Dodgers: MLB just screwed LAD out of Nelson Cruz due to delayed decision on DH

Major League Baseball — to put it lightly — has largely been a mess ever since commissioner Rob Manfred took over, and it’s become more and more magnified over the last two seasons. The labor dispute during a global pandemic was disgraceful enough, but now, less than two months before opening day, the league still doesn’t have a clue what it’s doing.

They made a ridiculous 154-game offer to the players union last week, which would’ve delayed the start of the year until May 1 and expanded the playoffs. Who in the world does that help? Oh, right, the owners, who will do anything for more postseason revenue even though it’ll all be brought in thanks to the players.

A lesser aspect of the current disaster is the fact that there’s been no decision on a universal DH, which still hangs in the balance, again, less than two months before Opening Day. Though the players union rejected the owners’ 154-game offer, which included the universal DH, we’d suspect things can still change.

Up until this week, NL teams had no idea if this would be part of their lives in 2021, which has no doubt affected their endeavors in free agency. In fact, the Los Angeles Dodgers, because of the unacceptable lack of urgency from MLB, just got screwed out of one of the top free agents that was reportedly interested in playing for the reigning World Series champs.

How much more proof do we need indicating Manfred just doesn’t like baseball? All he’s cared about is speeding up the game (which has been a failure), captivating a younger generation of fans (which has also been a failure), and finding ways to create heightened labor tensions, conveniently with a new CBA set for 2022. And don’t get us started on their handling of the pandemic.

This obviously isn’t anything for Dodgers fans to be overly concerned about considering how stacked their roster is, but for the sake of baseball, couldn’t this all of have just been hammered out shortly after the 2020 season ended? AL teams currently have the edge in the DH spot because they know that’s part of their lineup. The rest of the NL is sitting and waiting around while the better options are taking jobs with the offseason winding down.

There are still high-profile free agents available too, like Marcell Ozuna, who the Dodgers have reportedly expressed interest in. But it’s clear they’d use him mostly as a DH because of his poor defensive abilities in addition to the fact Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock currently make up the starting outfield.

The longer we have to wait, the longer the Dodgers (and the rest of the entire National League) are adversely affected in free agency and with building their lineups for next season. This is what we call malpractice on MLB’s part.

Dodgers: 5 free agents to target if MLB gives NL the DH spot

The Universal DH may become a permanent fixture of MLB and if so, the Los Angeles Dodgers should pursue these five free agents.