Dodger emergency at short

May 13, 2008   ·   Paul Raymond   ·   Jump to comments

The Los Angeles Dodgers infield has been ravaged by injuries so far this year. They were in such dire needs at third base, that AA prospect Blake DeWitt had to open the season as the teams guy. Now the team is being forced to go with Chin-Lung Hu at short stop. The reason? The team’s starting shortstop Rafael Furcal was placed on the 15-day disabled list before Monday’s game. There are reports that the team is actively looking for a veteran guy to play the position.

Furcal was placed on the DL due to a lower back injury. He recently had a cortisone shot in his sprained sacro-iliac joint. He’s eligible to come off the DL on May 21st but would definitely be experiencing lower back pain. With a sprained joint in the lower back, there is no idea how long he may be out for. Furcal suffered a similar injury last year and was forced to miss 12 games.

The team would love to find a veteran to play short, in case this winds up an extended DL stint. MLBTradeRumors.com suggests Andy Cannizaro as a possible replacement. If the team isn’t able to find another short stop by game time tonight, you could expect Luis Maza to be called up from AAA-Las Vegas where he is currently batting .402.

This injury hurts the Dodgers in more ways the one, offensively and defensively. The team lacks any real offensive threat as Furcal even leads the team in homeruns. But now, they’ll be hurt as they should lose Andre Ethier as well. Ethier isn’t hurt but manager Joe Torre would be more likely to start Juan Pierre in left field that way he can still have a lead-off hitter. The Dodgers better get some lights out pitching over the next 10 days, as they’ll be playing a lot of 2-1, 3-2 type games, most likely even a shutout or two.

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