(Chris Heisey [Image via @ENQSports])
As Dodgers camp opens, Andre Ethier wants to either play every day or be traded to a team where he will start. With his experience and salary, Ethier should be playing 150 games for someone in 2015. If the Dodgers can swing it, trading Ethier is the obvious move.
Joc Pederson, who I have written pessimistically about, is kinda-sorta-maybe-maybe-not the tentative opening day starter in center. With Carl Crawford and Yasiel Puig on the corners, there’s no place for Ethier. And since he doesn’t want to come off the bench again after a poor 2014, better options – for far less money – are in camp.
As he did last year, Scott Van Slyke will platoon with Crawford and spell Puig at times. But what about center? I still believe Pederson will spend a significant amount (20-40%) of 2015 in AAA Oklahoma City; if Ethier is traded, who plays center when Pederson hits an inevitable bump in the road?
Enter Chris Heisey. Acquired from the Reds a few days before the Kemp trade, Heisey had a poor 2014, but he has a career .422 slugging percentage with 61 doubles and 50 home runs in 1,452 plate appearances.
Yes, he’s only a career .247 hitter (with a .299 OBP) who strikes out 22.8% of the time, but at most, he’s an extended fill-in as Pederson develops. And with a career 4.4 WAR (including 0.9 last season despite hitting .222/.265/.378), he can be a cheap safety valve as Pederson takes his lumps in extended big league action.
More attractive than Heisey’s power is his defense: a career 0.3 dWAR and better than average numbers in most fielding metrics. He’s played 1,583 innings in left field, 683 in center and 480 in right, so he has the flexibility to move without losing value – a very valuable bench tool for any National League roster.
Reds fans are pessimistic about him after he failed to win a starting job in Cincinnati. But this year, he’s not an everyday player; he’s a safety valve who just needs to be good enough. He will see time in center, right while Puig shifts to center, and as a main bench option.
Pederson will hit speed bumps, but he will (soon) earn the job. Unless things change during Spring Training, he will be given plenty of opportunities this year. Ethier costs too much to be a stop-gap, and if the Dodgers are serious about Pederson eventually being the guy in center, Ethier’s presence only hinders that development.
