(Via 6-4-2)
From todays Dodger report in the L.A. Times
Turns out there was an update. Werth underwent surgery Wednesday at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to repair a torn wrist ligament that had been diagnosed by a specialist.
Werth will wear a cast for six weeks before beginning rehabilitation and is expected to be fully recovered by the start of spring training.
Another shout out to the Dodgers medical staff for ruining Werth. Having him around as the right handed part of a platoon with Kenny Lofton, at the very least, would look mighty sweet right about now.
The last part of the article is interesting. It says that Werth will be ready by the start of Spring Training (I'll believe it when I see it) but will Werth be attending Spring Training with the Dodgers?
Unless your service clock stops when you go on the 60 day DL, I don't know if this is true, Werth will be arbitration eligible. Will the Dodgers offer Werth arbitration? Given Repko's seemingly unmovable spot from the roster, the Dodgers come into camp in 2007 with three people with three outfielders guaranteed a spot, Drew, Ethier, and Repko. The Dodgers are going to need another starting outfielder, so another spot is either going to Matt Kemp or a free agent. That gives the Dodgers one more spot, and considering the Dodgers already have two righties on the bench next year, Repko and Saenz, it's quite feasible that the Dodgers will want a lefty to fil the final outfield slot.
In my eyes, there's an easy solution to the problem: send Repko to AAA, seeing as Werth is better than him at pretty much everything except scappiness, but are the Dodgers willing to take that risk given Werth's injury history? I'd like them to, since the only real cost is the 500,000 dollars or so that Werth would make through arbitration and a spot on the 40 man roster, but right now, it seems like Werth is just isn't part of the Dodgers plans for the future.