Local Paper Sounds Off Against Dodger Plan

With the Dodgers last year at Dodgertown seemingly less spectacular than desired a local Palm Beach paper expresses its anger and disdain at the club.

It's bad enough the Dodgers are divorcing us, walking out on a commitment that was supposed to keep them here through at least 2020, but what they're doing on the way out is disgraceful.

They're lying when they say they can take all their front-line players to China and leave behind a split squad worth watching. They're cheating the people of Vero Beach out of one last, feel-good spring at Dodgertown and the chance to give what was a unique, 60-year relationship a proper sendoff. They're stealing the final two weeks of the team's spring-training finale on the Treasure Coast.

For that, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

But they're not.

They don't care enough about you or Vero Beach to do what's right. They have no respect for history or the special bond that was forged between the team and the town. As far as they're concerned, they owe you nothing.

It gets juicer.

The Dodgers are going to China because they WANT TO. And they're not coming back to Dodgertown because they DON'T WANT TO, because it's cheaper and more convenient to finish in Arizona.

If the Dodgers had any class, they wouldn't leave Vero Beach early. They'd say no to China and Taiwan and wherever else they might stop along the way. They wouldn't schedule a three-game exhibition series against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium the last weekend in March.

At the very least, they would've made sure local officials were aware of their plan — before it appeared in the newspaper.

It sounds like the Dodgers may be burning this bridge.

Story Link: TCPalm.com: