June 4th, 2016 at 10:14 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s never a good thing to lose a player to the disabled list.
…or is it?
Just minutes before the first pitch of Friday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium, the team announced that they had placed outfielder Yasiel Puig on the DL for a left hamstring strain and reactivated utility outfielder / first baseman Scott Van Slyke from the DL, where he had been since April 10 due to lower back irritation.
So how is this even remotely a good thing you ask? Well, from a physical standpoint it most certainly is not, but from a roster standpoint and perhaps even from a performance standpoint it very well may be.
There is no getting around the fact that the entire Dodgers offense in mired in an atrocious offense slump and actually has been for most of their 57 games played – Corey Seager, Trayce Thompson and Chase Utley notwithstanding. Included in that horrible slump is Yasiel Puig who is hitting a dismal .237 with an even more dismal .283 on-base percentage and .360 slugging percentage for a paltry .643 OPS. These numbers don’t just warrant a move to the disabled list, they warrant a move to the minor leagues until a solution is found. The problem is, Puig’s numbers are actually better than five other guys on the Dodgers 25-man roster.
In his 198 plate appearances thus far this season, Puig has struck out 43 times – one fewer than Adrian Gonzalez and 10 fewer than team-leader Joc Pederson. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
With Puig’s current left hamstring issue, it’s hard not to think about his hamstring issues last season and the poor handling of them (yes, he actually injured both hamstrings last season). At the time, then Dodgers manager Don Mattingly waited 10 days before finally putting Puig on the DL, this after Puig insisted that his return to the Dodgers lineup was imminent. But after Dodgers trainers closely monitored the then 24-year-old Cuban defector, it was decided that his return was not quite as imminent as the Cienfuegos, Cuba had claimed and he was placed on the DL and sent out for a rehab assignment.
During the second game of that rehab assignment with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, Puig re-injured his left hamstring while running out a ground ball and was lost for over a month before finally returning to the Dodgers. He suffered a similar injury to his right hamstring in August of 2015 that also required a month-long stint on the DL.
Puig re-injured his left hamstring during a rehab game with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes last season causing him to spend an additional month on the DL. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
But it isn’t just Puig’s left hamstring and ice cold bat at issue here, he was also recently benched for two games for what new Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called “…not playing the game the right way;” this after Puig stood and admired what he thought was a sure home run but actually hit the wall. Puig’s brain fart turned a sure double into a single in a 1-1 ball game. And though it has long been debated that spending some time in the minors for awhile might do the oft-controversial outfielder a bit of good, it never happened. As such, the timing of this DL stint – which will undoubtedly include a minor league rehab assignment – might do a world of good for Puig and for the Dodgers.
But Puig isn’t the only one on the Dodgers controversy list; in fact, he’s not even at the top of the list. That dubious honor belongs to Dodgers left fielder Carl Crawford, who is hitting a pathetic .185 on the season. Crawford has also been horrible defensively, with opposing base runners routinely taking extra bases on his sub-par throwing arm. But while Roberts insists that Crawford will be an important part of the Dodgers making a run at their fourth consecutive NL West title, it doesn’t take 20-20 vision to realize that Crawford’s playing time is predicated on the $41.75 million still owed to him over the next two seasons. And having just eaten $10 million still owed to Alex Guerrero, who the Dodgers designated for assignment this past Tuesday, it is highly unlikely that they are willing to do the same with Crawford’s near-$42 million … at least for now.
Even though Crawford bats left-handed, with the tremendous success that right-handed hitting outfielder Trayce Thompson is having (.280 / .341 / .576 / .917 with nine home runs [compared to Crawford’s zero]), it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Roberts to justify not having Thompson in the Dodgers lineup every day. In fact, not playing Thompson over Crawford is drawing a great deal of criticism from fans and the media alike – to the point where Roberts’ judgement is being questioned for a team that is currently 5.5 games behind the division-leading Giants. If putting the best nine out there everyday and giving the team their best chance to win is as important as Roberts claims it is, he is seriously misfiring by putting Carl Crawford out there over Trayce Thompson.
Whether or not Puig’s time on the DL will lead to a new and revitalized Yasiel Puig when he returns remains to be seen, it’s hard to argue that his time away from the team will be beneficial to both he and the Dodgers. But if he does not come back with a vengeance and returns to mediocrity (or below), perhaps it is time for the Dodgers to seriously consider moving him – at least while he still has some trade value.
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Continuing to use Crawford, regardless of his contract, should be an embarrassment to this FO and Roberts. Not only is he horrible offensively and defensively his body language seemingly is that of a pouting player knowing that the only reason he is playing, or perhaps even on the roster, is due to Ethier and Van Slyke injuries. “Tanking” comes to mind, hoping that Dodgers will release him and he can try to find another team.
I am sure FAZ has been working since their first day of employment to handle the “Crawford/Guerrero” problems. Ned left them a badly constructed roster with bloated contracts. The current Crawford/Guerrero situation is ALL about money.
When FAZ got here, they wisely let Hanley walk.
Additionally, they scored a major coup in getting rid of Kemp. Don’t believe me, Kemp $20M/yr .249 OBP .1 OWAR, Grandal $2.8M/yr .296 OBP .2 OWAR. Padres on the hook for another 3yrs after this year.
We all know Ned got fleeced when he agreed to take Crawford and the $100M remaining salary on his contract. Crawford had also just gotten TJ surgery. This move always reminds me of what P.T. Barnum used to say, “a sucker is born every minute”.
Scott Boros must also have been thinking of P.T.’s immortal words when negotiating Guerrero’s contract with Ned.
While some think money is no object with Guggs ownership, most know, money matters to everyone (except other people’s money to a socialist or the U.S. Government with its own printing press, but, I digress).
I am sure during Friedman’s job interview, Guggs asked, What can you do about the Crawford/Guerrero situations? Friedman replied, “We will try our hardest to cut your losses ASAP, neither of these poor fielding players fit into our plans to build a winning team. But, I see the predicament, Crawford owed $60M (with another 50% luxury tax), if he can stay healthy, we will try our hardest to showcase him and trade him for something/anything of value, while paying a chunk of his salary for someone to take him. Perhaps an American League team could DH him. Same with Guerrero. Only as a last resort, when there is no possible chance to recoup ANY of your investment in these players will we DFA them”.
Why hasn’t FAZ been successful? Sadly, what has happened, up until now, reminds me of what Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time”.
And that my friends, summarizes why we just DFA’d Guerrero and still have Crawford on the 25 man roster. I believe, FAZ still feels it must give Stewart/LaRussa time to consider Crawford, the payoff could be substantial.
Boxout, I think it is far easier to paint a portrait from a blank canvas rather than starting with one with serious flaws. FAZ inherited a roster with 6 players with multi year contracts at $134M+ per year. They were able to jettison Kemp, but that left 5 players at $123M+. Would FAZ have liked to pick up Scherzer in 2015? I would guess so, but that would mean adding another $30M+ contract to the mix, knowing that Greinke could (and probably would) opt out and also want $30M+.
I doubt that Guggs has an open checkbook, and one of the reasons they hired Friedman was to bring the payroll under control, and build up the farm system to negate the need to sign overpriced free agents. Friedman is taking a lot of heat from those who think he is working the Dodgers roster as if he was still with Tampa Bay. It has been my opinion that FAZ was given a budget to work with, and one which did not allow for $100M+ contracts, especially for pitchers (with the exception of Greinke). It’s real easy to spend others money and say that the Dodgers should have outbid the DBacks for Greinke and sign Price, Zimmerman, or Cueto, and sign Cespedes. After all, money is no object for the rich Dodgers.
Yes, most of those “big city slickers” over on another unnamed board really believe Friedman fell off the turnip truck. In reality, I think “small town” Friedman would handle them much like this farmer.
A city slicker shoots a duck out in the country. As he’s retrieving it, a farmer walks up and stops him, claiming that since the duck is on his farm, it technically belongs to him. After minutes of arguing, the farmer proposes they settle the matter “country style.”
“What’s country style?” asks the city boy.
“Out here in the country,” the farmer says, “when two fellers have a dispute, one feller kicks the other one in the balls as hard as he can. Then that feller, why, he kicks the first one as hard as he can. And so forth. Last man standin’ wins the dispute.”
Warily the city boy agrees and prepares himself. The farmer hauls off and kicks him in the groin with all his might. The city boy falls to the ground in the most intense pain he’s ever felt, crying like a baby and rolling around on the ground. Finally he staggers to his feet and says, “All right, n-now it’s–it’s m-my turn.”
The farmer grins. “Forget it, you win. Keep the duck.”
AC, you bring up some good points as usual. But I can’t resist pointing out that Guggs checkbook was wide open before they inked that TV deal and raised ticket prices. Most of the contracts you’re talking about were approved by Kasten. Then–buyer’s remorse? Shareholder revolt? I don’t expect the team to lose money every year even though the billionaire owners could afford to use it as a tax write-off. To paraphrase Ross Perot, “don’t worry about me; I’ve got another seven billion back home.”
I don’t doubt Friedman is on a budget, but some of us don’t think he’s spent his money as wisely as his reputation would indicate. A hundred million on foreign players just because we can? I won’t get into the whole woulda-coulda-shoulda thing here, but I’ll just say I believe unloading bad contracts should not take precedence over fielding a contender while you have Kershaw in his prime. This isn’t Philly or Oakland.
Snider Fan, I couldn’t resist responding to your post. My observations:
“Most of the contracts you’re talking about were approved by Kasten. Then–buyer’s remorse? Shareholder revolt?”. Maybe even Billionaires can learn from their mistakes.
“I don’t expect the team to lose money every year even though the billionaire owners could afford to use it as a tax write-off”. I am a tax accountant. No billionaire clients, but, numerous millionaire clients. I can tell you they are not impressed by spending a dollar, unwisely, to get a percentage back in tax savings. Besides, Obozo tells us billionaires don’t pay taxes, therefore, tax write-offs are worthless.
“I don’t doubt Friedman is on a budget, but some of us don’t think he’s spent his money as wisely as his reputation would indicate. A hundred million on foreign players just because we can?” Well he gets a tax deduction on those foreign players doesn’t he? Just kidding. I don’t see the problem, if fact, it’s an awesome investment. The money spent on foreign players will pay off many times over! We now have the number 1 rated farm system. Additionally, we already have a 25 year old STUD OUTFIELDER named Trayce Thompson, as a result of the most criticized foreign player signing, Oliviera. If Thompson keeps playing like he is now, over his rookie contract, he might be worth a hundred million himself. You might have been one of the fans arguing to resign Greinke for over $200M. How much do you think that contract is worth now, for the 32 year old pitcher with the 4.29 ERA? Arizona’s billionaire owner, sitting at 10 games under .500, probably isn’t comforted by the future tax write-off and is probably wishing he had invested in numerous foreign players.
“Showcasing” Crawford has not increased his value one iota. I think they’re hoping he gets hurt so they can DL him again. It reminds me of Rafael Furcal; when he was in a slump, they couldn’t get him out of the lineup but when he started to hit you just knew a trip to the DL was coming. I’m not sure how Crawford and Guerrero are related as Alex was on the 60-day DL until they had to decide to bring him up or DFA him and they decided to cut their losses after a lackluster showing in his rehab assignment.
I would say it may be time to call Barnes up and DL Grandal, as I suspect something is wrong physically that he’s not talking about. Find out whether Austin can contribute offensively before jumping at Lucroy.
“Showcasing Crawford has not increased his value one iota”, you are correct, but, not for FAZ/Roberts not trying. I am sure FAZ wishes Crawford would hit, so some team would want him or he was helping the team. Crawford going on the DL does nothing positive, except opening a 25 man roster spot. While I am sure FAZ would rather have Barnes/Etc. than Crawford on the 25 man, the hope has to be that he shows something and can be traded for something/anything ASAP. They DFA Crawford it’s $60M (includes luxury tax) out the door. Maybe he is, with salary paid, part of a trade to Cleveland.
FAZ has also been trying to “showcase” Guerrero, but, can’t do it when he is on DL. Don’t you think they were praying that he would produce on his 20 day minors rehab? So somebody would want him? He just isn’t that good.
I have been wondering about Grandal’s health also. I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere, but, one must wonder the after effects of shoulder surgery. Adrian Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez stunk it up for a year after surgery. I would love to see Barnes on the roster.
I agree with you about Barnes. Austin is one of two OKC position players who deserve a long look at the ML level (the other being Segedin). Grandal is mired in the same slump as he had last year with the injury. For the month of May, Grandal hit .114 Avg/.192 OBP/.464 OPS. That is not ML caliber. Either Grandal is injured again and needs to be placed on the DL, or can no longer hit MLB pitching. Grandal does have one option remaining, so perhaps a switch of Barnes and Grandal would be appropriate. If LA had Boston’s offense, then maybe you can work around Grandal, but when most of the team is not hitting, then you need to make a change. Do something different. Maybe Austin Barnes does not produce at the ML level. We will never know unless he gets that chance, and he at least deserves the chance.
When Puig comes off the DL, outside of his continual deteriorating offense, there should not be an issue with the roster. LAD has 8 relievers and one of those will be sent back down (or released). IMO the Dodgers need that extra bat on the bench. Teams generally carry 5 OF and the Dodgers will then have 5. The problem is going to come when Ethier comes back. When Ethier went on the DL, that gave Thompson a chance, and he has so far exceeded expectations. There should be no way Thompson is optioned to OKC. Right now he belongs in the starting lineup every night. When Ethier returns, Crawford’s fate will be determined…move him for a marginal prospect and pay most of the salary, or just DFA him. I suppose another option would be to package Puig in a trade. But I would rather have Puig on the bench rather than Crawford.
Yes, the roster is going to be a problem, unless, “money is no object for the rich Dodgers”. And of course it is.
Dodgers desperately need a quantity for quality trade. Nothing huge, but something to open a few roster spots. Otherwise, we are stuck with not having the best roster possible or Dodgers eating major bucks.
My favorite quantity for quality trade remains, Bauer for Crawford (most salary paid), Van Slyke, Lee, Hatcher. I don’t really know if Bauer is worth it, but, he is a former #3 draft pick, supposedly has great stuff and has eaten innings.
This would leave the following outfielders Thompson, Puig, Kendrick, Hernandez, Ethier and Pedersen. That is six outfielders, but, of course two are also infielders. This trade also opens up room for Barnes.
By the way, I sure like the looks of Pedersen batting, a lot better, when the top hand doesn’t come flying off the bat when he swings. Keeps his head on the ball much better and makes contact.