PHOENIX — Look around the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse at Camelback Ranch, and there are stars everywhere you turn.
There are three Most Valuable Player award winners in Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The room is filled with 13 All-Stars.
There’s manager Dave Roberts, who has the best winning percentage of any manager with at least 1,000 games.
There’s president Andrew Friedman, perhaps the finest executive in the game.
There are nine division titles, three National League pennants and a World Series championship trophy sitting in their trophy case from the last 10 years.
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They have won at least 104 games in four of the last five full seasons, including a franchise-record 111 victories last season.
And yet here they are, dismissed like a Toyota Corolla in a National League parking lot full of Mercedes.
The Dodgers no longer are baseball’s Shangri-La, overshadowed by the free-spending San Diego Padres in the West, and the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta in the East.
The Dodgers led the league in payroll the past two seasons, but decided to keep costs down this winter by spending just $44.5 million in free agency – and folks believe they have morphed into the Pittsburgh Pirates.
It’s as if they spent the winter shopping at Walmart while everyone else hung out at Oscar de la Renta, letting free agents Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger and Tyler Anderson walk and replacing them with bargain-basement deals for Noah Syndergaard, J.D. Martinez, David Peralta, Jason Heyward, Alex Reyes and Shelby Miller.
How quickly they forget.
“It’s just the nature of the beast,’’ Kershaw tells USA TODAY Sports. “I think the people that make the biggest splashes in the offseason have the most excitement coming into spring training. It just so happens that we usually are those guys doing that.
“It is a little bit of a different perspective for us this spring training, which may not be a bad thing.’’
The Dodgers may still be be a juggernaut, but when you don’t know who will be your starting center fielder or closer, have questions at three infield positions and must rely on unproven pitchers for depth in the rotation, it’s easy to see why the Padres are considered the darlings of the West.
The Dodgers, for the first time in a decade, back in the days when Frank McCourt nearly ran the organization into bankruptcy, may no longer be the overwhelming favorites to win the division.
“I don’t mind it,’’ Roberts says. “I think that the smartest people in the room know that you don’t win a postseason in the winter. So, a lot of teams are getting a lot of [attention], which is great, but I know our guys believe we still have a good ballclub.’’
Roberts doesn’t plan to come out and boldly predict the Dodgers will win the World Series like a year ago, but if you ask him, he still believes they’ll be the last ones standing.
“I think the expectations might be more tempered in the media or the industry,’’ Roberts says, “but I don’t think the players or anyone else in the organization doesn’t expect us to be the champions.’’
The Dodgers will tell you they are more amused than angered by the disrespect.
You want to count ‘em out, feel free.
Just don’t expect to be invited back on the bandwagon when the Dodgers are rolling all summer.
“It makes no difference to me,’’ catcher Will Smith says. “We still feel like we have the best team in baseball. We don’t really focus on any other team but ourselves.’’
Indeed, there are players in the Dodgers clubhouse who avoid uttering that dirty word: Padres.
“It’s kind of comical,’’ veteran reliever Blake Treinen says. “It’s interesting that when you think of teams that are successful year in and year out, people are looking for a way to crave new attention. You know the teams. At the end of the day, it’s all what happens on the field.
“The way they handle things in LA, you can never count out the Dodgers, not with all of the great players and all of the talent in this clubhouse. There’s a lot of good teams out there, but at the end of the day it comes down to health, talent, and luck.
“We’re going to be fine, just fine.’’
The Dodgers still have one of the best farm systems in baseball and can trade whatever assets they want at the trade deadline, but they also have some tricks up their sleeve – like Syndergaard.
The way he looks this spring, with his velocity jumping back up to 96-mph and higher, he could turn out to be the free-agent pickup of the year for just $13 million.
“The Dodgers are the best at player development,’’ Syndergaard says, “and turn guys around. I know I have a lot left in the tank, and there’s a lot to unlock. Last year, I went out and competed (10-10, 3.94 ERA) by most standards, but it wasn’t up to my standard of performance. I want to dominate, not just get by. I want to thrive, not just survive.
“I feel completely different. Just being here, this aura, this vibe, this kind of swagger with the culture, it inspires all of us.’’
And, yes, a little chip on those broad shoulders doesn’t hurt, either.
“We never really cared when we were the subjective favorite,’’ Kershaw said, “and we really don’t care that we’re not now. I think with [the Padres] getting their attention, it’s just a different vibe.
“That might not necessarily be a bad thing.’’
Kershaw broke into an expansive grin. No further words were necessary.
In loving memory
Center fielder Bernie Williams delighted New York Yankee fans for 16 years, winning four World Series championships, becoming a five-time All-Star, and having his plaque in Monument Park.
He has had a brilliant music as a jazz guitarist, and has been nominated for a Grammy award.
He still assists the Yankees today, and will be a guest instructor this spring.
But perhaps his greatest satisfaction in life is honoring his late father, Bernabe Williams Sr., who died May 14, 2001, by raising awareness for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
“It was devastating,’’ Williams told USA TODAY Sports. “He became a shell of what he was. The disease ate him alive. He was drowning every day from it and ultimately died from it.
“He never complained, always had a positive outlook, and had so much dignity to the end. I could not have possibly had a better father. I think about him every single day, and I knew the best thing I could do was give back one day.’’
Here he is now, raising awareness for the deadly disease with the Tune in to Lung Health campaign.
If his father had been made aware of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, it just might have saved his life.
“It was so devastating to see what my dad went through,’’ Williams said, “I don’t want to see it happen to anyone. I just want to educate people and gets a diagnosis because it’s so often misdiagnosed as a cough or asthma or something.
“There were so many misdiagnoses with my dad. He had this dry cough, and he was always fatigued. We thought it was a bad cold that became bronchitis or asthma or pneumonia. It turns out he was misdiagnosed for five years.’’
Williams’ hero was his father. He was there playing catch and throwing batting practice to Bernie growing up in Puerto Rico. He was at all of Bernie’s World Series games, celebrating with h