The drama that surrounded the Los Angeles Dodgers outfield for most of 2014 may not subside in 2015 as Andre Ethier has said he would like to be traded if he doesn't get to play every day.
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Ethier, the odd man out for the Dodgers for most of the second half in 2015, said he likes playing in Los Angeles, but if he can't expect a full-time role with the club, he'd like a shot elsewhere.
"You're not wishing for it ever to end, but sometimes that opportunity takes you somewhere else," Ethier said, according to ESPN. "I'm not going to do anything to sit here and force it. Hopefully it works itself out."
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Even with the trade of Matt Kemp to the rival San Diego Padres earlier this winter, the Dodgers outfield is still crowded. The projected Opening Day lineup will see Carl Crawford in left field, Joc Pederson in center and Yasiel Puig in right.
This could once again leave Ethier, the Dodgers' longest tenured player since entering the league, as the odd man out.
Ethier, 32, hit .284 with 20 homers, 89 RBI and a .812 slugging percentage in 2012, but his numbers have declined rapidly over the last two seasons.
With his lack of production, came less playing time. The two-time All-Star and 2009 Silver Slugger Award winner played in just 130 games last season and hit .249 with four homers and 42 RBI.
If he isn't going to get a chance to play every day in L.A., he could be looking for a change of scenery.
"I want the opportunity to play every day. My mind hasn't changed from when I told you guys that a couple months ago," Ethier said. "I felt like when I get a chance to play every day, I put up the numbers they ask of me. For some strange reason, it just happened that coming off a good 2012 season, in 2013 they took games away. You start to wonder why that happened. I feel like if I get a good full year in and get the at-bats, it starts to add up. It's tough when you get 300 at-bats and you're expected to hit 15 or 20 home runs."
The Dodgers are coming off of a 2014 campaign where they went 94-68 while winning the NL West for the second straight season before falling to the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the NLCS.
Ethier is a career .285 hitter with 145 homers and 629 RBI since being drafted by Los Angeles in the second round of the 2003 MLB Draft and entering the league in 2006
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