Dodgers dismiss Dave Hansen as hitting coach

The Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday announced that Dave Hansen would not return as hitting coach in 2013. Hansen became the fall guy for an offense that struggled to score runs after the team added three starting position players via trade.

The club announced that the rest of the coaching staff would return in 2013, and that Hansen has been offered another position in the organization.

The Dodgers acquired Hanley Ramirez on July 25, Shane Victorino on July 31, and Adrian Gonzalez on Aug. 25 in separate deals. After the Gonzalez trade, despite a new-look lineup that appeared formidable on paper, the Dodgers went 11-17 over their next 28 games, and averaged 3.0 runs per game during that span.

The club finished the year on a hot streak, scoring 5.6 runs per game while winning seven of their final eight games, but it was too little, too late as the Dodgers finished two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card spot in the National League.

"Since the trade, over the last 35 games, since we've put everybody together, it hasn't been as good as we think it can. The biggest disappointment of the whole season is that section of time, that it took us this long to get it going," said manager Don Mattingly during the final week of the season. "For whatever reason, it didn't get going. Then all of a sudden we started clicking. I never thought it would have taken this long."

Hansen began the 2011 season as a hitting instructor, but took over as hitting coach on July 20 when Jeff Pentland was fired.