Here is today’s Holy Crap discovery. It has to do with the roller coaster season Andre Ethier has had.
But let’s not start in 2010. Let’s go back to 2008.
Back in 2008, you’ll recall, Manny Ramirez made kind of an ass out of himself (which is like saying back in the summer of 2003 Kobe Bryant had some trouble in Colorado), and got himself run out of Boston. The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Manny, he had an unbelievable two months with L.A., and the Dodgers went to the NLCS.
Manny’s first day with the Dodgers was August 1st.
Coming into August 1, 2008, Ethier was having a merely solid season for the Dodgers. He was hitting .274 with a .339 on-base percentage and a .442 slugging percentage (which we’ll represent as .274/.339/.442). To that point in the season, he had 11 home runs and 46 RBI, along with 33 walks and 61 strikeouts.
Let’s make this pretty; if everyone can follow it, we’ll represent his stats as:
2008, w/o Manny: 11/46, 33/61, .274/.339/.442
These numbers were roughly equivalent, if not a little below, his career totals of 35 home runs, 165 RBI, 113 walks and 206 strikeouts in 375 career games. Prior to Manny going to LA, Ethier had hit .289/.351/.457 with a career OPS of .809.
But over the course of the final 45 games of the season, after Manny joined the team, Ethier blew up:
2008, w/Manny: 9/31, 26/27, .368/.448/.649
He hit nine home runs with 31 RBI, took 26 walks and struck out only 27 times, and his rate stats were shocking: .368/.448/.649. He was, almost literally, a completely different player.
Now, Dodgers fans and Manny haters alike will remember that in the 2009 season, Manny got suspended for taking birth control pills (or something), and endured a 50 game suspension. That suspension ran from May 6th to July 3rd.
On May 6, 2009, Andre Ethier was hitting .317/.438/.558 with 6 home runs, 27 RBI, 20 walks, and 16 strikeouts.
2009, w/Manny Pt I: 6/27, 20/16, .317/.438/.558
The Manny left the team. Over the 48 games Ethier played in during Manny’s absence, he hit 9 home runs with 25 RBI, walked 16 times and struck out 42 times, and hit went .222/.293/.438!
2009, w/o Manny: 9/25, 16/42, .222/.293/.438
Manny’s first game back was July 3rd, and from that point on Ethier returned to respectability: 83 games, 16 home runs, 54 RBI, 36 walks, 58 strikeouts, and .285/.370/.532.
2009, w/Manny Pt 2: 16/54, 36/58, .285/.370/.532
On to 2010. Manny, of course, has had a spotty season in 2010, so we’ll try to keep this neat:
Ramirez and Ethier each missed two weeks during the first three months of the season, during which time Ethier got off to a tremendous start before slowing up a bit, and by June 29th had 12 home runs, 47 RBI, 23 walks and 35 strikeouts, and was hitting .312/.370/.547, though as late as May 14th he was hitting .392.
2010, w/Manny: 12/47, 23/35, .312/.370/.547
Manny then got hurt (or whatever it was) at the end of June/beginning of July, and missed all but seven games in July and August. During this period, Ethier hit eight home runs with 24 RBI, 20 walks, and 48 strikeouts, while hitting .278/.345/.460.
2010, w/o Manny: 8/24, 20/48, .278/.345/.460
Manny was then waived and picked up by the White Sox at the end of August, and Ethier has fallen off the face of the earth: After eleven September games, Ethier has one home run, 3 RBI, 6 walks and 13 strikeouts, while hitting .167/.286/.278.
2010, after Manny: 1/3, 6/13, .167/.286/.278.
Put it all together, and what do we get?
2008, w/o Manny: 11/46, 33/61, .274/.339/.442
2008, w/Manny: 9/31, 26/27, .368/.448/.649
2009, w/Manny Pt I: 6/27, 20/16, .317/.438/.558
2009, w/o Manny: 9/25, 16/42, .222/.293/.438
2009, w/Manny Pt 2: 16/54, 36/58, .285/.370/.532
2010, w/Manny: 12/47, 23/35, .312/.370/.547
2010, w/o Manny: 8/24, 20/48, .278/.345/.460
2010, after Manny: 1/3, 6/13, .167/.286/.278.
What you get is numbers that don’t paint a particularly flattering picture of Andre Ethier, and make it seem pretty clear that when the Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez, they were getting two players for the price of one.
And now that Ramirez is gone, so too is Andre Ethier.
Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.
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