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Dodgers Ink Adam Kennedy
By Scott Andes
The Dodgers are close to bringing in another former Angel. Just as I was about to go searching for a bench bat, the Dodgers found one. The Dodgers are close to signing 35 year old Adam Kennedy. The former Angel is in his 14th season in the Majors. Kennedy began his career with the Cardinals, and he won a World Series with the Angels in 2002. Afterwards, his career began to decline. He played for a year in Oakland in 2009 and had a decent-ish year, then went to Washington in 2010. After a poor 2010 for Kennedy, 2011 was even worse. Relegated to the bench, Kennedy put up a line of .234/.277/.355 line for Seattle with 7 home runs and 38 RBIs.
Kennedy can play a bunch of positions. He has extensive experience at first base, second base, and third. Basically he is filling the Carroll/Miles position. Maybe more importantly, Kennedy is a left-handed hitter. The Dodgers had been looking for a left bench bat to balance out the bench.
Kennedy is 6’1 and 195, originally from Riverside, CA. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the first round of the 1997 draft. He made his MLB debut in 1999 for the Cardinals. He made 750.000 dollars last year with the Mariners.
*update according to sources, the deal is final. Kennedy has signed a one year major league deal. The contract is for $800,000 dollars.*
According to sources, the deal is a one year major league contract. The details of the contract haven’t been released yet, but the two sides are very close to making a deal. With that being said, was Kennedy the best choice? Perhaps someone like a Nick Punto would have been a better choice for this role. Let us take a look at an important stat for a bench bat. The clutch stat. Let us take a look and compare the clutch stats for Kennedy and Nick Punto. Clutch stats tell us how a player bats with runners in scoring position, and runners in scoring position late in the game with two outs.
Adam Kennedy-RISP- .208/.284/.292 0 HR 28 RBI-2 outs and RISP- .211/.333/.316
Nick Punto-RISP- .359/.460/.615 18 RBI -2 outs and RISP – .350/.480/.600
As you can see Punto put up much better numbers with runners in scoring position last year with the Cardinals than Kennedy did. Perhaps the Dodgers should have signed Punto instead? He is a switch hitter, and he can play shortstop, unlike Kennedy.
Next time we will take a look at the Dodgers 2012 roster that is quickly taking shape. What’s next for the Dodgers? How will the 2012 roster look? We will take a look in our next post. Until then Dodger fans, stick around for more Dodger hot stove news. Go Blue.