{ 2006 12 16 }

Power bats for the Dodgers: Third Basemen

Following up on the last post looking at potential power bat targets amongst outfielders, here is the same thing for third basemen.

Again, this is the Top 22* in On-Base Percentage Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS).

(* only 22 qualified in this particular stats list.)

Top 22 3B by OPS, 2006 season

(via ESPN stats)

N/A = probably Not Available for whatever reason, which will help us narrow things down immediately.

1.Miguel CabreraFLA.998N/A
2.Garrett AtkinsCOL.965N/A
3.Alex RodriguezNYY.914N/A
4.David WrightNYM.912N/A
5.Aramis RamirezCHC.912N/A
6.Scott RolenSTL.887A definite possibility, but full no trade clause.
7.Troy GlausTOR.868N/A
8.Freddy SanchezPIT.851N/A
9.Joe CredeCWS.82828 walks last year? Yikes.
10.Ryan ZimmermanWAS.822N/A
11.Mike LowellBOS.814Not enough HR lately.
12.Aubrey HuffHOU.813Free agent, but not enough power.
13.Chad TracyARI.794N/A
14.Adrian BeltreSEA.792ESPN.com report: “We’re not going to take that tour twice,” said a Dodgers official.
15.Eric ChavezOAK.786Pretty good power, better glove, but is he available?
16.Brandon IngeDET.776N/A
17.Tony GraffaninoKC.75149 HR! Oh, over 10 years. Never mind.
18.David BellMIL.736Not enough power.
19.Melvin MoraBAL.733Ditto.
20.Hank BlalockTEX.726Just had shoulder surgery.
21.Nick PuntoMIN.725One HR? No thanks.
22.Pedro FelizSF.709N/A

There have been rumors about the Dodgers and Cardinals, but it may take some creativity to pry Scott Rolen away, no matter how much he and Tony La Russa do or do not like each other. ;)

Eric Chavez would be very interesting — despite only hitting 22 HR in 2006. He’s averaged 29 over his career, and he was out for a number of games. Born in LA, high school in San Diego, so he’s got the SoCal connection the Dodgers are particular to. But again, is he available? I haven’t seen anything to suggest it so far.

Both of these guys were injured last year — are they worth the risk considering what we’d be giving up to get them? And besides, do we want to block Andy LaRoche? Probably not.

I have to conclude that barring some miracle trade for A Rod or Manny Ramirez, there just isn’t much available for the Dodgers to grab to find power. Perhaps we just have to hope for a few folks to step up their power numbers, at least until the trade deadline makes somebody more apt to deal.

But again — comments are welcome. Am I missing somebody? Somebody who shouldn’t be N/A? Let me know.

Posted by Robert Daeley on Saturday, December 16th, 2006, at 00:54, and filed under Dodgers, MLB, Rumors.

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