June 14th, 2016 at 4:17 pm 
by Ron Cervenka One day after releasing light-hitting outfielder Carl Crawford, the Dodgers have signed light-hitting free agent outfielder Will Venable to a one-year contract.
The 33-year-old, left-handed-hitting Greenbrae, California native was originally selected by the San Diego Padres in the seventh round of the 2005 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Princeton University. He owns a career .251 batting average with 81 home runs and 307 RBIs over eight major league seasons with the Padres (2008-2015) and Texas Rangers (2015).
Will Venable
(Photo credit – Benny Sieu)
Venable, who can play all three outfield positions, began the 2016 season with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs – the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies – where he batted .205 with two home runs, seven doubles and 19 RBIs in 41 games before being released on June 10.
To create room on the 25-man roster for Venable, the Dodgers optioned catcher / infielder Austin Barnes back to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Since his June 5 recall, Barnes appeared in only two games – both at at second base – going 0 for 4 at the plate. He began the 2016 season with the Dodgers as the back-up catcher for A.J. Ellis until Yasmani Grandal returned from the disabled list. In his four games in April, Barnes was 2 for 15 (.133) with one RBI. In his 37 games with the OKC Dodgers this seasons Barnes posted an impressive slash-line of .306 / .413 / .375 for a .788 OPS.
Venable will wear jersey number 25 with the Dodgers, which was last worn by (wait for it) Carl Crawford in 2013.
Posted in 
Glad to see the Dodgers gave Austin Barnes every opportunity to prove he’s a worthy MLB catcher… oh, wait.
Dodgers brain-trust is clueless. This is so painful to watch.
Now Kevin.
Do you suppose there is some kind of trade in the wind? There has to be more to it than replacing Crawford and paying him big bucks to not play and replacing him with Venable. There just has to be.
It makes no sense at all as just an acquisition.
…other than an inexpensive left-handed bat off the bench, that is.
I remember going to a Dodgers-Padres game at Petco Park several years ago and wouldn’t you know, Will Venable hit a home run. My exact words were: “Are you [expletive] kidding me? Will [expletive] Venable?” … or words to that effect. 😮
It makes sense for a LH bat but in the longer picture still spinning the wheels.
Maybe it was because he an play all three outfield positions but I am not sure he is a better left side pinch hitter than Crawford. If Crawford thinks he can still play and wanted to see if a team would pick him up, the Dodgers just did him a favor like they did for Uribe.
Speaking of Uribe, I hope he is feeling better. If invited over to his house for dinner, don’t eat the frozen peas.
I have a feeling something is brewing too.
I think Venable is temporary help in the OF, and I also don’t think that Ellis, Grandal and Barnes will all be with the organization on September 1. One way or the other.
June 14 is a very unusual time to go free agent shopping (or selling). My guess is that the Dodgers were desperate for a left-handed bat off the bench and Venable came cheap to fill a quick need.
If there is any wheeling and dealing to be done, it will be at the July 31 trade deadline, not September 1. That said, the waiver trade deadline is August 31, so you may be right Gail ~ a day.
That’s where I was going with that – knowing there are no moves as of Sept 1, I have a feeling that when we look at the roster on that day, we won’t have those 3 catchers.
Maybe it was Barnes cup of coffee that was brewing.
I see what you did there.
I know he’s a better outfielder than Crawford at this point, but he’s hitting .200 at AAA! There has to be someone in our system who could do better than that–I don’t care if they’re left-handed or right-handed. That being said, he’ll probably get in the game tonight and get a hit. It’s a shame they seem determined not to give Barnes a chance. He seems destined to join a long line of former Dodger farmhands to find success elsewhere.
Never in my life thought that I would use the word “IronPigs” in an article.
I thought we’d see more of the versatile Austin Barnes so I’m sort of disappointed but I’ve always thought of Venable as a better hitter than his stats indicate.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a hitter who is better than his stats indicate. Pitchers? Yes. But hitters? No.
Numbers don’t lie – especially over an eight-year period.
You misunderstood me, as usual. I really never paid attention to Venable’s stats, I just thought of him as a better hitter.
Trust me, you are frequently misunderstood (as usual) – and not just by me. And I’ve certainly noticed that you pay very little attention to any stats.