Saturday, March 31, 2007

Congratulations, Matt Kemp!

Bit of a bombshell here. From Tony Jackson at the Daily News:

Roster shocker: Kemp makes team, Bigbie doesn't

It ultimately came down to the fact Kemp was a right-handed hitter and Bigbie wasn't, and Ned and Grady wanted to balance their heavily left-handed bench. Bigbie has one more day to find a major-league offer and exercise his out clause -- something he can do even if he doesn't find a major-league offer. But if he decides to stay, he'll go to Las Vegas and be just like any other minor league player not on the 40-man roster. Kemp batted .246 for the spring, but also had four home runs, including a monster shot in Friday night's win over the Angels, and nine RBI.

Wow! Just when we were all set to continue bitching, Ned and Grady do the right thing. Don't expect seven home runs in his first 52 games, but finally we get to see what Kemp can do over (hopefully) a full season.

Now about getting James Loney onto the club....

Meanwhile, it'll be interesting to see Bigbie's reaction. I don't see him staying, not when he's gone through the trouble of negotiating that opt-out clause.

Jackson also reports that Rafael Furcal will start the season on the DL, giving Wilson Valdez a chance to impress.

Too bad Valdez is out of options—even though we previously said moving Nomar off first could be folly, seeing him at shortstop for a few games (Furcal is eligible to return for the Giants series) with Loney at first would have rocked from the westside to the eastside.

(Thanks to superfast commenters mike and dodgerfan in idaho for the tip!)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Orel! I was so transfixed on the idea of James Loney going back to triple-A that I forgot to congratulate Matt Kemp as well. He sure put things together over the past two weeks. Let's hope he does some damage to the rest of the National League this year.

Anonymous said...

Oh... and I stand by my earlier comment...

Five freakin' years is still a really freakin' long time!!

Orel said...

Especially when it represents almost a quarter of your life. James is young; he'll get his chance.

Steve Sax said...

Nice "Big Bee", btw Orel.

Orel said...

I was saving it for if he made the team. Oh well.