The Dodgers won’t have to wait long for Matt Kemp to return from the disabled list.
“A couple days into the break,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He looks like Sunday or something.”
Sunday is the final game of the Dodgers’ three-game series against the Washington Nationals. From there, they will travel to Toronto for a three-game interleague series against the Blue Jays beginning Monday, July 22.
Kemp was shut down with inflammation in the AC joint of his left shoulder on July 6.
Mattingly said that he’d like Kemp to get some rehabilitation games in first.
The Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are off Tuesday and play in Stockton Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts play a five-game series in Birmingham, Alabama, beginning Thursday. The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes are at home for four games beginning Thursday, perhaps making New Mexico the most likely destination if Kemp goes on a rehab stint.
Also unresolved is the question of a corresponding roster move, and who sits among an outfield of Kemp, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig. It’s an enviable problem to have.
“I like the problem of four guys,” Mattingly said. “It gives us a lot of different combinations.”