As Mookie Betts’ Struggles Persist, Top Analysts Accuse Dodgers of “Messing” With Themselves by Not Having a Full-Time Shortstop

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a balance issue. It’s quite interesting to hear those words while remembering that this is a team that has given out over $1 billion of contracts this year. But then that’s what happens when some positions are ignored. Weirdly the Blue Crew ignored the biggest of them all – Shortstop. And now Mookie Betts is playing there, though one wishes he played somewhere else. 

The 2018 MVP hasn’t been a disaster at shortstop, but he hasn’t particularly electrified the scene either. Despite Betts remaining one of the most athletically gifted players in baseball, adjusting to shortstop remains one of the hardest jobs in the world. This transition has resulted in 9 errors and missed plays. More importantly, it has underscored how the Dodgers aren’t operating at full strength due to this deficiency.

On Chris Rose’s Baseball Today, Rose and Trevor Plouffe talked about Betts’ current predicament. The two agreed that the star’s best position was elsewhere and he was suffering here. But then they also had some tough words for the Dodgers. “If you’re the Dodgers, you’re not messing with Mookie by doing this. You’re messing with yourself,”  Plouffe said. “You’re taking away some of the value that he brings.” 

Mookie Betts is perhaps one of the best Right Fielders in baseball today. The star has won 6 Gold Gloves playing in that position. However, since 2023, the Blue Crew has tried to shift him around different positions. Though Betts found good success in second base, the Dodgers still decided to turn him into a shortstop. That has had mixed results for them so far.

Betts too has found the transition extremely difficult. However, Rose and Plouffe noted that this was a situation that the Los Angeles Dodgers had created by themselves.

Los Angeles Dodgers Shortstop shortage affects Mookie Betts’ effectiveness 

“I think they’re stuck a little bit and they have to some degree created this,” Rose noted. “I know you can’t pay everybody $300 million or $700 million like Shohei…But man looking back on it now they would love to have either Seager or Turner.”  That’s an issue that nearly the entire fanbase has complained about. Despite huge expenses, the Dodgers have failed to equip the shortstop position.

Though one can understand that the team had hoped Gavin Lux would solidify that position, his lack of hits has severely diminished his chances of reclaiming it. Consequently, the Dodgers lack an adequate replacement and are forced to use Mookie Betts at shortstop. This raises an important question: could the Dodgers trade for a shortstop before the deadline?