July 3rd, 2012 at 9:44 am 
by Ron Cervenka It is common knowledge that struggling MLB players sometimes find themselves on the disabled list for some type of mystery injury; and while some of these mystery injuries come as a complete surprise and are real head scratchers, most are usually readily accepted with no questions asked. Why? Well the answer to that question is usually “who cares.”
It certainly isn’t nice to wish bad things on anyone, especially something like an injury, but wishing a mystery injury (as opposed to a real injury) on a struggling player is rather common place and pretty much always has been throughout baseball history. Now this is certainly not to say than some of these mystery injuries aren’t actual injuries, Lord knows many of them are; but when they happen to a player who we (collectively as fans) actually want out of the starting line-up, we have absolutely no problem accepting them or even welcoming them (hence that “who cares” thing).
Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe reportedly sprained his right ankle on this base running gaff. Is this yet another mystery injury? Who cares. (Photo credit Lee Kirby – US PRESSWIRE)
If I were to say that I have been upset or disappointed each time that (and I’m being kind here) struggling Dodger third baseman Juan Uribe has landed on the DL, I would be flat out lying. Uribe lost me as a fan on June 21, 2011 – the day after I caught his 155th career home run ball out in the Left Field Pavilion. Little did I (and everybody else – including Juan Uribe) realize at the time that he would go a full year before hitting his next (and possibly his last) home run as a Dodger. Simply put, signing Uribe to a 3-year/$21M contract ranks right up there with Ned Colletti’s worst signings during his tenure as the Dodgers general manage (Andruw Jones, Manny Ramirez, Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt notwithstanding).
As they always say (whoever they are) “Every cloud has a silver lining” and in this latest Uribe mystery injury thing that silver lining could very well be veteran third baseman Josh Fields. Even though Fields has spent most of his 9 professional seasons in the Minor Leagues, the 29-year-old Ada, OK native did spend parts of five seasons in the Majors (a total of 217 games while with the White Sox and Royals). Fields was a non-roster invitee to the Dodgers 2012 spring training camp and was edged out of the final Opening Day roster spot by Justin Sellers, who himself is currently on the 60-day DL for a bulging disk in his lower back with no return timetable set.
Josh Fields is currently hitting .329 with 8 home runs and 38 RBIs with the Isotopes. (Photo credit – Jon SooHoo).
Fields was given a Minor League contract by the Dodgers and has been on the Albuquerque Isotopes roster for the entire 2012 season. As the Isotopes everyday third baseman, Fields is hitting .329 with 8 home runs, 38 RBIs, and has an impressive .397 OBP; and while Triple-A numbers in no way equate to MLB numbers, Fields numbers dwarf Uribe’s .200, 1 home run, 12 RBIs, and .259 OBP numbers. Again, Triple-A numbers do not equate to MLB numbers and if there is one knock on Fields it is that he strikes out as frequently as Uribe does (23.82% vs. 23.20% respectively); although Fields has more than twice the At Bats as Uribe (298 vs. 125 respectively).
With the Dodgers having called up utility infielder/outfielder Elian Herrera and more recently shortstop Luis Cruz from Triple-A (both of whom seen to be making the transition very well), and with Uribe most likely headed for the DL for a sprained right ankle (mystery injury or otherwise), there is no better time than right now to bring up Josh Fields to be the Dodgers everyday third baseman – at least until the July 31 trade deadline if/when Colletti can acquire a potential top-tier third baseman as a permanent replacement for Uribe.
The bottom line here is that the Dodgers DO have an option at third base in Josh Fields (for now, at least) and, quite frankly, the costly Juan Uribe experiment is over and it is time for Stan Kasten and the Dodgers to cut their losses and DFA him.
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By all means, give Josh Fields another shot. He certainly has worked hard in AAA.
Regardless of what happens with Uribe now, this is his last season with the Dodgers. I can recall when they were given three year contracts before last season, that I mentioned we would be paying at least one of the following to play elsewhere before their contracts expired: Juan Uribe, Matt Guerrier, Ted Lilly. No more of these three contracts to players on the downhill side of careers or to a player who has just had a career year.
If we traded him to the Giants (agreeing to pay off the rest of his contract) for a bag of garlic fries we’d still be ripping them off.
So, guys, who do you predict that we will have at the corners? And question 2 – when?
I think Uribe’s days playing in LA are already done. And now that Gordon looks to be going on the DL, Fields looks to have a great chance to show his stuff.
As much as I would really like to see Josh Fields get the call up, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I suspect that Gordon’s spot on the 25-man roster will go to Javy Guerra and that Herrera, Kennedy, and Hairston will platoon at 3B. Cruz is the most likely choice to fill Gordon’s everyday spot at SS – especially if he continues to tear it up at the plate.
The real decision will come on July 13 when Kemp and Ethier return to the line-up, at which time Van Slyke and Tolleson will most likely be sent back down (in my opinion). Unless the Dodgers DFA Uribe and/or Kennedy, I don’t really expect to see Fields brought up, in spite of how much I would really like to see it happen. Just my $.02.