Friday, January 18, 2008 |
Writers Strike At Dodger Stadium? 2008 In Reruns
Torre said his conversation with Pierre was similar to one he had with Bernie Williams as manager of the New York Yankees.This of course means Pierre's noodle arm will make regular appearances in left, and he'll get plenty of opportunities to exhibit his gross incompetence there, at least compared to his peers (especially his offensive peers). If the "streak" becomes an excuse to leave him start in left, the Dodgers decision-making process has gotten no better than it was under Grady Little. I like to take into consideration the possibility that managers get perverse pleasure from showing up the GM by making bad but expensive players run out there every day, but that seems too self-destructive to be true."I just basically said to him what I said to Bernie Williams when we signed Kenny Lofton: 'We're going to do what's best for the team and when we leave spring training, it's going to be with the three guys playing the outfield that we all agree will give us the best shot,' " Torre said.
Pierre has played in 434 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues. Whether that will be a consideration when drawing up the lineup, Torre said, will depend on a combination of what's best for the team and how much the streak means to Pierre.
Torre said that if Pierre is in the lineup, he and Rafael Furcal would probably hit in the first two spots -- not necessarily in that order -- because their speed would distract opposing pitchers.
These days, the good things about the Dodgers -- Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton -- generally outweigh the bad things, so I shouldn't complain too much. They've got a good young core, so long as management is willing to let them grow into the starting jobs they seem destined for. Some of them will not make it, it's true, but that should never be an excuse to keep known boat anchors like Pierre from gumming up the process.
Update: SOSG points us to ESPN fantasy columnist Eric Karabell's doleful prediction that exactly this will happen:
Matt Kemp, Dodgers: His minor league stats scream emerging superstar, and I think Kemp will likely get there. How can Joe Torre keep him out of the lineup? Well, he can. Kemp needs to have a good spring and produce like a middle-of-the-order hitter, or else Andre Ethier will steal at-bats. What about Juan Pierre, you ask? Look, the guy has a monster contract and while he isn't a good fielder or, for that matter, much of a hitter, what he does he does well, and I don't see Torre benching Pierre. He's going to bat second and steal his normal 50 bases. Andruw Jones is a nice comeback candidate, and starts regularly for his run production and defense. Kemp should beat out Ethier, or a trade will solve this situation, but the bottom line is unless I can project more than 500 plate appearances for Kemp, and right now I can't, I can't project the 25-90-15 season we'd all love.
Labels: dodgers
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