Reporters in Los Angeles indicated that Ellis – a lifelong Dodger – was crushed by the trade.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies swapped veteran catchers Thursday.
Ryan Howard said Carlos Ruiz was like the quarterback of the team’s pitching staff. Cameron Rupp said Ruiz – who was traded to the Dodgers on Thursday – was the player he wanted to be like ever since Rupp joined the Phillies.
For all the talk about Ellis and the Dodgers’ clubhouse, Ruiz was an extremely popular player with the Phillies. Ruiz has done well lately, batting.340 (16 for 47) since the All-Star break. Ellis maintains a reputation as a great teammate and great guy – not that Ruiz doesn’t – and, on top of that, has served as Kershaw’s primary catcher since 2012.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seemed just as shocked as anyone and credited Ellis with making him a better manager and person in his inaugural season with Los Angeles. They need a third catcher in September, they don’t have a true veteran back-up kind of guy in the (minor league) system, so the choice is really him or Andrew Knapp.
That, of course, was the year the Phils won it all, and Chooch was the man behind the plate for every important game that season. “Just the grinder type approach in the batter’s box that we felt like really helped lengthen our lineup”. In his two World Series appearances he was even better, batting.353/.488/.706 with two of his four playoff homers coming in the 2008 and ’09 Fall Classics. Ruiz played in 1,069 games with the Phillies.
“It certainly was helpful”, Friedman said.
“I met Chooch in 2009 for the first time and immediately sensed that he was a special player”, Mackanin said. Plays with a lot of energy. “Whenever he gets here, we’ll bring him in and embrace him and make him feel as comfortable as possible”. Ellis and two minor leaguers, and the deal made headlines, mostly because of Ellis’ relationship with Clayton Kershaw. Ellis was in his previous year with the Dodgers and a free agent come this November.
Ellis, 35, is hitting.194/.285/.252 with one home run and 13 RBIs in 53 games this season. “Baseball’s amusing. Anything can happen in the future, but to know that in nearly likelihood I’ll never get to catch (Kershaw) again is without a doubt the most devastating thing that I’m feeling right now”.
After Thursday’s trade went down, Ellis relayed a scene where he and Kershaw were in the dugout without much to say.
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Now, Ruiz gets one last shot at a world championship, this time with the Dodgers and his former 2008 teammates Chase Utley and Joe Blanton. Kershaw recently said the clubhouse chemistry on the Dodgers was the best he’d seen on any of his teams. That’s a tough question. It was noted by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that no players were consulted about the deal and “Kershaw’s reaction will be telling”. Thankfully, Ruiz is a solid hitter against left handed pitching and brings more than Ellis defensively.
