the evolution of the dodger second baseman, part four

when last we visited the evolutionary chain of the dodgers' second basemen, we saw jeff kent retiring following the 2008 season.  to replace him, the dodgers went out and signed free agent orlando hudson.

orlando hudson (2009)

hudson's tenure as a dodger began with a bang.  after the season started on the road, the team opened in los angeles against randy johnson and the giants.  hudson went 4 for 5, hitting for the cycle in his dodger home debut.  he became the first dodger to hit for the cycle since wes parker did it in 1970.  he was also the second los angeles dodger to accomplish the feat, and the first to do it at dodger stadium.  the card shown above, a 2009 topps unique unparalleled performances insert, is all about the cycle.  hudson didn't miss many games that year, starting 143 contests as the team's second baseman although joe torre seemed to lean more towards ronnie belliard at second in the last few weeks of the season, and certainly in the postseason.  still, hudson won the gold glove for the position and signed a free agent deal with the twins for 2009.

blake dewitt (2010) first half

here we have a 2009 topps allen & ginter relic card of dewitt, who wound up as the dodgers' second baseman as the 2010 season got underway.  he started 76 of the team's first 103 games at second, hitting .270 with a .352 on-base percentage.  the dodgers traded dewitt to the cubs at the trading deadline that year, meaning that another second baseman would take over.

ryan theriot (2010) second half

theriot was part of the trade that sent dewitt to the cubs.  he and ted lilly came over for dewitt, brett wallach, and kyle smit. theriot, shown on a 2010 topps update walmart black parallel card, started 50 games for the dodgers at second.  he hit .242 and was traded to the cardinals after the 2010 season ended.  theriot wound up winning world series rings with the cards in 2011 and the giants in 2012.

jamey carroll (2011)

carroll had been with the team in 2010 (playing mostly shortstop with some second, third, and outfield thrown in), but played only second and short in 2011.  that's a target red parallel 2011 topps update card, by the way.  unfortunately, there aren't too many jamey carroll as a dodger cards out there. anyway, carroll wound up playing second base in 81 games for the dodgers in 2011.  aaron miles played in a few fewer games than that, although he made more starts than carroll.  however, carroll spent more innings at second than did miles, so carroll gets the nod here.  at the dish, carroll hit .290 in 2011 and like hudson, joined the twins after his dodger tenure ended.

mark ellis (2012-2013)

that's ellis turning two on his 2014 topps walmart blue parallel card.  ellis played second base in 110 games for the dodgers in 2012 (100 starts) and 119 games (106 starts) in 2013.  overall, he hit .264 and made only 9 errors.  he signed with the cardinals for the 2014 season.

dee gordon (2014)

dee is red hot on his 2014 topps red hot foil parallel.  he's also hot on the basepaths this season, having stolen 51 bases through 111 games.  there was speculation going into spring training that alex guerrero would be the dodgers' second baseman, but he was left behind when camp broke to get more developmental playing time.  gordon has made the most of his opportunity (he made the all-star team and has hit around .300 for most of the season).  it will be interesting to see what happens with hanley ramirez in the offseason.  if the dodgers don't re-sign him, will gordon move back to short with guerrero playing second, or will guerrero (or someone else) play short with dee staying at second.  i don't see darwin barney as a dodger long term.

just one position left to review - i'll get to the evolution of the dodger first baseman soon...