Ethier, Pierre, Kemp situation

I hope if Pierre can a million PA's Joey Gathright can at least get 400...
oh well. We know Pierre will get his 700+ this season.

....from Mr. Colletti, taken from interview with http://insidethedodgers.mlblogs.com:

I've got a question for Ned. Don't you think that the team would be better with Either as the everyday left fielder? After all he's a more complete player with some power, a better OBP, and a good throwing arm.
Posted by: fliegel@ptd.net | February 28, 2008 06:53 AM
Andre is developing into a very good player. As Joe and the staff get more acquainted with Andre and others, I'm confident they'll find a way to get a solid amount of at-bats from all the outfielders. There is another factor to consider as well and that is competition. There are many times that we feel a young player is better served when they must compete for a job and compete for playing time. The competition for playing time in the outfield will hopefully increase the focus and productivity of the entire group. We feel very fortunate that we have four proven outfielders plus Jason Repko and Delwyn Young. And there is always the injury factor to contend with as well. In the matter of a few minutes last Friday, we lost Andy Laroche for two months and nearly lost Nomar Garciaparra for a prolonged period of time. We would have went from having a perceived surplus at a position, to being almost without a clear cut choice. It can happen that fast. Today, we have some outfield depth as well as competition for playing time. The season is 162 games in length and many different unpredictable things will happen between now and the end.

Question for Ned. If you had it to do over, would you sign Pierre? I am sure he will say yes to save face but I think secretly he must be having second thoughts. At least on the length of the contract.
Posted by: jhall1218@yahoo.com | February 28, 2008 09:45 AM
It's constructive to point out where the club was when we signed Juan. With J.D. Drew opting out to Boston, we had one outfielder with every day Major League experience - and that was limited to four months. Andre Ethier was called up in May and had four good months and then struggled in September. He was the only outfielder on the Major League roster with an experience who had ended the 2006 season healthy. Prior to signing Juan, we made a strong bid to sign Soriano and Lee among others, but those players did not have an interest in playing in Los Angeles. If anyone is expecting Juan to carry the club, then we've signed the wrong player. We see him as a solid complementary player who has great speed and an admirable work ethic and with run-producing players around him in the lineup adds a strong deminision - without run production around him his value is dimininshed a lot. Last season, in my opinion, the club never got untracked. Even when we had the best record in the league in July, I didn't see it. I believe Furcal's injury added extra pressure to Pierre - especially when we remember how well Furcal played in 2006 for us. I think it was compounded by the middle of the order failing to deliever more with runners on and lacking power. We still feel that if Furcal and Pierre are healthy all season and if the middle of the order - Jones, Kent, Martin, Garciaparra, Loney and Kemp or Ethier produce in the clutch that Juan's value to the club increases dramatically. If the players fail to hit in the clutch in the middle of the order, and Juan is healthy and gets 200 hits and steals 60 bases, then Juan's value is diminished. As far as the duration of the contract is concerned, those terms are negotiated and sometimes you have to extend a player out longer than usual. If you look back at the history of our deals in the last three off-seasons, only Pierre's contract extends beyond three years. Many deals were for one or two years. I believe in negotiating the short-term deal whenever possible. From time to time, that's not possible and so you either sign the player or you pass. But at the end of the day, you'd better have big league players on your club. And the day before we signed Juan Pierre we didn't have one everyday player on the roster who had played more than one full season in the big leagues as an outfielder.

anyway, these quotes don't hold out tremendous hope that the Dodgers current plans are to sit Pierre over Ethier (notice the especially discouraging "Kemp or Ethier" quote in the middle of the second quote -- an ominous suggestion, though one i'm not sure was intentional).

at the same time, Colletti, in past interviews, and, to a lesser extent, in this interview, has suggested that he understands the basic economic concept of sunk cost.

furthermore, the biggest factor keeping Pierre in the lineup right now, i genuinely believe, is his stupid-ass consecutive games streak. however, this may be a blessing in disguise, as i have trouble seeing Torre allowing Pierre (who may be the worst of all the outfielders) to play every day when they'll be carrying 6 people who deserve at least a few ABs in the OF. and, once Pierre sits out ONE game, the band-aid has been ripped off -- it will be much easier to continue to let him sit games when Ethier is clearly outperforming him.

by no means is Pierre going to spend the season on the bench -- i think the best-case scenario is that he only gets 300-350 PAs. but that's a start.

as for Ethier, i've maintained in the past that this is NOT about the importance of getting Andre Ethier (who i believe is an average left-fielder at best) at-bats, but rather about preventing Pierre (who is a disaster) from getting them. Ethier's spring may make me revise my opinion. scouts have raved about him, and the stats (even if just spring stats) are impressive. from the little i can tell on the 400K MLB.TV broadcasts, i'd swear he bulked up a little, which would be HUGE for him (since the thing holding him back is that, despite his sweet line-drive stroke, i never thought he'd project for enough power to be a particularly good corner outfielder). for the time-being, i'll stay cautious, and quote Denny Green: i think he is who i thought he was, which is a player better than Pierre, but no one to write home about. but there is definitely some room for optimism here, and, if he keeps hitting for power as the season starts (even if, say, the batting average and/or OBP drop), i'd start getting really excited.

The hatin' of Pierre seems universal in the baseball punditry. I wonder whether Torre will send the message that a good guy with an impeccable work ethic who produces should sit for a younger version of Xavier Nady.

Given that Ned Colletti trained at the feet of Brian Sabean, his blatant disregard for a logical promotion timetable and ready willingness to screw with young players' development is no surprise.

Speaking strictly as a Giant fan, I wish Ned many more years of Dodger employment.