Brian Dozier is the Minnesota Twins second baseman and he is a stud. Among all MLB second baseman in the last three years, Dozier is first in home runs with 93, third in games with 468, third in RBI with 247, fourth in OPS with .800, and third in stolen bases with 51. At age 29 Dozier is right in the middle of his prime and with trade rumors floating around, we want to know which team is going to give the best offer between the Dodgers, Giants, Nationals, Braves, and Cardinals. I feel that the Dodgers would be a perfect fit for Dozier and I am going to explain why in this article.
First thing’s first; Brian Dozier signed a four-year $20 million deal through 2018. He will receive $6 Million in 2017 which will be his age 30 season. He will receive $9 million in 2018 which will be his age 31 season. Brian Dozier is a very valuable player and the Twins will have to get a good offer for him, and who else better to do that than the highest team payroll in baseball.
The Dodgers in 2016 had the worst OPS against left-handed pitchers (.622), and Dozier’s OPS against left-handed pitching is over .900. Plus, if Utley leaves, then there is no one to play second base besides Kike Hernandez who only hit .190 last year with just 7 home runs. Dozier would be the perfect player to replace Utley who in 2016 didn’t provide much hitting, baserunning, or defense. While Dozier performed well in all three of those categories in 2016.
There are rumors saying that Dozier doesn’t have the power to hit as many home runs in LA as Minnesota, but this graph courtesy of Baseball Savant proves that most of his home runs would have cleared the wall at Dodgers Stadium just fine.
Brian Dozier’s approach at the plate does not help his batting average, but his OBP has always been good and he is well above average at drawing walks. Since 2014, according to Fangraphs, only seven players have accumulated more total baserunning value than Dozier. He has stolen 74 bases in 99 career attempts, and he can get on base quite frequently with a .340 OBP in 2016.
The Dodgers are also targeting Ian Kinsler, another one of the game’s best second basemen and despite the fact that Kinsler is way better defensively this chart shows that Dozier is much better in every offensive category.
| Player | G | PA | HR | SB | OPS | Total Offense | Total Defense |
| Brian Dozier | 468 | 2102 | 93 | 51 | .800 | 59.0 | 3.2 |
| Ian Kinsler | 468 | 2080 | 56 | 39 | .775 | 40.3 | 34.5 |
FanGraphs
Brian Dozier also gets more powerful every year with his home run total increasing every year. He started his career with only six in 2012 and has gone to 18 to 23 to 28 to 42 according to Baseball-Reference.com. Who knows he may just keep increasing his home run total for one or two more years and that will certainly help the Dodgers offensively.
In conclusion, Dozier would be an absolutely perfect fit for the Dodgers. Kinsler is better defensively but that is not what the Dodgers are looking for. The Dodgers need a great offensive second baseman that can play average defense and Dozier will not disappoint. He will fill a huge offensive hole for the Dodgers at second base, and along with that, the Dodgers have re-signed most of their players and if they can get Dozier at second base, then they will definitely have a better chance at a World Series ring in 2017.
Doubleday Double Talk 