As the Dodgers brass pack their bags to head home from the 2018 Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, it’s probably safe to say that most Dodger fans are a little disappointed that the blockbuster trade or free agent acquisition they they were hoping for didn’t happen.

Oh, sure, it’s hard to argue that signing free agent right-hander Joe Kelly wasn’t significant. But many Dodger fans were looking forward to landing free agent outfielder Bryce Harper, or trading away a boatload of prospects to acquire top-ranked Miami Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto.

It’s also hard to argue that snatching away Seattle Mariner’s vice president and assistant general manager Jeff Kingston to fill the same role in Los Angeles, or talks that beloved former Dodger Chase Utley will soon be hired on the baseball ops side of things at Dodger Stadium weren’t big moves either.

But let’s be honest here. There are two exceptionally good reasons for Dodger fans to absolutely detest the Kelly signing; the least of which is the fact that he flat out kicked the Dodgers’ butts in the just-concluded 2018 World Series.

In his five World Series appearances out of the Red Sox bullpen, all the 30-year-old Anaheim, California native and St. Louis Cardinals 2009 third-round draft pick out of UC Riverside did was strike our 10 of the 22 Dodger batters he faced without allowing a run or walk and giving up only four hits; two to former Dodger (and now free agent) shortstop Manny Machado.

Kicked their butts indeed.

But hands down, the real reason why Dodger fans are upset about bringing Kelly into the Dodgers fold is because of what he did in the first inning of Game-1 of the 2013 National League Championship Series while the starting pitcher for the aforementioned Cardinals. Kelly nailed Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the ribs with a fastball that broke a rib and effectively took the Dodgers out of the best-of-seven series, which the Dodgers ended up losing four games to two. 

“I’ve said it in the past. Our guys are going to protect our own guys, that’s for sure,” then Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters. “But it just didn’t seem like a situation that they’re trying to hit Hanley there.”

Not everyone agrees with the former Dodgers (and now Marlins) manager.

On Thursday afternoon, former Dodger and current SportsNet LA analyst Jerry Hairston Jr., who was a member of that 2013 NLCS Dodgers team, posted on Twitter that he “wasn’t a fan of Kelly” after the Hanley beaning (without coming right out and saying that he thought it was intentional), but has since come to know Joe Kelly better and believes that he “is the guy needed to hand the ball to [Dodgers All-Star closer Kenley Jansen].

Apparently if JHair says it, it is so. Although there were a number of replies to Hairston’s tweet that called BS, the greater majority of them approved of it and took the former Dodger infielder’s word as gospel.

Whether you are for or against the Kelly signing (for three years at $25 million), it is what it is, and it is impossible to argue that the Dodgers weren’t (and still are) in desperate need of bullpen help. As such, and if Kelly can do for the Dodgers what he did against them in the World Series, this could indeed be the biggest acquisition of the off-season for Dave Roberts’ ballclub.

…and that’s no BS.

Play Ball!