Pierre In-Depth

I seem to remember reading a blurb on Dodger outfielder Juan Pierre somewhere this winter that said he doesn't hit curveballs well. In fact, he has proven so inept at hitting curveballs over his career that it's amazing anyone throws the guy a fastball.

Mike Pindelski of Beyond the Box Score looks into Juan Pierre's future and while he doesn't see a disaster in the making he also doesn't see much hope in him justifying his $45 million contract.

The use of historically comparable player's career paths as a means to predict how a particular player is going to fair in the future seems to me to be a quite effective means of prediction. Pierre's comparables rarely sustained their late 20's performance level into their mid or in many cases into their early 30's.