Published March 9, 2015. Remember to follow me on Twitter for updates!

Over at Fangraphs, Eno Sarris penned an article titled "Finding Andre Ethier a Home." I imagine you can figure out what the article was about. In it, Sarris looks as a number of teams that might be interested in the Dodgers outfielder, who seems like a man without a starting spot. The Dodgers seem willing to pay upwards to half of the at least $56 million left on his contract which would drop the remaining salary into the 3 year, $28M range.


That doesn't seem like a lot for a guy who hit .283 with a .796 OPS in the three years before 2014. Sarris writes:

The Braves are sporting a hurt Nick Markakis, Zoilo Almonte, Eric Young, and Jonny Gomes right now on the depth chart, and could maybe use a veteran to bridge the gap to Dian Toscano. Right now, their corner outfielders are both bottom-five on the depth charts, and Ethier and Gomes would be a better platoon than Young and Gomes. If the Dodgers cover a little more than half, Ethier might be interesting to them. Might.

If you put it that way, yes, Gomes and Ethier do make a better platoon than EY and Gomes. I think Almonte and Gomes also makes for a better platoon, but let's not lose focus here. Looking at the numbers, Ethier would appear to make a good platoon option (even if he thinks of himself as a starter). Over the course of his career, he holds an .888 OPS against right-handed pitchers vs. a .641 OPS against lefties. Those numbers did fall in 2014, but the obvious platoon preference continued.

As for his overall value, before last season, Ethier, even with his challenges against left-handed starters, was a guy capable of routinely posting a WAR of nearly 3.0 on a yearly basis and considering his defense has slipped, that WAR was almost singularly built on hitting. 

But not so fast. Even with the Dodgers covering half his salary, Ethier would be due $28M over three years. That means that the Braves would be paying a platoon guy around $9M a season to not start every day. That's a lot of dough for a player you are trying to hide against certain pitchers. Further, Ethier turns 33 on April 10. Natural regression tells us that Ethier has a good chance to get worse rather than better. Plus, it's not as if Ethier has been unwilling to be critical of management decisions and has gone on the record to state that if he is not starting everyday, he would like to be traded. 

Signing Ethier long-term back in the summer of 2012 for the Dodgers was a bit of a head scratcher back then. Acquiring a player that might be in decline would be an even bigger head scratcher for the Braves, who appear to be a couple of years away from competing anyway. Unless the Dodgers want a C-level prospect (Todd Cunningham? Elmer Reyes?) and are willing to pay closer to 75% of Ethier's remaining salary (Braves on the hook for $15M), there doesn't seem to be a logical move in this theoretical exchange.