New voice, New team?

Let’s go back to the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks. We lost that series because Topper went to Kimbrel. HE WENT TO KIMBREL, not once but twice in that series. Everyone on the planet knew he had a dead arm, but he put him in because that’s what he did all season. No your the manager, you manage the game and players so you come out of the game with a victory. That was the moment I had enough of Rob Thomson.  Every year after I kept saying the same thing, and now people are saying thier sad. Come on, it was a broken record with him. He over protected his players, who by the way took advantage of him. How you ask? Has any player taken responsibility for how they can’t hit in the post season? Has anyone said they cost Topper his job?

The sad thing is that his job should not have been the only one replaced. Dave Dombrowski has to go. He built this team and has done nothing to fix it. 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026….same core guys, same outcome. I think John Middleton is a great owner and has a solid touch with the city, but he had to see all this coming. Nothing has changed but they expected a different outcome.

They use the Dodgers struggles earlier this decade as an example of how they eventually got over the hump. Yeah, by buying the best free agents out there to better their team. Never did they run it back. They were always aggressive in pursuing talent.

Another strike on Dombrowski: you call recently fire manager Alex Cora and have all day negotiations with him only to pivot and go to Don Mattingly.  If Don Mattingly wasn’t Don Mattingly how would you expect the players to play any different knowing he wasn’t even your first choice. That’s a hard position to place him in.

I think Don Mattingly is actually going to turn things around. I think he will hold players accountable, and I think he will make some players angry. All that is good, but will those specific players listen and take constructive criticism.  I hope they do. The man has his number retired for the NY Yankees. They better sit on the ground, legs crossed, and listen to everything Donny Baseball has to say.

I also hope Mattingly does turn things around and wins. If so, we can all say it was Mattingly that won it for us, not Dombrowski,  but Donny Fn Baseball because he was the Daves second choice and should get no credit just like he got nothing in the offseason(s).