Excuses For Garret Anderson Reflect A Bigger Problem

Despite underperforming similarly to a lot of other Dodgers players who have been blasted publicly for their play, Garret Anderson has been sheltered from the criticism, much like Mark Sweeney of years past.

Based on what Joe Torre says, I would guess the Dodgers are never getting rid of Garret Anderson.

"Hopefully that gets him started," said Manager Joe Torre. "That was a nice situation for him. That’s the experience he showed you there. Not trying to do too much, just serving the ball the other way."

"When you get that one opportunity, maybe four or five days a week, it takes a long time to get yourself going again," Torre said.

"The one thing is, his mental capacity is certainly going to carry him through. That’s my opinion, anyway. He’s a strong kid, and he’s been down this road before."

Would these same excuses be made for him if the 525-year-old Anderson were 500 years younger? Doubtful. If Xavier Paul had looked at bad as Anderson has, he would already have been sent to some USC basket weaving class to "get his head right".

Then again, this shouldn't surprise anybody. After all, look at how the Dodgers brass have always treated our young stars. Do they coddle them like this? Nope, quite opposite actually. To me, that seems to go against conventional wisdom, doesn't it? The veterans are the ones who are supposed to be trained professionals who know the nature of the game, yet the Dodgers feel they are the one who need to be babied, praised, and excused. The star prospects? They are the ones who need to be publicly backhanded, questioned, and supplanted by inferior players.

It's hilarious to me that certain groups of fans always make excuses for the leaders of the Dodgers when they randomly blast the young players for a lack of focus or effort, but think nothing of it when they do the exact opposite for veteran players who are usually making more money and are far more incompetent.

Accountability and leadership start at the top, so whose fault is it if the Dodgers have neither?