Last Updated on March 16, 2008 1:24 pm by admin
VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Dodgers third baseman Nomar Garciaparra will be out of the lineup at least until the team’s Arizona Cactus League games begin Thursday.
With Andy LaRoche also out for the next two months following hand surgery last week, the Dodgers don’t have a true backup at third.
Garciaparra, who was hit by a pitch on his right wrist March 7, was expected to leave early for Arizona, where he would join the split-squad team that is returning from China.
Those players are scheduled to begin workouts in Phoenix on Monday. The rest of the team plays its last game in Florida on Tuesday.
“If it was during the season, he might be available, but he still has time,” bench coach Bob Schaefer said. “You don’t want something worse to happen to your hand, and there is still some tenderness in there.”
Minor leaguer Blake DeWitt has been manning third much of the time, but he was moved into big league camp just last week and is unlikely to make the team.
Schaefer said Tony Abreu can fill in at third when needed and could become a more vital factor with the injuries to Garciaparra, LaRoche and Jeff Kent. The second baseman has been out since pulling his hamstring March 5.
Abreu returned to the lineup at second base Sunday for the first time since March 7, his only game appearance before lingering effects from hernia surgery in October shut him down.
Kent played in a minor league game Saturday, then took the day off Sunday.