Roster Analysis: Outfield
Ok I’m a few days late with this but better late than never right? Right…no? Ok.
Andre Ethier: He had everyone screaming “MVP!” before he broke his pinkie (another Dodger outfielder doing well until he got hit on his hand, is there a conspiracy?) and when he returned he wasn’t the same. Not only was he unlike his torrid start but he didn’t even hit like he did in years before so although his stats ending the season were solid, considering that he started off hitting .390 with 10 HR’s in his first 100 or so at bats and ended hitting only 290 with 23 HR’s with a total of 500 at bats, I’m worried that he could regress.
The good thing about Ethier though is that he’s a worker, the 31 HR’s he hit in 2009 were a huge surprise, no one expected that much power potential from Ethier (I know the A’s definitely didn’t!) and when you add that to the 42 2B’s he hit, he’s a pretty dangerous hitter. I’m expecting a return to his new norm which is…I don’t know ha, his numbers have jumped around. I’m hoping for 280-300 with 30+ HR’s and 100+ RBI’s, we really need his bat next season because I doubt we can pick someone up to help our offense improve much.
Matt Kemp: My favorite Dodger by far (next is Kershaw, just love to watch him pitch) people really get on him but you know what? He works, he loves this game and he plays hard, I know sometimes he looks as if he’s goofy or lackadaisical but I wonder if that’s just his smoothness more than being lazy. The fact is, he doesn’t HAVE to try that hard to be a good ball player. He could cruise and hit 290 20 HR’s every year but it’s for that reason I think that fans and management jump down his throat. It’s just like with any kid that you see has a ton of potential, you get upset when he’s not living up to it and just cruises just cuz they can (story of my life…).
Back to his review. He had a good season, even though his average and RBI’s went down I think it was more him not having a lot of line up protection with Ethier hitting worse than Kemp after he came back from the DL and no Manny for most of the year. So what happens? When Kemp comes up to bat, he’s the only batter in the line up you have to worry about so you focus on getting him out more than anyone else, so he gets tougher pitches and teams game-plan for him. Of course he’ll have to adjust to that type of thing to be the superstar we all believe he can be but this was the first season in which he was game-planned for so lets give the guy some slack for ONE year when he’s shown that he’s better than that one year.
Manny Ramirez: He couldn’t stay healthy, nuff said and just gave up on the team. When he was in the lineup he was invaluable and immediately made everyone better but without him, the Dodgers were pretty average, if not below average. That’s all I can really say about him, sad that we didn’t get anything for him in the waiver trade but who cares, he’s gone, I felt a huge weight off my shoulders when they moved him and became someone elses problem.
Xavier Paul: Another young player that Ned Colletti bashed on for no reason other than he’s young. Sometimes I wonder if he’s got something for young players and focuses on older players more than he should. This was one instance where the younger option was better than the vet option (Garret Anderson, who i won’t go over, he’s gone, we’re happy, he sucked, done) yet Colletti wouldn’t cut him and Torre kept playing him. Colletti even went as far to say he’s not major league material even after he played well defensively in the outfield and hit well enough to stay in the majors with a lot of teams in this league. Ya, he’s not great, he won’t be a world beater but he’s definitely 5th or even 4th outfielder material and deserves a shot at the LF or RF position next year (I think Ethier is better served in LF).
Reed Johnson: Was barely noticed, played well at times and was a solid backup and hit .301 versus left-handers and .292 as a pinch hitter and that’s where his main worth was along with his solid defense (no errors all season at all 3 OF positions). Really not much more to say about him, I’d definitely welcome him back tho.
Jay Gibbons: The guy everyone was screaming at Ned to promote from the minors when Garret was given his “respectful veteran due” by Joe Torre (meaning that cuz of what he DID not what he’s DOING, Joe kept allowing him to fail). He was a big surprise when he hit the majors and hit well enough to be resigned to the Dodgers next season. He wasn’t the greatest outfielder defensively and is streaky as a hitter but as long as no one expects him to be an everyday player, the Dodgers were smart to keep him. Don’t expect a repeat of what he did after he was called up though (see: Ronnie Belliard) but he’ll be solid enough to at least compete for a starting position in the OF but I don’t expect him to win it.
Scott Podsednik: A trade we maybe didn’t need to make. He was ok, loved the speed and outfield range but he’s not a real lead-off hitter. Just because he has speed doesn’t mean he should be at the top of the order. He strikes out a lot, doesn’t take a lot of pitches, don’t get on base much (.313 OBP with Dodgers) and I’m glad he didn’t take the option that the Dodgers presented and I hope he goes elsewhere, even though it’d be a waste of a prospect that we moved to get him, his negative impact to the team would be worse.
Buy Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets | Buy Los Angeles Dodgers Apparel
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
FEATURED PARTNERS
