Editorial Note: No I'm not taking performance enhancing substances, for some reason I just hit a bunch of things to blog about roughly at the same time.
As a Dodger fan things are looking really good right now, the team (sans the last couple of games with Furcal out of the lineup) is playing very well and looks like they will compete with Arizona all year (the rest of the National League West being the bottom three teams in Baseball in this week's Power Rankings by ESPN). But there are a few troubling issues that the team really needs to address, and quite soon, if they are going to stay in contention and make the playoffs.
At the top of the list from my view is not Andruw Jones (but don't worry he's right behind). The top issue right now is the back end of the starting rotation. Loaiza is now on the DL and the reports are that the team will promote Clayton Kershaw sometime this week. That can only help. The thing that really killed the Dodger's last year was the four and five spots in the rotation. Right now, it is just the five spot. Billingsley is pitching the best on the staff right now, despite the really odd way Torre used him at the beginning of the season. Penny is a little off, Lowe you just never know from start to start, and Kuroda is demonstrating that he's a number four or five rotation guy (and may turn out to be another bad signing by Colletti). Even if Kershaw has some ups and downs, he is much more likely to keep the team in games than Loaiza. Kuo has been spectacular at times (but actually only against the New York Mets) and he hasn't really shown that he's a regular starter. The Dodgers are getting into the same problem as last year getting too deep, too often into the bullpen.
OK, now for Andruw Jones. We are about a quarter of the way through the season and this may be one of the biggest busts since Barry Zito. Jones is hitting about .170 with 1 home run and 4 rbi's. His mechanics at the plate are simply horrible. He seems to have no pitch recognition at all, he's striking out over 30% of the time and honestly with his current swing mechanics any hit he gets is entirely an accident. He's playing a functional center field (but certainly no better than Matt Kemp or Jason Repko would), but he's a constant inning killer. He's also clearly not in shape (he appears to be at least 30lbs over weight) and his bat speed is significantly slower than in the past.
So what is the answer? Well, they could follow the Padres example and simply release him (like San Diego just did with Jim Edmonds). Release him, recall Jason Repko, move Matt Kemp to center, Ethier in right and rotate Pierre and Repko in left. They could simply bench him and play Ethier (which seems like an easy decision, since Ethier is hitting over .300 with 3 home runs). But then you simply will have an annoyed, unproductive player taking a spot on the roster. They could discover that he's "injured," put him on the DL, work off the weight, work on his mechanics, and rehab him. Lose him for about six weeks and see if he can (or is willing to work) to be salvaged. If he turns around, great he's with the team from July on. If not, cut the loses and release him.
The current strategy of Joe Torre is to just keep playing him. Now perhaps this is being pushed by Colletti (who is on a run of bad to simply terrible signings in the last couple of years), but at some point it has to stop. Torre does favor veterans but Jones can't just be classified as in a slump; he is currently not a major league calibre player. Jones' liability has been highlighted the last few days when Furcal is out of the lineup and Kent has not been hitting. The Dodgers simply cannot carry him in the lineup.
That brings us to the last really big concern. Blake DeWitt is a great story and honestly right now there is no reason to make any changes at third base. I don't like the way Andy LaRoche has been handled by the Dodgers the last two years, but DeWitt has done more than enough to keep his job. That brings us to Nomar Garciaparra. The utter nonsense that Nomar should be given back the starting job when he is "healthy" is beyond belief. He can't help the team, he gets hurt constantly and forces the team to make adjustments. He's in the last half of the last year of his contract. If you can't trade him somewhere he wants, then release him. He presents no value to the team right now. Right now DeWitt is the starter and if his performance at the plate turns out to be a flash in the pan (which I doubt), then LaRoche is certainly ready.
Posted by Narnia3 at May 10, 2008 1:12 PM | TrackBack