Loney better watch his back...

[overkill94]

Jerry Sands is hitting .409 and hit his 4th homer in his first 6 games at AAA tonight while Loney is now hitting a robust .150 with an OPS barely higher than Sands' batting average.

I'm sure the Dodgers will give Loney at least a month more to show what he can do, but considering the fact that next year will be Loney's last arbitration year, it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up trading him for 50 cents on the dollar in order to give Sands the starting gig.

[Sour Masher]

What's kept Loney a starter for this long is his defense. I've heard about Sands' bat for awhile, but if he's a total hack defensively (I don't know if he is), they might just stick wtih Loney even if he doesn't start hitting.

[Simon]

Has Sands been playing the OF at all in AAA?

[Weapon1]

Has Sands been playing the OF at all in AAA?

Yep, thus far been splitting time between 1B and RF: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...=t342&stn=true

It's not like the Dodgers couldn't use an OF bat as well.

A similar situation to watch is in SD. Rizzo has gotten off to a decent start, while it may be time to put a fork in Brad Hawpe and Jorge Cannot.

[Simon]

Yep, thus far been splitting time between 1B and RF: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...=t342&stn=true

It's not like the Dodgers couldn't use an OF bat as well.

Exactly...and holy crap he hit another bomb yesterday and 5 RBI!

[Hornsby]

Loney has somehow gotten an undeserved reputation as being good defensively. In actuality, he compounds his terrible offensive output with mediocre (at best) defense.

Sands' reputation is that he's okay with the glove, but not great. So, essentially, he's James Loney with the glove and about three James Loneys with the bat.

LOL....and you give me crap about thinking that Brandon Belt is a .300 hitter in the future.

While you guys may be pissed at how Loney is playing now, you tend to forget that he's a lifetime .285 hitter who's averaged 90 RBI's since he became a full time player.

[joncarlos]

LOL....and you give me crap about thinking that Brandon Belt is a .300 hitter in the future.

While you guys may be pissed at how Loney is playing now, you tend to forget that he's a lifetime .285 hitter who's averaged 90 RBI's since he became a full time player.

Even if RBIs are a valid way to measure offense, you'd expect more than 90 from a first baseman on a relatively good offensive team. Loney didn't even match Casey McGhee in RBIs.

OPS+ is a better measure. Not even considering position, Loney was at 103 for 2008 and 2009. He was at 99 for 2010. So he is hitting like a league average hitter (not even for a 1B, but for everyone) and fielding average at best. That is not good, to say the least. Lyle Overbay has a better glove and posted a 107+ last year, and he had to settle for a 1 year deal with the freaking Pirates.

[Hornsby]

Even if RBIs are a valid way to measure offense, you'd expect more than 90 from a first baseman on a relatively good offensive team. Loney didn't even match Casey McGhee in RBIs.

OPS+ is a better measure. Not even considering position, Loney was at 103 for 2008 and 2009. He was at 99 for 2010. So he is hitting like a league average hitter (not even for a 1B, but for everyone) and fielding average at best. That is not good, to say the least. Lyle Overbay has a better glove and posted a 107+ last year, and he had to settle for a 1 year deal with the freaking Pirates.

And that's what Loney is going to have to settle for in a year two...right now he's not just their best option at the position, he's the only option. The Dodgers will bring Sands up sometime in June if he's still hitting the cover off the ball. But if you think that people are giving Belt crap about not having much of a pedigree (5th round pick, blah, blah, blah), wait until they see Sands and his 25th round draft position from mighty D-II Catawba.

Now I like Sands and think that he's going to be a good pro, but if people think that he's going to be the messiah, I think they need to re-think their position.

[Hornsby]

If he's only league average, he's a significant upgrade from Loney.

Dude, batting average and RBIs are the crux of your argument? LOLzers.

Loney has been one of the worst hitting first basemen in the league for several years now.

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=3&season=2010&month=0&season1=2008&ind=0

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=1b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2010&month=0&season1=2008&ind=0

JC is right. He's not even as good as Lyle Freakin' Overbay.

Sure, it's possible that Sands would be worse than James Loney at 1B. However, he'd essentially need to be the worst 1B in the entire league to pull that feat off. I don't think that will be the case.

The real question for Dodger fans is not whether Sands represents an upgrade to Loney, as he pretty obviously does. It's whether Sands will help the team more by playing 1B or LF, both of which are positions of extreme need for the Dodgers.

Loney has been bottom 3 in MLB in terms of OPS for 1B for two years straight. The year before that he was bottom 5. Saying he's the best (or only) option at 1B is false. John Lindsey would be a better hitting 1B, imo. Russ Mitchell would probably also be better. Shoot, Marcus Thames might even be better. That's how bad Loney is.

Ohhhh, you cut me to the quick with your LOLzers...I'm devastated.

Answer me this...if there REALLY were two, three, or four, better options for the Dodgers at 1st, don't ya think that ONE of them would be starting at 1st? And that horrible Loney would be sweeping out Grand Central? Yeah, I know that you think Colletti is an idiot, but really, given the Dodgers financial situation, doesn't it make sense to get rid of Loney and start a guy making a fraction of his salary, ESPECIALLY if he's a better player?

It's a logical fallacy to think that 3 different managers (at least) would start a guy that's so horrible, when there are (according to you), much better options available.

[senorsheep]

It's just a question of where his final starting 1B gig will be - Kansas City or Pittsburgh. They all end up in one place or the other.

[joncarlos]

Pittsburgh or tampa hosmer should have 1b locked down for kc soon

[Hammer]

Loney does kinda suck. Just sayin'

[Weapon1]

Pittsburgh or tampa hosmer should have 1b locked down for kc soon

Given that the Rays have or soon will be stockpiling young talent, KC should be on the phone now trying to move Kila there before the Rays develop a 1B of their own.

[Hornsby]

The only logical fallacy I see here is one that's oft-repeated: "Since X Player is playing right now for the team, he must be the best option available." It's the ugly cousin of "Don't you think that Y Team would have wanted X Player if he was any good?"

To answer your question, no I wouldn't expect the Dodgers to make correct or appropriate personnel moves. If recent history has shown us one thing, it's that the Dodgers' management and ownership sucks.

I can only guess that they continue to hope that Loney will break out and build upon his extremely promising 2007 season. He never has. I have given up on him, even though I was holding out some hope as recently as mid-2009. At this point, he is what he is: a subpar option at 1B.

But he IS still their best option...just sayin'.

[overkill94]

It wasn't even a certainty that Loney was going to be offered arbitration this past offseason - that's how far he's fallen. His only real asset these past couple years has been his clutch hitting, but even that fell off in the 2nd half last year (and he's been terrible at it so far this year).

Loney keeps getting chances because he has shown Mark Grace-like skills in the past even though he hasn't really put it together for a full season yet. While the Dodgers will give him at least another month - both to see if he snaps out of it and make sure Sands is ready - his leash is pretty short right now.

The LF thing could also use an upgrade, but Gibbons should be back soon and I'm sure they'll see what he can do before making a change there.