Hot corner a concern for the Dodgers

Published on March 30, 2008 by Paul Raymond · 1 Comment

Third base has turned into an area of concern for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team has already lost 3 of them during the course of spring training. Where does that leave them? With minor leaguer Blake DeWitt as their Opening Day third baseman, barring a last minute trade. I’m sure Dodgers fans are even going who the hell is DeWitt?

DeWitt played at AA – Jacksonville last season but only logged 168 plate appearances there, with a .281 avg 6 hr and 20 rbis. No doubt, the guy put up some decent numbers but with so little experience there the plan was to start him off there and let him to continue progress. General Manager Ned Colletti has conceded he won’t be an offensive threat at all but should play good enough defense to warrant him being at third till players start to return from injury. The Dodgers wounded include Nomar Garciaparra, Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu.

Due to the injuries the team has been exploring trade options. They’ve tried to contact the Houston Astros but were told Mark Loretta was unavailable. They’ve also contacted the Kansas City Royals regarding Esteban German. The Dodgers were willing to move pitchers Jonathan Meloan and Miguel Pinango for German, but the Royals held out and demanded Chin-Lung Hu. Thats a price the Dodgers weren’t willing to spend for a stop-gap third baseman. Especially, with German being more of a second baseman and Hu being a valuable back-up for the shortstop position.

This doesn’t look good for the Dodgers who have high hopes this season. The first one expected back is LaRoche but thats not till early May as he recovers from surgery on his right thumb. DeWitt did flash some power Saturday night homering off Jonathan Papelbon at the Colisseum, but don’t expect much of that yet from the 22-year old.