Kasten’s Ownership Group Seems to be Doing All Right… So Far

The date is July 10. Today is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game — the midseason point for America’s pastime. In Los Angeles, the Dodgers’ new owership has been in-place for less than half of a season. And they are doing… all right.

The group, figureheaded by Magic Johnson and led by Stan Kasten and Mark Walter, have done lots of tangible things including lowering parking prices and making sure that concessions are manned by an appropriate number of workers — two things Frank McCourt made tangibly worse during his tenure as owner.

In a letter today to fans, Kasten covered many of these improvements:

When Magic Johnson, Mark Walter and I were introduced as the new ownership team two months ago, we made bold commitments to you and to all of the Los Angeles community. Since then, we have conducted surveys, focus groups and town hall meetings. In addition, we’ve engaged in countless conversations with many of you each night at the ballpark. We will continue to listen to you and your suggestions regarding the improvement of your Dodger Stadium experience and we have already begun to act on your recommendations. Some have been achieved already, some are in progress, and still others are being planned. But they all represent a no-excuses culture that we are creating throughout the Dodger organization.

Kasten’s group has done a good job of changing the culture around the team and stadium, as a fan first and owner second.  His email shows that he’s at least making an effort to keep lines of communication with fans open. After an obliteration of such lines under the McCourt regime, it feels like a warm hug to us Dodger fans to be communicated-with even a little bit.

Despite the warm fuzzy that the letter gave me, the most important portions of it were the following two line items from Kasten:

— We have moved forward with a more aggressive strategy in scouting and signing international players, a hallmark trait of this organization, to strengthen our player development system. This strategy has already paid dividends in the recent signing of Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig and others.

— Most importantly, as demonstrated by the recent signing of Andre Ethier to a five-year contract extension that will keep him a Dodger playing alongside Matt Kemp through at least 2017, the signing of the aforementioned Puig and the signing of Corey Seager, our No. 1 draft choice, we have the resources to assure the Dodgers are contenders year in and year out.

Hey look over here, not over there!

Like a dog abused over and over, many Dodgers fans are still wary. McCourt had what seemed like a number of good plans and a lot of loud and proud announcements that proved to quietly be duds. Examples included, but certainly weren’t limited to the way the Dodgers handled the finances of club-backed charities, continued deterioration of the fan experience inside the ballpark, and a spin-heavy set of roster decisions based on poor financial management and not on the team.

So, while I’m generally pleased with what Kasten has done, he and the Dodgers organization must understand that I need some time to heal before I fall head-over-heels with trust.