Magic Making Magic

(From left to right) Gonzalez, Beckett, and Crawford

When Magic Johnson and his crew bid for the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team was headed in the wrong direction. The previous owner had driven the organization to bankruptcy and on top of that the team hadn't made the playoffs in the past two seasons. When Magic and his team were finally awarded the Dodgers in March 2012, everything changed.

The team unexpectedly got off to a great start and haven't looked back since. They currently are 2 games out of first place to the San Francisco Giants, but the team has recently just made their third blockbuster deal of the season. The first occurred at the trade deadline when Magic traded for Miami Marlins' Hanley Ramirez. The guy was a big time player a few years ago and still has many great years ahead of him, but the Marlins and Ramirez's relationship was fading. Since that trade, Ramirez has gone from a .246 hitter to a .296 hitter and in 29 games already has 31 RBI's.

The second trade was made on the day of the trade deadline, when the Dodgers acquired outfielder Shane Victorino from the Philadelphia Phillies. Victorino is a very solid player, who covers a lot of range in the outfield, while also being a good hitter that gives pitchers nightmares on the base paths.

Legend.

Now on top of those trade, the Dodgers just made another move with the dwindling Red Sox (check out MillMeek22's article on Sox.) This was another "win now" move by Magic by acquiring stud first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, ace Josh Beckett, and a beat up Carl Crawford. I love this trade for them. Gonzalez is one of the premier first basemen in the league and if they can keep Beckett motivated I believe he will go back to his old dominating form. Crawford on the other hand, used to be an amazing player in Tampa Bay a few years ago but has been injury-riddled in his time with Boston. Even though Crawford is still young, he hasn't shown anything in the past 2 seasons and had recently been shut down for the season before the trade with Tommy John surgery.

Either way, the Dodgers still have a deadly lineup if you add in Matt Kemp who is arguably the best hitter in the league and Andre Eithier. Their one through five in Victorino, Eithier, Kemp, Gonzalez, Ramirez, is arguably the best in the league. Also, their pitching staff of reigning Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, Beckett, Chad Billingsley, and Chris Capuano is not bad if they make it into the playoffs. That being said, they still have to get there.

One Last Thing: Could Magic be any more of the man? He dominated the basketball court for a number of years, racking up triple doubles like nobody's business. He then gets HIV but not AIDS, simply because he doesn't want it. After that, he retires but still gets selected to the All Star game and the Olympics and wins MVP and a gold medal respectively. Finally, just for something to spend money on, he buys the Dodgers, gets great players and is leading them toward the playoffs. Boss.