Funny how things can change on a dime. I am somewhat chagrined to admit that at one point last year I was lamenting how much the Dodger's young players were outperforming the DBacks young players. They still might of course. It's April 27th. But I think this part of the article was pretty spot on too:

Luis Gonzalez was here last year, so neither Andre Ethier nor Matt Kemp has had 450 at-bats in a season. Nomar Garciaparra was here, so James Loney has not had 350 at-bats in a season. Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko were here, so Chad Billingsley has not pitched 150 innings in a season.

What can the Dodgers expect from Ethier, Kemp, Loney and Billingsley over a full season? Joe Torre, the manager, has no idea.

“It’s just weird,” Kemp said. “I think it would make it a lot easier if we had a set line-up.”

Said Torre: “I don’t think a set line-up is important. If that’s a concern for players, my concern is they’re not really concentrating on the right thing.”

I'd be glad Torre said something here. I don't know anything about Kemp's demeanour or personality, but he shouldn't be saying what he did here, and in my opinion it doesn't reflect well on him for having said so, as a rookie, especially when he and Ethier are young guys trying to unseat some veterans who have had pretty good careers, in what is already a delicate situation for Dodgers management.

Kemp isn't a rookie. He lost that 2 years ago during his 1st season of a part time stint. He is being babied, and everyone knows it, by people that are supposed to know what they are doing, not pretend.

Is A-Jones in danger of playing his way to the bench? 0-4 today with 3 K's...

Quite a collection building of buyers-remorse centerfielders out around Los Angeles... Matthews, Pierre .... (Andruw?)... (watch out Torii...)

When the D backs played the Dodgers a few days ago, Mark Grace was stunned by what he saw with Jones. Say what you want about Grace, but he is at his best when he is talking about hitting mechanics, (and pitch sequence). He was going wild with the telestrator, showing just how much Jones was opening up his front side and bailing out. But what really struck him was how Jones was letting his back foot slide at least 2 feet behind his body. Not like Frank Thomas does on the follow through after the ball is long gone off the bat, but during the swing. Watch his back foot the next couple times you see him swing.

Andruw Jones is nowhere close to getting turned around.

I saw that and he was right on. They have good young talent and should just let the kids play. Instead, Ned decides he should sign a bunch of washed up vets. The sad thing is that like with the Giants, LA probably thinks that they are giving youth a shot.

Andruw Jones is a disgrace. He's the Russ Ortiz of outfielders.

Russ Ortiz was never as good as Jones was at one time.

Andruw Jones is the Barry Zito of outfielders.

Kemp isn't a rookie. He lost that 2 years ago during his 1st season of a part time stint.

I guess, I would have been better off saying, "unestablished guy" talking...

The Dodgers really owe Andruw 600 at bats this year, to let him work through his slump.

I feel bad for Zito Andruw. Sure he has all this money, but you know the dude is a competitor, and to lose it this bad. Man. I wonder if it wouldn't be worth it for the giants dodgers to toss some serious money at Rick Peterson Bobby Cox when he becomes available, and see what happens when you pair the two up again.

Fight on Barry Tubbo. Fight on!

meh, i just copied this from another thread. seemed easier.

I don't know anything about Kemp's demeanour or personality, but he shouldn't be saying what he did here, and in my opinion it doesn't reflect well on him for having said so, as a rookie, especially when he and Ethier are young guys trying to unseat some veterans who have had pretty good careers, in what is already a delicate situation for Dodgers management.

Why shouldn't he have said anything? He's one of the two best hitters on the team, and he stated his opinion. If it were Jeff Kent or Luis Gonzalez, they'd be lauded for showing leadership.

So, when LaRoche comes in, does he bat 8th or 9th?

I don't know anything about Kemp's demeanour or personality, but he shouldn't be saying what he did here

Why not, LaLa's so called leadership providing veterans have been mouthing off (while playing badly) for 2- years.

Matt Kemp is now a 23 year old with 560 MLB PAs under his belt and a .309/.340/.492 line in Dodger Stadium.
Ethier is 26, with 1047 PAs and a .296/.360/.464 career MLB line.
These guys are not immobile 1B/DH slugs either
Loney has 596 MLB PAs, and has hit .317/.369/.519- he IS a 1B, but no one has ever mistaken him for a born DH.

Meanwhile 2006-08
Pierre has hit: .291/.330/.368
NoMah has hit: .291/.348/.437
Jones has hit:.236/.333/.457
LGone has hit:.271/.353/.437

With the exception of Jones- none has defensive edge over the younger guys either.

Giving PT to Loney/Kemp/Ethier 2007-08 should not have been a hard decision.
Did Ned listen too much to Sabean when working in SF?
Did/does Ned listen to much to the LaLa sports columnists?

AJ opening up his front side and bailing out sure isn't anything new; his ability to miss an outside pitch by at least 18 inches when he was going bad was pretty well established and known. What has been missing so far is the fixed AJ, whioch used to work for a couple of weeks, when he wasn't doing that, and had very good power. Maybe LA needs to call in Terry Pendleton.