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The 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers have played fewer than 15 games, but it’s never too early to look ahead toward the trade deadline.

President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Farhan Zaidi were not shy about tinkering with the roster during the offseason. So it would not be surprising to see midseason deals unfold as the schedule progresses.

While the team currently appears to be set at most positions, there are a few players who might represent intriguing trade chips come July or sooner.

Zach Lee

Zach Lee entered last season as the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect, but his stock tumbled due to struggles at Triple-A.

He began 2015 ranked No. 6, behind pitchers Julio Urias and Grant Holmes, according to the team’s website.

Lee’s name has been tossed around the organization ever since Los Angeles pried him away from Louisiana State University with a record signing bonus after the team drafted him 28th overall in 2010.

Despite the lucrative signing bonus, Lee has failed to make a significant impression during his first four years in the minors (32-35 combined record with an ERA hovering around 4).

The Dodgers are now understandably more excited about Urias, a recent Texas League Player of the Week, and Holmes, their first-round pick in last year’s draft.

Lee, who projects as a middle-of-the-rotation starter, is off to a 2-0 start at Triple-A this season. He has struck out 13 in 12 innings while walking just two—a past bugaboo.

If Lee can continue to maintain these kinds of ratios, he would certainly be a candidate to include in a future trade. Teams usually want prospects at the trade deadline, and there doesn’t seem to be a spot for Lee at the major-league level.

The emergence of Urias and Holmes will potentially make it easier for the team to part ways with Lee.

Andre Ethier

For the second straight season, veteran outfielder Andre Ethier and his $18 million salary will spend most nights watching the action from the bench.

Rookie Joc Pederson beat out Ethier, 33, for the starting center field job. When healthy, Yasiel Puig is firmly entrenched in right field, while Carl Crawford and Scott Van Slyke are the two primary options in left field.

Nick Cafardo recently gave his thoughts on the situation in an update for The Boston Globe:

Not sure how a $16 million-a-year player can be sitting on the bench for the first three games of the season, but that’s what happened to Ethier. The Dodgers are all ears about a deal, offering help on the remaining $57 million of Ethier’s contract, but no bites. And it’s always tough to deal a guy who isn’t playing regularly.

It’s true. The Dodgers offered to eat half of Ethier’s bloated paycheck in an effort to move the career .285 hitter, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

Although Ethier has received more playing time than usual in the early going as Puig nurses a hamstring injury, he still remains a fringe contributor in Los Angeles. His .259 average in 11 games does not inspire much confidence, but it at least showcases his abilities as an everyday player to potential suitors.

The Dodgers almost sent Ethier to the Arizona Diamondbacks over the winter, but the deal fell through at the last minute, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Ethier is in the third season of a five-year, $85-million contract extension.

Alex Guerrero

Another member of the team seeking more playing time is Alex Guerrero.

The Dodgers signed the Cuban defector to a four-year, $28-million contract following the 2013 season. He spent most of last season in the minor leagues, and was limited to fewer than 350 total at-bats—in large part because of a dugout fight in which teammate Miguel Olivo bit off his ear. He finished the season batting .329 with 15 home runs at Triple-A.

Entering 2015 without a position, Guerrero made the Opening Day roster as a backup third baseman. A stipulation in his contract allowed him to refuse another demotion to the minors, and so far Guerrero has justified his presence on the roster. He is 5-for-14 with two home runs and eight RBI on the young season.

The Dodgers’ starting third baseman is Juan Uribe, however, who is finishing the final year of his contract. The veteran led all National League third basemen with at least 850 innings in defensive runs saved last season and Los Angeles values his leadership as well. Guerrero is still learning how to play the position, and has been relegated to pinch-hitting duties when Uribe is healthy.

What’s more, the Dodgers recently won the bidding war for fellow Cuban defector Hector Olivera, signing him to a six-year, $62.5-million contract, per Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. Olivera appears to be the heir apparent at the hot corner.

With backup infielder Justin Turner also in the picture, Guerrero may be expendable. Much like Ethier, the Dodgers could focus on showcasing Guerrero’s talents in an attempt to boost his trade value.

The potential is clearly there, but the playing time is not. If manager Don Mattingly sprinkles in more starting opportunities for Guerrero, the 28-year-old might accumulate the stats necessary to warrant league-wide attention in advance of the trade deadline.

“The team does not know what they are going to do, but all I can control is keep working hard and they will get the final word,” Guerrero said, per Sanchez.

All statistics courtesy of FanGraphs unless otherwise linked/noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up Week 1 of the 2015 season with mixed results, splitting six games against fellow National League West opponents.

It was a roller-coaster ride of emotions, with several exciting moments peppered with the sobering reminders that some old wounds may still need tourniquets.

The sample size is undeniably small, but here are the three main takeaways from the first week of Dodger baseball.

Clayton Kershaw Hasn’t Found His Rhythm

Through his first two starts in 2015, the reigning National League MVP has looked like anything but the pitcher who took home his third Cy Young Award last season.

Kershaw got the Opening Day nod at Dodger Stadium against the San Diego Padres. He came away with a no-decision after making 99 pitches in just six innings and allowed three earned runs. It wasn’t a terrible start but certainly below the standard Kershaw has set for himself during the past several years.

Surely the offseason rust would have crumbled away by his second start?

Not quite.

The Arizona Diamondbacks torched the southpaw for 10 hits and five earned runs in less than seven innings at Chase Field. Kershaw couldn’t avoid a decision on Saturday night, suffering the loss to begin the season 0-1.

“Basically, I got blasted today,” Kershaw said, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t know what else to say.”

Kershaw has already allowed eight earned runs on the young season. He didn’t surrender his eighth earned run until May 17 last year—coincidentally against the same Diamondbacks team at Chase Field during what would end up being his worst start of the season.

Kershaw will take on the Colorado Rockies in a home start this Friday.

Adrian Gonzalez Is Locked In

The Dodgers are going to need Adrian Gonzalez to hold down the middle of the lineup more than ever now that Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez are gone.

So far, the veteran first baseman hasn’t disappointed.

He’s recorded a hit in every game this season, including five home runs during the season-opening series against San Diego—the team for which he belted 161 long balls from 2006-2010.

The highlight of the week was Gonzalez’s three-homer game last Wednesday. The Padres’ starting pitcher, Andrew Cashner, served up each dose of the trifecta—the first of Gonzalez’s career.

“I was able to run into three fastballs and I thank God they were able to go over the fence,” said Gonzalez, per ESPN Los Angeles’ Mark Saxon. “It’s definitely right up there as a personal feat.”

The three home runs piggy-backed another one he had hit late in the previous game, making it four consecutive plate appearances that ended with a long ball.

All five of Gonzalez’s home runs this year have landed beyond the right field fence, illustrating a recent trend of pulling his round-trippers rather than sending them to the opposite field.

Gonzalez’s performance wasn’t solely about the power surge, though. According to Ace of MLB Stats, he also became the first player in the last decade to open a season with at least three hits in his team’s first three games.

While none of Gonzalez’s four hits over the weekend left the yard, the 32-year-old still enters Tuesday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners with a robust .556 average (15-for-27), four doubles and seven RBI.

Bullpen Concerns Remain

A winter removed from ranking 22nd in bullpen ERA, 20th in FIP and 27th in walk rate, the Dodgers bullpen is once again struggling to begin the 2015 season.

Determined to solidify a shaky situation, new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi decided to clean house over the winter. They severed ties with Brian Wilson and made trades to bring in right-handers Joel Peralta, Juan Nicasio and Chris Hatcher.

With closer Kenley Jansen out for at least a few more weeks as he recovers from foot surgery, the Dodgers have turned to a bullpen by committee.

Hatcher recorded the save on Opening Day but retired just one of the next nine batters he faced over two appearances—ballooning his ERA to 33.75 in the process. Peralta has since assumed closing duties and has yet to allow a run.

Although Peralta has turned in serviceable work so far, the 39-year-old has just 14 career saves in 561 innings pitched. Continued reliance on him in the ninth inning may eventually cost the Dodgers, who must patiently wait for Jansen to return.

Left-hander J.P. Howell, one of the few holdovers from last season, began the season by allowing a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning last Tuesday. After pitching a scoreless inning the next day, he then took a loss in Arizona by surrendering a walk-off single in the 10th inning on Friday.

Los Angeles relievers, whose combined 3.60 ERA ranks 21st in baseball, have been directly responsible for two of the team’s three losses.

“We’ll just play it out,” said Mattingly, per NBC Los Angeles’ Michael Duarte. “You’ll have to stay tuned. It’s a fluid situation.”

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.

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Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig suffered a hamstring injury. He was ruled out of the lineup against the Seattle Mariners on April 14, and it is unclear when he will be available to return.

Continue for updates. 

Puig Out vs. Mariners

Tuesday, April 14

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reported Puig would miss the Dodgers’ game against the Mariners on Tuesday with a hamstring injury. Shaikin previously noted Puig suffered from hamstring tightness on Monday.

Even though the Dodgers have a loaded roster, their outfield isn’t as strong as it used to be. Puig is the clear standout with Matt Kemp in San Diego. Carl Crawford has had moments but isn’t what he used to be. Andre Ethier is best used as a platoon player. Joc Pederson is loaded with talent but is still a rookie who will face growing pains. 

Puig‘s ability to get on base, hit for power and create plays with his legs make him valuable to the lineup. The Dodgers may not need to score a lot of runs with their pitching staff, but if they have to do so without their dynamic playmaker for any length of time, things could turn sour in a hurry.  

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In news that comes as a body blow to baseball and American sports at large, Yasiel Puig says he plans to cut back drastically on the trademark bat flips fans have come to know and love him for.

The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder told the Los Angeles Times‘ Dylan Hernandez his bat-flipping detente comes as a response to those who perceive his habit of tossing away the lumber after a long hit as disrespectful.

“I want to show American baseball that I’m not disrespecting the game,” Puig said in Spanish. “… I don’t [flip my bat] because I lack respect. I do that because of the emotions I have.”

The Cuban defector showed fans his new, flip-less side on Monday after homering in the Dodgers’ 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners. He held the bat out for a flip through force of habit but elected to drop the wood at his side. 

It’s absurd that Puig—a player in a league that deals with rampant PED usage, petty plunk battles and drunk driving issues on a consistent basis—would feel guilt over his preferred method of discarding a bat. That he’s going out of his way to conform to a vocal minority is either a testament to his own desire to please baseball snobs or additional evidence that baseball is a sport that forgot it was a sport.

There are bigger threats to the “sanctity of the game” than a young ballplayer upending his bat in a fit of joy, and, unsurprisingly, fans of Puig and the bat flip are already rallying for its return to his repertoire. 

Sarah Wexler, a Dodgers fan and bat-flip enthusiast, has gone as far as making a Change.org petition asking for Puig to “ignore the haters and batflip your heart out.”

Wexler writes that bat-flipping is the gift that keeps on giving, and the joyless purists who decry the practice make it all the more satisfying.

Batflipping is exciting. It’s entertaining. It’s harmless (well, except to those with fragile egos). For some reason, fogies who hate fun hate batflips, which in turn makes them even more fun. …

You know who disrespects the game? People who believe that “respect” for the game means players should all be stiff, emotionless and, well, entirely uninteresting. People who insist that there’s one right way to do things and, in effect, erase the many different baseball cultures throughout the world.

On the bright side, Puig says he may still flip his bat on occasion, if the moment is big enough.

“If it’s a big home run or if I’m frustrated because I couldn’t connect in my previous at-bats or if I drive in important runs for my team, I might do it,” Puig said. “You never know. I can’t say I won’t do it.”

Do it, Puig. I don’t care if it’s on a dribbler to the pitcher—you grip that bat and flip it up into the troposphere. Baseball needs it.

Dan is on Twitter. Don’t be held down by The Man, Yasiel.

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After winning the NL West each of the last two seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers head into 2015 as the clear favorites in the division. They are an excellent team—projected to win 91 games by FanGraphs—and are chock-full of exciting storylines and impact players who are fun to watch.

I have detailed the players and stories that I believe to be the most exciting. Whether it be the on-field product or the off-field decision-making, everything is working for the Dodgers right now. It is an exciting time to be a Dodgers fan.

Begin Slideshow

For as wonderful as the World Series was, the three-and-a-half months that immediately followed were just as mesmerizing. 

Armed with new front offices, and/or money and/or a directive to get instantly better before spring training, several clubs aggressively went about this last offseason with a makeover in mind.

The hot stove season was a blur of wheeling, dealing and one blockbuster acquisition after another. It started before the winter meetings, punched into overdrive once they started in San Diego in early December and finished off with a record-setting contract for the top free agent on the market, Max Scherzer, the completion of a stunning franchise transformation with James Shields’ signing with the Padres, and a record signing bonus for an international free agent, Yoan Moncada.

But for all the impressive moves that went down last offseason, there was one renovation that will produce the best results in 2015 and well beyond. The Los Angeles Dodgers not only made moves to get better on the field for this coming season, but the men in charge of making them—president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, senior vice president of baseball ops Josh Byrnes and general manager Farhan Zaidi—were also part of the franchise makeover that will pay dividends on and off the diamond.

“We obviously traded away some very good players tonight,” Friedman told reporters at a late-night press conference after trading Matt Kemp to San Diego at the winter meetings, part of his nine trades in his first 25 days at the helm. “But we feel with the totality of the moves, we made ourselves a better team.”

Not all the moves were met with complete praise. Dealing Kemp was a shock to the fanbase and what the Dodgers had become over the last six seasons, but it was a necessary move to clear the logjam in the outfield and, according to the front office, improve the clubhouse dynamic.

The overhaul was done decisively and with specific goals in mind. Friedman and Co. wanted to gain future payroll flexibility, which they did by moving Kemp’s expensive, long-term contract and acquiring expiring contracts in Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick to go with the expiring contract of Juan Uribe. They also wanted to eliminate the elephant in the corner of the clubhouse, one that created tension at times and uneasiness at others.

Trading Kemp and allowing Hanley Ramirez to leave via free agency meant getting rid of two alpha male personalities, one who dominated one corner and another who dominated the complete opposite corner of the team’s recently remodeled clubhouse.

“That was the most eye-opening thing,” catcher A.J. Ellis told CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman a few weeks ago. “For people allegedly only concerned about computer printouts, they’re taking a serious look at the character of people and what kind of culture they’re creating here.”

There was an on-the-field mandate as well. The Kemp trade that brought in catcher Yasmani Grandal and made way for center field prospect Joc Pederson, along with the acquisitions of shortstop Rollins and second baseman Kendrick, was done with defense in mind, specifically improving it.

Those moves could give the Dodgers one of the best up-the-middle defenses in the National League, starting with Grandal, who is also a massive offensive upgrade from Ellis. Rollins and Kendrick are also significant defensive spikes in the middle infield over Ramirez and Dee Gordon, who the Dodgers traded to the Miami Marlins, which eventually turned into the deal for Kendrick. Pederson is regarded as the best defensive outfielder in the organization as well as being a 30-30 guy at Class AAA Albuquerque.

The front office also filled out the rotation with Brandon McCarthy, who they believe can be a premium No. 4 starter now that he is out of Arizona and using his entire repertoire of pitches, and they attempted to redo a bullpen that was the team’s Achilles’ heel last year.

Guggenheim Baseball Management, the ownership group that features president Stan Kasten and figurehead Magic Johnson, took the first sledgehammer swing this offseason, luring Friedman and removing former GM Ned Colletti. Friedman then brought in Byrnes and Zaidi, along with scouting director Billy Gasparino and farm director Gabe Kapler.

Those men then sledged their way into making a 94-win club and two-time defending division champion better. Between the foul lines and behind closed doors, the Dodgers found a way to improve themselves.

In a sport where there are guaranteed contracts and no salary cap, front offices matter to an infinite degree. And where they grab headlines from Oakland to San Diego to Chicago to Boston, the Dodgers might have assembled the best of the bunch.

Congrats to Andrew Friedman, Farhan Zaidi, Josh Byrnes, Gabe Kapler and Billy Gasparino #Dodgers #PowerHouseFrontOffice

— Jim Bowden (@JimBowden_ESPN) November 7, 2014

So when star players on the current roster exceed their prime and are no longer the best of the best, the Dodgers have positioned themselves for continued success. Wise, experienced, analytical and ridiculously aggressive, this front office has made the Dodgers’ overhaul the best in baseball.

And it will make it the best going beyond next October. 

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by the author. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.

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As spring training nears a close for MLB teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers can start to focus their attention on Opening Day.

Besides a completely new front office, half of the infield and about 40 percent of the starting rotation will feature new faces, ones the Dodgers have entrusted to carry the team back to the top of the National League West and beyond.

Fans heard about the metrics all winter, and now they have finally seen the players on the field instead of on a sheet of paper or computer screen. There have been relatively few disappointments at Camelback Ranch so far as the team molds itself into shape for the real deal.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Dodgers in advance of their first game of the season on April 6 against the San Diego Padres.

Begin Slideshow

Most people wouldn’t identify the San Diego Padres as a rival of the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite their proximity in Southern California.  

The Dodgers are the big bullies of the West Coast, free-spending Goliaths who look up to no one—except maybe their true rivals to the north, the San Francisco Giants and their trio of trophies. 

But the Padres? Please.

Hang on, though. It’s possible LA is finally hearing San Diego’s footsteps. The Padres, after all, had a busy offseason, upgrading an already-strong rotation by signing James Shields and completely overhauling a moribund offense.

On Tuesday, the Dodgers responded by signing Cuban import Hector Olivera to a six-year, $62.5 million deal, per Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com.

No, it isn’t a gargantuan contract by Los Angeles’ lofty standards, but it’s a sizable chunk of change to toss at a 29-year-old with health concerns, including possible damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm, per Yahoo Sports‘ Jeff Passan. (Olivera’s inner circle “vehemently denied” that report, per Baseball America‘s Ben Badler.)

Could the fact that the Friars were among Olivera’s rumored suitors, per CBS Sports‘ Jon Heyman, have forced the Dodgers’ hand?

They’d never admit it publicly, of course. And LA is the favorite in the National League West, with or without Olivera.

Still, it’s easy to imagine President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman looking down the freeway at the retooled Pads and wanting another weapon in his arsenal, just in case.

Olivera won’t make an immediate big-league impact. Passan guesses he’ll need at least a month in the minors to get ready, not to mention a lingering visa issue. 

Plus, the Dodgers are set at the moment in the infield, with Jimmy Rollins at short, Howie Kendrick at second and Juan Uribe at third. (Mark Uribe down as the most likely to be supplanted.)

When he does arrive at Dodger Stadium, Olivera will bring plenty of potential. In 133 games between 2011 and 2013, he hit 24 home runs to go along with 80 RBI for Santiago de Cuba of the Cuban National Series. In the 2011 campaign, arguably his best, he posted a gaudy .341/.462/.626 slash line.

More recently, Sanchez reports, Olivera “wowed scouts in open showcases and private workouts in the Dominican Republic last month, underscoring the notion that he can hit at least 15 to 20 home runs and drive in 75 runs from the middle of a lineup in what would be his rookie year.”

If that happens, Olivera would join countryman Yasiel Puig to form a legitimate Cuban power duo, elevating LA’s offense from great to next-level deadly.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. Not every Cuban slugger takes the league by storm, something the Dodgers understand firsthand.

In 2013, LA inked infielder Alex Guerrero to a four-year, $28 million pact and watched him spend most of last season in Triple-A.

But there is an immediate benefit to this deal: The Dodgers kept Olivera away from the rival Padres. That’s right, we said it. 

Led by new general manager A.J. Preller, San Diego had by far the biggest offseason of any NL West club and arguably the busiest winter in baseball. 

“They’ve been aggressive,” Friedman told USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale in December. “When A.J. got hired, I think the expectation was they would get aggressive. And they have.”

As if to put a punctuation mark on it, the Padres acquired Matt Kemp from the Dodgers (which, admittedly, pokes a hole in the bitter-rivalry theory). Surely the hair-rending possibility of Kemp mashing in a new town has at least crossed the minds of the Dodgers’ brain trust.

Time will tell if Olivera is the next big thing, another over-hyped international flame-out or, more likely, somewhere in the middle.

For now, one thing is abundantly clear: The Dodgers hear the Padres coming, and they’re picking up the pace.

All statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have reportedly reached an agreement to sign Cuban second baseman Hector Olivera to a six-year, $62.5 million deal with a $28 million signing bonus.

Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com first reported Tuesday morning that a deal was in place:

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times confirmed the report. 

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported the contract includes a clause that would give the Dodgers a seventh season at $1 million, should Olivera need Tommy John surgery. Sanchez reported on a the potential reason this cause was included: 

Olivera, who will turn 30 on April 5, has long been a standout in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He has displayed good power for a middle infielder to go along with solid speed and defense. He’s a well-rounded player capable of making an instant impact at the MLB level.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports discussed the team’s plans for Olivera:

There have been lingering questions about his health, though.

In February, Ben Badler of Baseball America reported on why Olivera missed an entire season of action in Cuba. He noted a blood clot in Olivera’s left biceps was the likely cause, with the second baseman saying he always gets asked about it.

“Everybody asks,” Olivera said, per Badler. “It’s the same things they ask.”

Then in early March, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported there was concern among interested teams that the free agent had injured the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm:

Serious concern exists that Cuban infielder Hector Olivera has a damaged ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm, potentially hindering the market for a free agent who many expected to contribute in the major leagues this season, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Assuming he receives a clean bill of health, the process of getting Olivera ready for regular-season action should begin immediately. Since he’s getting a late start, it’s unknown exactly when he’ll be deemed ready to make his debut.

The outlook from a pure baseball perspective is promising. Obviously, he’s already in his peak years. As opposed to some younger players, who arrive raw but full of potential, Olivera is far more polished and ready to play.

There will likely be a transition period at the outset. But once he gets settled in, he can provide some nice pop while probably hitting somewhere between the fifth and seventh spots in the lineup.

Given the question marks surrounding his health, it’s a signing that does come with risk. It could pay off quite nicely if the issues don’t impact him moving forward, though.

Olivera is a mystery, but one the Dodgers were willing to take a chance on.

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Suddenly, a prominent Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander is dealing with a shoulder injury that won’t be going away for a while.

But don’t worry. It’s not that prominent Dodgers lefty. For that matter, this is a situation hardly worth worrying about at all.

The lefty in question is Hyun-Jin Ryu. As reported by Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, the stiffness that the 27-year-old first felt in his left shoulder last Wednesday seemed to be cleared up by an anti-inflammatory injection, but resurfaced when he resumed throwing on Sunday.

With only two weeks now to go until Opening Day, that makes Ryu a no-go for the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster. And on the surface, it’s definitely a bad look.

This means the Dodgers are going to be without a pitcher who owns a 3.17 ERA and a 3.8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in two seasons. He’s no Clayton Kershaw, but Ryu has quietly been one of the National League‘s better left-handers.

Also, there’s the state of the Dodgers staff beyond Ryu.

Neither Brandon McCarthy nor Brett Anderson has been particularly impressive this spring, and both have had their own issues with injuries in the past. After them, the Dodgers’ top in-house options are guys like Joe Wieland, Mike Bolsinger, Carlos Frias and Zach Lee. Meanwhile, closer/cutter magician Kenley Jansen isn’t due back from foot surgery for another month or so.

So, it’s no wonder there’s been some chatter about the Dodgers possibly making a move for a starting pitcher. More specifically, Philadelphia Phillies ace left-hander Cole Hamels. Hey, it’s a possibility that even Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times couldn’t avoid addressing.

But this is as far as we’re going to go with the reactionary doom talk. Because as far as injury scares go, Ryu’s isn’t bad.

As a general rule, shoulder injuries are about as scary as your first viewing of The Exorcist. Their healing can become unpredictable, and it’s often that pitchers aren’t truly fixed even when they do heal.

But Ryu should be OK. Per Gurnick’s report, the stiffness he’s experiencing is the same stiffness that he dealt with on two occasions in 2014, and both times he only needed to be sidelined for three weeks.

If what Ryu is experiencing now is deja vu all over again, there’s a chance that a season-opening stint on the disabled list will be very short-lived. And even if he were to be sidelined for, say, the first month of the season, the Dodgers would still be in good shape.

Though the Dodgers don’t have the most impressive list of spot starter candidates, that’s OK. As Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles pointed out, the frequency of early off days means the Dodgers will only need a spot starter for three games between April 6 and May 5.

Even better, the Dodgers’ schedule in that span could be worse.

For starters, there’s the quality of the opposition. The Dodgers will play the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants twice apiece, with a series against the Seattle Mariners on the side. But they’ll also play nine games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, and another three against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Here’s how it breaks down, with projected records courtesy of Baseball Prospectus: 

Yes, the majority of the Dodgers’ early games will be against good teams. But the Dodgers, who are projected as a 98-win team, will hardly be out of their depth against them. Against the other three teams on their early-season schedule, they most certainly won’t be out of their depth.

And with Kershaw, Zack Greinke, McCarthy and Anderson set to take on the bulk of the pitching duty, what might help even further is that they’re ground-ball pitchers who will be going up mainly against teams that struggled against such pitchers in 2014. Per Baseball-Reference, only the Rockies and Giants did better than a .700 OPS against ground-ballers.

Lastly, there’s how most of the Dodgers’ early action will take place at home. Of the 27 games they’ll play in that April 6-May 5 span, 15 will be at Dodger Stadium. That’s a good place to be during a pitching crisis, as ESPN.com pegged it as a better park for pitchers in 2014 than all but three others.

In all, the Dodgers aren’t headed for a challenge that they can’t handle without Ryu. If he’s only gone for the first month of the season, they should be able to handle themselves.

Hence the Orange County Register‘s Bill Plunkett’s thoughts on any and all Hamels speculation:

Indeed. That would be an especially overkill-y reaction to Ryu’s bum shoulder. If they’re going to make a deal, it will likely be for an excess starter rather than an ace.

And even in that neighborhood, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi hinted that pickings are slim.

“This is just a hard time to go out there and acquire starting pitching depth,” Zaidi told Saxon. “We’re fielding calls from teams that are asking us about our starting pitching depth, so there aren’t a lot of starting pitching sellers right now.”

All the more reason for the Dodgers to tough out Ryu’s absence with what they already have and see what happens.

And if the situation changes, so be it. If it turns out that Ryu’s injury is a lot worse than expected and a trade for a legit starter actually becomes necessary, the Dodgers will be able to open plenty of doors.

Their farm system is arguably one of the five best in baseball, and their pockets are deeper than the Krubera cave. They could easily trade for Hamels if they wanted to. And if they can trade for him, they can trade for anybody.

For now, the Ryu situation is worth monitoring. That’s the least you can say about a quality pitcher who’s dealing with a shoulder injury.

But nobody should be freaking out. The Dodgers can cover for themselves if he has to miss the early portion of the season, and they’ll be able to find someone else to cover for them if he’s out longer than that.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference unless otherwise noted/linked.

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