Thread: Los Angeles Dodgers - OFFICIAL SPRING TRAINING THREAD

Originally Posted by jbruin152

We have the best pinch runner in the league!

He's also the most expensive pinch runner

hell ****ing yea! Ethier deserves to start over that clown Pierre

Glad to hear Martinez is gone. I'm very surprised to hear Angel Chavez is there but I'm guessing he'll be cut soon. Kershaw was AWESOME today. (Kuroda also)
here is one of the pics I took. Picasa Web Albums - Bob - My Pictures

Great great news about the Pierre benching!!!!

Originally Posted by ASUcruz

There's a contradiction in these statements. On one hand Chan Ho got cut because spring training stats mean nothing. And Pierre got benched partly regardless of his contract.

But, Loaiza made the starting rotation mainly because of his contract, although he did reasonably well this spring as well. And Ethier got the nod partly because of his impressive spring performance and Juan Pierre not doing anything.

The difference is that Pierre was outplayed by Ethier last season and that carried over into ST with Pierre doing absolutely nothing with runners on base, with RISP and in general. I think he had more than a fair share of at bats and did nothing of any merit with them. Whereas ST stats on their own don't mean jack, when a player CONTINUES to struggle...it's hard to see him getting out of it when the season begins given that he's not been able to do it at the ST level.

The Dodgers don't know what Chan Ho has to offer this year. They don't. They haven't seen him in a Dodgers uniform in many years and from what they've gathered over his last few years, he's got very little to offer. So, in that case, I think you'd garner that his good ST would be something of an anomaly. In that case, I think it allows Loaiza to become the 5th starter by default even though he's struggled in ST. There's no one else who has outplayed him for the position. Kuo and Kershaw were non-factors in that I think The Dodgers are trying to be careful with how they push them this season in their respective leagues.

That's the difference when talking about the Pierre and Ethier situation... It's different altogether. People from the Dodgers organization know what Ethier has to offer. They know he's a quality player and ST was nothing out of the ordinary for him. It only cemented that the guy is doing the things he needs to do and doing continuing to do them successfully even when the stats don't count. When I say ST stats means ****, well, that's backed up by looking at Ethier's HR total. I don't think anyone's counting on him to be among the league leaders in HR this season and team leaders in RBI, but he's been good at the plate and on the field, whereas Pierre has struggled ever since donning a Dodgers uniform. Ethier's got a great track record since joining the Dodgers so they know what the kid has to offer and what to expect from him. They're not afraid to go with it over Pierre.

When I spoke of financials not getting in the way... I was referring to Colletti and McCourt having the brass to bench an overpaid Pierre. So, yes it is silly to think financials don't get in the way. They obviously do. You read wrong. (Or I wasn't clear.)
I'm just glad that the Dodgers front office agreed that it's more important (in the case of the 3rd outfielder's spot) to have the best player out on the field, regardless of who's being paid what.


And that's all I have to say about that.

Can we now call Pierre the bat boy?

Originally Posted by jbruin152

Can we now call Pierre the bat boy?

I hope the Dodgers' actual bat boy handles the bat a lot more often than Pierre does this year.