The press corps in Glendale hit “pause” Thursday on Eliezer Alfonzo Watch 2013 when the catcher was revealed to be suffering from dengue virus in his native Venezuela. He cannot travel for five to seven days. A non-roster invitee on a minor-league contract with the Dodgers, Alfonzo will report to the minor-league side when he gets here.
Alfonzo was the only player who had yet to report since pitchers and catchers were scheduled to arrive last week.
Matt Wallach hopped over from the Dodgers’ minor-league camp to fill out the major-league catching corps. The 27-year-old, the son of Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, has spent the past three seasons at Double-A.
Alfonzo was one of several veterans expected to push rookie Tim Federowicz for the open backup catcher’s job in spring. Wilkin Castillo, Jesus Flores and Ramon Castro are still around as non-roster invitees. Before camp opened, I stated that the biggest question surrounding Alfonzo was whether he could stay clean; now the question is if he can get healthy.
The disease can be life-threatening but for the majority of sufferers, it’s just no fun.
The skies cleared over Phoenix today after it rained, hailed, and apparently even snowed in parts of the valley Wednesday. A handful of bullet points to brighten your day:
