Los Angeles Dodgers Need to Hold on to Outfielder Juan Pierre

Juan Pierre will head back to the bench when Manny Ramirez returns from his 50-game suspension, confirmed Joe Torre. Prior to this season started, the Dodgers gave Pierre and his agent permission to talk to other teams in hopes of working out a trade, since Ramirez's re-signing with the Dodgers pushed Pierre to the backup role in left field. Yesterday Torre said, "Yeah, I really didn't consider any other option," adding that Pierre will play about twice a week while giving one of the three regular outfielders a rest. Pierre is currently batting .352 in 165 at-bats with an .867 OPS. In Manny’s absence, he was lead off batter for the majority of the games. Pierre recently tied former Dodger Steve Sax on the top 50 career MLB stolen base leaders list with 444 on June 12, 2009, against the Texas Rangers in Arlington. The next day, June 13, he pushed Sax out of the top 50 with his 445th steal, again versus the Rangers in Arlington, TX. Though a speedster on the bases, Pierre was ... (link)