Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 06, 2007
Overstocked Outfield

The Dodgers jumped into the free agent market, signing centerfielder Andruw Jones. He gets $36.2 million for two years. Every time one of these good but not great players gets this kind of money, I'm more convinced Alex Rodriguez should have waited longer for a market to develop for him. If Hunter and Jones are worth $18 million a year, Alex is worth $36 million.

If you think this means the end of Juan Pierre, you're mistaken:

The Dodgers are expected to move weak-armed Juan Pierre to left field, leaving Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier for right. The surplus of outfielders could make either Kemp or Ethier expendable and the Dodgers are believed to have been asked for Kemp in trade discussions for several available pitchers, including left-hander Erik Bedard of the Baltimore Orioles.

An official for the Oakland Athletics said earlier in the day that the Dodgers weren't considered a viable trade partner for right-handers Dan Haren or Joe Blanton, but the potential availability of Kemp could change that.

Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said Wednesday the team needs to acquire a starting pitcher this winter.

The Dodgers best team would have both Kemp and Andre Ethier in the outfield. Pierre is signed to a long term contract, however. With his OBA gone, his power gone, and an arm of a left fielder, he's not exactly a marketable commodity. If Andruw's offense doesn't come back, this might end up looking like a very weak offensive outfield.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:47 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I'm mystified at how Pierre can even stay in the league, much less start. His .685 OPS last year is right in line with his .722 career OPS. I guess it's a classic case of the batting average illusion, combined with the equally classic overrating of stolen bases. Pierre might be the most valueless career .301 hitter ever.

Meanwhile, Kemp and Ethier, both with an .800+ OPS last year, will be forced to share right field to keep Pierre in the lineup? Insanity.

Posted by: Casey Abell at December 6, 2007 08:42 AM

Pierre's power is gone? I don't think he ever had power.

Posted by: Tom at December 6, 2007 09:07 AM

How about Ben Sheets? The Dodgers have kicked the tires on him at least once this week. Maybe Kemp or Ethier is the Brewers new LF.

Posted by: BobJ at December 6, 2007 10:02 AM

If I had the young outfield talent the Dodgers have, there's no way I would have signed Jones. (Well, I wouldn't have signed Pierre either, but that's water under the bridge.) Now that the deal is done and two-thirds of their outfield is spoken for, Colletti has to get busy and trade away some of the young OFs while they still have value.

Several years ago, the Twins' system was bursting with young outfielders -- Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Lew Ford, Michael Restovich, Bobby Kielty, Michael Cuddyer, and one or two others. The Twins could have made a couple of productive trades, at the time when these guys were at their peak value. Instead, the organization stood pat. The prospects got older; some became productive major-leaguers, some didn't. But the Twins had let their opportunity pass by. Colletti should avoid making the same mistake.

Posted by: jvwalt at December 6, 2007 10:38 AM

Put Pierre's ass on the bench.

Posted by: geb4000 at December 6, 2007 12:32 PM

Ugghhh... OK, maybe last year was a total fluke for Jones, but if not, this looks like the crappiest of crappy deals. When will the Dodgers get somebody who knows how to spend money wisely, and not just spend money?

Posted by: Adam Villani at December 6, 2007 01:33 PM

Put Pierre's ass on the bench.

Put Pierre's ass in the unemployment line. The idiot contract that Collett signed him to is already gone and wasted, and in left field he's way below replacement value. Let some other team uselessly burn outs by playing him if they're so inclined.

Posted by: M. Scott Eiland at December 6, 2007 05:49 PM

Jones was 65th out of 75 qualifiers in the NL in OPS last year and he got 2 yrs at 18m - what a country!

Posted by: Bandit at December 6, 2007 09:00 PM

A-Rod could have gone elsewhere for more money, most likely. But he would have lost a lot of cash in endorsements, since he would be off the national/NY stage.

Posted by: JeremyR at December 6, 2007 10:54 PM
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