The Dodger farewell party. I'm gonna miss these guys edition.


The baseball off season has been pretty lax for us Dodger fans. We didn't land Hamels. We didn't land Rendon. We lost Ryu. Pretty much stole Blake Treinen and Alex Wood, but let's face it, they're not the game changers we were looking for. Then yesterday was a whirlwind of emotions.

We got Mookie Betts. David Price was pretty much a freebie, but while everyone is clamouring because we got them without giving up any prospects, we did give up some great ballplayers. 


I forgot to mention that we also lost David Freese to retirement. I admit I was against him being a Dodger, but he sure won me over with his play. Something I wish AJ Pollock would take note of. Seemed like when Freese was in the lineup he always got on base at least a time or 2 per game. And man was he clutch.


Babe Ryu signed with the Blue Jays. Ever since Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo, the Dodgers have had a strong pipeline for getting great Asian talent to L.A.


Ryu always seemed a perfect fit with the team chemistry. You saw him in those silly SportsNetLA clips of members of the team playing pranks on each other all the time.



Ryu is gonna be a beast for Toronto. Hope you Blue Jays fans treat him well because he is a gem.




Rich Hill got sent off to Minnesota in the Betts deal. Hill, or Dick Mountain as was on his Player's Weekend jersey, was a huge boost to the team chemistry. He was perfect in the role of the veteran hurler who could do no wrong.



Injuries limited Rich last year, but I'm hopeful he'll bounce back for the Twins.


Losing Maeda stings. I've often thought of him as the most underappreciated player on the Dodgers. 


Whether starting or coming out of the pen, Maeda is stellar. 


Hopefully Maeda can pull a Chan Ho Park and return to the Dodgers someday. 



I hate seeing this guy go more than any. Verdugo was my favorite Dodger. My flair over on Reddit is Dugie. This dude was always getting teammates pumped up and getting La Chona dance parties going in the dugout.


Very disciplined at the plate, I can really see Dugie winning a batting title one day. He rarely strikes out and can put the ball anywhere he wants. In today's game where everyone is worried about launch angles and exit velocity, Verdugo just goes out there and gets on base. Red Sox fans are gonna love this kid.


And finally Joc-tober gets sent to the Angels in order to get the team under the luxury tax. Couldn't we have sent Pollock? 


Seriously, we are gonna miss this guy. Sure, Joc slumped, but when he would come out of them, he was a monster.


And we all know about his October heroics. 


Pederson always had that fire and whenever he was out there having a good time, the rest of the team would follow suit.


He's another guy I could see making it back to the Dodgers one day.

I'm really excited about Mookie Betts and David Price being on the team. At the same time, I'm really gonna miss the guys we had to give up to make it happen. 

Joc, Verdugo, Maeda, Ryu and Hill have been key components to our team chemistry over the last few years. And this is a team that has always looked to be having the time of their lives out there. 

No matter where you guys play in 2020, or the rest of your careers for that matter, you're Dodgers for life. Thanks for all the memories! 

Comments

  1. I've only seen Verdugo in limited capacity, but from what I've seen he could potentially be an All-Star in Boston, which would take a lot of the sting out from losing Mookie. I hope your batting title prediction comes true!

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