Why a tight NL West race factored into Dodgers’ decision
Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes views from the dugout during a game versus the Athletics at Dodger Arena last Tuesday. The next day, Barnes was designated for project, paving the way for Dalton Rushing.(Robert Gauthier/ Los Angeles Times )Four years later on, the memory stays annoyingly fresh.The last time the Dodgers attempted to safeguard a World Series title, they racked up 106 victories. They matched the very best gaining portion in the franchise’s Los Angeles history. They had 7 All-Stars and 3 Cy Young vote-getters. Advertisement And it still wasn’t enough to win them the National League West.The San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers still well keep in mind, won 107 games in the 2021
season, marking the only time in the last dozen years somebody else has actually declared the division crown. The Dodgers eventually knocked the Giants out of the playoffs that October, but their elongated course through the postseason as a wild card group left them gassed in the NL Champion Series. They were removed six wins shy of a repeat title.Read more: Dodgers fall to Arizona as pitching and fielding problems cause fourth straight loss For president of baseball
operations Andrew Friedman, the experience highlighted a necessary truth.Advertisement”Our primary objective during the regular
season is to win the department,”Friedman stated.” That is what we feel like puts us in the very best position to achieve our
supreme goal.
“Thus, with another tight department race looming this year, the Dodgers didn’t wait to act strongly this week.Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor were having a hard time. Dalton Rushing and Hyeseong Kim appeared like interesting big-league choices. And in two relocations that were made in an effort to “win as many games as we can
“in this season’s World Series title defense, Friedman said, the long time veterans were launched to include the novices. Sentimentality lost to the odds of even a little much better regular-season success.” This has been a really psychological week for everybody, “Friedman stated, addressing press reporters hours after Taylor was released on Sunday. Barnes was designated for project earlier in the week. “Barnsey and CT have been in the middle of some substantial moments for this organization. Both guys have actually left an enduring mark on our culture and where we’re at this point. So the decisions were extremely hard. The conversations was difficult.”Advertisement “However,” Friedman countered, “with where we are, the division race, the composition of lineup, whatever– we felt like this remained in the Dodgers’benefit … [to] put us in a position to finest win the World Series this year.”
Find out more: Dodgers release Chris Taylor, parting ways with another veteran Note the very first factor Friedman discussed in his answer.Though the Dodgers are tied for the best record in the National League at 29-18, they continue to nurse the slimmest of NL West leads,
getting in Monday just one game up on the rival San Diego Padres (27-18)and upstart San Francisco Giants (28-19), and just 4 games clear of even the fourth-place Arizona Diamondbacks(25-22 ). Advertisement With their pitching staff currently in tatters, a minimum of temporarily, since of a wave of early-season injuries, the importance of consistent offense has actually likewise suddenly increased; the Dodgers requiring to make the most of the production of their lineup to help balance out a 4.18 team age that ranks 21st in the majors.In a world where the Dodgers were running away with the department, or pitching the method they anticipated after 2 offseasons of investing heavily on the mound, possibly they might have endured Barnes’and Taylor’s combined.208 batting average. They might have been more comfortable offering two longtime foundations of the franchise a longer leash to turn things around.Instead, as club brass surveyed this year’s competitive division landscape, they recognized that– this season more than a lot of– every victory might matter come completion of the campaign. That each and every single loss would make the difficulty of winning another World Series incrementally tougher.So, as Hurrying crushed triple-A pitching and Kim mastered what was at first planned to be only a short big-league call-up, the Dodgers did what they felt like they must. Hurrying replaced Barnes as backup catcher. Taylor was let go so Kim wouldn’t be sent back to the minors. And a lineup that when appeared too top-heavy now has, at least in theory, more potential impact options to bring off the bench.Advertisement”We didn’t feel like entering the season this was something that we would necessarily be doing in Might,” Friedman said.”However with where we were, all things factored in, while not easy, we seemed like it was the best thing to do. “There were other reasons, obviously, the Dodgers felt determined to make such mentally conflicting decisions now.Manager Dave Roberts kept in mind that Rushing (who was batting.308 in the minors this year, and has actually begun his big-league profession an
impressive four-for-10)and Kim(who has struck.452 considering that arriving in the majors, and has affected games with his versatile glove and lightning-quick speed )was worthy of opportunities for more popular roles.With most of the group’s core players on the incorrect side of 30, there are longer-term factors to consider about developing younger talent as well.Advertisement Learn more: Clayton Kershaw unsteady in his season launching as Angels take series win over Dodgers “I believe some of it is the [department] race,”Roberts said.” Some of it is, you still want to continue to establish young players and provide chances with a veteran ball club.”Ultimately, it was always most likely that Rushing would force his method to the majors, which Kim would take a niche with his well-rounded ability set.But the early
pressure being used by the team’s NL West competitors still sped up that timeline. The Dodgers remember what took place in 2021. And, cautious of having that truth repeat itself, they didn’t wait to begin acting with seriousness this year.Advertisement”We saw it in 2021, winning 106 games and not winning the department,”Friedman stated. “We have a difficult department [once again this year] We’ve got some actually good groups in our department who are playing well. Therefore for us, it’s about doing whatever we can each night to attempt to win a game.”Register for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.