The Dodger World Has Changed

I made a visit back home and when I came back, things had changed. When I heard about the Lilly trade, my reaction was that it was an alright trade. I didn't hear about Octavio Dotel until Sunday night as I had been avoiding a computer and only caught snippets of sports news. McDonald and Lambo for Dotel and cash is a terrible trade. I felt like analyzing the trades but when I heard we got Dotel, I am just up in arms.

New Dodgers: Ted Lilly, SP; Ryan Theriot 2B/SS; Octavio Dotel RP; Scott Podsednik LF

Ex-Dodgers: Blake DeWitt, 2B, James McDonald SP?RP; Lambo, Wallach, Pimentel, May, Smit

Money: +$3 million

I don't like Blake DeWitt but swapping for switch-hitting Theriot didn't exactly make too much sense. Ryan Theriot can play short but he isn't an everyday anything. Blake DeWitt has a higher OPS by over .06. The Dodgers only stand to get two more years of him. The Cubs get four years of DeWitt. I wasn't exactly attached to DeWitt and didn't think he was a part of the Dodgers' future but I would think the goal would be to get better at the positions they were in a position to change. Now, we have Scotty Pods, who was out of baseball before he made a return and has been subsisting on baseball magic, and they got worse at second base instead of getting better. All this was done to get Ted Lilly. I liked the idea of getting Lilly but why get worse?

I see this as a gamble for Ned Colletti. The problem is that the Dodgers aren't likely (at this point) to get to the playoffs, let alone win the World Series. It seems as if Ned feels that making a move, which seems lateral but   ends with the Dodgers getting veteran players, is better than no move. Dotel is nothing but a gamble. Theriot is a gamble. Podsednik is gambling on a lucky horse. Lilly is an upgrade for the starting staff but yet the Dodgers struggle to score runs.

The Dodgers only got better on the starting staff. Perhaps the pen as well but that is never certain. I don't believe they are a better hitting team. They can still find a way to score runs but it won't be because they made moves. It will be because the existing players will get out of their funks. I'm not saying all of these moves could have been better. Luke Scott, Cody Ross and BJ Upton didn't move. Dan Uggla and other second baseman didn't move. I am saying that these moves didn't need to be made.

The Dodger world has changed and the McCourt divorce has brought about a new atmosphere regarding budget and the way Dodgers do business in general. It's time for a new general manager. Since the landscape has changed so much, it's time for a new GM to come in that is better equipped to make the moves the Dodgers need to make with less money and ones that benefit and build the farm system.

I haven't given up yet but the Dodgers are running out of time and got worse in the field and at the plate while only getting marginally better (at best) on the mound.