As the Los Angeles Dodgers are coping with injuries to Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford, veteran outfielder Andre Ethier has seen the field more, which has likely increased his trade value.
Ethier made it known in the offseason that he wanted to be traded if he wasn't going to be a starter, but the Dodgers couldn't find a suitor even after they reportedly offered to pay upwards of half of the outfielder's contract. The 33-year-old is owed over $50 million through the 2017 season.
However, his stats from 2014 don't suggest he's worth that type of money. Ethier notched career-lows in a nearly every relevant category, including batting average (.249), on-base percentage (.322), slugging percentage (.370), runs scored (29), home runs (4), RBIs (42) and others. That was perhaps because he also reached a career-low in plate appearances (380).
We made a case earlier in the season that the only chance the Dodgers would have at trading Ethier was to give him more playing time. We may have been on to something.
Ethier is slashing .322/.429/.586/1.015 with 19 runs scored, 5 home runs and 13 RBIs in 31 games (105 plate appearances) so far in 2015.
"He said he wanted to play every day," manager Don Mattingly told Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. "He's forced that. He's really backed that up with his play.
"Andre has bounced back and looked like the Andre of old."
If he keeps playing like this, the Dodgers will be faced with a predicament once Puig and Crawford return. How will the playing time be divided? It's obvious Puig will start, but will they really platoon Ethier and Crawford, both of whom are owed nearly $120 million combined through 2017?
Crawford is essentially untradeable. He's owed about $65 million over the next three seasons, earning at least $20 million per year. Additionally, he has played in only 267 games since 2012 because of various injuries and it's unlikely another club would take a gamble on him unless Los Angeles were to pay up for most of his contract.
Ethier and his $50-plus million (with potentially half of that covered) sounds pretty good at this point. The Dodgers haven't spoke about not moving him since the trade rumors, so it's possible the idea is still on the table. And with his stock rising, it could be a reality as the trade deadline approaches.
"Once I showed up to spring, it was, 'This is the spot I'm in,'" Ethier told Hernandez. "It's not a one-foot-in, one-foot-out type of thing. It's all or nothing.
"I'm going to take care of what I can. That's to play the way I'm capable of playing. Whether it was going to work or not, who knows?"
As of right now, it's working out.
