Adam Kennedy the Roadblock

The Los Angeles Dodgers have finalized a one-year deal with journeyman middle-infielder Adam Kennedy. The former Angel will receive $800,000 to stink up the joint and had the tenth-lowest wOBA last season. Kennedy is a poor defensive player who is absolutely awful at the plate, as his .277 OBP indicates. He really can’t run much anymore, and this deal is all about a team making life harder for its prospects.

While $800,000 is admittedly very little, playing prospects such as Russ Mitchel and Ivan DeJesus would be much cheaper than giving Adam Kennedy a Major League deal. The Dodgers not only signed a player who doesn’t provide any legitimate value to a Major League ballclub, but they also wasted a roster spot on some random veteran who just can’t hit. The Dodgers have quite a few young utility players chomping at the bit, and signing Kennedy is only going to keep these young players swimming around and waiting for their opportunity.

Players such as Justin Sellers have a lot to prove, and they need to see what these young players have and give them as many PAs as possible in order to vanquish- or at least mitigate- the noise of small sample size. Signing Kennedy is a waste of money, as these prospects would get league-minimum deals and would be worth much more than Kennedy.

Last season, Adam Kennedy played all over the infield for the Seattle Mariners and was worth just 0.1 WAR in 409 plate appearances (only the Mariners would give him that many, and even then that’s too much). If you’re going to give a replacement player playing time, then at least make sure you give him replacement player money. The Dodgers just gave up a couple hundred thousand dollars and most likely some production by signing Kennedy.

I bet the Dodgers thought that this deal was something of the “Hey, why not?” mold. But giving away roster spots to veterans over younger players is just baffling, and the one good thing out of this deal is that Kennedy is only being paid $800,000. A couple hundred thousand isn’t a big mistake, but you have to remember that this is a team with no owner that also recently gave Matt Kemp a whole lot of money.

Overall, this deal is short-sighted and a waste of money, and Major League teams in turmoil can’t afford to do stuff like this. The Dodgers need to reassess their goals and give those prospects some valuable playing time, because these are the guys who will be looking for a spot on the team in the future; not a useless middle-infielder such as Adam Kennedy. Although it may seem like I am overreacting, because this is just a random one-year deal to a middle-infielder; but that’s exactly what makes this a poor deal in the first place. The Dodgers needlessly signed a player who they didn’t need, and it is amazing how a replacement-level player got a roster spot over similar players who are younger, better, have far more upside, and- probably the most important reason of them all- are being paid less.