Dodgers: Ten Crucial Questions the Dodgers Have to Answer in 2019

Question 4: Will Pollock outperform Puig and Kemp?

In a move that surprised many, the Dodgers essentially packaged Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood and Kyle Farmer for a couple of prospects and some salary cap flexibility.  Then in what seemed like a coordinated move, they turned around a few weeks later and signed A.J. Pollock to a four-year $55 million dollar contract.

Will Pollock’s production be enough to make up for losing both Puig and Kemp?  Last year in 405 AB’s, Puig’s slash line was .267/.327/.494/.820 with 23 HR’s and 63 RBI’s while Kemp’s was .290/.338/.481/.818 with 21 HR’s and 85 RBI’s in 462 AB’s.  By comparison, Pollock’s slash line was .257/.316/.484/.800 with 21 HR’s and 65 RBI’s in 413 AB’s.  It doesn’t seem like a big upgrade over either individually, let alone as a 2 for 1 deal.

From an age standpoint, the 30-year old Pollock slots right between the 27-year old Puig and 33-year old Kemp.  The biggest concern about Pollock has been his inability to stay healthy.  Over the last 3 years he’s only managed to stay on the field for 237 games.  His best year was 2015 when he managed to avoid injury for the entire season and put up a slash line of .315/.367/.498/.865 with 20 HR’s and 67 RBI’s in 609 AB’s.

I suppose signing Pollock shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.  Signing injury-prone players seems to fit right into the Dodger’s playbook.  So maybe the real question here should be how many days will it take after he gets injured for the Front Office to pat themselves on the back for their depth at being able to “handle” his injury?  In the meantime, I’m going to throw out 110 games; Do you want to take the over or the under on that?