Joe Torre announced yesterday that Blake DeWitt will be the starting second baseman for the Dodgers this season.
Not Jamey Carroll, who was brought in during the offseason to stabilize the position, and who hit .345 this spring.
Not Ronnie Belliard, last season's biggest surprise and playoff hero, not to mention the frontrunner for the job going into camp.
Blake Dewitt.
Yes, the kid needs to play. Yes, the kid has major league experience. Yes, the kid hit .339 in 22 spring games and boasted a .542 slugging percentage. But now the guys Ned Colletti paid to come to Los Angeles (or to stay here) will get spot starts in lieu of the kid who spent most of last season in the minors refining his game. Is this Joe Torre's attempt to be witty?
He certainly made an attempt to be humorous, telling DeWitt he was going back to Albequerque when the kid first sat down to a meeting with him and Colletti last night. One "April Fool's" and sigh of relief later, DeWitt was formally given his spot on the team. A starting spot. Hard to imagine for a kid who was reduced to pinch hitting last season as a September call-up.
Which all begs the question...what happened to Orlando Hudson? Aside from releasing Randy Wolf, saying goodbye to Hudson might have been the most foolish thing the Dodgers did this offseason. The guy was an All-Star. He batted over .300 for most of the season. He hit for the cycle on Opening Day. Why dump a guy like Hudson, when he was a sure bet to surpass other bidders for the second-base job in 2010? Instead, the Dodgers passed on the sure thing, and now have another hopeful prospect to show for it. Can I have the $4.7 million back that was granted to Belliard and Carroll this winter and give it to Hudson?
Meanwhile, Torre named knuckleballer Charlie Haeger the team's fifth starter. This is a move that is much more agreeable than the DeWitt decision, after Haeger posted a 2.20 ERA over the spring to accompany two wins and 15 strikeouts in 16 innings. I saw Haeger pitch towards the end of last summer, and he had two good starts before getting whacked in his third and being sent back to the minors. In his first start he almost out-dueled Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright over seven grueling innings. Haeger should serve as a reasonably effective fifth starter and complete the Dodgers' rotation for now.
Which brings me to my final point of this post. Vicente Padilla starting Opening Day in Pittsburgh? Not thrilling in the least. The only reason this is occurring is so Clayton Kershaw can start the Dodgers' home opener on April 13. But Kershaw is going to start Wednesday regardless of who pitches Opening Day, so why not throw Chad Billingsley out there? Being tasked with starting the first game of the season would do wonders for Billingsley's confidence. The team would be sending him the message that he is their guy and will be trusted to pitch in big games. That's what Billingsley needs. Not a No. 3 spot in the rotation. That's like a slap in the face. The Dodgers have to do or die with Billingsley this year, whether they like it or not, and it needs to begin immediately. He might be the key to their entire season.
Or it might be that kid at second base.
No comments:
Post a Comment