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There has been much consternation and gnashing of teeth about all of the spending and player acquisition that the Los Angeles Dodgers have been up to the past few years. From fans, from other teams, and from parts of the media, as well.
The Dodgers are just using the resources they have available to them, however, and there’s an argument to be made that plenty of other teams could do the same: it’s not the Dodgers’ fault, exactly, they they produced a culture of winning over the last decade-plus, and are now the destination for those who want to be part of something like that — they spent a lot of money, but players are also happy to get it from them instead of from other teams.
Philadelphia Phillies‘ star Bryce Harper, at least, understands. As he told MLB.com before Friday’s game against the Dodgers, “I don’t know if people will like this, but I feel like only losers complain about what they’re doing. I think they’re a great team. They’re a great organization.”
The Dodgers were not, at one point, a “great organization.” They had an owner, Frank McCourt, practically forced out by commissioner Bud Selig for the damage he was doing to the brand of both MLB and the Dodgers, with the final straw being selling the television broadcast rights to the team for less than they were worth. Things have changed since, however, and being the team willing to take on Mookie Betts when the Boston Red Sox wanted to move on from him in a salary dump, as well as the team ready to add the extra year to Freddie Freeman’s free agent deal — a year the Atlanta Braves would not give their longtime star — helped make that change.
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A consistent commitment to win, powered by a front office that produces both talent on the farm and procures more from free agency and trades — that’s the “great organization” that Harper is referring to, and it’s the envy of the rest of the league, as well as the reason that players like Shohei Ohtani chose the Dodgers over others. The money is part of it, yes, but there’s more to it than that.
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Complaining about the Dodgers is loser mentality, in part because they have been winners for a long time now, and other teams also want to be winners. They should take a page out of the Dodgers’ book instead of criticizing it, however, if they want some of that for themselves: sure, the Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t about to exceed the luxury tax threshold with their resources, but they, and others who mostly sit idly by or hope that if things break right, maybe they’ll earn one of those wild card slots, could certainly do more to prove that they’re serious, too.
If the Dodgers can turn things around from their rock bottom in a little over a decade, then other teams could make an effort toward doing the same.
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