Dodgers sign Juan Uribe, Baby Jesus weeps

In a not-so-surprising move, after yesterday's rumor, the Dodgers have indeed signed the free-swinging Juan Uribe to a 3-year, $21 million contract.

That's right, three years and $7 million a year for a guy with a career .300 on-base percentage.

Just when you think Ned Colletti couldn't out do himself, he drops this gem on everyone.

There goes $7 million the Dodgers could have used to acquire a real hitter -- someone who would make an impact on the lineup -- not a utility infielder with a career .731 OPS.

This is just laughable.

Any optimism Dodger fans had after Colletti was able to shore up the rotation with the re-signings of Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda and the addition of Jon Garland are gone. This could very well go down as Colletti's worst free agent signing. And yes, I am taking into account the Juan Pierre debacle.

The Giants picked this guy up two years ago after a bad season with the White Sox (.247/.296/.386) and put together a nice 2009 season (.289/.329/.495). His 2010 was not so great, despite a career-high in home runs (24) and RBI (85).

Uribe, 31, has a solid glove, but not solid enough to justify $7 million a year and giving a supplemental first-round pick to the Giants.

Side note: You see, Ned, this is what happens when you offer arbitration to Type-B free agents. The signing team doesn't have to give up a draft pick, but the player's former employer gets a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds. It's too bad you're too incompetent to offer arbitration to the likes of Scott Podsednik (who would have certainly declined) and Rod Barajas, the latter of whom you tried to sign during the exclusive negotiating period.

But I digress.

I hope you, the reader and Dodger fan, weren't hoping for a big-name bat because Colletti likely blew a lot of his remaining budget on Uribe.

The only good news to come from this is Ryan Theriot is quite likely to get non-tendered.

This reeks of the Casey Blake deal two-plus years ago -- except for the fact that Casey Blake is actually a solid baseball player. Uribe is not, and this deal will not work out well for the Dodgers.