The self-confident, stay-as-they-are Dodgers did right by not panicking at the trade deadline and keeping the roster pretty much intact. This is still the same group of guys picked by most baseball experts to win a second straight championship.
The slumps will pass. The injuries will go away. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and the gang will be there at the end when it counts most.
Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates
Though I don’t agree with his breathless, sky-is-falling sense of urgency, I do think Bill Plaschke is right that the Dodgers should have been more aggressive at the trade deadline. It’s a reasonable gamble to believe that their pitchers will stay healthy enough, their hitters will get untracked and Max Muncy will return and pick up where he left off. But it’s a gamble nonetheless. And if you’ve already sunk $400 million into your payroll, what’s another $10 million to $20 million for a playoff insurance policy: a proven closer and a better outfielder?
John Merryman
Redondo Beach
On Wednesday against the Reds, James Outman attempted to do his best Denzel Clarke-Cedric Mullins imitation by attempting to rob a homer. Unfortunately this last great effort typified Outman’s career with the Dodgers, as it was another case of “so close, but yet so far,” as the ball landed off the heel of Outman’s glove for a two-run triple.
The NL rookie of the month in April 2023 is a great athlete, but it was understandable why the Dodgers traded him.
Ken Feldman
Tarzana
A few hours before baseball’s trade deadline Thursday, MLB Network dived into how well top minor league prospects across baseball have succeeded in the major leagues over the years, and it’s a pretty dismal percentage. Very few go on to successful big league careers, most just pop back and forth between the minors and majors, move from team to team, while many just fizzle out. They concluded that given the opportunity to garner a quality major league player, let alone an All-Star by just using your draft capital is a no-brainer. The Padres are one team that firmly believes in this while the Dodgers always seem hesitant to do so.
They pointed to the Dodgers with an aging Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and a 31-year-old, currently healthy Shohei Ohtani that the time to win is now and that holding onto all their draft capital when it could be used to immediately bolster the roster doesn’t historically or statistically make much sense.
Jerry Leibowitz
Culver City
Well the trade deadline passed without much movement from the Dodgers. With their deep pockets, I thought they might have become the first organization in MLB history to trade for an entire team.
Joe Kevany
Mount Washington
Halo hope
When Arte Moreno sells the Angels this offseason, please bring in A.J. Preller, the architect behind the Padres, as the GM.
Dean Connor
Fontana
Life of Riley
So Lincoln Riley gets $80 million if USC lets him go before his contract is up. For that amount of money, I presume he’s also curing cancer at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Marty Cooper
Encino
Redemption road
As a Trojan fan searching for imminent signs of a return to football glory, it’s oddly encouraging to see a certain columnist declare USC nationally irrelevant because if history has taught us anything, it’s this: when Bill Plaschke buries you, resurrection tends to follow.
Steve Ross
Carmel
Bruins longshot
I don’t believe DeShaun Foster was “going full Joe Namath” when he guaranteed a packed Rose Bowl this coming football season. A critical college football playoff game will surely pack the place New Year’s Day.
As for his certainty of a jam-packed venue during the regular season — I wouldn’t bet the house.
David Griffin
Los Angeles
Role models
What a great article Eric Sondheimer wrote on City section coaches uniting in challenging times. Reading about these new coaches, as well as some new stadiums, it has me quite excited about the upcoming season. They appear ready to lead their young men the right way in developing as players and students first and put the cheating at one unnamed City high school in the rearview mirror. These coaches are to be admired as they take on this arduous task with a lot less resources and financial compensation than many of their brethren at other CIF schools.
Mark Kaiserman
Santa Monica
Clip job
What’s older — a California Giant Redwood or the Clippers’ starting lineup?
Barry Smith
Thousand Oaks
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