Last offseason, Kenley Jansen’s wedding was largely mentioned as the turning point in MLB free agency. It was during that time in Curacao that Justin Turner agreed to re-sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Jansen made a similar decision shortly thereafter.
This winter has presented a similar scenario. While the Dodgers don’t have nearly as many marquee free agents, several of the team’s players have tied the knot or will do so before reporting to Spring Training.
Ross Stripling, Alex Wood, Turner and Hyun-Jin Ryu are among the newlyweds. Each has been outside of California, with Turner and Ryu going international for their respective weddings.
Former Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti traveled to Mexico for Turner’s nuptials, as did several of Turner’s teammates.
“The number of players who went to Cabo, I was shocked how many went. There’s a bunch of weddings this winter for the players, and they’re going wedding to wedding to wedding,” Colletti told DodgerBlue.com, when asked for his impression of the team.
“Something that really impressed me, I’ve been around teams for a long, long time, is really the closeness that these players have for each other. When I look at the composition of this team, what impresses me most is how they really do love each other and respect each other. I think that’s so unique today.”
Establishing a team-first culture was a priority of Andrew Friedman’s when he was hired by the Dodgers as president of baseball operations in October 2014. It’s an initiative that’s been further taken up by manager Dave Roberts.
Clubhouse leaders such as Clayton Kershaw and Turner also deserve credit for regularly putting the team’s accomplishments ahead of personal goals. Adrian Gonzalez represented another example of that, and it can be reasoned it ultimately cost him a roster spot with the Dodgers.
While it ultimately did not work out as he envisioned, Roberts pointed to the Dodgers’ closeness and respect for one another as a separator and a ‘competitive advantage’ over other talented teams.
