Everyone hates the Los Angeles Dodgers these days. The rich, being the Dodgers, just keep getting richer, at least when it comes to hoarding talented players.
Sure, they have done so by creating a payroll that is so out of line with the rest of the league that, for the first time ever in baseball, the word “billion” has been used. The Dodgers owe $1.1 billion in deferred payments to 10 players through 2047. They are also projected to pay a luxury tax penalty higher than 13 MLB teams’ total player payrolls.
Last fall, former star pitcher Clayton Kershaw called out Major League Baseball owners for “not trying” to win the World Series while defending the Dodgers having the highest payroll at more than $350 million. The logic behind his statement was certainly debatable.
Former MLB pitcher Shane Greene defends the Dodgers
But now, another former All-Star pitcher, Shane Greene, is also defending the Los Angeles Dodgers and actually claims they are making baseball better.
“The Dodgers are ruining baseball, they say. Well, coming from somebody who’s been in that locker room, they’re doing the opposite of ruining baseball,’’ Greene said in a video he posted to Instagram. “They’re actually making it better, at least for the players.
“I played for a lot of enormous teams. The Yankees, the Tigers, the Braves, the Dodgers, and the Cubs. Pitched for all of them in the big leagues, sat in all their pitchers’ meetings. The Dodgers do it the best, man.’’
Greene, who pitched in 345 games in the big leagues, made the All-Star team with Detroit in 2019 when he had a 1.18 ERA in 38 appearances for the Tigers.
“I was a Dodger for 20 seconds and they sat me down and said I’ve been tipping my slider for the last three years.” Greene continued. “Tipping my slider, that’s been my best pitch. Imagine if I wasn’t tipping my slider for three years.
“After my first outing as a Dodger, I was sitting in the food room and one of the guys walked up to me, put their phone on the counter with a picture of me and said, ‘This is what you were doing when you were throwing your change up,’ and then swiped to the next picture and said, ‘This is what you were doing when you were throwing your fastball.’ They’re just the best, man.’’
Not every team that spends the most wins the most
Plus, as everyone who defends the Dodgers’ massive spending always does, Shane Greene brought up the fact that the teams with the highest payrolls don’t always win.
“Nobody’s talking about the Mets,” he said. “The Mets payroll, how much money they’re spending and they stink. … just because you spend money doesn’t mean you win.”
While that is true – the White Sox, Rays, and Brewers are currently leading their divisions – we will see which team is still standing when the World Series comes around again in October.