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Dodgers Acquire an Oaf?

July 29th, 2015 · No Comments · Baseball, Dodgers

I don’t know Mat Latos. Pretty sure I’ve never been in the same room with him. Maybe not even in the same stadium, since he got to the bigs just as I was leaving California.

But he seems to be the sort of guy who gets under the skin of people around him, and Dodgers fans would like to think the club looked into that before (apparently) trading for him today.

Mat Latos has been a competent starting pitcher for most of seven seasons, with a career ERA of 3.43, a career “whip” of 1.18 and a record of 64-52. He strikes out three times as many batters as he walks.

He was eighth in Cy Young voting in 2010, his first full season in the majors, while pitching for the San Diego Padres.

But we have a couple of flashing red lights here, as he moves from the Miami Marlins to the Dodgers.

–A Google search for “Mat Latos jerk” yields more than 10,000 hits.

–In his book A Band of Misfits, detailing the 2010 San Francisco Giants championship season, my former colleague Andrew Baggarly seemed to plant the word “oaf” just ahead of many references to “Mat Latos”. Latos was the official villain in Baggarly’s book for reasons he revisited in this blog post.

–At the start of this season, Latos seemed to get into a war of words with his previous employers, the Cincinnati Reds, about how they helped (or didn’t) him recover from injury, and how the Reds clubhouse lacked leadership.

So, back to “oaf”. It is a strong, colorful word not often used in 21st century America, and here is the definition, for those of you unfamiliar with it: “A man who is rough or clumsy and unintelligent.” Synonyms listed are “lout, boor, barbarian, Neanderthal, churl, clown, gawk, bumpkin, yokel”.

A lot of meaning, in those three letters.

“Oaf” does not imply size, though it seems to be used to suggest that, in modern usage, and Latos is a sort of doughy 6-6, 245.

Latos also is known for not signing autographs, which agitates some fans but isn’t a problem for me, and his high-visibility wife, Dallas (who has done more than a little blogging), makes a good case here for athletes not dropping everything to sign their names whenever they venture out of doors.

I am going to guess that Latos can be brusque with reporters, in the clubhouse, which is no crime but can lead to an erosion of your public image.

So, let’s see, then, the issues with Latos are … he doesn’t sign autographs; he seems to be blunt about assessing people and teams, on the rare occasions when he gets rolling; he faulted the Giants for buying the 2010 championship with late/expensive acquisitions while the runner-up Padres (his team at the time) competed almost entirely with the guys they broke camp with.

Never mind, then.

I wouldn’t sign autographs, nor would I expect someone to sign one for me, especially away from the stadium; journalists should prize guys who voice strong opinions; and Mat Latos has been a pretty effective pitcher all along, and that is what he gets paid to do.

Also: Most fans still give too much weight to the ephemeral notion of “chemistry” in a clubhouse. “Chemistry” is a product of winning, not vice versa, and if Latos helps the Dodgers win everyone in Los Angeles probably will be fine with him.

We can revisit this at the end of the season.

 

 

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