The Trolley Dodger

The seeds for this problem were planted eight years ago.

“Another day, another injured third baseman”

Tony Abreu, who yesterday played in his first game after being out of action with an abdominal injury, now has a gluteus injury (a pain in the, well, you know)….Joe and Ned met this morning, and pursuing a 3B from outside the organization was discussed, but don’t look for it to happen until later in the spring, after all other options are explored — and those options DO include trying Delwyn Young and Chin-lung Hu at 3B.

From a Wall Street Journal article dated December 17, 2004:

Adrian Beltre ended his run with the Los Angeles Dodgers, rejecting a six-year, $60 million deal with additional incentives for five years and $64 million from the Seattle Mariners. That robs the Dodgers’ lineup of 48 home runs and 121 RBIs supplied from a player who’s just 25, and has already-annoyed fans hopping mad.

From an LA Times article dated Mar 12, 2000:

Unable to reach agreement on a multiyear deal, the Dodgers renewed Adrian Beltre’s contract Saturday, upsetting Beltre’s agent and further complicating a difficult situation.

Facing Saturday’s major league player-signing deadline, the Dodgers renewed Beltre’s contract at $330,000 this season. Beltre, who made $220,000 last season, was given a one-year salary higher than most second-year players have received from the team, but that didn’t satisfy [Scott] Boras.

Assisted by the Major League Players Assn., Boras is trying to have Beltre declared a free agent because the Dodgers violated major league rules by signing him before his 16th birthday. The commissioner’s office punished the Dodgers by forcing them to suspend operations in Beltre’s homeland of the Dominican Republic, but the club retained Beltre’s rights.

Gah! Looks like our potential starting 3rd baseman is down for the count. According to Tony Jackson:

[Andy LaRoche] has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb and will need surgery, which Ned said will take place in the next couple of days, probably in Los Angeles.

8-10 weeks is the word at the moment. Nomar’s been playing well, so thank goodness for that. Just have to figure out who the backup is.

On a nicer note, catcher Lucas May is getting some positive attention thanks to his performance this spring. We used to watch him catch 66ers games, so it’s awesome to see him get recognition.

Check out “Minor League Report: Lucas May” on MLB.com:

This is Lucas May’s first Major League camp and second Spring Training as a catcher, but he’s already starting to draw comparisons to Russell Martin.

Like Martin, May is a former infielder. Drafted as a shortstop, he was sent to the outfield before being moved behind the plate last year. He’s quickly become one of the best catching prospects in the organization, in part because of the power he showed while slugging 25 homers for Class A Inland Empire.

Another former 66er doing well is Ivan DeJesus Jr.:

Ivan DeJesus Jr. was plucked out of early Minor League camp to play in two Major League exhibition games, and he even started a split-squad game at shortstop when Rafael Furcal was nursing a strained hamstring. DeJesus went 2-for-3 with a double. He was a second-round Draft pick and is the son of former Dodger Ivan DeJesus.

We have a rule: never ignore players with Russian first names and Latino surnames.

Updated 3/9. Adding Kemp and Jones for comparison.

Player   TEAM POS  G AB R  H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS  AVG  SLG  OBP
J Pierre LAD  OF   8 28 2  7 1  0  0  0    8 1  1  4  0  .276 .286 .250
A Ethier LAD  OF  10 26 6  7 0  0  2  3   13 6  1  1  1  .406 .500 .269
M Kemp   LAD  OF   9 30 5 10 1  2  2  8   21 1  8  2  0  .333 .700 .355
A Jones  LAD  OF   9 24 4  4 1  0  1  2    8 6  8  1  0  .167 .333 .333

Small sample size warning.