Dodgers’ Andre Ethier reports to camp, ‘clears the air’ with management.

Andre Ethier

Andre Ethier was used primarily off the bench in the second half of 2014. (Getty Images)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — When the Dodgers acquired catcher Yasmani Grandal at the Winter Meetings in December, president Andrew Friedman called A.J. Ellis to discuss the move before word of the trade got to the media. Friedman didn’t have to make the call. Ellis, who’s been the starting catcher here the last three years, appreciated the courtesy.

Andre Ethier did not get such a courtesy call this winter.

Ethier has played 1,275 games in a Dodgers uniform the past nine seasons. The Dodgers owe him at least another $56 million guaranteed over the next three years. Yet Ethier enters camp embroiled in a competition for the starting center fielder’s job with top prospect Joc Pederson and Chris Heisey, whom the Dodgers acquired this winter.

Ethier, who turns 33 in April, still believes he has an opportunity to be an everyday player here this season.

“I would hope so and think so,” Ethier said, “because I think they — and I asked (Andrew) Friedman, Donnie (Mattingly) and Farhan (Zaidi), all those guys understand what I said and where I’m coming from and the intentions that I’m saying it. With me still being here, I would have to assume that they’re at least considering it.”

The four met yesterday. It was Ethier’s first chance to talk with management about his role since the end of last season.

“(The meeting) went good,” he said. “It was a chance to sit in the room together for the first time, all four of us, and clear the air, see where each one of us stands and where each one of us are looking going down the road. I guess get a chance for all of us to get whatever we had off our chests and our minds and, I guess be up front and honest with each other.”

How much air needed to be cleared?

“I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to any of them over the course of the winter,” Ethier said. “They’ve been tied up, obviously, with a lot of the decisions going on with this team. I’m not going to downplay it, obviously this is a big decision coming up for the year, but they had a lot of decisions to make all winter and this is just a small, I guess, facet of what has to be done for this team, a decision that has to be made. They took the appropriate time. As soon as I walked in the door they got a hold of me and we got a chance to sit down and talk.”

How close the Dodgers were to trading Ethier this winter may never be revealed. All we know is that he’s here now and, apparently, the air has been cleared. Teammates lauded Ethier’s willingness to come off the bench as the Dodgers pushed for a playoff spot in the second half of last season.

We’ll see how long the good vibes last.

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About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.