The Arrival of Andre Ethier

Do you remember Ned Colletti’s first major trade for the Dodgers?  It took me a second to come up with the answer, but it was Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez for Andre Ethier.  I always want to think that Ethier came up in the Dodgers farm system, but that wasn’t the case.  The Contra Costa Times has a nice little summary of the trade, including a few thoughts from Ned:

“Obviously you want your first move to be a positive one,” Colletti said. “We were in a bit of a precarious spot because of Milton. We had to do something, and the scouts worked hard and we worked hard to make sure we considered not just moving Milton, but getting fair value back.

“It was not just a move to make a move.”

It was December 2005 and the Dodgers were 71-91 the year before.  Remember all that grief that Bradley gave Jeff Kent?  Who can forget “The problem is, he doesn’t know how to deal with African-American people.”  Remember when Milton went ballistic when a fan threw a plastic bottle in his direction?  Milton clearly had to go, and landing a talented young outfielder like Ethier was brilliant.  The deal also paid off for the A’s, as Bradley helped lead the club to the ALCS that year.  Perez was a non-factor with a .102 AVG over 57 games.

Beane said the A’s were willing to deal Ethier partly because they were high on other outfielders in their system, including Travis Buck, a teammate of Ethier’s at Arizona State.

Whoops!

Photo Credit:  Los Angeles Dodgers