Ethier Headed to DL; Paul His Replacement

It is news we have all been trying to avoid, even though we all knew it would happen eventually.  Andre Ethier appears headed to the disabled list today, per Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.  Ethier last played on Friday, May 14, so the first day he would be eligible to return is May 30, the final game of a series at Coors Field.  Until then, we can decide whether to use pinky, pinkie, or little finger to describe Ethier's fracture.

Rosenthal also reports Xavier Paul is the likely call up, which was also expected.  Paul was hit in the head during his pregame warmups on Saturday in Salt Lake City, probably around the same time Ethier broke his, umm, little finger during extra batting practice.  Paul played a couple of innings Saturday night, but complained of headaches and missed the rest of that game and Sunday's as well.  Paul returned last night to the Isotopes' lineup, and had two singles and a double.

Paul hit .276/.323/.483 with the Dodgers during the two weeks Manny Ramirez was on the disabled list, and scored eight runs in nine games.  The left-handed hitting Paul and right-hander Reed Johnson will likely get the bulk of the starts in right field while Ethier is out.

Ethier has not played since I added the Andre Ethier NL Leaderboard Watch to the sidebar late Friday night.  My bad.

UPDATE:  The move is official, as Xavier Paul is in tonight's starting lineup, batting second and playing right field (thanks to Alex41592)