Dodgers Dugout: Steve Sax answers your questions

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and this Corey Seager guy on Texas looks like just the type of postseason hitter the Dodgers need.

A couple of times a year we do a feature where readers send in questions for Dodgers of the past. We’ve done “Ask Orel Hershiser”, “Ask Jerry Reuss”, “Ask Tom Niedenfuer”, “Ask Peter O’Malley”, “Ask Fred Claire” and “Ask Maury Wills” among others.

Steve Sax, who was named National League rookie of the year in 1982 and won two World Series while playing second base for the Dodgers from 1981-88, is the next name to join the list.

We received more than 200 questions for Sax (most of them repeats of the same question, usually about the yips), and he answered a few. The person named asking the question was the first person to send in that question.

From Julie Bielsick: What would your walk up song have been your rookie year?

Sax: I hate walk up songs. What does that have to do with getting a base hit?

From Dave Stevens: I was very impressed with how you didn’t let your brief bout with the “yips” throwing to first base derail your career. I coach kids in baseball, and sometimes they suffer from something similar. What advice would you give them? How did you get past it?

Sax: Develop your confidence in practice. Practice as if it were a real game.

From Jennifer Trinidad: I’ve read many different versions of why you left the Dodgers after 1988. So, straight from the source, why did you leave and did the Dodgers make a strong attempt to keep you?

Sax: I left as a free agent because my opportunity to expand my game with the Yankees was better.

From Jerry Braden: You were on deck when Kirk Gibson hit his famous World Series home run? What was going through your mind before the home run, thinking about facing Eckersley? And did you think Gibson had any shot at hitting a homer considering how hurt he was?

Sax: I was thinking how I was going to win the game vs. Eckersley. I did not think Gibson would hit it out.

From Keith Burrus: How would you compare playing for the Yankees to playing for the Dodgers?

Sax: I enjoyed playing in both organizations.Both were quality franchises. Dodgers were based more on pitching.

From Max Schwartz: How do you feel about the increased use of analytics to make decisions during a game?

Sax: Managers should make the decisions. Analytics can be useful to a manager, but it’s his call.

From Vilo Del Rio: How was it being the person to “break up” the Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield? Did any of those four give you a hard time?

Sax: All those guys were great to me, very professional.

From Barry Danielson: Why do you think recent Dodger teams fail to succeed in the postseason?

Sax: The postseason is usually a flip of the coin.

Mike Profit: What was it like playing for Tommy Lasorda?

Sax: Playing for Tommy was great. We had lots of fun and won a lot of games.

The last question comes from dozens of readers: We are very sorry about your son. Are there any thoughts or memories off him you would like to share with the many Dodgers fans who still adore you?

Sax: There are so many great things to say about my son that there isn’t enough time here. I will go deeper into this on my podcast.

Sax is planning a golf tournament at Tierra Rejada Golf Course in Moorpark and a luncheon at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley on Sunday to raise funds for the Captain John J. Sax Foundation. The foundation will help support others whose purpose is to offer scholarships and grants of hardship cases to aspiring aviators.

John Sax, who was with the Marines, died in a V-22 Osprey training accident on June 8, 2022.

For more information and to enter the golf tournament, go to johnnyourhero.org.

Mookie speaks

Mookie Betts is at the World Series, just not under the circumstances Dodgers fans hoped for. Major League Baseball invited Betts to provide behind-the-scenes access and insights for its cable channel and social media platforms. His interest in postseason games did not wane once his team was eliminated. And Betts hasn’t been sitting around feeling sorry for himself after the Dodgers were swept by the Diamondbacks. He’s been watching the games with interest.

“I definitely watch them,” Betts said. “I’m in a bowling alley all the time when the games are on. This is a part of my identity. A lot of these guys are my friends. These are life relationships that you create through playing baseball. Obviously, I want to play and I want to win, right? But, if this is not your turn, that’s fine. I want my boys to be successful as well.”

As to why the Dodgers seem to fall apart in the postseason:

“There’s probably a million people with all the answers. I’m sure somebody is right,” he said. “But I don’t know what those answers are. I just know, for me, I have to do better. That’s pretty much it. I have to do better, no matter what.”

Betts had more to say about the postseason format, Trevor Bauer and other topics in this story by Bill Shaikin.

Corey Seager

Former Dodger Corey Seager was named World Series MVP after his Texas Rangers defeated Arizona in five games. He is the first person to be named World Series MVP in each league and only the fourth player to be named World Series MVP twice, joining Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson, all Hall of Famers. (Note: The award was first given in 1955).

This brought on a flood of emails about how stupid the Dodgers were to let him go. Keep in mind the Dodgers apparently offered him around $300 million, so it’s not like they just showed him the door. The Rangers had a few advantages. They offered him $325 million in a state that has no state income tax (meaning, according to financial experts, the Dodgers would have had to offer Seager $400 million to make an equivalent amount of money). Plus, at the time Texas was managed by Chris Woodward, a former Dodgers coach Seager was a fan of and wanted to reunite with.

Saying the Dodgers should have offered him the $400 million is a fair debate to have. But keep in mind, if they do that, then that probably means there is no Freddie Freeman on the team because of payroll concerns. And who knows what other effects signing Seager would have had on the current roster.

And this new story line that Seager is a postseason master overlooks several things. Yes, he was outstanding in 2020 when the Dodgers won it all (another guy was pretty good that postseason too: Mookie Betts). Seager hit .328 with eight homers and 20 RBIs in the postseason. But let’s also not forget that he missed the 2017 NLCS with an injury, then hit .222 in the 2017 World Series. Missed the 2018 postseason entirely with an injury. Hit .150 in the 2019 NLDS, which the Dodgers lost. Had an outstanding 2020. Then went nine for 48 (.188) in the 2021 postseason.

We just don’t know what would have happened if he had remained with L.A. He would have faced an entirely different set of pitchers. He might have done terrible, he might have done better. But let’s not pretend we know he would have made the difference, when none of us have any idea. It’s the worst type of couch managing to say the Dodgers would have won the World Series this year if they had Seager. Maybe he would have been hit by a pitch in his first at-bat and missed the entire postseason. I mean, if the Dodgers retained every good player who left, they’d go 150-12 during the season and have a payroll of about $1 billion (and probably still get swept in the NLDS). You can’t just add Seager to this season’s team without subtracting some players too.

All we can do is congratulate him on a terrific World Series.

Then there are the people criticizing the Dodgers for letting Nathan Eovaldi get away. At least you can understand the Seager rationale. But Eovaldi was traded 11 years ago (for Hanley Ramirez), and went from the Dodgers to Miami to the Yankees to Tampa Bay to Boston, where he finally became a good pitcher in 2018. I’m not sure blaming the Dodgers for letting Eovaldi get away is really feasible.

Max is back

The Dodgers had the option to bring back Max Muncy next season for $14 million. They aren’t going to do that. Instead, Thursday they announced they had signed Muncy to a two-year, $24-million deal, with a $10-million club option for 2026.

Muncy certainly has his flaws, mainly a low batting average and iffy defense at third base. But last season he hit .212/.333/.475, good for an OPS+ of 115, meaning he was 15% better than the league average hitter. He hit 36 homers and drove in 105 runs. Some fans don’t like Muncy, but this is a very fair deal.

Halloween

I dressed up as a Dodger for Halloween. Quit after three houses and came home with no candy.

Frank Howard dies

Frank Howard, a key member of the Dodgers’ 1963 World Series title team, died this week at 87.

Howard was with the Dodgers from 1958-64, was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1960 and hit .269/.324/.495 with 123 homers in 624 games. He went three for 10 with a double and a homer in the 1963 World Series.

He was traded to the Washington Senators after the 1964 season along with three other players for Claude Osteen and John Kennedy.

Howard was 6-7 and weighed around 250. He towered over his teammates and could hit the ball harder than just about anyone. He had his greatest success with Washington, twice leading the league in homers and clubbing 246 homers in eight seasons.

In case you missed it

Hernández: Dodgers must sign Shohei Ohtani, but not only for his talent

Max Muncy agrees to two-year contract extension with Dodgers

Making your sports venue better? Dodgers’ architect has a plan

Mookie Betts is at the World Series, but not as player. ‘I have to do better, no matter what.’

News Analysis: Is MLB’s new playoff format too harsh on division winners? The debate continues

Frank Howard, a rookie of the year and World Series winner with the Dodgers, dies at 87

Dodgers offseason primer: Ohtani sweepstakes, pitching needs and other storylines to follow

Tommy Pham wanted to be a Dodger. Now he’s a standout and clubhouse hit for Arizona

Flight attendants claim United took them off Dodgers’ charter flights for not being ‘white, young, thin’

And finally

A couple of days late, but in honor of Halloween: Herman Munster tries out for the Dodgers. Watch and listen here.