The Dodgers just lost a game to Arizona to fall 2 behind in the NL west. This isn't great but it is also not a huge concern. Billingsley pitched a great game into the 8th when one pitch was up and went out for a home run. Billingsley continues to impress with his pitching.
What is troubling a bit about the Dodgers, both the managerial decisions by Grady Little and the personnel decisions by Ned Colletti is the clear reluctance to play the younger players. It seems like only injuries or changes that they are almost forced into are the way the young players get in.
For example, tonight. Jeff Kent is hurt and so the Dodgers start Ramon Martinez (again) at second base. This is even though they just brought up Delwyn Young from AAA (where he was hitting about .343, 16 home runs, and 79 RBI's (and Young is a Second Baseman). What did the Dodgers do tonight? They have Luis Gonzales (who has looked terrible at the plate for about a week) take the night off and put Young in left field (instead Either who is hitting nearly .300 and always hits left handed pitching well). Martinez is a good spare part for a team, but he's hitting less than .200. James Loney probably needed a rest, but this is an important series for the Dodgers, so Loney sits and Olmedo Seanz plays first. Seanz is hitting less than .200 and is showing signs of becoming expendable (and about 50 lbs overweight).
Was a lineup with Martinez and Seanz (with Nomar) playing; Young playing out of position, and Either and Loney on the bench really the best that Little could put on the field to start an important series?
It is also good to remember that Russell Martin would only have gotten into the lineup last year because of an injury and the fact the Dodgers had no other choices. Billingsley was wasted the first half of this season in the bullpen while we suffered through the combined inconsistency of Mark Hendrickson and Bret Tomko. It takes an injury to Randy Wolf to get Billingsley firmly into the rotation, although we still suffer with Hendickson and Tomko despite having Eric Stults languishing in the bullpen. Even James Loney was only called up and given the first base job when it was clear that something had to be done to get more hitting.
The team spends $3 million to sign a 43 year old Roberto Hernandez, who has done exactly zero since he was called up; despite the fact that they have Jonathan Meloan having a great year at AA and now posting very good numbers in AAA, and he remains in AAA while we watch Hernandez give up more runs. They also have Eric Hull who sits and gets used inconsistently.
The signing of both Luis Gonzales and Juan Pierre were odd to me, especially after Either had such a good year last year in left field. Now, both have hit well, even though their combined poor defense still annoys me to no end. They are both below average defensive outfielders (Gonzalez now because of age has limited range and now a far below average throwing arm), Pierre maybe the worst throwing arm of any center fielder in baseball and only his speed makes up for poor jumps and odd routes to the ball. But that being said, they have both helped the club offensively.
Every team needs balance (although I think the balance between olders and younger players is a little over rated) but it really only works when the older players can still play well. When a team goes out to get players to play where younger players have already demonstrated at the big league level they can perform (Loney, Either, and Billingsley [who was 7-3 as a starter last year, hardly a poor performance]) I would contend that despite what those players may say for public consumption, it is a frustration and discouragement when they either go back to the minors, sent to the bullpen or are replaced by an aging and now inferior player (can anyone argue that Either would not have better all around numbers than Gonzales if he were playing everyday?).
I have been critical of Nomar (who was resigned for $8.5 million in what was clearly a panic signing after J. D. Drew fled for more money) this season and people wonder why since he is hitting about .280 and leading the NL in RISP average. But I contend (despite his recent three home runs), that it's a mirage. Of his 105 hits, only 20 are for extra bases (15 doubles and 5 home runs). So with 105 hits he only has 139 total bases! Andy LaRoche was brought up for a little while, but never really given a chance to play consistently. LaRoche right now is an upgrade in offense and Nomar is an upgrade over Seanz (or Martinez) on the bench. With either of those two being designated for assignment.
I think the Dodgers will win the NL west and do well in the post season. If they hit a hot streak (which they really have not done yet this year, I mean like a 9-1 or 15-3 run) they could easily end up with the best record in the NL. But somewhere along the line they have to trust in their younger players, who for the most part could hardly do any worse than some of the veterans they insist on using now.
Ned Colletti worked under Brian Sabean with the Giants (and apparently picked up some of Sabean's tendencies to favor older players), but if Colletti would take a look at the Giants he can see where that philosophy will take a team. The Giants are certainly the oldest and perhaps the slowest team in baseball. Poor fielding (good fielding average only because they make the plays they can get too with below average range at almost every position), and no base running ability to speak of.
Now, the Giants have an excuse, they don't have a minor league system full of good prospects); but the Dodgers have no excuse. Colletti spent way too much money on older, unproductive players and he's stuck with them (unless he learned the obvious hypnotic ability of Sabean, who got the Pirates GM Dave Littlefield to not only take Matt Morris, but his entire salary off his hands). They are stuck with $8.5 million to Nomar and $7 million to Luis Gonzalez for next year (that's a good percentage that could go towards A-Rod). We'll give him a pass on the $7.5 million to Juan Pierre, although that was probably 2 years and about $2 million a year too much. The $15 million for Jason Schmidt was acceptable and his shoulder injury was not entirely predictable, those things happen. But then between Roberto Hernandez ($3 mil), Mark Hendickson ($2.9 mil) and Brett Tomko ($4.1 mil), that's a lot of Mr. McCourt's money that could have been spent a lot more wisely.
Resisting the temptation to trade good prospects for marginal short term results is good, but only if you are going to use the prospects! The Dodger motto, "Think Blue!" is great, but Colletti and Little need something on their desks that says: "Think Youth!"
Posted by Narnia3 at August 3, 2007 10:24 PM | TrackBack