Update at 5pm: A Couple more personnel moves by the Dodgers:
This means Nomar's career with the Dodgers is essentially done. Jones will have surgery on his knee Tuesday and will be out four to six weeks (estimated). But if he doesn't work any harder than he appears to have in his conditioning so far he may be out until July. Tiffee is the best hitter at AAA and hitting .422 at that level with nearly 200 at bats is impressive. He can play third base and first base, so I'm not entirely sure what they are going to do with him.
The Dodgers also announced that Rafael Furcal will not make the trip to Chicago starting Monday.
Update at 1pm: The Dodgers made the following player moves:
Now to what I wrote a couple of hours earlier:
The Dodgers have decided to call up Clayton Kershaw from AA Jacksonville for tomorrows game against the Cardinals. Kershaw is ranked by about everyone as the top pitching prospect in the minor leagues. He's 20 years old, throws consistently in the middle to high 90's and apparently will have the best curve ball in the major leagues as soon as he arrives. Plus he's left handed, filling a notable lack in the Dodgers rotation.
The Dodgers have been very careful with him. He was sent to AA despite the fact he might have been their best pitcher in Spring Training. They have limited his work at Jacksonville (in fact he was pulled after one inning the other day, which essentially turned his start to an off day workout so he would be ready for Sunday). It seemed clear he was going to be called up, the Dodgers starting pitching has not been strong (Penny and Lowe have got to get it together soon) and the 5th spot has been a disaster again this year. They moved Billingsley back a day to open the Cubs series in Chicago (keeping a rookie pitcher making his first start away from Wrigley is a good thing). They have also avoided an unnecessary stop in AAA Las Vegas for him. The PCL is a terrible pitcher's league. Almost all of the stadiums are built for hitters. There is no sense in sending him there, he probably would do nothing but develop some bad habits.
Rafael Furcal perhaps will play Sunday (day game where it will be a little warmer, last night was cold and rainy and tonight will be about the same). The fate of Andruw Jones was supposed to be settled yesterday (continue to play or have his knee scoped now) but nothing was announced and he didn't play. If he goes to the DL, which seems likely, then the Dodgers will either just activate Furcal and go with just three regular outfielders, or they could recall Jason Repko and send Maza back out. Hu can continue to play short or second, fielding great, but hitting terribly. He could be sent out, since Maza can play more positions and Hu is not ready (and I'm not sure he ever will be) for major league pitching. I think once Furcal is back though Maza should be sent out and Repko should replace Jones.
With Blake DeWitt now not only holding his own, but probably the leading candidate for the National League Rookie of the Year; the Dodgers should get Andy LaRoche some work at second base. Jeff Kent is playing terribly right now. He's dropped 80 points on his average, he can't cover any ground at second base and I've noticed a couple of times recently that his base running is very tentative (I really wonder if he's injured). LaRoche is ready to hit in the majors and if he can play third base, he can play second base; or at least couldn't be any worse than Kent is as a fielder. If he shows anything at second base, then bring him up and send Hu down until they can package a deal to trade Delwyn Young. Young may be a good hitter but he has no position and I don't see any future with the Dodgers for him. Young is out of options, so if they send him down they'll lose him and get nothing.
Nomar looks like he's completely done. His recovery from his latest injury is essentially stopped and there is no estimate when he'll be back. Tony Abreu is still young, but his injury (like Repko's last year) looks like a season long deal, and personally I like the idea of LaRoche at second base better than Abreu there and losing LaRoche. Jason Schmidt is slowly coming around and he was moved to the 60 day DL retroactive to the beginning of the season, so he could be about 2-3 weeks away from coming back.
Oh, who will the Dodgers move to make room for Kershaw? My guess is Chan Ho Park is the odd man out.
Posted by Narnia3 at May 24, 2008 12:11 PM | TrackBack