The Dodgers, Austin Barnes, and a Problem of Loyalty
With the Los Angeles Dodgers sitting atop the NL West with a substantial 14 game lead, there isn’t much to complain about this season.
They have three players with over 20 home runs, three All-Star starters, and while their bullpen has been shaky at times, Joe Kelly, Pedro Baez, and Kenley Jansen have all shown they can compete in high leverage situations.
The team has the NL favorite for MVP in Cody Bellinger, who’s all-around play and statistics this season are nothing short of remarkable.
They lead all NL teams with a 64-35 record, and if the season ended today, they would have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Dodgers are currently the World Series favorites according to OddsShark, Bovada, and almost every Las Vegas sportsbook.
With all of that being said, I’m going to complain.
Assuming Dodgers GM Andrew Friedman will address the bullpen at the trade deadline (maybe someone from this list would be a good start), the most glaring remaining hole on this roster is at the catching position. The duties have been covered by somewhat of a platoon this season with Austin Barnes taking the lead with Russell Martin on his flank.
Since Barnes is getting outhit by Martin while simultaneously receiving a majority of the AB’s, I’m going to focus on him.
His performance at the plate this season has been absolutely and historically abysmal. I don’t like using the term dumpster fire, but, yeah. It’s almost like a bad car crash in a sense where you really don’t want to look, but can’t help yourself because it’s just so bad.
The 29-year-old in his fifth season for the club is slashing .201/.290/.335 with 5 HR’s and 21 RBI’s in 194 AB’s this season.
Barnes’ .201 AVG and .335 SLG% rank 11th and 15th worst respectively in the MLB among players with at least 200 plate appearances and it looks like it’s only getting worse.
He’s hitting .172 (15/87) in his last 30 games, .136 (6/44) in his last 15 games, and .130 (3/23) in his last seven games, tallying 29 strikeouts and just 1 HR, 10 RBI and 5 BB over that 30 game span.
Aside from his first seven games of the season in March/April where he had eight hits, two HR’s and five RBI’s, there isn’t an offensive period this season where he could be considered serviceable at the plate, from any standpoint.
He is, however, above average defensively and, according to Baseball Prospectus, is the 8th highest-rated pitch framer in the league this season.
All of this would be irrelevant if the Dodgers didn’t have an an obviously better option rotting away in AAA Oklahoma City.
The man I speak of is Will Smith, not the actor, but the 24-year-old prospect who, in just 9 games for the Dodgers this season, has already shown he has what it takes to contribute, and contribute well, on a big league level.
Smith slashed .269/.345/.654 with 3 HR’s (one walk-off) and 6 RBI in just 9 games for the big league club this season, while In AAA he’s hitting .275/.378/.609 with 42 runs, 18 HR’s and 51 RBI’s in just 57 games.
The most mind-blowing statistic to me regarding Austin Barnes and Smith is that they both have the same WAR (wins above replacement), 0.4, despite the glaring difference in games played this season for the Dodgers (66,9).
Smith is no slouch behind the plate either, but instead of me telling you, why don’t you listen to what GM Andrew Friedman said about the former first round pick in February:
“I think he could contend for a Gold Glove defensively, It’s just about getting him to the point offensively where there’s more consistency that we think is in there,” Friedman said.
Well I think we’ve reached that point offensively Friedman mentioned in February, so what is holding the Dodgers back from recalling Smith from AAA, and finally getting some offensive production from the catcher’s position?
Loyalty.
The Dodgers, both front office and Dave Roberts, are ferociously loyal to their players.
I can promise you they are seeing exactly what the fans are seeing here, but loyalty, and in this case, blind loyalty, could really come to hurt these Dodgers in October.
Friedman and Roberts are hoping and praying everyday that somehow Barnes returns to 2017 form where he hit .289/.408/.486, but even then, that success did not translate to the postseason, where he slashed a meager .217/.288/.326.
In 2018 it only got worse, .205/.329/.290 during the regular season, and a useless .069/.156/.069 during the postseason.
There was a great article written on loyalty in Forbes, and the author Rob Asghar writes, “The “loyalty bind,” as some psychologists call it, keeps the members of an organization from being able to see tumors metastasizing in their midst.”
Asghar goes on to say “The challenge is to move organizations away from the notion of loyalty to persons and toward the notion of loyalty toward first principles. These principles include transparency, accountability and a constant readiness to reform in whatever way necessary—no matter whose personal interests may be affected.”
This team does not need both Russell Martin and Austin Barnes, but it does need Will Smith.
The more time the Dodgers stall, the less time Smith has to build the ever important relationships and rapports with the team’s pitchers. The clock is ticking.
-David Rosenthal (@_therealdrose)
