1988 Los Angeles Dodgers Season - Offseason

Offseason

• December 11, 1987: Acquired Alfredo Griffin, Jay Howell and Jesse Orosco in a three-team deal with the Oakland Athletics and New York Mets for Bob Welch, Jack Savage and Matt Young
• January 29, 1988: Kirk Gibson was signed as a Free Agent.
• April 1, 1988: Acquired John Gibbons from the New York Mets for Craig Shipley

With the sub-par 1987 performance fresh in their minds, General Manager Fred Claire and Field Manager Tom Lasorda knew what needed to be fixed. They started the off-season by allowing poor performers such as Glenn Hoffman, Ken Landreaux and Phil Garner explore the free agent market. On December 11, 1987, Claire pulled the trigger on a trade that helped solidify the Dodgers’ defense and bullpen, despite giving up one of the top pitchers of the National League in 1987 in Bob Welch. The Dodgers acquired shortstop Alfredo Griffin and relief pitchers Jay Howell and Jesse Orosco in a three-team trade ironically with the Athletics and Mets, the two teams they would eventually defeat in the ’88 postseason. In an attempt to boost the offense for the upcoming season, the Dodgers signed Mike Davis on December 15, 1987. The biggest move of the off-season was still to come.

On January 29, 1988, the Dodgers signed free agent slugger Kirk Gibson from the Detroit Tigers. Gibson, who was a 9 year veteran at the time of the signing, was known for his power at the plate and speed on the basepaths, but was also brought in to be a clubhouse leader. To help solidify their roster the Dodgers went on to sign 21-year veteran pitcher Don Sutton and 20-year veteran catcher Rick Dempsey. Dempsey, known for his fiery personality, joined Gibson as the veteran clubhouse leaders.

It was Gibson, however, who would make the biggest impact. Some spring training instances brought this out, as follows:

-One day, newly acquired shortstop Alfredo Griffin was pitching batting practice and was lobbing his pitches to the plate, presenting no challenge to the hitters, at least on the pitches he got over the plate. A frustrated Gibson yelled, "Why the (expletive) do we take batting practice if we aren't getting anything out of it?"

-Preparing for his first spring training game as a Dodger, Gibson began his pregame warm-ups in the outfield. Taking off his hat to wipe sweat from his head, Gibson noticed people laughing. He soon realized that someone had greased the inside of his cap with eyeblack and he had unknowingly wiped it all over himself. He immediately took off for the visitors' clubhouse, warning manager Tommy Lasorda on the way, "Tommy, you find out (expletive) did this, because I'm going to tear his head off!" Lasorda tried to smooth things over, and culprit Jesse Orosco eventually tried to apologize, but to no avail.

-Finally, the Dodgers used to play a game called "flinch", where a person would fake throwing a punch at another and, if the other person flinched, the one who faked the blow would get to punch the other in the chest. Orel Hershiser tried this with Gibson, and Gibson responded by shoving Hershiser with his forearm ("forearm shiver") and telling him sternly, "I don't play 'Flinch'!"

All of the above instances served notice that Gibson came to the Dodgers to win, and if Gibson was going to be serious about it, all the other players had better be, too.

Key player from the 1987 team were also brought back. These players included right fielder Mike Marshall, center fielder John Shelby, catcher Mike Scioscia, Second Baseman Steve Sax, Utilityman Mickey Hatcher, and pitchers Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela, and Tim Leary.