Dodgers Shuffle Lineups Without Kemp

The Dodgers may call up a minor league outfielder in Matt Kemp's absence

With Kemp on the DL the Dodgers have to grasp at straws for a new lineup daily.

On Friday in Colorado the Dodgers had an outfield consisting of Scott Van Slyke in left, Skip Schumaker in center, and Andre Ethier in right, with Ramon Hernandez behind the plate.

As you can imagine, that is not the way the Dodgers had it drawn up to start the 2013 season.

Reaction to Kemp's hamstring injury in Anaheim on Thursday has varied, but anyone who thinks his trip to the DL is a good thing is wrong. Kemp is having a poor season, and was in the middle of an awful stretch of baseball, but you never want to lose an everyday player.

With Matt Kemp on the Disabled List the Dodgers do not have an everyday center fielder on the roster. So we are subjected to a shuffle of Andre Ethier moved from right, or Skip Schumaker from second.

Moving Ethier seems preferable if only to allow Scott Van Slyke to come off the bench and play in right field. The other option would be to call up a player from the minor leagues.

Speculation around the web has been calling for either Joc Pederson or Yasiel Puig from AA Chattanooga to come up to the Majors.

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Pederson was drafted by the Dodgers in 2010 and has a .308/.387/.508 line this season.

Puig is the Cuban outfielder that the Dodgers gave a six year $42 million contract to in the offseason. He is hitting .313/.383/.599 in his first season in the states.

In his last two starts he has been moved to center field, fueling speculation that he is being prepped for a move to the bigs.

It has already been a constant shuffle in 2013 for the Dodgers, with 51 different lineups in 54 games.

This is just what the Dodgers are dealing with Kemp on the DL. On Saturday Carl Crawford pulled up on a double and was taken out of the game, and A.J. Ellis has not played in the last three games.

Still no word on the extent of the injury, but during the game Ned Coletti said best case scenario it is just a hamstring cramp and not a full-on strain. That would mean a few days off, rather than another Dodger trip to the DL.

A.J. Ellis said that he could hit off a tee without any pain on Saturday, but has not been in the Dodgers lineup for the past three games with an oblique injury. Tim Federowicz and Ramon Hernandez have done a surprisingly good job replacing Ellis so far though going 6-14 with two home runs and four RBIs.

At least the Dodgers have Hanley Ramirez on his way back from a hamstring injury. He provides stability to the left side of the infield, and a powerful bat to back up Adrian Gonzalez.

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