One day after he was named opening day starter for the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw had back tightness that caused him to skip his scheduled bullpen session on Wednesday. The southpaw will not throw a bullpen session before Friday as a precaution. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com has more details.
Earlier in the day, manager Don Mattingly said as far as he knew the first day of workouts went smoothly but noted that he hadn't yet spoken with all the coaches and players. Mattingly even joked that the team made it through three sprints Wednesday without an injury, a reference to Dana Eveland, who pulled a hamstring while running on the first day of camp last year.
Kershaw first felt back stiffness during informal workouts last week, per Gurnick. The injury news comes on the same day that Mattingly was asked in the morning, prior to the team's first workout, if he was concerned of last year's workload for Kershaw, who threw a career-high 233 innings, 29 more than in 2010.
"i think he would probably fight us if we tried to change his routine now," Mattingly said. "We ask guys to try and find routines and stuck with them good or bad, kind of your blanket. Clayton's got his own routine, I'm sure it's worked for him. I'm not going to be the one that says 'Clayton, we need to change some things up here.'
"We know Clayton is young and has thrown a lot of innings, but we wouldn't do anything to jeopardize him. He's going to be taken care of like any of our guys."
Kershaw has pitched at least 200 innings in each of the last two seasons. The last Dodgers pitcher to throw 200 innings in three straight years was Orel Hershiser from 1985-1989.
Kershaw's first spring start will be March 9, per Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.
Ronald Belisario gave his first interview of spring training on Wednesday and even though he was nearly as elusive in person as he was while away all of last year, the relief pitcher dropped a bombshell. Belisario said he tested positive for cocaine, though he couldn't exactly remember when the test was administered.
The cocaine test is the reason Belisario was suspended by MLB for 25 games to start this season.
Asked if the positive cocaine test was the reason he couldn't get a visa in 2011, Belisario said he didn't know, a familiar response throughout the interview. The one thing Belisario was clear about was that he only used cocaine one time, and that he doesn't have a problem with any drugs.
Belisario said he did not undergo any treatment for his cocaine use, nor was cocaine use the reason for his treatment program in July 2010 that caused him to miss a month. In fact, Belisario wouldn't reveal exactly what that treatment program was for, only that it wasn't cocaine.
"That is in the past. I don't want to talk about it" Belisario said. "All of this is completely behind me."
The reliever arrived in the United States this year on January 23, the first time in four years he has showed up to spring training on time. Belisario played winter ball in Venezuela, but during the 2011 season he said he didn't follow the Dodgers much. During the summer of 2011 Belisario pitched semi-pro baseball in Venezuela, though when asked why he didn't pitch in the Venezuelan summer league the pitcher replied, "Because nobody told me about it."
Now back with the Dodgers, the mercurial Belisario is ready to move forward. "I'm so excited to be here. I was waiting for this moment when I was home," he said. The first game Belisario is able to pitch for the Dodgers during the regular season is May 2.
"It's not like he's a bad guy, or you don't like him," manager Don Mattingly said of Belisario on Tuesday. "But to this point he's been tough to count on."
Belisario said he switched agents in November, dumping Paul Kinzer for Rick Oliver, because of a lack of communication. But after just 10 minutes with the reliever, I would bet the communication problems between Belisario and his agent weren't all one-sided.
Catching up with some other spring training notes from the first day of camp at Camelback Ranch...
Matt Kemp said even if the Baseball Writers Association of America would re-vote for the 2011 National League Most Valuable Player if Ryan Braun's suspension gets upheld, Kemp wouldn't want to win the award that way. I wrote a little bit more about that at SB Nation LA.
Kemp's session also provided two of the funniest moments of day one, as he set a goal of 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases for himself for 2012. When asked if that goal was a little high, Kemp playfully chided Tony Jackson of ESPN LA for predicting Kemp would not reach his 40/40 goal in 2011. "I was right," Jackson replied, to laughter.
The other moment of levity came when it was suggested that Kemp, with his new $160 million contract, could join one of the ownership groups vying for the Dodgers. When told that the purchase price for the franchise could be as high as $2 billion, Kemp was shocked and quipped, "I thought I was rich."
Tony Gwynn Jr. is also in camp early (position players report next Monday, February 27) and had great news to report regarding his father. Tony Gwynn Sr. underwent a 14-hour surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his cheek last week, and is home now recovering. Gwynn Jr. said his father is in good spirits, and that he plans to return to managing the San Diego State baseball team in a month, though Gwynn the younger noted a more realistic timetable might be two months.
Jerry Sands doesn't necessarily need to win an everyday spot in the lineup to make the opening day roster, but Mattingly said he needs to have a certain number of plate appearances to justify a spot on the big league roster, as the club wants Sands to play nearly every day. While Mattingly shied away from committing to a plan of sitting Andre Ethier and Loney against southpaws, the manager said that figuring out a way to get Sands enough at-bats will be one of his projects in camp.
Don Mattingly said Dee Gordon was his leadoff man and Kemp would bat third, but that the rest of the lineup is not yet fully decided. Mattingly said Ethier would likely hit cleanup against right-handed pitchers and that Juan Rivera could hit cleanup against lefties. Mattingly said Mark Ellis will get the first shot at batting second,though Mattingly wouldn't mind James Loney or even Sands hitting in the second spot in the lineup.
Mattingly would have been fine with a platoon of A.J. Ellis and Rod Barajas at catcher for 2012, but the plan changed when Barajas signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mattingly said Ellis "has always been an on-base guy" and that he was the type of player he would never want to sell short given his work ethic. Mattingly compared Ellis to Jamey Carroll in that "you don't appreciate him until you see him every day." Ellis will be the everyday catcher, as Mattingly described Matt Treanor's role as that of a true backup, more like Brad Ausmus in 2009-2010.
The backup shortstop will be Jerry Hairston Jr., as Mattingly wants to keep Juan Uribe at third base. Should Dee Gordon go down for any extended period of time, the club would turn to Justin Sellers.
Steve Yeager was at Dodgers camp today as well. Though he won't travel with the team during the season, longtime Dodgers catcher will work with L.A. backstops this season while the team is at home.
Ron Cey is also expected to show up to Camelback Ranch at some point this spring to provide instruction during camp.
Pitchers throwing bullpen sessions on Wednesday and every other day through Sunday: Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, Jamey Wright, Fernando Nieve, Chris Withrow, Josh Lindblom, Michael Antonini, Ryan Tucker, Ronald Belisario, Scott Rice, Wil Ledezma, Angel Guzman, Jose Ascanio, and Shane Lindsay. The other 16 healthy pitchers in camp (not counting Rubby De La Rosa and Blake Hawksworth) will throw bullpens on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday. Ted Lilly was originally scheduled in the first group but will be out a few days as his wife gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday, Nora Grace Lilly.
Just as the 2011 season ended for the Dodgers, Javy Guerra is the closer with Kenley Jansen as setup man as 2012 spring training camp opens. Guerra excelled as a rookie in 2011, making the jump from Double A Chattanooga to the back end of the Dodgers bullpen, striking out 38 in 47 innings with a 2.31 ERA while converting 21 of 23 save opportunities. Jansen meanwhile set a major league record by striking out 16.1 batters per nine innings and was nearly unhittable in the last four months of the season, allowing two runs and 10 hits over his final 31 appearances.
"Javy, to me, didn't do anything last year to say he shouldn't be that guy," manager Don Mattingly said on Tuesday. "More than anything, Kenley was saying 'Hey I can do that too' by the way he pitched. It's a good problem for us to have."
"Javy has been here one year," said Mattingly. "It's a competition, you still have to perform. There have been a lot of guys in their first year were really good and struggled the next year. Kenley was a perfect example, as he wasn't himself [to start 2011] that he was the year before. It took him a half a season with little problems here and there, and he was in the minors for a little bit, but next thing you know he emerged back to what we had seen the year before."
Both Guerra and Jansen aren't concerned about their roles, especially six weeks before opening day.
"I don't worry about that stuff. Overall I think we have tons of arms in here, and my goal is to just throw strikes," Guerra said, though he did note that he takes pride in closing games. Guerra didn't play winter ball this offseason for the first time in his career, at the request of Dodgers management.
"Bottom line is [who is closing] doesn't matter," said Jansen, whose locker at Camelback Ranch is two stalls from Guerra, which made for good humor as both men answered questions about their relative roles within earshot of the other. "The eighth inning is just like the ninth inning. When the game is close, you just have to focus to close it out."
When Jansen was asked if he wanted to close, he said, "Yes, but I'm not going to stress and worry about it. I'm going to go out there whenever they want me to and get stuff done and help the team to win."
Jansen said he has no recurring problems from the cardiac arrhythmia that sidelined him for a month last season, noting that he has just had to watch his diet, which was a challenge with his mother's home cooking during the offseason.
Even though Jansen is not his closer for now, Mattingly is still enamored with his flame-throwing right-hander, adding, "With Kenley, you feel like you can kind of do anything."
Here are some more bullpen notes from the first day of camp:
Dodgers pitchers and catchers reported to Camelback Ranch on Tuesday, and the first piece of news from camp was the least surprising of all. Clayton Kershaw, reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, will start opening day for the Dodgers on April 5 in San Diego.
Manager Don Mattingly informed Kershaw of the decision on Monday, and said there was also a possibility of Kershaw pitching the Dodgers' home opener on April 10 as well, as the Dodgers have an off day in between starts.
Asked what how he thought Kershaw could improve on last season, one of the best pitching campaigns in Dodgers history, Mattingly said he is just looking for consistency and for all of his players to try and continue to get better.
"Basically every time he pitches, the team he is pitching against knows they are facing one of the best pitchers in the game and last year the best pitcher in the game," Mattingly said. "He'll have more people tugging and wanting him to do this, that, or the other, and he's going to have to make sure he stays in balance to keep himself right."
Kershaw, who said for now his Cy Young Award sits on a table in his home while he figures out a place to put it, was happy to hear the news but downplayed it, saying he didn't care when he pitched but that it was nice to have something to look forward to.
In what could be described as a nod to BABIP and xFIP (Okay, maybe that was a reach) Mattingly noted that while Kershaw and Matt Kemp could improve this season, a little bad luck could affect their numbers.
"Clayton could go out and pitch better, and not have as many wins. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Matt falls into that too. He could go out and train the same way all winter long, come with the same attitude, work as hard, and the ball doesn't drop. Things may not fall his way."
Mattingly would not commit to the order of his starting rotation after Kershaw.
Kershaw said he would like improve his changeup this season, thought he also noted that he has tried to develop that pitch for years.
"It's been hard for me. I tried about ever different way. I definitely made some improvements last year with it," Kershaw said. "Some things come quicker than others, and the changeup is not one of those things. I'll just continue to work on it and not get frustrated with it."
When asked how he could improve on his 2011 season, Kershaw offered a simple and succinct answer that Burgess Meredith would love: "Win."
Catching up on a few Dodgers-related items...
I think this has been posted elsewhere before, but here is a look at the Don Drysdale / Maury Wills bobblehead commemorating the 1962 Cy Young and NL MVP winners, to be given away at Dodger Stadium on April 28:
The Dodgers will hold a FanFest from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 19, before their game at Dodger Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals. From the Dodgers:
FanFest will feature autograph sessions with current and former Dodger players, question and answer sessions with Dodger players and coaches and family-friendly games and activities. Entry is included in the price of a game ticket for that day. Several Dodger sponsors and broadcast partners will be on hand to help celebrate with various giveaways and promotions.
Fox released its 2012 MLB schedule, which features four Dodgers Saturday games:
The Hong-Chih Kuo era with the Dodgers officially ended on Monday, as the southpaw relief pitcher signed a major league deal with the Seattle Mariners. Kuo, who is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow in October, will receive a base salary $500,000, plus bonuses of up to $2.5 million, per Peter Wang of ETTV. Kuo will make $1 million if he makes the Mariners' 25-man roster.
Kuo will wear number 32 with the Mariners, a number already forever claimed in Los Angeles by Kuo-fax.
In other old friend news from Monday...
In other Dodgers-related news...
The Dodgers and Chicago White Sox on Thursday finalized plans to play an exhibition game on Friday, March 23 in Tucson to benefit the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation. The game will be played at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium at 1:05 p.m., and all proceeds go to the foundation, established by the family of Green, one of the victims of a shooting in Tucson on January 8, 2011.
The event was planned to raise money for the victims and families affected by that shooting. The Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks played a game last spring in Tucson, on March 25, 2011 to raise money for the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation.
Green is the daughter of Dodgers scout and national cross-checker John Green, who said, "The beneficiary for this game, the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial Foundation, will give back to the local community that gave so much to us. Christina-Taylor’s wishes and our mission statement are to help those less fortunate in the areas of education, the arts, sports and leadership programs to enrich our children’s lives."
The Dodgers have a split squad that Friday, also playing a game against the Kansas City Royals in Surprise, Arizona.
Individual tickets go on sale on February 15, and can be purchased online at tusconpadres.com, as the stadium is also the home of the Triple A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
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