Editorials

Dodgers Willing To Pay Half Of Andre Ethier’s Salary In Deal

Andre Ethier
The outfield situation for the Los Angeles Dodgers has been an ongoing issue of sorts in terms of playing time for multiple outfielders.

Last season, Don Mattingly began the year trying to juggle players before establishing a set outfield. This left veteran outfielder Andre Ethier without a starting job and he handled it well all season without complaints. Once the Dodgers lost in the postseason, Ethier made it clear that he wanted to start this year, whether it be in Los Angeles or elsewhere. While management has said nothing of the request, it appears they are trying to move the former All-Star.



According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the team is also willing to eat some of the 32-year-old’s contract:

The Dodgers have offered to pay down “about half” the $56 million remaining over three years on Andre Ethier’s contract in efforts to trade him, sources familiar with the talks say.

The new front office has already shown that they are willing to trade players while paying part of their salary, evidenced by the Matt Kemp and Dan Haren deal. Ethier signed a five-year, $85 million extension in 2012 before the Guggenheim Partners took over. Since he’s signed the extension, his numbers and productivity have gone down.

Ethier’s decline peaked last season when he hit just .249 in 130 games. With the rise of prospect Joc Pederson in center field, it appears Ethier would start the year on the bench again. He got the start in center field for the first game of the spring, although he did mention that he doesn’t believe he should play in center.

If the Dodgers can find a deal, it would finally fix the logjam in the outfield. It would also make sense of the Chris Heisey deal made in December as well.

Dodgers FanFest – Yasmani Grandal

Vincent Samperio

Vince is currently the Associate Editor and Social Media Manager for Dodgers Nation. Hailing from San Pedro, CA and a student at Cal State Long Beach, Vince has previously written for the Daily 49er and LASF Magazine.

5 Comments

  1. I saw his first at bat against a Lefty and he did not look good in striking out. He struck out his second at bat also but I did not see it so not sure if it was against a left hander or right. My point being he is no longer a full time guy. Even if he thinks he is. He has horrible at bats against left handed pitching ie defensive type swings etc. Granted it is only one exhibition game but you would think he would have taken a lot of BP against the left side and gotten better if he was able. Apparently he is not. He know he is in the spot light. Pederson looked very good with two hits the second being a very strong gap double. Seager walked and singled. Guererro hit two line drives for singles he looked very solid at bat. Played third for Uribe the last few innings and was OK.

  2. Ethier’s comps right now are Aoki and Joyce, which means on the open market he’s worth about $5 mil a year. On a 3 year commitment at his age, I’d say maybe $13-15mil at most. So if the dodgers want to move him, without taking back another bad contract, they’ll need to chip in a lot more than 50%.

    1. I hear ya there,…..I always thought they would need to go at least 2/3rds…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button