Brian Dozier puts Padres on blast for ‘lack of transparency’
Brian Dozier was let by the San Diego Padres before the season started and he’s not happy about the way he was treated.
After winning a World Series ring with the Washington Nationals last fall, Brian Dozier landed with the San Diego Padres on a minor league deal in February. But he was released on July 11, and he signed with the New York Mets on July 22.
The Mets purchased Dozier’s contract on Thursday, after placing Eduardo Nunez on the IL, and he’s in the starting lineup against the Boston Red Sox Thursday night as the Mets continue to be without Jed Lowrie. So surely his abbreviated tenure with the Padres is a distant memory with no hard feelings, right? Wrong. Oh so, wrong.
Brian Dozier had a lot to say about the San Diego Padres
Brian Dozier, the newest Met, referred to his brief experience with the Padres as a “debacle.” Asked to elaborate, he said, “I’m a big transparency guy. I like people to be honest with me. That wasn’t the case over there. I had to get out of there. I’ll leave it at that.”
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 30, 2020
Dozier is accusing the Padres of not being transparent with him, with only his side out there. But he was not included in their 60-player pool, and according to A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com he could have opted out of his contract on July 18. So the Padres knew they weren’t keeping him around, and didn’t let the situation drag out all the way to his opt-out deadline. If anything, Dozier got a head start on finding a new team. But the Padres are the bad guy.
Jurickson Profar was easily slated to be San Diego’s starting second baseman, and that’s come to fruition so far in this shortened season. It seems late injuries in the bullpen left the Padres to prioritize extra arms in their player pool over a 33-year-old infielder who only plays second base (and doesn’t even do so particularly well).
Dozier hit 20 home runs for the Nationals last year, but his once at least double-digit steal speed is gone and he hit just .238 with a .771 OPS. Over the last two seasons he has a .728 OPS, so it’s been a quick decline from his peak in 2016 (42 home runs, .886 OPS) and 2017 (34 home runs, .856 OPS) with the Minnesota Twins.
Dozier is not one of baseball best second baseman, at least offensively, anymore. Maybe he’s the last to know.
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