Dodgers Team News

Dodgers To Determine Plan For Chris Heisey, Outfield

Chris Heisey

One of the stranger moves this winter by the Los Angeles Dodgers and their new front office came when they acquired another outfielder to add to an already crowded position.



The Dodgers traded Minor-League pitcher Matt Magill to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Chris Heisey. It was a puzzling move at the time because of the fact that the team already had five capable outfielders and prospect Joc Pederson waiting in the wings. The issue was partially alleviated when the Dodgers traded Matt Kemp to the San Diego Padres, but the team still has a surplus at the position.

According to Mark Saxon of ESPN LA, the Dodgers have had conversations with their new outfielder:

After the trade, Heisey had a conversation with Dodgers’ executive Josh Byrnes, who told him, “It might not look like it, but we have a plan.”

With Yasiel Puig cemented in right field and Carl Crawford likely to start in left field, it would appear that Heisey would have a shot to start in center field; however, it is more likely that he will come off the bench.

Manager Don Mattingly plans to use the spring to determine what will happen in the outfield:

We’ll have a chance to look at him all through camp. The combination of guys and who ends up being here, that’s all up in the air,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s definitely an interesting guy from the way he swings the bat and we have great reports about his makeup and everything else.”

Heisey is just a career .247 hitter, but has a slugging percentage of .422 over his five-year career. He hit 18 home runs back in 2011, and is an above-average outfielder on defense.

The 30-year-old will begin his audition next week and the Dodgers will see what they will be working with this season.

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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.

13 Comments

  1. So we traded pitching for yet ANOTHER outfielder?! This is GM brilliance at it’s finest oy fucking vey

    1. Matt Magill wasn’t very good, and Ethier is on a major decline. That gives us zero backup outfielders, so we had to go out and get someone.

      Heisey doesn’t have the best looking numbers, but he’s a great defender and still had almost a 1 WAR in limited playing time.

        1. Van Slyke is splitting time with Crawford since Crawford is injury-prone and will miss lots of games. I miss Matt Kemp too, but he’s got arthritic hips and we want to make room for Joc Pederson to play full time–one of the best prospects in the MLB.

          1. That’s guessing Alex..for all you or anyone else knows, CC is finally healthy and plays 130 games. Kemp looked pretty good playing on those arthritic hips the last couple months of the year. And I am sorry, I have seen best prospects not make it in the bigs for over 60 years. Just because the kid hits at AAA does not mean shit. He has to prove he can win the job. He is going to be under more pressure than any body else in camp,.and the fall back plan is platooning Heisey and Ethier in CF. Sorry, I am not drinking the cool aid,…

          2. That’s… all guessing, too, Michael. If you put it that way, everything is a guess. Everything is on paper, no matter who we sign. At least Pederson is a high-ranking prospect instead of a low-ranking one. Give credit where credit is due.

          3. That’s the party line and as you may have guessed I am not buying it. I do not think Ethier is going to magically get his skills back when he has been going downhill for 4 years. Crawford played 106 games last year, and doubled Ethier’s output. If they get 120 games out of him I will be tickled pink, but if he plays 110 with the same kind of bat as last year, that’s ok too. Because that gets SVS in there against LHP and he kills lefty’s . Now Joc hits .250 with 15 dingers and outstanding fielding stats, it’s a win for the Dodgers. He crashes and burns in spring…LIKE HE HAS the last 3 springs. And they go to plan B. I believe that they are going to rue trading Matt Kemp in the division. Trading Kemp may have been the only OF they could move, but in the division? That is just PLAIN STUPID> ….I am a life long Dodger fan, but I question the sanity of these guys. They prove me wrong…fine, but mark my words..this team is not cruising to another division win….It is going to be a fight….

          4. Okay cool, I can get behind that. We’ll see how he does this Spring.

          5. And Puig was never a prospect. He was signed out of Cuba and in the bigs in less than 2 years. He was never rated as a prospect and was a free agent…

          6. They were all but knocking the bat outta Pederson’s hands last season…he looks good here in Albuquerque with the altitude but not sold on him as our center fielder.

          7. We’ll see. I’m not completely sold on Pederson yet; he still seems very nervous every time he steps up to the plate. Hope he can do .250 with 12-15 homers, but more importantly have a high OBP (.360 or more) with high slugging, cover a wide defensive range in the outfield, and show some speed on the basepaths.

      1. Heisey hit about what Ethier did last season and Ethier, after 2012 when he hit like 6 walk offs, all of a sudden lost more and more playing time and that wrecks a pretty swing like his.

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