Diamondback Jay
Psalms 23:1
Each night I'm going to chronicle an NL West team and discuss several of the big question marks facing the team as they head in to Spring Training and beyond.
Tonight, I start in Tinseltown.
Los Angeles Dodgers
What Becomes Of The Dodgers' Log Jam In The OF?
The Dodgers face an interesting dilemma. Obviously, they didn't give Andruw Jones an 18.1 million dollar yearly contract to sit the bench, so he's got one of the OF spots (specifically CF) tied up. Ideally, I think the Dodgers would rather trade Juan Pierre and go with their young guns more than anything, but Pierre's contract plus value as a base stealer make him tough to part with. So, more or less this becomes a question of which of their young guns gets sent packing, Kemp or Ethier? On one hand, Kemp has tremendous upside and that dreaded potential to be an All-Star, if not one of the top OF in the game. Yet, he's very much a work in progress, even though he started to show some glimpses of that promise last season. Ethier on the other hand is a classic "what you see is what you get" type players and may at this point be the safe bet.
So, you're Joe Torre and Ned Colletti.. Which avenue do you go? Do you go with the safe pick or the potential pick?
This seems to be a question that will be surrounding the Dodgers most of the season, or until either Kemp is traded or he wrestles the job away from Ethier.
Other Questions
- Will Jason Schmidt be able to bounce back and live up to his contract? He clearly has the talent to be a top of the rotation pitcher, but is perhaps the biggest injury risk player in baseball. I can honestly say, a healthy Jason Schmidt puts the Dodgers up there as a legitimate threat to win the NL West.
- How long will Andy LaRoche serve as understudy to Nomar Garciaparra? Nomar's surely going to start out the season, however sooner or later Torre's going to have to give the kid his chances to show if he's capable of living up to his prospect billing. Knowing Nomar's recent history, it might be a matter of time before he pays his annual trip to the DL, so it's entirely possible that LaRoche could get the job for good sooner than later anyhow.
Tonight, I start in Tinseltown.
Los Angeles Dodgers
What Becomes Of The Dodgers' Log Jam In The OF?
The Dodgers face an interesting dilemma. Obviously, they didn't give Andruw Jones an 18.1 million dollar yearly contract to sit the bench, so he's got one of the OF spots (specifically CF) tied up. Ideally, I think the Dodgers would rather trade Juan Pierre and go with their young guns more than anything, but Pierre's contract plus value as a base stealer make him tough to part with. So, more or less this becomes a question of which of their young guns gets sent packing, Kemp or Ethier? On one hand, Kemp has tremendous upside and that dreaded potential to be an All-Star, if not one of the top OF in the game. Yet, he's very much a work in progress, even though he started to show some glimpses of that promise last season. Ethier on the other hand is a classic "what you see is what you get" type players and may at this point be the safe bet.
So, you're Joe Torre and Ned Colletti.. Which avenue do you go? Do you go with the safe pick or the potential pick?
This seems to be a question that will be surrounding the Dodgers most of the season, or until either Kemp is traded or he wrestles the job away from Ethier.
Other Questions
- Will Jason Schmidt be able to bounce back and live up to his contract? He clearly has the talent to be a top of the rotation pitcher, but is perhaps the biggest injury risk player in baseball. I can honestly say, a healthy Jason Schmidt puts the Dodgers up there as a legitimate threat to win the NL West.
- How long will Andy LaRoche serve as understudy to Nomar Garciaparra? Nomar's surely going to start out the season, however sooner or later Torre's going to have to give the kid his chances to show if he's capable of living up to his prospect billing. Knowing Nomar's recent history, it might be a matter of time before he pays his annual trip to the DL, so it's entirely possible that LaRoche could get the job for good sooner than later anyhow.
