Dodgers Veteran Calls Out Ex-Teammates Who 'Cared About Themselves A Little Bit'

It's no secret that athletes who fail to jell with the established culture in their clubhouse are sometimes traded or demoted.

Neither is the topic often discussed publicly by active players.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy didn't name names in an interview with "Foul Territory" on Saturday, but he rather candidly said the quiet part out loud: The organization has cut ties with players who didn't mesh with their clubhouse chemistry for one reason or another.

"People aren't focused on their numbers ... we've had some guys that kind of cared about themselves a little bit and they've been shipped out."@maxmuncy9 talks Dodgers clubhouse chemistry - in case you missed it, watch the full interview below

▶️ https://t.co/VICQvQWOLe pic.twitter.com/2JpgkKOYjn
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) January 6, 2024

Muncy, who joined the Dodgers on a minor league contract in April 2017, hasn't been around long enough to see the worst of it. An entire book was written chronicling the highs and the lows, including some tense clubhouse moments, of the Dodgers' fruitless quest win with expensive but ill-fitting rosters in 2013 and 2014.

Since then, the tense moments have been few and far between. That's at least in part by design. Muncy characterized the front office's willingness to jettison players who don't mesh with the culture as a credit to the organization:

"That's the cool thing about it. This clubhouse, it's such a great clubhouse every single year. We have a lot of new faces every year and we always just mesh together."

It's a convenient time to reprise the narrative that the Dodgers' front office is attempting to "buy a World Series title." The front office has committed more than $1.07 billion (in terms of present-day contract value, not actual value) to free agents this offseason. All other major league teams combined haven't spent as much.

Yet this narrative ignores the fact that 17 of the 40 players on the Dodgers' roster are homegrown. Only seven — eight, once the Teoscar Hernández signing becomes official — were signed as free agents.

It also tends to skip over the fact that the team prioritizes clubhouse chemistry, not just signing or trading for the best available talents. As Muncy explained:

"That's something the Dodgers also care about: having clubhouse chemistry. That's something they've always been focused on when they bring in new faces. They like to do their homework and research on what kind of person they are, what kind of person they are in the clubhouse, what kind of person they are off the field. it creates a really fun environment, and it's a place that a lot of people want to be."

It's something to keep in mind the next time a talented Dodgers player finds his way to the trading block.