2011 Los Angeles Dodgers Hitters Preview

The view of Dodger Stadium from the field box seats. LAist/Jimmy Bramlett

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The view of Dodger Stadium from the field box seats. LAist/Jimmy Bramlett
By David Moran/Special to LAist

If there’s one thing that Dodgers fans can always count on from their beloved Boys in Blue, from season to season, manager to manager, divorce proceeding to divorce proceeding…it’s their inconsistency. Yes, those L.A. Bums never fail to thwart expectations, to show up one year as world-beaters, and the next as would’ve-beens. The 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers ballclub looks like something of the latter sort - though, if tradition holds, we’ll have a pennant winner on our hands. Here are the batsmen:

First base, James Loney: When asked about the need for Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier to have strong years in 2011 in order for the Dodgers to compete, Ned Colletti was quick to add James Loney to the list. For once our old friend Ned might be on to something.

First base has become the premier position for power throughout baseball, and Loney’s production the past three years just isn’t cutting it - his 10 HR and .395 SLG in 2010 were barely good enough to put him ahead of Todd Helton for worst in the National League among first basemen. What’s worse, nearly all of his numbers were inferior to 2009’s: batting average, on-base percentage, home runs, slugging percentage, hits, runs, fewer walks, more strikeouts …2010 was not a good year for Mr. Loney. And yet, it’s just too hard to count the guy out, to forget his genuinely impressive 2007, in which he had a 9 RBI game and hit .331 with 15 HR in only a little more than half of a season. There’s still reason to be optimistic, but optimism can’t live forever - and it sure has felt like forever with James Loney.

Second base, Juan Uribe: After a 2010 season that saw the Dodgers field a mishmash of middling middle infielders at second base, Ned Colletti and crew decided to flash a little green, so they went out and signed Juan “Two-Time World Series Champion” Uribe to a three-year, $21 million contract. Thankfully, Uribe will almost certainly be an upgrade over last year’s DeWitt/Theriot/Carroll/Belliard mess, which collectively mustered a grand total of 3 HR and 47 RBI, along with a measly .669 OPS.

Still, though Uribe will probably provide a power boost (he hit 24 HR and slugged .440 last year, for comparison’s sake), his free-swinging ways leave something to be desired. He only gets on base at a .300 career clip, and has only surmounted the .260 batting average plateau thrice in his 10-year career. But he’s got some serious fielding skills and it’s very likely that overall, he’ll outperform the group that was on the field in 2010. As for the contract? Um, let’s not get into that just now…

Shortstop, Rafael Furcal: Can he stay healthy? That’s just about the only question when it comes to Rafael Furcal. When he’s been on the field in his five years with the Dodgers, he’s been everything you could ask a shortstop to be - maybe not earth-shatteringly fantastic, but above-average with the bat and with the glove and a threat on the basepaths. With his ability to get on base and his base-stealing potential, he’s easily the best leadoff man on the roster. The same old issue is that he’s only averaged 116 games played per season in his time in LA, and only 93 in the past three. When he’s in the lineup, he provides stability to a team that really seems to need it. The only problem is, he’s in the lineup inconsistently, which sort of, you know, negates the whole stability thing.

Third Base, Casey Blake: Before the recent signing of Marcus Thames, Manager Don Mattingly had hinted at the possibility of Blake getting some playing time in the black hole known as left field. With a Thames/Jay Gibbons/Let’s-see-what-happens situation emerging in left (more on that later), it would seem that Casey’s pretty much a lock for third base and third base only. This probably leaves utilityman extraordinaire Jamey Carroll filling in when somebody wants a day off or when, inevitably, Furcal heads to the DL. Carroll makes for a decent enough infield replacement - he walks enough to somewhat counteract his utter lack of power, and is close enough to respectable in the field. All the same, there’s little doubt that Blake, who has proven himself to be a skilled fielder and still has some pop in the bat at age 37, will be the preferred option between the two. There’s a catch (as there always seems to be with the Dodgers) and that’s that Blake was borderline dreadful against right-handed pitching last year, to the point where Carroll’s career .348 SLG almost sounded appealing. If Blake can find at least a little rhythm against righties, it would go a long way towards preventing that from happening again.

Right Field, Andre Ethier: In a strange sort of way, Andre Ethier may have had the most disappointing season by a Dodger last year. He got off to a start so hot that calling it “blistering” would be like calling Siberia in January “chilly.” On May 14th, he was leading the National League in batting average, home runs, and RBI, his OPS was 1.201, and even though the Blue Crew was floundering its way to a 16-17 record, there was this at least, this mammoth season that you were starting to feel could be one for the ages. And then…Ethier broke his pinky finger in batting practice on May 15th, and well, things were never the same after that. Actually, they were the same, and that was the problem - same old streaky Andre, finding hits in bunches and some of them big, but also struggling against lefties and occasionally looking lost in right field. Can he recapture some of last year’s early-season magic? It’s certainly possible; unfortunately, the way the lineup is now, it starting to look almost necessary.

Center Field, Matt Kemp: Highlights of Matt Kemp’s 2010 season: he played in every game. That’s about it. Oh, the 28 home runs were good, and the 89 RBI that followed weren’t terrible either. But other than that, it was pretty much a season to forget. He had the most strikeouts of any centerfielder in the majors, was caught stealing in nearly half of his attempts, and occasionally suffered from lapses in focus that the team could ill afford. Of course, he wouldn’t be a frustrating Dodger star if we couldn’t say, “there’s reason for hope.” The new presence of Davey Lopes as first base coach could turn him back into a 30 stolen base player, and there’s little evidence to suggest that he’s actually a .249 hitter. Maybe this year there will be fewer distractions (*cough*Rihanna*cough), and the budding star from two years ago will re-emerge.

Left Field, Marcus Thames/Jay Gibbons: Up until two weeks ago, left field for the Dodgers was little more than the vacant lot over by Matt Kemp where Manny Ramirez used to fiddle with his shoelaces. It seemed as though the Dodgers’ had no other plans than to try out various combinations of Jay Gibbons, Xavier Paul, and the aforementioned Casey Blake. However, with the recent signing of former Yankee Marcus Thames, the picture has become a little clearer, and it now seems as though Gibbons and Thames will share the main responsibilities.

Gibbons can hit a little, but he’s 33 years old, just returned from winter ball with blurred vision, and performs at an only-slightly-better-than-Manny level in the field. Thames isn’t much different - bat, yes; glove, no; age 33, yes - but he’s a righty, not a lefty, which sets up for Gibbons to start against right handed pitching, and Thames to start against lefties. Thames does have some serious power (he’s hit more HR per at-bat than anyone on the roster) so it’s also possible that Mattingly will put him out there more frequently than half the Dodgers’ games. There may be some residual hope that Tony Gwynn, Jr. will be able to hit enough to play full time in center, moving Ethier to left field and Kemp to right. Gwynn, by all accounts, is an excellent center fielder, with the speed and instincts to save some runs with his glove. Yes, the picture is clearer in left, and though the Thames signing may not be of the splashy, big-budget free agent type, at least there’s some semblance of stability, and maybe even some potential.

Catcher, Rod Barajas, Dioner Navarro, A.J. Ellis: There’s no nice way to put this: the Dodgers have a godawful mess on their hands at catcher. Granted, unless you’re the Minnesota Twins, you don’t expect a whole lot of offense from behind the plate. But this trio will be lucky to even manage that. Barajas enjoyed a bit of a hot streak when he came over from the Mets at the end of last season, but, judging by how the 35 year-old’s career has unfolded to this point, repeating that success over a full season is on the far side of unlikely. Meanwhile, the reputably savvy Tampa Bay Rays cut ties with Navarro so severely that he didn’t even make the playoff roster. It may have had something to do with his .194 batting average. A.J. Ellis is still A.J. Ellis. Nothing to see here, folks.