Unless those things are in center field.

Peirre has lowered the standard for CF defense to a point that Kemp can stay above it meaning if Ethier continues to hit with some power and play great defense, Kemp now only has to hit with power to be a better choice in CF.

Betemit is everything Loney could hope for.

ss Furcal
rf Ethier
cf Kemp
3b Garciaparra
2b Kent
1b Loney
c Martin
lf Pierre/Gonzo

I would flip flop Martin and Ethier, but one has to admit that it would be a nice change. However, Pierre is not a LF. That is the second easiest position on the defensive spectrum and below average hitting center fielder becomes a soul crushingly bad left fielder.

Good write up Jon. That is pretty much exactly how I feel.

I wish rosters could be expanded by one. Then we could try out a Betemit/La Roche platoon. Or, yeah, bring up Loney, move Nomar. We'll see something happen in a month, I'd wager, if the production continues to not be there. I'd like the above line-up, too, but a Pierre Gonzo platoon is likely a pipe dream. As is my Kemp-Pierre platoon dream.

By putting Gonzo and Peirre in left it allows them to play there until June when maybe Pierre can be traded. If Kemp is going to be the longer range solution in CF he should be playing there now and not wait for Pierre to be traded.

So far, Wilson Betemit goes to 1.

ERA 1.46
W-L 3-1
SVS 2
IP 12.1
SO 18
League Avg. againt him .167

Not to shabby if you ask me. why am i posting this you ask? i just really wanna see him pitch at Dodger Stadium already!

JaMarcus Russell has the worst decision making this side of George Armstrong Custer.

I watched quite a few LSU games last year. Russell is a physical god, be he scares the heck out of me.

I think Maurice Clarett has made worse decisions in his life.

I can't wait until JaMarcus' ability to throw the ball from his back 40 yards is actually utilized. I bet Chris Peterson could dream up some way to take advantage of that.

I cheated off IMDB to get it exactly correct.

Plus, Len Bias beats Clarett. Mo gets out of prison in 4 years. Bias merged with the infinite.

Start LaRoche at 3b, and let Betemit be the utility player he always has been. I dont think Nomar should switch positions.

If Kemp is not a CF then (after last night) let's put Ethier there.

Thanks for that analysis. :)

In fact, I'm pretty sure most of his injuries in recent years have occurred while he's either been hitting or running the bases. I don't think his position in the field has had anything to do with it.

When they intentionally walked Gonzo in the ninth my immediate thought was, "bad move; Martin's gonna make 'em pay" and he did. What a player this kid's turning out to be. Still can't believe he's only got about a full season of service under his belt.

Watching Ethier make some outstanding plays on defense this past week makes me think of him as a baby Jim Edmonds.

As for Billingsley, the kid's clearly got good stuff and a mountain of potential, but man, that first inning of relief was brutal. He's already had a number of spotty outings so far and while I suppose he's still getting acclimated to his role as a reliever and we should all be patient as he adjusts, I can't help but hold my breath any time Little puts him into tie or 1 or 2 run games.

I still have faith that any day now Betemit's going to bust out of his funk. It's kind of exciting in way. He's like the Mount Rainier of ballplayers -- dormant now, but with the potential to explode at any moment.

i agree with much of jon's post too.

Somebody will rush up to grab Quinn in the next three or four picks.

Dude, the guy didn't get drafted as early as he thought he would. He didn't contract AIDS.

Sign and trades are basically unnecessary in MLB unlike the NBA because there is no salary cap restricting what a team can offer. If you mean a mid-season trade where he is signed to an extension, you can pretty much bet this won't happen. Scott Boras is his agent and will set up a bidding war in the off-season

But Tex is a Boras guy, so extensions...Not so much.

"Should the Dolphins have passed on Brady Quinn?"

Voters are given one response option: "Yes"

It must have been a good move then.

That is a yellow alert.

12 years later, I'm still a bitter, bitter man.

Kurt Warner ended my bitterness, but Mike Martz rekindled it a few years later.

I'm still trying to figure out what that meant? Do teams draft "unaggressively?" Do they say "We don't want a good player who has no leverage about joining us. We'll just take some third-string DB...."

I've been thinking along those lines ever since the day Kemp got hurt and was going to ask what this group thinks of Ethier in center. The thing I noticed about the play was that just before Kemp hit the wall the ball "clanged" off the heel of his glove. To me, a ball that hits the HEEL of an outfielders glove is a ball that has been misjudged and should have been caught. Granted, he hit the wall so hard that he most likely would have dropped it anyway. But my point is that he misjudged it in the first place. While Kemp is the faster of the two Ethier appears to be the better defensive outfielder. And after watching Lofton/Pierre I would consider Ethier a big improvement even though he doesn't have their speed.

That's because he's not really a reliever. If a starter came in and allowed three runs in the first inning, obviously it's not good, but he has time to recover, as Billingsley did in his second inning.

However, I don't disagree at all with having him in the pen. That's a good place for him to build up some experience with the hitters he's going to be facing for the next 10 years. There are going to be bumps along the way, but I'm glad Little is showing him some patience. His predecessor would not have done that.

The middle-relief role was a good discipine for Hendrickson in the reverse direction. When the bell rings now, he's ready, from the first pitch. That's where Billingsley has to get to. The way he pitched the 7th inning after such a bad 6th made me think things are going to be more than okay with him, but he has to get to that level of competitiveness from pitch one.

It's annoying that some folks will categorically deny this possibility and claim that Kemp/Ethier are "not centerfielders", while simultaneously taking Pierre's centerfielderness as given and not subjecting it to any kind of scrutiny.

Seems to me that the primary reason Pierre is considered a natural centerfielder is that there's really no other place on the field he can play, and if one thinks his offense is so important that a place on the field for him must be found, centerfield is the only place you can really reasonably put him.

The combination of his left-handedness and noodle-armedness pretty much rule out RF, 2B, SS, 3B, C, and P. That leaves 1B, CF, and LF. While he probably could be inserted at 1B or LF, the offensive opportunity costs would be enormous. That leaves CF, which he's not even very good at.

I think the Dodgers brass is in "Kemp/Ethier are not centerfielders" camp. How else can you explain giving Juan Pierre a 5-year contract? Based on actual defensive ability, Kemp and Ethier should have been given a chance to win the job but Pierre has essentially blocked that from being a possibility.

If the Dodgers thought either of those guys could have been the team's centerfielder as early as 2008, Juan Pierre should not have been signed.

We were all crushed when we signed the player. He's been a disaster. I tried, for the first few weeks, to not say anything. But it just keeps getting worse, and we're all still so bitter. I agree that it's repetitive...But that's a reflection of how we feel.

The player is pretty much Fredo to me anyways.

I do not see Garciaparra moving to 3rd unless Betemit got hurt for the season. Even then, I think that LaRoche would be given the chance if he picks it up in the minors.

I understand that, but trading him for Mr. Repetitive isn't the way to go.

BTW: Does anyone here remember the Eddie Rabbitt song from the 80s entitled "Repetitive Regret"? Just asking.

Huzzah!

Not to harp on Pierre, but I believe the signing was done as much as a competive block (our GM's opinion not mine) so SF or the Angels couldn't get him.

As a way to solve the 3rd base and centerfield problem in a real world practical sense-and that means Nomar won't be moved to 3rd, would there be any possibility to get either Blalock from the Rangers or Zimmerman from the Nats. I doubt it, but would be worth exploring.

I am unsure about LaRoche this year, might even consider seeing if we could get Beltre back

Zimmerman isn't moving. The Nationals are building around him. I really don't see the Dodgers making a move for a 3B just because LaRoche should be a full-time player next year (or possibly by mid-season).

Also how do either of those trade possibilities solve the CF problem? I do believe there is a problem but Pierre is here to stay so we might as well just get accustomed to him.

Kemp and/or Ethier could not possibly be worse than Pierre defensively in CF.

Martinez/Anderson/Seanez are the best candidates for a DFA when Kemp comes back.

With the Dodgers light hitting offense the team goes as the starting pitching goes. If the SP is on then the team has a chance. If the SP is having a bad day the odds are very long for a win. The bullpen can only prevent runs, not score them.

Why? No idea.

jujibee mentioned we might have to sweeten the deal & throw in a good prospect so a team could budge.

And his handle starts with an X which is really cool.

And I think he doesn't like Jimmy Clausen, but I might be mistaken.

That might be an option in 2009 if we cover some salary too. But, Pierre's here to stay (my guess) at least through the first 2 years of his deal.

Thanks!