Andre Ethier Done For Season With Knee Injury
September 8, 2011 at 8:47 am | Posted in Andre Ethier | 17 Comments
Andre Ethier has finally decided the pain in his knee is too much, and he’s made the decision we all called for nearly two weeks ago:
Ethier will seek a second opinion on his right knee. The team and Andre have decided that since the knee has not improved, he should discontinue playing and seek all opinions to determine the next course of action.
That’s via the official Dodger twitter, and Ethier is of course not in the lineup for the first game of today’s doubleheader, with Jerry Sands and Juan Rivera flanking Matt Kemp in the outfield corners. Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times confirms that Ethier is done for the season. The funny thing is, since this whole knee business broke on August 28, Ethier’s been red-hot, hitting .400/.464/.600 in 28 plate appearances over eight games (six starts). On Tuesday, he had two hits and drove in four, narrowly being deprived of a fifth when Tony Gwynn was thrown out at the plate.
Despite that, while this will certainly disappoint a lot of fans who have tickets for the final homestand of the year, this is essentially good news. It’s good news for Ethier because if the knee is really that troublesome – and based on his performance this year, the last week aside, it has been – then it’s for the best that he stop pounding it and go see what’s wrong. It’s good news for the Dodgers because it gives them absolutely no excuse to not play Sands every single day, which is basically the most important thing we’re going to get out of September, other than cheering for Kemp and Clayton Kershaw to win their awards. And, while it’s too soon to really say this for sure, it might just be good for the club in the negotiating room, if a lousy season and injury concerns help keep Ethier’s cost down in arbitration.
That’s a conversation for another time, however. Right now, the most important thing is finding out what’s wrong with him and getting him back to the player he once was in order to help the offense in 2012. If a side benefit of that is giving Sands all the time he needs to prove himself, all the better.
(By the way, the weather forecast for Washington, DC, is once again hilariously bad today. If you think we got our fill of weather-related shenanigans yesterday, think again.)
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his numbers this year are very similar to last year.
you can’t say someone is having a “poor year” when he’s hitting .292 with an OBP of .368.
obviously his power numbers are down from last year, otherwise he’s had a solid year, even with the injuries. I hope they can get his knee fixed by next season, he should return to slugging 20-25 homers.
Ethier is a good player. good luck Dre, see you in 2012
Comment by format— September 8, 2011 #
Sure you can. His power numbers are way down, giving him a pretty decent decline in his wOBA. If not for his inflated defensive numbers this year, he would at best be an average outfielder according to WAR.
Comment by Tony M. Fernández— September 8, 2011 #
I was on my way to the game. Between traffic and the roads, I finally gave up. I think they may get in a few innings, but the reports around here keep saying there’s more rain coming, so who knows how much of the game they can get in. I was looking forward to seeing Kemp/Sands/Gordon. Maybe next year.
Comment by Travis— September 8, 2011 #
What a mess
Comment by Juan Pierre— September 8, 2011 #
Is his knee really that bad? Doubt it. The other night, when he hit that bases loaded double, and drove in 2, only to have TG thrown out at the plate; Ethier made it all the way to 3rd base, and just before the commercial break, they flashed a shot of him smiling. To add to that, he’s done nothing but hustle since that story broke. First to third, running through stop signs, etc. I like Ethier, and hope he gets better, but IMO this just to give Sands the playing time filled with smoke and mirror.
Comment by Chapter1ne— September 8, 2011 #
Also this could help his defense which has become atrocious.
Comment by ramo— September 8, 2011 #
His ARM kills us the most. We have a first baseman in right field. That hurts.
Comment by @BrocNessMonster— September 11, 2011 #
Good move as we need a healthy Either next year and of course as much playing time for Sands as possible in the hopes it pays off next year. Unless someone wants to over pay in trade, my preference is for Either to be part of the 2012 OF with Kemp & Sandfs and hopefully he can return to a 2009 level. Still not sure he should be part of their long term plans but for 2012 he is potentially better than any other realistic options this offseason.
Comment by dodger88— September 8, 2011 #
Velez can also play the OF. Get it done, Donny!
Comment by The Dude Abides— September 8, 2011 #
On it! We’ve been working on a long term deal, but he’s shown a lot of grit lately, and that might hurt us in our negotiations.
Comment by someone pretending to be Ned Colletti— September 8, 2011 #
Just the fact that he’s still a gamer and so great in the clubhouse despite his 0 for 40 run makes him worth at least 3 yrs/$9m.
Comment by The Dude Abides— September 8, 2011 #
don’t forget he is also an ex giant.
Comment by dodgers66— September 8, 2011 #
I wonder if this means Jaime Hoffman gets called up after all.
Comment by Table— September 8, 2011 #
…….this just broke, Billingsley is also hurt. They just found a large hole in his chest where his heart should be. Just kidding……still love ya Billz.
Comment by west coast ram— September 8, 2011 #
[...] is done for the season. I don’t understand what took so long for this, and I’m not sure Mike Petriello does either. Perhaps now we can stop the inferences that Ethier just needed a stern warning in [...]
Pingback by Chad Moriyama – Around The Web: Dodgers Done For The Year + Billingsley’s Issues— September 8, 2011 #
With the Dodgers so far out of contention and the Stadium practically empty, why would Ethier continue to play through the pain? His money stays the same, get healthy for next year!
Comment by FromThisSeat.com— September 10, 2011 #
[...] him to play on an injured knee before quickly backpedaling, and then undergoing knee surgery anyway. In between making a fool of himself in the papers, he came within one game of setting a franchise [...]
Pingback by MSTI’s 2011 in Review: Right Field « Mike Scioscia's tragic illness— October 21, 2011 #