Winners of three consecutive National League West titles, many believe the Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen behind division rivals Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.
Arizona shockingly signed Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5 million contract, then followed it by trading for young right-hander Shelby Miller.
San Francisco signed Jeff Samardzija and nine days later added Johnny Cueto to their pitching staff. Meanwhile, Los Angeles was making headlines for their failed acquisitions.
A trade for Aroldis Chapman fell apart amid allegations of his involvement in a domestic violence dispute, and the same occurred with an agreement to sign Hisashi Iwakuma after the right-hander failed his physical.
Chapman has since been traded to the New York Yankees, and Iwakuma re-signed with the Seattle Mariners. Naturally, the Dodgers front office has faced plenty of criticism this offseason.
The scrutiny is something Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten believes comes with the territory, expects to receive and is comfortable facing.
As for whether signing Scott Kazmir is enough to satisfy the fan base for the time being, general manager Farhan Zaidi believes a competitive team come the regular season will lay the concern to rest, via Bill Shaikin of the LA Times:
“I think our fans are ultimately going to respond and react to how the team plays once April rolls around and the games actually count in the standings,” he said. “I think, as long as we build a good and competitive team, the fans will be happy.”
Despite the hurdles faced in recent weeks, ESPN picked the Dodgers to win the NL West next season; even projecting the club to win two more games than they did in 2015.
Additionally, the Dodgers reportedly agreed to terms with Kenta Maeda one day after Zaidi’s comments. Assuming the deal becomes official, Los Angeles will have rounded out their starting rotation nicely with the additions of Kazmir and Maeda.
While Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his front office have already been put under a microscope, the pressure and expectations are likely to intensify given some of their roster decisions and now having a handpicked manager in Dave Roberts.
