For years, Magic Johnson wanted to own a sports franchise. And when the Guggenheim ownership group that snagged the Dodgers engaged Magic to be the face of the franchise, he had plenty to say about the expectations of a team that has the highest payroll of any baseball team in history. Remember this?
Now that the Dodgers have gone 4-13 in the month of May (at this writing), Earvin has nothing to say. He has disappeared out of the Dodgers’ orbit and, one wonders, has the magic gone out of being a Dodger owner now that they stink so badly? Is it inconvenient for Magic to express an opinion now that the Dodgers are far less than successful than his movie theaters or his Starbucks locations?
I am here to officially challenge Magic Johnson to step forward and tell us the plan for bringing the Dodgers to respectability. You wanted to be an owner, Magic. Time to step up and be a leader. Who do you think is responsible for this mess? When will heads roll? Who will fix it? You’re supposed to be this amazing businessman. When will you be bringing such business acumen to fix the Dodgers? Vote now in our exclusive poll:
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As a Marlins fan, I see a ton of similarities between this season for the Dodgers and the past two seasons for the Marlins. While not a $240 million payroll, last year we did see a substantial rise in payroll and had nothing to show for it. We had (and still have) an owner who was willing to put his pork-like face out there during all the preseason buzz but was nowhere to be found once we started losing games, a GM who deserves to be shitcanned, and we had overpriced guys who weren’t getting the job done, including Heath Bell, a guy who signed a 3 year, $27 million deal to save games but wound up losing them instead.
I completely agree that when the team is underperforming, it is more important than at any other time for the guys in charge (in this case Magic Johnson) to put themselves out there and take responsibility. Furthermore, while I don’t see the Dodgers blowing up the team like the Marlins did, I believe they will eventually have no choice but to do something about it. It may only be 1/3 of the way into the season but it is also 1/2 of the way into the time period up until the July 31 trade deadline where the powers that be in each team decide whether they’re going to continue their playoff push or wait until next year.
(Also, for what it’s worth, from experience and lots of it, I believe it is possible to support the team and call the ownership/management on their shit at the same time.)