May 9th, 2012 at 10:29 am 
by Ron Cervenka “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” It’s as corny of a cliché as you will ever hear and one that a very dear late friend of mine used quite often. Its meaning is simple – you can’t make something good without having good material to work with, and there is no better cliché to describe Ned Colletti’s disastrous signing of Dodger third baseman Juan Uribe. That signing occurred shortly after the 2010 World Series when (then) free agent Juan Uribe was coming off the best season of his career; a surprising season – the one and only season in Uribe’s (then) ten-year career in which he hit 24 home runs. Sure he hit 23, 21 and 20 home runs before 2010, but those came during the 2004, 2006 and 2007 seasons respectively – which just so happens to coincide with the so-called “steroid era.” Now this is certainly not to suggest that Juan Uribe was ever involved in the use of performance enhancing drugs – not by any means, but the timing is something to at least think about and I’ll let you draw your own conclusions. But under the “What have you done for me lately” category with regards to Juan Uribe the answer is simple – absolutely nothing – certainly nothing worthy the insane three-year / $21 Million contract that he received from Ned Colletti. Unfortunately, in what is so very reminiscent of the even more insane Andruw Jones signing only two years before, Colletti (and Mattingly) pretty much have a gun to their head to keep running Juan Uribe out on the field to try to justify their disastrous signing of Uribe; but you know what? “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”
It's time for the Dodgers to cut their losses and send Uribe packing and call up Josh Fields or Alex Castellanos from Triple-A to be the Dodgers everyday third baseman (Photo by Jon SooHoo)
Since becoming a Dodger in 2011 and through Tuesday night’s game against his former team (the hated Giants), Juan Uribe is batting a dismal .209 (71 for 339) with a total of 35 RBIs (Ethier currently has 30 RBIs in the first six weeks of 2012 alone). But the number that is so blatantly painful and the one that is seemingly being completely ignored by Ned Colletti and Don Mattingly is that Juan Uribe hasn’t hit a home run since June 20, 2011. It was Uribe’s fourth home run of 2011 and his very last home run as a Dodger. How on earth do I know the exact date of Juan Uribe’s last Dodger home run you ask? That’s easy – I caught it. And even though I have been blessed to catch a few other home run balls as a long-time season ticket holder out in the Left Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium that I proudly display, and even though I was able to get Juan Uribe to autograph the ball a few days later, that ball sits in a box out in the garage because, quite frankly, I am completely disgusted with Juan Uribe.
I didn’t wake up this morning telling myself “I think I’ll bash Juan Uribe today.” No sir, not at all. I actually went to bed last night thinking about it after he bunted… BUNTED into a 2-5-3 double play. He couldn’t even lay down a sacrifice bunt and that thought never went away – even after sleeping on it. This is ineptitude at its absolute finest. Perhaps if Uribe weighed 25 pounds less he might have at least avoided the second out of this disastrous double play.
To his credit, Juan Uribe is a very good defensive third baseman and no one can take that away from him; but is he that much better than Josh Fields or Alex Castellanos who are both hitting above .300 at Triple-A Albuquerque? I think not. (Note: Castellanos is currently hitting .366 and has an on-base percentage of .477 – these are Kemp-like numbers).
It is very unfortunate that Guggenheim Baseball Management group (the new owners of the Dodgers) have to bear the cross that Ned Colletti bore onto them and have to painfully sign Uribe’s grossly over-inflated paycheck every month, but perhaps it is time for them to re-evaluate Uribe’s value to the team and whether or not he is their best choice to get them into the post season. Why not simply cut their losses and send Uribe packing and call up Josh Fields (or Alex Castellanos) from Triple-A to be the Dodgers everyday third baseman or at least platoon either of them at third base with super-sub Jerry Hairston Jr.? Because Fields and Castellanos would come in at the MLB minimum, the Dodgers net loss would be marginal. Granted, nobody likes paying for something they don’t have (especially $14+ million), but Uribe’s ineptitude is costing the Dodgers wins and could very well be the key to keeping them out of the post season.
My point is that 399 at bats is not a small sample size and there is absolutely nothing to even remotely suggest that Juan Uribe is going to suddenly get hot and come even close to returning to his (rare) 2010 form; but there is every indication that he will continue to stink the place up with his horrible offense and continue to do unacceptable things like bunting into 2-5-3 double plays.
It’s Time to Get Rid of the Sow.
Posted in 
Here, here, 53! I say hand the glove to Hairston Jr! He was really grooving on the ball (.315 BA) when Uribe came back. As you say, “he got to go!”
Did you give Stan Kasten a TBLA business card? No?? Tisk, tisk…
How come the females of the species get all the attention. Why isn’t it, a boar’s ear? In any event, it would take a special talent to make a purse, especially a silk one, out of a hog’s ear.
I had my reservations about Uribe when he was signed. It wasn’t even the cost as much as the length of the contract. Of course, that is my usual stance with older guys on the downhill side offered three year deals. Uribe isn’t all that old (33 in July) but had his high water mark in 2010. That is always a bit of a red flag.
In any event, it is time to move on. I say give Fields an opportunity. He is 29 but has always had a good OBP. Maybe he is another AJ Ellis in waiting. As difficult as it is, we may well pay Uribe to play elsewhere. I expect his wrist will mean considerable time on the DL.
I do like Hairston as a possibility but also like his overall versatility playing different positions, our super sub.
Good point, Bluenose – the boar analogy would have also worked perfectly here as well – “Uribe is as useless as…” That said, boars are generally associated with strength, power and aggressiveness, so the sow it will remain.
I was at the game last night and was at least as disgusted with Uribe’s performance as you, Ron. And, I agree he should be gone. But, I think Donny Baseball shares some of the blame for the awful bunt. Uribe has demonstrated before his inability to bunt, and I think Don was dead wrong to call for the bunt from a man who simply can’t perform that task.