With news today that Dodgers' phenom Yasiel Puig has been sent to Double-A Chattanooga to start the season, the Dodgers have already declared him unready for the rigors of Major League Baseball. Still, after an absolutely scorching Spring Training that has seen him draw comparisons to the mighty Bo Jackson, this question needs to be asked:
Should Carl Crawford or Andre Ethier start getting worried?
It's a valid question without a simple answer. There's three key factors to consider when diving into answering it:
1) Puig is only 22 and has never been on a big league roster. He's only had 82 official at-bats in his brief minor league career.
2) Crawford and Ethier have a combined six All-Star Game appearances, with Crawford claiming the game's MVP in 2009 with the Rays.
3) Crawford and Ethier are signed through the next five years, and are making a total of $33.5 million this season alone.
And no matter how well Puig has looked this spring, it's #2 and #3 on the list above that might ring the loudest. Plus, with Crawford back playing after some elbow problems earlier this spring, and with Matt Kemp looking healthy after shoulder issues derailed his 2012 campaign, there isn't any room in a loaded outfield in LA regardless.
But let's not worry about right now, let's take a look into the future. Just how far? Well, even that is tricky, as the "future" for Puig could be sometime this season if he continues to rake in the minors. And, if Crawford and/or Ethier struggle against lefties (and we all know Ethier and his .238 career average against southpaws isn't exactly inspiring confidence for Don Mattingly), then the calls for Puig will start heating up even more.
I'm sure many Dodger fans, much like myself, have looked at different ways in which Puig will get to the big club. Taking away the injury factor (which is not in Crawford's favor, like it or not), then in my mind it may come down to moving either Crawford or Ethier and their big contracts. Crawford is the speedster who is pretty valuable right now at the top of the lineup because the Dodgers don't really have any other true leadoff hitter. Ethier has some power, but is more about singles and doubles and good defense.
So which one would go? I just have this feeling that it may be Ethier who gets moved. Like I said above, a healthy Crawford can wreak havoc on opposing defenses with his speed and gap power. He makes so much of a difference when he's right, which is how he got such a monster deal with the Red Sox in the first place. The big "if" is definitely his Tommy John surgically repaired left elbow, which is an issue that obviously won't go away.
That leads me to Ethier. On April 10, he'll turn 31. In 2009, he hit 31 homers and 106 RBIs. The last two years combined he hit 31 homers. Last season he set a career-high with 124 strikeouts, and tied a career-low with a .351 OBP. To be fair, he still hit .284 with 21 homers and 89 RBIs last year, which are certainly solid numbers. But, the point is that an argument can be made that his career trends are slowly ticking downward, which comes with older age.
The power is something that concerns me the most, and is the biggest reason I can see the Dodgers valuing Crawford over Ethier. Right now the Dodgers have big boppers in Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez, and to a lesser extent Hanley Ramirez. Imagine if Ethier's struggle to get extra-base hits becomes worse and worse, then I can definitely see Puig getting his shot to turn that around.
I'm sure the idea of pairing Puig and Kemp in the heart of the Dodgers' order is getting their entire management very excited. And if that means making some sort of trade of an outfielder not named Matt Kemp, then I can see Ethier being the one.
Let's remember that Puig still has plenty of room for improvement, and getting regular at-bats in the minors will only help that. If he continues to mash down on the farm, then look out. The Dodgers' front office will have some big decisions to make to get him to Dodger Stadium.
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