Colletti Wants To Hang Onto Kemp

For all the credit Coletti gets for his less years, more money approach to free agency he really shot himself in the foot with the Pierre signing. Why go 5 years with Juan Pierre of all people? Were there really other teams offering 5/$40mil or 4/$45mil for Juan freaking Pierre? I sometimes wonder about GM's, I really truly believe that many look solely at stats like total Hits, RBI's, stolen bases and batting average when they evaluate free agents... Coletti probably said: "WOW! 200 hits almost every year, 50+ stolen bases, .290 average! This guy is a STUD! Lets sign him to the biggest contract on the team since I became GM!!!"

Dodger fans, just thank your lucky stars he decided to hold onto the likes of Kemp, Loney, Broxton and Billingsley; it's the only good decision he's made as GM in my opinion...

I've been waiting for this qoute all year. Thank you Ned. Do NOT go back on this word.

His salary should have ZERO effect on whether he starts. The ONLY factor determining whether a players sees the field is PERFORMANCE. Pierre's performance has NOT justified a place in the starting lineup. He has been TERRIBLE.

AMEN!

I've been waiting for months to hear Colletti say those words!

Now that it seems this issue is decided, the question in MY mind shifts to one of whether Kemp will become a new Pedro Guerrero.... :) or, a new Raul Mondesi...... :(

Kemp will become the new Kemp. No prior Dodger outfielder will measure up.

I heart Kemp

As for Pierre, aren't you guys being a bit hard on him? I don't think he's THAT bad. I will yield the defensive issue, he's crap in the outfield... but at the plate he seems to me to be an above average "leadoff type" hitter. He's a decent bunter, he's got great speed and is almost impossible to double up, and he's smart on the basepads. Now, I'm not saying he's awesome, but as a leadoff hitter he certainly should have some value for a team out there who needs this kind of a role player. If we didn't have Furcal, I'd bet us Dodger fans would be a lot more hesitant to let Pierre go.

On a side note, I know I'm probably going to be swimming against the tide with this next comment, but I happen to really like Furcal. He's not perfect, but he plays hard and is exciting to watch. Cut Furcal some slack this year on his offensive performance, he was playing with a hobbled wheel this past year, and I admire him for not whining about it.

I sincerely hope that Kemp finds himself playing odd-man-out behind Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre and the Steve Finley, with Shawn Green taking most of the platoon time. When Green and Finley break their hips before the deadline, I hope that Colletti armwrestles Sabean for Dave Roberts. I hope that when reporters ask Kemp about his lack of playing time, Kemp says "It's not my decision," and that Colletti decides he doesn't like Kemp's tone and publicly declares him unmanageable, thereby forcing him to trade Kemp for cents on the dollar to the Red Sox for Brandon Moss and Bubba Bell.

Based on Colletti's track record, I still have hope that Kemp will be Manny's successor.

I think that the Dodgers should hold on to Pierre for the time being...he has done nothing wrong for Dodger fans to hate him for. True he has a horrible arm and no power. But when he gets on base, he makes the pitcher concentrate on him instead of the batter. I think Pierre deserves some credit for James Loney's great second half. When Grady Little moved him to the third spot, he was tearing it up. A lot of that goes to Pierre who forces pitchers to throw fastballs and make mistakes. I watched countless games last year when Vin Scully would always point this out.

Furcal had a sub-par year last year, but I think he will have a great year this year leading off(for starters it is his contract year), making Pierre that much better as well. It was awesome to see when both Furcal and Pierre were on base at the same time last year driving pitchers crazy. Now it will be fun to see Kemp and Jones knocking them in.

J.L. you're right, $9 million for a "role" player? If the Dodgers don't re-sign Furcal next season, at least they have a "lead-off" guy. But there are still too many OFs. Andre Ethier has value, and my gut says Ethier is moved this off-season.
Does anybody know which middle infielders will be free agents next year? Furcal and Kent's contracts will be up at seasons end.

The Dodgers can afford to keep Pierre on as a 5th OFer since they have Kemp and Ethier for so cheap. Just like in '04 when the redsocx had Dave Roberts as a 5th guy/pinch runner, teams with money can do this sort of thing.

I don't think dodger fans will be bitching too much when Pierre is their pinch runner in the playoffs.

Good choice not to trade Kemp though. He looks like a stud for years to come. I still hope he goes to the A's in a deal for Joe Blanton though.