Dodgers Showcasing Andy LaRoche?

I could see the dodgers package him along with some lower level prospects to the A's for Street. I know dodger fans don't think he's worth it, but up until mid-june Steet had been great, with only two blown saves, now in his past 4 appearences he has 3 blown.

If they go after Blake or Beltre that's fine with me because they both can hit and hit for power..... I don't want them to trade Laroche for Wilson because Nomar has been playing great lately..... I just hope they don't touch Martin, Bills, loney, kershaw, kemp, or ethier....

Again I say LaRoche and Elbert for Beltre.

I could see a lower key deal for (insert prospect here) for Ramon Vazquez+ from Texas. Vazquez can play both 3rd and SS and would take a lot less to acquire with Blalock returning to the lineup a few days ago.

The Dodgers Bullpen even without Saito, is a strength.

Last thing in the world the Dodgers need is a declining Huston Street for two or three top young players.

The Dodgers offense is the weakness, but adding Jack Wilson or some other mediocre veteran is not the answer either!

I would love to see the Twins trade for laroche. I dont know what it would take, but i would be happy to trade one of our young starters for him. I know harris might be weak but he can play both 3B and SS also. The dodgers may like a blackburn/harris or perkins/harris package.

Baseballnights I am a fellow cleveland fan and agree that Perralta is untouchable, but do you have a link to this Street rumor?

LaRoche for Perkins seems like a fair deal. However, the Dodgers need a bat more than an arm.

You cannot assume Marte is a bust until the end of the season. If he can hit around .280 since acquiring the starting job he cannot be labeled a bust, but I agree Sowers sucks...and I don't know what the A's have at 1B, but Garko is playing below what his talent indicates.

a beltre-laroche deal would help the dodgers sooo much. Beltre, a true slugger as he showed with his year at dodger stadium in '04, is still relitivley young and a good clubhouse presence with the ability to smack 25+ HRs and he can handle his posision with ease

Any trade of LaRoche is a bad idea for the Dodgers. He hasn't been given a chance to do anything, and he's being written off. He's had some bad luck with a BABIP at under .200 so far. And yet, his OBP is still about .300. And looking at Monday's game against the Rockies, in his first 3 ABs, he saw 8, 7 and 8 pitches, giving him 2 walks and an RBI single. This guy just needs to be given a chance. Colletti needs to focus less on trading LaRoche, and more on making the smart deal - keeping Pierre off the field.

"The Dodgers offense is the weakness, but adding Jack Wilson or some other mediocre veteran is not the answer either!"

Wilson is a significant upgrade over Berroa or an injured Nomar. That said, the offense hasn't looked like much of weakness at all in the 4 games since the ASB. Even the one they lost had the team hitting a ton of balls hard, 3 of them into Mark Reynolds' glove by Jeff Kent.

"He's had some bad luck with a BABIP at under .200 so far."

Bad luck? Not particularly. He has rolled over a lot of balls and has already GIDP 5 times. He has a great batting eye, but he needs to work on his swing in the majors.

"Colletti needs to focus less on trading LaRoche, and more on making the smart deal - keeping Pierre off the field."

Actually, having Pierre on the field and Jones off it would be the best thing. Jones can't even play defense anymore, which is really sad considering what kind of a fielder that guy was. Runners are taking liberties with him at will and his one assist this year was made possible by a perfect relay from Nomar. At least Pierre has the lowest K rate in baseball, can hit for average, rakes with RISP, runs like the wind and catches the ball in the outfield.

"Have the Dodgers ever really given this kid a chance? Seems silly to me to have this highly touted prospect waste away on the bench or at AAA without giving him a serious shot at winning the 3B job."

LaRoche was given the job in the Spring and was earning it when he broke his hand. DeWitt stepped up and took the job. While his bat has slumped recently, he has been pretty much the best defensive third baseman in the NL, if not all of baseball. He is saving more runs than anyone at his position this year, which certainly props up his 6 week down turn.

"Bad luck? Not particularly. He has rolled over a lot of balls and has already GIDP 5 times. He has a great batting eye, but he needs to work on his swing in the majors."

It's difficult to show your batting eye when you can't even start consecutive games. This is a player with 93 career Major League ABs coming into this season being asked to be primarily a pinch hitter. No matter how good DeWitt is defensively, he's been horrible. And it's the offense that is holding the team back. Given regular playing time, LaRoche's minor league numbers show a strong chance his offense will make up for any benefit DeWitt's defense provides.

As for Pierre coming back, Jones isn't the player that will be sitting. It'll be either Kemp or Ethier.