Hey everyone, it’s Whatever Wednesdays again. Today is just a post to remind everyone that “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball”.

Spring Training is upon us. It’s been long enough now that string from our early exit from the 2019 Post Season has begun to subside. A few spring training games have already come and gone and I’m excited for this 2020 season.

The addition of Mookie Betts and David Price to our team also really excites me. However, I am a little bummed about losing some of our prospects, like Connor Wong for example. That said, we seem to have a bunch of good catchers in our pipeline and it’s probably better for Connor Wong to move on to a team where he’ll see more action. I wish him well.

What about the whole Astros/Asterisks thing?

I don’t want to comment too much on these kind of things since I don’t know all the facts. Also, from what I can tell, no one knows all the facts.

However, if we go along with the assumption that this cheating occurred during all of 2017 (and the 2017 post season), then the Dodgers (and other teams) were robbed of a chance to win the World Series. Period.

Overall, it doesn’t sit well with me that players were given immunity in order to get the right information and formulate a report. I understand why it was done, but it causes a lot of problems.

I think fans in general could wax poetic about what should have been done for penalty, but the penalty has already been put down. Nothing will change now.

In general, I would agree that the most appropriate thing to do would have been to vacate the title for 2017. There is speech being used like “unprecedented”. This may be true for the Major Leagues. However, the Little League has already decided how to deal with cheating before:

Jackie Robinson West

To summarize, players outside of their boundaries were recruited to play which provided an unfair advantage. The team was later disqualified and would vacate all accomplishments. All games they played were considered as “forfeit”. They would go down as 6-0 wins for the opposing team in the records.

So then, Little League has its own precedent. However, the Major Leagues do not, since nothing of this magnitude has occurred in the majors before. That said, you would think that the penalties for something like this occurring in the Major Leagues would be more severe than for Little League, right?

Anyways, what’s done is done. The Astros are still the 2017 World Series Champions. However, that accolade will be forever tainted by this cheating.

Winners never cheat. Cheaters never win.

Onwards and Upwards

I think the Dodgers are going to be the team to beat this season. Additionally, I’m also extremely happy that my boy Max Muncy got an extension. Three years for $26 million and locking my boy up for 3+1 more years is awesome. That kind of money is life-changing for Max, and he’s worth every penny of that.

After that, I hope he goes on to sign another reasonable extension again into his free agent years. I think someone like Max is probably not one to chase money. I think he will be loyal to the organization that gave him his chance. Once you have $26 million, does having another $100 million (versus $120 million or whatever) really make that big of a difference?

Another short (3 year?) extension in his free agent years would make a lot of sense for both of them. It would also keep my favorite player in Dodger blue until the end of his MLB career. Make it happen Andrew Friedman.

In other news, I really like some of the new minor leaguers in Spring Training. In particular, Cody Thomas and Zach McKinstry look very good with their approaches at the plate. Cody Thomas also had some good defensive plays as well. Mitchell White was throwing pretty well also.

The future looks bright.

TL;DR

It’s Time for Dodger Baseball.

Winners never cheat. Cheaters never win.

Onwards and Upwards, it’s going to be a good year.

-Sensei

Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.

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