2014 Dodgers review: Chad Billingsley

It was another tough year for Chad Billingsley, who couldn't make it fully back from Tommy John surgery, and saw his 2014 season end by yet another right elbow surgery.

What went right

A telling point that it was a bad season for Billingsley was that one of his highlights was that his surgery this season isn't expected to affect him for next season.

Billingsley, coming off Tommy John surgery in June 2013, felt great in February when he reported to camp.

"I learned a lot about patience this past year. It's been a process I've never experienced before," Billingsley said on Feb. 8. "Doing the same thing over and over for days and months at a time, and you just have to keep doing it, keep rehabbing."

What went wrong

Billingsley needed roughly five or six starts on a minor league rehab assignment before he would be ready to rejoin the Dodgers, and he ended up not getting even close to that. One rehab assignment was shut down after one appearance in April, then two months later he was finished again after one start.

His 2014 season ended before it really ever began, in June. He had surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon in his elbow on June 26.

"I'm flustered. I didn't want to have to spend two years in rehab. The season's down the drain again," Billingsley said in June, before a heavy sigh. "But that's how it goes."

Billingsley has made two starts in the last two seasons, and none since April 15, 2013.

2014 particulars

Age: 29

Salary: $12 million

Game of the year

Of his two rehab starts, we'll go with April 6 with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, Billingsley's first time on a professional mound since his Tommy John surgery. He left after 1⅓ innings (in a planned short outing anyway) feeling something in his elbow, but at the time there was at least some hope his season wouldn't be lost.

Roster status

Billingsley had his $14 million club option for 2015 declined on Oct. 31, with the Dodgers instead paying him a $3 million buyout. He is now a free agent and, with his former agent Dave Stewart now the general manager in Arizona, has new representation in Steve Hilliard of Octagon.