Category Archives: On The Farm

Don Mattingly: Hanley Ramirez will play this weekend.

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Hanley Ramirez

Speaking earlier today on “Ripken Baseball,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told Cal and Billy Ripken on SiriusXM that Hanley Ramirez will play this weekend.

Ramirez has been taking ground balls and swinging a bat already, but hasn’t seen live game action since he tore a ligament in his right thumb in March. On Thursday, Ramirez indicated on his Twitter account that he would begin his rehabilitation assignment with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga.

Here’s the entirety of Mattingly’s quote:
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Josh Wall returns to Los Angeles with a new look.

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Josh Wall

Josh Wall sat in two bullpens Monday: The Albuquerque Isotopes’ by day and the Dodgers’ by night. (Associated Press photo)

For Josh Wall, the motivation to reach Dodger Stadium began long before he was cut in the final days of spring training.

“I had a mindset,” Wall said Tuesday. “Being up at the end of the season last year, I came in with the attitude of not just showing up to spring and seeing the numbers and saying, ‘I’m going to Albuquerque.’ I’m going to do everything I can to make the team. I just worked on things, got myself in really good shape. Worked on some things mechanically I’d been working on at the end of the season, ran with it and everything was feeling good.”

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Why Dodgers pitcher Shawn Tolleson spent Friday night on his hotel room floor.

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Shawn Tolleson

Dodgers pitcher Shawn Tolleson received an epidural injection in his lower back Monday. (Getty Images)

Shawn Tolleson pitched an inning Thursday afternoon in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That night, he and the Isotopes flew into Des Moines to play the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. Friday morning, the Dodgers called up Tolleson to pitch in that night’s game in Phoenix, Arizona.

“I had a crazy travel day,” he said.

Along the way, Tolleson’s lower back stiffened up. The adrenaline got him through 11 pitches against the Diamondbacks — he walked both batters he faced — but it couldn’t mask the pain in his back at night.

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Dodgers option Tim Federowicz to Triple-A Albuquerque.

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The Dodgers, carrying three catchers and needing to make room for right-hander Chad Billingsley, optioned backstop Tim Federowicz to Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday.

Federowicz went 0-for-3 with a walk in his only appearance of the season Sunday.

Federowicz hit .294 with 11 home runs and 76 RBIs in his first full Triple-A season last year. That was enough to earn a promotion to the relatively low-pressure job of a backup major-league catcher. He held the edge on the job from the end of last season to the end of spring training, until the Dodgers traded Aaron Harang for veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez on Saturday.

Hernandez will back up starter A.J. Ellis.

Billingsley is scheduled to start tomorrow against Padres left-hander Eric Stults in San Diego.

Watch Dee Gordon make the catch of the (young) Triple-A season.

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There have only been two games, so we feel pretty confident calling this diving, over-the-shoulder catch by Dee Gordon the best catch of the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes’ season. Tack on the one-hop throw to first base from center field to complete the double play, and Gordon made a pretty special play tonight in the ‘Topes 10-6 win. Watch for yourself:

Poll: Where should Yasiel Puig start the season?

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We know what will happen. Barring something unforeseen, Yasiel Puig will be wearing a Chattanooga Lookouts uniform to begin the season.

But what should happen?

We’ve explored the pros and cons throughout spring training (examples here, here and here). Now it’s your turn to weigh in.

Dodgers option Yasiel Puig to Double-A, Dee Gordon to Triple-A.

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Yasiel Puig

The spring training leader in batting average won’t begin the season in the majors. Or in Triple-A for that matter.

The Dodgers optioned Yasiel Puig, their most productive hitter since Cactus League play began, to Double-A Chattanooga, ending weeks of speculation about where the organization’s most intriguing prospect will begin his first full season outside Cuba.

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Dodgers’ Carl Crawford is on track to play Opening Day. What does that mean for Yasiel Puig?

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Yasiel Puig
Carl Crawford is playing his third straight game in left field tonight as the Dodgers visit the Kansas City Royals in Surprise.

The Dodgers didn’t want to pencil in Crawford as their Opening Day left fielder until he passed a threshhold for throwing distance, mentioned previously at 125 feet. He has passed that threshhold “and he’s still got five days of throwing,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly noted Monday. That’s great news for Crawford, who underwent Tommy John surgery just last August and was initially speculated to be out until May.

That’s not great news if you were hoping to see Yasiel Puig in left field come Opening Day.

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Dodgers demote Matt Palmer, Steven Ames, Matt Magill.

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Matt Palmer

Matt Palmer will have surgery tomorrow in Arizona to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. The team originally announced that he would miss six to eight weeks, but Palmer gave a more optimistic, more detailed timetable Monday.

“They say I can throw in two weeks, throw off a mound in three-and-a-half to four,” he said. “I could be back (in a game) by six weeks.”

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