Matt Kemp Splitting Time... (Merged)

[casem2k2]

From Yahoo Sports....

Apr 6 Kemp was on the bench for the second straight day on Sunday and has now split starts 50-50 with Juan Pierre in the Dodgers' first six games of the year.

No wonder he just got dropped in my league.

Anyone think he can reclaim the starting role?

[StringerBell]

Is Torre down on Kemp? Pierre has started 4 out of 7 games. What gives?

[Super Manny]

On the bench again tonight...

[Super Manny]

viewtopic.php?t=334718

[Dark Knight]

Because Pierre has a much higher salary.

[kaiser]

Matt Kemp is ten times the player Juan Pierre is. I am losing respect for Joe Torre. He usually is a much better manager than he is showing right now. Did he leave his good sense in NYC?

[Dark Knight]

Matt Kemp is ten times the player Juan Pierre is.

And he has the MLB veteran All-Star track record to prove it.

[kaiser]

You believe the Dodgers are better off playing Pierre over Kemp?

[Dark Knight]

You believe the Dodgers are better off playing Pierre over Kemp?

Possibly they are, but Kemp hardly has played in enough MLB games to claim he is 10 times the player as Pierre is. Pierre has been an All-Star before, and Kemp has not. Since 2001, I think Ichiro is the only player in the entire mlb currently to have more hits then Pierre has.

[kaiser]

Okay, fair enough. I exaggerated. Let me rephrase...

Matt Kemp is the future. Juan Pierre is the past. Pierre is still a decent player, but beyond stolen bases, offers very little upside to the Dodgers, either in the short-term or in the long.

Matt Kemp has great potential to be a star in the majors, potential he began to show dividends on when he was given steady playing time last season. He has the talent. That much everyone can pretty much agree on.

The Dodger can continue to justify the money they shelled out for a guy past his prime by playing him at the expense of putting the best possible team on the field, but until they give the young guys real, honest playing time every day, they will never take the next step back to greatness. They'll just be the kind of team that signs someone like Andruw Jones or Juan Pierre, and hopes that these players somehow return to past form, when in reality, those days are gone.

They're playing Eithier, and he is proving the point, so that is a step in the right direction, but it's not enough.