So in case you were under a rock yesterday, Zack Greinke has a broken collarbone and is out for a while, essentially because Carlos Quentin is an idiot.

As one would imagine, the reactions to what went down from the Dodgers dugout, media, and bloggers weren’t the most pleasant towards Quentin.

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Don Mattingly called him an idiot and said he should be suspended for however long Greinke is out.

“I don’t understand it either. We’re in a 2-1 game, and on a 3-2 pitch to guy I saw on the board set a record for the Padres by getting hit, a guy that basically dives into the plate. In a 2-1 game we’re trying to hit him 3-2? It’s just stupid, is what it is,” said manager Don Mattingly. “He should not play a game until Greinke can throw a pitch. If he plays before Greinke pitches, something is wrong.”

“He caused the whole thing,” Mattingly said of Quentin. “Nothing happens if you go to first base like in baseball you know you do, because you know he’s not throwing at you 3-2, in a 2-1 game. That’s zero understanding of the game of baseball.”

I don’t disagree.

—–

Matt Kemp went the extra mile to try and find out why Quentin charged the mound.

Kemp and Quentin were nose-to-nose before Richard stepped in. Kemp kept asking Quentin why he did it.

Matt Kemp confronted Carlos Quentin as the 2 were leaving Petco Park. Clayton Richard, cops, security broke it up.

Pretty stupid when you think about it. Last thing the team needs is for him to get hurt and/or suspended for dealing with that asshole.

While on the field though, Kemp lost it after he heard about Greinke being hurt.

Mattingly on Matt Kemp, one of three ejected: “once he knew Zack was hurt, he lost it

That reaction is more understandable to me.

—–

A.J. Ellis said that even a Padres player thought it was bullshit.

A.J. Ellis said #Padres players apologized for Quentin’s actions. “It’s not right, it’s not right,” he said one player told him.

Amusing that people are defending Quentin when people on his own team don’t even agree … off the record, of course.

—–

Speaking of the Padres, in a move of sheer class, Jerry Hairston Jr. relays that the reason he ran over to the Padres dugout, after things had seemingly settled a bit, was to confront a player making fun of the injured Greinke.

“It’s terrible. It’s unacceptable, and I lost it. If a guy’s going to hit you, he’s going to hit you on the very first pitch. This is The Show, you don’t do that stuff. My teammate now has a broken f—ing collarbone, because he hit you on a 3-2 pitch?” Hairston said. “I don’t know Carlos at all, I really don’t, but he was wrong.”

Hairston was ejected for going after one of the Padres after the initial melee had died down.

“I was playing peacemaker, just trying to break it up. Obviously Zack was hurt. One of the guys was chirping the whole time, making fun of him for having the hurt shoulder, broken collarbone, or whatever,” Hairston said.

Losing Zack stings, but we ll pick each other up. Zacks like my little brother. Saw someone making fun of him being injured. Not cool!!

Hairston said it wasn’t Yonder Alonso, and I’ve heard it was John Baker, which would make perfect sense since he’s a backup catcher nobody that will never have to answer for running his mouth. Who knows what the truth is, but it would explain why Hairston lost it.

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As far Quentin goes, his excuses after the game were about as irrational as you’d expect.

Quentin blames Greinke for history of HBP. Quentin said he has led league in HBP 2 years running and has never charged mound in MLB.

Translation: “I always lead the league in being hit, but never charge the mound. I did this time though! Why? His fault! But I won’t tell you why.”

Quentin, asked if any remorse: “I did what I did. It could have been avoided.”

Yeah, by you not charging the mound.

Look, I mentioned this in the other post, but Quentin gets hit a lot because of how he dives into the plate, so him getting hit multiple times by pitchers he faced a ton shouldn’t be surprising. In fact, if getting hit by Greinke often was his rationale for being upset, then Jon Weisman found a list of players Quentin should have been raging at before tonight:

The short list of pitchers who clearly have it in for Carlos Quentin: twitter.com/jonweisman/sta…

— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) April 12, 2013

It’s a long list for a reason, put it that way.

So, hear my plea Carlos Quentin: FUCKING MOVE!

Move out of the way. Just don’t be in that place when the pitch comes at you. I know some plunkings are unavoidable. But surely you can cut down on a lot of them. Duck, or spin away, or bend backward or something. Just fucking move. Take your walk the traditional way.

A post written in jest, but prophetic nevertheless.

—–

For his part, Greinke said he didn’t hit Quentin on purpose but knows Quentin thinks he did.

“The only thing I’ll say about that is that I’ve never hit him on purpose,” Greinke said. “He always seems to think I hit him on purpose, but that’s not the case.”

It was the third time in 31 career plate appearances that Greinke hit Quentin. But he is hardly alone in that regard, as Quentin leads the majors with 97 HBP since the beginning of 2008.

“I thought it was a ploy to get people to not throw inside to him, so he can lean out away,” Greinke said. “I don’t know anyone who has hit him on purpose.”

Quentin maintained Greinke hit him intentionally.

“Myself and Greinke have a history, it dates back to a few years ago. You guys could look it up. It’s documented. It’s unfortunate about the situation. It could have been avoided. You can ask Zack about that,” Quentin said. “I can tell you I’ve never responded in that fashion before.”

Speaking of Quentin complaining about getting hit while diving over the plate, Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong gave a quote last year when Quentin got mad at him for throwing inside that basically sums Quentin’s attitude up.

A reminder after taking in the brawl last night between the Dodgers and Padres after Zack Greinke hit Carlos Quentin, who then charged the pitcher and broke his collarbone: Last Aug. 19 in San Diego, Ryan Vogelsong had a beef with Quentin after hitting him with a pitch, and Clayton Richard retaliating by hitting Brandon Belt.

Vogelsong fumed after the game that Quentin crowds the plate and should not react the way he does.

“Go look at the video,” Vogelsong fumed. “It was a two-seamer that ran of the plate. That guy hammers balls over the plate and he gets pissed when you throw the ball inside. It doesn’t make sense. Every time you hit a guy in this game now they think you did it on purpose. It’s tired.”

Sounds familiar.

—–

As far as the accusation that Greinke was trying to instigate a fight:

Zack Greinke was asked if he wanted to fight Carlos Quentin. “I can’t remember the last time I wanted to get in a fight with someone.”

I think most would agree that he seems like the last person who would want to start anything physical.

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As for the opposing side, Padres fans are handling this extremely classy … hahahaha no.

This doesn’t even scratch the surface of it, but just to give you a taste:

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My take: you never want to see a player charging the mound, but it’s not like it’s never happened before. (1/2)

— Nathan Veale (@The_NV) April 12, 2013

Greinke intentionally moved his body into harm’s way and charged at Quentin. He didn’t have to. That’s his own fault. (2/2)

— Nathan Veale (@The_NV) April 12, 2013

Quentin may have started it, but Greinke’s response was “challenge accepted.” You get what you ask for in this world.

— Nathan Veale (@The_NV) April 12, 2013

Remember guys, Quentin started it, we can all agree on that, but once Quentin started walking toward Greinke and then charged, Greinke didn’t run away, therefore, any injury suffered is HIS fault.

I’d hate for that guy to be in charge of the law. If you got assaulted on the street, his advice would be to not fight back or else you deserve everything that happens to you.

Logic.

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Anyway, reading through my Twitter timeline, seems like the consensus among even non-Dodger fans is “fuck Quentin”, so in conclusion:

Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Even though he’s away from home right now, I think Mike Petriello comes away from the trade with the right approach.

So how am I feeling about it today? I think Gonzalez is going to be an incredible fit in LA, especially considering that reports of his demise in Boston seem overblown (he was outstanding last year and has been very good for much of this year after a slow start) and that he never seemed to want to leave Southern California in the first place. It’s a high price to pay, but if he is what we think he is – and don’t forget, there was little available in the first base market next year, so if you’re spending money, this is how you do it – and the team becomes a consistent contender, I think it’ll be a price we can live with.

And if not? The next decade could get ugly, fast. For now, I’m cautiously optimistic, but mainly excited for the rest of the season.

I’m the same. Hopeful, but wary for reasons that I believe are legitimate. Far too many Dodgers fans pretending this is highway robbery in our favor, in my opinion.

Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman invokes Pedro Martinez for Delino DeShields.

The chances of De La Rosa becoming one of the greatest pitchers of all time might be slim, but De La Rosa doesn’t have to become the second Pedro to represent a major loss for the Dodgers. He could just be really good, while Gonzalez apes DeShields’ decline.

Like I said, I’m hungry for a World Series title, and I’m not saying the risk of trading De La Rosa won’t be worth it. Don’t misunderstand me: The Dodgers need a player like Gonzalez, who boosts them at their weakest position. I even believe that a move back to his Southern California roots and away from the Red Sox maelstrom could revitalize him.

All I’m saying is, short of Clayton Kershaw, the trade of any other pitcher besides De La Rosa would have left me more comfortable.

Not sure I agree with the people flipping out on him, especially if the Dodgers can’t upgrade their rotation significantly in the coming years. However, I think Adrian Gonzalez is a far better player and Rubby De La Rosa, while one of my favorites, won’t get to ace level.

Sports Illustrated: Jay Jaffe acknowledges the risk and the reward, saying that if nothing else it makes the season compelling.

All in all, it’s a dizzying deal that could affect not only the outcome of this year’s NL playoff races, but also could turn the Dodgers into the NL West’s powerhouse for years to come, with an enviable middle of the order starring Kemp, Gonzalez, Ramirez and Ethier. Or it could blow up in the team’s collective face, saddling the Dodgers with unproductive players signed to long-term deals, and hampering their roster flexibility much as it did these Red Sox.

Given their surrender of two top young arms, and the massive savings — and saving face — that the deal offered Boston, the Dodgers should have come away with far more than $12 million in salary discounts. That they didn’t puts virtually all of the risk on them, but it makes for a compellingly aggressive play in a playoff race that remains wide open.

True Blue LA: Eric Stephen notes that the team is headed for the luxury tax.

Dodgers Now: Stan Kasten says they aren’t maxed out yet though.

If the Dodgers can add $260 million to their payroll in one trade — and close to a half-billion dollars in four months — is there a limit to their spending?

“Somewhere, I suppose,” Chairman Mark Walter said Saturday.

And where might that limit be?

“I haven’t found it yet,” President Stan Kasten said. “I’ll let you know when we get there.”

Not sure how much of that is rhetoric, but I think we’ll see in the 2013 off-season.

FanGraphs: Dave Cameron thinks it doesn’t make sense from a baseball perspective but that it might make sense if the Dodgers make a deep run into the playoffs due to financials.

From a purely baseball standpoint, this investment doesn’t make sense. Gonzalez isn’t valuable enough to make him worth taking on the albatross contracts of Crawford and Beckett, and the Dodgers almost certainly could have gotten a better bang for their buck in free agency this winter. However, making moves this winter won’t get people interested in the Dodgers in the same way that a deep playoff run this year will.

I’m getting a lot of similar comments on Twitter, so I know this isn’t a rare opinion, but I have to wonder how legitimate the train of thought is. Dodgers fans show up regardless of how the team is doing, and the only reason attendance plummeted last year was because of a fan boycott of Frank McCourt. Even with all the turmoil, they were sixth in attendance last year, and this year they’re already back up to third. As such, I don’t buy the argument that they needed to do this during the season to make the playoffs otherwise fans wouldn’t come back and they wouldn’t make money. If the tens of millions from potential playoff revenue is going to make or break a team with billions of dollars looming, then there are bigger problems here.

Also, I don’t buy that this is to create buzz for a media deal. We’re all speculating, but logically I don’t see why cable companies, who negotiate deals like this all the time, would be swayed off their valuation due to a small sample size and not take into account the big 15-to-25 year picture. It’s already rumored to be in the $8 billion range, so how much higher could it go? Maybe they are that dumb, I dunno, but it seems iffy to assume so.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Dodgers likely just paid $20 for a gallon of milk. Given the prices everyone else is paying for milk, that seems pretty silly. If you happen to have lots of $20 bills and no milk, however, and there’s only one guy selling milk in your immediate vicinity, maybe you just complain about price gouging and hand over the $20. Depending on just how many $20s the Dodgers ownership has, this might not end up being quite as nuts as it looks on the surface.

Or, maybe I’m just over-thinking all of this, and the Dodgers just made a horrible, horrible trade. I’m honestly not sure.

Maybe, but I can’t see this trade destroying the team down the road. It might make for an inferior roster, but as long as they continue to spend, the team will be competitive. I’d just rather have to go through as little big money decline phases as possible.

ESPN: Buster Olney names his winners and losers … with the Dodgers on both.

Winners: The Dodgers of 2012

They are markedly better today than they were before this deal. Adrian Gonzalez is perfect for their lineup, their lineup balance, their defense and their ballpark, and he knows the division from his many years with the Padres. Beckett might be energized, and he gets to shift out of one of the best-hitting divisions to one of the worst.

Winners: Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten and the rest of the Dodgers’ ownership group

In less than four months, these owners have managed to completely rebrand the franchise, and, even if the Dodgers don’t make the playoffs this year, they’ve set themselves up for a major bounce forward in attendance and interest and team success in 2013. The city might throw them a parade even if they don’t win the World Series because, ding-dong, the Frank McCourt era is over.

Losers: The Dodgers of 2017

The team’s stunning spending spree feels good today, but Los Angeles has set itself up to have a roster loaded with aging stars in about five years — Matt Kemp, Gonzalez, Crawford and Andre Ethier all have contracts that run through that season. By then, the Dodgers’ farm system should be replenished, and the club’s ownership should have the resources to pave over that type of problem in the way the Yankees have — and, in any event, Dodgers fans won’t have to worry about that for a while.

ESPN: Keith Law takes a good now and bad later approach as well.

This deal could end up looking good for both sides, better for the Dodgers in the very short term but much better for the Red Sox in the long term. Boston enters this winter with a new financial lease on life, freeing the Sox up to spend in a weak free-agent market or perhaps to take on a large contract someone else would like to move (Cliff Lee? Justin Upton?).

They’re also looking at a pretty interesting group of position-player prospects racing up the system, led by Xander Bogaerts, who has improved his defense at shortstop this year and might defy earlier expectations and stay at the position. That potential for an inexpensive core should help Boston avoid a similar tangle of large contracts in the near future, just at a point when the Dodgers are facing a financial quagmire and roster crunch of their own.

Baseball executives are chiming in on the trade, basically questioning what the Dodgers are doing.

Rival exec on #Dodgers: “If you had $250M to spend, is this how you’d do it?”

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 25, 2012

Rival execs are wondering why LADs didn’t simply say to BOS: We’ll take your bad contracts, but we’re not giving you any prospects of note.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 25, 2012

NL exec view:”The Dodgers so wanted Gonzalez they took Crawford and Beckett’s money and traded two great arms to get him.”

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) August 25, 2012

While I don’t necessarily disagree with their assessment, one has to wonder how much of this is legit and how much of this is just being jealous.

Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike Petriello once feared the exact deal that Andre Ethier signed, and while he holds some concerns, he finds it hard to argue against the deal.

What interests me more right now is trying to figure out just how much a big 2012 could enhance Ethier’s value on the market, because there’s a big difference between a deal for, say, 3/$36m (which I’d certainly love to do) and something more like 5/$85m (which I’d run away screaming from).

So the end result, in my view, is that the Dodgers paid a fair price to lock up one of the two best and most popular hitters on their team, a player with his share of flaws, but one who provides a service which couldn’t easily be replaced on the open market or via trade. I’m slightly apprehensive about the idea of Ethier being a $100m type player, yet I suppose I can’t really argue with the logic behind the move.

So he thinks they got market value, that it helps public relations, and that it was the best fit.

—–

Baseball Prospectus: R.J. Anderson thinks the deal is fair.

No extension is complete without hemming and hawing over the financial figures. Ethier is being rewarded handsomely for being a consistently good player (his Wins Above Replacement Player totals seem locked in around three wins per season). Is Ethier worth this kind of investment? It isn’t an easy question to answer. Consider the Dodgers’ perspective. These are new owners taking over a club whose previous owner soured the fan base. Fan morale should be improved thanks to the club’s first-place standing, but locking up a large part of the team’s recent good times gains public relations points, too.

Here’s something else to consider: the Dodgers know their own budget the best, and also know that the league might be flush with cash this offseason. It’s possible, not likely but possible, that Ethier’s deal looks prudent should teams splurge this offseason.

Even if the deal doesn’t win awards for being the most efficient usage of resources, the Dodgers should be happy to retain Ethier’s bat for an additional five or six seasons.

He believes the team may have gotten market value, that it will help public relations, and that it may prove to be a solid fit.

—–

FanGraphs: Dave Cameron thinks it’s an overpay but that the team should have the finances to overcome it, rendering the overpay meaningless.

From an abstract point of view, Ethier’s not worth this contract, but when you consider the Dodgers specific financial position, the team’s attempts to rebuild credibility with an alienated fan base, and the fairly minor scope of the overpay, this just isn’t something that anyone should get all that worked up over. The Dodgers paid a nice player a little bit more than he’s worth in order to keep him, and the difference probably won’t have much of an impact on their ability to do anything else. It’s an overpay, but an irrelevant one that shouldn’t garner all that much criticism.

He thinks the Dodgers paid over market value for Ethier, that it will help public relations, and that the future budget will take care of the overpay.

—–

True Blue LA: Eric Stephen takes a different approach to looking at the contract and compares Ethier to similar players.

Sammy Sosa, Jim Edmonds, and Carlos Beltran were the only three of the bunch to improve in their age 31-35 seasons. This group collectively averaged 2,844 plate appearances from age 26-30, and averaged 2,216 PA from ages 31-35, a 22.1% drop, with only three of the 13 players accumulating more PA as they aged. Four of the 13 players didn’t even make it to their age-35 season.

There is a fair amount of risk that Ethier could fall off a cliff from a production standpoint, with fellow Dodgers right fielder Shawn Green providing a prime example. But if Ethier does decline, the Dodgers are hoping for more Magglio Ordonez and less Trot Nixon.

You should go look at the chart, it’s interesting and much better than the similarity scores from Baseball Reference.

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Baseball Nation: Grant Brisbee makes the case that the message behind the deal was more important than the deal itself.

Maybe the Dodgers overpaid, and maybe they assumed a lot of risk with the Ethier deal. It’s not a bad deal, especially when you think of Jayson Werth and Carl Crawford as possible corner-outfield comps. But the Dodgers were sending a message just as much as they were trying to build a 2014 roster. If Magic Johnson is to be believed, the message will have several parts, and they’ll all be expensive. That’s the brand of the new Dodgers. It just happened to kick off with some old Dodgers.

This is yet another analysis of the contract that mentions the public relations angle, which is an interesting way to look at the deal. I actually didn’t think much of it before, but laid out like this, yeah, I can see how this might influence their decision to give him what he wanted, even if it is a little over market value.

Whether I agree with that logic is a different story though.

—–

Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman is upbeat about the outcome of the contract.

It’s hard to get a true bargain with established stars — which is why it was so wonderful for the Dodgers that Ethier (acquired as a minor leaguer from Oakland in 2005) and Matt Kemp emerged from their farm system in the first place. On some level, if the Dodgers can avoid with Ethier what happened with the Toronto Blue Jays and Vernon Wells, they should be happy. A major hope of the new ownership is that it won’t have to penny-pinch. As long as Ethier remains a reasonably productive player and not an albatross, the Dodgers and their fans should be happy to have him, even if he ends up pocketing something more than he’s worth.

He thinks that it’s probably an overpay, but it’ll be fine if he doesn’t become terrible.

Well yeah, but I think the risk that he does become terrible is built into the analysis of the deal, no? I mean, if I could rule out the possibility of attrition, then yeah, I love the deal.

—–

ESPN: Uh, I guess Keith Law couldn’t even be bothered to write an article on it, but it’s probably safe to say he doesn’t like it.

Someone needs to hand Ned Colletti a pen and a blank piece of paper and ask him to draw a typical hitter’s aging curve.

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 12, 2012

More like ROFLMAO “@Crev10: @keithlaw Did you ever publish a write-up on Either’s contract or would it have just read: “LOL”?”

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 13, 2012

I don’t think many are quite at this end of the spectrum.

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All in all, most seem to agree that’s he’s getting a deal that’s over market value and that there are concerns about regression as he ages. However, their concerns are mitigated primarily due to public relations reasons or because of the assumed budget.

The public relations angle is wonderful, and the expanding budget is part of the reason I’m somewhat neutral on the deal. However, all I care about is the Dodgers being a quality team again, so call me heartless or whatever, but I couldn’t care less about public relations or the loyalty of the fans or how many people would cry if Ethier wasn’t re-signed.

All I want to know is whether or not the deal was worth it from a baseball perspective, and judging by most of the analysis purely from that angle, the consensus seems to be that the jury is still out and they will be that way for a while.

Hank Schulman went insane yesterday, translating a sequence of events and reactions from the Dodgers/Giants game in the most illogical way possible, basically so that they would fit his narrative.

Many fans here booed when Kemp misplayed Melky ball, didn’t reach Arias RBI single.If that’s what they were booing, they’re total idiots.

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 8, 2012

Honestly, I think Schulman has lost his fucking marbles. That’s my honest assessment.

—–

Dodgers fans didn’t boo Matt Kemp when he actually made the error on Melky Cabrera‘s single, as it was silent in the stadium, probably because they were worried that the Giants just put the tying run on.

Then Joaquin Arias singled to center and the tying run scored. Fans proceeded to boo.

Now, any reasonable person would conclude that Dodgers fans were booing the fact that their hated rival just tied the game at one in the sixth inning, but Schulman?

Oh no, my friend.

Now I’m getting Tweets saying fans weren’t booing Kemp. Just booing a Giants run. What a load of crapola. They were booing Kemp, period.

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 8, 2012

How in the flying fuck one concludes that fans were booing Kemp instead of a game-tying single is beyond me.

The hit was a clean single that landed about 15 feet short of Kemp and 5 feet to his left, meaning that either the fans were booing Kemp’s effort on a line drive single OR that the goddamn Giants just scored the game-tying run.

Hm…

So just to recap, the fans didn’t boo Dee Gordon when he tried to make three errors on a single play in the previous inning, and the fans didn’t boo Kemp when he actually made the error on the play Schulman was talking about. Yet, Dodgers fans apparently decided to bust out the boo birds on Kemp because of a clean single to center that nobody on this planet would have had a shot at catching.

Oh yeah, that certainly sounds more plausible than booing the Giants.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe fans were expressing deep-seated hatred for Joaquin Arias.

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 8, 2012

Dodgers fans were expressing a deep-seated hatred for the Giants scoring the tying run in the sixth inning. The Dodgers and Giants, they sort of have this rivalry and stuff.

You know, kind of like how Giants fans chant “BEAT L-A” in the third inning.

Now they’re chanting “MVP, MVP” for Kemp. These really are the worst fans in baseball.

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 8, 2012

To be clear, I’m not criticizing fans for MVP chant, but for doing it after booing Kemp on defense.

— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) May 8, 2012

Jon Weisman already handled this ridiculousness from a different angle, but I wanted to comment from my perspective as well.

Not only has Schulman convinced himself that fans were booing Kemp instead of the fact that the Giants tied the game, he actually managed to convince himself that Dodgers fans did a complete 180 on their views of Kemp within an inning of play and suddenly decided that he was the MVP.

WE’RE AMAZING!

Maybe though, just fucking maybe, Dodgers fans actually love Kemp, hence the “M-V-P!” chant (which happens all the time), and they were actually booing the Giants as a team during the previous inning because it’s the Giants they hate.

MAYBE.

Personally, I answered: $1, $5, $10, $500.

—–

Baseball Prospectus: Dash Treyhorn analyzes how the perception of Charlie Manuel has evolved, primarily due to winning.

Sometimes I wonder if the same would be possible with Ned Colletti. We’ve already seen how people think he’s solid because he won with all the homegrown talent he was provided and another GM’s players, so I can’t help but think that if Stan Kasten helps turn the ship around with Colletti still on board, it would completely change the way most people look at him.

—–

Deadspin: A youth baseball coach was arrested for threatening a parent with a gun. Thought it was an appropriately timed story given my article on coaches.

Gawker: Is Jose Canseco even writing his own crazy tweets? Probably not, which is even more reason we shouldn’t give a shit about him.

Los Angeles Times: Bill Plaschke (barf) talks to the key figures in the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership.

For now, as the initial celebration fades and the close examination begins, Dodger fans need to see proof that this dream team won’t just turn into another nightmare.

“You know I’m going to do this right,” promised Johnson. “I would not be putting millions of my dollars into this if we weren’t going to do it right.”

The questioning started here with Johnson. Will he be more than just a new Dodger face and voice? Will he have the freedom to help run the Dodgers with his considerable business acumen and competitive spirit?

“You want to know Magic’s title? It’s owner,” Kasten said.

Johnson confirmed that he has already picked out a Dodger Stadium office and that, while he still has other business interests, this will be his main job and focus.

“I take, very seriously, the honor of being a minority owner in an organization where Jackie Robinson played,” Johnson said. “I’ll be there every day, fans will see me every day, I’ll be working hard to spread the word about how we’re going to make this a great franchise again.”

I think we’ve known all along that he was a figurehead, but he’s an awesome figurehead, so whatever.

Walter said he will remain in the background of the club’s daily operations, allowing Kasten to oversee baseball and business matters while Johnson is the caretaker of the image.

“I’m a baseball fan, but I’m not qualified to make baseball decisions, and I don’t want to pretend to be,” said Walter. “I’m here to support and help my people as much as I can. I’m here to cheer as loud as I can.”

But since he still controls the purse strings, the bucks still stop with him, no? Will he give Kasten the freedom to spend them? How does he view the idea of paying the sort of big money for the sort of big free agents that the Dodgers have avoided signing during most of their 14-year championship drought?

“Stan has a very proven formula for building a team that doesn’t win one year, but wins 12 years in a row [Atlanta Braves], so for me to tell him how you build that is completely inappropriate,” said Walter. “But having said that, we really want to win, and it’s OK if, while we’re producing the best players in the world, we also have the best players in the world on our field.”

In other words, said Johnson, “We are going to have all the resources available to us to put a championship team on the field.”

Oh dear, I think I’m in love.

“We understand what we just bought, we understand what it needs to be,” said Kasten. “We make more money when we win. We are real cognizant of that. While we want to build a long-term plan, we want to have a winner now.”

To understand Kasten’s baseball philosophy, check out his Atlanta Braves team that won the 1995 World Series. His front office was led by powerful General Manager John Schuerholz. His starting rotation was led by a high-priced free agent, Greg Maddux. His everyday lineup was filled with homegrown stars like Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko and David Justice.

“I believe in scouting and player development, and a starting rotation,” Kasten said. “With both, anything is possible. Without both, nothing is possible.”

It’s just words, and I prefer actions, but they are saying literally everything right so far.

Haven’t been this excited about the team since they swept the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 NLDS.

Los Angeles Times: Walter Hamilton takes a look at the Guggenheim Partners.

Guggenheim Partners is connected to the family of Meyer Guggenheim, who came to the U.S. in the 1840s and made a fortune in mining. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is named after the family.

Peter Lawson Johnston II, a great-grandson of the Guggenheim’s patriarch, launched the financial services company in 2000. The company is run day to day by chief executive Mark Walter and executive chairman Alan Schwartz, the former CEO of Bear Stearns & Co.

The firm is a full-fledged investment bank in the mold of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Guggenheim has become a big player in commercial real estate debt, managing the type of investments that tripped up so many big Wall Street firms during the global financial crisis.

Guggenheim has varied holdings, including being a co-owner of the company that operates the Hollywood Reporter.

It has a large investment operation in Santa Monica, with more than 200 of its 1,700 employees based there. The firm manages about $125 billion in assets.

Mining, huh? It’s like they’re trolling Josh Macciello.

MLB.com: Richard Justice with a nice profile on Kasten.

He has some unshakeable core beliefs about running a baseball team. He believes the fan experience should be pleasant, that teams must be accountable to their customers. And he believes teams should be built from the inside through scouting and player development.

If he’s approved, he’ll surely use the work done by Cox and Schuerholz with the Braves as a blueprint for how to run the Dodgers.

He’s also a student of the game’s history and will almost certainly both understand and tap into the things that have made the Dodgers special, from the former players who created the team’s aura to the ballpark that is one of the signature destinations in Major League Baseball.

In both Atlanta and Washington, he told his employees that there really was no magic formula to succeeding. It was a matter of doing things right and getting better every single day.

Awesome.

Fox Sports: Ken Rosenthal believes Kasten will be the difference maker for the product on the field as well.

Wall Street Journal: Scott Austin has short blurbs on all those involved in the new ownership of the Dodgers.

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ESPN Los Angeles: Jon Weisman has a to-do list for the new owners.

The bottom line is, you can’t expect perfection, but you can demand excellence. Every effort must be made at making the best possible decision a thousand times over.

The new owners might fail. But, finally, Dodgers fans can at least say there’s hope.

Word.

Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike Petriello gives 19 random thoughts on the new ownership of the team.

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Dodgers Now: Dodgers players give their thoughts on the new owners, including Juan Rivera and Juan Uribe, who hadn’t heard of the deal until Dylan Hernandez told them.

Dodgers Now: What do Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol think about Magic Johnson‘s involvement with the Dodgers?

The question reminded me of this:

Click To Enlarge

Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts has the details on the bizarre picture.

MSTI: I don’t know where he found this, but this is definitely the best thing Javy Guerra and James Loney do all year even if they finish 1/2 in the MVP race.

Dodger Thoughts: None of the potential Dodgers ownership groups liked the Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw contracts? Uh…yikes.

Feelin’ Kinda Blue: Jon Weisman blogger profile.

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Baseball Prospectus: Kevin Goldstein names his top 101 prospects. The only Dodger on the list is Zach Lee at 70.

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MLB Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Dodgers have four players who are out of options for 2012: A.J. Ellis, Ramon Troncosco, Blake Hawksworth, and Scott Elbert.

Could mean trouble for Troncoso and Hawksworth, but the other two shouldn’t have an issue.

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Baseball Nation: The ten worst swings of 2011. It’s amazing.

True Blue LA: Eric Stephen has the 2012 Spring Training roster.

True Blue LA: A review of the 2012 off-season for the Los Angeles Dodgers to make me cry.

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ESPN: Jon Weisman has an interview with De Jon Watson about the Dodgers minor league system.

ESPN: Keith Law ranks the Dodgers system 12th in baseball.

If pitching wins championships, the Dodgers are in pretty good shape going forward, as their system is loaded with power arms but is relatively light on position players.

Surprising, but I guess he likes the abundance of pitching in the system more than most.

Minor League Ball: John Sickels notes the lessons he has learned about evaluating prospects.

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FanGraphs: Bradley Woodrum separates sabermetrics into three branches and shows which teams use which branches.

The Dodgers are the only team with one branch.

Awesome!

Los Angeles Times: And then there were eleven.

The lineup of Dodgers bidders, as of Wednesday:

Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten: Could soon be joined by richest man in L.A., Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Rick Caruso/Joe Torre: Not out of the running in the Soon-Shiong sweepstakes.

Steven Cohen/Arn Tellem: Cohen about to invest $20 million in Mets, able to spend 75-100 times as much on Dodgers.

Stan Kroenke: Owner of NFL’s St. Louis Rams could move L.A.’s football team back home.

Peter O’Malley: Former Dodgers owner backed by South Korean conglomerate E-Land.

Tony Ressler: Minority owner of Brewers has discussed partnership with O’Malley.

Leo Hindery/Tom Barrack: New York media executive has teamed with L.A. real estate investor and sportsman.

Stanley Gold/Disney family: That’s the family of the late Roy Disney, Walt’s nephew.

Jared Kushner: Publisher of New York Observer, son-in-law of Donald Trump.

Michael Heisley: Owner of NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies hired Jerry West to run his team.

Alan Casden: USC Board of Trustees includes Dodgers bidders Casden, Caruso, Gold.

Gonna get interesting now.

Los Angeles Times: If you noticed Michael Heisley as a name that had previously gone unmentioned, you’re correct. It was just revealed today that he was involved in the ownership bidding.

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Feelin’ Kinda Blue: Profile/interview with Jon Weisman.

FanGraphs: An interview with Logan White.

He talks about analyzing pitchers biomechanically, drafting Clayton Kershaw, missing on Ethan Martin (he disagrees), and finding gems in Allen Webster and Nate Eovaldi.

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The Hardball Times: PITCHf/x player cards. Amazing.

FanGraphs: An interview with Brian Peterson, the sports psychologist for the Detroit Tigers.

Dodger Thoughts: Be sure to follow Jon Weisman and Dodger Thoughts to its new home.

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Minor League Ball: John Sickels reviews how the current top 25 pitchers in baseball were seen as prospects.

Minor League Ball: Same for the top 30 position players in baseball.

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The Onion: Because making fun of Bleacher Report is always hilarious.

While I defended Hiroki Kuroda‘s choice to sign with the New York Yankees even if it was simply a financial decision (much like Jon Weisman and Mike Petriello did), his detractors look even stupider today after it was revealed that he wasn’t even given an offer by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Hiroki Kuroda confirmed what Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said earlier this month: Colletti remained in contact with his agent until he decided to sign with the New York Yankees three weeks ago.

Kuroda said the Dodgers were exploring ways they could fit him onto their roster, even though they had already signed free-agent starters Aaron Harang and Chris Capuano.

“They were unable to ever make a formal offer,” Kuroda said in Japanese. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”

The Japanese right-hander took a one-year $10-million contract with the Yankees that included a full no-trade clause. The deal was officially announced this week.

Yeah, sorta stupid to argue about loyalty when the team didn’t even give him a chance to make that an issue.

So is he still a “worthless piece of crap”?

I hope that Hiroki Kuroda signs with the Colorado Rockies, mostly because he is a worthless piece of crap who has the brains of a snail. Other than that, I think he’s a wonderful idiot! Hiroki loved the Dodgers so much that he refused a traded to a team (BoSox) where he might have won a World Series (and cost the Dodgers a really nice pick) because he only wanted to play major league baseball for his beloved Dodgers. Now, since the Dodgers have signed Chris Capuano, and he sees that he is not in the Dodgers plans (he said he wasn’t sure he wanted to play in America in 2012), he now wants to be a HO and sign with whoever pays him.

Screw you Hiroki, you worthless piece of crap. You swine. You vulgar little maggot. You worthless bag of filth. As they say in Texas, you couldn’t pour water out of a boot with instructions printed on the heel. You are a canker, an open wound. I would rather kiss a lawyer than be seen with you. You took your last vacation in the Islets of Langerhans.

You’re a putrescent mass, a walking vomit. You are a spineless little worm deserving nothing but the profoundest contempt. You are a jerk, a cad, and a weasel. I take that back; you are a festering pustule on a weasel’s rump. Your life is a monument to stupidity. You are a stench, a revulsion, a big suck on a sour lemon.

I will never get over the embarrassment of belonging to the same species as you. You are a monster, an ogre, a malformity. I barf at the very thought of you. You have all the appeal of a paper cut. Lepers avoid you. You are vile, worthless, less than nothing. You are a weed, a fungus, the dregs of this earth. You are a technicolor yawn. And did I mention that you smell?

You are a squeaking rat, a mistake of nature and a heavy-metal bagpipe player. You were not born. You were hatched into an unwilling world that rejects the likes of you. You didn’t crawl out of a normal egg, either, but rather a mutant maggot egg rejected by an evil scientistas being below his low standards. Your alleged parents abandoned you at birth and then died of shame in recognition of what they had done to an unsuspecting world. They were a bit late, and we are weary of your ilk.

Not linking to where I got that, but I’m sure you know where it’s from.

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.

Credit: The LFP

Los Angeles Times: I covered the adventures of James Loney before, but according to the California Highway Patrol, his night was even more ridiculous than TMZ reported.

Loney sideswiped three cars on the 101 Freeway in Sherman Oaks, stopped in the fast lane, passed out, then awakened and tried to flee the scene, only to crash again, said Leland Tang, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

Alrighty then.

In all seriousness, it does seem like it could get significantly worse, as the tests haven’t come back yet.

Tang said officers extracted a blood sample to test for drugs and alcohol but that the test results were not yet available. The city attorney’s office is investigating the incident and deciding whether to file criminal charges.

Could end up being quite bad.

ESPN: Then again, James Loney explained to Tony Jackson how it’s just all a big misunderstanding.

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Dodger Thoughts: Thank god Jon Weisman decided to break down the TV rights ruling because I was starting to get a headache trying to keep up with Bill Shaikin on Twitter.

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Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike Petriello breaks down the Los Angeles Dodgers interest in Daniel Murphy.

Dodger Thoughts: Apparently Hideki Matsui is on the Dodgers radar as well.

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True Blue LA: Eric Stephen helps everybody catch up with the Dodgers off-season moves.

Couldn't find a funny picture, so here's Lee Min Jung instead...

Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman looks at the potential for Matt Kemp to become a Dodger legend.

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MLB: John Ely and Carlos Monasterios are off the 40-man roster. The Dodgers then added five minor leaguers to protect them from the Rule 5 draft.

The Dodgers added left-hander Michael Antonini, outfielder Alex Castellanos and right-handers Stephen Fife, Josh Wall and Chris Withrow.

Interesting choices that I’ll be looking at later.

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MSTI: Mike Petriello looks at the monetary commitments for the Dodgers in 2012 and wonders if anything is left.

Keith Law: Keith Law points out that Matt Kemp’s signing is a step forward, but the 2012 team is far from finished.

Even in a weak division with no clear front-runner, that doesn’t seem like enough to put them over the top unless they get a breakout season or two from unexpected quarters. Kemp is a great first step and good news long-term for the Blue Man Group, but they have a lot more work to do if they want to contend next year.

Yeah, the signing itself is definitely a move for the future, and depending on how the pitching staff shakes out, this could be a worse team in 2012.

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MSTI: The Dodgers are a sabermetric team now? Nope.

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Beyond The Box Score: Takes a close look at the all-time “True Dodgers” team.

MSTI: Mike Petriello puts together an off-season plan for the 2012 Dodgers.

Personally, I don’t even think I’m attempting it this year.

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Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman recaps the history of early worries regarding the ownership of Frank McCourt.

Dodger Thoughts: A checklist for the new owner? Sounds good.

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MLB: Alfredo Silverio and Scott Van Slyke were added to the Dodgers 40-man roster.

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MLB: Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier all won Gold Gloves. I was going to make a post about it, but then I realized it’s a meaningless award and it doesn’t deserve the time.

MLB: Matt Kemp won a Silver Slugger Award, which he did deserve.

MLB: At the Players Choice Awards, Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw win NL Outstanding Player and NL Outstanding Pitcher, respectively.