San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt took a shot at the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers while speaking at the team’s “FanFest” event at AT&T Park Saturday.
According to CSN Bay Area, Belt was asked about the Dodgers spending loads of money over the offseason and responded “All I can say is, you can’t buy chemistry.”
Since purchasing the Dodgers last March, the new ownership group has spent over $600 million on players. They took on $262.5 million in contracts when they acquired Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto from the Boston Red Sox. They acquired Hanley Ramirez from the Miami Marlins and the $31.5 million he is owed over the next two years. They gave Andre Ethier a five-year, $85 million extension in June. They signed Zack Greinke to a seven-year deal worth up to $158 million. They spent $61.7 million to sign Korean pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu (including the posting fee). They signed Cuban defector Yasiel Puig for $42 million.
The Dodgers have a vastly improved team, but they still failed to reach the postseason last year even after acquiring many star players.
The Giants, meanwhile, got an MVP season from Buster Posey, a super postseason performance from Pablo Sandoval, and an All-Star performance from Melky Cabrera (before he was suspended for PEDs). Sergio Romo was unstoppable in the bullpen, while Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Vogelsong all were excellent throughout the year.
By winning two World Series in the last three seasons, San Francisco proved you don’t need a roster full of high-priced All-Stars to win a championship. However, the Giants did have the eighth-highest payroll in baseball last season, so it’s not like they’re a struggling franchise.
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