When I left for a Mexican cruise the dodgers had a position battle at third base. Now there's a vacuum. Nomar and LaRoche both got injured within a week of each other and neither will be ready for opening day. What's a GM to do?
Option one would be nothing. They have Tony Abreu. He's also got nagging injuries but is playing through them. He did okay last year. But Kent also has some nagging injuries and his former role was going to be filling in for Kent at second. What if Kent needs to be eased into the season slowly? They have Hu in addition to Abreu. Ramon Martinez can then start on opening day roster as the super utility guy Abreu was supposed to be and Nomar might have been relegated to had LaRoche won the third base job. Things won't be ideal, but no worse than many stretches last season when Nomar and LaRoche were both hurt at the same time.
Option two would be to trade for one of the available guys out there. The dodgers' quandary is that they can't trade for a guy that's too good because LaRoche will presumably be healed in a month and a half or so while not trading for a guy that won't make enough of a difference to be worth the effort and talent to pick up. So a guy like Eric Chavez who's probably available would be too good (in addition to being in shaky health himself) while guys like Joe Crede and Brandon Inge might just be good enough while coming cheaply to maybe justify a move.
Crede and Inge are both guys without playing time on their teams. The White Sox could actually use Pierre, which makes Crede for Pierre the most logical deal as a mutual trading of bad deals. The plus with Inge is that he could also back up Martin as a 3'rd catcher, problem is that the Tigers aren't a fit for Pierre, who already have Granderson. Wes Helms would probably be more the type of guy that just isn't worth getting because you probably get the same from Ramon Martinez. Geesh, I wish Wilson Betemit or Willy Aybar were around.
Option 2B would be to trade Delwyn Young or Andre Ethier with LaRoche to strengthen another position and by default award LF to Pierre. The dodgers would then have to pull off something major with these players and perhaps some other spare parts in one big deal or a series of smaller moves to fill the third base hole more creatively from their surplus of players by committing to Pierre. I wouldn't mind the dodgers committing to Pierre if they get a good return on the guys that won't get enough playing time as a result to committing to Pierre.
I like the do nothing option. The young infielders the dodgers have aren't as good right now as Crede is, but the vacuum at third right now to me is more of an opportunity to see what Abreu and Hu can do now and can define their role on the dodgers. The dodgers aren't really naked at third base unless Abreu and Hu fail to deliver as infielders. It's impressive enough that the dodgers have guys that while not ideal as third basemen (Hu especially) won't sink the position despite injuries to two guys ahead of them. A trade to me would be more like the panic move Colletti made which led to the signing of Pierre once J.D. Drew bolted.
Oh, and Repko is not going to win an outfield job on the big club, according to the l.a. times. It's the right thing to do. He still has an option and Delwyn Young does not. Repko has fallen into the Jayson Werth boat of good potential but very bad luck with injuries. Repko has been one of the walking wounded for years. Can't really count on him.
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