5:23pm: The Dodgers say that Arruebarrena has been suspended for the season due to “repeated failures to comply with his contract,” per J.P. Hoornstra of the L.A. News Group (Twitter link).
3:47pm: The Dodgers have indefinitely suspended Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena for undisclosed disciplinary reasons, reports Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman confirmed to Plunkett that the 25-year-old Arruebarrena is suspended but declined to give further detail, referring to the situation as an “internal matter.” As Plunkett points out, that would suggest that Arruebarrena has not done something that would warrant a league-mandated suspension (e.g. PED usage, drug of abuse).
Arruebarrena won’t collect any of his guaranteed salary while he is on the restricted list. The defensive-minded shortstop signed a five-year, $25MM contract with the Dodgers in February 2014 that contained a $7.5MM signing bonus and called for annual salaries of $1.5MM (2014), $3MM (2015), $4MM (2016-17) and $5MM (2018). The Dodgers’ new front office — headed by Friedman, GM Farhan Zaidi and senior vice president Josh Byrnes — clearly was never as enamored with Arruebarrena as the preceding group; Arruebarrena was designated for assignment this offseason and outrighted off the 40-man roster after clearing waivers.
Arruebarrena received a cup of coffee with the Dodgers last year, hitting .195/.244/.220 in just 45 plate appearances at the big league level. His minor league work was more impressive, with his best work coming in 95 PAs at the Triple-A level. Overall, in 272 minor league PAs, Arruebarrena slashed .259/.304/.417 with six homers and a pair of stolen bases. As Plunkett reminds, however, he was also seen as the catalyst in a brawl between the Triple-A affiliates for the Dodgers and Diamondbacks, and his role in that tussle netted him a five-game suspension from the Pacific Coast League.
Friedman declined to indicate exactly how long Arruebarrena would be suspended, but he’s yet to play a single game for the Dodgers at any level in 2015.
Trying to get rid of a bad contract huh? Hmm..
Just trying to show the other LA team how its done.
There is no other LA team, the “other team” is from Anaheim.
Probably got caught in the locker room eating Kershaw’s Subway sandwich or told Greinke that being a baseball stat genius and having a nickel would still make him $.20 short of a cup of coffee.
“How dare you touch Kershaw’s Turkey and Cheese on 9 grain-wheat with jalapenos and mustard,get out of here!” Seems legit.
Forgot the vinegar!
Fudge?
Not if he’s in South Dakota. Wall Drug still has 5 cent coffees.
Wall Drug? Blast from the past, been there, got the t shirt.
Maybe he bit someone’s ear.
Possibly his own.
The fact that they kept him in Arizona and didn’t send him to any team was a surprise. Now we know why. Since he’s not on the 40 man roster I don’t believe he has union representation and is screwed until he gets his act together.
Thanks Ned.
– Dodgers fans
Not even on the 40-man roster. Curb your outrage.
I think that was a big part of his point.
That may be the weirdest retort to a complaint about a contract.
‘Ned spent a ton on another replacement player.’
‘Not on the 40 man roster!’
It is totally weird to complain about contracts that are completely irrelevant to the team being fielded.
What could he have done? Maybe some type of assault?
According to some reports (Bill Shaikin) he didn’t have the best attitude and would flip out often. I’m sure he snapped.
Yeah, my best serious guess would be something to that effect too, some type of blow out behavior wise, considering it’s not a league mandated suspension
Despite the spin in this article about how the new front office “clearly was never as enamored” with Arruebarrena, the actual evidence points to an attitude/temperament issue.
Perhaps he pulled a Percy Harvin in the clubhouse and body-slammed someone.
My guess would be that he has probably been sulking, refusing to do his work, and being generally unpleasant and uncooperative. the most telling statement in that report is that he hasn’t played a single game at any level, which indicates he hasn’t been ready to play, or refuses, or something of that nature.I’m sure he sees himself as a big leaguer who has been screwed, why aren’t I up there with the big club? Etc.
if any of you have not seen that brawl he was in last year, you should. It is the worst brawl I have ever seen in baseball, other than maybe the Dodgers – Giants thing with Marichal and Roseboro decades ago. Aruebarrena was 100% responsible for it, he incited it, he acted like a jerk, and that was a true fight, not a typical baseball brawl. People were throwing real punches and trying to hurt each other. And it was all on him.
Looks like a pretty typical baseball brawl to me.
Steve – how long have you been a baseball fan? I have seen hundreds of “brawls,”and most are simply a bunch of guys milling around, or at worst, a central little fight, and maybe a few light punches thrown around and then it is over. This is one long, sustained battle where guys are throwing hard punches, pounding at each other as hard as they can, knocking people over railings and beating them. Ugly. I can’t recall too many like that in my 50 years of watching baseball. Yeah there’s been a few – but they are few and far between- even the really famous ones like Marichal- Roseboro, were nowhere near as bad in terms of the sheer numbers of guys involved genuinely trying to hurt each other.
There are a few skirmishes a year just like the one you mentioned between A league and MLB.
Are you saying in the minor leagues? I have seen tons and tons of brawls in the majors, but I confess I haven’t watched a lot of minor league baseball. But that was in any case a brutal brawl. Usually, major league fights are much ado about nothing. This was serious business. If you’re telling me that minor leaguers get involved in fights like this all the time, that’s kind of a mind – blower to me. But I’ll say this: when that fight happened it got a ton of publicity, which suggests to me that it was somewhat unique. I would guess that most likely, the reason they are more rare in the majors is that there is so much at stake, and getting involved in those can get you suspended for a week or more.
Yes, I’m speaking at all levels of professional baseball. The fight you cited in regards to Erisbel Arruebarrena was during a AAA minor league game…
I know that. as I say, I’ve been following baseball since about 1962, I’ve seen a lot of on – field fights and brawls and whatever, and this one stood out for brutality and seriousness of intent. People were genuinely trying to harm each other badly. it wasn’t fighting, there were beatings going on.If you see lots of others like this, then I’m glad I haven’t.
You keep talking about having watched baseball for 50+ years as if it makes you an expert on a subject you apparently don’t know anything about. Search “baseball fights” in youtube and you’ll see plenty of fights worse than the one that has you all upset.
Hey Steve, I was respectful throughout, I’m not masquerading as some expert, I just said I’ve been watching baseball a long time, seen a lot of baseball fights, and that one really stood out. I’ve seen a lot of comments on places like here where people who obviously haven’t seen a lot of baseball make comments all the time that are way off. After several comments, you tell me this is a minor league game, as if I don’t know that. Why be antagonistic? It’s not necessary. We’re all baseball fans, you know? Have a good day.
fwiw: I don’t spend my time searching YouTube for baseball brawls….I’ll take your word for it that there are bad brawls in the minor leagues more frequently than I’m aware of; I don’t watch minor league games, and stuff like this wouldn’t normally come to my attention. Most of the people I know- lots of long-time baseball fans- it’s the same. This particular fight came to my attention because I’m a Dodgers fan and he’s a Dodgers prospect- (or WAS, I guess at this point.) It was worse than almost any fight in the MAJORS I can recall, though yeah, there’ve been some doozies. Apparently you know way more about minor league brawls than I do.
A seasoned fan like yourself should know that the events are not uncommon. Simple enough.
Upton – Yankees 8/168mil……
Price – Dodgers 7/185mil…..
Cueto – Rangers 7/165mil…..
Heyward – Tigers 7/136mil….
Zimmermann – Cubs 5/96mil…..
Gordon – Royals 4/72mil…..
Greinke – Giants 5/120mil……
Desmond – Yankees 5/90mil……..
Cespedes – Angels 5/75mil……
Samardzija – Jays 5/65mil…….
Fowler – Cubs 3/33mil…..
Kendrick – Phillies 5/70mil……
Span – Mariners 4/52mil……
Lind – Brewers 1/8mil….
Rasmus – Astros 2/16mil……
Harang – Royals 2/18mil…..
Burnett – Pirates 1/12mil……
Haren – Padres 2/22mil……
Utley – Dodgers 2/24mil…..
Lincecum – Giants 2/37mil……
Zobrist – Angels 2/22mil…..
Kazmir – Astros 3/38mil……
Morrow – Tigers 4/48mil……
Anderson – Rockies 2/22mil…..
Jackson – Rangers 2/13mil……….
Leake – Nationals 2/24mil…..
Hunter – Giants 1/9mil…….
Fister – Nationals 1/15mil…….
Rollins – A’s 1/8mil……….
Hudson – Retire…….
Lee – Yankees 1/13.5mil……
Simon – Tigers 2/18mil…….
Vogelsong – A’s 1/6mil……..
Latos – Indians 2/16mil…..
Buehrle – Retire…….
Masterson – Rockies 2/13mil……
Chen – Rays 2/12mil…..
Papelbon – Marlins 3/33mil……..
Lohse – Indians 1/7mil…..
Kennedy – A’s 1/6mil…..
Colon – Retire…..
Free-agent predictions………
Upton, Price, & Cueto all approach or top 200M. Desmond get 120M, Zobrist a 3 year deal. Gordon over 100
Some of these seems way off….. And what does this have to do with the article? I’m sure people are still reading the other one related to the topic.
don’t see most of that.
1/88
5/17
6/95
A series of unrelated numbers….
Likely less accurate than the weatherman.
Pretty sure the Red Sox will get one of the aces
Chen will get alot more than 2 years and 12 million.
A few notes:
1)The moment Ruben Amaro Jr. agrees to a 5 year $70 million deal with Kendrick is the moment RAJ becomes the most hated person in Philadelphia sports history. No way the rebuilding Phillies could ever justify that move.
2)Remember back when Lee signed his contract with the Phillies? It was worth less than the Yankees deal, but he signed with the Phillies because he didn’t want to play for the Yankees.
he was also seen as the catalyst in a brawl between the Triple-A affiliates
Well, I like attitude.
So, when is he coming to Charm City?
Why not just release him? This way you don’t have to pay him for this season, but it doesn’t fix the overall problem where you have him, you don’t want him and no one is willing to take him and pay his salary. They can certainly afford to release him, and he’d probably behave better if he was in a better situation.
He’s not going to get paid this year while he’s suspended. They might look into releasing him in the off-season if they can’t trade him.
I imagine he would have been traded already if there was any interest whatsoever. Right now the suspension is just delaying the inevitable.
Co-sign. At least with the suspension the Dodgers can save around 2 million dollars to then help pay the tens of millions they’re already paying to players on other teams…
it’s not as if he doesn’t have any value on the field. He is a terrific defensive shortstop, as everyone acknowledges. I have never heard a single comment that didn’t state that he was sensational defensively. But no one thinks he can hit big league pitching, and now we find out that he is a serious attitude problem. As far as releasing him, that means they would just eat the contract, which could well happen. I don’t think there’s any question that he would get some interest from other teams without all that money tied to him. Lots of clubs would take a chance.
Baseball contracts are fully guaranteed, only way to not pay him is to suspend him and hope to win when the player appeals.
Thus the phrase, “this way you don’t have to pay him for this season.” They will have to pay him for the rest of the contract. They can afford to give him his outright release. They did it with Wilson when it was clear he wasn’t very good. It’s a bad situation for both sides, the only way to fix it is to just let him go.
Not if he’s suspended for violating his contract. Note the wording in Dodgers’ statement, which specifically refers to him failing to comply with his contract.
So they’re going to suspend him every year until his contract is up? That just looks like a new administration trying to find a way to back out of a deal the previous one made. Just release him and be done with it. The Dodgers have so much money they’re tripping over it.
I don’t know what they are going to do, and neither does anyone else outside of the Dodgers, but I suspect they will hope he matures or otherwise gets over whatever issues he has now. He wouldn’t be the first player with discipline issues who grew out of them.
The most likely thing, to me, is that he feels he should be on the big league club, he has a big ego, and they probably said we want you to start in Double A this year and work on your bat, and maybe second base as well, and he said screw you I’m not going.
Could be that, or it could be other discipline issues, such as not showing up on time. Consider the changes theses players are facing coming from Cuba to the U.S., from poverty to riches, from big fish in a little pond to prospect, all at an age when maturity isn’t necessarily going to be there anyway. It isn’t surprising that some of these young players end up being difficult to handle. But look at Puig, he’s growing out of his discipline issues. I’m sure the Dodgers are hoping Arruebarrena will too
those are good points, but it doesn’t take cultural awareness for him to show up on time or be cooperative or do what he is asked according to his contract. I certainly recognize that for those ball players coming over it is a tremendous shift. When I think about these guys- take Hector Olivera for example- this is a guy who made probably a few hundred dollars a month his entire life, and now he is so wealthy there is almost nothing he can’t buy. He could buy his own freakin island if he wished. That is a tremendous thing to deal with.
We can only guess at what happened in this case, but it doesn’t take much to imagine a scenario involving a kid going overnight from isolation and poverty to wealth and freedom getting his head a little messed up.
Well-said. Especially with someone with a cranky, uncooperative personality to begin with.
I agree with you that that makes sense. In this case, they really have nothing to lose by suspending him and they save a couple million bucks, and maybe, just maybe – he gets his act together and surprises them. If he doesn’t, they could always release him after this season. Or maybe another club would take him for a low – level prospect, as long as the Dodgers pay the rest of the contract. So for the front office, they’re just trying to lose as little as possible. It’s a sensible strategy.
dumping him might be the easy thing – however the Dodgers are a bit short throughout the system in shortstops with top defensive skills. If there was any chance to turn around his attitude, they need to take it. Erisbell is probably the top defensive shortstop in the system and there is some value to that on a bench for late innings or as injury replacement. Beyond Arruebarrena, probably Darwin Barney is the only infielder in the upper levels of the system with great defensive skills.
Barney at this point is preferable to Arruebarrena as a reserve SS anyway, and with Seager coming up, the Dodgers probably aren’t too worried about that position. And who knows, maybe Arrubarerrena cleans up his act and at least becomes tradable. These kids coming out of Cuba, it’s wonder we don’t see problems like this more often.
They probably don’t want to just eat the investment this early; they clearly saw something that gave them reason to give him as much money as they did. Perhaps they think the time off will be a teaching moment for him. It’s speculation, because I don’t know what he did to get suspended; if it was just “having a bad attitude” that seems pretty fixable.
If they release him, they still have to pay him, unlike us working stiffs.
Sure wish the Dodgers could have sent Erisbel to Miami in the Dee Gordon deal instead of Miguel Rojas as a defensive shortstop. Rojas is having a AAA all-star level year and was a plus in the clubhouse and had defensive skills about equal to Arruebarrens. While the Dodgers now seem loaded with infielders they are not overloaded with lock down shortstop defenders, the kind you want in the ninth with the game on the line. Arruebarrena and Rojas were the defensive stars and now gone, Jimmy Rollins will soon be gone and maybe Darwin Barney will be the top defender left. Seager may have the SS position for a few years, but has some defensive limits. Turner, Guerrero, Olivera are offensive pluses but defensively challenged. Erisbel has had reported attitude issues all along and apparently he is sulking over not being made a star for being a top defender
His name was too long, would cost twice as much as Rojas to put on the back of the jersey.
I think you made some really good points here, but I haven’t heard anyone say that Hector Olivera is challenged defensively. All the scouts at those workouts were very impressed with him, and I didn’t hear any negatives about him defensively, at any of the positions he was mentioned as being able to play. Miguel Rojas is an excellent defensive player as well, but Erisbel is really something special. I remember last year Mattingly mentioning that just watching the guy do his infield practice was impressive. He is really, really smooth.
The comments that scouts made about Erisbel were “a premium defender at a premium position.” That is a very high compliment from international scouts…..but all of them also said “the bat is a big question mark.”
Well the new front office never like him since the moment they came in. So whatever happen only hurts him and not the Dodgers since they don’t even like him