The Time Is Now: The Dodgers Must Cut Ties with Andre Ethier By Robert Pace | Bleacher Report -- November 1, 2013 It’s the inevitable truth that every Dodgers fan has been fully aware of but steadfastly denying for months. It’s that prolonged breakup that stings but is bound to happen one day. It’s the kind of severance that ends with that calamitous cliché: “It’s not you; it’s me.” It’s time the Dodgers sat down with Andre Ethier and had that talk. To the average onlooker, it seems absurd for the Dodgers to think of parting ways with their longtime right fielder, who has spent all of his eight major-league seasons with the Boys in Blue. Ethier’s career stats speak for themselves. He’s a .288 career hitter with .362 lifetime on-base percentage, has hit 20 or more home runs in four seasons and 80 or more runs batted in in three seasons. After a breakout season in 2009—in which he hit 31 home runs with 106 runs batted in—he was considered one of the best-hitting outfielders in baseball, and the prospects for the future of his career were sky-high. Yet, four seasons later, there isn’t much talk about Ethier. There are no lofty comparisons to Dodgers legends or all-time MLB greats, no immense praise from TV show analysts. That in itself may be a disappointment for fans but surely not the slightest of reasons for the front office to decide to part ways with Ethier. In fact, there’s no hype whatsoever about him, but that too is of no concern. What’s concerning four years later is that Ethier had identical batting averages (.272) and nearly equal on-base percentages (2009: .361; 2013: .360) and came up well short (12) of half the homers he hit in 2009 and tallied just short of half of the runs batted in this past season (52). To add to that mediocrity, he posted a career-worst on-base plus slugging percentage of .783 this season. That statistic was at .869 in 2009. It bears noting that Ethier played in 18 fewer games this season than he did in 2009 due to injury and struggled with injury throughout the 2013 season; however, even when factoring in his injuries, Ethier still had a poor season. Although his performance in the 2012 season looks good on paper (20 HR 89 RBI .284 BA .351 OBP), Ethier hasn’t been an effective offensive force since the year after his career-best season, when he was selected as an All-Star for the first time. Perhaps Ethier’s incredible season at age 27 set an unattainable precedent for the remainder of his career and is a dark cloud that will loom over him in that high sky. Whatever it may be, Andre Ethier has gradually decayed from an electric player to a dull one. It’s been a natural process but an all too premature one for a 31-year-old player with loads of potential. While there would have been no doubt that Ethier would remain a Dodger in seasons past, the star-studded new-look Dodgers have the luxury of sending off under-performing players like Ethier. Not only do they have that luxury but they also have a very practical justification for it: There are four starting outfielders on the Dodgers’ roster. Fortunately for the Dodgers and manager Don Mattingly, the team didn’t have to deal with this surplus during the 2013 season due to scattered injuries to center fielder Matt Kemp and left fielder Carl Crawford. However, the Dodgers are expected to have all four outfielders back healthy by spring training, which suggests that somebody is bound to be dealt. The Blue Crew could keep Ethier around as a safety net in center field in case Kemp can’t keep healthy like he did this past season, but that would be a hefty contract for a fourth outfielder. As ESPNLosAngeles’ Mark Saxon points out, Ethier has $71.5 million left on his contract over the next four years. That’s money that will be better spent reassuring that Clayton Kershaw remains in a Dodgers uniform for the remainder of his career and/or adding another power-hitting infielder. In the event that the Dodgers hold on to Ethier and the outfield remains healthy, there’s little chance he’ll be content backing up Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig in right field. That would have the potential to create some detrimental clubhouse friction, as Ethier is not known to be the most affable character. So, what do the Dodgers do in such a bind? Ethier has long been a staple in the Dodgers’ outfield. He’s had plenty of memorable moments in a Dodgers uniform, including plenty of clutch walk-off hits amongst his over 1,000 hits with the Blue Crew. Remember that 30-game hitting streak? There are many reasons to keep Andre Ethier in a Dodgers uniform; there are just more circumstantial reasons to let him go. So, as the Dodgers turn their attention back to the drawing board as the offseason is officially underway, it’s time for them to finally cut ties with Ethier and continue to progress in the right direction. The unavoidable can no longer be evaded. Andre Ethier’s time has come. Photographs courtesy Getty Images __
This is a tough one but I agree with the article. My wife is a huge Dre fan but what's good for the team is what's good for the team.
Not a good read. I stopped around 1/3 into it. What are they gonna do? Cut him and have a guy with half his skills coming from the bench? No. Trade him now (while eating his contract) while they arent sure of Kemp and CC health, just to find themselves playing SVS everyday in RF? No. Stupid article.
The guy is essentially half a hitter. With a healthy Kemp/CC and Puig he is my fourth OF'er, or at best a platoon guy with Kemp/CC depending on matchups. The guy has had five years now to sort out his hitting against lefties and hasn't figured it out. He has lost muscle mass, and his ceiling has long been reached. Not many hitters at his age actually get that much better. I personally and in a perfect world, would have a rotating OF because of health issues. But on my team, Andre Ethier would never face a lefty starter again. NEVER.
He, like most MLB full time players, faces righties 70% of the time and lefties 30% of the time. That's not half by any means. 70% of the times he is one of the best hitters in the game. In the entire game. The other 30%, obviously it's the other spectrum. It is FAR more valuable to be good against righties and bad against lefties. Look at the Cardinals. They were elite vs. righties, shitty vs lefties, and they had a damn good offense. You are right about Andre never starting against a lefty, if he was used better his overall numbers would be better. But again, his value against righties is extreme, especially when it's actually not that hard to find cheap assortment of guys that can hit well vs. lefties. Theres a reason guys like Reed Johnson get paid jck shit for hitting well vs. lefties: Because it's not important. On the topic, Carl Crawford can't hit lefties and he's not elite vs. righties.
I do think that if they are all healthy, one needs to be traded. The one that wouldn't hurt the team too much to lose is Carl but I don't see how that happens
I dunno... unless we're upgrading something big I'd sit on Ethier. Kemp and Crawford are too fragile for extended every day play. Puig is a stud in right but left and center are going to be committee assignments anyways due to DL so you rotate them unless you get a better deal, but it' would have to be a huge signing to be an upgrade over Andre. We're not poor. No one should care about salary dumps for the dumps position. 9 HoF's and 4 Starting HoF pitchers is the Standard Grade. Why would ANYTHING stand in the way? Unless we've got something better than Andre in the Dodger boat, and today SVS is not among them, then we focusing on a 2B and more SP like Tanaka
CC made how many great defensive plays in the playoffs up against the wall ( fallin into the crowd on the hustle)?...on top of the HRs i mean? i seem to remember Ethier not making a play in center and costing us against STL. Ethier was hurt, but CC is better defensively anyway and he proved he could have an impact with the stick in the playoffs ( did it before with TB too). CC should stay and at best they should just keep Ethier until somebody offers something decent. CC can be put at the bottom of a loaded lineup and bring plus speed/plus defense/occasional pop...i'd sit him in the 7th or 8-spot. Ethier's not bringing much except hitting vs righties and we have enough hitting vs righties without Ethier in the lineup anyway. this team struggles against lefties...they were hopin Young could help there off the bench
I'd much rather use the sample size of the regular season over the playoffs to find the value in players, unless you wanna give away Hanley and Kershaw too? And yeah I guess Carl has plus speed but that amounted to 15 SBs. He is a meh hitting OF who can play good defense at a non-premiere position, and can steal relatively well but not anything close to elite. "Not bringing much except hitting vs. righties" That is A LOT of value, I don't think people realize the value in that. 70% of the time, Ethier is really fucking good.. One of the best hitters on our team and in the game. And you cite Ethiers struggles vs. lefties but not Carl, even though Ethier had an OPS like 60 points higher vs. lefties. And sure, Carl is better than Ethier defensively, but at a less premiere position.
Like, I don't know if people realize Carl had a .551 OPS vs. lefties last year and a .736 OPS the entire year He doesn't have a good OBP for the leadoff spot, or doesn't see enough pitches for there. He's not a good enough SB threat to justify it. He doesn't have anything to be a middle of the order hitter. He needs to be platooned more than Ethier, and his OPS vs. righties was under .800 which isn't great. He plays good defense... in LF.. and can't play another position. He is easily the odd man out in this equation. Just cause we'd had Ethier longer and it's easier to get tired of him cause we've seen it year in and year out and Carl is kinda new doesn't mean to rid of him
what on Earth are you talking about? we didn't need the playoffs to know that Crawford's a better defensive player than Ethier or that Crawford has more speed. and what sense does " give away Hanley and Kershaw too? " make? both produced well enough in the playoffs. Kershaw had a .043 ERA going into the last game and even went on short rest once for us. Hanley was the hottest hitter in the playoffs before he got hit in the ribs. i wish people would stop tryin to use that example when trying to convey that the playoffs are a small sample size. WoW. so i guess you need to have 30 steals to make an impact with speed on the bases. i'm just gonna pretend i never saw Wallach waving a speedy CC around 3B for the score past the catcher at the plate. great...then it's a lot of value to use for an Ethier trade. for a team that has plenty of other guys who hit righties well, yet has holes defensively and needs athleticism/youth...i want CC in the lineup starting over Ethier and bringing defense/speed on the bases/occasional pop at the bottom of the lineup. Carl's a better fielder in general. he's played center in his career too. neither has a great arm. Ethier's is decent, but it's not game-changing
I'd get rid of Ethier this winter - and go with CC/Kemp/Puig. (Mostly because Ethier looks half dead on this team and I think it is just time for him to go. Our roster should be zombie free). I'd keep SVS as a fourth OF'er ... AND FUCKING USE HIM - (referring to that link about DBB going with the veteran presence of Michael Young over SVS every single fucking time in post season and getting burned every single fucking time). I'd dump CC next winter, because, my long term plan would be to move Hanley to the OF - not 3b - because I want to make room for a kick ass infield to develop in the near future. :soapbox:
re carl and dre... i like them both, and yet they both piss me off.. at times but i'd rather keep dre tbh but like b2b said... idk 4 "starting" of's for 4 positions i guess that's an okay problem to have maybe we can do some weird platoon system for a while (especially w/kemp coming back from injury) but eventually it's going to become a problem not anything we all already don't know/understand, but ultimately one of the 4 -- and/or joc -- will have to go
svs had about as much use on the nlcs roster as those perennial fuck cunt scrubs marmol and volquez and just as few at bats
Ethier's arm isn't even comparable to Crawford's. Committing long term to players that rely solely on speed (who apparently don't even use it) is stupid.
Ethier's not needed. there's nothing that he does well that the Los Angeles Dodgers need. get over it.
"get over it"? well thats kind of a lame way to go about this. And yeah I guess the Dodgers don't need him I mean fuck, last year woulda been amazing with Skip Schumaker in CF everyday! And I mean, screw the fact that he is amazing vs. righties... Lets get a team great vs. lefties and see ourselves do shitty and be like "Wait.. maybe we kinda need Andre" or lets keep Carl even though he's an inferior hitter in every way, but I guess he can run better but barely even uses it especially when he's watching the games from the DL like he often does. Seriously, the only legit reason people want to get rid of Andre is cause he has been here a long time and you get tired of things that are the same
