SAN FRANCISCO >> Alex Guerrero‘s long road back from a vicious dugout fight in May has taken him back to Triple-A Albuquerque.
Guerrero’s rehab was transferred from Single-A Rancho Cucamonga today to Triple-A. The Isotopes are playing a game tonight in Reno, Nevada. It was in a game with Albuquerque that Guerrero had part of his left ear bitten off by Miguel Olivo in the visitors’ dugout in Salt Lake City.
“There’s a good chance had he not had the incident, he probably would’ve been here by now,” Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said.
Fortunately for the 27-year-old Cuban, doctors were able to surgically re-attach the missing portion of his ear, and subsequent skin-graft treatments were successful.
Guerrero “has a chance to be up here,” Colletti added, but it will probably not be in the second-base role that Dodgers management envisioned for him out of spring training. Dee Gordon won that job and established himself as the Dodgers’ everyday leadoff hitter — then an All-Star.
As for Guerrero?
“We see him as a player who’s going to be versatile defensively — second, third, shortstop, maybe some outfield eventually,” Colletti said.
Guerrero has played those infield positions in the minor leagues this season but hasn’t been used in the outfield.