Matt Palmer injury: Dodgers RHP to have knee surgery, out 6-8 weeks

Dodgers non-roster pitcher Matt Palmer suffered a tear of the medial meniscus in his left knee, and will have to have surgery. Palmer is expected to miss six to eight weeks while recovering from the procedure.

Palmer didn't suffer the injury while pitching but rather while walking after playing catch on Saturday. He had an MRI, and the results showed a torn meniscus. Palmer will have the surgery performed by Dr. Brian Shafer in Phoenix in Tuesday.

Manager Don Mattingly said the team didn't know of any injury to Palmer prior to Sunday, though the pitcher did have some swelling in the knee that Palmer didn't deem too serious at the time.

"We hadn't heard anything about anything, but Sue (Falsone, team trainer) said this morning said he mentioned there was some swelling. It sounded like there were signs that he didn't look at as signs at the time," Mattingly said. "The fact that this thing just went while walking, it was going to go anyway, in my mind."

Palmer, who turns 34 in 11 days, was signed to a minor league deal on Dec. 18. He pitched in three Cactus League games and though his ERA was just 3.60 he allowed nine hits, five walks, and hit two batters in his five innings. He allowed seven unearned runs to the Angels in Tempe on Mar. 1, then hit two batters and allowed two runs against the Indians on Mar. 6.

"Who knows what any of this stuff is related to, when you look back on it," Mattingly said. "He didn't seem that wild."

Palmer almost certainly wasn't going to make the team, but was a likely candidate for the Triple-A Isotopes rotation. Palmer, who has pitched 185⅓ major league innings over the last five seasons, is no stranger to the Pacific Coast League. He has made 118 Triple-A starts over the last seven years with Fresno (Giants), Salt Lake (Angels), and Tucson (Padres).