True Blue LA: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: College Football Preseason Top 25 Rankings

Let the airing of grievances commence!

Festivus_pole_medium

via img.photobucket.com

 

 

 

As many of you know, today is Festivus, a day when all of us come together to express how each and everyone of us has disappointed each other in the past year. Since 2005, as a way of celebrating the holiday without offending anyone, each year I discuss how the Dodgers have disappointed me each year. And as Dodger fans, you all know they do a lot to disappoint us each year. So here I share for you the members of the Dodgers organization who have disappointed me in 2009/

Star-divide

 

 

Jonathon Broxton: So let me get this straight, you can turn Albert Pujols, the greatest hitter in the game right now, into Andruw Jones, but somehow pitching to Matt Stairs and his .194 batting average turns you into Brett Tomko? Explain that please.

James Loney: Triple-slash line for 2009: .281/.357/.399 with 13 home runs. That would be decent if you were a starting shortstop. Unfortunately you're our starting first baseman, and you're proving my point that 2007 was an anomally.

George Sherill: We acquired you for Josh Bell. We acquired because you're good against lefties. We acquired you because you kill lefties. We acquired you because most of the Phillies lineup is composed of lefties. We acquired you because we would likely face the Phillies on the way to the world series. We acquired you to get to the World Series. So in a sense, we traded Josh Bell on the suspicion that you would get us to the World Series. And so what do you do against the first 3 Phillies you face in the postseason? Walk, walk, home run, on our way to a 5-game defeat. We traded Josh Bell for nothing.

Russell Martin: Triple-slash line for 2009: .250/.352/.329. Now for a catcher that's not as atrocious as it looks. However, it's extremely atrocious when compared to this: .290/.413/.530. That's Carlos Santana's line for Akron.

Casey Blake: Triple-slash line for 2009: .280/.363/.468 with good defense. So why are you on this list? Oh right, .290/.413/.530 for Carlos Santana in Akron.

Chad Billingsley: Dear Chad, you may or may not know this but I am one of your biggest fans. Ever since you got called up in 2006, I've told everyone how you would become the next great Dodger ace. I have cheered for you during all your highs and stood up for you through all your lows. In a way, I feel like Pedro Cerrano to your Jobu, taking the heat for you from all the lazy Eddie Harris-like sportswriters and fans want to run you out of town for not being the lord and savior Roy Halladay. But it seems like whenever things are going good (like when you're on your way to pitching a shutout, getting out of a jam, or your on your way to a Cy Young season) and my faith in you is justified, you somehow throw me a curveball that lands me flat on my ass and has me defending you from all the naysayers all over again. So in 2010, I'm giving you yet another chance, and if you put together a great season, my faith in you will be redeemed. But if you don't Chad, don't be surprised if you hear me saying this at some point next season: "Look, I go to you. I stick up for you. You no help me now. I say "Fuck you," Chad, ...I'll root for Scott Elbert."

Manny Ramirez: Really? You take a women's fertility drug because of "personal health issues?" You'd better be pregnant by now or I'd say your doctor gave you the wrong stuff.

Jamie McCourt: So you wanted us to think that signing a superstar outfielder would prevent you from building 50 little league baseball fields? Well maybe if you hadn't bought four mansions and were flying your new boyfriend to Taiwan on a "business trip" maybe the Dodgers could afford both. Or perhaps they could offer arbitration to departing players, or give bonuses to unsigned draft picks, or acquire mid-season rotation help, or give not give up highly-touted prospects in every trade the Dodgers make. Look, I don't mind it when people live off their wealth when they've earned it, in fact I encourage it. But what I don't like is when people who insist on living off their wealth scream poverty and act like a victim when things don't go their way. And I have even less sympathy for them when they act like their business is a charity as a result of that. If you want to act like Mother Teresa you'd better BE Mother Teresa.

Frank McCourt: Seriously, did you max out all of your Visa cards just to buy this team? I didn't realize that Fannie Mae gave out sub-prime mortgages to baseball teams as well. Perhaps I could've applied...

Bud Selig: So the McCourt's are financially sound enough to buy the Dodgers, huh? It's hard to look past the fact that this might have something to do with deflating player's salaries when Mark Cuban is denied ownership while Jeffery Loria gets to destroy a second franchise. With the way things have been going, while everybody's hoping the next owner might be Eli Broad, I wouldn't put it past you to put Bruce McNall in charge.

And lastly, the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers: You win 95 games, the most you've ever won since the year I was born. You were in first place since the 9th game of the season. Best record in the National League, and you 99 wins on your Pythag. record to prove that it wasn't a fluke. And yet despite all of that, you still can't get into the World Series? What does this team have to do to win another World Series in my lifetime, reincarnate the entire 1927 Yankees and put them on the 40-man roster? Do you know how long it's been since you've won anything? 21 years. That means fans that were born after the last championship are now old enough to legally drown their misery in whiskey (if they haven't been doing so already). So please, I beg of you, win something in 2010, because after next season I get the feeling I'll be writing these "grievances" a lot more often.

0 recs  |  Comment 9 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

By the way

Festivus is not over until Eric Stephen pins Tommy Lasorda.

by Nofatmike on Dec 23, 2009 7:54 PM PST reply actions  

Bud Selig

Your commisionership sucks!

"If you don't take out his battery, he's going to keep going all day."

by S Jay Bruin on Dec 24, 2009 9:16 AM PST reply actions  

Hey Nofatmike, this is pretty funny. Fortunately I’ve experienced a couple Dodgers WS winners since I can remember, so my perspective is different from yours, but after reading your last paragraph, I wonder if your feelings aren’t a whole lot like the Brooklyn fans prior to the 1955 season. Could they really be the Dodgers if we didn’t have the frequent fall/winter refrain of “wait’ll next year”?

The commenter formerly known as El Lay Dave.

by David Young on Dec 26, 2009 12:53 AM PST reply actions  

I've got one

How about a grievance for Time Warner, who had a black out when Manny hit his bobbleslam. I’m pleased to say I have DirecTV, but way too many of our community here missed that homerun.

by Michael White on Dec 28, 2009 8:14 AM PST reply actions  

The holiday for the rest of us...

You hit the nail on the head. There’s not much more to say for a team that can only go downhill from here.

"If a Clippers fan is reading a newspaper in his living room and the ceiling falls on him, he'll just shrug and move to another room." -Bill Simmons

by WestsideBrandon on Dec 28, 2009 11:09 PM PST reply actions  

Grievances?

How can you have grievances after a young team with a nucleus of great young players gets to the playoffs for the second year in a row? Now, if those players leave because the McCourts can’t pay the rent due to their messy divorce, that’s different. But for now the only thing I have a grievance about is keeping Ramirez for one more year when he has shown that without chemicals he has become a mediocre player. I want to see Paul in the outfield. He is a ballplayer!

"It's a cookbook!"---The Twilight Zone

by Buck18 on Jan 2, 2010 8:30 AM PST reply actions  

I vehemently disagree with your definition of “mediocre.”

by Eric Stephen on Jan 2, 2010 10:11 AM PST up reply actions  

a bit harsh, but very funny

if this was 100% serious, I’d take some issue with a few statements here (“We traded Josh Bell for nothing”), but any post that has a title quoting Frank Costanza HAS to be a bit over the top. :)

(My only complaint would be that you weren’t harsh ENOUGH on Selig or the McCourts- you can dedicate SEVERAL Festivuses (Festvi?) to them!

by sarcastro9 on Jan 4, 2010 10:09 AM PST reply actions  

For Russell Martin you don't even need to go as far as comparing him to Santana.

Just compare him to himself…..in 2007 that is.

"F it, let's pitch." - Ervin Santana

by Chzburger Jones on Jan 8, 2010 1:51 AM PST reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

A place for Dodger fans to congregate without spending $15 on parking.
Start posting about the Dodgers »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

NL West Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
San Diego 76 56 .575 0 Lost 7
San Francisco 74 60 .552 3 Won 2
Colorado 69 63 .522 7 Lost 2
Los Angeles 68 66 .507 9 Lost 2
Arizona 55 79 .410 22 Won 3

(updated 9.2.2010 at 3:17 AM PDT)

True Blue LA on Twitter

2010 Dodger Payroll

Pos No Player 2010 Salary
C 28 Barajas $117,486
1B 7 Loney $3,100,000
2B  13 Theriot $909,290
3B 23 Blake $6,000,000
SS 14 Carroll $1,475,000
LF  21 Podsednik $640,710
CF 27 Kemp $4,000,000
RF 16 Ethier $6,000,000

OF 5 Johnson $800,000
2B/3B/1B 3 Belliard $825,000
OF/1B 31 Gibbons $155,738
C 12 Ausmus $850,000

SP 22 Kershaw $440,000
SP 18 Kuroda $14,100,000
SP 58 Billingsley $3,850,000
SP  29 Lilly $1,696,721
SP 37 Monasterios $460,000

CL 56 Kuo $950,000
RHP 51 Broxton $4,000,000
RHP  26 Dotel $636,612
RHP 74
Jansen $159,563
RHP 54 Belisario $297,541
RHP 38 Troncoso $297,792
RHP 36 Weaver $800,000
LHP 52 Sherrill $4,500,000

DL 15 Furcal $8,500,000
DL 44 Padilla $4,025,000
DL 59 Schlichting $185,792
DL 55 Martin $5,050,000

Manny $7,267,760


Pierre $4,000,000


Andruw $3,600,000


Schmidt $2,000,000


Wolf $2,000,000


Hudson $1,440,000


Nomar $1,250,000
Anderson $409,699
Ra.Ortiz $349,727
AAA 45 Miller $292,623
DeWitt $266,612
AAA 17 Ellis $264,481


Ohman $200,000
AAA 49 Haeger $195,393
AAA 47 Wade $194,514
AAA  48 Ely $161,749
AAA 30 Paul $131,147


Repko $122,951
DFA 33 Castro $118,033
Green $96,175
Ru.Ortiz $63,934
AAA 50 Link $48,087
DFA 35
Taschner $39,344


Zerpa $35,000
McDonald $28,771
AAA 60 Hu $13,148
AAA 57 Elbert $6,557
AAA
Hoffmann ($25,000)


Stults ($400,000)

Totals
$98,992,190
 
For more detailed information, click here.

SPONSORS

SBNation.com Recent Stories

ATLANTA - APRIL 22:  Omar Infante #4 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates after scoring against the Philiadelphia Phillies at Turner Field on April 22, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, And The Triple Crown Villains Who Plot Their Ruin

Washington Nationals' Nyjer Morgan, center, is led off the field after a brawl during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Florida Marlins, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) +4 updates

Nats, Marlins Brawl After Nyjer Morgan Charges Mound

Photo

Aroldis Chapman Touches 104, Earns First Win As Reds Rally Past Brewers

More from SBNation.com >


Manager

Eric_press_box_1_small Eric Stephen

Editors

100_1427_small Phil Gurnee

Bison_small David Young

2501_small Michael White

Minor League Expert

Greatlakesloons_small Brandon Lennox