Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Juan Pierre and Brandon Inge talk

While the Dodgers are going through Spring Training trying to sort out outfield, 3rd base, and 5th starter issues, a couple of names keep popping up about either coming or going.

The first is Juan Pierre, who went from being a big outfield signing last year to feeling completely unloved this year. Not only has he been squeezed out of center field, but possibly of being an everyday starter as well. Now, there's rumblings about the A's showing interest in him, despite their history of shying away from big contracts. Could it be true? Well, the names Emil Brown, Travis Buck, and Chris Denorfia don't exactly leap off the page at you, so you could see why adding a player with past success to their outfield would work.

But, according to the original source of this rumor, Susan Slusser, that's not going to happen anymore. And quite frankly, I don't think anybody is surprised that this rumor was a dud all along.

The next guy is Brandon "7 Year" Inge, who I wrote about back in December about a possible 3rd baseman. It was shot down back then, but apparently wasn't dead and gone quite yet. Inge is regarded as a popular player with Detroit, which is a bit odd considering he hasn't exactly lit the world on fire from the plate recently. True, he hit 27 HR and 83 RBI 2 years ago, but hasn't touched those numbers since then. Joe Torre and Larry Bowa are fans of his, which is why this one won't go away.

But (again), Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times says that this one is also not going to happen. Why? Well, considering he's owed $19.1 million over the next 3 years, that may be a good reason.

I think once and for all, Pierre, Nomar Garciaparra, and Andy LaRoche will all be with the Dodgers for the foreseeable future and keep battling for playing time.

2 comments:

Who We Are said...

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Unknown said...

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