Andre Ethier, Former Center Fielder

Here’s Dustin, a few hours ago:

And if Van Slyke is in center again tonight against a righty in Jesse Hahn, you know something is really up.

And, as I’ve been suggesting might happen on Twitter all day long, here’s the relevant part of tonight’s lineup:

Van Slyke CF

Yep. My friends, I think we’ve seen the last of Andre Ethier as a center fielder. We’ll talk about this more when the game thread goes up later, but this was a move that was a long time coming. Scott Van Slyke is probably the center fielder this weekend against the Padres, but I’d be surprised if he is when the second half kicks off after the break. Maybe that’s Joc Pederson, maybe it’s someone else. But what we do know is that the status quo simply was not working.

With the exception of one game in 2012, Ethier’s center field career lived from May 30, 2013 through July 9, 2014. It left no will. It will be missed. I guess.