Game 46, 2015

Braves at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA, SPSO

Zack Greinke (5-1, 1.48 ERA) goes out after a Dodger win for a change. He’s not asked to stop a losing streak of even a single game tonight. His mound opponent will be lefty Alex Wood (2-2, 3.83), a three-year veteran. The only Dodger who’s had more than ten at-bats against Wood is Jimmie Rollins, and he’s 0-for-14.

Jay Jaffe of SI tries to make sense of the Uribe trade and can’t: “For the Dodgers, they’ve traded away their best infield defender and a possible second-half bullpen arm in a deal that just doesn’t make sense.”

Here are the trade details: Uribe and Withrow to the Braves for Alberto Callaspo, Ian Thomas, Juan Jaime and Eric Stults. The Dodgers then followed up: “Callaspo on active roster, Thomas optioned to @okc_dodgers, Jaime goes to extended Spring Training, Stults designated for assignment.”

The best way I can make sense of it is that the Dodgers realized they weren’t doing Uribe any good playing him in a three-way platoon at third base and looked for a way to get him to a team which would use him more often. He’s a free agent at the end of this season and he wants to impress potential new employers. That may not be the real reason for this deal, but I can’t figure out any other sensible ones.

Lineup when available.


The Braves’ lefty is the reason André sits, I’m sure.

144 thoughts on “Game 46, 2015

  1. Shortstop Corey Seager went 6-for-6 today (Thursday) for Oklahoma City at Salt Lake City. He had three singles, two doubles and a homer, scored twice and drove in six runs. OKC won, 14-11. In the four-game series in Utah, Seager went 13-for-18 with three homers and 10 RBIs, struck out only once and walked twice. He raised his average from .238 to .324. OKC won three of the four games.

    • He may be the sparkplug that’s needed if the offense sputters again.

      • If Seager continues to do well in the Pacific Coast League, and the hot Giants move past us by a few games, I think he could be brought up. But that would happen only if Rollins continues his flirtation with the Mendoza line.

  2. According to Mike P, “Rollins hitting .280/.321./460 with a .267 BABIP last 14 days.” A glimmer of hope.

  3. Link, this was from a comment on the Dodgers site – if accurate, it seems to support your notion that HO was trying to accommodate Uribe: “Several days ago Uribe, through his agent, requested a trade to a team
    where he would have the opportunity to play regularly. Not having a
    good year, limited to 3b, not a good PH, 36 years old, and a FA at end
    of year. Dodgers options to accommodate him were pretty slim. If
    Dodgers waited until Olivera was ready to play it was likely that Uribe
    would have been DFA where he potentially could have signed with Giants
    or Padres. Not a good trade, not a bad trade; but team did right by
    Uribe by sending him to Braves.”

    Makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.

  4. Pedro Moura
    ‏@pedromoura

    Juan Uribe: “I would’ve felt bad if they traded me to a soccer, basketball or football team. But it’s another baseball team, so I’m happy.”

    • Actually…. they kinda just ” threw ” it away…. 😉
      …..
      Compliments of Mr. Liberatore….

      • Well, yeah, but this was only the seventh game in which the Dodgers have faced a lefty starter, according to Vinnie.

        It would just be nice to have Puig back period.

      • They haven’t missed Puig as much as I feared, but the sooner he’s back the better.

  5. I want A.J. to do something positive here, but my confidence in him is limited. Major DP candidate.

  6. Bats and bullpen better step up their game this weekend vs. a contending team.

  7. Ok….
    I’m totally not trying to be snarky here….
    And, yes…. I’ll be patient ( per WBB’s advisement ) with these guys, but on this night….
    ….
    Hatcher = 2 base runners…
    Liberatore = On the pitch before the “Bull Durham – Hit the Bull” pitch” …. I said to the tv, “Don’t
    bounce it…..” He did, but AJ back-handed it…. luckily.

    Luckily… because it provided for the next ‘nugget of entertainment’ (ala-George Costanza referring to Elaine’s dancing moves) which was Liberatore letting one fly to the back stop, yielding a run…… and, I’m quite certain a ‘grimace’ on the face of one Zach Grienke…

    Way to go, Farhan! – Way to build a staff !
    “Now, back to this one….” as Vinny says.

    PS- I hope these to guys come out and make amends tomorrow… 🙂

  8. So close to getting out of that with nothing but they dug to big a hole with wildness.

  9. Brutal when you walk a batter who is looking to bunt and willing to give you an out for free.

    • I will try to stop myself from repeating my Hatcher limerick of a couple of days ago.

      • Until/if he gets it straightened out, he belongs in low-leverage situations.

  10. 3 hits, no runs . . . yet.
    Hope Zack doesn’t drain himself with the running.

  11. Even before injuries started taking their toll, A.J. would not have beaten that throw.

  12. Uribear will have to learn to play with one of the best defensive shortstops in the game.

  13. Braves broadcasters beefing about how loud the sound is at DS. Kinda implied Vin has complained about it too, over and over. But the complaints fall on deaf ears.

    [Sorry..sorta]

  14. Even Guerrero’s outs are long. That one was to the warning track in deepest centerfield…

  15. “Like poached egg on toast,” AJ jumped on that ball . . . per Vin.

  16. ZacKx3!!! (will not show those offensive initials)
    But wow, did he labor!

  17. Have read that Uribe’s agent may have asked for a trade.

    Meanwhile, dude can’t “get no respect.” His first Braves BP jersey read UR BE. Explanation: adhesive on the “I” failed, later fixed with adhesive tape.

    First the Dodgers reassign his uniform number the very next day after he’s traded. Now this additional indignity. Seems fitting to happen to Uribe, somehow.

    http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/5/27/8675235/juan-uribe-braves-jersey-is-missing-a-letter-no-i-in-team?_ga=1.40852769.2014194878.1389713399

  18. Vin recounted class act by fans and Dodger players alike, giving Uribear a standing O.

  19. Apropos of the Uribe trade, this is from a 2013 MLB.COM story:

    May 30, 1922: The Cubs and Cardinals were in the middle of a morning-day doubleheader (back then, the first games of a double dip started before noon) at Cubs Park. Max Flack, who lived three blocks from the ballpark, went home for lunch between games and arrived back to
    the Cubs clubhouse to find out he’d been traded.

    Flack was now a Cardinal, swapped for outfielder Cliff Heathcote. The two did what any similarly-built men would do (Flack was 5-foot-7, 150 pounds; Heathcote, 5-10, 160): they traded uniforms and hit the field with their new teams.

  20. Ethier is batting .310 vs. righties (31-for-100) and .316 vs. lefties (6-for-19) this season. With the season between one-fourth and one-third complete, Ethier is on a pace to set career highs in batting average, OBP, slugging and OPS. He has grounded into only one DP. Ethier also has his best walk to strikeout ratio, 17 to 21. This is his 10th year with the Dodgers.

  21. Read some of the money explanations today and I’m doing this from memory. You want to look it up and call me a liar, feel free… Dodgers saved a little over $4 MM on Uribe’s salary, but are paying $1 MM for Stults and $2.5 MM for Callaspo, so they’ve saved a little over half a million but no new USEFUL players. Atlanta saves about $3.5 MM in salaries of players leaving but is now paying $4 MM plus for Uribe, plus the $100 K they bribed Callaspo with. So for considerably less than $1 MM net they get the services of Uribe for the rest of the season. I’d say they came out ahead…

  22. The jerks in the FO may be having fun but their antics are not pleasing to at least some Dodger fans, including me. A roster which changes daily, so many players going through that we’ll soon have to use triple digit uniform numbers (or maybe maybe letter suffixes) really doesn’t give a fan a chance to bond with the players. No, I don’t want Ned back but stability please.

    • You really care about this juggling of players at the back end of the roster?

        • Other than the players involved, I doubt that the other roster 23 players not in the revolving door give it much thought. We are basically talking about Heisey, Barney, and a couple of pitchers trading places.

  23. Uribe is apparently the consummate personality in the clubhouse — liked, respected and admired. But his value at bat had diminished — I know he didn’t get that many chances — and Guerrero and Turner are now better hitters. Uribe, however, is a remarkable defensive presence. Perhaps it was hard for Mattingly to continue to keep him on the bench because of how highly Juan is regarded. That won’t be hard with the newcomer Callaspo, who won’t be on this roster long. He will depart when Olivera arrives, or sooner. I hope Uribe does well with the Braves, starting with the four-game series in San Francisco beginning tomorrow.

  24. Uribe isn’t much of a bat off the bench, but he’s more than a late-inning defensive replacement to the right team. With Turner, Guerrero and Olivera, he wasn’t going to play much, and he didn’t have much value as an aging starter with just a few months left on his contract. I hated his signing originally, but then grew to respect him, though I won’t miss him much. Callaspo and Stults will not be around long, but the minor leaguers might have some reclamation upside.