Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
Ted Lilly‘s injury isn’t thought to be serious, but he’s enough behind schedule that he’ll be given extra time to recover by starting the season on the disabled list.
Ted Lilly threw off a mound on Friday for the first time in nine days, and reported improvement in his stiff neck. But the left-hander is too far behind schedule to be ready for opening day, and will begin the season on the disabled list.
“We just don’t feel like he’s going to be ready,” said manager Don Mattingly. “If it was an emergency or something and we had to push to get him ready for this start, he could take the ball. But that’s not really what we want for his first start.”
So who does that free a roster spot up for?
The Dodgers have an off day on April 9 that allows them to skip a fifth starter until April 14. Mattingly has said the Dodgers will definitely use the temporary extra roster spot on an eighth reliever, which will essentially be a choice between right-hander Josh Lindblom and non-roster invitee Scott Rice, a lefty.
Has to be Josh Lindblom, right?
Right?!
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The team trimmed the roster by two, releasing Josh Bard and Cory Sullivan.
The Dodgers trimmed their roster after Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the White Sox, releasing catcher Josh Bard and outfielder Cory Sullivan, both in camp as non-roster invitees.
The 29-year-old Bard, with eight years of Major League service, was essentially insurance should anything happen to starter A.J. Ellis and backup Matt Treanor and had an out in his contract. Tim Federowicz will start the season as the starting catcher at Triple-A.
The 32-year-old Sullivan, with four years of Major League service, was similarly insurance should anything happen to outfielders Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier or Juan Rivera.
Ramon Troncoso cleared waivers, which means he’ll be sticking around in the organization.
Right-handed reliever Ramon Troncoso cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque by the Dodgers Friday.
Actually somewhat surprising, considering the amount of teams who have terrible pens. Troncoso remains a good depth option, so it’s a positive turn of events for the team.
If it’s not Lindblom, all the means is that Rice gets to stay on the roster and collect a major league salary for 10 days. Maybe some occasional mop-up or LOOGY duties.
Lance Cormier already proved how much damage one can do in ten games or less.
:o
I think that had more to do with Padilla and Kuo being injured, meaning he was bumped up the chain of command as far as high leverage situations go.