Authors: Molly Knight
The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers' Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse (44 page)
“Show me why you’re the best hitter I’ve ever played with”:
Postgame interview with A. J. Ellis on July 16, 2013.
Angels for second baseman Howie Kendrick:
They would trade for Kendrick a year and a half later.
the pregame festivities turned the dugout into a mess:
I witnessed all this.
It was still possible to buy season tickets:
At the start of the 2015 season there was a wait list for season tickets. The cheapest season tickets, in the reserve level, cost five dollars a game.
He arrived twenty minutes late for a team meeting:
Told to me by multiple people in the room.
“I’ve seen guys that are in the Hall of Fame”:
Interview with Don Mattingly on August 27, 2014.
When the Yankees came to town:
I observed Robinson Cano greet Puig’s friend on the field, and Puig’s entourage’s general presence in the dugout every day. Multiple players and employees complained to me about their presence in the locker room.
His cover was blown:
Colletti told this story to a pack of reporters (including me) just outside the visiting clubhouse the night the Dodgers were eliminated in St. Louis, October 18, 2013.
whale puke:
I asked Wilson what it was. He said whale puke.
“I’ve got something to say”:
I heard this from multiple players and staff who thought it was genius.
chicken fight tournament:
I walked into the Dodgers’ locker room the day before they clinched and saw players sitting on other players’ shoulders. I asked what was going on. They told me they were planning on staging a chicken fight tournament in the pool. I gave the Dodgers’ team photographer, Jon SooHoo, the heads-up.
thought he heard Kemp bragging:
I didn’t hear Kemp say this, but others did. Everyone I spoke with was adamant he was kidding. I tell this story as a way to demonstrate the ridiculous tension between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Even a senator weighed in on social media.
“I’m a starter”:
It was a phrase Kemp repeated often, in private and to reporters. When asked about it later, he explained that it was a no-win situation. If he accepted a platoon role then it would look like he didn’t care enough to fight for his job. But if he bristled about having to share time it would look like he wasn’t a team player. He was right.
CHAPTER 8: THE BEST TEAM MONEY CAN BUY
injury issues all year:
The Dodgers were so banged up that head trainer Stan Conte (smartly) sat down with Mattingly to help plan out the lineups after they clinched.
Dodger officials were told:
A Dodger exec told me that before the game.
They found the hole in his swing:
A Dodger staff member told me that before the game.
“If you don’t play good people don’t remember you”:
Interview with Juan Uribe at AT&T Park in San Francisco on September 24, 2013.
Kimbrel wanted in the game:
TV cameras caught him cursing in the bullpen. The footage is easily found on the Internet.
all seemed to scream and bounce:
I have been to roughly five hundred Dodger home games in my life. This was the loudest I have ever heard that stadium, but I was not present for Gibson’s home run, and sadly I was not old enough to remember watching it on television.
Young was perhaps the most outwardly animated Dodger:
I heard this from multiple players on that text chain.
but Ramirez was terrified of needles:
Multiple people with the team told me this.
The drug cartel that helped smuggle Puig to the United States was always around:
From multiple sources close to Puig.
One of them asked to borrow his Lincoln:
From a source close to Puig.
“Two and a half billion dollars and two fucking runs”:
A Dodger executive said this to me.
“It’s not over yet, we need you”:
I heard Puig had gone missing from multiple players. I confirmed the details with the principal parties involved.
“meep meep”:
I observed this.
So Nolasco took the mound in Game 4:
They almost started Kershaw but decided against it.
poster comparing Puig to a squirrel:
I witnessed this bizarre scene and took a picture that wound up going viral.
Ramirez finally acquiesced to the needle:
From two sources close to Ramirez.
“They took turns high-fiving him”:
From a person with knowledge of what happened.
“In twenty years we can sit down”:
I was the reporter Puig said that to.
CHAPTER 9: NO NEW FRIENDS
Juan Uribe went first:
News of Puig’s clubhouse meeting was widely reported. I got multiple players to fill in the blanks for me later.
Puig secretly admired Schumaker and Punto:
Told to me by a source close to Puig.
“But five years is the max for me”:
Interview with Clayton Kershaw at his home on January 15, 2014.
“Matt Kemp! Why you no talk today?”:
I heard Ramirez say this. “Oh. So that’s why he’s do sad,” Ramirez said to me.
“you need to get your ass here on time”:
This is what Gonzalez told reporters when he was asked what he said to Puig.
Puig had changed his phone number:
From multiple team sources.
they thought he put together tougher at-bats:
From a conversation I had with a member of the coaching staff.
“It could be his last chance to prove us right or wrong”:
From a conversation I had with a staff member.
“He used to throw maybe ten pitches”:
Interview with A. J. Ellis on June 18, 2014, after Kershaw’s no-hitter.
“I just want to get my four at-bats every day”:
Hanley Ramirez said this to me in an interview on March 12, 2014.
“When certain guys want to play”:
Schumaker made these comments to the
Cincinnati Enquirer
on June 11, 2014.
“It doesn’t feel that way, though, does it?”
Interview with Stan Kasten on July 15, 2014.
“He stated he’s the best outfielder in the league”:
From a CBS Sports article written on March 7, 2015, by Jon Heyman.
CHAPTER 10: THE BEST FRONT OFFICE MONEY CAN BUY
Forty-eight hours later:
Greinke pitched the next day in Chicago, and looked out of sorts from the start. In the first inning he made his first error in more than four years, throwing the ball away on a failed pickoff attempt. He gave up four earned runs in five innings. I don’t know whether what happened the night before was related to how Greinke pitched that day, but his performance on the mound was bad enough for me to text a team employee and ask if everything was okay with him. The staff member told me he had been in an altercation with Puig over rookie hazing. I asked players and other staff members about it later, and they filled in the details.
Ned Colletti was angry:
From two people with knowledge of the incident.
The Padres asked for $18 million more:
From a Dodger executive.
A note about the index:
The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Aaron, Henry,
125
Abraham, Peter,
289
n
Adams, Matt:
Alonso, Yonder,
111
Amarista, Alexi,
111
American League Championship Series (ALCS),
211
American League Division Series (ALDS),
91
Anaheim Angels,
see
Los Angeles Angels
Arizona Diamondbacks,
65
–66,
195
,
219
,
272
,
290
n
brawls of,
170
–71,
175
,
179
,
184
,
301
n
Dodgers’ celebration and,
202
during regular season,
118
,
131
–32,
149
,
163
,
165
–66,
169
–70,
175
,
179
–85,
189
–91,
201
–2,
240
–41,
251
–52,
301
n
rivalry between Dodgers and,
168
–71,
175
,
185
,
303
n
Atlanta Braves,
163
in NLDS,
4
,
205
–6,
208
–12,
263
,
282
n
during regular season,
126
–27,
160
,
164
Australia,
195
,
240
–41,
244
,
246
,
248
Aviles, Mike,
289
n
Baer, Larry,
200
Baltimore Orioles,
51
,
117
–18,
142
,
214
Barinas, Roman,
227
Bates, James,
282
n
Beckett, Josh,
271
Mattingly and,
117
–18
during regular season,
87
,
90
,
117
–18,
245
,
293
n
trading of,
53
–54,
58
–59,
89
,
119
,
186
in World Series,
215
NLDS and,
215
during regular season,
43
,
104
,
196
Belt, Brandon,
177
Beltran, Carlos,
220
–23,
228
,
234
Benoit, Joaquin,
265
–68
Billingsley, Chad,
130
Black, Bud,
110
Bonds, Bobby,
232
Kemp and,
124
–25
Boston Red Sox,
13
,
21
,
42
,
125
,
233
,
288
n
–91
n
in ALCS,
211
Crawford signed by,
54
–57
Ramirez and,
271
trading of,
48
–54,
57
–59,
89
,
119
,
186
,
231
,
238
,
269
,
290
n
Bradley, Milton,
130
Bravo, Zechariah,
182
–83
Butera, Drew,
192
Cain, Matt,
77
–78,
249
,
292
n
,
294
n
Capuano, Chris,
87
injuries of,
116
NLDS and,
212
during regular season,
111
,
117
,
152
Carpenter, David,
216
Carpenter, Matt,
134
