Saturday, May 8, 2010

Ned Colletti Trashes Another Young Dodgers Player

A bit less publicly this time around, but still, Ned continues to show that he has no idea what constitutes a productive player or what logical team-building entails.

Blame me? No, it was that young productive player's fault.
Veterans, they're veterans you know. 

After choosing to send Xavier Paul to AAA instead of the atrocious Garret Anderson (at the risk of losing Anderson on waivers - oh what a gift shame that would be), in order to activate Manny Ramirez from the DL, Colletti informed Paul of why he was the player on the short end of the stick. Via Ken Gurnick (and thanks to Josh S. for pointing me towards this article), Colletti told Paul:
 Paul said he was told by general manager Ned Colletti to work on his mental approach to the game "and being a big leaguer."
For those of you who believe confidence is a key and something that can be lost in young players easily, this certainly can't help.

Paul said upon hearing the news:
"I don't fit here right now, that's it," Paul said after being consoled by teammates Casey Blake and Matt Kemp. "Right now, I just don't cut it here."
At least his mindset going forward is strong:
"As a player, I have to respect that. It's his team. At the end of the day, my thought is to keep working hard and keep playing like every day is my last. I know the situation with Manny coming back tomorrow. It is what it is. It's a decision they have to make." 
What exactly constitutes a "big leaguer". Because Paul can play all three outfield positions, has a cannon for an arm, can steal a base, has some pop in his bat, a solid eye at the plate, and clearly has room to grow and improve. Garret Anderson, on the other hand, has proven over his long career that getting on-base is not something he excels at, there's no room for growth, he's not suddenly going to find the fountain of youth, and oh yeah, he's horrid on both sides of the ball now. Paul's OBP is .323, Anderson's is .167 in 17 more plate appearances. Paul has earned a roster spot, Anderson has not.

So tell me Ned, if Paul has to work on his mental approach, why not tell Anderson to work on his being a productive player approach? Oh yes, I forgot, you won't do that, because Anderson is a veteran, and if you criticize him or cut him, it makes you look bad.

And all this time, I thought it was the General Manager's job to put together a team with the best chance of making the playoffs. I thought it was his job to put together a team that would win games.

Silly me.

8 comments:

  1. It's all about the money. They pay alot of money for these veterans, so they got to keep them to justify what they're paying them, eventhough they aren't producing. The young guys are out there doing a good job, are you blind Colletti? And how about the pitching staff? Isn't it a bit obvious that the nuckle ball isn't working? Maybe it's time to send some of the starters back to the bull pen and bring out some of the relief as starters.

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  2. The truly sad part is that veterans like Anderson and Ortiz aren't even making big money, less than a million each.

    (Just checked, 1 million exactly for Ortiz, and $550,000 for Anderson with a possible $200,000 in performance bonuses, which he obviously won't be reaching unless he becomes Babe Ruth overnight).

    If they cut them, it reflects poorly on Colletti for signing them in the first place. And he clearly wants no part of that.

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  3. Colletti is feeling the strain of functioning under the financial constraints the Dodger's ownership divorce battle has out him under. His GM skills have always been in question, even after he pulled off the Manny-for-essentially-nothing coup of two years ago. Now the team is stumbling around, Joe Torre walked away from contract extension talks due to the havoc the divorce is wreaking on the club - and Colletti knows that right or wrong, he's the fall guy. So, when Matt Kemp reverts to making defensive mistakes and commits stupid baserunning errors, Colletti lashes out. Ditto the Xavier Paul thing - conventional wisdom being, trust the veteran... but because of the pressure, Colletti botches the handling of it. It's a thankless position he's been put in, but it's part of the job. What he needs to learn quickly, though, is that the die seems cast - he is almost certainly going to lose his current job sooner rather than later. So, if he wants a shot at another GM post, he better start acting more professional - ironically, the same complaint he's been leveling rather publicly at his players.

    Meanwhile, as much as I don't think it's necessarily fair to Frank McCord, I think Bud Selig better be prepared to use his "in the best interest of baseball" powers to force a sale of the Dodgers, before one of the sport's two bedrock franchises becomes a laughingstock.

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  4. I doubt Selig would force McCourt to sell, considering he pushed for McCourt in the first place.

    And Colletti's background is public relations, so his failure in that regard is puzzling, I suppose, but not unexpected, considering he's an awful GM.

    And guys make errors, they make mistakes, it happens, but it's much more forgivable in young players, who are still learning; especially a guy like Kemp, who started focusing solely on baseball late and is still raw in some respects.

    The veterans who have been awful (Anderson, Ortiz, Carroll for most of the season) should not be coddled. They're the ones who Ned should be criticizing and cutting.

    They never should have been signed in the first place.

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  5. Colletti needs to go. Paul is the man. He's still young and growing, shame on you Colletti. Very UNPROFESSIONAL! I'm kind of curious of what Kemp and Blake told Paul. Colletti is focussing on the wrong players for things that are minor. He needs to focus on the things that are hurting the team, like on players who are batting .140. Bring in the young and out with the old. Every game X. Paul was in, was a W (4-0 I believe). There are players in the minors that need major league level experience, such as De Jesus. I don't understand why sign veterans like Carrol, Anderson, when you have players like Either, Martin, who have great work ethic that can show them the ways of the BLUE. Whats Anderson teaching, give up when you're his age. Understand, that Either, Loney, Kemp, and Martin are mature and are professional and will make great mentors. The pitching is there. Look at Ely and what he's done. Quality starts with alot of energy. Since hes came in, the Dodgers seem to turn a corner. I really like this guy. And if he keeps doing what he's doing, and Kershaw becomes who he's suppose to be, and Bills finds his All-star self, WOW! And with offense. NL CHAMPS! Go BLUE!

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  6. DeJesus I can actually understand spending the entire year in the minors, what with the awful injury he had last year. I think a full year, healthy, in the minors is just what he needs after the injury.

    Anderson and both Ortizes were awful signings, and Carroll at 1 year is bad enough for me, 2 is just dreadful.

    Colletti loves to criticize the wrong guys, which sucks, but I've unfortunately learned to accept that it will happen, and hopefully he's gone sooner rather than later.

    I wanted Paul as the 4th OF all along, at least he's been up and produced enough to show he can be a very competent 4th OF.

    I love our top 3 starters, Kershaw, Billingsley, and Kuroda are more than enough to have success. It's early in the season, consistency will come.

    Thanks for the comment.

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  7. I've said it now for a number of years. colletti is a big fat moron who should be back selling newspapers.

    I pray that McCourts sell team and Colletti's new job is at Jack in the Box.

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  8. I couldn't agree more. Though I occasionally frequent Jack in the Box, and Ned would definitely mess up the food, so maybe send him to Taco Bell or a Jamba Juice.

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