What's a Juan Pierre?
I am rather flummoxed by the negative perception of Juan Pierre and his debut as a Dodger in '07. His numbers were status quo, which is above average for other players in the league. Had he not been relegated to the number two slot in the hitting order, I suspect his overall numbers would have been even better. Beyond that, I feel that had he and Furcal swapped hitting order, the Dodgers would have fared considerably better as a team. Pierre is among the very best leadoff hitters in the game and the "Castillo/Pierre" model that Little was hoping for from Furcal/Pierre did not pan out. If anyone should be the subject of discontent as far as the Pierre signing is concerned, that onus should be on Colletti, not on Pierre.
Rafael Furcal, on the other hand, was an unmitigated disaster. His injury notwithstanding, he was statistically the worst shortstop defensively in baseball and his offense putrid. I have doubts about his rebound in '08 and would like to see him traded post haste.
The perception which gives Furcal a free pass is that he appears to be playing harder than Pierre, who somehow is perceived as a malingerer. This could not be farther from the truth. I am disturbed at the considerable degradation Pierre receives from fans of the team. It is not supportable to me and wreaks of something far more foul, which we know that Dodgers and their fans have been guilty of over the decades. Where have you gone Jackie Robinson?
posted by Tony Forkush at 2:27 PM
3 Comments:
The Dodgers need to change their way of thinking. We just don’t keep the good players. J.D. Drew, Eric Gagne, Mike Piazza, the list goes on.
It is sad to watch a game and see a player doing well and say, “He use to play with the Dodgers.” If we formed a team with players that left the Dodgers and went on to bigger and better things, we we’d win the World Series every year.
Now that Dodger management let Baker get away, we need Joe Torre. If you don’t agree, I think he would be better than Grady. (Don’t get me started on Grady: Tony Forkush in the frustrating season of 2007)
Well, Torre is the answer, undoubtedly. That should be the Dodgers entire focus this off-season. Then you could bring his loyal players to LA with him: Mariano Rivera, A-Rod, Posada (to back up and switch with Martin). Then go out and get Andruw Jones and Johann Santana. Now you are in business.
Every year my buddy Mark and I make a World Series team from all the Dodgers who got away. Every year in the playoffs you could make an entire starting squad. The all Dodger post-season team that never was.
I hope the Rockies crush those Chowder heads!
This site was down for a while. I emailed you this, but not sure if you got it. Anyway, my cousin LaDone responded to your inquire about Juan Pierre:
Juan Pierre has been terrific for the Dodgers as well as being an outstanding player! Dodger management is why the Dodgers aren't doing well, not Juan Pierre. He could only bring to the team what one man could bring to the team, which to me has been plenty. Juan Pierre can't help that the Dodgers are poorly managed. Juan Pierre can't help that Dodger management put him in an ineffective batting order. Juan Pierre is a very good player but he can't do it all. Baseball is a team sport that in order to be a winner, it starts with the owner and what he's willing to pay on down to the kind of manager is hired. The Dodgers owner doesn't seem to understand winning because if he did, the Dodgers wouldn't have let Dusty Baker get away again.. As far as Furcal goes, I don't see what was wrong with Caesar Esterez! He was much better than Furcal and probably cheaper! It would be better if we go ahead and trade this walking MRI for a shortstop that won't brake-down on us but we'll see. With the Dodgers, you never know!!
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