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By Cameron Kiszla
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Former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez isn't a fan of the popular narrative that the Los Angeles Dodgers are ruining baseball.
Rodriguez, perhaps most notably a former New York Yankee, appeared on "The Michael Kay Show" on ESPN New York, where both he and Kay shared their support for the way the Dodgers build a team and play baseball, as reported by Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing.
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Referencing some of the best stretches in recent decades for the Bronx Bombers, Rodriguez told Kay that their New York ties require them on principle to avoid criticizing the Dodgers.
“I think it’s great. You and I both would be hypocrites if we said it’s not good when we saw what happened in the ‘90s here in New York, what happened in ‘09 when Hal Steinbrenner flexed his financial resources to go out and get CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett and the year before we had Johnny Damon,” Rodriguez told Kay.
As Rodriguez and Kay later discussed, money alone doesn't create a winning baseball team.
Just look at the New York Mets and their payroll — nearly $320 million for this season alone, according to Spotrac — and where it got them.
At 53-68 as of Wednesday, they're in last place in the National League East.
Rodriguez said the Dodgers didn't immediately start winning when they began spending big, pointing out that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman "made similar mistakes" to Mets owner Steve Cohen "when he went from Tampa to the Dodgers."
Instead, the Dodgers found success like the Yankees of Rodriguez's day did.
"Flex their wallets, only hire the best and forget the rest," Rodriguez said.
Just as the Yankees were the villain of the league when Rodriguez played, the Dodgers are now, and fans can argue about whether that sort of organization building is something they enjoy or not.
What's indisputable, though, is that people are watching, either to see greatness or to root against a villain.
In either case, baseball wins.
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