Baseball Notebook: Dodgers' Belisario may miss opener

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL WIRE REPORT
Published: March 12, 2010

● Dodgers: Los Angeles is looking into contingency plans for its opening-day bullpen while Ronald Belisario tries to report to camp.

Belisario has been unable to secure a visa for the 2010 season and remains in his native Venezuela. Belisario went 4-3 with a 2.04 ERA in 69 games as a rookie last year, helping Los Angeles win the NL West.

Belisario's agent Paul Kinzer said yesterday that he didn't have an update on his client's status.

Belisario had the same issue last year and missed two weeks of camp before being a surprise late addition to the major-league roster.

Eric Gagne, a former NL Cy Young Award winner, in camp on a minor-league deal, is one of the relievers that could benefit from Belisario's absence.

Also, outfielder Brian Giles said that the pain in his arthritic right knee is getting worse, and he told the Dodgers yesterday that he will retire.

Giles, 39, is a career .291 hitter with 287 home runs and 1,078 RBIs in 1,847 games. Giles, a two-time All-Star, also played for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians.

● White Sox: Ace Mark Buehrle won't have his second start of spring training until next Monday as the team tries to keep him rested before the regular season begins.

Buehrle made his first start on March 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowing an unearned run on three hits with two strikeouts over two innings.

Jake Peavy is scheduled to start today against the Los Angeles Angels in a split-squad game. Gavin Floyd and John Danks, the next two pitchers in the White Sox projected rotation, get the call Saturday and Sunday against Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

Closer Bobby Jenks is also scheduled to pitch on the same day as Buehrle.

● Rockies: First baseman Todd Helton and Colorado agreed yesterday to $9.9 million, two-year contract extension through the 2013 season. Helton will make $16.6 million this year and agreed to defer $13.1 million of his $19.1 million salary in 2011 over a 10-year period beginning in 2014.

Helton was slowed by back problems in 2008 and had back surgery that September. He returned last year to hit .325 in 151 games with 38 doubles, 15 home runs, 86 RBIs and a .416 on-base percentage.

● Diamondbacks: Manager A.J. Hinch said there's an increasing chance that Brandon Webb will start the season on the disabled list.

Webb, the NL Cy Young Award winner in 2006, reached what Hinch called a "plateau" in his comeback from shoulder surgery. He hasn't thrown a bullpen session for a week after saying he felt "stagnant" and was not making the progress he expected. Since then, he has been playing only catch. Webb tentatively had been penciled in as the team's No. 3 starter, with his first outing on April 7.

● Royals: Third baseman Mike Moustakas, the second pick in the 2007 amateur draft, was among seven players reassigned to minor-league camp yesterday by Kansas City.

Also sent down were outfielder David Lough, who hit .325 last season and was the Royals' 2009 minor-league player of the year, and left-hander Danny Duffy, who pitched in the Futures Game and was 9-3 with a 2.98 ERA with Class A Wilmington.

Other players sent to the minor-league camp were outfielder David Robinson, first baseman Ernest Mejia, infielder Mario Lisson and catcher Steve Lerud.

All seven players were non-roster invitees.

The Royals have 58 players left in camp.