Clayton Kershaw was placed on the Bereavement List but is expected to make his scheduled start Friday.

By rule, Kershaw must miss a minimum of three games but a maximum of seven while on the bereavement list.

There were no further details given, as the team called it a “personal issue” that Kershaw would address when he returns to the team. Manager Don Mattingly said Kershaw is still in line to make his next start, on Friday in San Francisco against the Giants.

“As of right now we (expect Kershaw to start),” said Mattingly. “We’ll see where that goes.”

Ken Gurnick provided an update on the tragedy suffered by the Kershaw family that led to Clayton’s leave.

Clayton Kershaw is on the bereavement list because of the death of his father. Kershaw will fly to SF with the club and make Friday start.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 30, 2013

Best wishes to The Minotaur.

—–

Javy Guerra was recalled from AAA as Josh Wall heads back down to Albuquerque.

#Dodgers today recalled Javy Guerra (#48) from @abqtopes and optioned Josh Wall to Albuquerque.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 30, 2013

Figured this would be the move, but I’m still concerned about Wall’s health, as he threw in excess of 60 pitches in one outing and was down to 85 mph at one point (normally 92-95).

—–

The Dodgers signed Aaron Laffey to a minor-league deal. This is what it has come to.

The Dodgers, who had too many starting pitchers a couple of weeks ago, are in such a bind that they signed free agent left-hander Aaron Laffey to a Minor League deal Tuesday.

Everybody ready for the Laffey era?!

No? Me neither.

—–

The Dodgers have ceased the experiment of converting Netherlands catcher Dashenko Ricardo into a pitcher and will instead let him remain behind the plate.

It turns out, not everyone can pull a Kenley Jansen and convert from a position player to a dominant relief pitcher. Not even another Netherlands World Baseball Classic catcher from Willemstead, Curacao.

Dashenko Ricardo, whom the Dodgers signed to a minor league contract in March, has scrapped any thoughts of a conversion to the mound. The 23-year-old had six strikeouts in three innings two years ago in the Arizona League with the Giants, but also allowed three runs. More importantly, his right arm was hurt.

So it’s back to catcher for Ricardo, who is with the Class-A Great Lakes Loons, and is hitting .265/.316/.324 in 11 games.

“I’m sure his success had a lot to do with the idea that I could pitch,” Ricardo told Hugh Bernreuter of Michigan Live. “I don’t know if it was mechanics, but it worked for him. I liked to pitch, but for me, it just hurt my arm.”

Probably not a good thing to let a guy pitch whose arm hurts when he pitches. Unfortunately though, the reality is that now Dashenko goes from intriguing follow to minor-league depth.

—–

The Dodgers have dipped into the international market yet again, signing Osiris Ramirez for $100,000, per Baseball America.

At 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, Ramirez has most recently been throwing his fastball 87-91 mph with good armside life. Scouts were mixed on his curveball, but some have seem him show feel for the 75-79 mph offering, which is more advanced than his low-80s changeup.

Ramirez is athletic and had previously been a shortstop, but he moved to the mound within the last two years and generated some buzz as a pitcher on the rise last year as July 2 approached. Ramirez, who was born in Puerto Plata, has been living in San Francisco de Macoris and training with Laurentino Genao. He’s expected to start his career in the Dominican Summer League.

After years of virtual inactivity on this front, it seems nary a month or two go by now without an international signing. Going in the right direction, for sure.

Ramirez, a 17-year-old righty, will likely begin his pro career playing for the Dominican Summer League Dodgers team.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Javy Guerra has been optioned to AAA after a rough spring in which he dealt with injury and had been limited to just a couple of appearances. The Dodgers have a deep pen and, with Guerra’s injuries and struggles, he was going to have to excel during Spring Training to secure a spot on the Opening Day roster.

Tony Gwynn Jr. was also assigned to AAA Albuquerque. Gwynn was one of the few guys with the ability to backup Matt Kemp and previous big-league experience doing so, but the move reinforces just how little Tony can swing the lumber and the fact that the Dodgers clearly have faith that Carl Crawford will be healthy enough to serve as the number two center fielder.

Shawn Tolleson and Justin Sellers were optioned to AAA, while Jesus Flores was reassigned to minor-league camp. Additionally, Chris Withrow was optioned to minor-league camp along with Juan Abreu and Wilkin Castillo.

—–

The team released three players in Dallas McPherson, Ramon Castro, and Nick Evans.

—–

On the flip side of things, the team has signed Dashenko Ricardo of Curacao to a contract after Dashenko participated in the World Baseball Classic.

Along with Ricardo came the signings of Dominican prospects Dennis Santana and Carlos Aquino – both shortstops – and lefty Cesar Romero.

—–

Tim Federowicz has probably locked up the job of backing up A.J. Ellis with the removal of Jesus Flores from major-league camp.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Zack Greinke, who was out with elbow discomfort and forearm stiffness, received an injection after being examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

The team doctor gave Greinke an injection of platelet-rich plasma and anti-inflammatory medication. The pitcher has been prescribed rest for two to three days and then a return to a progressive throwing program.

ElAttrache’s diagnosis confirmed an MRI taken last week that Greinke had no structural ligament or tendon damage in the elbow, which has bothered him since his last start March 1.

Greinke has told the team he’s dealt with similar elbow issues in the past that never kept him from missing a start.

Greinke was set to rest for a couple of days before beginning a progressive throwing program.

For his part, Greinke chose not to speculate on the exact extent of the injury or self-diagnose:

“I didn’t really know exactly what the problem is, and I still don’t. They might, but I don’t. I’m not a doctor, I’m just kind of going what they are saying to me,” Greinke said. “I don’t have any definitive stuff to tell you guys. I don’t know if it’s the same problem as I’ve had in the past, and I don’t know if it’s a little different.”

On Friday, Greinke played catch, the first time he’s thrown since receiving an injection of plasma in his elbow. Afterwards, He reported no pain.

As it stands, the Dodgers are unsure of whether Greinke will be right by Opening Day and are looking into roster possibilities should he not be ready by then.

“Will Zack be able to make opening day? We don’t know that,” said manager Don Mattingly on Thursday.

Honestly, who cares about Opening Day though? It’s just an arbitrary date.

Obviously the primary goal should be getting him healthy, period, just like Carl Crawford.

—–

Carl Crawford is once again taking batting practice against live pitching.

Carl Crawford took the next step in his rehabilitation on Tuesday, as he faced live pitchers at Camelback Ranch. It was the sixth consecutive day Crawford has taken batting practice of some sort, and his quantity has increased from 50 swings each day to start up to over 120 on Tuesday.

He then hit against live pitching in a game and could be DHing soon in Spring Training.

“Carl was good again today. We’ll see how he does tomorrow. We’re talking about him possibly DH-ing soon. We’ll see how he pops out of these two days. We know he was sore today, body wise. Just regular soreness that you’ll have playing, and in a different gear,” Mattingly said. “We’ll see how he is tomorrow, and make some decisions.”

There is no rush to bring him back, so however long the process needs to take is how long the Dodgers and Carl should be willing to see it through.

—–

Chad Billingsley made a minor-league start on Wednesday even though he’s dealing with some mild groin tightness.

Billingsley had the right leg wrapped for his Sunday bullpen session and manager Don Mattingly said it is nothing major. Billingsley has a history of groin tightness in previous Spring Trainings.

The Dodgers had the day off but Bills carried on with his preparation as he looks towards the beginning of the season.

He ended up clearing the latest test with flying colors, just like all the others.

“Everything felt great with the groin, I had no issues with that. My arm felt great today, everything was good,” Billingsley said. “I had good command of all my pitches.”

It’s hard to not start to get encouraged by this.

—–

Javy Guerra‘s groin issue is more serious than Bills’.

The groin issue that hampered Javy Guerra in his one inning of a Minor League game Sunday, however, will “slow him down a bit, that’s for sure,” Mattingly said. Guerra, in his return from a week off because of World Baseball Classic issues, has downplayed the injury, which he didn’t reveal until after his Sunday outing.

“He’s telling me he feels good,” said Mattingly. “We’re going to be cautious. I don’t think it will be for an extended time, but we’ll be cautious for a day.”

In a crowded bullpen, especially if the team keeps eight starters, it’s not out of the question that he could start on the DL or in AAA.

—–

Shawn Tolleson suffered an injury for the second time this spring after he took a liner off his elbow.

Luckily, it should be fine and he won’t even go in for x-rays.

Tolleson previously dealt with a knee injury a week or so ago.

—–

Ted Lilly missed a bullpen session due to illness, the second instance this spring in which sickness has felled him.

It’s not a big deal, but for a guy who’s coming back from shoulder surgery and needs reps, the sickness throws him off schedule and puts him behind.

—–

Matt Palmer went under the knife for arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and is out for roughly six to eight weeks.

The surgery to clean up a medial meniscus was performed by Dr. Brian Shafer. Palmer’s knee locked up while walking after playing catch on Saturday.

Palmer had a 3.60 ERA in three spring appearances, having allowed nine runs (seven unearned) in five innings, his outings marred by several errant pickoff throws. He allowed nine hits.

The non-roster invitee had no shot of making the team, but it’s unfortunate that he suffered a non-contact injury and couldn’t at least compete and make a larger impression, one way or the other, on the club.

—–

Our very own Dustin Nosler is on the scene at Camelback Ranch and reports that Justin Sellers left practice with what appeared to be a lower-leg injury.

Ken Gurnick updates us on Sellers and confirms Nosler’s report, as he says Sellers suffered a sprained ankle.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

After previously reporting forearm tightness to the Dodgers, it’s been relayed that Zack Greinke is now dealing with elbow discomfort, which will force him to miss his latest Spring Training outing.

“Doctors have ruled out serious injuries such as ligament damage,” wrote Gurnick, who called the move precautionary. “Greinke has told the club he’s dealt with similar elbow issues in the past that never kept him from missing a start.”

Greinke skipped a bullpen session on Mar. 3 with elbow discomfort, something manager Don Mattingly referred to later in the week as “the little stuff with the elbow the other day.”

Missing a start is nothing, and the news about no serious damage is fantastic, but it’s a bit concerning that Greinke has dealt with two arm issues already, and the season hasn’t even begun yet.

Worse yet is news that he’s now on his way to have his arm checked out by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles, who is the Dodger equivalent of Dr. James Andrews.

#Dodgers sending Greinke to LA today so Dr Neal ElAttrache can examine sore elbow.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) March 11, 2013

The team continues to downplay the severity of the situation, but we have to wonder if they aren’t revealing the extent of their concern.

—–

Carl Crawford is back working out after being shut down for seven days due to elbow irritation.

The Dodgers will take it slow with Crawford now, limiting him to one activity at a time. He will begin with hitting off a tee or via light toss in the batting cage on Thursday.

“He’s doing good, but he’ll be monitored, more on a rehab program,” manager Don Mattingly said. “If we don’t have trouble in one area, then we can keep moving to the next area. If something flares up, we want to know what’s causing it.”

That next area will be throwing for Crawford, which will likely take the longest of his skills to return to normal. But there is still no timetable for when Crawford will be able to play in a spring game, even as designated hitter.

Crawford still believes he’ll not only be available for Opening Day, but will be starting.

The calendar says it’s now unlikely for Carl Crawford to be ready for Opening Day, but he disagrees.

“I haven’t accepted that at all,” Crawford said on Thursday after ending a week-long shutdown by hitting off a tee. “I don’t know who is putting that stuff out there. Even with a slower approach, there’s still a chance I’ll be ready.”

Still don’t understand why there’s this grand incentive for him to rush back in his mind. Not like it’s the start of the playoffs or something.

—–

The Dodgers are pleased with Chad Billingsley‘s progress.

“If you didn’t know anything, does he look any different to you than he looked any other time?” manager Don Mattingly said he asked pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. “And the answer is no. It’s really good news for us, the way he’s bouncing back and the way his arm is.”

“I’m feeling good, throwing hard, throwing everything,” Billingsley said. “They monitor everything, especially with me. In my whole rehab process that I went through last year, I had velocities I had to hit. The ball feels good coming out of my hand, that’s all that matters.”

Also of note is that Bills is dealing with a sore groin muscle.

Meanwhile, Billingsley is dealing with a sore right groin muscle, an injury he’s had in previous springs.

Not a concern for now, but injuries to the lower half can put additional stress on the arm.

—–

Javy Guerra is dealing with a minor groin strain but has been pitching through it.

Guerra downplayed the injury, calling it “something minor” that cropped up Sunday and led to a mechanical flaw. He said a “simple adjustment” made while throwing in the bullpen after his outing brought pitches that sailed high during the game back into the strike zone.

Don’t let him pitch through it, team with a reputation for playing guys who are injured which then subsequently exacerbates the injury and ends up making it worse.

The fact that he’s changing his pitching mechanics to compensate for it says it all, really.

—–

Shawn Tolleson, who injured his knee recently, has been cleared to return to action.

“I just felt something move in my knee and felt a pain, so it kind of spooked me. I didn’t want to test it or throw another pitch or anything. I came out of the game and they checked it out,” Tolleson said. “Everything checked out good and clean. Today there is no swelling, no soreness, no nothing.”

Tolleson participated in workouts on Wednesday, but only did light tossing, and no pitchers fielding practice.

Tolleson wasn’t able to duplicate the pain he had felt…

Shawn Tolleson, who left Tuesday’s game after experiencing a twinge in his left knee, tested it in a shortened bullpen session and said he couldn’t duplicate the pain. He’s been cleared to pitch an inning Friday.

…so everything seems good to go.

—–

Scott Elbert has begun throwing following two off-season elbow surgeries.

—–

Chris Withrow, out with lower back pain all of Spring Training, has begun a throwing program.

—–

Non-roster invitee Matt Palmer suffered ligament damage in his knee and will miss 6-8 weeks after surgery.

“We hadn’t heard anything about anything, but Sue (Falsone, team trainer) said this morning said he mentioned there was some swelling. It sounded like there were signs that he didn’t look at as signs at the time,” Mattingly said. “The fact that this thing just went while walking, it was going to go anyway, in my mind.”

Palmer was an extreme long-shot to make the team anyway, but it sucks to see him go out like that.

=====

Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Surely you’ve heard by now that Mexico and Canada got into a brawl yesterday during the World Baseball Classic, and in the video above, you can see all the incidents that led up to the fight.

Basically, it was a bunch of physical but legal plays … yet it was a bunt single that set everything off.

Because of the way the rules are setup, Canada just beating Mexico wasn’t enough. The tiebreaking format provides incentive for teams to run up the score and claw for every run. Just ask Korea, who was 2-1 in the tournament but is watching at home now anyway.

As such, with their fate still very much up in the air, Canada bunted for a hit in the ninth inning while up six, which is when Luis Cruz did this:

So yeah, the guy bunted, Cruz obviously had no idea what was going on in terms of the context of the play, felt offended, and told his pitcher to drill the next guy, which the pitcher did … on his third attempt, even after being warned.

Getting past the ridiculous nature of the fact that it’s acceptable to hit a batter with a fastball because a professional getting paid to play baseball got his widdle feelings hurt by a bunt*, the more important part of it is whether or not suspensions would be in order, especially after the incident escalated into a bench-clearing brawl.

*I’m not the only one who finds it hilarious that behind all of this macho bravado front is the simple fact that these fights get started because grown men catch feelings over legal plays that hurt their egos, right?

So Cruz took offense, told the pitcher to hit the next batter, and then threw the first punch in the fight. Awesome. Suspension for sure, I figured.

Nah, somehow he wasn’t even ejected, and NOBODY involved was suspended. Not from the MLB, not even from the WBC.

The seven ejected — Team Mexico’s Arnold Leon, Oliver Perez, Eduardo Arredondo, Andrew Albers and Alfredo Aceves and Canada’s Pete Orr, Rene Tosoni and Jay Johnson — will not face discipline beyond the ejections, according to a statement released by the World Baseball Classic, Inc., late Saturday night.

“Because at least one club — and potentially both — will not advance to the second round, WBCI has determined that disciplinary measures would not have a meaningful corrective impact. Thus, discipline will not be imposed beyond today’s seven game ejections. It is our firm expectation that the members of Team Mexico, Team Canada and all the tournament’s participating teams will learn from this incident and set a better example — one that befits the sport they share — in the future.”

A bizarre decision since there’s evidence that it was on purpose, it happened a pitch after a warning was issued, and there was a huge brawl with punches being thrown and people being tackled.

Oh well, the main thing is that Cruz won’t be suspended, thus avoiding any temptation the team may have in regards to keeping Juan Uribe around, which is what really worried me about all this.

—–

As for Adrian Gonzalez, Larry Walker had that angle covered for us.

Larry Walker said he pulled Adrian Gonzalez out of the way of the brawl. “You’re too important to the game,” he told him.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2013

Thanks, Larry.

—–

As a bonus, here’s Javy Guerra being an idiot on Twitter.

You know how fights in baseball get avoided ??? U play the game right! Who bunts there? Whats the score? That’s how people get hurt!

— JavyGuerra54 (@JavyGuerra54) March 9, 2013

Pretty sure people get hurt when you throw at batters and then punch people in the face, but I guess that’s just me.

Baseball fans love to talk about clutch plays and clutch players, and Dodgers fans are no exception, but like with a pitcher’s best and worst pitches, there tends to be a lack of evidence presented. As such, I decided to find some basis for clutch plays and clutch players, courtesy of the WPA and Clutch statistics.

WPA

Most sabermetric statistics are context neutral — they do not consider the situation of a particular event or how some plays are more crucial to a win than others. While wOBA rates all home runs as equal, we know intuitively that a home run in the third inning of a blowout is less important to that win than a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a close game. Win Probability Added (WPA) captures this difference by measuring how individual players affect their team’s win expectancy on a per-play basis.

Clutch

In the words of David Appelman, this calculation measures, “…how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment.” It also compares a player against himself, so a player who hits .300 in high leverage situations when he’s an overall .300 hitter is not considered clutch.

So that’s the foundation for this post, and since that’s now been established, let’s get on with it, shall we?

As always, visuals have been provided because, let’s be honest, everything is better with visuals.

—–

I feel like it’s necessary to point out that none of this is predictive of the future or telling of the past. It’s a post about stuff that happened in 2012. That’s all.

In other words, please don’t link back to this while saying, “LOOK! THIS DUDE IS SUCH A CHOKER, BRO!” No.

—–

Top Five David Carradine Choke Pitches Of 2012

1. Kenley Jansen – -65.2%

Still amuses me that the umpire called the first runner out initially.

Anyway, so technically this wasn’t a pitch, but … uh … it was one of the most ridiculous ways to allow two runs I have ever seen.

It was the ninth inning and there were runners on second and third with two down. The Dodgers were clinging to a one-run lead, so it’s not like they weren’t in trouble since a hit would have had a similar result, but this was certainly more creative.

2. Javy Guerra – -64.8%

Two-run walk-off doubles tend to result in being on this list.

3. Kenley Jansen – -45.2%

Giving up a two-run single with a one-run lead in the top of eighth is not good, but it would have been worse had Matt Kemp not gunned a runner down at third.

Oh, and it was Hunter Pence who did the damage, thus making it ten times worse.

4. Javy Guerra – -44.5%

Deja vu.

5. Javy Guerra – -43.7%

Remember when people scoffed at the notion that Kenley Jansen was the better reliever? Oops.

To be fair, this was the game where he got his face destroyed, which seems like a legit excuse for giving up a game-tying one-run single.

—–

Kenley Jansen might be an idiot, but boy did the closer role not suit Javy Guerra.

—–

Top Five Chokeiest Dodgers Of 2012 – Ball Thrower Division

1. Javy Guerra – -1.44
2. Joe Blanton – -0.43
3. Chad Billingsley – -0.36
4. Clayton Kershaw – -0.25
5. Kenley Jansen – -0.23

The Dodgers made their first four cuts of Spring Training, with Dallas McPherson, Nick Evans, Ozzie Martinez, and Kelvin De La Cruz getting their assignments to minor-league camp.

Later, Gregory Infante was reassigned to minor-league camp, and the club released lefty Wander Beras.

—–

44-year-old lefty Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi worked out at the open tryouts the Dodgers held at Camelback Ranch. He failed that tryout and wasn’t offered a contract.

—–

Javy Guerra decided to play for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic.

Dodgers reliever Javy Guerra said he will be a late addition to Team Mexico’s entry in the World Baseball Classic after Cleveland closer Chris Perez left the roster for Team USA due to injury.

However, he later had to drop out because of liability concerns involving his shoulder.

Guerra, who was added to the Mexican team last week because other pitchers dropped out, was taken off the roster Wednesday because of liability issues resulting from his offseason shoulder surgery, Guerra said.

It’s for the better anyway.

—–

Don Mattingly is trying Juan Uribe out at first base in Spring Training as the Dodgers appear desperate to find some way to keep him on the 25-man roster.

“I expect it to really be pretty good, other than not necessarily having played there being a little uncomfortable for him,” Mattingly said. “His hands work. He’s always had a good feel for the game, and timing. I really expect him to be pretty good and be able to do this if he’ll put a little time on it, and pay attention to what he’s doing.”

So Mattingly doesn’t see Uribe struggling during the transition to a position he’s never played before, which is funny, considering this GIF.

“Unless we have a better option, he is under contract so it’s not one of those situations where I can just say this doesn’t work,” Mattingly said. “My job is to get everyone prepared the best we can with the guys that we have. I’m going to try to take the roster as we see it or the possibilities of it, and try to get the absolute most out of that.”

So Mattingly doesn’t seem interested in suggesting the release of Uribe.

Swell.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Baseball fans love to talk about clutch plays and clutch players, and Dodgers fans are no exception, but like with a pitcher’s best and worst pitches, there tends to be a lack of evidence presented. As such, I decided to find some basis for clutch plays and clutch players, courtesy of the WPA and Clutch statistics.

WPA

Most sabermetric statistics are context neutral — they do not consider the situation of a particular event or how some plays are more crucial to a win than others. While wOBA rates all home runs as equal, we know intuitively that a home run in the third inning of a blowout is less important to that win than a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a close game. Win Probability Added (WPA) captures this difference by measuring how individual players affect their team’s win expectancy on a per-play basis.

Clutch

In the words of David Appelman, this calculation measures, “…how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment.” It also compares a player against himself, so a player who hits .300 in high leverage situations when he’s an overall .300 hitter is not considered clutch.

So that’s the foundation for this post, and since that’s now been established, let’s get on with it, shall we?

As always, visuals have been provided because, let’s be honest, everything is better with visuals.

—–

I feel like it’s necessary to point out that none of this is predictive of the future or telling of the past. It’s a post about stuff that happened in 2012. That’s all.

In other words, please don’t link back to this while saying, “LOOK! THIS DUDE IS SO CLUTCH, BRO!” No.

—–

Top Five Clutchiest McClutchington Outs Of 2012

1. Kenley Jansen – 46.8%

The Dodgers were clinging onto an 8-7 lead with one down in the bottom of the ninth and runners on first and third. At this point, you’d almost be happy with a tied game.

One Jason Kubel swing later and it was a win instead.

2. Javy Guerra – 31.6%

Tied at 4-4 in the top of the ninth inning, the Padres got runners on first and second with nobody out. Not looking good for the Dodgers.

But then the impossible happened and … well … you can see it for yourself.

3. Ronald Belisario – 27.5%

Tied at two in the bottom of the eighth inning and facing a bases loaded jam with one out, Ronald Belisario gets out of it thanks to what basically amounts to luck.

Matt Holliday smashed a liner, but it was right at Mark Ellis, who doubled up the runner at second.

4. Kenley Jansen – 24.7%

With runners on second and third in the top of the ninth and one down, the Dodgers are clinging to a 6-5 lead when Kenley Jansen induces a harmless infield pop-up.

5. Brandon League – 20.0%

Tied at three with one down in the bottom of the tenth and a runner on third, Brandon League keeps him there by inducing a strikeout.

—–

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that the most clutch plays of the season all went to relievers.

That said, I am shocked that Javy Guerra‘s play wasn’t tops on this list, since it’s almost never that you induce three outs on one pitch.

—–

Top Five Clutchiest Dodgers Of 2012 – Ball Thrower Division

1. Brandon League – 0.70
2. Josh Lindblom – 0.47
3. Nate Eovaldi – 0.34
4. Shawn Tolleson – 0.34
5. Stephen Fife – 0.32

Rick Honeycutt provided a bunch of updates on the health of Clayton Kershaw, Javy Guerra, Chad Billingsley, Shawn Tolleson, Josh Wall, and Kenley Jansen.

“Clayton was great, outstanding,” said Honeycutt. “But he was outstanding his last three starts, so that wasn’t a surprise. Shawn Tolleson had a little back tightness, but he threw a ‘pen. So did Josh Wall and Javy Guerra, who isn’t as far behind as I thought he’d be. Belisario was there, he threw twice, looked real good.”

Guerra seems healthy after off-season shoulder surgery, which is a positive for the pen, but there’s not much else that seems serious … except that Belisario is already in camp, which seems as much a miracle as Billingsley’s elbow holding up all year.

Speaking of which…

Billingsley was not at the minicamp, remaining at home in Pennsylvania, but he hasn’t had a setback after responding well to platelet-rich plasma injections. There is no way to know if his elbow will hold up until it is tested in Spring Training.

“He has to be smart and be open if he feels something so he doesn’t push it past the point,” said Honeycutt. “There’s a fine line between being really hurt or having something you can deal with. Chad tends to pitch through whatever is going on, and he’s not always open about what’s going on. He needs to be honest with himself.”

An athlete being honest about being hurt? Yeah, let’s rely on that because it has such a rich history of working.

Honeycutt didn’t see Kenley Jansen throw, but the reliever arrived the day Honeycutt left and has been throwing bullpens with no ill effects from the surgery he had to fix an irregular heartbeat.

Probably one of the most worrying health concerns because of the unknown/random nature of it.

—–

Hanley Ramirez injured his knee sliding into second base in the finale of the Caribbean Series, but the injury isn’t considered serious or long-term.

@chadmoriyama Awkward slide into second base to break up double play. Couldn’t tell which leg he was favoring afterward.

— Chris Jackson (@TopesWriter) February 8, 2013

Hanley stayed in the game and it didn’t even warrant any real followup other than people on Twitter mentioning that he’s fine, so it doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about going forward.

In a weird way though, him having a minor injury that put him out of the World Baseball Classic might have been a blessing in disguise because then he could play shortstop in Spring Training.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

The 2013 projection for the Dodgers from Dan Szymborski‘s ZiPS system was released last week, and given that it’s probably my favorite forecasting tool, it’s worth a look to see how the team fared.

Forecasting is not a complete science, obviously, and I’ll address some of the potential pitfalls as we go along, but it’s better to use objective tools like these than the hopes/dreams of fans or the bitterness/wishes of haters.

To start us off, how does the team fare, generally speaking? A solid playoff contender, for sure, but a super team? Doesn’t seem likely.

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The Field Players

Despite all the hype over the recent acquisitions, the key cogs in this machine are still Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp. It’s a promising sign then, that Kemp projects at a 144 OPS+ and the system has confidence in him continuing to put up offensive numbers in the ~.900 OPS range. His defense in center still lags below average, but his bat more than makes up for it. His playing time projection has dropped due to his injury woes last season, and quite frankly, it’s hard to fault it for that. Regardless, he still figures to be the most valuable field player on the team.

Adrian Gonzalez is slated to be another bright spot, as ZiPS pegs him to bounceback a bit, though not as much as some want, clocking in at an ~.830 OPS/128 OPS+. That would still be his lowest OPS+ since 2008 (besides 2012, of course), but it’s a marked improvement considering his age and negatively trending skills. A-Gon compensates for that lagging bat a bit by putting up plus defense almost worth a win by itself. Hanley Ramirez factors in as yet another bounceback candidate, projecting at a 115 OPS+, which is an upgrade over last year’s 106 and is closer to his pre-2011 production. Defensively, even his horribad -8 run defensive rating is optimistic to me, as he was truly terrible with the glove last year. Given that I already wanted to barf seeing him trying to turn a double play in 2012, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him put up horrid defensive numbers after basically not playing the position all of spring.

Unfortunately, that’s where a lot of the offensive optimism ends. Luis Cruz checks in at 84 OPS+ (106 last year), which will anger many fans, but is completely reasonable given the track record. He remains valuable through plus defense, though given the sample size, there’s reason to be skeptical there as well. A.J. Ellis at 96 OPS+ (118) is another depressing but completely logical projection, as evidenced by everybody’s surprise in 2012 at his potent bat. Andre Ethier at 112 OPS+ (123) is hard to figure for me, because he has been consistently putting up ~120 OPS+ seasons even if it has come down from the ~130 OPS+ range two years ago. I suppose the projection system thinks he’ll get old in a hurry … or maybe it just thinks he’ll face an inordinately high amount of lefties. Mark Ellis at 81 OPS+ (93) shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering he’s 36 and put up an 80 OPS+ at Coors Field in 2011.

The last guy of the starters is Carl Crawford, who is the enigma of the 2013 season. He checks in at 104, which is notable because it’s basically his career OPS+ and it’s about what he did in limited time in 2012 over in Boston. That’s of particular note for me, because what he did in Boston in 2012 can be attributed to a mechanical fix that I pointed out in an article for Baseball Prospectus. Understandably, his playing time checks in low, but if he can produce like he did in 2012 but over a whole season, the Dodgers will be much better for it.

Overall, after fixing the playing time of A.J., adjusting Ethier’s offense up a bit, and adjusting Hanley’s defense down a bit, the starting lineup totaled about 22 WAR.

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The Bench & The Prospects

Assuming a bench of Tim Federowicz, Scott Van Slyke or Alex Castellanos, Jerry Hairston Jr., Nick Punto, and Skip Schumaker, we’re looking at around 3 WAR here after playing time is adjusted back to realistic bench levels. I’m guessing Alfredo Amezaga or Tony Gwynn Jr. work their way in somehow, but a five-man bench seems likely initially if the Dodgers can’t deal multiple pitchers before the season starts. Neither player would affect the WAR projection much though.

Honestly? I have to hope the Dodgers do something to improve the bench, because the current configuration looks rather mediocre, and the other options are keeping Juan Uribe and/or Elian Herrera. Yuck.

The good news is that Joc Pederson, T-Fed, SVS, and Castle are projected to be solid at the MLB level, though it sees Dee Gordon basically languishing behind.

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The Rotation

Clayton Kershaw is simply a beast, and he figures to check in with a 75 FIP-. This might seem high considering his 2011 and 2012 ERA- figures of 63 and 67, respectively, but when you consider that Felix Hernandez clocks in at 78 FIP- for 2013, you get the picture.

What might surprise is how close new acquisition Zack Greinke comes in behind him, as he figures to put up an FIP- of 81. Granted, he has always projected favorably, as his career FIP- is 80, while his career ERA- is 88, but even adjusting slightly for that, there’s a definite case there for the best 1-2 punch in the majors.

Unfortunately, this is where it gets murky, as Chad Billingsley has the stuff to be the #3, but if I were a betting man, I would bet his elbow implodes before July. He projects at 92 FIP-, which would put him around last year’s performance, which was his arguably his best season since 2008. However, given the nature of his injury and its history in the league, you can basically never rely on him to stay healthy again until he has Tommy John surgery.

Next in the pecking order are Josh Beckett, who comes in below-average at 103, and foreign import Hyun Jin Ryu, who comes in well below-average at 116. As mentioned before, the scouting reports for Beckett match this projection, as he’s no longer a front-line starter due to his decrease in velocity. However, if he can manage to learn to pitch a bit more, he still has the curve to perhaps slot in as a #3 more than a #4. Ryu is a case where I would take any projection with a mound of salt, because there’s hardly anything to base objective projections on. Personally, I don’t think Ryu has the stuff to be a #2, nor do I think he’ll be a #3 on a team with a $250 million payroll, but he should slot in comfortably in the back-end of the rotation for years. I would project something slightly below-average for 2013 and then hope for better.

The rotation is a strong point because it has both arguably the best 1-2 punch in the majors and depth, with Chris Capuano (108 FIP-) and Aaron Harang (114 FIP) presumably traded for upgrades (or maybe kept somehow?), and it checks in at about 17 WAR.

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The Bullpen & The Prospects

As of right now, I’m assuming a bullpen of Brandon League, Kenley Jansen, Ronald Belisario, Javy Guerra, Matt Guerrier, J.P. Howell, and Ted Lilly.

Jansen is the best of the bunch (63 FIP-) and League projects a distant second (92 FIP-), but Belisario has the most upside in these projections (101 FIP-). After that, Guerra, Guerrier, and Howell are all around replacement level. Lilly projects as a league-average pitcher, assuming he’s healthy, which would be a boon to a team that has a ticking time bomb in the rotation.

As far as prospects go, ZiPS thinks Chris Reed could be a replacement-level fill-in right now, but Zach Lee, Matt Magill, and Garrett Gould need more seasoning. And for all of you who have Stephen Fife wet dreams (yes, you’re out there), he projects at a 4.91 FIP, so keep it in your pants.

Speaking of replacement level, that especially applies to the Dodgers bullpen because of Shawn Tolleson, Scott Elbert, Steven Ames, and Paco Rodriguez, so the 4 WAR projection for this pen figures to be solid.

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Team Projection

A replacement-level team figures to win 43 games, and the team with the lowest amount of wins to get into the playoffs last year was the Cardinals at 88 wins, so 42 WAR puts you in the contender range and 45 WAR makes you viable, while 50 WAR will generally make a team a safe bet to be in the postseason. The Dodgers total 46 WAR, which puts them well within the playoff hunt: good but not great.

The Dodgers basically project neck-and-neck with the rival Giants, while the D-Backs lag behind a bit by maybe a half dozen wins or so, but they’re well within striking distance as well.

So make no mistake, the Dodgers recent spending habits did not make them an elite team, as the money simply duct-taped over both a flawed team and farm system depleted by Frank McCourt‘s ownership and Ned Colletti‘s questionable decisions. But that’s not to denigrate the job the new owners have done, as they turned the franchise into a legitimate playoff contender seemingly overnight, which is still saying a lot about what money can do.

Granted, “we gave you a team that has the chance to make the playoffs” is not what fans want to hear, but it’s an acceptable scenario as they lay the foundation to rebuild the franchise the correct way in their own minds. The 2013 projections might not reflect world-beaters like most seem to expect, but it’s a projection based on historical trends rather than hopes and dreams.

The 2013 Dodgers are indeed a team with a lot of upside, and if everything breaks correctly, they could very well end up being one of the best teams in the league, but they also carry a ton of inherent age and injury risk, which is why the projections come in understandably conservative. Either way, if nothing else, this team figures to be never boring.

As fans of the Dodgers, we’re always analyzing which pitchers have the best and worst pitches, but we normally base that on nothing but our own feelings at the moment, so I decided to take a more objective look at things.

For a pitch to qualify for these rankings, I used a 200-pitch minimum for starters and a 50-pitch minimum for relievers. The metric used to measure pitch effectiveness is True Average (TAv), which is basically like wOBA. League average performance is set at .260, and the metric doesn’t include baserunning.

Additionally, to prevent the post from being solely numbers-based, and one that would have been mind-numbingly boring, I decided to provide visual evidence as well.

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Worst Overall Pitches

Shawn Tolleson – Sinker – .395 TAv

Mike MacDougal – Sinker – .342 TAv

Matt Guerrier – Fastball – .320 TAv

Relief pitchers have smaller sample sizes, so they are prone to fluctuations, but they have the advantage of appearing in short bursts and limiting their arsenal to only their best pitches.

So … uh … this is TERRIBLE.

.395 is like 40 points higher than Mike Trout in 2012 for fucks sake.

H-h-how?

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Worst Individual Pitches

Fastball

Matt Guerrier – .320 TAv

*Visual Is Above*

Shawn Tolleson – .273
Javy Guerra – .256
Scott Elbert – .237
Ronald Belisario – .082

Ugh.

Sinker

Shawn Tolleson – .395 TAv

*Visual Is Above*

Mike MacDougal – .342
Brandon League – .280
Todd Coffey – .263
Randy Choate – .262
Jamey Wright – .258
Ronald Belisario – .225

No … just no.

Cutter

Jamey Wright – .258 TAv

Scott Elbert – .242
Javy Guerra – .208
Kenley Jansen – .187
Matt Guerrier – .139

Curve

Javy Guerra – .271 TAv

Jamey Wright – .171

Finishing last out of two isn’t bad, but giving up a .271 on a curve as a reliever is.

Slider

Kenley Jansen – .236 TAv

Jamey Wright – .215
Todd Coffey – .214
Shawn Tolleson – .206
Brandon League – .147
Ronald Belisario – .121
Randy Choate – .058

I actually think he could benefit from throwing this more often because it’s a quality pitch. Not hanging it is a different story, but how is he supposed to learn command of it if he never uses it?

Change

None Qualified

Splitter

Brandon League – .096 TAv

He’s the only reliever that qualified for this pitch, so I guess he’s technically the best and the worst, but considering his split was the second-most effective pitch by a reliever for the team in 2012, I’m pretty sure he gets a pass.

As fans of the Dodgers, we’re always analyzing which pitchers have the best and worst pitches, but we normally base that on nothing but our own feelings at the moment, so I decided to take a more objective look at things.

For a pitch to qualify for these rankings, I used a 200-pitch minimum for starters and a 50-pitch minimum for relievers. The metric used to measure pitch effectiveness is True Average (TAv), which is basically like wOBA. League average performance is set at .260, and the metric doesn’t include baserunning.

Additionally, to prevent the post from being solely numbers-based, and one that would have been mind-numbingly boring, I decided to provide visual evidence as well.

—–

Best Overall Pitches

Randy Choate – Slider – .058 TAv

Brandon League – Splitter – .096 TAv

Ronald Belisario – Slider – .121 TAv

The first two pitches should come as no surprise given that they are basically what both pitchers make their money off of. However, Ronald Belisario’s slider? Really? Yeah, but I’m guessing that’s almost entirely based on how surprised hitters are to see it when they’re expecting nothing but 95-97 mph sinking fastballs.

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Best Individual Pitches

Fastball

Scott Elbert – .237 TAv

Javy Guerra – .256
Shawn Tolleson – .273
Matt Guerrier – .320

Ronald Belisario’s .082 was disqualified because I’m about 99% sure these pitches were simply identified incorrectly. In any case, I’m surprised by how the Dodgers have zero fireballing fastball relievers.

Sinker

Ronald Belisario – .225 TAv

Jamey Wright – .258
Randy Choate – .262
Todd Coffey – .263
Brandon League – .280
Mike MacDougal – .342
Shawn Tolleson – .395

To have everybody know the pitch is coming and to still beat hitters with it is amazing.

Cutter

Kenley Jansen – .187 TAv

Javy Guerra – .208
Scott Elbert – .242
Jamey Wright – .258

Matt Guerrier actually had a .139, but he barely met the minimum and Kenley Jansen’s cutter is his main pitch and was still below .200, which is silly. Also, I’m biased and wanted to show that GIF. Deal with it.

Curve

Jamey Wright – .171 TAv

Javy Guerra – .271

Slider

Randy Choate – .058 TAv

*Visual Is Above*

Ronald Belisario – .121
Brandon League – .147
Shawn Tolleson – .206
Todd Coffey – .214
Jamey Wright – .215
Kenley Jansen – .236

Unfair to lefties, really.

Change

None Qualified

Splitter

Brandon League – .096 TAv

*Visual Is Above*

When he has got his command working, it’s a filthy, filthy pitch.

Nowhere to start here but with Andre Ethier rumors, right? Well, last time we left off on this rumbling, I was tackling a scenario where Ethier gets dealt and the Dodgers sign Nick Swisher, but there was one other frequently brought up possibility: Michael Bourn.

The Dodgers could pursue free agent center fielder Michael Bourn if they trade Andre Ethier, Rosenthal writes.

Bourn is an above-average hitter who has put up a 98 OPS+ in his four seasons as a full-time starter (.280/.348/.378/.726). He has never put up a season with an OPS higher than .739, but he’s still considered a marquee free agent because defense and baserunning count as well. He’s been worth around a win a year both on the basepaths and in the field, which results in a player consistently clocking in between 4-5 WAR.

For the Dodgers specific situation, there’s the potential added benefit of moving Matt Kemp to right field, which could reduce his risk for injury, since his bat is where basically all of his value lies. So unlike Swisher, Bourn isn’t an almost lateral move with minute benefits in platoon splits. Rather, he marks an improvement of a win or two and allows the Dodgers to field an optimal positional alignment.

As such, this would be interesting to me even if it came with a bit more risk in terms of length of contract and dollars. He’s headed into his age 30 season, and I don’t expect him to command anything less than a five-year deal, so certainly there’s reason to worry. Instinctively, I have concern about handing out significant contracts to players who don’t hit well (like Carl Crawford), but everything in the track record indicates this would be a significant upgrade for the team immediately, so I’d have no problem with the moves being done.

With all that said though, there have been frequent denials…

But even that scenario doesn’t seem to have a great chance to happen. “Barring injury,’” one Dodgers connected person maintained, “there is about a 100 percent chance Andre Ethier will be the [Dodgers] Opening day right fielder.”

…so why bother addressing this stuff, right? Mainly because I’d say it’s hard to rule out anything for the Dodgers right now, especially something that has the possibility of improving the team dramatically.

Besides, does anybody actually believe reports that the Dodgers are basically unwilling to listen on Ethier?

#redsox inquired about andre ethier at the start of winter & were told “not available.” more evidence he’s staying in LA

I don’t. So while getting all the moving parts to work out would still shock me, I think it’s not as impossible as represented.

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On the other front, the Dodgers are in on a reliever of some sort, with Joel Hanrahan being the leading rumor.

Joel Hanrahan has saved 76 games with a 2.24 ERA for the Pirates over the past two seasons, but his name has surfaced in numerous trade rumors this offseason and now Danny Knobler of CBS Sports tweets that the Buccos are pushing to trade him (Twitter link). The Dodgers are one possibility, according to Knobler.

The Dodgers are not alone though, as there’s competition for him, apparently.

The Dodgers are showing interested in Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan, but they have a little company. The Red Sox are said to have an interest as well.

Not seeing what the point of this is.

A career 3.74 ERA/3.62 FIP reliever who was trending in the correct direction until his age 30 season in 2012 is not exactly what I would want to see in a back-end type. I mean, people already complain about Javy Guerra and he has a career 2.45 ERA and 3.32 FIP, plus he makes the league minimum.

I bring up Javy’s name because given a seven-man bullpen, Guerra is the one likely to be bumped to AAA in the event of Hanrahan’s acquisition, and there’s certainly a strong case to be made that it would be a downgrade to the bullpen. Certainly Hanrahan would add depth, but he projects to make ~$8 million next year, and no matter how wealthy the Dodgers are, spending that much for a neutral move and depth seems a bit much.

Kenley Jansen

Kenley Jansen entered 2012 as the set-up man with elite stuff, freed up to face the opponents’ best hitters should they be due up before the ninth inning. It was the perfect scenario, considering the closer role is a vastly overrated entity. Though Jansen was slotted correctly, he quickly found himself as the closer following some early struggles in that role by Javy Guerra.

Jansen closed 2012 with his third-straight dominant season, posting a 2.40 FIP and 1.81 SIERA while whiffing a magnificent 13.71/9 IP. He appeared in a career-high 65 games and 65 innings, and though he allowed a few more long-balls (six homers after three in 2011 and none in 2010), he more importantly cut down impressively on his free passes for a third consecutive campaign (5.00/4.36/3.05 per nine innings). Also of note is his continued ability to induce infield popups, which has always been excellent (16% in 2010 & 10.9% in 2011), as he reached a new career best in 2012 (19.4 IFFB%).

To put it another way, as infield popups are essentially as effective as strikeouts, Jansen “whiffed” roughly 60% of the hitters he faced in 2012. That is insane, obviously.

Though all has been well from a between-the-lines perspective, Jansen has seen his short career put in jeopardy multiple times due to a heart ailment that has afflicted him for parts of the 2011 regular season, Spring Training of 2012, and most recently the 2012 regular season. While Jansen has thankfully been able to return from all three bouts, the irregular heartbeat has been recurring, which is troublesome for his health and career prospects.

Jansen and the Dodgers have taken action though, as Kenley recently underwent heart surgery to correct the problem. All seems well thus far, as no complications from the surgery have been revealed, and all reports indicate he’ll be ready to go for 2013. He’ll recuperate for at least three months prior to resuming baseball activities, and with his electric stuff, fantastic ability to get hitters to swing-and-miss, and three straight seasons of improving WAR (1.1/1.3/1.9), the sky is the limit for the former backstop as he continues to refine his new craft.

Brandon League

Acquired for Leon Landry and Logan Bawcom, Brandon League arrived having been stripped of his closer duties in Seattle. His 2012 with the Mariners was a season typical of your average middle reliever, as League was fanning only 5.44 per nine while walking far too many (3.83/9 IP), and had a 3.45 FIP and 4.43 SIERA. I was against the trade when it happened and League did nothing to assuage my mind in his first few outings, as he was charged with six earned runs through his first seven games with Los Angeles.

League rebounded to end 2012 strongly though, allowing one earned run from August 21 on. His strikeout rate ticked up in LA to 8.89/9 IP, the highest it had been since 2009, though he walked even more at 4.61/9
IP. His new-found success was attributed to mechanical flaws that were corrected by Rick Honeycutt and his staff.

Whether that’s true and whether his success carries over into the future or not, the 29-year-old heads into free agency banking that teams will be looking at his recent performance over his career track record that consists of 6.71 K/9 IP, 3.10 BB/9 IP, a 3.81 FIP, and a WAR that’s eclipsed 1.0 twice.

Ronald Belisario

After a time spent pretending to be Tony Montana, Ronald Belisario returned to the States and MLB in 2012. Following a 25-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, Belisario made his season debut in early May and would go on to appear in a bullpen-high 68 games and 71 innings.

Belisario posted a 3.09 FIP and 2.80 SIERA, and after starting the year out-pitching his peripherals and shiny ERA, had a very good season after his year off. He fanned just shy of a batter per inning while walking 3.68 per nine and inducing a mess of ground balls (64.5 GB%), which resulted in just three homers allowed in ’12.

Belisario, after all of his troubles, is line for a nice raise from the $480,000 he made on a one-year deal in 2012. He qualified for Super Two status and is arbitration eligible, and he will be an integral part of the pen in 2013.

Javy Guerra

Javy Guerra entered 2012 as the Dodgers closer, though not the most talented reliever on the team, which is perfectly fine and is actually my preferred method of bullpen management. Following a rocky start and a liner to the head, Guerra was removed in favor of Jansen in early May.

After allowing eight earned runs in his first 14 games, which included three blown saves and a pair of losses, Guerra settled down before succumbing to a knee injury that ended his season in early September.

Though Guerra’s season is largely viewed as a failure by many, his 2012 was, in actuality, little different from his 2011 season. His strikeout rate increased (7.33/7.40), his HR/9 IP rate improved (0.39/0.20), and his FIP (3.30/3.34) and WAR remained stable (0.9/0.8).

Guerra’s “struggles” were two-fold. First, the self-inflicted portion: Guerra walked too many guys in 2012, as his BB/9 IP jumped from a high 3.47 to a terrible 4.60 per nine. That must be corrected for Javy to see more success. Second, his BABIP increased to .321 from .261. In other words, after getting lucky in 2011, 2012 saw that luck shift entirely the other way. There is almost certainly a happy medium, and in that place, Guerra is a solid contributor to the pen as a middle reliever.

Scott Elbert

After an excellent 2011 that ended with a new established role in the pen, Scott Elbert finished 2012 on the DL with an elbow injury that felled him from late August on. I wouldn’t be shocked if the elbow bothered him all year, as his numbers fell across the board.

Elbert struck out less per nine (9.18/7.99), gave up more homers (0.27/0.83), and saw a significant drop in FIP (2.73/3.80) and SIERA (3.23/3.76). The lefty also uncharacteristically struggled against his fellow southpaws in comparison with his 2011 success (.271/.342/.342/.684 after a .191/.267/.227/. 494 slash line the year before).

With Randy Choate a possibility to return if he and the club share a mutual interest, and young Paco Rodriguez emerging as another option, Elbert’s health and success in Spring Training will go a long way in determining his future with the club after years and years of injuries finally appeared to be behind him.

Shawn Tolleson

Shawn Tolleson, the club’s top relief prospect heading into 2012, got the call in early June before getting the Blake DeWitt treatment and shuffling between The Show and the minors. Though he moved around, he ended up appearing in 40 games and just under 40 innings.

Known for his swing-and-miss ability and domination of the minors, Tolleson whiffed 9.32/9 IP while posting a 4.08 FIP and 3.78 SIERA. He did struggle with his control at times, walking 4.78 per nine, and he allowed almost a homer per nine.

Five outings — in which he allowed between two and four runs in each — skewed the 24-year-old righty’s numbers a bit, though not as much as his massive struggles against the 68 lefties he faced, who hit a combined .316/.426/.471/.897 against the Texan. On the other side of the coin, Shawn was death to righties, holding them to a .152/.244/.207/.453 line.

Those lefty struggles not withstanding, the future is exceptionally bright for Clayton Kershaw‘s former teammate. Tolleson will have a prominent role in the pen going forward — whether that role begins at the outset of 2013 or not –  and a young pen featuring Jansen/Tolleson/Rodriguez/Guerra should have fans excited.

Randy Choate

Acquired in the Hanley Ramirez deal, Choate arrived with the reputation of a lefty specialist (.201/.278/.252/.530 career) and continued to dominate his brethren in 2012, limiting them to a .158/.243/.190/.433 slash line.

Though he held lefties down in 2012, Choate was mediocre overall after arriving, posting a 4.89 FIP, 4.16 SIERA, and a negative WAR (-0.1). Most troubling was his propensity for issuing free passes, to the tune of 6.08 per nine in his 36 appearances.

Paco Rodriguez

Just 21 and fresh out of college in the spring of 2012, Paco Rodriguez found himself in 11 games down the stretch and whiffed a very impressive 8.1 per nine over those 6.2 innings. He posted a 3.09 FIP and 4.17 SIERA — as well as a .143/.200/.133/.333 slash line against lefties — in his very small sample size of a career, and holds the distinction of being the first 2012 draftee to debut in The Show.

Rodriguez enters 2013 with just north of 25 professional innings under his belt, and could very likely open 2013 on the major-league roster. Paco’s immediate future hinges on Elbert’s health, the signing of some other free agent lefty specialist, and his 2013 Spring Training performance.

While he has stuff to improve upon (like his control), if he can solidify a spot in the pen he would provide the Dodgers with another lefty and a cheap bullpen option with a ton of upside.

Jamey Wright

Jamey Wright, who made the team out of Spring Training after signing a minor-league deal, surprised most with a solid campaign, surpassing expectations in his 66 appearances and 67.2 innings pitched.

Wright fanned 7.18 per nine while posting a 3.39 FIP and 3.15 SIERA. His splits were quite wacky all the way around, as he allowed southpaws to get on-base more, but righties knocked him around in terms of extra-base hits (.252/.365/.230/.595 versus LH & .283/.337/.329/.666 versus RH).

As alluded to above, Wright did struggle with his control, as he allowed around 4.0 BB/9. He did a great job, however, of keeping the ball in the park — 0.27 HR/9 — which saved him from those walks becoming more damaging. Hitters actually benefited from a bit of luck against him with a .324 BABIP, but Wright’s strong propensity for inducing ground balls (67.3%) and infield popups (12.0% IFFB) allowed him to escape his control problems relatively unscathed.

Having lived off minor-league deals, which he turned into major-league roster spots, for most of the past decade, Wright will head into 2012 — his age-38 season — with a strong likelihood of obtaining a major-league contract. Earning just under $1.5 million last year, Wright will probably receive a small raise, and the Dodgers could do a lot worse.

Odds & Ends

Matt Guerrier spent most of 2012 on the shelf with right elbow inflammation, but managed to return late in the season and appeared in 16 games totaling 14 innings. It did not go well. He pitched to a 6.31 FIP and 4.86 SIERA while walking seven, hitting a batter, and allowing a total of 16 baserunners, six earned runs, and 56 total bases against.

He has a year remaining — at $3.75 million — on the ridiculous three-year deal that Ned Colletti signed him to in late-2010. Whether he has a place in the bullpen though, considering the superior arms around him, is another story entirely.

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Josh Lindblom, prior to being dealt to Philadelphia in the Shane Victorino trade, struggled despite some solid peripherals following a breakout 2011. Though he struck out 8.12/9 IP while walking 3.40/9 IP, Lindblom put up a 5.07 FIP, though his SIERA was a fine 3.66.

What really killed him was the long-ball, as following a 2011 in which he didn’t allow a single homer in almost 30 innings, Josh was touched up for nine dingers before being traded.

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I honestly forgot Mike MacDougal was a Dodger in 2012, but he began the year on a ludicrous guaranteed one-year major-league deal. He quickly flamed out, lasting seven games and 5.2 innings too long. In that short time, he allowed 15 baserunners, five earned runs, and 32 total bases.

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Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Javy Guerra, following an injury-plagued 2012 season, underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery on his throwing shoulder. His laundry list of injuries this year ranged from an oblique to a knee to his shoulder to his head.

The Dodgers expect him to be fully ready to go by Spring Training, and he’ll be a solid contributor in middle to late relief yet again.

—–

In brighter news, Chad Billingsley‘s rehab continues to progress well, as the righty threw off a mound for the second time since being shut down with a tear in the UCL in his right elbow. Tommy John surgery is still a possibility, but any positive sign is a good one.

As Chad noted yesterday, this is a tricky injury that can’t really be fully written off as a non-factor until Bills makes it through 2013 unscathed, because having a previously torn ligament in the elbow is certainly at a higher risk for re-injury.

Also included in that link is an update on Kenley Jansen and his heart surgery.

Clayton Kershaw may need surgery on his right hip and he could miss not only the rest of this season but the start of next season as well, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

If Kershaw must undergo surgery to repair his ailing right hip, he isn’t expected to be pitching in the major leagues until the middle of May, according to people familiar with his condition who were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Kershaw’s decision on whether to have an operation will be made after Kershaw receives a second opinion from Dr. Bryan Kelly on Tuesday in New York. Kershaw was unable to make his scheduled start for the Dodgers on Sunday.

The team fears he may have a torn labrum that would require surgery.

My opinion on Clayton is the same as it is regarding Matt Kemp: the team should shut them both down. 2012 is not the last year baseball will be played, and this team will be better next year simply by having some of these new pieces on the roster to begin the season. Their future years of service are far more important than a single stretch run in a season that has seen the Dodgers somehow stay in the race despite the unluckiness of multiple serious injuries to vital cogs.

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Scott Elbert was speculated to be returning as soon as Tuesday, but he’ll be out for the season and is set to undergo elbow surgery due to persistent problems.

Left-hander Scott Elbert is scheduled to undergo a season-ending operation Wednesday to clean up his throwing elbow.

The surgery will be performed by team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Elbert is expected to be ready for the start of spring training.

Elbert last pitched Aug. 26. The next day, he was put on the disabled list for the second time this season.

Elbert pitched a simulated game Friday.

“The next day, he went out to play catch and it was back, same thing,” Manager Don Mattingly said. “So we knew he was done.”

As unfair as it might be, Paco Rodriguez now becomes a key piece in the bullpen despite being in college to start the year.

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Kenley Jansen is likely to return on Tuesday. Jansen’s doctors have cleared him to stop taking blood-thinners.

If he’s back to normal then he’ll be an asset even if there’s initial rust, but something rubs me the wrong way about risking anything in regards to this problem. After all, we’re talking about a guy’s life here, screw baseball.

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Chad Billingsley‘s elbow is progressing well and he’s slated to start a throwing program in the coming weeks.

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Ted Lilly, rehabbing a shoulder injury, will have arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder. According to head trainer Sue Falsone, he will be ready for Spring Training in 2013, the final year of a three-year contract.

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Dee Gordon was reinstated after missing 50 games and spending a couple of months on the 60-day DL with a torn ligament in his right thumb. Dee recently completed a rehab stint in Albuquerque.

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Room was made for Dee on the 40-man when the team placed Adam Kennedy on the 60-day DL with a groin strain.

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Don Mattingly has declared Javy Guerra likely out for the year, as was suspected.

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In minor-league injury news, Blake Smith, Gustavo Gomez, Brandon Martinez, Luis Vasquez, Steve Cilladi, Chris O’Brien, Angelo Ponte, Jharel Cotton, Sawil Gonzalez, Francisco Villa, and Matt Laney all landed on either the 7-day or 60-day DL.

Clayton Kershaw was scratched from his last start due to a hip injury, for which he received a cortisone shot. His start was taken by Joe Blanton. Clayton hopes to return and start on Tuesday.

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Kenley Jansen, barring any unforeseen setback, will pitch again this season before undergoing offseason surgery on his heart. He won’t pitch within the next ten days – at the least – as he waits for his blood-thinner medication to leave his system.

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Chad Billingsley had another platelet injection in his right elbow before seeing his season end as he was placed on the 60-day DL. Paco Rodriguez was called up and took Bills’ roster spot. Now all that remains is whether or not he ends up needing surgery. Bills will resume throwing in two weeks, after tests revealed a partial tear of the UCL in the aforementioned right elbow.

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Randy Choate took a grounder off of his pitching hand but should be fine, as he said a couple of fingers were struck but no major damage came from it. With both Scott Elbert and Ted Lilly rehabbing and Paco a rookie, the Dodgers are short on southpaws in the pen, making Choate’s continued health vital.

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Javy Guerra was placed on the 15-day DL with an oblique strain, and there’s a real chance his season is over.

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Adam Kennedy injured his groin and is likely out for the season, saying he “felt a pop.”

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If Ted Lilly – who threw a simulated game earlier in the week – returns, it will be in a relief role.

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Jerry Hairston Jr. is scheduled to undergo surgery on his ailing hip on Monday.

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Chris Withrow was transferred to the 60-day DL after a momentary call-up in order to allow Bobby Abreu to be placed back on the 40-man roster.

Now that rosters have expanded, let the speculation on who gets the September call begin!

Pump the brakes a bit though, because unfortunately for the people who wish to see young players show their stuff: 1) the 40-man roster is full 2) guys on the 60-day DL are due to return 3) um … the team just traded away all of the top prospects that were close to contributing.

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One of the primary issues is that Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands are still on the Dodgers 40-man roster, so it creates a bit of a mess in terms of roster spots. This is especially true because Ted Lilly (maybe) and Dee Gordon are set to return, which means guys will have to get designated just to fit them in. Perhaps Chad Billingsley, Kenley Jansen, or Scott Elbert could be placed on the 60-day DL, but that creates more holes, not less.

Either way, guys like Adam Kennedy, Juan Uribe, Matt Angle, Elian Herrera, and Stephen Fife might not want to get too comfortable on the 40-man, depending on what direction the team decides on. However, due to the roster crunch, those hoping for players not on the 40-man roster to get called — like John Ely, Tony Gwynn Jr., and Bobby Abreu — might be left disappointed.

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Among those who I feel could help the team immediately are Tim Federowicz, Javy Guerra, Josh Wall, and Alex Castellanos. I already went over the reasons Guerra could contribute, as I believed sending him down to begin with was foolish. Wall, despite just an average year at AAA, has the raw stuff catch fire and help stabilize a suddenly shaky bullpen. Federowicz is not as good a hitter as his .296/.371/.465/.836 line in AAA would indicate, but he’s a good defender and is an upgrade over Matt Treanor right now. Castellanos could provide right-handed thump off the bench, as his .338/.431/.610/1.041 line in AAA would somewhat indicate. I’d rather see him get a chance than continue to run Juan Rivera out there, that’s for sure.

Other possibilities on the 40-man are Scott Van Slyke and Fife. Van Slyke could do much the same as Castellanos, but I have less confidence in his bat. Still, he can hardly be a worse pinch hitting option than Uribe or Kennedy or Nick Punto. I’m not sure Fife would fit in the bullpen, but if he’s not going to get designated then he could be called up to use as a long man.

Ely, Gwynn, and Abreu could all help, but I have to think they’re long shots due to the roster crunch reasons I mentioned earlier. Personally, I would have no problem designating about a half dozen players, but the team has somehow managed to resist doing that all year, so I don’t see why they would start now. With that said, if a starter goes down with injury, Ely deserves a chance after putting up a 3.20 ERA in 168.2 innings with solid peripherals in that league. Gwynn has put up a .304/.400/.393/.793 line at AAA and I really feel like he has to be added to the 40-man and called up somehow, if for no other reason than to pinch run. If Abreu’s healthy, he could probably do what Shane Victorino is producing in left right now sans the defense, so he could be a useful bench guy.

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Assuming Billingsley, Jansen, and Elbert return from injury, and that Gordon will be back but not Lilly, I would call on Federowicz, Guerra, Wall, Castellanos, Van Slyke, Gwynn, and Abreu while designating Uribe, Angle, and Herrera.

So Rubby De La Rosa is back with the Dodgers a little over a year after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and he certainly deserves every bit of the promotion. In the minors, he allowed 0 runs in 12 innings while striking out 12 and walking 3. More importantly, he was sitting in the mid-90s and touching the upper register when needed.

The part I find puzzling though is that the team optioned Javy Guerra to make room for him. I realize that it was either him or Shawn Tolleson, because they were the two that had options and rosters expand in 10 days, but I still find the logic confusing.

With the rest of the bullpen (sans Kenley Jansen) struggling of late, Guerra has put up 11.1 innings of scoreless relief with 13 strikeouts in his last nine appearances. The last time he allowed a run was July 26th. Similarly, Tolleson hasn’t allowed a run since July 22nd.

The predictable defense for demoting either of them is “well they have options”. Which is fine, but if we’re going with the philosophy that the Shane Victorino/Joe Blanton/Brandon League trades were worth it even if they only total a half win improvement because “it’s a dead heat”, then how logical is it to demote your hottest relievers in a bullpen that’s currently struggling to stay afloat?

Some of you know that I’ve followed and have been a fan of Rubby since he showed velocity in the complex leagues as a prospect, but there’s no guarantee he’s going to be lights out either. Point being, if you’re going to justify trading away assets for the most marginal of gains in the context of 2012, then that same attitude should apply to these roster moves as well, especially when there’s considerable dead weight on the roster that nobody would miss.

In a surprising move late yesterday, the Dodgers traded prospects Leon Landry and Logan Bawcom to the Mariners for Brandon League.

League, 29, is owed approximately $1.8MM for the rest of the season before becoming a free agent this winter. He’s pitched to a 3.63 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 44 2/3 innings this year, plus his usual sky-high ground ball rate is down to just 46.9%. The Dodgers have lost Matt Guerrier and Todd Coffey to injury this season, so League will add some late-inning depth.

Landry, 22, is hitting .328/.358/.559 with eight homers and 15 triples in 376 plate appearances for Los Angeles’ High Class-A affiliate this season while spending most of his time in center field. Bawcom, a 23-year-old right-hander, owns a 2.03 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 48 2/3 relief innings split between Single-A and Double-A this year. Neither player ranked among the team’s top 30 prospects in Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook before the season.

Leon Landry wasn’t in my Prospect Rankings for 2012, but he was headed for a top 20 spot in 2013 prior to this deal happening. The leap comes as a result of his .328/.358/.559/.917 line at high-A and his defensive ability. His upside is probably as a fringy regular due to his poor plate discipline and lack of offensive tools, and I think he fits more as a reserve outfielder type in the majors.

Logan Bawcom wasn’t in my Prospect Rankings for 2012 either, but he too was headed there in 2013. He posted a 0.64 ERA with a 1.06 FIP in 14 innings at high-A, then followed that by posting a 2.60 ERA and 2.88 FIP in 34.2 innings at AA. He has command issues from time to time but has strikeout stuff that should play at advanced levels. Bawcom has a fastball that can sit in the mid-90s and a good sharp slider. He has the upside of a 7th inning guy and a floor that likely still has him as a bullpen contributor, both of which made him one of the arms I was talking about when I referred to relief arms as a system strength.

Brandon League comes to the Dodgers with a 3.63 ERA/3.43 FIP/4.40 xFIP/4.43 SIERA in 2012. After a career year in 2011, he has basically regressed to his career norms (3.69/3.88/3.64/3.34). He’s not without red flags though, as his 14.0 K% is his lowest since 2007 and his BB% is his highest since 2008. Essentially, he’s an above average bullpen guy who was once used as a closer.

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On its face, one has to wonder what the point of this trade was. After all, how much of an upgrade is he over Scott Elbert, Javy Guerra, Josh Lindblom, and company? Hell, Jamey Wright is having an equally quality year at the moment and it already pains me when he enters the game.

What I have to assume is that he was acquired because the Dodgers are on the verge of trading a reliever like Lindblom or Guerra in a deal for a pitcher/first baseman/outfielder. If not, while nothing will quite top the Octavio Dotel deal, this will likely go down as another complete waste of assets. Hell, even if a trade involving a reliever does occur, it’s still a mediocre deal to me. Quality starters rarely make much of a marginal value impact after the deadline, much less average relievers.

For me to even get to that point of acknowledging it as mediocre though, a reliever would have to be traded out of the bullpen for help elsewhere. Here’s hoping it’s for something worthwhile.

Guess you can’t stop Ned Colletti, you can only hope to contain him.

Andre Ethier injured his left oblique yesterday, in what can only amount to a “It seriously can’t get any worse now, can it?” moment for Dodgers fans.

The Dodgers will await the results of the MRI exam for Andre Ethier, which he will take on Thursday morning. But it seems clear that Ethier, who injured his left oblique on a check swing in the first inning and then left once the inning ended, could be headed for the disabled list.

As noted by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, “The Dodgers say he’s day to day, but manager Don Mattingly said when he hears ‘oblique,’ he prepares for 20 days.”

Given that the Dodgers have already experienced the consequences of rushing players back from injury, it seems likely that he’ll be on the disabled list if they think it’s serious enough to get an MRI.

At this point, I’m just hoping it’s less than a month.

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In positive injury news, Javy Guerra, Matt Kemp, and Mark Ellis are making progress.

Dodgers reliever Javy Guerra, who underwent right knee surgery June 5, could be headed out for a Minor League rehab assignment as early as next week.

Guerra had another bullpen session Tuesday, followed by pitchers’ fielding practice, and manager Don Mattingly said Guerra will either have back-to-back bullpen sessions Thursday and Friday or even face hitters.

In other health news, Matt Kemp and Mark Ellis continued recoveries from leg injuries. Neither has any soreness and Ellis has begun making cuts around the bases, which has been his biggest issue lately.

They also could be a week away from Minor League rehab assignments.

Perhaps the most important update is that of Kemp, because he was feeling soreness last time I updated his status, but he seems to be on track now.

All three would be extremely welcome additions to what is now close to a last place team in terms of roster talent.

Tommy Lasorda suffered a heart attack yesterday, but he’s in stable condition now and was well enough to joke about it.

Dodgers Hall of Fame former manager Tom Lasorda suffered a mild heart attack in New York on Monday and had a stent inserted for one blocked artery, the team confirmed Tuesday.

“The doctors confirmed I do bleed Dodger Blue,” Lasorda joked. “I’m looking forward to being back at the stadium to cheer on the Dodgers.”

Lasorda was in New York representing the Dodgers at the First-Year Player Draft when he took ill Monday night and was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. The 84-year-old is resting comfortably and in stable condition and could be released as early as Wednesday.

I froze a bit yesterday when I saw the news break, but thankfully everything seems okay.

Made me think about how awkward/weird it would be to not have him around the team. Same with Vin Scully.

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Clayton Kershaw has been dealing with plantar fasciitis for about a week now.

Dodgers Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has been dealing with plantar fasciitis for the past week, manager Don Mattingly said Tuesday.

Kershaw took a painful step going to first base Monday night, and Mattingly said it’s “a little plantar fasciitis. He took a funny step and just felt it.”

Mattingly said Kershaw has been receiving treatment for the condition for “at least a week.”

“He says he doesn’t feel it at all [while pitching, only when running]. They’re trying different tape and things at night to help it go away,” Mattingly said.

The hits just keep on coming, huh?

I was worried the other day when he looked a bit gimpy, but he came out for the following inning, so I assumed everything was okay.

Guess not.

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Javy Guerra is out for four to six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on his right knee.

Dodgers reliever Javy Guerra underwent arthroscopic right knee surgery Tuesday to repair a small tear of the lateral meniscus and will be sidelined four to six weeks. Dodgers team physician Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery.

Guerra was placed on the disabled list Monday with an injury believed to be sustained when he was struck by a Brian McCann line drive in the jaw on April 25.

“Sue said the doc was happy with it,” manager Don Mattingly said, referring to trainer Sue Falsone. “There wasn’t any other damage. He’ll be back playing catch quick. A few days and he’ll be throwing again.”

So just to be clear, he took this blow to the face on a line drive and didn’t even go down to the ground, but as a result of trying to avoid getting hit by said line drive, he’s out four to six weeks.

Amazing.

Regardless of his struggles with blown saves and what not, Guerra was actually having a better year in 2012 than in 2011, so it’s a loss regardless of how you cut it.

Juan Rivera was activated off the disabled list and Scott Van Slyke was optioned. In a vacuum, it’s a positive move, because Rivera is likely a better player than Van Slyke, but I’d much rather see his playing time go to a combination of Bobby Abreu/Tony Gywnn Jr./Alex Castellanos instead.

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In what can only be described as surprising, the Dodgers called up Shawn Tolleson, who I had been pining for since the beginning of the year, really. Funny enough though, it was for Javy Guerra, who heads to the disabled list, so this is probably a neutral move unless Tolleson sets the world on fire since Guerra was having a good year himself.

Why excited? In 120 professional innings, Tolleson has a 1.35 ERA, 178 strikeouts, 28 walks, and scouting reports that check out.

Tolleson was ranked #12 in my March Prospect Rankings.

Javy Guerra seems to be miraculously recovered from taking a ball off the jaw, but has hurt his foot.

Javy Guerra no longer has a swollen jaw, and outside of a slight headache on Thursday he has passed every test with flying colors, including a CAT scan.

But Guerra does have a sore foot, which happened as Guerra twisted to try to get out of the way of the line drive hit back at him by Brian McCann on Wednesday night. “Sue [Falsone, team trainer] feels like it’s short term and there’s really nothing structurally wrong there,” manager Don Mattingly said.

Guerra was reevaluated after throwing before Friday’s game, and cleared to throw per J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News.

So he was available last night, they just decided to hold him out, which seems reasonable, especially considering that Don Mattingly didn’t take him out the other day because he didn’t think the ball hit him flush in the face.

Mattingly said that when he went to the mound Wednesday night, he thought the ball deflected off Guerra’s glove, though replays showed it hit him flush in the face. Though Mattingly said he would defer to assistant trainer Greg Harrel, who went to the mound with him to check on Guerra, there were some regrets in leaving him in the game after seeing the replay.

“If I would have known it would have got him straight on, I probably would have pulled him right away,” Mattingly said.

Well, I guess that answers my question as to why he left Javy in.

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Juan Rivera still hopes to avoid the disabled list.

Juan Rivera is out of the lineup again tonight, still nursing a strained left hamstring. Rivera took ground balls and hit in the cage before the game and may or may not be available to pinch hit tonight, depending on how Rivera feels and the evaluation from the training staff.

“We’re still hopeful that this thing’s not going to linger. He feels better today than he did yesterday,” Mattingly said of Rivera. “We’re still hopeful that he doesn’t have to go on the DL, and that maybe it’s just a couple of days.”

If I’m being honest, I don’t care that much.

One could make the argument that the difference between Tony Gwynn Jr.‘s glove and Rivera’s glove makes up for the difference in their bats.

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Nate Eovaldi is indeed being called up, which means Michael Antonini will be sent down after two days and no appearances.

As expected the Dodgers have recalled pitcher Nathan Eovaldi from Double A Chattanooga before Friday night’s game with the Washington Nationals. Eovaldi will replace Michael Antonini, who was optioned back to Triple A Albuquerque.

For Antonini, this has to be bittersweet, as he was just recalled on Tuesday and his initial cup of coffee in the majors included two days and no games pitched. On Tuesday, Antonini said his parents planned to make a trip from Philadelphia to possibly see him pitch.

Sucks for Antonini, but it’ll be a short stint for Eovaldi too, as he’ll likely go back down when Todd Coffey comes up, because his long-term role in the eyes of the Dodgers hasn’t changed.

Todd Coffey is due off the disabled list on Sunday.

Eovaldi has only pitched two innings since his start on April 9, but he said he has still done all his normal sidework and bullpen sessions under a starter’s workload, which is still the Dodgers’ plan for the 22-year old right-hander.

“We don’t want to get into him being in the bullpen. We want him preparing as a starter,” Mattingly said.

Understandable, as there’s much more value in even an average starter than a closer, but I still think back-end bullpen guy is a good possibility for him.

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Despite worries, it seems like the Dodgers ownership transfer will go off without a hitch.

When the Dodgers take the field Monday night, they should be under new ownership.

The sale of the Dodgers is expected to close as scheduled on Monday, according to three people familiar with the process.

Friday marked the deadline for parties to object to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court order approving the sale from Frank McCourt to Guggenheim Baseball, a group led by Mark Walter, Stan Kasten and Magic Johnson. No objections were filed.

I guess that’s when it will be officially over.

Everybody wants to find the reason that Javy Guerra is struggling in 2012, especially after he burst onto the scene with a too-good-to-be-true 2011.

One common theory? He’s throwing too many fastballs.

@ChadMoriyama do you think guerra is throwing too many fastballs especially with 2 strikes?

— Brian Rincon (@bmr209) April 26, 2012

I was skeptical at first, as I am with everybody’s observations, including my own. Yet after I did some research, it does seem like the theory has validity.

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2011 – All

2012 – All

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So in 2011, Guerra was throwing 61% fastballs and 39% breaking balls, but the number has jumped to 74% fastballs and 26% breaking balls in 2012.

So he is indeed throwing more fastballs than he did last year, in general, but how about with two strikes on the hitter?

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2011 – Two Strikes

2012 – Two Strikes

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The trend holds with two strikes, as Guerra went with 59% fastballs and 41% breaking balls in 2011, but has gone with 69% fastballs and 31% breaking balls in 2012.

Furthermore, in the three appearances this year in which he has given up runs, Guerra has thrown 44 fastballs and 11 breaking balls for an 80% to 20% ratio that might indicate he gets fastball happy when he gets in trouble.

While this isn’t conclusive, it’s certainly a trend, and it bears watching for 2012.

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It’s worth mentioning that despite his 5.59 ERA, Guerra has actually pitched better on paper in 2012 than in 2011, as he holds a 1.55 FIP on the strength of striking out 27.5% of batters and walking only 7.5%, both rates an improvement over last year (19.5%/9.2%).

So why all the runs? Well his LOB% checks in at 57.1 and he has a .423 BABIP, both of which are quite unfortunate compared to league averages of 73.2% and .285.

As I said before, Guerra is going to be a valuable member of the 2012 bullpen, regardless of his role, it’s just that not everyday can you get a triple play on a bunt. A little luck can go a long way, good or bad.