Allen Lieu
It is no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers have too many outfielders with limited playing time for each player to be satisfied. Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig were the main outfielders for most of the 2014 campaign, with Andre Ethier riding the bench for the second half of the season and Scott Van Slyke playing sporadically. Joc Pederson, the Dodgers top outfield prospect, is also ready to make a crack for an outfield position on the major league club. Currently there is not enough room for the Dodgers to have all of these high priced outfielders, with seven outfielders vying for three spots. The solution: Trade an outfielder or two, to ease the logjam of players. Under contract are the outfielders mentioned, along with newly acquired outfielder Chris Heisey. Andre Friedman stated that it is one his goals to trade an outfielder this off-season. Not satisfied with his diminished role, Andre Ethier wants to be starting next year.
Andre Ethier was acquired by the Dodgers in 2005 for Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez.
Andre Ethier, for his limited playing time in 2014, hit .249/4HR/42 RBIs. He played a career low 130 games, his fewest total since his rookie season. During this past year, he was mainly used as a pinch hitter and spot outfielder. Ethier was signed to a 6 year, $95.95 million contract with a vesting option for the 2018 season. The option is worth $17.5 million but can be bought out for $2.5 million. He is currently owed $56 million for the remainder of his contract. The Dodgers would have to eat some of his salary for another team to be interested in picking him up.
According to an article by Los Angeles Times writer, Steve Dilbeck, Ethier has informed his agent about starting next year, whether it is in Los Angeles or elsewhere. Who will take Ethier’s contract and can the Dodgers get a decent return from Ethier if he is traded?
