Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is setting the tone early in spring training. He has already announced Clayton Kershaw as the opening day starter, a decision that took Joe Torre the majority of spring training to make. Mattingly did not stop at pitching. He also announced that he will bat Andre Ethier third and Matt Kemp fourth “all year long.”
The decisions Mattingly has made thus far is in response to the players frustration with Torre last season. Players all season long were switched around in the batting order and could never get into any sort of groove. Sure Torre had to deal with slumping players but his lack of confidence played out on the field and from the bench it seems that Mattingly felt the players pain.
Regarding Kemp, Mattingly said the center fielder “didn’t let anybody down” last year.
“As a coaching staff we could have handled things differently, and he has to take part of the responsibility also and he did that,” he said. “From there, last year is gone and we’re moving forward, trying to help him become the best player he can be.” (http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp)
Mattingly is entering his first season as manager and he knows what he wanted in his managers when he played for the Yankees. Mattingly not only needs his players respect but he needs to let his players know that he has confidence in their ability. By the actions we have seen so far this spring training, it looks like the Dodgers have the right man at the right time to lead the Dodgers.
Figure Things Out
Matt Kemp is coming off his worst batting avg. of his career .249. Kemp batted in every spot except for 8th and 9th last season. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/)
