July 9th, 2012 at 4:56 pm 
by Ron Cervenka Former baseball GM and current ESPN and MLB Network Radio analyst Jim Bowden recently ranked his top ten players to be traded by the deadline. His list includes the obvious choices such as Zack Greinke, Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster and Carlos Quentin, but of specific interest to Dodger fans is Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino. This from Bowden:
The Phillies are so far apart in their negotiations with Victorino that it is a given he will test the free-agent market in the fall. Therefore, Philadelphia likely will move him by the deadline. The Los Angeles Dodgers have legitimate arms in Double-A and can afford to move one of them in a Victorino deal. An outfield of Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and Victorino would give the Dodgers a big offensive bump that could help keep them in contention through September. Cincinnati is a dark horse as well.
Shane Victorino has been a Dodgers nemesis throughout his 9-year MLB career. Could he soon be wearing Dodger Blue? (Photo credit – throughthefencebaseballcom)
Victorino was drafted by the Dodgers in the sixth round of the 1999 amateur draft out of St. Anthony High School in Wailuku, Hawaii but was left unprotected in the 2002 Rule 5 draft and was selected by the Padres, where he played in 36 games in 2003. He was eventually returned to the Dodgers but was again selected in the 2005 Rule 5 Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He again failed to stay with the major league club and was offered back to the Dodgers, who declined, so the Phillies retained his contract and assigned him to their minor league club in Scranton-Wilkes Barre, PA. He was a September call-up for the Phillies in 2005 and has been with them ever since. He is in the final year of a 3-year contract and is making $9.5M this season. In 9 MLB seasons the switch-hitting Victorino has a career .276 batting average.
The biggest drawback to signing Victorino is that we would no longer be able to heckle the crap out of him from the Left Field Pavilion, something that Dodger fans have enjoyed doing a great deal over the years. That being said, Victorino has pretty much owned the Dodgers over the years, as well.
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He turns 32 in November, better then average power and a solid 271 average and has some speed on the bases. That alone makes him more valuable then Abreu and maybe even more valuable then Rivera. But I ask, is he really that much better then TGJ ? I don’t see it and TGJ comes a lot cheaper and he can hit leadoff. In my opinion it isn’t the real shot in the arm we need. I think our efforts should be focused at upgrading 3B if the right ( Wright ) guy comes along !! Plus I would be in favor of putting Rivera at 1B and including Loney in the 3B trade.
Victorino is an interesting proposal. Too bad he’s not a third baseman. This is a guy that never should have left the organization, yet Depodesta let him go. He’s the kind of guy you love to hate when he’s your opponent. And he thrives when visiting crowds give him a hard time. I’d hate to see him end up on a NL West rival
One thing we all know about Shane. He hustles 100% of the time and can be an effective catalyst. In Gordon’s absence, he probably would serve well as a leadoff man. Even with Gordon in the lineup, Victorino would be a better guy at the top of the lineup. A deal for this guy makes sense, which is probably why Colletti won’t do it.
Personally if I have a choice between Hamilton and Victorino, it’s Hamilton easy. And with the new ownership I can totally see this scenario happening in the off season: Picking up Hamilton, 6 years $25 mil/yer. Grenke, and also Hamels. Call me nuts, but Magic is quoted on record as saying the Dodgers will be the Yankees of the west.