The comments did not reflect well on Adrian Gonzalez or Josh Beckett.
Questions about Josh Beckett's loss of competitive fire appear to be following him from Boston to Los Angeles.
That August salary dump by the Red Sox looks better than ever.
In a candid assessment of a team that is rewriting the standards of baseball payroll, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly took an apparent swipe at the players his team acquired from Boston.
"The Boston guys were so happy to be in LA that they didn't care what happened, it didn't feel like,'' Mattingly said in an ESPN.com story.
Mattingly's comments were mostly a before-the-fact criticism of expectations he feels are out of hand. The Dodgers payroll is expected to exceed $230 million in 2013, more than even the Yankees ever shelled out in a year.
The perception is strong that LA ownership is trying to buy a title, and that anything else will be considered a failure.
"That's tough (to do), because it's not easy. We're going to have to work hard and there are going to be a lot of hills to climb,'' said Mattingly, who predicted his star-studded team, like any team, will go through low points.
The most startling part of Mattingly's outburst, which will almost certainly be interpreted as sour-grapes-before-the-meal-even-starts by many people, was his look back at 2012.
The Dodgers started out in surprisingly fine form, a tribute to talent but more so to chemistry. Sensing an opportunity, ownership acquired a host of new players in midseason.
Hanley Ramirez, Shane Victorino and the Boston additions of Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and reserve player Nick Punto were added. So was Carl Crawford, who could not play due to injury.
The Dodgers failed down the stretch, especially with their offense, and missed the playoffs.
Mattingly didn't say it directly, but he sounded as if he would have preferred well enough to be left alone - without all the moves that added talent and salary but made the team a collection of strangers.
What adds to the drama, besides Mattingly's apparent effort to dispute expectations his own owners have made it a point to build, is that most of his less flattering references regarded players who will back on the team next spring - including Beckett and Gonzalez.
"Our guys were fighting every day and then, all of a sudden, you've got a whole new club and they don't really know the fight that you're in,'' Mattingly said on ESPNLA 710.
"They're coming from a different fight.They're happy to be out of the one they were in.
"The Boston guys were so happy to be in LA that they didn't care what happened, it didn't feel like.''
Mattingly tempered his comments with an optimistic statement that indicated the team will be more united toward a common goal, now that they will start a season together.
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see the interaction between the manager and Beckett and Gonzalez. It was no secret that each player treated the trade as a get-out-of-jail card.
It sent them from Boston's turbulent, controversial climate to a city known for its more relaxed attitude toward baseball. With all this money invested in the Dodgers, however, LA may no longer be Shangri-La for the player who wants to be handsomely paid but not hassled.
Mattingly's words certainly won't persuade skeptics to think again about suggestions that Beckett lost his competitive flair in Boston, and Gonzalez was not cut out to play in a high-stakes, demanding market - especially after each signed a long-term extension.
Beckett actually pitched well in Los Angeles. In seven starts, he was 2-3 with a 2.93, and only a lack of offensive support cost him more wins.
Gonzalez homered in his first Dodgers at-bat, then hit only two more in his other 35 games with Los Angeles. Both came in the same game.
He hit .297 with three home runs and 22 RBIs in 36 Dodgers games.