Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Dodgers trade for Heisey, sign Barney

A couple of moves from the Dodgers in recent days.

The first is trading for outfielder Chris Heisey, who played for the Reds in 2013.  On his way out will be Matt "Ball 4" Magill, who liked to pitch the ball anywhere except over the plate in his brief Dodgers' tenure.

The Heisey move raised some eyebrows at first, as it appears that the last thing the Dodgers need is yet another outfielder.  But, it was then assumed that this move makes guys like Andre Ethier, Carl Crawford, and possibly Matt Kemp even more likely to be traded.  The Winter Meetings start this upcoming Monday in San Diego, so perhaps the trigger on a trade is finally pulled.

Heisey won't light the world on fire, as he hit .222 with eight homers and 22 RBIs last season, but he's there for his versatility in the outfield.  He mostly appeared in left field in 2014, but played the other two positions many times as well.  He'll give Don Mattingly some options for later in the game.

Magill won't be missed, as he's had his chances to prove his worth in the past, but flat out stunk.  He spent all of last season in Triple-A, mostly because he had a 6.51 ERA in six starts with the Dodgers in 2013.  Good bye, good riddance!

The other piece of news is the signing of Darwin Barney, who was brought over from the Cubs last season on July 28.  He'll be in the mix off the bench, as it's hard to imagine he'll be a serious contender to take over Hanley Ramirez's spot at short.  I would like to think the Dodgers can do much better than that.

Barney's deal is for one year and $2.525 million.

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