Power Rankings in general are pretty much useless exercises in “let’s write a semi-witty sentence per team, once a week.” But I usually can’t resist reading them. ;)
Eric Mack’s current rankings at CBS SportsLine have this three-sentence (!) tidbit on the Dodgers:
Jason Schmidt is throwing again and hoping for a late May return. Also, Chad Billingsley might not be far from returning to the rotation, which has the potential to be one of the best in baseball. Brad Penny looks like a Cy Young candidate.
That “late May return” is way more definitive of a time frame than anything public coming out of the Dodgers, but it doesn’t seem out of the question either. While not specifying dates, they are doing some very encouraging talking:
Schmidt’s extensive long-tossing exercise on Tuesday was a positive indicator. When it was suggested to Schmidt that he couldn’t have thrown a ball 275 feet a month ago, he said: “I couldn’t have done that last year.”
[Stan] Conte, Schmidt’s trainer with the Giants last year, agreed.
“At the end of last year, that’s probably true, and this spring, I never saw him do that,” he said. “In the bullpen in the spring, it looked like he was always working on pitches. He wasn’t letting it go; it didn’t have the pop it does now. That’s encouraging. I still hold my breath each day.”
Grady is pleased, but Schmidt has to get work in before he’ll be ready for a game:
“He threw all of his pitches,” Little said. “He threw pain-free, he’s progressing. He’s got a ways to go. You can tell the stamina isn’t there yet.”