January 8th, 2023 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka When the Dodgers signed (then) 31-year-old A.J. Pollock to a one-year / $4 million contract back on January 26, 2019, a good many skeptical Dodgers fans said (or at least thought): “Oh, great. Just what we need. Another over-the-hill outfielder to block our prospects from being promoted.”
Little did they – or anyone – know at the time that not only did their beloved team get an exceptional right-handed-hitting veteran outfielder (who absolutely destroys left-handed pitching), they also got a tremendous clubhouse leader and an outstanding mentor for their stable full of young and impressionable kids.
So effective (and popular) was Pollock, that Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman signed him to a two-year contract extension for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
In his three seasons with the Dodgers, the former first-round draft pick (17th overall) in 2009 by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of Notre Dame slashed a very impressive .282/.337/.519/.856, with 52 home runs and 150 RBI – a good many of which were game-winners.
(SportsNet LA)
But alas, as so often happens in our national pastime, the popular Hebron, CT native and (then) 10-year MLB veteran was traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for (then) 33-year-old right-hander Craig Kimbrel, who posted a 6-7 record and 3.75 ERA in his 63 games and 60.0 relief innings pitched for the Dodgers in 2022.
Lo and behold, late Friday night, it was reported on social media that the (now) 35-year-old Pollock, a free agent, had signed a one-year / $17 million deal with the Seattle Mariners, thus bringing his impressive .276/.332/.469/.801 career slash line, 140 career home runs, 470 career RBI, and a veteran presence that you simply cannot put a value on to a young and impressionable Mariners team.
Say what you will, but by not at least making a courtesy offer to Pollock (at least not one that we know of), the Dodgers let the extremely popular former Dodger – and tremendous veteran presence – get away.
…again.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
Too injury prone. I’d rather get McCutchen. I don’t think the Dodgers are going to be able to stay under the CBT unless they trade Taylor and/or Muncy. So sign McCutchen and Jose Iglesias and leave Lux at 2B. Reset the CBT next year.
After all the big fish got away I have been thinking the same thing to sign Iglesias as a stop gap at short! With not too much to choose from, I guess McCutchen makes sense, also!
He was traded to the White Sox for Kimbrell last year for Kimbrell! He wasn’t a free agent! Also, no extensions, he signed a 4-year deal with us!
You are absolutely correct, Joel. I meant to fix that during my edit … but forgot. It has been corrected.
Thank you.
I agree Ohio. Get Iglesias or Andrus and sign a corner outfielder. I think they sighed relief when they only owed Bauer 22 mil a minimum savings of 9-10 mil to upwards of 75 mil if the arbitrator ruled fully against the Dodgers.
First, allow me to compliment the regular commenters on Think Blue LA. You do a terrific job of sharing your various perspectives about the Dodgers and MLB in a reasoned, thoughtful, well written style that makes for great reading. It’s like sitting down with good friends and talking Dodgers and baseball — thank you.
Regarding Pollock, while Kimbrel was a huge disappointment he had a .9 WAR in 2022 compared to Pollock’s .4 WAR — pretty much a wash. But, if Pollock had been retained by Dodgers then there would have been no room for Trayce Thompson (2.5 WAR) who was a full 50 percentage points better than Pollock in wRC+ (142 v. 92) and Thompson’s defense is significantly better than Pollock who has been below ML average over the last several years.
I liked Pollock as a terrific teammate and clubhouse presence, but paraphrasing Sandy Koufax comments some 60 years ago, talent wins out and right now Thompson is a more talented player and about $15M per year less expensive.
Jesse,
i feel the same way. this is one of the few pages i frequent and the only in which i engage. it is the only place where the members debate without insults or personal attacks and i suspect we owe a great deal of the appreciation to Ron but also to the well reasoned intellect of the readers.
as for the trade, LA dealt from a position of depth for an established closer without affecting the payroll. although i have never been a kimbrel fan, it made sense on paper. (ah, paper…remember pedro for delino?) as to player value, it was a wash in the sense that both players had poor years. seeing AJ leave money on the table, i suspect he was unhappy with any number of aspects in CHI. although historically very good when healthy, he has always been too fragile. he should be on a Ripley’s list for freak injuries.
One thing to consider. If Trayce and Outman hit a combined 250 with 20 or more homers they will be combined better than Belly was last yr by far and that helps withe loss of offense with Trea Turner leaving.
Unless something dramatic happens to lower the Dodgers 2023 payroll, we may see what a platoon in CF and LF (Vargas and Busch?) will do offensively and defensively.