Monday, November 14, 2011

Dodgers to sign Mark Ellis to 2-year deal

And the news keeps on coming. The Dodgers are on the verge of signing veteran infielder Mark Ellis to a 2-year, $8.75 million deal.

It does seem a bit much for a guy who has a .258/.318/.374 slash line over the last three years, it could be worse.

Ellis will likely be the team's starting second baseman and could play shortstop in a pinch, ala the recently departed Jamey Carroll. Carroll got $7 million for two years in Minnesota.

By comparison, it's not that bad a deal. Ellis plays good defense at second and has a little pop -- well, at least more than Carroll does.

Aaron Hill signed with the Diamondbacks for $11 million over two years and I'd much rather have him. But Ellis does have a few decent seasons under his belt (2005, 2007, 2010), but he is entering his age-35 season. We'll see how he does.

I get it: Carroll is a better all-around player than Ellis. Any time an inferior player gets more money than a superior player, it's going to raise concerns. But the Dodgers just signed Matt Kemp to a $160 million deal. Quibbling over a couple million dollars difference between Ellis and Carroll seems a bit dramatic.

I'm OK with this signing. It's not great, but it's not as bad as people are making it out to be.

Perhaps I'm just a Mark Ellis apologist (if there is such a thing). But at least the Dodgers didn't bring in Clint Barmes at this price.

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This tweet from the L.A. Times' Bill Shaikin is awesome.
"Scoreboard on youth field where #Dodgers expected to announce Kemp contract: Home 27, Visitor 0."
Like I said, awesome.

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