Amezaga with the I-Cubs, from MiLB.com
Via Ken Rosenthal, the Dodgers have signed utilityman Alfredo Amezaga to a minor-league contract with an invite to spring training, and… wait, why does that sound familiar?
Ah, yes, that’s right. The Dodgers have done this once before, back in February of 2010, and we’d heard his name connected to the team since at least 2009, in a post I fondly remember titled, “Geez, At Least Nick Green is Ambulatory“. Or as I said at the time:
“Oh, good lord. What, going after any old 32-year-old who can’t hit isn’t enough, we need to find one who’s coming off major experimental knee surgery? To say that Amezaga isn’t an offensive threat is understating the situation; in parts of 8 seasons spanning nearly 1500 PA, his line is a sparkling .251/.311/.341. Do we really think Chin-Lung Hu couldn’t put up that line in the bigs?
I’ll grant that Amezaga is a pretty good fielder, as FanGraphs has him with positive values at CF, SS, and 2B. That doesn’t change the fact that he’s 32 and coming off major experimental knee surgery.“
Amezaga played just a single game with the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts that summer, as the knee cost him basically the entire season, and he’s bounced between the Colorado, Florida, & Chicago Cub organizations since. Over the last four seasons, his big-league experience has consisted of a .199/.256/.226 line in 162 plate appearances, not seeing the big time at all in 2010 or 2012, and he’ll be 35 on January 16.
So there’s that, although as Rosenthal notes, he did win the Mexican League batting title this winter, and he’s a switch-hitter who offers good versatility in both the infield and outfield. Though he’s ostensibly in the mix for a bench job in camp, he’s much more likely ticketed for Albuquerque, to serve as depth.
