Mike (Albany, NY): Hi Buster, It sounds like Andy LaRoche is on his way out of L.A. Any idea if the Dodgers are in on Beltre? Or another SS/3B?
SportsNation Buster Olney: Mike: There are a bunch of teams who've talked about LaRoche, but they've gotten very frustrated in dealing with the Dodgers. He is the one guy among the many L.A. prospects that rival execs say is clearly, absolutely available. So yes, I think he'll be traded. To whom, I'm not yet sure.
THIRD BASE
Atkins, Yes
Cantu, Maybe
Kouzmanoff, Maybe
Gordon, Yes
Crede, No
Beltre, No
Blake, No
Mora, No
Feliz, No
Bautista, No
Encarnacion, No
Hall, No
Castillo, No
Rolen, No
Hannahan, No
Zimmerman, No
Inge, No
Wigginton, No
Mientkiewicz , No
Ojeda, No
Rob Neyer makes a lot of sense with his latest blog post
Quote:
Let's start with LaRoche … As I've been saying since sometime in 2007, LaRoche is the best third baseman the Dodgers have. Blake DeWitt got off to a cute little start this season, but at the moment his .682 OPS is the worst in the majors among qualifying third basemen. Since May -- June 1 through this moment -- he's batting .195 and slugging .228 in 38 games. My guess? It took roughly two months for pitchers to figure out what DeWitt can't hit, and now that's all he's getting. We're talking about a guy who opened last season in Class A, and finished with a .306 OBP in 45 Double-A games. DeWitt doesn't turn 23 until next month and probably has a fine future, but at this moment he's simply not good enough to play regularly for a contending team.
Is LaRoche good enough? His minor-league stats suggest that he's been good enough for a couple of years; that he was ready before he turned 23. His major-league stats suggest -- though with much less confidence -- that he's not. And he's had some real problems staying healthy. But the Dodgers are locked in a death match with the Diamondbacks, and instead of trading LaRoche they should be hoping he can give them two good months. At this moment.
As for Kershaw, it's clear that he's too good for the Southern League … but then, didn't we know that already? When the Dodgers promoted him in May, he had a 2.28 ERA. What he hadn't done was pitch deep into his starts; he pitched into the seventh just once in nine starts. In his eight-start stint with the big club, he never pitched into the seventh inning and usually didn't get into the sixth.
Yes, he's been a little better in his second go-around with Jacksonville, but I have a question: What's wrong with Triple-A? Sure, Las Vegas is a tough environment for a young pitcher … but isn't the National League pretty tough, too? I think Kershaw's probably good enough to survive in the majors right now, and give the Dodgers five innings per start down the stretch. Isn't that setting the bar pretty low, though?
I'm impressed with the Dodgers' young players, but I'm terribly unimpressed with how the Dodgers have handled them. You know how long it took James Loney and Matt Kemp to get the playing time they deserved. This year, the Dodgers' top five prospects were Kershaw, LaRoche, Chin-Lung Hu, Scott Elbert, and DeWitt. Hu's suffered through a terrible season, Elbert's back in action as a reliever after rehabbing from shoulder surgery for a year, and you know what I think about the other guys.
Maybe there's a happy ending to this story. But Dodgers GM Ned Colletti has done terribly with high-priced veterans, and now his record with cheap kids isn't looking so hot, either.
Linear Mode
