A Medley Of (Semi) Important News

Alright, let's talk about a couple things that have gone down recently.

Jamey Carroll signed with the Dodgers for two years and I am apathetic. Carroll's an average bat, and not bad with the glove. It kind of goes down like this: if Carroll is our starting 2nd baseman, we're in trouble. If Carroll fills the role that Mark Loretta had last year, then we are better off. Either way, the contract is only two years and it's under $4 million, so it's not a bad signing.

The Dodgers also added Luis Ayala on the cheap. As Mike at MSTI points out, Ayala's been (in Mike's words) a "monumental jackass." He did a write up about Ayala here. I don't like how much of a jackass Ayala is, but I'm not worried much about him affecting clubhouse chemistry or anything. The brilliant thing about Joe Torre is, say what you will about his coaching style but the man knows how to control a clubhouse. I don't think Ayala will be a problem. He might suck at pitching, but that's another story...

Speaking of adding players on the cheap, Diamond Leung reported on his Twitter that the Dodgers also brought back Doug Mientkiewicz and Ángel Berroa on minor league deals. I like Mientkiewicz, he's not great, but he's an okay option as a backup to Loney or being a left handed bat off the bench. If we have to use Berroa, I'm going to be off-put.

Off-putting.

And finally, Juan Pierre is gone, and he's still getting on my nerves. When Dylan Hernandez covered the Pierre trade for the L.A. Times, he went to Pierre to get some quotes. Here's a piece of the article:

"'I've been in the witness protection program for the last two years.'

Pierre said he didn't consider his last three years a waste.

'When I first signed with them, people were like, 'What in the world were they thinking?' ' he said. 'I've been criticized so much in the last three years, so I'm ready for the Chicago media. All in all, it's made me a stronger person.'"

Long sigh...

"Witness protection"? You appeared in 264 of 324 games the last two years and started 162 of those games. You weren't a ghost.

And I'm glad this whole experience made you "a stronger person." Guess what, Juan? You were getting paid millions upon millions of dollars to play baseball, so take a little criticism in the media.

And by the way, most of the things I see about you in the media are complementary. Writers and television announcers have had almost nothing but praise for your "grittiness" or "baseball attitude" or whatever.

You're a baseball player, not a pariah. Get over yourself.