Brandon Beachy was a free agent in February and a free agent in October. In between, the Dodgers paid him $3 million to pitch two games. (Keith Birmingham/Staff photographer)

Brandon Beachy, RHP.

Key stats: Majors: two starts, 0-1, 7.88 ERA in 8 IP, 10 games (9 starts), 47 IP, 3.64 ERA. AAA Oklahoma City: .277/.325/.354 in 96 games.

Seinfeld episode: “The Pez Dispenser” (season 3, episode 14).

Key quote: “We all want the hand. Hand is tough to get. You gotta get the hand right from the opening.”

When he first started playing catch a couple months ago, Brandon McCarthy explained in stark terms that he had to learn “how to throw a baseball again.” That’s the reality facing a Tommy John patient. It’s not that they go from being one of the best pitchers on the planet to a slightly less dominant version of themselves. They go from someone who can throw a baseball 90 mph or more to someone who needs to learn how to throw a baseball again — and then, after months and months of rehab, they might be a slightly less dominant version of themselves.

What about pitchers who have had two Tommy John surgeries?

This was always the question hanging in the air whenever Beachy walked into the room. Nice man, Beachy — also brutally honest about the whole having-to-learn-how-to-throw-again thing.

“I’m definitely going a more conservative route this time,” he said after signing for a base salary of one year at $2.75 million in February. “This is my last bullet. I’m going to make sure I cross my T’s and dot my I’s and make sure I’ve done everything properly, that I can look back and not have to second-guess anything.”

In hindsight, it would be easy if not accurate to say the Dodgers rushed Beachy to the majors. The rotation was hurting when Beachy came up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to make a pair of spot starts, July 11 at home against the Brewers and July 20 in Atlanta.

Beachy pitched four innings, allowed five hits and walked three batters in each game. He allowed a total of seven runs and the Dodgers lost both games. At least he was consistent.

The expectation at the time was that Beachy would return at some point — in 2016, if not maybe September. Ultimately, that never happened. Beachy was leading the National League in ERA when he suffered his first torn UCL in June 2012, but it was clear he wouldn’t be the same pitcher anytime soon when the Dodgers designated him for assignment July 30.

There are plenty of reasons why Beachy wasn’t good enough to stick around this season, let alone convince the Dodgers to pick up his 2016 contract option. The bottom line: Sometimes it takes a really long time to recover from two Tommy John surgeries.

The closest parallel in the Seinfeld universe is also one of the most versatile.

In “The Pez Dispenser,” George laments having no “hand” in his relationship with his girlfriend. In baseball parlance, “hand” often goes by the name “leverage.” It’s the same thing. You give your significant other a massage, you have more “hand” than you did the day before. You win a Cy Young Award going into your free-agent year, you have a lot more hand than you did the day before.

Beachy had some hand at the beginning of the season. He had potential — the potential to return to his previous form at some point in 2015 or 2016. It looked for a moment like he might get there in time to aid the Dodgers’ World Series ambitions. Then, in one eight-day span in July, it didn’t. He had no hand anymore.

So it went for Beachy. Too bad there’s no such thing as a “pre-emptive breakup” for baseball players.