I’m sure all the stat geek bloggers have their panties in a bunch about the signing of Mark Ellis. 
Me? I have no opinion, because I don’t know which Mark Ellis will show up…
This we know:
- Ellis can play Gold Glove Defense – what’s not to like about that? With Dee Gordon, the Dodgers may not even need a 2B as he can cover both spots. Shoot, he’s so fast that he can play all 4 infield positions: “Gordon backhands the ball in back of third-base, steps on the bag for out number one, throws to 2B to himself for out number two and barely beats the runner to 1B to complete the triple play.”
- Mark Ellis career OPS is better than that of Jamey Carroll though somewhat less than that of Jeff Kent.
- I know that RBI’s can be overvalued but Jamey Carroll had 17 RBI in 510 AB’s last year and Mark Ellis drove about 3 times that in few AB’s. Career stats on RBI’s are similar. Mark Ellis has more RBI’s in a down year than Jamey Carroll has in a career year… Overvalue that!
- Ellis has had a couple of decent seasons where he OSP’ed .861 and .777 (not spectacular, but solid).
- He’ll be 35 next year, so he’s smarter and older. He could have a career year… or continue the decline.
- He’s not a top of the order hitter, in my opinion. At #7 or #8, he’s not bad!
- Who knows? I’ll give you my take on this deal in two years! My hindsight is 20/20.
Questions are:
- Can he stay healthy?
- Can he rebound from a bad season Oakland?
He was better in Colorado the second half of the season, but all I want to know is which Mark Ellis will show up? He might be an upgrade over last year, but it’s a crap-shoot. 35-year old middle infielders can make you look really good or really bad. Jeff Kent was relevant until age 37. The Dodgers have 2 years of Mark Ellis. Can he be relevant for two years? Let’s hope so!
You could have offered me $1,000,000 to tell you something of Mark Ellis before yesterday — and I would have lost. He was not on my scope. I knew nothing of the guy.
So I looked him up in the stats.
1. last season must have been a combined waste land for him, batting average was only .248. Terrible. His on base percentage was only .288. Terrible. Slugging average was only .346. That is what it is.
But before last season, he had hit .300 or more only once, in his rookie season back in 2005.
2. Somebody must like him because he was made over $28,000,000 in salary over 9 seasons, and only 3 season under $1,000,000.
Bat him 8th until he proves he can be valuable in the 2 hole.
Ellis is your garden variety defensive replacement level second-baseman. He has a ton a value in his glove and relatively none in his bat.
Maybe a change in scenery will help him and I know that getting out of Oakland will help his bat. BUT, he’s still not a very good hitter and on the downside of his career. I’d much rather have invested the money that went to Ellis and Rivera in Kelly Johnson.
Payroll is at 100 million and we still need one more starter and likely one more reliever.
Mark Ellis…… what happened to kelly johnson?!
I guess its time to sign Coco Crisp to play left and trade for Lackey giving up Z. Lee and J. Sands.
All I want for christmas is Fielder
the signing of kemp for 8 yrs, to me is not a good thing…he dive,s , he steals base,s and before that is up ..i will be injured. 5 yrs to me would be better..in comment s on this.
If the Dodgers would have passed on him, there would have been an outcry around the world with Dodger fans.
He is only 27 so the 8 years are probably good. Maybe even cheap by the end.
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