Let's Examine the Merits & Disadvantages of ... Andre Ethier

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I think if we're prepared to surrender a draft pick and a tens of millions on Curtis Granderson, then we oughta also be open to parting with whatever might be fair value for Andre Ethier who like Grandy Man is a LH hitting corner OF who can also fill in in CF .

Ethier is a year younger (31 v. 32) and very consistent where Grandy has been all over the place. His game is less dependent on speed and power -- he's really a solid 30+ doubles, 20+ homers kind of guy.

Ethier is owed $69 million thru 2017 with a $2.5 option buyout, so it'd be like signing him to a 4/$71.5 deal. That's obviously a ton of dough (17 a year) but the Dodgers will probably be willing to eat some considering they have Crawford, Kemp, Ethier and Puig under contract, with Gonzales at first base: Somebody has to go.

Dodgers want pitching and a second baseman. It sounds crazy but maybe a guy like Young + a pitching prospect could get something done.

Finally, Ethier is Ron Darling's nephew.

Am I crazy?

[MFS62]

No, we're not going to call the men in the white coats for you.
If you look at his numbers, he's Choo lite at less cost. From what I've heard from some Fantasy guys, he seems to suffer nagging injuries every year - not enough to keep him out of the lineup, but enough to impact his performance for stretches at a time.
The decline in power last year does concern me, but his OB skllls are there.
If he can be had at a reasonable trade price (Keep your mitts off my kid Montero, Sandy), why not?

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah, Choo too.

Ethier I should mention struggles vs. LHP, moreso than Choo prolly. That's a drawback.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Ron Darling's nephew... what?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah. I don't know why I know that but I think it has to do with his father's side of the family. They were Canadians who married exotic women -- Ron's Mom, a Hawaiian, and Andre's dad a Mexican.

[HahnSolo]

I'm not so hot on Ethier. I'm sort of at the point of, "we just rid ourselves of a big contract burdens, now we are going to bail out another team from their crappy long-term deals?"

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yeah, just pointing out a crappy existing contract or a new contract for a similarly (flawed) guy might be about the same thing.

[MFS62]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah, just pointing out a crappy existing contract or a new contract for a similarly (flawed) guy might be about the same thing.

The difference is that LA might toss in some 'scarole to the team taking him.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

The other difference is that Granderson is a free agent, and Ethier would require giving up players in a trade.

[Edgy MD]

But Grandy may need more years AND may cost more (depending on what the Dodgers eat) AND will cost a second round draftee, which may not be much but certainly isn't nuttin'. i hate the trade market but it has its advantages.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Sucks against lefties and almost a platoon player at this point. If we made a move, we should also acquire the right-handed version of Andre Ethier to at least cover the at-bat song choices (just not his own).

[youtube:1xbuotrk]UMwRJeh3Mwk[/youtube:1xbuotrk]

[dinosaur jesus]

As long as no one thinks he's a savior, I'd take him. He's a good player. He's kind of the prototypical Citi Field hitter, actually--he doesn't try to hit home runs, and playing there he won't, but he'll hit a ton of doubles.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Andrew Brown +++++++

[A Boy Named Seo]

Yeah, that might work.

[Edgy MD]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Sucks against lefties and almost a platoon player at this point. If we made a move, we should also acquire the right-handed version of Andre Ethier to at least cover the at-bat song choices (just not his own). [youtube]UMwRJeh3Mwk[/youtube]

"Hey, Seo..."

[A Boy Named Seo]

Only thing involving a right hand he's good at.

[Lefty Specialist]

Dodgers would have to eat much contract to make this work.

[ashie62]

Ethier has done little since that 30 game hitting streak a couple of years ago.

pass

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

At this point, his contract is 4/$65M with a vesting option. Considering he's something like Poo' Man's Choo (Fakes center iffily, plays right decently; ~3 WAR, even with missed time/those platoon splits), that actually isn't awful value.

They eat $20-25M and he stays healthy? It's practically a bargain. For Murph and, say, DeGrom? I'd bite, mebbe. I'd certainly rather have him at that price than Granderson on anything beyond 2 years.

[Frayed Knot]

Always have to figure in where he'll fall on the: 'the more $$ they eat the more bodies we have to cough up' scale.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: At this point, his contract is 4/$65M with a vesting option. Considering he's something like Poo' Man's Choo (Fakes center iffily, plays right decently; ~3 WAR, even with missed time/those platoon splits), that actually isn't awful value. They eat $20-25M and he stays healthy? It's practically a bargain. For Murph and, say, DeGrom? I'd bite, mebbe. I'd certainly rather have him at that price than Granderson on anything beyond 2 years.

That's sorta where I am on this guy only I wanna see if maybe taking on more $$ allows us to give 'em Young rather than Muffy. The splits vs LHP are pretty concerning though.

[metirish]

I knew he was Ron's nephew and thought it odd that none of the TBS bozos mentioned it to Ron when he had the Dodgers series.

[Frayed Knot]

I had never once heard about the Darling/Ethier connection (even though I always thought that there's a vague resemblance)
Am NOT surprised that networks wouldn't mention it though; fans are ready enough to accuse an announcing team of favoritism no matter what happens so why give them more ammunition to do so. Also I suspect that Darling probably wants to keep that under wraps. I've never heard it mentioned during NYM telecasts eth(i)er (see what I did there?) and it's not like I miss too many of those.

[Edgy MD]

It would be sort of a Richie Hebner situation, bringing in a high-end platoon player and setting up the fans to resent him for not being more than he is.

[Guest vtmet]

so many of these off season OF targets that the media is trying to sell, make me think of Ryan Church or Jason Bay (Ethier/Church)...or some others like Corey Hart and Dexter (what kind of name is Dexter) Fowler have such bad Home/Road splits that I just don't see them working in Citi Field...Will the Mets ever find batters that can hit both RHP and LHP while being able to hit in their home park?

[smg58]

I'd also ask about Kemp while we're at it.

Etheir's contract (and Kemp's, for that matter) might not look so prohibitive after the ink dries on this offseason's free agent signings. His OPS+ compares favorably to all the FA outfielders except Choo. The splits are a concern, but not any more than they'd be with Choo. I'd take the contract if the cost in players was minimal.

[Edgy MD]

Matt Kemp's agent drops a minor bomb at the winter meetin's, saying he'd be surprised if Kemp doesn't get traded.

Would the team dare make a move for a third outfielder, and therefore force the current holders (Lagares, Eric Young, and/or Duda) of the third slot (if only nominally) to become moving pieces (which they kind of already are, if not forceably so)?

[smg58]

The answer to that question requires knowing how much money we have to spend. I hope Alderson's at least gotten a price quote on both Kemp and Ethier.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Murph, Thor, and... Lageres or Den Dekker, say? Hell, considering how much they appear to enjoy hanging out money for practically nothing, we could send them Bay or Bonilla, too.