My thoughts go out to the family and friends of Mr. Podres.

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• What happens to Juan Pierre? If he slides over to left, as some have speculated, he becomes even more worthless than he already is. Don’t get me wrong, as a Padres fan, I’d love nothing more than to see the Dodgers run Pierre out to a corner spot every day, but I can’t bring myself to believe that anyone would really do that. Then again, someone signed him to a 5-year deal in the first place, so what do I know.
• What happens to Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp? If Pierre stays, then one of these guys has to go — or so it would seem. What will either of them fetch in trade? I’ve heard rumblings about an Erik Bedard deal, but right now the signal-to-noise ratio is very low in terms of rumors vs facts.

Jones certainly represents an upgrade over Pierre in center, but the Dodgers still have to deal with the latter’s contract in some way. Even still, assuming Jones rebounds from a poor ‘06 season, he’s a .260/.340/.500 hitter or so. That’s solid, but is it enough to “put them over the top”?

From a value standpoint, I can live with this contract. From a “what are the Dodgers trying to accomplish” standpoint, I’m left scratching my head.

Other Voices

• Dodger Thoughts
• 6-4-2
• Sabernomics

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One thing I know I wouldn’t have done differently. I’m glad I didn’t trade 3 or 4 kids at the deadline. I think that decision will prove to be valuable for a very long time. People ask about the young players all the time. Teams need young players.

Yeah, trust me, a lot of us in San Diego were hoping you would part with a few of ‘em. Chad Billingsley, for example, might make a nice fit somewhere other than the NL West. Just a thought…

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Bill Plaschke compares the Dodgers hiring of Torre to “installing leather seats in a jalopy.” First off, when is the last time you heard someone use the word “jalopy”? Second, I’m not sure Plaschke has a clear grasp of what, exactly, Torre brings to the table jalopy bench:

He will do wonders for the career of Russell Martin, catcher taking care of catcher, the way Torre took care of Jorge Posada.

Martin’s career is doing just fine without Torre’s help. To suggest that Torre “will do wonders” for Martin is to suggest that the latter will turn into Mike Piazza or Johnny Bench. Look, I have to watch Martin play on the opposing team several times a year — he’s a fantastic young player who scares the heck out of me — but he’s not Bench or Piazza, and no amount of cajoling (or “taking care,” if you prefer Plaschke’s phrase) will change that.

He could make a star out of James Loney, much the way his calm nature helped make a star out of Derek Jeter.

Lessee, Torre’s calm nature versus Jeter’s talent. I’m thinking Jeter’s talent may have played a role, but I could be wrong.

He will be great for the confused bullpen, every man given a single role, every single night, Beimel to Broxton to Saito in the manner of Stanton to Nelson to Rivera.

As someone who has watched his team’s manager slavishly follow the same formula over and over again, I can tell you it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Situations should dictate action, but in an era when the “save” stat is glorified beyond reason (and makes for a nice chip at the bargaining table), I can almost understand this fixation on creating defined roles for every last man in the bullpen.

Almost.

Plaschke’s misunderstanding of the Dodgers’ situation aside, I still think that Torre is a bad fit for this club. He has a roster of talented young ballplayers who need to make the transition to big-league contributors. You don’t bring Torre in to develop young players, you bring him in to win championships.

The Dodgers finished fourth in the NL West in ‘07. Their GM, Ned Colletti, worked under Brian Sabean in San Francisco for many years and picked up the latter’s tendency to overpay for veteran players of questionable value.

When you have a stable full of young talent, that’s not necessarily the best strategy. The Dodgers are sitting on a gold mine, and they don’t know it. Now that Torre is in Los Angeles, there’s increased pressure to produce right away, which means that some of the kids will get squeezed out in favor of more proven commodities.

I guess my real point — and I’m getting to this in a very roundabout way — is that the Dodgers’ key strength from a player personnel standpoint is an abundance of young talent. Their front office, on the other hand, is more veteran oriented. So, now, is their field manager.

If the Dodgers were just a piece or two away from championship caliber, then I’d understand the hiring of Torre. Given where they actually are, though, it seems more like window dressing, an attempt to attract attention so that — well, just because.

As a Padres fan, I’m fascinated to see how much damage Colletti and company are willing to do to their farm system in the name of providing Torre with bit players to help complete what they think the puzzle is. The Dodgers have gotten the baseball world’s attention with this hiring. What remains to be seen is how quickly they tire of that attention.

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Girardi probably deserves better. As he was in Florida, he’s being set up to fail. With the Marlins, his problem was that he couldn’t drive that franchise into the ground and force the team to move elsewhere. Now he gets to succeed one of the most successful managers in big-league history while one of baseball’s most notorious owners hands the reins over to his sons, who appear eager to leave their mark on the club they’re inheriting.

And you can be sure, they will leave a mark.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Grady Little has resigned as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Presumably this opens the door for Torre, while Little gets to make good on his plan to “play with my grandkids.”

Despite Torre’s track record in New York, I’m not sure he’s the right guy for the Dodgers. My gripe isn’t so much with Torre as it is with the fact that I don’t think the Dodgers are quite where they believe they are in terms of being competitive in the NL West.

As we saw down the stretch in ‘07, this division has become very tough. Frankly, if the Dodgers are going to be a serious player next season, they’ll need to make some aggressive moves over the winter. Actually, they were plenty aggressive last winter; this time they need to be smart as well.

Torre has demonstrated the ability to work well with big-league egos, with guys who are accustomed to fighting for (and winning) championships. How will he respond to a team that isn’t assured a spot in the postseason? How will that team respond to him?

And can his grandkids play with Little’s grandkids, or would that be awkward?

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Wells spent most of the season pitching for the San Diego Padres. It’s great to see that he is doing everything he can to help propel his former employer toward the playoffs.

[Tip o' the Knuckle Curve cap to Baseball Musings.]

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American League

• Indians at Tigers, 4:05 p.m. PT — Just a half-game separates these AL Central rivals. Paul Byrd vs Justin Verlander looks like a mismatch, and I suppose it is. Byrd, though, is a crafty veteran with freakish control (18 walks in 143 IP). Verlander’s ERA is 4.89 in seven starts since the All-Star break. Detroit’s offense is crazy good — Magglio Ordonez is a legit MVP candidate, Gary Sheffield is having a monster year (including 20 SB for the first time since ‘98), and now phenom Cameron Maybin is up with the big club. Cleveland counters with a nice corps of young talent in Victor Martinez, Ryan Garko, Jhonny Peralta, and Grady Sizemore. These two franchises have set themselves up nicely for the next few years.
• Yankees at Angels, 7:05 p.m. PT — Anaheim has won the first two games of this series, by a combined score of 25-15. Garret Anderson drove in 10 runs during the Angels’ 18-9 win on Tuesday; that represents 20% of his RBI total on the season. Andy Pettitte and John Lackey hook up in the finale, as the Yankees look to avoid a sweep.

National League

• Dodgers at Phillies, 4:05 p.m. PT — Not a marquee pitching matchup, but that’s usually the case when the Phillies are playing. Derek Lowe got off to a fine start for the Dodgers this year, but has struggled of late (1-4, 5.06 ERA over his last seven starts). J.D. Durbin, meanwhile, has pitched surprisingly well so far in the second half (5-0, 3.12 ERA) while splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen. Ryan Howard notched his first career stolen base on Tuesday. Rudy Seanez and Russell Martin should be ashamed of themselves.
• Padres at Mets, 4:10 p.m. PT — The Padres try to put Tuesday’s late-inning meltdown behind them. Ace Jake Peavy makes his first start since making controversial comments about his future. His former teammate, Brian Lawrence, gets the call for New York. Lawrence has made three starts with the big club after missing all of 2006 due to injury.
• Brewers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m. PT — Brandon Webb takes aim at Orel Hershiser’s consecutive scoreless innings streak against a potent Milwaukee lineup. Actually, Webb is 17 innings shy, so it won’t happen on Wednesday regardless. Still, 42 innings is pretty darned impressive. Everyone (myself included) talks about Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, but Geoff Jenkins is enjoying a fine resurgence this year for the Brewers, and Corey Hart is quietly putting up some nice numbers. Something’s got to give tonight; we’ll see what it is. Oh yeah, both teams are fighting for a division title.

One game: I’ll be tuned to the Mets/Padres contest, but I have a vested interest in that one. The most compelling storyline probably is Webb vs the Brewers lineup. Happy watching…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Clark is 34 years old and is coming off a disappointing season in which he batted .263/.348/.335 for the Brewers. Clark sports a career .278/.358/.389 line and can play all three outfield spots. When he’s in center, he’ll likely provide the Dodgers with a slight upgrade offensively over the faster and richer Juan Pierre. And yes, I would say that even if Clark hadn’t graduated from the same college as I did.

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