So, Andre Ethier is in camp and he made sure everyone knows it.He gave, what Tony Jackson of ESPN LA called a "curiously contentious" interview, to reporters at Dodgers' camp today.
This segment from Jackson's blog post really stood out:
"Ethier eventually got around to saying he feels fine now, but not before responding to a friendly greeting of, 'Did you have a good winter?'' with a curt, 'We're not here to talk about that.'"Now, I wasn't there to hear the tone of the question or the inflection that might have been used, but it seems really innocent on the surface. But come on, Andre, quit being so whiny and just answer some damn questions.
This is another quote from the blog post:
"'I'm not your buddy. You're not my buddy. We're not going to sit here and have a bar-type conversation.''"He's right, but he didn't have to be a jerk about it. Ethier has probably interacted with these reporters his entire career -- Jackson, Ken Gurnick and Dylan Hernandez. To be so shortsighted in his comments just shows he doesn't want to be in Los Angeles anymore.
If one hasn't followed the Ethier saga since the end of Spring Training last year, one could say, "Ethier's just focused and ready to produce this season." Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case.
He's been pissy ever since Chad Billingsley got his contract extension last spring and Ethier didn't. At this point, I'm not even sure I'd want the Dodgers to give him an extension -- or he'd even agree to it.
It just seems things are not going to end well in this relationship. There seems to be resentment on Ethier's side and it doesn't appear it anything is going to fix it.
I said in June the Dodgers needed to trade him and I stand by that declaration. It's probably the only thing that will keep this from becoming anymore of an episode than it already is. I know it's not wise to trade a team's second-best hitter on an offensively starved team, but this is something the Dodgers don't need to deal with.
Photo credit: LWY on Flickr
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