The World Champion Dodgers can add more hardware to their trophy case. This week, the team was named the 2020 Major League Baseball Organization of the Year. Baseball America has recognized the award annually since 1982.
I will begin this post by stating the caveat that I know the offseason is not done, that it is only the 12th of December. The Dodgers front office is not done trying to make this team better, and that more moves are yet to come. But the fact that the Dodgers did not sign any of the Top 3 free agents this winter is a little mystifying.
If there’s one thing that can be said about the management crew of the Dodgers during the weeks leading up to the 2017 non-waiver trade deadline, it would be the fact that there are zero clues being left behind as to what intentions the club has in terms of upgrading the team. Outside of a few minor league additions in Luke Farrell and Luis Ysla — all in exchange for cash — the front office is seemingly flying under the radar in trade talks, or at least that’s what most fans think.
We have reached the All-Star break, and suffice it to say, we can all be very pleased with the first half of the 2017 season. The Dodgers are sole owners of the best record in baseball, at 61-29, and are more games over .500 than games they’ve actually lost.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly talks to general manager Ned Colletti during a spring training baseball workout Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
(Photo Credit: Hans Gutknecht)
While the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to embark on a brand new front office structure during the winter of 2014, the game of baseball itself was experiencing an evolution of sorts, as the national pastime began morphing into a game of numbers, analytics and financial management as opposed to seeing the most dominant clubs succeed with intangible qualities like grit, wit and desire.