Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
Is this real life?
I honestly didn’t know this was a thing outside of a few Twitter re-tweets from Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angeles.
As usual, Jon Weisman from Dodger Thoughts was on point talking about Los Angeles Dodgers fans criticizing Hiroki Kuroda for his decision to sign with the New York Yankees.
This is a pretty bizarre loyalty test, where you’re required to make a sacrifice for a team that, the minute you make the sacrifice, is no longer your team. I don’t know where the idea that he owed the Dodgers something comes from.
Trading Kuroda for prospects would have helped the Dodgers. So would Kuroda and all his teammates playing for free. It doesn’t mean they’re lesser people for choosing not to do so. It doesn’t mean that Kuroda didn’t have valid reasons for staying.
Those of you who are employed – would you accept a sudden and immediate transfer to a completely different company, across the country, even when you didn’t want to go, only because it would help the company you were previously working for?
Even putting that aside though, the odd part about any criticism directed towards him is that Kuroda didn’t do anything particularly disloyal.
And this is coming from a guy who wanted him to go at the trade deadline so the Dodgers could get prospects.
By all accounts, he seemed to have wanted to remain a Dodger, but Ned Colletti opted for a gaggle of two-year contracts for average veterans instead, thus leaving no room for Kuroda in the budget. At that point, it wasn’t so much about loyalty anymore, it became a question of whether Kuroda was willing to take 5-6 million less (or if he even had a real offer from the Dodgers at all) to play for a mess of an organization on a team that probably wouldn’t contend with a GM that already clearly choose other players over him.
At that point, staying with the Dodgers was not only completely irrational, but borderline insulting as well.
Hard to expect a professional athlete to tolerate all of that when you or me wouldn’t.
Exactly. I don’t get the criticism at all. Am I bummed the Dodgers sent away Trayvon Robinson for Federowicz as a knee jerk reaction to Kuroda choosing to stay a Dodger and never even trying Trayvon at the Major League level to see what they had? Of course. Am I bummed we couldn’t have seen what the Yankees or other teams would have given to a competent GM for Kuroda at last years trade deadline? Yep. Do I blame Kuroda for any of these things? Hell no.
I think its laughable when fans act as if Kuroda is disloyal for going to the Yankees. If anything, the Yankees seem the best fit for him because they’re willing to pay to accommodate him (good salary, hired his translator) and they have his old backstop in Russell Martin so the clubhouse transition should be easier for him, as the two seemed to have a good relationship as Dodgers from all accounts I’ve seen.
I hate the Yankees as a team, only because I don’t like dynasty type teams in any sport (Dodgers would be the only potential exclusion from that rule). However, I definitely wish Kuroda the best in pinstripes and hope they can get him the some of those elusive W’s this season that the Dodgers teams of the past couldn’t. Hiro has definitely been one of my favorite Dodgers over the past few years.
The fact that he stuck with this organization last year was enough.
Like Wil & pretty much most of the blogs out there (I think MSTI is pretty much the only one who was even critical of Kuroda at the time of the trade deadline [though I think the guys at SoSG were alos kinda upset]), I really don’t understand the scorn poured on Kuroda then and now.
Kuroda has nothing but best wishes from me and I will reserve 100% of my scorn and disgust where it belongs: Ned Colletti.
I wanted him gone for prospects too. Figured something like this would happen.
He wasn’t going to want to spend his last years on a team with no owner.
Oh, I think everybody wanted him to go but I don’t think many were critical of him when he decided not to go. But then it could just be my bias for you that I conveniently forgot you were critical of Kuroda’s decision.
Generally care less about sentiment and more about winning.