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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
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If Somehow You Haven't Said Enough About DeWitt and LaRoche, This Is Your Thread
2008-07-20 06:50
by Jon Weisman

The debate over Blake DeWitt and Andy LaRoche has reached nauseating, intractable, Pierresque levels, with the two sides making no impact on each other. So the only thing I'll pass along is Joe Torre's rationale for his admitted preference for DeWitt, as told to Diamond Leung of the Press-Enterprise:

"A lot of the young guys, if they're not hitting well, will let it affect the other side," Torre said. "He (DeWitt) is pretty grounded.

"It's not affecting his defense. And he's going to give you an honest at-bat." ...

Torre said he was going by "feel" in choosing DeWitt to play the majority of the time.

"It probably worked against LaRoche that I've seen so much of DeWitt," Torre said. "It's not anything against LaRoche. Blake is filling the bill, so to speak."

Look, there's no two ways about it. LaRoche lost his job due to injury. There's nothing to indicate that LaRoche gives you a dishonest at-bat, or that he lets his hitting struggles affect his fielding. DeWitt just got a chance to earn his way into Torre's good graces. These things can change in a minute, but that's the story for now.

Comments
2008-07-20 07:07:36
1.   Andrew Shimmin
Is it okay to pitch time shares in this thread, too?
2008-07-20 07:17:03
2.   Ken Noe
Had Jon included Sweeney's activation, this thread could have run like Cats on Broadway.
2008-07-20 07:17:36
3.   Disabled List
Torre said he was going by "feel" in choosing DeWitt to play the majority of the time.

"It probably worked against LaRoche that I've seen so much of DeWitt," Torre said. "It's not anything against LaRoche. Blake is filling the bill, so to speak."

And with that, Joe Torre is officially Grady Little to me. Honeymoon's over, Joe.

2008-07-20 07:24:19
4.   D4P
There's really no mystery here. Torre is basing his decisions on criteria that most of us around here don't support.

Oh: and he gets paid $4 million a year.

2008-07-20 07:47:58
5.   Shaun P
We long-time Torre watchers (ie Yankee fans) know that this is how Joe makes many of his decisions: by feel. He is also quite loyal, and so I'm afraid that it will take DeWitt lying to Torre about an injury, or a DL trip for DeWitt, to change things.

Conspiracy theorists will tell you that whatever incriminating pictures of Torre that Scott Proctor, Tanyon Sturtze, and Miguel Cairo had are clearly now in DeWitt's possession.

2008-07-20 08:14:22
6.   max power
I'm a Let Andy Play guy, but I think the "lost his job to injury" line is not quite accurate. How do you lose something you never had to begin with? LaRoche lost a fair shot at the job due to injury, but he was never locked in to the position.

I'd love to see him get a decent stretch of starts to see what he can do.

2008-07-20 09:24:25
7.   MC Safety
6 If you've been following the Dodgers at all for the last couple of years, you'd know it was Andy's job.
2008-07-20 09:27:46
8.   MC Safety
How a sub 700 ops "fits the bill" for a Major League team lacking power is beyond me.
2008-07-20 10:21:21
9.   Mike De Leon
Jon isn't this a rule 3 violation? ; ^)

That's got to be one of the STUPIDEST things I've heard a manager say, recently at least. The fact is JOE, you don't know how Andy is going to react because you never play him and your 'honest effort' at 3B would have been benched last month by any other manager who wasn't brain dead.

6. While technically you're right, he wasn't the starter at 3B, there isn't any question that he would have been at the start of the season by the way he was outplaying Nomar in ST. Which of course begs the question as to what team torre was managing when Andy was tearing it up in the spring. That alone should be enough for torre to start him over DeWitt now.Then again just by the way DeWitt is playing most managers would have gone with LaRoche in June.

2008-07-20 11:34:59
10.   68elcamino427
Beltre is available. Acquire Beltre and end the debate.
2008-07-20 12:40:37
11.   Tripon
Until Beltre leaves as a FA at the end of the year.
2008-07-20 14:41:08
12.   lurkingdodger
I'm not sure if there are any Dodger fans who still support Joe Torre? He's proven that he is beyond his years with his constant references to obscure old-time 'baseball speak'. Going by "feel" means he plays whoever he likes better that day. It's ridiculous, and slightly childish. I think every scout would agree that LaRoche is more talented than DeWitt, but when your manager is approaching 70 none of that matters. Joe Torre may have deep knowledge of the game, and insights that none of us ever will know, but the man is past his twilight as a manager. Every Dodger blogger knows it, and probably many of the players know it. Grady Little part deux.
2008-07-20 18:01:34
13.   68elcamino427
11
Beltre is signed through 2009, no?
2008-07-20 18:41:31
14.   Eric Enders
5 Scott Proctor still has his.
2008-07-21 00:30:07
15.   JayB
3. If you don't like the fact that Torre is basing his decision (Dewitt over LaRoche) "by feel", how about if he bases his decision based on stats; how does that sound???

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