Dodgers Diaries

The Dodgers today announced the Andre Ethier was named a finalist for the 2012 Hank Aaron Award, given to the outstanding hitter in each league. Matt Kemp won the award in 2011.

At first glance, the news is a shocker. Ethier, with his .284 average (and even more pitiful .222 vs. lefties) paltry 20 homers is a finalist for this coveted award? It's not until you read down a few paragraphs that you learn every team gets to submit a finalist. Even the Astros. So Jose Altuve, come on down. You are the least worst player on the Astros!

Ethier was no Jose Altuve, although the 22-year-old second baseman did compile a slightly higher average (.290). But to realize Ethier was the best hitter on the 2012 Dodgers is to understand why the team failed to make the playoffs. When Matt Kemp got hurt, the Dodgers fielded a middle-of-the-lineup that often featured hitters nomore imposing than Ethier, Jerry Hairston and Bobby Abreu. In that regard, Ethier was the least worst Dodger of the first half of 2012.

I suspect the competition for best Dodger hitter of 2013 will be a little more interesting with full seasons from Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez. It’s too bad the 2012 team didn’t get them in time for them to make more of a difference.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL

Juan Uribe has apparently spent some of the $21 million the Dodgers lavished upon him two winters ago to purchase the naked pictures of Ned Colletti previously held by Mark Sweeney and Garret Anderson. How else to explain Uribe’s continued presence on the 2012 Dodgers?

One had to assume the rotund infielder’s days were numbered at the All-Star break, when his batting average fell below the Mendoza line. Or two weeks later, when the Dodgers acquired Hanley Ramirez to play the two positions for which Uribe is marginally qualified.

Or yesterday, when the Dodgers needed to clear space to bring back the slightly less disappointing infielder Adam Kennedy. Yet somehow, Uribe managed to upend the grim reaper’s chess board, as Jerry Sands was sent back to Albuquerque just four days after being recalled.

What the hell was that all about? You bring a guy up for four days? Did somebody need frequent flyer miles?

So Uribe continues to provide veteran leadership in the locker room, while playing just five innings since Ramirez’s arrival. In essence, the Dodgers are playing a man short because they’re unwilling to eat the approximately $10 million Uribe is still owed through the end of 2013.

If they really didn’t mind going with a 24-man roster, couldn’t the Dodgers at least let Matt Treanor go to London to watch his wife win an Olympic gold medal?

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL