No, I wouldn't start Guzman's clock in this situation. But yeah, any of the AAAA types is what I'm thinking. The point is to take the opportunity to have another option before you send Jeff Weaver in to pinch run, or before you let Kelly Wunsch bat for himself.

Maybe Thurston or Chen can start their annual Southwest Airlines shuttle to LA early this year.

Are pinch running with Weaver + Wunsch batting for himself really worse than not having another arm - any arm - in case these place-holders in the bullpen really get hit hard?

I have a goal to one day write a piece about the Dodgers using only lines from Best in Show.

Chen and Thurston were DA'd during the off season. They can't come back to the bigs until mid-May. That's still about 5 weeks away.

See the March 4th, 2005 entry....

I want a man I can trust putting someone in that bullpen. I don't want Jim Tracy coming out of there with just Steve Schmoll in his hands!

kind of OT but, henson has a piece in tomorrow's times about milton bradley, a relatively sympathetic one. here's a refreshing quote which not many of us would have expected to see in the LAT sports section:

*Bradley's appreciation for the seemingly limitless support from McCourt, Tracy and General Manager Paul DePodesta has grown with time.

"They see deeper," he said. "They look at the heart."*

imagine that! stat boy looks at the heart!

The Dodgers enter Tuesday's game with Weaver plus seven relievers, all of whom have at least one day's rest: Dessens, Brazoban, Sanchez, Wunsch, Carlyle, Schmoll and Carrara. That's eight total pitchers for what in all likelihood is a nine-inning game. Even if it goes extra, think how long it would be before you exhausted that crew. Meanwhile, an extra bat could help you end the game before it even got that far.

Plus - for what it's worth, the top-hitting pitcher, Weaver, is obviously not available to pinch-hit in this game.

If you have seven medicore relievers, is the solution to add a reliever who is worse than the previous seven? Or to try to augment your offense, baserunning or fielding?

I can almost guarantee if you do go extra innings, you'll run out of position players with the current roster before you run out of pitchers.

Last Saturday, all Tracy had left was a worn out Wunsch, after using six relievers. If you have to manage that way,is it better to have a pitcher pinch hit, or a pinch hitter try to pitch?

Do you think management sees Perez as just a cheap backup for a few years or do they think he will develop into something more?

If Weaver has another solid start, then the bullpen will mostly have two days rest, minimum for Perez on Wednesday. He went over the estimated pitch count last week, but I am still a little nervous about how long he can go.

I wouldn't be opposed to putting Carlyle on the first flight to Vegas. But I don't see where it's that big a deal either. If I called up anyone it would be Robles, but I wonder if he and/or his Mexican League team would even agree to a callup that was likely to last only a few days.

"The Dodgers spent $20 million to renovate Dodger Stadium, but one of the most significant changes didn't cost a penny: more organ music. Fans attending today's home opener against the San Francisco Giants can expect to hear more of organist Nancy Bea Hefley and less of the recorded rock music that last season became the norm between innings.

'We're going to turn the volume down and keep it diverse,' director of marketing Drew McCourt said of the musical selection.
..
Drew McCourt said stadium officials would lower the volume of a sound system that in some areas is 'deafeningly loud.'"

On the other hand, there is no sense in wasting an option year on someone that you have no plans on using this year.

If the Dodgers are going to recall a catcher from LV, it will be Mike Rose, an experienced catcher and good hitter whom they presumably acquired for situations exactly like this one.

Anyway, I basically agree with the extra bat being better, except. I think Tracy is right to put people in all kinds of different situations and basically say "OK, show me what you got." The bullpen, even with Gagne's return, still needs to be figured out sooner rather than later... and God forbid, what if Gagne or Penny don't return all that soon.

Plus, better to play around with these "place holders" against an easy team like the Giants. :-)

In a perfect world, Repko/Schmoll/Houlton show enough promise to be trade bait so DePo can "sell high" when Werth/Penny/Alvarez return from the DL.

Does this outing ease the bullpen confidence situation a little?