Nowhere To Run

Written by: Brandon Wahl on 5th March 2009

Nowhere To Run | read this item

The biggest loser of the Manny Ramirez signing was in fact Juan Pierre. Brought to Los Angeles two seasons ago his signing has the dubious distinction of being made irrelevant three times over. The first time being the signing of Andruw Jones a year ago, then with the Ramirez trade last summer, and finally with the recent signing of Manny Ramirez.

With nowhere to go but the pine, the questions arises- what to do with a powerless, weak-armed, salary bloated player that clearly wants nothing to do with his present team? Trade him of course! Ken Gurnick has the scoop…

The Dodgers have given Juan Pierre’s agent permission to explore potential trade partners for the outfielder who again lost his starting job with the re-signing of left fielder Manny Ramirez.

“I understand the situation, and if they hadn’t signed Manny, it would have been a surprise,” said Pierre. “I’m not bitter about it. I totally get it, you know what I mean? But I want to play. So they gave us permission to talk to teams and try to find a situation that can work out for everybody, and that’s all I can ask for.”

Of course that brings up another interesting question- what can the Dodgers get for a guy that has failed to get a single hit in spring training? Pierre has already agreed to defer his salary in attempts to make him more attractive, but even $3 million for what basically amounts to a pinch runner seems excessive.

The Dodgers need pitching, and frankly who doesn’t, but what team would give away even a slightly above average player for someone that isn’t? It appears evident that if a trade is going to take place the Dodgers will have to package another player, or simply be happy accepting a low draft pick.

Whatever path the Dodgers take they should certainly bring in Lakers GM Mitch Kupchack to consult. After all, he successfully swapped Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.

Share on Tumblr