This Dodger season has started rocky with injuries to AJ Ellis and Yasiel Puig who are key components to their success. Ellis, who tore his left meniscus during Saturdays game rounding third base later stated that the same knee had been bothering him all through spring training. Ellis had arthroscopic surgery Tuesday afternoon and is expected to return to the line up somewhere around four to six weeks, but could be as long as eight weeks as this is the second knee surgery for Ellis in the past 18 months. While this affects the Dodgers offensively, where they will really take a hit is with their pitching and defense.
Yasiel Puig is an entirely different issue that might hurt the Dodgers more than the injuries. The 23 year old Cuban outfielder who shocked the baseball world last year exploding onto the scene and immediately making his presence known has been arrested twice in the past year since joining the Dodgers last June. Puig's 2014 season has started slowly as he has looked unmotivated and less energetic. His off field antics have put him not only in skipper Don Mattingly's dog house but the entire organization as well. Mattingly has gone on record saying that Puig blames his performance on a different injury after every at bat. By the looks of it the Dodgers have some work to do with their up and coming star. It should be exciting to see how everything plays out and where the club will end up come playoff time.
There is a silver lining however, the Dodgers, despite injuries and drama, are an above .500 team right now and have a very promising pitcher in Zach Lee who might make his first big league appearance later this month.
Stay tuned for more Dodger coverage in the coming weeks.
-Chris Schlierman
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