Los Angeles Dodgers: Why They Acquired Darin Ruf and Darnell Sweeney
By Jason Burke
The Los Angeles Dodgers don’t shed payroll because they’re rolling in money. That’s why trading away Howie Kendrick looks like a curious move until you look a little deeper.
In doing some research for Monday’s power rankings, I was adding up the WAR totals for Howie Kendrick, Darin Ruf and Darnell Sweeney, which netted the Los Angeles Dodgers a -2.2 WAR according to last season’s statistics. Yes, Kendrick wanted out of Los Angeles so that he could seek a more regular role on the field, and yes Kendrick is owed $10M in 2017.
To that end, trading away the 33 year old makes sense. But to get a 30 year old Darin Ruf and the returning Darnell Sweeney out of the deal make much less sense.
Ruf played both first base and left field in 2016 with Philadelphia, but the Dodgers already have a pretty darn good first baseman in Adrian Gonzalez and a glut of outfielders.
The way this trade starts to make any sense is that Ruf will likely be used sparingly, and primarily against the division rival Giants. San Francisco boasts three solid left-handers in their rotation, and Ruf has hit .333 against southpaws over the last three seasons (186 at-bats) which includes wRC+ scores of 157 and 202 against lefties in ’14 and ’15. Overall, Ruf isn’t a huge difference maker and won’t see a lot of playing time, but this is Moneyball at work. A player with a 48 wRC+ is 2016 that may actually have some value in the right spots? This has the makings of a lighter version of the Brandon Moss rebirth in Oakland.
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Sweeney on the other hand is a bit more puzzling. He was traded to Philadelphia in the Chase Utley deal in August of 2015 and saw a brief stint in the big leagues which did not go so well. He hit .176 and held a .639 OPS. With the Phillies Triple-A squad in 2016, the struggles continued. Sweeney tallied minor league lows in batting average (.233), OBP (.299), home runs (6), stolen bases (12) and OPS (.644). That OPS stands out since it is nearly 100 points below his previous low as a professional.
Here is why adding Sweeney may make some sense: We’re still in the beginning stages of the offseason. That means there are still plenty of moves to come down the pipeline. One of those moves could (should) entail the Los Angeles Dodgers moving some of their outfield depth in a trade to acquire other talent. Whether that is a lower level arm for their rotation, simply ridding themselves of Andre Ethier, or a minor restock of their farm system after a potential deal for Chris Sale, Sonny Gray or Chris Archer remains to be seen, but the likelihood of someone being on the move from the Dodger outfield looks to be extremely high at the moment.
With Sweeney, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez, Andrew Toles, Trayce Thompson and Ethier, there isn’t enough room to roster all of these players, let alone find them anything close to regular playing time. Adding Sweeney, a prospect that they are familiar with, is one way to make the Dodger front office feel more comfortable with their plan moving forward. The other shoe is going to drop this offseason.