With the Los Angeles Times reporting that the Dodgers are in contract extension talks with Ned Colletti, now is as good a time as any to briefly address the elephant in the room before returning to your regularly scheduled playoff talk.
As Dodgers General Manager, there's no doubting that Colletti has made his share of terrible moves. However, in a general sense, it's hard to argue that the Dodgers haven't been better under him than under the previous regimes. Hell, I remember the times when you'd question whether the Dodgers would even finish above .500, much less make the playoffs. Yet, under Colletti, the Dodgers will now have reached the postseason for the third time in four years.
Of course, my problem with those who extol the positive attributes about Colletti's term is that they only look at one side of things and their analysis barely skims the surface of the happenings. Speaking about the team's success is great, but that doesn't actually evaluate Colletti's ability to make good moves.
It's easy to give Colletti credit now for bringing the organizational shift in philosophy back to the youth development, but he had nothing to do with it, and neither did his predecessor Paul DePodesta. Rather, that shift clearly started under Dan Evans when he hired Logan White and Kim Ng.
Neither DePodesta nor Colletti deserves credit for that stroke of genius that has almost single handedly marked the resurgence of the franchise. Regardless, many still credit Colletti with developing and refusing to part with prospects.
While I suppose Colletti deserves some credit for not selling the farm at the beginning of his tenure, I don't get how that is supposed to be one of the reasons to hire him back. What sane person would trade away the best prospects from the best farm system in the major leagues?
Coming from my perspective, as somebody who knows the value of prospects, it's absurd to me that people want to credit Colletti for not packaging Kershaw and Kemp for Jake Peavy or whatever those ridiculous rumors were. Let's be serious, nobody outside of Bill Bavasi would have done such a ridiculous deal.
Another point of criticism about Colletti is that a lot of his accolades are lessened by the fact that the farm system has driven much of his success. I don't believe it's an actual skill to be able to let great prospects become great players, especially when the people crediting him forget that Colletti has zero problems with trading away front line talent for mediocrity, as evidenced time and time against throughout his tenure.
Sorry, but the fact remains that Colletti has wasted a ton of money on utterly useless free agents, and a good majority of his trades have been of poor value.*
*I realize this is an unsubstantiated opinion as it stands, but I'll be bringing back the 'Chronicling Uncle Ned' section in the off-season to clarify.
Rather than piling on the praise for Colletti, it's more interesting to wonder how bad a GM he would have to be in order for the Dodgers not to be a playoff worthy squad. Year after year he has been awarded huge payroll flexibility by these young stars, and I honestly don't think there are many GMs out there who would be worse. In other words, if there was a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for GMs, I doubt what Colletti has done to this point would prove to be that much above replacement level.
On that note, it should be no secret that I want Colletti out, but only if White or Ng take over. If White and Ng stay on board for the long term, then signing Colletti to an extension becomes easier to swallow. The nightmare scenario has the Dodgers signing Colletti to a long extension while both White and Ng bail on the franchise for better jobs, leaving Colletti's main source of success (minors) completely impotent.
Despite the risk of that scenario, wanting Colletti back is probably a common feeling, and I'm not surprised at all that fans want him to return. After all, it's the comfortable and easy thing to do. The Dodgers are winning again, so there's little incentive to mess with a good thing.
Personally though, I'm not one to settle for mediocrity at such an important position just because it's easier. Besides, things are only going to get harder for the Dodgers from here on out. The young stars will need extensions, more positions will need filling, a new managerial search may need to be conducted, and there are lots of potential trades to be made. While nobody knows exactly what will happen in the years to come, I do know that Colletti's isn't the one I want making important decisions in that pivotal future.
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