DODGERS KEMP: "I just want to play, man"

Discussion in 'Los Angeles DODGERS' started by irish, May 27, 2014.

  1. blueplatespecial

    blueplatespecial DSP Legend

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    I read with horror in one of the Dodger blogs how Hanley should leave the Dodgers and go to an AL team where he can just rake as the DH for the rest of his career.:crybaby:
     
  2. back2back x 2 + 1

    back2back x 2 + 1 DSP Legend Damned

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    Hanley will be injured once a week in LF and that's if we're lucky. Lol lord help us all if that happens and he get 100M and then we have to deal with an injury-prone Hanley out there tryin to cover way more ground
     
  3. back2back x 2 + 1

    back2back x 2 + 1 DSP Legend Damned

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    i'm afraid that's what it's coming to, bro..especially when you're talking NL-style ball + a team like ours with an elite pitching staff..our arms just deserve the best defense we can put out there.

    a dominant Puig will make us all feel better about it.
     
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  4. THINKBLUE

    THINKBLUE DSP Gigolo

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    Hanley will be horrid at 3B imo
     
  5. carolinabluedodger

    carolinabluedodger DSP Legend

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    In our favor is that Hanley wants to play, he doesn't just want to hit.
     
  6. carolinabluedodger

    carolinabluedodger DSP Legend

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    Less likely to be injured in the outfield than the infield, the infield puts a lot of stress on joints stopping suddenly, turning awkwardly, and over extending making awkward throws. The walls are the real concerns in the OF.
     
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  7. back2back x 2 + 1

    back2back x 2 + 1 DSP Legend Damned

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    i agree. i wasn't saying put him @ 3B. i'm sayin let him walk in free agency or even better..trade him at the deadline and get some pieces. they owe it to their pitching.
     
  8. back2back x 2 + 1

    back2back x 2 + 1 DSP Legend Damned

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    if Hanley had any outfield experience i'd agree with you, but i envision just that..a bunch of starting and stopping for a guy with no clue what the outfield is all about. his back and lower extremity injuries all connected..no way i'd do that. he really does have DH written all over him..however, the Yankees would probably put up with his defense. they've done just that with Jeter for quite a while. so long as he hits 25-30HRs
     
  9. Bluezoo

    Bluezoo Among the Pantheon

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    I meant to do it....I'm hippo racist.
    I'm a RINO, you see.
     
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  10. Bluezoo

    Bluezoo Among the Pantheon

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    Yes, it is horrible, but makes perfect, absolute sense.
    Surprising that there is this much clarity from Hanley.
     
  11. F YOUK

    F YOUK DSP Regular

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    More and more teams in the AL are getting away from full time DH's and rotating other players through the role.

    Besides, aside from his half season last year, hanley hasn't "raked" for years
     
  12. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    great read as usual from yahoo's tim brown


    Los Angeles – Hey Matt, go compete. Go win a job. Go be the left fielder.

    If you're not feeling sorry for yourself, it's fooling the people around you. It's fooling your teammates. They think you're pouting. They're starting to think you care more for yourself than you do for the Dodgers, which might have played when you were running for an MVP award, but not so much today.

    You're allowed to be mad you're not playing. Not mad: pissed. Apoplectic. You're supposed to do something about it. So, play harder. Play better. Compete.

    You're 29 years old. Not that long ago you were regarded as the best athlete in the game. You are one of the better paid. Now you're having trouble holding a job.

    And where, exactly, would you place the blame?

    Don Mattingly? Ned Colletti? Your ankle? The shoulder still?

    If you're hurt, say so. But you are not on any of the club's medical reports. If the effects of the surgeries linger, and your legs are not under you, and you don't feel quite right quite yet, OK, fair enough. Good on you for refusing the public crutch. In the meantime, your team has games to play – to win – and you are not its best in center field, not the way you've played it so far. In fact, if defensive metrics are to be believed, well, they're not kind to your performance. The people you work for aren't necessarily chained to those numbers, but they can't ignore them either. They do watch the games.​

    A third through the season, your defense does not merit a place in center field. Frankly, your bat hasn't thus far merited a corner either, but left is yours if you want it, certainly now that Carl Crawford can't play, and presumably you'll hit better than you have – .162 – with runners in scoring position.

    Look, it stinks to be hurt. It stinks to be unsure after all these years of – to use a term you made popular – beast mode. To reach for one more gear and find nothing. To fix a swing atop a cranky body. It stinks to lose your job, to be outplayed, to stand with the scapegoats for the ballclub's mediocre record. It stinks to feel like the team has turned on you, if that's what you think, but their jobs are on the line, too.

    The scouts at Dodger Stadium come every night with two questions:

    "How come the Dodgers aren't winning?"

    "What's wrong with Kemp?"

    Damn, man, has it really come to this?

    Let me ask this: If, when you came to the big leagues at 21, you found ahead of you a veteran guy struggling with his game and his confidence, what would you have done?

    Buried him with your play. That's what.

    If you had been one of four or five outfielders hustling for playing time, what would you have done?

    Figured a way onto the field. Somehow, some way, you'd have outworked and outplayed all of them.

    Well, here you are. The hunted. Once, you were the best player on the field, and maybe the best player in the game. Today, for whatever reason, in the middle of your prime, bad ankle or no, you're third or fourth in your own outfield, depending on the day.​

    So it began on Wednesday night, Crawford on the disabled list, Andre Ethier in center field, you in left for the first time since '06 and batting sixth. Five days off – other than a couple pinch-hit appearances – for you to buy in, get comfortable, get healthy, whatever it was.

    Is it fair?

    Doesn't matter. It just is. Mattingly, the guy you liked to call "Donnie B.," is now Donnie D. Donnie UZR. And, yeah, maybe Hanley Ramirez should pick it up on the defensive end, too. Of the worst eight defensive teams in the game, only the Dodgers have a winning record. And still that's a lot of pitching and a lot of rallies that go to waste because balls that should have been caught were not turned into outs.

    And, yeah, for the moment, and for some reason, you were not part of the solution.

    It's not supposed to be disrespectful. Maybe, it's not even supposed to be forever. It's supposed to be the solution today.

    "It's a little different," you said Wednesday afternoon before a coach fungoed more fly balls to you in left field. "I'm just excited to be back in there and play."

    "I'll figure it out," you said.

    "I'm still a pretty good athlete," you said, "so I think I'll be OK."

    "That it?" you asked.

    Yeah, that's it.​

    __
     
  13. rube

    rube DSP Legend Staff Member Administrator

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    Fantastic article.
    Hit it to all fields and pulled no punches yet softened every blow by illuminating the whole situation
     
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  14. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    wut u said there
    but en ingles
     
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  15. C2ThaB81

    C2ThaB81 DSP Legend

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    Good read. Mainly because it's troof!
     
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  16. dodgers

    dodgers DSP Legend

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    Kemp is going to get traded and absolutely blow up.
     
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  17. irish

    irish DSP Staff Member Administrator

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    sadly, that's about the only thing that might motivate his dumb ass
     
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  18. IBleedBlue15

    IBleedBlue15 DSP Stud

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    Am I the only one that doesn't feel that it's necessary to bash Kemp's bat without taking a look around with who else is on the team? I'm Dre's biggest fan, but he's a better hitter than him and Crawford. He was hitting something like .360 in May and has much more power potential than the other two. The problem was him in center; which we resolved by moving him to left. Hopefully he can get into a grove soon because I'm tired of hearing people endlessly bag on the guy.
     
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  19. back2back x 2 + 1

    back2back x 2 + 1 DSP Legend Damned

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  20. KOUFAX0000

    KOUFAX0000 DSP Legend Damned

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    Personally. I am glad to see the Chinchilla back in the lineup.

    0-12 with 4 K's and now they're losing again.

    I missed that.
    :whistle:
     

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