Let’s go DodgerYou must realize what you are doing to your best player, continually drenching his season in uncertainty, battering his body, ruining his rituals, damaging his spirit.
Come on. Dodgers, after what happened again on Friday, your mandate is clear.
Stop moving Mookie!
Stop recklessly throwing him around the diamond and the batting order like he’s the centerpiece in a game of beer pong.
Read more: Dodgers move Mookie Betts to shortstop, Gavin Lux to second amid defensive struggles
Stop treating him like he’s an aging newsboy with marginal talent, zero power and no voice.
Stop taking his unbelievable good nature and inimitable team spirit for granted, or risk following the example of other underutilized talents in this era of athlete empowerment.
Tip: You don’t need this guy asking for a trade.
You laugh, the Dodgers scoff, there are few who believe this sweet, selfless star would create the commotion that any kind of whispered or shouted “get me out of here” demand would cause. Plus, he makes $30 million a year on a deal that extends through 2032, which limits his attractiveness.
But he’s only human, and there’s certainly only so much pride he can swallow and the lack of respect he can stomach. The Dodgers have apparently reached that breaking point. They have to stop planning, reorganizing and pushing.
They need to back off and let Mookie be Mookie.
“I’ve been saying all along, it doesn’t matter where I play, as long as I’m playing and helping the team win,” Betts said Friday afternoon while sitting on the bench surrounded by reporters.
Believe this. But you better believe the Dodgers need to stop testing the strength of these words.
The last remodeling took place on Friday, when, three days after announcing that Betts would play shortstop upon his return from the injured list the next week, the Dodgers stated he would return to right field.
Read more: ‘Uncharted territory’: Is Mookie Betts at shortstop a sustainable solution for Dodgers?
This, after they started the season by moving him from second base to shortstop.
This is after they spent last season moving him from right field to second base.
And this, after they announced this week that he was moving up from his beloved starting position and batting second, so Shohei Ohtani could continue batting first.
Next, a spot in the bullpen and a job mowing lawns?
Betts accepted it all with grace. Your contagious attitude makes him this season’s MVP, even if he never plays another game. Yet by flipping it again right after the previous reversal, the Dodgers didn’t look professional, it didn’t look appropriate, and it didn’t feel right.
Make no mistake, Betts belongs in right field. He won six Gold Gloves there, remember? The Dodgers are his best team, with the skilled Miguel Rojas at shortstop, the resurgent Gavin Lux at second and Betts in right field.
This is why they never should have moved Betts out of right field in the first place. By making the first unusual change last season, they sent Betts on an odyssey that is both unbecoming and unfair for a player of his stature.
Read more: Plaschke: Error, Dodgers! Moving Mookie Betts to shortstop is a maddening, misguided move
What do you think LeBronJames would do if the Lakers Did you ask him to change the game? He would immediately tweet his dissatisfaction and they would give in, that’s it.
What would it be like Kawhi Leonard act if the Clippers openly pressured him in recent years to play more games? He would shut everything down, that’s it, and they would have to convince him to come back.
While other stars in this town call the shots, Betts simply absorbs. While other stars in this town submit to no one, Betts seemingly submits to everyone.
Did you hear what he said this week when asked about giving up his beloved starting position to Ohtani because Ohtani pitched well when Betts was hurt? A change made even though Betts became an eight-time All Star by batting leadoff?
“There’s really nothing you can say,” Betts said. “Whatever Shohei says goes, and after that we kind of fell into line.”
That’s as close to bitter as Betts gets, but it says a lot about a potentially divisive issue at the club. If a two-time World Series champion and former MVP feels like a rookie with no playoff experience running things, how do guys with inferior resumes feel?
Read more: Mookie Betts and Dodgers agree he should move from shortstop to right field
I asked Betts why he doesn’t complain more about not having the same freedom that most other teams give their stars. Why doesn’t he act like the talented player he is anymore?
“There’s only one Mookie,” he said. “I don’t care. I want to win. Keep that first, and the rest is what it is.”
The Dodgers are very lucky he is their Mookie. Andrew Friedman did his homework when trading for Betts ahead of the 2020 season. Despite recent postseason struggles, Betts has become a leader by example… and example… and example.
“He’s a superstar who is a rarity,” Dodger general manager Brandon Gomes said. “He — and I think we have a lot of them on our team — ‘Hey, I’ll take on any challenge that helps the team.’ He’s someone who puts the team first… at the end of the day, he just says ‘I’m good at everything. Let’s win a World Series.’”
During his meeting with the media on Friday, Betts gave every public indication that he was good.
He said in recent days it was his idea to move away from shortstop after realizing Rojas, also returning from injury, was a better option there.
“I mostly went to them,” he said. “I said, ‘Listen, I believe I can do this, but I want to win, man.’ I want to win. I don’t know if I’m the best solution.’”
Read more: Hernández: Mookie Betts returns soon after injury, but where do the Dodgers play him?
He’s right, Rojas is a better shortstop, but Betts wasn’t a terrible shortstop, and no one has worked harder at his position this season, it took Betts hours of pregame grounders in previous months to master the position.
“I think that’s the challenge that I really loved,” he said. “I don’t know if it was necessarily the shortstop, per se. I haven’t been challenged in a long time. So that task, that challenge of accepting and being able to play shortstop in the big leagues and help the Dodgers? I was going to take it and I’m glad I did. I’m definitely proud of myself for doing this.”
Very proud. A lot of work. All for nothing. No matter what Betts says, it has to hurt. He, of course, should never have been moved to shortstop in the first place. The Dodgers should have acquired a shortstop in the offseason and never would have had this problem.
The Betts saga is rooted in the reality that the Dodgers have been brushing him on the diamond as a kind of human corrective to mask past failures in the front office.
The result achieved on Friday is partially good. Betts is back in right field where he belongs. It is the tortuous path they took to get to this location that is so problematic.
And by the way, is Betts really going to bat second the rest of the season? I asked him, half-jokingly, why he didn’t trade a return to right field for a return to the top of the order? Sounds like something LeBron would do, doesn’t it?
“No, ah,” he said. “We have Shohei there. He’s really good too.”
The next few weeks will reveal whether hitting at his new position will suit Betts. It will also show whether Lux can continue to hold down second base and Betts can – fingers crossed – remain in right field.
At this point, there are apparently no roster or field guarantees of anything regarding Mookie Betts other than that he will play out the season in the worst possible position, i.e., in limbo.
Friday’s eventual victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates began with the Dodger’s newest legend, Dusty Baker, throwing the first pitch to Betts, who looked quite elegant crouched behind home plate with a catcher’s mitt and…
No.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
