Dodgers 2013: Ugh, Not Again

The Dodgers season is about to start, and it is time for a frank assessment.

This team is going to be bad. They did nothing significant in the places that matter to get better than they were last year. I do not see a chemistry with the team like we should see with teams that are planning to compete.

Ned Colletti needs to be fired.

Don Mattingly needs to be fired.

Mark McGwire...I guess we have to give him some time before we call for his firing, but choosing him as the hitting coach strikes me as a terrible decision. McGwire, who as best we can tell was juiced for about 80% of his career, either went 450 feet or popped up. He never hit for average. I just do not see how he helps this team make better contact.

These are nice guys, yes. That's fine. Nice guys do not always win. Just because the Dodgers employ them, does not mean they deserve loyalty from everyone forever.

I saw Eric Karros, Mike Piazza, Paul Konerko and Adrian Beltre among countless others in the minor leagues, when they played AA-ball in San Antonio. I was loyal to them until the day they each left the Dodgers. Being a loyal fan is no longer rewarded the way it was in the past.

Don Mattingly is, in my opinion, a terrible game manager. I hear the arguments that he is a "players manager" so be it. The guy bunts way too much, he makes questionable bullpen choices and he yanks starting pitchers way too early.

In Don's defense, he has been given crap to work with. That's on Ned Colletti. As long as this guy is pulling the strings and writing the checks and contracts, I think he only handicaps the Dodgers that much longer into the future.

So, 2013 is about to begin. The fans will root. Vin Scully, who could put a great voice to reading the phone book, will call another great season. But, this Dodgers team will be bad. How much longer will the Dodgers accept it? Will they make excuses for injuries or "this group hasn't been together long enough?" Time will tell.

For me, 2014 cannot get here soon enough.

Richard Nixon At 100

Today and several days recently, America is recognizing the 100th birthday of President Richard Nixon. There was a similar celebration in 2011 for President Reagan's 100th birthday.

I have been to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California a number of times over the years. The Library includes both the birthplace of Richard Nixon and his burial place. Every time I stand at the place where a former President rests in peace, I find myself in awe. The picture below is of Richard Nixon's grave and headstone. Every time I've seen it, I have been struck by that quote on it, "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker."

Classic Nixon

The Nixon Library blog has an interesting post today recalling Nixon and his legacy. It opens with something I would consider to be classic Nixon.

In June 1983, at the end of more than thirty hours of interviews about his life and times, the conversation, winding down, now turned to “mountaintop” and “legacy” questions. The former President had already indicated his displeasure with touchy feely topics — “psychohistory is for psychos” as he put it. His answer to the question “Do you consider you’ve had a good life?” was: “I don’t get into that kind of crap.”

The entire post can be read here. The later quote is entirely worth reading, I just did not want to include it here and dilute the main point of my writing.

Happy 100th Birthday President Nixon.