Monday, April 1, 2013

"A Whole New Blue"

"A whole new blue"...  The official slogan of the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers. One that I began to think hard about in the last 6 months, as the billboard campaign littered the skyline of the LA footprint. As if the term "whole" is supposed to somewhat imply we are going to see an entirely diffent entity arrive on their Monday afternoon opening game. Wouldn't "all in" or "its go time" be more fitting? Forgive me if I won't be counted among the dizzying masses who have become entirely enamored by the facelifts that the Dodgers have received both throughout their stadium as well as on their roster.

The might of the "whole new blue" check book is pretty incredible. Stan Kasten and his band of merry men have spent the last calendar year going about their financial business with the type of moral hazard that only Gordon Gecko could dream of. The scary (yet plausible) thought of this "whole new blue" roster not having a chemistry capable of winning baseball games is almost immediately greeted with the notion that this franchise has no qualms with absorbing bloated contracts of any underachieving stars, if it means making a trade. And the whole new blue will stay new. The budding young Cuban named Yasiel Puig tore through spring training, batting over .500 and making the big check the Dodgers wrote last year seem like a bargain. Adding depth to a team that has three all-star outfielders. Unfortunately they are the same three guys that make ALOT of money and each have struggled staying healthy in the past few seasons. If healthy, big things could come fast. If not healthy or just plain not productive, this outfield could give the front office a lot of thinking to do. At which point the whole new blue way of spending will have to be launched into full effect. And we might still be going through the same mind numbing time we had during the stretch run of 2012.

Dodger stadium is still the 3rd oldest stadium in MLB, but according to some of the more recent tweets of players like Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez, you can't tell from the inside. I spent an entire summer in the old dodgers clubhouse (2011) and I can tell you for a certainty that even the reported $100 million spent on all of the stadium's 2013 upgrades had to have been spent very wisely to open up the square footage for the type of amenities they claim to have installed. Think of the nicest gym or sports club you've seen and then imagine trying to fit it into the cupboard under the stairs that Harry Potter lived in. The franchise did a decent job of documenting the excavation and construction with a few clips and pics throughout the winter but they could have honestly just contracted the work out to one of those reality home makeover shows. Getting the job done just under the wire of opening day (The paint is reportedly still drying in the visitors clubhouse). The kind of work that was done in the last few months to have that place ready for a "whole new blue" living standard should have warranted a camera crew!

Speaking of reality TV, the biggest concern for this "whole new blue" roster is that the LA media  could fuel the fire that may ignite from a less than stellar start. Remember what happened when the Miami Marlins put together their expensive team, on a fresh new field, in a shiny new house? It was a season full of speculation and doubt, with the athletes, management and front office "pressing" at every step. Eventually it turned into a total circus and that was in only the 16th largest media market. Not to mention their coach was not in the final year of his contract as Don Mattingly is. Try imagining that same exact scenario playing out in the #2 market in the country (where some paparazzi drive nicer cars than a lot of us) but with TMZ.

If I say any more then you might just think I'm feeling pessimistic about this "whole new blue" season... In fact I'm not feeling so at all. I actually feel that (with the exception of Hanley Ramirez's wrist injury in the WBC) this Dodgers franchise finally has a roster that doesn't have a glaring weakness that jumps off the page and screams "This team won't make the playoffs!" The type of "blue" that we all got very used to feeling, seeing and being for the last 3 seasons doesn't seem to be the tone coming out of spring training. The reality is that there's a big chance that the Dodgers pitching and power could carry them all the way into early November...

Unless it doesn't and the same franchise with the same incessant problems rears its ugly head for another season. Then we'll really be feeling "a whole new blue". And you can be sure that TMZ will be asking Mattingly about his job security.

But again... I'm not feeling pessimistic. I'm just not ready to call this an entirely different franchise quite yet. Which makes this franchises 2013 slogan slightly over optimistic. Not until all the money spent and new faces gathered have found a winning formula and chemistry that we all get to share in. Until then it's the same story with a different cast. Magic Johnson, Guggenheim group chose Stan Kasten to play the Ray Cansella role in the proverbial "field of dreams" story this past year at Chavez Ravine. Everyone said "if you build it, we will come ..." Well, the roster has been built. "It's a whole new blue." The  renovations have been built. "It's a whole new blue." And most importantly, Monday marks the start of this franchise' opportunity to ease our pain and make the last 3 years a distant memory. Then and only then will we know its a whole new blue...


The Dodger Blog is back for 2013, and appreciates all of its new and returning followers.