Kemp To Start, Loney To Have Chemistry Issues

You know, the Dodgers' plans for James Loney are completely mysterious to me (if not to Loney himself.) They obviously didn't feel good enough about him to hand him the 1B job this offseason, instead signing Nomar for two years.

Then there was this movement to see if Loney could play the outfield. He loses two balls in the Florida sun, and it seems like that plan sort of fizzled. It's not clear to me whether the Dodgers think he can play a credible outfield. I haven't heard mention of Loney going to AAA to 'work on his defense.'

Then there's the issue of how good Loney is, exactly. Nobody's sure what kind of power he will show. It seems like the difference between Loney becoming the next Hal Morris or the next John Olerud.

But if the Dodgers feel Loney is more Hal Morris, and are looking to trade him before other teams figure this out, doesn't re-signing Nomar and sending Loney to AAA hurt his value?

So the team seems committed neither to playing Loney nor to trading him.

Really, what is the plan for Loney?  The answer is, of course, that Colletti doesn't have one.  Or not a good one.

I think any time any of the young guys get at-bats, that's a good thing for the long-term outlook of this year's team.  Ethier will get at-bats anyways.  Too bad Loney isn't on the team.

Sheets is awesome.  

The Secret was awesome too.  Gonzo will suck, get hurt early, recover completely, but lose his job to Kemp.  Still waiting for checks in the mail.

Totally different than Guzman.  Loney hit .380 last year.  Little said he could hit .380, .480, or .580 and it wouldn't matter.  Nomar is the shortstop.  Little is a horrible manager.  We have the second best minor league system in MLB and we are platooning our only two rookies.  Billingsly is in the bullpen despite outpitching every other starter in the spring and being the best starter down the stretch last year.  

Little is a horrible manager.  I understand why the Red Sox got rid of him.  Many people have noted that a manager plays a small role in how good a team is.  While I agree to a certain extent that a great manager does not always mean a great team but a bad manager can destroy a team.  

What would you expect Loney to do.  He puts up the best number in the minors and he is told that he has no chance of cracking the line-up for at least two years.

Little is also bad at utilizing his players.  So many times last year, he would bench his players when they started to slump a little.  How is a rookie to gain confidence when a manager pulls him everytime he slumps a little (or in Either case gets benched despite killing the ball).

I am rooting for the Dodgers to lose so Little realizes that he can't win by playing washed up playes like Gonzalez, Brady Clark, and Juan Pierre when he has the best minor league system in baseball.  It is ashame that he has the potential to destroy agreat team.  It is painful as a Dodger's fan. I hope Sarah writes something about it in her article because she is the only one who seems to have a little common sense about these things.  

Move or trade Garciparra.  Bring Loney up and ease him into first.  Start either Kemp or Either and give the other one regular playing time with the opportunity to start.  Make Billingsly your number two starter.  Look at bringing up LaRoche a some point during the season and begin to cycle in your rookies.  At least the Phillies were smart enough to realize that they had to move Thome to play Howard.

I really think Little has such an ego that he is afraid to lose some games in the short term at the expense of the long term.  Really, I think Litte is a bad manager and at his age he is not going to change.  He has showed me enough in two years where I am reallyworried about him destroying our super minor league system.  I hope the Dodgers lose enough early that Little either realizes that he is an idiot or gets fired.  Thanks for listening.  This has frustrated me for sometime and I am pissed.