Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Jimmy Rollins, as you most certainly know, has been pretty disappointing this season. Though he went 2-4 last night, that brought his line up to only .210/.278/.352 (78 wRC+), which isn’t what anyone had hoped when the Dodgers sent Zach Eflin and Tom Windle to Philadelphia for him last winter. With Corey Seager now in Triple-A and coming off a 6-6 showing the other night, fans are getting pretty restless for a change.
That’s not going to happen right now, and it shouldn’t. A week ago, Seager was “off to a slow start,” with a .291 OBP, and it’s really that one big game that’s blown up his stat line. He’s been at Triple-A for less than a month, and while it seems more likely than ever that he’ll make it to the big leagues in 2015, right now doesn’t seem to be the time. Rollins has been adequate on defense, anyway, and while there’s absolutely no reason to keep hitting him second, that’s not on him.
Anyway, his tenure as the Dodger shortstop is going to a short one, whether that’s a month from now or all the way through the end of the season. But, as he told Ken Rosenthal yesterday, he’s at least aware of his position in the organization, and he’s handling it pretty well:
“That’s their future,” Rollins said Friday before the Dodgers faced the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. “He’s going to have 15-16-plus years to play, and I have much less than that.
“My job isn’t to throw him off track — that’s impossible. He’s doing his thing. He’s going to get his shot. My job is to help this team win at this very moment. I can’t worry about the future.
“Ten years ago? Yeah. That would have been different. It would have been more of a competition to me. It’s definitely less of a competition. Eventually, it’s going to be his spot. It’s hard to use the word, ‘inevitable’ in sports, but that’s the natural progression.”
So that’s good, and so is this:
“Yep,” Rollins said. “You can’t do anything about it. You could be hitting .400 and they could still bring this kid up because he’s the long-term. You could hit .200 like I am now and still bring this kid up because he’s the future.”
Which, hey, at least he’s being realistic. I don’t think anyone should give up hope on Rollins completely just yet. But when that day comes, it doesn’t sound like it’ll come with a fight. Rollins seems to understand.
