Dioner, not a goner.

To be honest, we didn’t totally hate the Dioner Navarro signing when it happened. Of course, we didn’t have a blog then, so you have no way of knowing if that’s true or not. You’ll have to take our word for it. The team had no immediate future at catcher with the departure of Russell Martin, and Navarro was young enough where there was some hope for a rebound. Maybe all he needed was a change of pace, and a fresh start away from the situation in Tampa Bay? The contract wasn’t even excessive, considering it was from Ned Colletti.

That dream is over. Navarro- with the exception of a couple dramatic walk-off hits, and his magical two pickoff/two caught stealing game- has been bad. Like really, exceptionally bad. His slash line (.183/.234/.287) is so awful that if a younger “unproven” player were performing at that level he would be given a one way ticket to Albuquerque or DFA’d. It’s clear by now that Navarro is not going to rediscover his 2008 form. It’s time to move on.

So tell me why, oh why, was AJ Ellis sent back to AAA to make room for Rod Barajas instead of Navarro being cut? Ellis, with his .364 OBP (part of a total .222/.364/.222 line) has been more productive, not to mention (purely anecdotal evidence) he seems to handle the pitchers better. His biggest strength, getting on base, is something that this team desperately needs, and something neither Navarro nor Rod Barajas can provide.

Look, we’re not saying AJ Ellis is a savior for the Dodgers. Keeping him over Navarro is probably only a marginal improvement, but Ned Colletti still seems to think the Dodgers have a chance at making a run, so why not keep the more productive player? In addition, assuming the Dodgers don’t suddenly start playing like the 1927 Yankees and go on a miracle run, it’s probably a good idea to give Ellis a good amount of at-bats as he’s the only Dodger catcher under team control next year. Giving him a significant amount of playing time would allow management a fair evaluation and possibly save the team from having to spend a couple million dollars on a backup catcher in the offseason.

The other argument, I suppose, is if the Dodgers cut Navarro and Barajas gets hurt again, the team is so thin at the position that JD Closser would be the next option. Our counter argument to that is this: we’re pretty sure even JD Closser can be as bad as Dioner Navarro.