The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers' Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse (43 page)

“I was pretty rude on my way out”:
From an article written on June 23, 2014, by Ken Gurnick for
MLB.com
, on the occasion of the Dodgers going to Kansas City to play the Royals.

Kasten later called his meeting with Greinke:
Interview with Stan Kasten on July 15, 2014.

Greinke thought he might be a general manager:
Interview with Zack Greinke on August 31, 2013. Greinke thought Ellis might make a good mouthpiece for him.

“I could be in the lawn business”:
Interview with Zack Greinke on August 31, 2013.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”:
Matt Kemp was shown on television screaming at Bud Black.

“He threw at him on purpose, okay?”:
This bizarre tirade by Tom Garfinkel was secretly recorded by a Padres season ticket holder and passed along to Jeff Passan, a reporter for Yahoo Sports. Passan published a story about the incident on April 18, 2013. Garfinkel apologized to Greinke and to Stan Kasten. Garfinkel would resign as president and CEO of the Padres three months later.

“But just so you know”:
A person with knowledge of the call told me this.

CHAPTER 5: THE COLLAPSE

Josh Beckett told Don Mattingly:
A person with knowledge of the exchange told me this.

one even put on Gonzalez’s neck brace:
Multiple teammates told me about this.

he wondered if he would ever come back:
Interview with Matt Kemp at his Hollywood Hills home in April 2012.

he was always the token black kid:
Ibid.

But Kemp never wanted to be a professional baseball player:
Ibid.

“It’s only after you’re rich”:
From an interview with Matt Kemp in March 2014 at the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona.

“So many nights I just went home and cried”:
Interview with Matt Kemp at his Hollywood Hills home in April 2012.

he might notice a sick child:
Kemp is remarkable in his interactions with children, and has told me he prefers kids to adults. He visits hospitals unannounced and maintains lasting relationships with kids he meets. Once he met a child who couldn’t watch Dodger games from her hospital bed, so he worked it out so she could get a login for
MLB.com
that bypassed the local blackout restrictions in L.A. and let her watch the games. He also noticed a sick child named Joshua Jones in the crowd at a game at AT&T Park in San Francisco in May 2013. After the game, he jogged over to the fan and gave him his autograph. Then he took the jersey off his back and handed it to Jones, and removed his cleats and gifted those to him as well. The incident was secretly recorded without Kemp’s knowledge. It went viral the next day. Jones passed away three months later.

“Trade me to the fucking Astros!”:
He yelled this in the clubhouse in front of teammates and staff after arriving for a game early in the 2014 season and not finding his name in the lineup.

stole forty bases, and:
Members of the 40/40 club:

1988 Jose Canseco 42HR 40SB

1996 Barry Bonds 42HR 40SB

1998 Alex Rodriguez 42HR 46SB

2006 Alfonso Soriano 46HR 41SB

turned to a reporter:
The reporter Boras said this to was me.

Jacoby Ellsbury:
Ellsbury later agreed to a seven-year contract with the Yankees worth $153 million.

Kemp approached Gonzalez:
Gonzalez had the same surgery to repair a torn labrum, and told reporters afterward that he wasn’t a power hitter anymore. Told to me by a person with knowledge of the conversation.

A few of Kemp’s teammates heard this and became enraged:
Told to me by multiple people who witnessed the incident.

To amuse themselves, when Dodger pitchers watched game film:
Told to me by multiple team personnel.

Dodgers front office dispatched a club executive:
Told to me by multiple people who witnessed it.

a respected national columnist:
Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

transfixed by the double switch:
There is no known recording of the number of double switches a team executes in a season, though many with the Dodgers were convinced the 2013 club broke the all-time major-league record.

Ethier had showed up to a Sunday matinee:
Told to me by a person with knowledge of the conversation.

“That’s not gonna help me in arbitration”:
I heard this from a Dodger player the week it happened.

“So at that number, you’re looking at”:
From an interview I did with Josh Collmenter at Dodger Stadium on June 15, 2014.

Gonzalez loved to use RBIs as a measuring stick:
From many conversations I had with Gonzalez, but specifically on September 24, 2013 and on April 15, 2015. I consider Gonzalez to be a very thoughtful player, and I asked his opinion on who I should cast my NL MVP ballot for. (I voted for McCutchen.) At first I didn’t agree with his citing RBI, but I’m glad he told me because it inspired me to look up his numbers with runners in scoring position—he is great.

He began hustling out every ground ball:
The Dodgers’ ranks were unanimous in their feelings about Andre Ethier being an unsung hero during their incredible run. The guys knew he was playing out of position, and they recognized he was busting his ass. His selflessness inspired many.

Adam Wainwright, who convinced him:
From Skip Schumaker’s testimony at the Dodgers’ Faith and Family Night on July 27, 2013.

“Believe it or not”:
Schumaker told me this before the games versus the Cardinals on May 24, 2013. He could not believe how sore his body was from one inning of pitching.

White was respected as one of the sharpest:
On one scouting trip to Mexico in 2012, White signed Yasiel Puig and Julio Urias, a fifteen-year-old pitcher who wound up being a top-five MLB prospect going into the 2015 season. This was perhaps the greatest scouting trip of all time.

White took college athletes:

1st round Chris Anderson RHP JR Jacksonville University

2nd round Tom Windle LHP JR University of Minnesota

3rd round Brandon Dixon 3B JR University of Arizona

an anxious Colletti emailed leadership surveys:
From players who received them.

CHAPTER 6: PUIGATORY

White arrived alone in Mexico City:
All the information about Puig’s tryout comes from an interview I conducted with White on October 23, 2014.

So he called Kasten:
The details of this phone call were first mentioned to me by Stan Kasten in our July 15, 2014, interview. They were confirmed by White on October 23, 2014.

“I thought it’d be funny”:
Interview with Mitch Poole on August 13, 2013.

“Papi”:
Ibid.

“You don’t give them steak”:
Don Mattingly made these remarks on April 6 to a pregame pack of reporters (including me).

“Go to YouTube and type in ‘Puig bat flip’ ”:
A Dodger executive told me this on April 2013.

“What happened?”:
I was at this game in Anaheim and asked Schumaker what happened after the game.

“Please,” said Kasten. “Do it for me”:
Told to me by someone with knowledge of the conversation.

Puig referred to himself as “El Secreto”:
Told to me by a source close to Puig.

ran through basic English with him:
I was standing near them and witnessed this.

In 2012 he got so sick:
From a press conference Scully gave on August 23, 2013, announcing his return for the 2014 season.

social media coordinator, Josh Tucker, not to hype Puig up too much:
Conversation with Josh Tucker the day Puig was called up.

sticker still stuck:
One of my favorite pictures of Puig is a shot of him about to take the field for the first time. The sticker is visible.

relied on a powerful Mexican drug cartel:
Most of the details of Puig’s defection are supplied by the testimony of Yunior Despaigne, a boxer who left Cuba on a boat with Puig. Despaigne is suing Puig in federal court, and he filed his lawsuit under penalty of perjury. Sources around the Dodgers have confirmed the drug cartel’s involvement in Puig landing in America. It has been widely reported, and Puig’s camp has never denied it.

“I don’t really like the press”:
Puig said this to
USA Today’
s Jorge L. Ortiz, as quoted in an article of July 8, 2013, “Puig Explains Himself: ‘I’m a Ballplayer.’ ”

Puig got down on his hands and knees:
I witnessed this on June 10, 2013.

“He doesn’t like all the attention”:
Luis Cruz said this to a few of us reporters who were standing there before the game on June 10, 2013.

“If you catch too much of the plate you’re basically fucked”:
National League West pitcher told me this.

“But I don’t really care because he rakes”:
A Dodger pitcher told me this.

“I always try to put on a show for the fans”:
Puig said this to a pack of media reporters (including me) on July 12, 2013.

“I don’t think any of us were really thinking”:
Interview of Don Mattingly on radio show
The Herd
with Colin Cowherd on July 3, 2013.

“Oh na naaa”:
I witnessed this often.

“That’s like you in San Diego!”:
I witnessed this, too. It happened while reporters were in the room.

One veteran infielder said he hoped a blogger:
The player who said this to me never did punch a member of the media.

He wore number 74:
The number was significant to Kenley Jansen because when he was growing up the family constantly worried about being able to make the mortgage. During his first season in the big leagues he sent all of his paychecks home until it was paid off. From “No Man Is an Island,” a column written by Bill Plaschke for the
Los Angeles Times
, September 11, 2013.

“I’d never seen a pitcher throw at two different”:
Interview with Skip Schumaker after the game on June 12, 2013.

“He plays with a lot of arrogance”:
Ian Kennedy said this to Arizona reporters after the club’s game against the Dodgers on July 9, 2013.

There was no doubt in Mattingly’s mind it had come from Gibson:
I mean, this was obvious from his actions (running at Gibson and screaming at him). But a source close to Mattingly told me this.

Kershaw was furious:
From multiple team sources.

“I don’t think anyone thought he was the problem”:
Interview with Stan Kasten on July 15, 2014.

to the ire of the coaching staff:
Every coach on that team wanted youth.

CHAPTER 7: THE RUN

in the season’s biggest moments:
Greinke was the starting pitcher in the brawl game against San Diego and the brawl game against Arizona.

One popular theory:
This rumor wound up not being very far off base, as the Dodgers ultimately hired one of Hunsicker’s old colleagues, Andrew Friedman, away from Tampa to take over baseball operations.

“Winning does a lot”:
Kershaw said this in his postgame interview with reporters after the game.

Epstein was thought:
Epstein was also the guy some Dodger executives insinuated had tampered with J. D. Drew (encouraging him to opt out of
his Dodgers contract by presenting his agent, Scott Boras, with an offer while he was still a Dodger, which is against the rules). According to a
New York Times
article written by Murray Chass on December 8, 2006, Epstein tried to call an angry Colletti to smooth things over, but Colletti refused to take his calls.

Joe Torre’s godson, Mike Borzello:
It had been widely reported that the Dodgers and Cubs were talking about trading Dempster. A team employee told me of Epstein’s frustration later.

“He’s not a bad kid”:
Mattingly said this to a group of reporters in the Chase Field dugout, including me.

When Fernando Valenzuela was a rookie:
This story was told to me by Ken Gurnick, the prolific Dodger beat writer who has covered the team for decades and was there during Fernandomania.

This became evident when a national television reporter:
This story was relayed to me by multiple players and staff members.

Puig’s friends say the incident:
From a source close to Puig.

While Bravo was off working with Puig:
Bravo’s sons illness had been widely reported.

Puig, who had quietly:
Puig’s son, Diego, was born in December 2013. Puig shares pictures of the boy on his social media accounts often.

“I love him . . . But I can’t fucking stand him”:
Text from an NL East pitcher sent to a Dodger pitcher, who told me.

if you wore Diamondback red you were his sworn enemy:
From a source close to Puig.

Schumaker decided to watch:
Interview with Skip Schumaker after the game, July 16, 2013, in Phoenix, Arizona.

“If the ball’s away”:
Postgame interview with A. J. Ellis on July 16, 2013.

His mother had wanted to name him Juan Jose:
Interview with Hanley Ramirez on March 12, 2014.