Dodgers being seemingly unconcerned with Padres’ trades truly says it all
The Dodgers are focused on their own needs … the Padres don’t matter.
The San Diego Padres have made more headlines in the span of two days than Los Angeles Dodgers fans would like to see in a single offseason. The trades for Blake Snell and Yu Darvish have seemingly kickstarted the extremely slow trade and free agency market, and everyone’s been blowing smoke up the Padres’ rear end.
But guess what? Those blockbusters are still only good enough for second place in the NL West. The Dodgers are still king. They’re the defending World Series champs and have won eight straight division titles. The Padres have proven nothing outside of 2020’s 60-game sprint, which ended with them getting destroyed by LA.
Here’s a quick newsflash. The Dodgers have a better starting rotation and lineup. And they’re going to continue to act that way, because responding to the Padres making much-needed additions if they want to get to the playoffs in a 162-game season feels like a waste of time. The Dodgers are already built for this and don’t have to answer to anybody.
“That’s not Andrew Friedman style. He doesn’t feel like he needs to counterpunch. He just feels like he has to continue to add to whatever their plan was during the offseason. And what that plan was is solidifying the bullpen, which they’ve done to a certain extent already. Also, Andrew did say at the beginning of the winter that he would like to add a right-handed bat,” David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports said on MLB Network’s “High Heat.”
Based on Vassegh’s comments, the Dodgers’ apparent stance says it all. It’s business as usual. They still have their needs and will focus on filling them. They will not be reactionary after an inferior team made a few moves to nip at their heels.
And how great is it that the Dodgers tweeted this out on Wednesday?
We know this seems like we’re beating a dead horse in regards to where the Dodgers stand after the Padres’ aggression, but it’s even more important to know that team insiders are well aware that Friedman isn’t going to alter his offseason approach.
The Dodgers need a right-handed bat and maybe another bullpen arm or two. Other than that, they’ll still be returning the best team in baseball, even if the Pads were to make another few significant acquisitions.