Letters: Is this the year it all goes wrong for the Dodgers?

Of course Dodgers management is not panicking. They lead the majors in attendance and revenue every year, win or lose. They have a huge TV contract. The only people in panic mode are us fans.

Javier Garcia

Whittier

::

Sometimes in sports, many players have career years all in the same year. I believe that’s what happened with the Dodgers last year. If you compare their current roster with the Cubs, Nationals, Astros, Red Sox, Indians and Yankees, they are far behind.

Tommy John surgery or even Tommy John himself won’t fix the Dodgers’ fate this year.　

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

::

Bring Andrew Toles back up. Manage Walker Buehler carefully so he doesn’t turn into Julio Urias. Work Alex Verdugo into the everyday lineup. Have a bit more patience waiting for Justin Turner to heal. Deal Matt Kemp (the original plan) into someone with a chance to be an up-and-comer. Save the money that would have gone into the luxury-tax repeater status for years to come for the loaded 2018 class.

And if there’s any place for money or trades to highlight, it’s the pitching (Clayton Kershaw and three days of rain), if anything, that needs the attention and upgrade over the current four-innings-or-bust crew.　

Robert Goldstone

Corona del Mar

::

The chances of the Dodgers’ landing Manny Machado are somewhere between slim and none, and slim just left town. The Dodgers’ problems start with Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi. They built this mess and they are responsible for the results. The ineptitude of Dave Roberts becomes more evident as the season goes by and this started with Game 7 of the World Series last season. How could management let Brandon Morrow go to the Cubs? Why did management let Johnny Cueto, Jake Arrieta, and Justin Verlander slip through the cracks?

Albert Viola

Porter Ranch

::

Bill Plaschke can talk all he wants about moves the Dodgers should make, now that Corey Seager is out for the season. But it’s the move they didn’t make last year that cost them the World Series, and will haunt them for years to come. What Guggenheim and company forgot (or maybe never knew) is that you never pass up a chance to win, because you never know when you will get another chance. They sign the more expensive Verlander, and they are defending champions and favorites to win again. They sign the less expensive Darvish, and you know the rest.

Pitching wins titles, and with Kershaw now a five-inning pitcher, and not much after him, a World Series championship looks like a distant dream.

Leonard Levine

Tarzana

::

Something is urgently missing: Not just Vin Scully’s silky voice. Not just the Dodgers from local television. Not just Justin Turner’s bat and glove. Not just a few mph from Kenley Jensen’s arm.

What the Dodgers and their ticket-holding fans are missing are good old-fashioned cardboard tickets.

I am sure that some genius in the Dodgers’ ticket department saved the owners a few bucks by going paperless ... but what memories do printed 8 1/2-x-11 tickets hold versus a “real” ticket? None.

I saved my ticket from Gibby’s classic home run game. Exactly 30 years later, when I was fortunate enough to be at the Justin Turner walk-off home run game, the printed-out cheap ticket didn’t have the sentimental value.

Time to return to the old ways and give the next generation memories that will last a lifetime. That is how baseball and the Dodgers will capture the next generation. I have my Dodgers tickets signed by Garvey and Wills. But since the Dodgers gave up on real tickets, so did I.

Brian Winn

Los Angeles

::

The look of horror Dave Roberts had on his face when Pedro Baez fell off the mound is the same look that every Dodgers fan has when the bullpen door opens and Pedro trots out.

Rich Hardt

Long Beach

::

How about the Dodgers benching Dave Roberts for mismanaging his pitching staff?

Brian C. Gura

Redondo Beach

::

It is bad enough that Andy McCullough uses the speed of the pitch in his Dodgers articles. Now he is going further and describing the speed of the pitch with a decimal point, 92.6 mph.

I am a detail guy, but this level of detail is even too much for me.

Matthew D. Kerster

Gardena

Facebook Dodgers

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Dodgers surprise us once again. The management team has teamed up with Facebook to bring live games online! Great, now you can have Cambridge Analytica harvest the raw data of Dodger viewers and sell it on the dark web. I watched some of the Arizona game and the comments during the game were not so good… fans are unhappy but who cares? Apparently the Dodgers don’t.

Patrick Kelley

Los Angeles

::

Anyone try and watch Facebook’s game of the week on Thursday as the Dodgers faced the Diamondbacks?

It was nothing but stop and starts and then total interruptions.

No matter how much MLB received it’s not worth it unless the tech problems are resolved.

As usual the fans pay the price.

Fred Wallin

Westlake Village

::

OK, what’s the deal with Dodgers on Facebook on Thursday? Most of us old-timers (some of the biggest supporters of Dodgers) don’t even know what Facebook is; Congress didn’t know. We still pay for Dodger Channel but no game, it’s on Facebook. What’s next? Watch Dodgers Netflix, HBO, The Movie Channel, which none of these I subscribe. I pay for Dodger Channel, so please Dodgers show me the game.

Bob Martinez

Glendale

Same old Angels

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The Angels continually throw all their money at hitters (Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Justin Upton, Ian Kinsler) while pinching pennies on pitching. For pitchers they shop at the 99-cent store (the minor leagues), and for hitters they max out their credit card at Nordstrom on aging stars. Each year we hope for a new and better result until the end of April, and then we realize it’s another year of Angel Groundhog Day.

David Waldowski

Laguna Woods

::

With so many Yankees fans in attendance, is there any point in the Angels even having home games versus the Yankees?

Next year, they might as well play all the games in New York. The Angels couldn’t fare any worse than they did this year.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

No kidding

Youth football has always been dangerous, but now it’s even worse because of the age they start playing. Now if you can walk you can play. When you have to call a timeout to change their diapers or show them which way to run or take a water break, it might be too soon.

Little League, Pop Warner football, soccer and basketball have become babysitting clinics and their games are designed only for parents and grandparents. But as long as parents keep shelling out money for private lessons thinking of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow things will never change.

Luis Cruz

La Mirada

Draft dodgy

I didn’t find anything wrong with what Josh Rosen said about the other nine teams and that they passed on him. Everyone is too sensitive. I rather enjoyed listening to someone not speak with a cliche response to a reporter. It was refreshing and intelligent. I hope Josh has an excellent career and I’ll definitely be rooting for him and listening to all of his interviews! Remember it’s just a game: They aren’t putting people into outer space!

Randy Childs

Manhattan Beach

::

Open letter to Josh Rosen:

Your decision to join the NFL rather than finish college is wise financially, but puts you at risk of another concussion and future dementia. Indeed a poll of my colleagues in the UCLA Pediatric Faculty said they would not allow their sons to play Pop Warner football.

My suggestion: Do what Chris Borland of Wisconsin did after being drafted by the NFL. Play one or two years, go back to school and live a productive life with your brain power intact.　

E. Richard Stiehm

Los Angeles

::

Sam Darnold doesn’t care that he was “outplayed” last November at the Coliseum, Bill Plaschke. Who won the game? Fight On.

David Marshall

Santa Monica

::

The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

Mail: Sports Viewpoint

Los Angeles Times

202 W. 1st St.

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Fax: (213) 237-4322

Email:

sports@latimes.com