ESPN LA: Jackson: James Loney’s future in L.A. at risk

Loney are the Brave…or who ever else will take him.

During a pregame media session with Mattingly, I asked him whether, when he thinks about what he wants this team to accomplish over the next few years, he still sees Loney as a part of it. Mattingly’s answer was even less committal than I anticipated.

“I don’t know,” he said. “This probably isn’t the right time to even talk about it. We’re just trying to win a game every day.”

...Throughout his career, Loney has been a stand-up guy, the kind of player Dodgers fans could easily embrace if he wasn’t perceived as the poster child for the team’s maddening lack of offensive punch. The harsh reality, though, is that his time in Los Angeles probably is winding down, that if he ever does regain that sweet, line-drive stroke that was such an integral part of this lineup from 2006-09, he will regain it somewhere else.

“I saw it for two years, where he ended up at .300 with 90 RBI, and you didn’t know how he did it, but he did it,” Mattingly said. “It made you think that if he could ever hit for power, he could really go off. I always felt like you would watch him take batting practice and see (the power), but he wouldn’t be able to take that into a game.

“I’m not saying I don’t think it’s ever going to happen, but it hasn’t to this point, and it has been a long time.”