Pitching plans for this week RE Stults and McDonald

Eric Stults is going to stay in the rotation and will pitch again on Thursday against the Giants. James McDonald is going back to the bullpen, although Torre was adamant that this wasn’t a reflection of the fact he didn’t pitch well on Friday night. It was more about the team’s needs, and the team needs another reliever. McDonald has a better track record, admittedly in a small sample size, coming out of the pen than Stults does, and Stults has a better track record starting than McDonald (admittedly a VERY small sample size where McDonald is concerned). What this does for now is leave the Dodgers with a four-man rotation, which will be sufficient to get them through this week. But they WILL need a fifth starter on Sunday against the Rockies. Torre said McDonald probably will get that start, but that it will be more of a bullpen day. That means McDonald will start but will only pitch a couple of innings. The team will use relievers only (with McDonald considered a reliever in this case) to get through that game. There is an off-day the next day, so they can afford to do it this way. Confused yet? … Also, Delwyn Young is drawing some trade interest. The Indians, Pirates and Phillies all have had scouts in ABQ this week to watch him. I look for a move to be made there in the next few days, although the Dodgers probably won’t get anything eye-popping in return.