Mookie Betts accepted unprecedented position changes with grace, but Bill Plaschke writes the Dodgers should not push their luck by moving him.
C’mon Dodgers, you must realize what you’re doing to your best player, continually drenching his season in uncertainty, battering his body, ruining his rituals, denting his spirit. C’mon. Dodgers, after what happened again Friday, your mandate is clear. Stop moving Mookie! Stop bouncing him recklessly around the diamond and the batting order like he’s a centerpiece in a game of beer pong. Stop treating him like he’s an aging journeyman with marginal talent, zero power and no voice.
“Whatever Shohei says goes, and after that we kind of fall in line.” That’s as close to bitterness as Betts will veer, but it speaks volumes about a potentially divisive clubhouse issue. If a two-time World Series champion and former MVP feels like a newcomer with no playoff experience runs things, how do the guys with lesser resumes feel? I asked Betts why he doesn’t complain more about not being given the same latitude most other teams offer their stars.
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