Tag Archives: Andre Ethier

Feb 11

Open Thread #10

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Correction: I thought the Dodger Insider post I linked to was written by Jon Weisman. I’m still not used to thinking of that site as a multi-author blog. It was actually written by Cary Osborne. I’m sorry for the misattribution!

By Mr. Weisman’s Cary Osborne’s calculations, the moves the Dodgers made during the off-season have made them the most improved team in the West in terms of Defensive Runs Saved.

Huh? What’s that number, you ask? Defensive Runs Saved is an attempt to determine the value of a player against other players of the same position. As Joe Posnanski put it at his blog: “the number determines (using film study and computer comparisons) how many more or fewer successful plays a defensive player will make than league average.”

Here’s the full-on explanation from its creators at The Fielding Bible, if you’re interested. It’s lengthy.

Anyway, Jon Cary says

Gone from the Dodgers are Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon, who combined for -37 DRS. In are Howie Kendrick, and Jimmy Rollins and what appears to be either Joc Pederson or Andre Ethier. Since there isn’t enough Major League statistical data on Pederson, we’re going to slot Ethier into the replacement for Kemp. Rollins, Kendrick and Ethier combined for six DRS. That’s a swing of +43 DRS.

He’s got the other NL West teams’ DRS data, and he comes up with the startling fact that the Dodgers are the only team in the division whose changes over the winter give it a net positive number.

Huh.

Dec 10

Winter meetings, Day Three

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Update: Kemp is gone to the Padres for catcher Yasmani Grandal and a pair of pitching prospects. Fedex also goes to the Padres, along with about $30M to defray part of the cost of Kemp’s contract.

Wow! In very short order today the Dodgers

  • Got 36-year-old shortstop Jimmy Rollins from the Phillies to fill the gap left behind when Hanley Ramirez went the free agent route
  • Traded Dee Gordon and Dan Haren to the Marlins in exchange for pitcher Andrew Heaney, backup catcher Austin Barnes, minor leaguers Enrique Hernandez and Chris Hatcher
  • Flipped Heaney to the Angels for second-baseman Howie Kendrick
  • May be close to signing free-agent pitcher Brandon McCarthy
  • and have discussed adding pitcher Cole Hamels and second-baseman Chase Utley to the Jimmy Rollins deal with the Phillies

And there’s still tomorrow to find deals which send Ethier, Crawford or Kemp to somebody for a starting pitcher or prospects!

Now that they’ve gotten Kendrick, I can’t see why they’d want Utley except as more bait to trade off, as they did with Heaney (hey, kid, I’d have liked to see you pitch!). Do the Phillies need an outfielder?

Update: changed the post title to day 3, which is accurate. I lost a day somewhere.

Jun 08

Game 64, 2014

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Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Kershaw v. Jorge De La Rosa. Clayton has a career 5-3 record at Coors Field, but that’s with a 5.24 ERA. De La Rosa is a lefty, and the Dodgers have had trouble with guys who throw from that side all year (207/.338/.282 slash line).

No Gordon (hip), no Puig (hip), no Ethier (see: lefthanded starter), no Turner (unknown). This is a makeshift lineup indeed!

May 09

Game 37, 2014

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

Madison Bumgarner for the Giants, Paul Maholm for the Dodgers. Seems like a mismatch, particularly when you read this data about the Dodgers’ outfielders past performances against the Giants’ pitcher: “Carl Crawford is 0-for-3 with a strikeout. Andre Ethier is 3-for-24 with nine strikeouts. Matt Kemp is 4-for-24 with seven strikeouts. Yasiel Puig is 4-for-15 with five strikeouts, while Scott Van Slyke is 2-for-5 with three walks.”

Bumgarner is 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA on the season; Maholm is 1-2 with a 4.70 ERA. Each pitcher did have a quality start in his last appearance.

Lineup when available.

Apr 21

Game 20, 2014

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Phillies at Dodgers, 7:10PM PT, TV: SPNLA

It’s the Fightin’ Phils’ Cliff Lee (2-2, 4.00 ERA) against the Dodgers’ Paul Maholm (0-1, 4.97 ERA).

If we’re to take MLB’s Preview as gospel, the Dodgers should just forfeit.

Of his four big-name outfielders, Carl Crawford’s .212 (7-for-33) lifetime mark against Lee is the best of the bunch. Yasiel Puig is 1-for-7 vs. the lefty; Andre Ethier is 0-for-11 with five strikeouts; Matt Kemp, who generally wears out lefties, is 1-for-18 with 11 whiffs.

How’s Scott Van Slyke? He’s 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against Lee.

Jeff Passan wrote a good editorial column exhorting MLB to take action to better control the way Cuban athletes are allowed into this country when defecting. He rightly calls the current system a form of human trafficking.

Dodger Insider has a fascinating little story about the Dodgers’ franchise official win total: Elias Sports Bureau has it at 9,997 including the twelve wins this year, while the official Dodgers’ records have it at 9,984 including those wins. The discrepancy is owed to wins achieved with the help of an ineligible player in 1899 (!).

Lineup when available.

Apr 17

Game 16, 2014

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Dodgers at Giants, 12:45PM PST, TV: SPNLA.

One of the two de facto aces on the Dodgers staff while Kershaw’s out, Hyun-Jin Ryu brings his 2 – 1 record and his 2.57 ERA to this game. He’ll face Madison Bumgarner, who has a 2 – 0 record with a 3.31 ERA as well as a hot bat. He hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in his last outing.

Mattingly is going with an all right-handed outfield against Bumgarner, saving Ethier and Crawford for pinch-hitting duty.

Apr 13

Game 13, 2014

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 1:10 PM PST, TV: SPNLA.

Haren v. Cahill. On paper this shouldn’t be a contest. Haren is 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings over two starts. Cahill is 0-3 with a 7.90 ERA in 22 1/3 innings over three starts. “But that’s why they play the games,” says the aphorism.

Lineup:

I think this is the first time Ethier has started in left field this season.

Apr 12

Game 12, 2014

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 5:10 PM PST, TV: SPNLA and MLBTV (free game today). The D-Backs send out Wade Miley, who’s 2-1 with a 4.05 ERA, and the Dodgers counter with Zack Greinke, who’s 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA.

Miley faced the Dodgers in the opening game in Sydney when he gave up three runs in five innings. With him pitching, Mattingly sits Ethier and Crawford and generally loads up the lineup with right-handers.

Lineup:

Apr 11

Game 11, 2014

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Dodgers at Diamondbacks, 6:40 PM PST, Hyun-Jin Ryu v. Brandon McCarthy, TV: SPNLA.

Ryu is 1 – 1 with a 3.86 ERA. He only lasted two innings in his last appearance against the Giants, giving up six runs in the process. McCarthy is 0 – 1 with a 7.82 ERA. He did well in his first outing through six innings and faded, and in his second start he gave up six runs in six innings.

In case you missed it, Magic Johnson caught (or otherwise came up with) a foul ball off Ethier’s bat Wednesday night and gave it to a fellow fan.

Lineups when they appear.

Apr 02

Game Two, 2013

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Giants at Dodgers, 7:10 PT, Prime Ticket and MLBN. The Dodgers send out Hyun-Jin Ryu to make his major league debut against Madison Bumgarner.

The Dodgers of the Seventies were noted for the constancy of their infield, running the same four guys out there for years and years. By contrast,

Monday was Andre Ethier’s sixth Opening Day start in right field for the Dodgers, the most in Los Angeles history. His 959 games played in the outfield also are the third-most as a Los Angeles Dodger, trailing only Willie Davis (1,906) and Dusty Baker (1,092).

I had forgotten the outfield has been somewhat of a revolviing door. It may end up that Kemp and Ethier (if the latter isn’t traded at some point in his current five-year contract) set a similar standard for Dodgers’ outfielders as the Cey, Russell, Lopes and Garvey foursome did for the infield.

This amused me when I read it in the preview: “Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was impressed with Ryu’s camp and said the youngster pitched his way behind ace Clayton Kershaw.”

The “youngster” is a year older than Kershaw.

This will be the Game Thread. Lineups will be posted when they’re available.

LF: Jerry Hairston
2B: Mark Ellis
CF: Matt Kemp
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
3B: Luis Cruz
RF: Andre Ethier
C: A.J. Ellis
SS: Justin Sellers
SP: Hyun-Jin Ryu

Cruz hitting fifth has to be a rare thing in his career, I’d think. Crawford’s absence is a bit of a puzzle, although these lifetime stats for Jerry Hairston Jr. may explain it (Crawford has no record against Bumgarner):

PITCHER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Madison Bumgarner 7 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 .429 .429 .571 1.000