I was reading a local columnist this weekend and liked his story about second chances. Ned has made many decisions that have not worked out for him, which one do you think he should get a mulligan on? Hard for me to include Free Agent signings in these musings because we don't know what Ned would have done with the money he would have saved by not wasting it on the likes of Schmidt / A Jones. So these are the moves I've come up with that Ned might have wanted to reconsider.
1. Not trade Carlos Santana for Casey Blake
2. Not trade James McDonald for Otavio Dotel
3. Not let Jayson Werth walk away in the winter of 2006 after missing the whole 2006 season due to complications from the broken wrist he suffered in 2005.
4. Not trade Cody Ross when a roster crunch came up
Those are the four big ones for me. I'm of the mind to pick number three. As much as I like the future of Carlos Santana, he is still relatively untested, and given how many highly rated prospects have been struggling with major league pitching he is still a question mark. As is James McDonald. However we know that Jayson Werth went on to become one of the best outfielders in baseball, just ask the Washington Nationals. Cody Ross doesn't get much attention but he's accumulated almost 2000 plate appearances with a OPS+ over 100 since we gave him away in a roster crunch move.
For discussion tell us what second chance you would have liked in your life related to baseball or the Dodgers. For example if you played some type of organized baseball either you have lived a very charmed life or something has to have happened that you wish you could get a second chance on. If you never played organized baseball, something probably happened baseball wise you wish you could do over. I'll help you all along with your imagination be giving two painful examples of myself.
Personal:
I wish I'd get another chance to throw out my good friend Bob Cornelison during our championship Babe Ruth Game in 1974 at Stengel Field. I was playing 3rd and he was a big slow footed catcher. At a key point in the game with runners on base and two outs he hit a bullet to me that I fielded cleanly, then with plenty of time to throw him out I inexplicably hurried the throw, thus resulting in a two hopper to future USC star and Kansas City minor leaguer Spiro Psaltis who was unable to handle the throw. A hit followed and eventually we lost the game by two runs. I've always been haunted by that error, it may have been the only throwing error I'd made all year. I was 15, I had champagne chilling in my cooler, I was crushed that not only we lost but that I had contributed to the loss. Thirty seven years have passed, I still think about that play to this day.
Dodger Related:
This one is tough for me, I've made two huge mistakes related to the Dodgers. In 1974 I bought World Series tickets for games 6 and 7. They lost in five and as yet I've never been to a World Series game. The other is that I left the 4+1 game early. I'm going to go with staying for 4+1 since I know how that turned out.
How about you, what 2nd chance would you like to have?