Dodgers actually making baseball better, former All-Star insists

The charge that the Dodgers are ruining baseball — and doing it with a seemingly bottomless bank account — surged back after they traded for two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.Shane Greene says the outrage overlooks an even greater advantage: Once players arrive in Los Angeles, they get better.“Coming from somebody who’s been in that locker room, they’re doing the opposite of ruining baseball,” Greene said.“They’re actually making it better.”Greene pitched for the Yankees, Tigers, Braves, Dodgers and Cubs during his 10-year career.

His verdict after experiencing five MLB organizations was not simply that LA spends more.The Dodgers identify flaws faster, explain them better and turn information into results.“The Dodgers do it the best,” Greene said.

“They give you the most information, and they translate that information the best.”Greene joked that he was a Dodger for “20 seconds,” but Los Angeles still identified problems that had apparently followed him for years.Shortly after he arrived in 2021, the organization told him he had been tipping his slider — his best pitch — for three seasons.After Greene’s first appearance, a staff member approached him in the dining room and placed a phone on the counter.

One image showed what Greene did before throwing his changeup.Another revealed the difference in his fastball delivery.Greene pitched only 8 ⅔ innings across two Dodgers stints, too small a sample to prove those discoveries transformed his results.

The benefit was the diagnosis itself: Los Angeles found and clearly demonstrated something his previous teams had missed.His experience is hardly isolated.Tyler Anderson arrived in Los Angeles with a 29-38 record and 4.62 career ERA.Dodgers coaches adjusted his changeup grip, helping him finish 15-5 with a 2.57 ERA and earn his first All-Star selection in 2022.Evan Phillips joined the Dodgers as a waiver claim with a 7.26 career ERA.

Los Angeles helped reshape his slider into ...