Dodgers Trade Turning Into A Fiasco

In high school my football coach did not tolerate excuses, he used to say “excuses are the building blocks of monuments that build noting.”

It seems now the Dodgers front office are all out of excuses, a week after sweeping their local rivals and pulling off a 3 team 13 player the Dodgers are in the same position they were before the trade deadline came and went.

The starting pitching and bullpen were supposed to have added depth when they picked up Mat Latos, Alex Wood, Luis Avilan, and Jim Johnson.

One road series in Pittsburgh has shown they haven’t added depth and made the team better, it seems they’ve made it worse.

In the first game sporting a 37-inning scoreless streak, Clayton Kershaw struggled against the Pirates giving up 4 runs including a home run on his first pitch.

The Dodgers managed to tie the game but in the 10th inning newly acquired reliever Jim Johnson coughed up the game giving up 2 hits and 2 walks taking the loss when J.P. Howell failed to come through giving up the game winning hit.

In the second game newly acquired starter Mat Latos givin up 6 runs in just 4 innings including a three-run home run to opposing pitcher Fracisco Lirano who has .098 batting average.

Again, the Dodgers rallied but the hole dug up by Latos was too big to get out of as the Dodgers lost another one run game.

Of course the Dodgers saved their worst for last in Sunday’s finale.

After manufacturing a 5-3 lead after six innings the Dodgers were forced to go to the bullpen because new pitcher Alex Wood had thrown 91 pitches and was looking tired after giving up a 2-run bomb to Pirates star Andrew McCutchen.  Enter game 1 loser Jim Johnson.

Johnson imploded as he was left by Dodgers manager Don Mattingly to give up 6 runs on 8 hits and a HBP.  Johnson never got out of the inning only getting 2 outs.

When Mattingly finally went to get Johnson the next reliever Joel Peralta proceeded to give up a 3-run homer run to Pirates rookie Jun Ho Kang.  Somehow the Dodgers bullpen had turned a 5-3 lead into a 12-5 deficit that eventually became a 13-6 loss.

Aug 9, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang (27) rounds the bases after hitting a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 13-6. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Despite having a ridiculous amount of money and resources the new Dodgers front office have proven incapable of fixing the Dodgers most glaring problem from last year in the form of their bullpen.

Despite keeping their coveted prospects the trade they made at the deadline has proven to be fruitless in shoring up their lack of starting pitching depth or stabilized a way to bridge to closer Kenley Jansen.

As much as fellow bloggers and Dodgers media would like to tell fans to stay calm and have patience in the Dodgers brain trust.

It’s time to start being irrational.

27 years of waiting to get to a World Series let alone win one is just too much to wait one more year.

It’s time to start firing, demoting, and using a cannon to fire people in the Pacific Ocean.

I nor Dodgers fans should have to be patient.  At this point we the fan base deserve better and if guys aren’t performing then they don’t have to be on the team anymore.

If the Dodgers front office is going to run this team all sentimentality and empathy have to go out the window.

The message has to be to win at all costs.

If that makes admitting your mistake and sending Jim Johnson and his 29.45 ERA to Rancho Cucomonga then so be it.

It’s time to win now, now, now.