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Thursday, February 14, 2008 |
Joe Sheehan On The Dodgers' Spring
Joe Sheehan previews the Dodgers' spring training:
Where: Vero Beach, Florida (Grapefruit League)
2007 record: 82-80 (4th, NL West)
New guys: Gary Bennett, Andruw Jones, Hiroki Kuroda
Gone guys: Luis Gonzalez, Mike Lieberthal, Mark Hendrickson, Ramon Martinez (NRI), Olmedo Saenz, David Wells, Randy Wolf
Wow, he’s still here? Esteban Loaiza was lousy (8.34 ERA in five starts) after being acquired at the waiver-trade deadline in August. However, his contract runs another year, so he’ll be at the back end of the rotation.
Winter grade: B
The Jones signing was an excellent case of buying low, and Kuroda’s contract is a good gamble given the price of MLB free agent starting pitchers. Better still, the Dodgers avoided making another bad trade, retaining all of their young talent.
NRI to watch: Not that the Dodgers need another outfielder, but John-Ford Griffin is in camp. The one-time first-round pick is now a 28-year-old with no upside. However, and take this with a grain of salt, he has a career line of .304/.370/.696 in 27 plate appearances. Aren’t you just a little curious?
Job battle to track: There are four outfielders for three spots, and it’s excruciatingly clear to anyone familiar with baseball who ranks fourth among them. However, the likelihood that the Dodgers relegate Juan Pierre to a bench role is nil. Every PA he takes from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier is a mistake.
One move to make: Trading Pierre for whatever he’ll bring back, even if it means eating $10-15 million. Pierre would actually be a decent extra outfielder; it’s just not likely that the Dodgers would do that, or that he would be all that happy in the role. Having Pierre around just increases the chance that he’ll take time away from better players. There are people who don’t like it when we say players aren’t good, and saying this about a known nice guy like Pierre tends to fire up the opponents of performance analysis. Playing him regularly on a corner is just baseball malpractice, however, and the Dodgers have to avoid that temptation.Ned Colletti has squandered a fair amount of Logan White’s work in his time as the Dodgers’ GM, but he avoided doing so this winter. Thanks to that, he heads into the spring with his best team, and with the best chance of having that team play. There remains the need to push Pierre and Nomar Garciaparra into supporting roles, the latter so that OBP machine Andy LaRoche can take over at third base. The “right” Dodger lineup can win 94 games and the division. How Joe Torre apportions playing time in a situation not dissimilar to the 1996 Yankees will determine whether the Dodgers fulfill their potential.
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