An update from De Jon Watson
It’s been a couple weeks, so as promised, here’s what De Jon Watson has been up to the last couple of weeks:
"I started in Jacksonville and had a chance to see the club for the first time. I met up with Peter Bragan Jr., the owner, so that we could talk with him about the club — what some of his needs were and our needs for some our players, as far as making public appearances and that type of stuff. We also talked about the facility itself, trying to address the hitter’s background there. Those are some of the things we covered.
I had a chance to see Chin-lung Hu who is playing extremely well there and so is Xavier Paul. Some of the pitchers like Jonathan Meloan, who we saw in big league camp, pitched very well while I was there.
I left there and went to Vero Beach, where I got to see some of the guys in Extended Spring Training. For those that aren’t familiar with it, Extended is primarily for our younger players, including those from Latin America who are here for the first time and some of the guys we drafted last year who need a little more training before they break camp with a full-season club. Some of them played at Ogden or Vero Beach (for the Gulf Coast Dodgers) last year and we feel like they need a little more instruction.
The way Extended works is, we play five games a week and we have two "camp" days. We play against teams like the Mets, the Cardinals and the Marlins and we can keep track of who is progressing and who’s not progressing or any areas we need to address. We have one kid by the name of James Peterson who is actually leaving for the Great Lakes club because his bat was so advanced, so that was a positive. There was another kid, Tommy Giles, who also went to Great Lakes and Joey Norrito, who was with a full season club last year, didn’t break camp this year but was pitching so well we moved him up to Double-A and now he’s in the rotation there.
I had a couple of the roving coordinators there with us — our pitching coordinator, Marty Reed, hitting coordinator Bill Robinson and catching coordinator Travis Barbary and I spent some time with them.
From there I went down to the Dominican Republic to evaluate the overall roster down there and see which kids were going to get the majority of the playing time. We have two kids that are going to be making it over to the States that are going to play in the Gulf Coast League that were originally not scheduled to come. Geison Aguavisas, a left-handed starter who will be in our rotation in the GCL and Kelvin Dominguez, a situational left-hander who has a chance to be pretty good down the road with an above-average breaking ball.
The trip itself was five days in the DR and I got to spend time with staff and make sure we’re implementing the overall philosophy in the DR that we do in the States.
From the DR, I flew back to Miami and drove to Jacksonville again, spent a little more time there and then went back home to Arizona. Then last week, I came out here for the draft and my job there is really to just give an overview of what we have in place at our Ogden club and Gulf Coast League club and talk about the overall needs, if there are any, at a particular postion and then to keep track of the new players we’re getting and where they’re going to play once they sign.
Inside the Dodgers 
Not having to do at all with this post by De Jon—
Just checking Pierre’s stats. It is amazing how much he is below his career numbers across the board. While this year might be lost for him he is a solid player and could still prove valuable over the course of what is a very uncertain future.
Career: Slg- .374, OBP- .348, Avg- .301
This yr: Slg- .318, OBP- .299, Avg- .271
HE IS NOT AS BAD AS HE HAS BEEN PLAYING THUS FAR.
Let’s hope that you are right, and this is only a dramatic slump. In the meantime I believe he should stay in the #8 slot on the batting order.
Seven players in baseball have been hit by a pitch as many or more times than Pierre has walked.
Pierre is currently two off the major league lead in both outs and caught stealing.
As far as I’ve been able to tell, no one in baseball history – until Juan Pierre in 2006 – has ever managed to make 500 outs four seasons in a row. It will be tougher for him to do it five times in a row batting in the #8 spot so Grady better move him back to the top of the lineup or this unprecedented streak might end!
More JP fun facts:
Juan Pierre has led the NL in caught stealing for the last four years in a row. No one has ever led their league in caught stealing for five straight seasons, so Juan has a chance to make history! He is currently 2 caught stealing behind the NL leader.
To …Dave, See message on previous page from Pierres east…..De Jon Watson… your doing a great job, were all waiting these kids….enough of the pitchers(GREAT JOB), Now get some Longball Hitters.
As I mentioned a little while ago on the previous page…PIERRE.. should take a good look at………….. JOSE REYES……THIS WEEK…..He may REMEMBER…..HIMSELF.
Grittle ought to watch and learn managing a baseball team from Willie Randolph too!
thanks for the update De Jon. Im starting to care about the minor leagues more then the big club. They are in a down fall fast.
Whats the latest on Scott Elbert? How did his surgery go and will he be ready for spring?
thank you.
Heres another fun fact on Juan Pierre…i told you guys he would be horrible but no one listened….sigh
haha no but really he’s horrible. This is worse then i would have imagined. Does he have any options or something? send him down or out. We’d be a lot better with Kemp in center. Heck we’d be better with Repko in center..well maybe not.
Yeah, things are going bad lately, but it will never match last season. I will never forget how bad last season was when we lost 16 of 17. We all practically threw in the towel. But, just as easy as things went bad, things can go right back in the other way. It’s like waiting out a storm it happens to everybody, even the “All Mighty” (because ESPN says so of course) New York Mets who have lost 8 of their last 11. And in the big picture of things we’re only 1 1/2 out even after going through this horrible 6 game stretch. And the Mets have the best record in the National League and only are two games better than us. So, yes things are bad now but we’re a very good team and this happens to everyone. The team is easy to pick on now because they’re down. So, go against the grain and support the team when they need us the most because the Mets are here and we need to badly right this ship. Management is making changes so it really truly is on the players to turn this around.
Go Dodgers!
We didn’t lose 16 of 17 last year. It was 12 of 13.
Nice post Alex i toally agree! They have made the moves that everyone wanted, Loney and Kemp are up in the big club, Pierre is hitting in the 8 spot (i think he will turn things around and get himself back into the top spot or #2) our kids have to step up, now is the time we need them most, they have to prove that we were right for pleading with management to bring them up. Abreu needs to start being a little more conistent (Not doing that bad of a job in the 2 hole but it could be better) and Kemp needs to just make plays (like yesterdays great grab) and hit the ball well and he will become more than a back-up to the vet and poor Pierre! I am looking forward to watching this series and the next against the Angels because it will show what kind of team we really are. I also think the juggiling of the line-up will subside once we see some more consistent production out of it. (im ok with juggiling until its right) I really hope Martin outshines the washed up LoDuca so everyone can see the type of player he really is!
LETS GO DODGERS!!!!!!!
LETS GO MARTIN!!!!!
LF Gonzo
CF Kemp
RF Loney
This is the best possible outfield the Dodgers can field right now. Andre makes a great 4th OF/defensive replacement.
Ok, yes 12 of 13 and 15 out of 18 overall. I guess I tried to block it out. And went on to win 17 of 18. But, you get the point, thanks for the number though. And yes of course I want us to beat the **** out of the Mets, but the icing on the cake would be for Martin to out duel Lo Duca, which I am sure will be talked about all series.
Vote for Martin!
BEAT THE METS AND GO DODGERS!
Alex-The big difference from last year is that our players[veteran] were able to do the job. The heart of our order is lacking any punch. Gonzo is holding on right now, Nomar is stinking up the joint. Kent’s not right either; could it be father time is catching up with JF? I still have hope regarding Kent, unsure about Nomar. Bullpen pitching is unsteady. Not sure of Sammy or Brox. We’ll have to rely on Beimel, Hendy and Tompko. Makes Bills all the more valuable in the pen.
The kids are kids. Repko could field better than Kemp with his gimpy leg. Hoping Loney can perform as well as John Olerud did for a nice career.
I’m not sure why anyone is saying Pierre is not playing as good as he normally does.
Guys, he’s always been a below replacement level player using VORP. He’s always the league leader in OUTS and CAUGHT STEALING. He’s never shown any power or an ability to get many extra base hits (especially for a “speed” guy) and his defense has ALWAYS been sub-par.
Yes. he’s doing things a little bit poorer than his usual numbers but it’s not like the Dodgers signed a star and the guy suddenly went bust.
JF=JK
>
That’s hardly the case. Kemp is just as fast and has just as good of an arm. Kemp also won’t make as many stupid showboat plays out there.
Very true Livnl.
I was referring to bigblue’s post about Repko supposedly being a better defender than Kemp.
I hope you’re right Max.
I was glad to see in DeJon’s post something about a few of the Dominican players being groomed and the Dodgers’ presence down there. I’ve been worried lately that they’ve neglected having more of a Latin presence in the system but that seems to not be the case. Maybe we just don’t hear enough about them? Anyway, it would be cool to have more updates about young Latin players in the Dodgers’ system.
Ned has to admit his mistake with JP. If you’re human you make mistakes. Admit it to yourself then correct it, that seperates the good GMs from the bad.
livinlegend, I’m sorry but your data is inaccurate.
“Guys, he’s always been a below replacement level player using VORP”
By definition, this would mean a negative number. Pierre has had a VORP of 35.1 in 2004, 12.1 in 2005, and 18.0 in 2006.
“His defense has always been sub-par.”
No it hasn’t. His arm always has been, and he doesn’t take good routes, but he runs the ball down quite well, like a younger Kenny Lofton. Rate2 has him pegged as an average centerfielder, and Zone Rating usually has him really high.
That’s not to negate your point necessarily, but you shouldn’t exaggerate.
i was at the game yesterday and had a perfect view at the out field from the left field Lodge. I beleive it was Troy glaus that hit a ball to the warning track that bounce short of the fence. The way Pierre played that ball was a joke, he went after the ball and gave up on it lettting bounce of the wall. He would of caught it if continued after it. Their was also another play that a ball was hit between Gonzo and Pierre. Pierre gave a lousy effort trying to catch it. It was Pierre’s ball all the way. And againg gave up on it; he actually did not even hustle after that ball to begin with.
I rather much see some one else play the out field, Some that will give it a 100%. I was really disapointed with what i saw!
Congratulations on your new position and your new family, you’ re doing great work I here, so keep up the hard work….