Ethier in left, Pierre to bench

[blacksilverfan12]

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Not so sure about the whole outfield thing. Personally, I wouldn't have signed Andruw. As I'm sure everybody knows, he hit .222 last year. His HR's have dropped from 51 in '05 to 41 in '06 to 26 last year. He strikes out a lot (an avergae of 124 over 11 full years)

However, he continues to play great defense. Only two errors last year, and he won his 10th straight Gold Glove

Well, we'll see how it goes...

[moebarguy]

Signing Jones was not the mistake, signing Pierre was. Although it was shocking to see Ethier tabbed as the starter, it is the correct move. My hat is off to the Dodgers for having some balls...

[mojorisin71]

Something tells me that Ethier will be on a very short leash.

[BlueBlood]

We should like give Pierre a duster or some sweat-towels to pass out...I mean, if you're going to pay that much money...

[blacksilverfan12]

Signing Jones was not the mistake, signing Pierre was. Although it was shocking to see Ethier tabbed as the starter, it is the correct move. My hat is off to the Dodgers for having some balls...

Maybe. I like Pierre better than Andruw. But Pierre doesn't walk enough and doesn't have much arm strength. Both have their pros and cons

[Dodgerfan1]

Maybe. I like Pierre better than Andruw. But Pierre doesn't walk enough and doesn't have much arm strength. Both have their pros and cons

I agree on this count, though not by much, at this point. I was a big Pierre fan when the Dodgers signed him, and really looked to him, along with Furcal, to be a major catalyst. Juan ended up hitting .293 last year with 64 SB, and was being ragged on all year by the fans as underachieving. His OBP could be better, but he had a solid season, I thought. Not exactly one worthy of the jack he is getting, but not bad at all, either.

Jones is still fairly young, at 31, and should have a better year than last. He's never hit for high average, but his power numbers were the lowest of his career as a regular player. If I had to choose between the two, I like Pierre better, as well. But it's fairly close. Neither set the league on fire last year.

[moebarguy]

Jones is far superior to Pierre. You can't just look at Jones' 2007 season, you have to look at his 3-year averages:
.249 BA, .333 OBP, 39 HR, 117 RBI, 95 R, and 5 SB

It would have been much prettier too if he didn't have such a terrible BA last season, but he's still a top hitter and a top defender -- you can say either of those things about Pierre. Considering the Dodgers have lacked a power bat in the lineup over the past few seasons, adding a bat like Jones makes the Dodgers lineup more legitimate. Furcal will provide plenty of speed atop the Dodgers lineup, so there's no need for a low-OB speedster stealing AB's away from a proven veteran power bat like Jones or a good young bat like Ethier.