When the Dodgers traded for veteran second baseman Chase Utley on August 19, 2015, they did so for a variety of reason. The most obvious is that, in spite of his (then) 35 years of age, he was still very much The Man, as he was affectionately called by rabid Phillies fans. But even though the Pasadena, California native owns a very respectable 14-year MLB career slash line of .278 / .361 / .472 that may garner him a few Hall of Fame votes (if he ever retires, that is), it’s the intangible things that he brings to the game that make him the consummate professional and a huge reason why the Dodgers went after him in the first place.

At the time of the Utley trade that sent Dodgers minor league second baseman Darnell Sweeney and minor league right-hander John Richy to the Phillies, Dodgers phenom shortstop prospect and 2012 first-round draft pick Corey Seager had not yet made his MLB debut. But the (then) 21-year-old Charlotte, NC native would do so a short two weeks later and the rest, as they say, is history.

But what most Dodger fans did not realize at the time is that the August 19, 2015 trade for Utley and the September 3, 2015 MLB call-up of Seager were very closely related right from the get-go.

Friedman said that they were well aware of the intangibles that Utley would bring to the team when they traded for him in August of 2015. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

During Monday afternoon’s season wrap-up press conference with Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Utley’s name was included among the pending free agents with whom the Dodgers have had what Friedman called “dialog” regarding re-signing them for next season and beyond.

With regards to Utley, who turns 38 on December 17, Friedman said that those aforementioned intangibles – including mentoring Corey Seager who, earlier in the day, had been named as the NL Rookie of the Year by Sporting News – were a huge part of why he and general manager Farhan Zaidi went after Utley regardless of his age. Friedman also said that those same intangibles will be taken into consideration again when it comes to possibly extending Utley’s soon-to expire one-year / $7 million contract.

“It was taken into account when we traded for [Utley] originally, it was taken into account when we re-signed him last off-season and it’s something that we value greatly,” Friedman said. “So again, as far as how everything plays out with the roster, there’s a lot of things that are up in the air, but the respect that we have for him on the field, off the field remains unchanged.”

Putting the intangibles aside, at least for the moment, what about the cold, hard numbers and analytics, which seem to drive baseball these days? There is zero argument – none whatsoever – that Utley plays the game with all-out intensity and effort all of the time. Almost nightly he makes defensive plays that frequently show up as ESPN web gems; plays that kids 15 years his junior wouldn’t and couldn’t make. But when you take a closer look at his offensive numbers during the last half of the 2016 regular season and, more importantly, his numbers in the Dodgers just-concluded postseason, do the Dodgers really want resign him as their (almost) every day second baseman for next season?

Although Utley has decent career numbers, he finished the 2016 regular season with a rather pedestrian .252 batting average and .319 on-base percentage; this from a guy who batted leadoff in 114 of the 138 games in which he played in 2016. And though he ended the regular season with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs, he went 3-for-28 (.107) with zero extra base hits and three RBIs in the 2016 postseason. When you put all of this together, does it justify the Dodgers re-signing Utley for what will probably be a one year contract in the $10 million range, intangibles notwithstanding? Does Seager really need more mentoring from the veteran second baseman? The honest answer to these questions are probably no and absolutely not, this in spite of what Utley has done for the Dodgers and, more specifically, for Seager.

The thing to keep in mind – and you can bet that Friedman and Zaidi are – is that the Dodgers still have Howie Kendrick under contract for one more season (to the tune of $10 million). And even if they decide not to re-sign Utley and decide not to go out and get a free agent second baseman this off season, they have 25-year-old second baseman Micah Johnson on their 40-man roster and soon-to-be 22-year-old Willie Calhoun down on the farm, both of whom will undoubtedly be in big league camp next spring competing for the Dodgers everyday second baseman job. Johnson appeared in six games with the Dodgers this past season going 1-for-6 (.167) while Calhoun is currently hitting .250 with one home run and two RBIs in the prestigious Arizona Fall League for the Glendale Desert Dogs.

With the Dodgers off-season less than a week old and with the Hot Stove not even lit yet, it is impossible to predict how all of this will play out or whether the Dodgers even have an interest in re-signing Chase Utley. That being said, it sure has been fun watching the ageless wonder play second base for the Dodgers the past two seasons.

…and playing it the right way.