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Pixies 'Doolittle' @ The Palladium 11/4/09
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The Bravery @ the Wiltern 11/05/09
My Boyfriend hit a homer, and the Dodgers managed a win!!!
There. That’s my quota of happy talk for now. There is something that’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I’m wondering why the Dodgers called up third baseman Tony Abreu from the minor leagues yesterday.
As a team, the Dodgers have many glaring deficiencies: no power hitting, inconsistency at the third base position and the worst defense in the National League. Bring up Abreu doesn’t really solve any of these problems. In fact it makes it more confusing.
Let’s start with Nomar. He made his name in Boston as a shortstop. To address the third base position the Dodgers could simply move Nomar there. Both Cal Ripken Jr. and Alex Rodriguez have made a successful transition from shortstop to third. One could argue that putting Nomar in that position will increase his chances of getting injured, but doesn’t he have that chance every time he swings on the first pitch? Putting Nomar in third will allow the languishing James Loney to be called up to the team.
Abreu is traditionally a second baseman or a shortstop. He moved to third base exclusively since Andy La Roche was called up two weeks ago. Having Abreu play third base doesn’t make sense defensively especially since he made a throwing error on the first play of the game Tuesday night.
I’ll admit he has good hitting numbers with an average of .347 in 39 games played, but he’s only hit the ball out of the park twice. Better than that he’s only hitting .250 with runners in scoring position. So bringing him up just makes no sense to me, especially when the Dodgers have Mr. Personality and DUI at second base and shortstop respectively.
The only other possibility is this move was made to make a trade.
I don’t know whom the Dodgers are going to trade away, but I do know there were rumors General Manager Ned Colletti was going after Blue Jay’s third baseman Troy Glaus (who is also the 2002 World Series MVP for the LAngels) a couple of weeks ago. But the rumor mill started again today noting that Colletti isn’t interested in Glaus anymore. He instead is supposedly looking at Cardinal’s third baseman Scott Rolen.
Rolen reminds me a lot of JD Drew. Rolen was injured in 2002, 2005 and he’s had a spate of interesting injuries this year. He’s averaging .209 and has hit only two homers. Fortunately he hasn’t made an error yet, but he’s not getting any younger. Bringing in Rolen will be just like the Dodgers signing pitchers Kevin Brown and Darren Dreifort. If you’ve never heard of them, don’t worry. After signing with the Dodgers both pitchers’ arms broke down and have never been heard of since.
At the end of the day, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m at a loss of words (despite how this post looks). Continuing what I said the other day, this boyfriend is really trying my patience right now.
AP Photo courtesy Jeff Lewis
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kevin brown had some pretty great years with the dodgers (along with one or two not so hot ones....) and he was traded for some decent returns at the time (Weaver, Brazoban).
If one of Abrue, Betemit, or LaRoche isnt traded soon, I could see Nomar taking a break on the DL and having Kent at 1B and Abrue at 2B. Still leaves out Loney though...
Well, Brown did have one good year after the dodgers. but he was done after that.
Nomar to third though...it's just not a good idea. He can't handle the left side anymore, and I'm not even talking injury wise. He committed 12 errors in 60 games in 2005, the last time he played SS and 3B. He had a fielding percentage of about .935. (well below league average) Ew. He's pulling .995 (above league average) at 1B, that's a big difference. Rate2 has him below average at 1B (93) but way, way below average at 3B (83). He hasn't been an above average SS since 2001. He's just slow and old. Better not to risk it. It was just a bad signing to take him on and block Loney. And Loney is an even worse defensive 1B than Nomar.
What the hell are the dodgers doing at 3B though? I have no clue what they're thinking there. Rolen would be a suicide move. Even Glaus would be questionable, since he's going to get injured anyway and then you're back to square 1.
The Dodgers should wait for the all star break and trade Broxton, Loney, and LaRoche to Florida for Miguel Cabrera.