Sunday, May 31, 2009

Stults' sprained thumb will cost him a DL visit

The sore left thumb of Eric Stults has gone from bad to worse, and it will now land him a spot on the 15-day DL. In his place, the Dodgers have called up Double-A reliever Travis Schlichting.

After watching Stults' start on Saturday against the Cubs, it was obvious that his thumb was not doing himself or his team any favors. Like he said, it starts off fine, but as the game goes on and it stiffens up, it's pretty much useless. He's been an effective starter, so the rest will do him some good.

Schlichting is an unknown, but he's been great in the minors this year. In Chattanooga, he's given up only one earned run in 13 2/3 innings, good for an ERA of 0.66. Opponents are hitting .146 against him. Throw in 12 strikeouts, and that's some great stuff right there.

Keep in mind, Hiroki Kuroda will be brought off the DL Monday, so somebody has to go. I'm still under the assumption that it will be catcher A.J. Ellis, as that was the original plan. Unless something changes, that's what will happen.

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