Sunday, August 8, 2010

Say goodbye to Anderson

At long last, the Dodgers did something that it didn't look like they would do - get rid of Garret Anderson.

Anderson was designed for assignment on Sunday to make room for Jay Gibbons
. This marks the end of a miserable season for Anderson, who put together a .181 average, two homers, and 12 RBIs in 155 at-bats. Yikes.

To put it in perspective just how bad of a season he was having, he was second-to-last in batting average for people with at least 100 at-bats.

The Dodgers can certainly say they gave Anderson every single chance possible to turn things around, but it just didn't happen. Had he not come in with the reputation of one of the best lefty hitters during his time, I highly doubt he would have been granted nearly this much time to play better.

I thought the signing of Anderson was a good idea. Like I said, he was a great hitter during his prime. I think people forget just how much he meant to those Angels' teams he was on in the late 90's - early 2000's. He had four straight seasons of well over 100 RBIs.

The hope was that he'd be the primary lefty off the bench. It was a good idea in theory, but it never came close to working out. His highest average of any month was June... where he hit .217! It's been said that adjusting to a part-time player requires a whole lot of patience, and maybe that's something he just never could get used to.

In his place will be Gibbons, who's certainly enjoying a big year at Triple-A Albuquerque. He was mashing the ball for a .347 average, 19 homers, and 83 RBIs. He's the former Baltimore Orioles slugger who has 121 career home runs.

He also was named in the Mitchell Report as being one of "those guys." I guess he can just get in line and join the others. All of that aside, he's certainly made the most of the second life he was granted with the Dodgers. Here's hoping he can get some big hits for them, because we all know they can sure use it.

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