Dodgers opening week rotation announced, Billingsley to DL

Mar 272013
 

The Dodgers have announced their opening week starting rotation, but as we know things are always subject to change in Dodgertown. April 1st is just around the corner and the Dodgers opening series is against none-other than their arch rival San Francisco Giants. Still looking for Los Angeles Dodgers Tickets? Opening week tickets are still available, don’t wait. It is looking like the Dodgers will go with only four starters for now, and it appears that right hander Chad Billingsley is going to spend the beginning of the season on the DL. But not for his elbow injury, the good news. The elbow appears to be healed as of right now, which is nothing short of a miracle at this point. Billingsley is recovering from an elbow injury that usually requires Tommy John surgery, but he seems to be in the clear, unfortunately a fingernail bruise on his pitching hand is causing some trouble, so to the disabled list he goes.

Opening day, April 1st, the Dodgers will be going with 2011 Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. Free agent signee  Hyun-jin Ryu will get the start on April 2nd, and Josh Beckett will start the third game of the series on April 3rd. The Dodgers have an off-day on April 4th, and then begin a three game set with the Pirates on April 5. Here’s where things get tricky, Zack Greinke, assuming he’s cleared to start will make his Dodger debut on April 5th. Greinke has been dealing with elbow pain over the last few weeks, but the Dodgers got some good news after pitching pain free last Wednesday. If all goes according to plan, Clayton Kershaw would make his second start on April 6. From there is a complete mystery at this point. The Dodgers have off-days on April 4, and 8, which means they won’t need a fifth starter until the 13th at the earliest. That should give Billingsley’s nail plenty of time to heal and then the Dodgers would then slide him into the rotation.

Where does that leave Ted Lilly, Aaron Harang, and Chris Capuano? So far not even a whisper, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s fair to assume that at least one of the trio will be dealt. The Dodgers also have to decide what to do with the bullpen if they do decide to hang on to the surplus of starting pitching. Of course, Scott Elbert and Ronald Belisario are both out of options, so that brings a whole other issue as it pertains to the Dodgers 25-man roster crunch. Who should stay, and who should go?

 03/27/2013  Posted by at 6:56 pm Dodgers News, Dodgers Rumors, Thinking Blue No Responses »

Dodgers Release Mark Lowe

Mar 252013
 

The Dodgers have released non-roster invitee Mark Lowe, according to Dylan Hernandez. The writing has been on the wall for weeks after Lowe put up a 4.15 ERA in nine appearances in the Cactus League, with six strikeouts and three walks in 8⅔ innings. To make matters worse, the couple times I saw Lowe on the mound this spring Lowe’s fastball had absolutely no life to it. There was zero chance Lowe was going to make the big league club out of Spring Training. Lowe was expected to exercise his opt out clause if he wasn’t added to the active roster by Mar. 26, so I guess that’s that. Lowe will probably catch on to a bullpen needy club after having some moderate success over the last few seasons.

 03/25/2013  Posted by at 7:00 pm Dodgers News, Transactions No Responses »

Dodgers cut Steven Ames, Matt Magill, and Matt Palmer

Mar 122013
 

The Dodgers cut three pitchers on Monday sending them to Minor League camp. Matt Magill and Steven Ames were optioned while non-roster invitee Matt Palmer was reassigned.

You may recall it was just five days ago I said Matt Palmer’s outlook was not looking so good.

Outlook: More walks than strikes, more losses than wins, nine runs allowed, and even though only two of those were earned, Palmer is a liability on the mound. The Dodgers have too much right-handed talent to put up with these shenanigans much longer.

Those shenanigans lasted a whole whopping five extra days. Palmer,34, is scheduled to have knee surgery on Tuesday after he injured his left knee on Saturday playing catch. Palmer has had knee surgery before back in 2010, but it was on his right knee at that time. Palmer said this problem with his left knee came “out of nowhere,” and he had never had a problem with that knee in the past. No biggie, not like he was going to make the club pitching the way he was. He finishes his spring with a 0-1 record, 3.60 ERA, 2 strikeouts, and 5 walks in 5 innings of work. Lackluster numbers and bad knees, don’t count on seeing him again anytime soon.

Matt Magill also pitched in 3 games for the Dodgers this spring, and he has produced some fairly impressive numbers with 3 hits allowed, 8 strikeouts, and 1 walk in 4 innings of work with no runs allowed. Magill, one of the many top young arms in the Dodgers farm system didn’t project to make the club out of Spring Training. However, Magill was able to capitalize on the opportunity and he’s definitely a name to watch in 2013. Magill will head to Minor League Camp where he looks to prepare to for the Albuquerque starting rotation this season.

Steve Ames, 24, another right-hander, has a 6.75 ERA in 3 games this Spring. He has struck out 2 batters and walked none through 2 2/3 innings. With the abundance of pitching floating around, the Dodgers were able to eliminate Ames from the equation rather easily. Ames has pitched for the AA-Lookouts over the last two seasons and posted an ERA of 1.88, a K/9 of 10.6, a BB/9 of 2.2, and 23 saves (18 in 2012) over 82 games. Ames struggles in his first real look at Major League talent, so heading back to Double-A makes sense. It will be interesting to see if Ames continues to progress, if he does, you can expect a call-up at some point for the Dodgers to get another look.

Ames, Magill, and Palmer join the already departed Dallas McPherson, Gregory Infante, Nick Evans, Ozzie Martinez, Kelvin De La Cruz, and Wander Beras. That brings the total number of Dodgers down to 51 players in Major League camp after this second round of cuts. Round three coming up within the next several days…

 03/12/2013  Posted by at 10:08 am Dodgers News, Prospects No Responses »

Ryu could be odd man out in Dodgers rotation

Mar 112013
 

Earlier today we heard that Zack Greinke may miss the start of the 2013 season. The inflammation in Greinke’s right elbow may cause him to miss the start of the 2013 season. The Dodgers will more than likely err on the side of caution with their $147MM investment, meaning that if Greinke starts the season on the disabled list that would help the Dodgers in two ways. First, that would provide some what is expected to be much needed flexibility on the 25-man roster when the final roster cuts need to be made. That would also eliminate one man from the Dodgers current eight-man rotation.

Speculation is growing that the Dodgers are leaning towards going with Ted Lilly over Hyun-Jin Ryu in the 2013 starting rotation, at least for now. However, if Greinke does in fact miss the start of the season that would likely mean Ryu would remain in the rotation. This also further points to the fact that Aaron Harang and Chris Capuano are all but destined to be with a different organization come opening day.

Bill Plunkett of the OC Register is reporting that the Dodgers are prepared to sit on their pitching surplus while they play wait and see on Greinke’s and Billingsley’s health. I’m calling shenanigans. I think this is purely a ploy by the Dodgers to keep the prices on their pitching surplus from plummeting. Reports are starting to surface that teams are trying to force the Dodgers into a jam by lowballing them on trade offers as they know the Dodgers are going to have serious issues when they try to set their 25-man roster.

The other scenario would involve moving the starting surplus to the bullpen, but that doesn’t make sense either because it would create a logjam that is ridiculously unnecessary, especially for guys like Matt Guerrier and a number of the Dodgers young relievers. Factoring in the concerns of Harang, Ryu, and Capuano surviving the dramatic shift of moving into a bullpen routine over proven guys like Javy Guerra and Kenley Jansen, the probability is remote at best that it works. Perhaps one of the three, likley Ryu, but there is no way the Dodgers put three starters in the bullpen, ain’t happening folks. I’m surprised we aren’t hearing talks of Chad Billingsley being shifted to the bullpen, he had some success there back in the day, plus with his health concerns it makes the most sense.

According to Nick Cafardo there is more interest on Ted Lilly right now than the other surplus starters Capuano and Harang. That comes as a bit of a surprise to me, but I can see all three being a fit for the Pirates, Blue Jays, Rockies, Brewers, Orioles, and Mariners who are all looking to upgrade their starting rotations before the start of the season. I like Lilly going to Toronto, Harang to Baltimore, and Capuano heading north to Seattle. I’m dying to see how Colletti pulls this off without coming out on the wrong end of the deal.

 03/11/2013  Posted by at 10:02 pm Dodgers Rumors, Thinking Blue No Responses »

Zack Greinke questionable for Dodgers opener

Mar 112013
 

Zack Greinke was scratched from Monday’s scheduled start and was flown to Los Angeles to have his right elbow examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Greinke first reported soreness in his elbow last week but was able to throw his bullpen session on Friday with no issues. Sunday the soreness returned after he threw another session and that caused him to fly to Los Angeles on an extremely cautious basis. Makes sense the Dodgers would want to protect their $147MM investment, right?

The good news is the MRI Greinke had on his right throwing elbow came back clean already. More good news came out of Los Angeles after Dr. Neal ElAttrache diagnosed Greinke with inflammation in the back of his right elbow, also confirming there was no structural damage.  Greinke was given a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow and some anti-inflammatory medication. The hope is he will be ready to resume throwing with the next few days. Greinke has already missed two spring starts, making him questionable for the start of the Dodgers season. The Dodgers currently have eight starting pitchers with guaranteed contracts, so I fully expect Don Mattingly and the Dodgers’ decision makers to err on the side of caution here.

 03/11/2013  Posted by at 4:03 pm Dodgers Injury Reports, Dodgers News No Responses »
Page 1 of 4312345...102030...Last »