Dodgers clubhouse blues may be gone after offseason full of change
The Dodgers head into the 2015 season with a better vibe in the clubhouse. Will it lead to more success?
By
Jon Heyman
•
10 min read
GLENDALE, Ariz. – There is a much-improved vibe in the Dodgers clubhouse this spring. It may have to do with players added, players subtracted or some combination of the two. But it exists, there is little doubt about that. The manager feels it, the players feel it. Everyone around here does.
The new front office honchos, perhaps incorrectly perceived as only number crunching nerds, can’t be certain exactly how much better it is because they weren’t around last season when the Dodgers managed to win 94 games (and 92 the year before) despite what was seen as a decidedly iffy atmosphere. But they’ve definitely heard about previous clubhouse issues. And they do care about atmosphere, it turns out.
The new Dodgers higher-ups have been typecast as brilliant analytics folks, but they are smart beyond a spreadsheet, and they understand that while talent is the most important ingredient to build a winning team, ability isn’t quite everything, and climate counts, too. And that surprises many folks.
“That was the most eye opening thing,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “For people allegedly only concerned about computer printouts, they’re taking a serious look at the character of people and what kind of culture they’re creating here.”
The Dodgers’ top front office guys, president Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, came from Tampa Bay and Oakland, where teams were known for using calculators, numbers and smarts to perennially outperform their payrolls. Now with the Dodgers they have the biggest payroll in baseball history at around $260 million, and perhaps the luxury of counting personality, and of courting great personalities.
“There’s a very positive feeling around camp. There’s a lot of new faces but a lot of positivity and optimism,” said Zaidi, an M.I.T. grad who’s a rather personable and positive fellow himself. “Everybody who works in the front office wants to create a positive atmosphere in the clubhouse, whether it be with guys who have been leaders like Jimmy Rollins, or guys Andrew (Friedman) or I were personally familiar with, like (Brandon) McCarthy, (Brett) Anderson and (Joel) Peralta.”
Some of it is the definitely new guys, like Rollins and Howie Kendrick, who are setting a positive tone in a clubhouse that was a bit on the rough side last year, with too much friction, and possibly also too much self interest.
Some inside the room and around the team believe changes had to be made. People around the team say their former star and occasional malcontent Matt Kemp’s absence in particular has lowered the volume and very likely eased some tension in some circles, and while Dodgers higher-ups won’t say it, that belief was at least some part of the impetus for the trade that sent him to rival San Diego. (Of course, the Dodgers needed to alleviate an overcrowded outfield situation, and the multitalented, extremely productive Kemp also had much more trade value than either Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford, thanks especially to his big second half).
In any case, the new regime had heard about some uncomfortable clubhouse moments, especially between Kemp and the mercurial young outfield star Yasiel Puig, and they also knew that with athletic youngster/big-time prospect Joc Pederson ticketed to be the center fielder, the likely alignment would put Puig in right field and Kemp in left field, a position Kemp abhors.
Team personnel acknowledge it would have been difficult but not impossible bringing back Kemp. While some of the folks around Dodgers suggest that they probably could have made it work again, suffice it to say, they seem relieved they don’t have to try. Kemp, when asked about it, didn’t sound like he would have accepted left field, so it’s surely for the best that he is in Padres camp, where he is beloved so far. “I wasn’t going to play left field,” Kemp said in Padres camp. “I’m a center fielder or a right fielder. Here I’m a rightfielder.”
Kemp is an extreme talent who was very good in right field in the second half last year after a brief, unhappy and uncomfortable stay in left field following his move from center, where he had won a Gold Glove before injuries curtailed his maneuverability a bit. Anyway, it’s a pretty safe bet he wasn’t going to be happy going back to left, which made sense only in the Dodgers’ alignment due to Puig’s extraordinary right-field arm. Meanwhile, Kemp is said to be getting along famously in Padres camp, and has even taken young outfielder Rico Noel under his wing.
The Padres are more his team, and that may be more his speed, as Dodgers people suggest he preferred that role to spotlight sharer. Confronted in Padres camp, Kemp disagreed with the notion that he was any sort of clubhouse problem. “I don’t know where that came from,” he said. “I care about those guys. I still care about those guys.”
Still, folks around the Dodgers say they have hope Kemp’s absence may turn out a particular boon to Puig, who by many accounts struggled to co-exist with Kemp. The veteran was said to have been hard on the young star who himself can be loud and has made his share of documented missteps. Puig is drawing raves for his attitude and consistent early arrivals this spring.
The players remaining didn’t want to talk about the departed personalities but stressed the important imports.
“With Jimmy and Howie, there’s an evenness about them,” Ellis said. “It’s such a professional pace, it reminds me of when Mark Ellis was here.”
Manager Don Mattingly led the star-studded team to yet another playoff appearance and says the occasionally-held belief that their clubhouse was a year-long nightmare was overblown, but he admits there were issues. “At times there was a lack of professionalism,” Mattingly said. “I like a loose clubhouse. But there’s a time to have fun and a time to get down to business and I think sometimes those things got blurred.”
That isn’t likely to happen this year, not with the makeup of the room. Rollins already had a two-hour sit-down meeting with mercurial young star Puig in the clubhouse, as the L.A. papers reported, and he told Puig, “Unfortunately, when you’re that good, you live with a different set of rules. It doesn’t matter if it’s impossible.”
Rollins is in Kemp’s old locker here, and that may be a relief to Puig. There were said to be a few rough moments between the two talented outfielders, including one caught on camera in the dugout, and one witness said it boiled over in the Division Series against St. Louis, which ended with a surprising and difficult defeat. “It’s frustrating two years in a row exiting the playoffs feeling you have the best team in the tournament, both times against the most well-prepared, professional team in sports,” Ellis said, without addressing any clubhouse specifics.
Kemp was seen as someone who wanted to be “the man,” and folks on Puig’s side suggest maybe Kemp especially didn’t like sharing the spotlight with the wunderkind Puig. And Kemp’s leadership attempts were cited as “superficial” by folks connected to the Dodgers.
In any case, Puig seems to be on the right path now, as teammates report that he shows every day at 7 a.m. for early work with hitting coach Mark McGwire and legendary Dodgers player and coach Manny Mota. Puig bought a nice $1.8 million, six-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks, about a half-hour away, so his punctuality will be tested. But all things appear positive. Puig, who understands there will be more lineup burden on him with two big bats gone (Hanley Ramirez, too), is said to be working on everything, even his English.
“I want to work on things I need to work on and learning things I had trouble with last year,” Puig said through clubhouse man Alex Torres, who translated. “The last couple years, toward the end of the year I wasn’t as successful as I wanted to be. I want to show some of the younger kids and be example for them.”
Mattingly has noticed Puig is working on his professionalism. “Yasiel is saying the right things,” the manager said. “Our big thing with Yasiel, we’re looking for him to mature. We want him to mature as a player and teammate.”
Teammates are noticing a difference, too. “Yasiel has been extremely diligent,” Ellis said. “The guy is really driven. He sees the big bats are not here, and he wants to take the next step.”
One of those missing bats, Kemp, isn’t here partly by design, and some around here believe that may benefit Puig, who according to club officials found Kemp to be a source of conflict and tension especially when it came to the fellow outfielder. Puig needed some guidance but Kemp was seen as over the top.
Puig declined to speak about any personal conflict with Kemp, limiting his comment through the interpreter on Kemp to one remark that sounded suspiciously pointed: “(Matt Kemp) stated he’s the best outfielder in the league, but I think there are better outfielders in this league.”
Told of that comment by Puig, to his credit Kemp responded, maturely, “That’s fine. I wish him all the best.”
Ramirez, another extraordinary talent and the other missing big bat who performed extremely well when healthy at bat and like Kemp loved to play and stay on the field when possible, wasn’t a serious consideration to bring back because he was bound to land a big-bucks deal from an A.L. team, anyway. And he did that, signing back with Boston for $88 million over four years. Ramirez, said to be thrilled hanging with his mentor David Ortiz, Pablo Sandoval and others in Boston’s camp now, resurrected his rep after a rough ending in Miami, but some Dodgers people suggest they still saw him as occasionally moody, up when he was going well, down when not.
Discarded reliever Brian Wilson, it seems, is one who won’t be missed by many. Though he wasn’t getting many outs, he was said to be complaining about his postseason usage. And, as one ex-teammate remarked, “That act of his wears thin when he’s no longer a star.”
Zaidi cut Wilson after the reliever picked up his $9.5-million player option to return (despite his usage complaints), as the new GM obviously isn’t one to double down on what he sees as a sunk cost. He only said he didn’t foresee Wilson as one of the team’s best seven relievers upon releasing him, and mentioned no personality conflict, though the Dodgers have several far less-accomplished veterans in camp vying for a final bullpen spot or two.
The Dodgers still have plenty of stars, but they believe they have better influences, and a much better feel.
“The vibe is really good,” Mattingly said, without mentioning anyone who’s gone.
The vibe counts, even here, and even if it can’t be quantified. Even the numbers guys know that. At least the really smart ones do.
“At the end of the day the moves we made were designed to create the best possible 25-man roster. That is our overarching goal,” Zaidi said. “But you take on-field performance and every piece of information and that all factored in the moves we made.”
Puig observantly noted that while they “lost two big bats, we gained defensively, I think.” The strong belief is that they gained in another place it counts, too – namely, the clubhouse. Whether the perception of a kinder, gentler clubhouse manifests itself in even more success than two straight division titles is yet to be seen, however.
