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The analysis will come later, and we’re not sure yet who was involved in the deals, but just to getthe news up, according to MLBTR, the Dodgers have just acquired Jim Thome from the Chicago White Sox and Jon Garland from the team we’re trying to beat, as we speak.
No, those moves weren’t shocking, were they?
- Vin 
Not wasting any time with the “let’s give the infield a breather” initiative, are we?
DODGERS
Martin C
Ethier RF
Ramirez LF
Kemp CF
Blake 3B
Belliard 2B
Loretta 1B
Castro SS
Wolf P
This is Martin’s first time batting leadoff since September 21 of last year when… the Dodgers scored 0 runs in an 11 inning 1-0 loss to the Giants. D’oh. Fun fact: the middle infield that day consisted of Blake DeWitt and Angel Berroa. My, how far we’ve come. Actually, hitting Martin leadoff isn’t a terrible idea. Though his power has completely disappeared this year, his .358 OBP is 37 points higher than usual leadoff man Rafael Furcal and is actually better than any Dodger infielder. So even if he’s not hitting for extra bases anymore, perhaps he can at least get on for the big bats 2-5 to move him around. This is, of course, also the Dodger debut of Ronnie Belliard.
On another note, I know I’m a sucker for former Dodgers, but the Pirates DFA’d Jonathan Meloan today, making them the third team he’s been on since leaving the Dodgers in last year’s Casey Blake deal. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a highly-touted reliever in the Dodgers system (don’t forget his ridiculous 2007, in which he struck out 91 in 66.2 IP with a 2.02 ERA between AA and AAA) and he’s only just turned 25. He’s struggled a bit with his control since leaving the Dodgers, but he still looks to have good stuff (striking out 60 in 65 IP this year). If he goes unclaimed and it doesn’t cost a 40-man roster spot, why not bring him back and see if familiar surroundings can reclaim what he had going?
Chico Harlan of The Washington Post reports that the Nationals traded infielder Ronnie Belliard to the Dodgers following today’s game. Washington will receive A-ball pitcher Luis Garcia and a player to be named in the deal.
Well… I guess? I suppose this is related to Ken Gurnick’s report that the Dodgers were looking for a run-producing bat off the bench, but I’m not exactly sure that this qualifies. Though Belliard’s had a few roughly league-average seasons, he’s hitting a brutal .247/.297/.376 this season, almost exclusively as a second baseman and pinch-hitter. To be fair, since his OPS cratered at .459 (!!) on July 1, Belliard’s hit a nice .323/.380/.475 in 35 games (20 starts).
Bellliard is by all accounts a lousy fielder, so he’s not going to be getting much time at second base in place of Orlando Hudson or Juan Castro. Really, the success of this deal depends on what his role is going to be. Is Joe Torre really going to use him in place of Mark Loretta off the bench? Loretta’s been absolutely abysmal in what has to be his final major-league season, so if Belliard can keep up his hot streak and Torre’s willing to give him a shot, then this could be slightly useful. As for what was given up, this is no horrifying Carlos Santana-for-Casey Blake deal - Garcia didn’t even make Baseball America‘s top 30 Dodger prospects this year.
On the other hand, Nationals bloggers are thrilled to get something, anything, for Belliard. So I’m giving this a solid “meh” – it’s probably not going to make much of a difference either way.
You may have seen my earlier post laughing at the FOX jokers, Eric Karros and Thom Brennaman. Rather than adding this as an update to that where it might get lost, what Karros and his crazy hair just said deserves its own post – because it’s just that ludicrous. Thanks to Vin and his quick DVRing, Karros goes off the deep end, in regards to what the Dodgers should do with Juan Pierre after the season.
“From a selfish standpoint, you keep him because he’s arguably been the most valuable player…
Well, with Manny being gone, that’s when a lot of teams felt that’s
when they could catch the Dodgers, make their push. During that period,
not only did he fill the void of Manny being gone, playing left field,
but he also filled the void at the top of the lineup, Furcal, because
he wasn’t playing well, created. So he goes to the top of the lineup,
he bunts, he gets over, he does things to ignite the offense. Dodgers
didn’t have another player who was capable of doing that and they could
have really fallen to the pack during that period.”
Just in case you glossed over that, let me reiterate in fancy bold capitalized letters. ERIC KARROS THINKS JUAN PIERRE HAS (ARGUABLY) BEEN THE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER IN LA. No, not Matt Kemp, who’s almost already the best center fielder in baseball. Not Andre Ethier, who’s going to end up with a 30 homer/100 RBI breakout season. Not Randy Wolf, who’s started more games than anyone in baseball, has held the rotation together and been dazzling lately while doing it. Not Jonathan Broxton, leading all of baseball in strikeouts by a reliever. Not Clayton Kershaw, who spent two months being arguably the best pitcher in baseball.
No,
according to Eric Karros, the most valuable player for the Dodgers this
year is a bench player who had an incredibly well-timed two week hot
streak, before spending the next three weeks sucking horribly. You
think that it was because of Pierre that the Dodgers didn’t fall back
to the pack? How about Casey Blake, who was unbelievably hot
while Manny was gone? And Eric, if Pierre was so important, how come
they only went 16-14 in the 30 games of Manny’s suspension that JP was
awful for? It’s because he was destroying the offense hitting leadoff every day.
I
know that we make fun of guys like Plaschke all the time, but the level
of complete ignorance displayed here is insane. You wonder why we bag
on Pierre all the time? It’s not because he’s not a good player,
because we knew exactly what we were getting when he was signed. It’s
because jokers like this act as though a powerless, OBP-challenged,
weak-armed speedster is the second coming of Babe Ruth’s lovechild with
Ghandi.
Eric – GET A CLUE.
This is not in any way meant to bag on Juan Pierre; he is what is, and we’ve spent far too many words on him at this point. I would have posted this no matter what player this was in reference to. It’s just that the constant ignorance we see in the “mainstream media” world of papers and television is mind-blowing, especially because we all know there’s a huge amount of casual fans who hear what these so-called “experts” have to say and regard it as gospel.
On FOX just now, announcers Thom Brennaman and Eric Karros had a conversation about Juan Pierre, including these statements presented as fact:
There’s Juan Pierre, who did such a great job filling in for Manny.
This is a pretty common misconception, because if you remember what actually happened:
Games 1-20: .425/.495/.598 1.093 OPS
Games 21-50: .244/.299/.283 .583 OPS
So if by “such a great job” you mean “had a killer hot streak for less than half of Manny’s absence and was worse than ever for the majority of it,” then yes – great job. (Again, not trying to kill Pierre for anything here. Just drawing attention to public figures talking out of their asses.)
He’d be starting for just about any other team in baseball.
Pierre’s career OPS is .721. Of all MLB outfielders with at least 200 at-bats this year, a .721 OPS would rank… 90th. Which is delightful that it came out that way, as it means that every single one of the 30 teams has 3 outfielders who are better hitters than he is. Considering that we haven’t even discussed his absurd salary or his terrible throwing arm, it’s probably more accurate to say that he’d be starting for zero other teams in baseball.
And he’s handled it with pure class.
Again, the point here isn’t to denigrate Pierre but facts are facts: he’s whined more than once about his situation. But hey, the D-list FOX announcers think he’s a “great guy” who’s “had an outstanding” career, so why not spout whatever comes to mind?
Update: after an inning spent talking about Brett Favre and expressing shock at the fact that Joe Torre isn’t managing the Yankees anymore, they discussed the Dodgers/Reds rivalry of the 70s. Brennaman then lets loose with this gem:
The Dodgers won a few World Series in that decade, too.
Ah, yes. I remember that 1977 victory parade fondly. Is it really that hard to find baseball announcers who know even a little about baseball?
