the media as it is – TJ Simers, Bill Plaschke included and we have had that debate before. I don’t think I have ever criticized the media on the forum or blog.
How could you ever suggest I could have hate towards Zaidi in any way when I have often written about how how much I like the plan to build the team, build the farm system and become fiscally responsible?
What I really don’t like is the ongoing speculation in the media about who is going where. I simply prefer for the team to announce a trade when it is made. On that we agree. I have some empathy for players who are reading this stuff which is one of my concerns. However, what does Zaidi do when asked about players? Simply say, “No comment”. That doesn’t fly. I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt that at the moment of his statement there was no plan in place to trade Gordon or Kemp.
To me, “We are not dangling Dee Gordon.” may well mean we didn’t offer him. It doesn’t mean that another team has not asked about him which I think Zaidi also said in that quote. Offering (dangling, shopping) and being asked about are two different things. I think Andre and Carl are being dangled.
I absolutely agree that we as fans are entitled to opinions but certainly not to any negotiations going on. That would be like playing your cards face up. I dislike the use of “being lied to” as first we are not entitled to what is going on and secondly things can change in a heart beat with a phone call, seconds after a statement has been made. I prefer not to think of Farhan Zaidi as a liar.
I surely don’t understand how I have shot the messenger by commenting on the article in a relatively mild manner with an opinion or how the trades or the way they transpired was something I didn’t want to hear. OBF was chastised for not expressing an opinion. I am for doing so.
I also don’t understand how immediateness has anything to do with the article. In fact Evan wrote:”In this age where we are inundated with immediate news of baseball transactions via such marvels of electronic media, we’ve been spoiled to the point that we expect to get immediate access to the latest transaction news. That’s real nice for the impatient lot of Dodger fanatics that we have become, but do we really need this?” I neither need it nor am I impatient except at the minor league level.
I wasn’t chastising your opinion, not at all. I was simply expressing that I disagree with it and why. Is that not the very purpose of a reply/comments section of a blog site or forum?
I apologize if I hurt your feelings – that was certainly not my intention.
BTW – Loved the “except at the minor league level” part. 😆
Feelings not hurt.
Your response came over as personal. Questioning at whom my hate was directed, social media comment again which was irrelevant to the discussion, shooting the messenger and imputing I didn’t hear what I wanted to hear.
On to a new topic and Evan is right – the 25 man roster won’t be known until March and we won’t be privy to the decisions until they are made.
Got to admit that the hate thing caught me off guard and completely confused me as to where it was directed. If it was directed at the media, it was indeed shooting the messenger. Ditto on the fact that Zaidi’s quotes came directly via social media, thus making them relevant to discussion.
Agree that the 25-man roster won’t be known until March but the 40-man will and, in fact, is – to which we are all privy to (as it stands right now) via the Dodgers website.
On to the Hall of Fame selections… 🙂