6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: UTK Quick Hits

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Friday, June 10, 2005

UTK Quick Hits

From today's UTK:

Jim Andrews opened up Octavio Dotel and repaired his elbow. ... It went so well that Andrews believes he may be ready in just nine months, making Dotel and Dotel’s agent very happy. Now the question is what color he’ll wear come Opening Day 2006.
The warning I gave about Kelvim Escobar--that his pain tolerance was all that was standing between him and a scalpel--came to pass a bit quicker than I expected. Escobar pulled himself out of his last start, unable to deal with the pain and swelling caused by a bone spur. The surgery itself is minor and Escobar could miss as few as six weeks, though eight is the norm. This will be Escobar’s third clean-up of his pitching elbow, each one just a bit sooner than the last. By the time he needs his next one, he’ll likely have left baseball behind. Ervin Santana is expected to be called up to take his slot in the rotation. This makes Jarrod Washburn, rumored to be part of some trade talks, less likely to be leaving LA.
Rotoworld notes the less-than ideal game Ervin Santana pitched last night, wherein he allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits, including a home run. Santana is expected to return to the Angels next week.
It’s slow and steady for Barry Bonds and his rehabbing knee. While all signs are positive, Bonds still is at least a week away, probably more, from returning to baseball activities. As things progress, it should be interesting to see how this generation’s best hitter deals with nearly nine months away from the batter’s box. It’s also interesting to note that Armando Benitez is already walking unaided.
Sources tell me that the bids for the Nationals have Ron Burkle (grocery stores) and Jeff Smulyan (radio, former Mariners owner) as the top bidders … The Padres went to see Daisuke Matsuzaka. Yeah, you know what that means--anticipation of the best Japanese pitcher in America, complaints from the Pads that they can’t afford his posting, and talk of the gyroball … Go on.