“Well, that changes the water on the beans.” That was an expression my mother often used when something unexpected happened, something for which we might not have been prepared. What does that have to do with the Dodgers? We might say the water on the beans has been changed. We are cutting a new swath, moving in a new direction, fueled by a seemingly limitless bank account. What does that hold for the future? Are we still just in the buying game, as we have been for the past twenty years, the difference being that we now have money?

One of my passions, among others, has been and still is our minor league baseball system. You know, where the game is still a game, especially at the lower levels, and young men are pursuing a dream. In recent weeks our minor league system has changed dramatically. I believe we had a very successful draft in 2012 and that, coupled with the mega deal with Boston, encouraged us to alter the status quo in our farm system. In a blink of a baseball season eye we moved the following young players, some from our major league roster: Josh Lindblom, Nathan Eovaldi, Ethan Martin, Logan Bawcom, Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, Scott McGough, Leon Landry, Ivan De Jesus, Jerry Sands. That changed the water on the beans with our youth movement, as among those players we had five young pitchers MLB ready or close to ready, at least in my opinion.

Pitcher Allen Webster and outfielder Leon Landry are just two of the many top Dodger prospects traded away this summer. (Photo credit – Doug Strickland & Rodrigo Pena)

Not only did we part with a number of good young players, we have managed to place long term roadblocks in the path of other young players. Those roadblocks come in the form of long term contracts to Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, and Carl Crawford. To complicate matters, Yasiel Puig was signed to a seven year forty-two million dollar contract. Where is Yasiel to play? It would seem he is not a trading chip, with little service time and a huge price tag attached to him. That is not to argue that the longer term contracts for our outfielders, all still relatively young, are not deserving, or not a good idea in terms of roster stability for a few years. It is just to acknowledge that young outfielders in our farm system will be playing elsewhere and will not be a draft priority for some time.

The purpose of the farm system is to develop the core of the parent team and to provide trading chips so the team can acquire pitchers and position players that have not been developed on the farm. One concern is that our farm system may become the latter, that is, a trading post. The constant talk of Dodger money, the “Yankees of the West”, certainly makes me wonder what the future of our farm system may be. Has the water on the beans become irrevocably changed?