I assumed they were hoping Hoch looked good enough to move him in a trade.

Uh-oh:

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke was scratched from his scheduled start Monday due to elbow irritation and flew back to Los Angeles to be examined by the team's physician.

Greinke, who signed a six-year, $147 million contract in December, threw a bullpen session Friday, but reported the irritation after playing catch on Sunday. He was scheduled to meet with Dr. Neal ElAttrache and to return to the Dodgers' spring training facility in Arizona later Monday afternoon.

The Dodgers said the exam was precautionary.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Greinke had a MRI last week that detected no ligament damage.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/s...or-check-elbow

"I think Hoch has electric stuff!" - Kyle Davies

Mendoza has to be the 5th starter.

Davis is ailing so Hoch gets bumped to four. AND YOU GET YOUR WISH!!!

It really only matters until Duffy/Paulino come back. Both guys will be great additions once they're back. Especially if Paulino can come back to how he was last year, because he was flashing some ace stuff to start the year.

Remember a few years ago, when he basically stopped throwing his slider because he wanted to save his elbow for when it mattered?

Hmmmmmmm...

At this point, a best case scenario is a Hoch DFA (if that's what it would be called), but that's probably not happening.

I do think Chen has pitched well enough to fetch some value (say a 4th outfielder) in a trade, and would love to see Mendoza start the season as the #5 starter.

Shields
Santana
Davis
Guthrie
Mendoza

I agree that Mendoza should be the guy, based on last-season. Though I wouldn't raise a fuss if they went with Chen (contract, change-of-pace in a rotation, better overall track record) to start the season.

But the worst possible alignment is giving Hochevar 5th starter status and relegating both Chen and Mendoza to the 'pen. That's probably what will happen, though.

I find it weird that Dayton Moore is so convinced there is a huge market for Luke Hochevar, should the Royals cut him. I mean, I'm sure a few teams would be interested in taking a flyer on him. But it's not like they're going to create a bidding war for him or anything.

Makes me envision rival GMs sitting in a room, waiting for Dayton to call, then all laughing as they talk up Hochevar. "15-game winner." "Great stuff." "I love his attitude and work ethic!"

Either that, or there are just a lot of dumb guys in baseball who can't get over a pitcher with the classic build who looks good in side sessions. I mean, Rick Porcello has been practically as bad as Hochevar (and at times, worse) and apparently there still is a huge trade market for him despite terrible indicators (career k/9 of 5 flat at age 24 with 4 years of MLB experience is just an atrocious sign).

Scout's Eye! (Even if the stats make it clear that the eye lies on a guy).

I think you keep at least two of those guys. At least until Duffy and Paulino are healthy and ready to start in MLB again.

You want to make sure you have quality depth in case one of the other 4 guys gets hurt. I'd feel a lot better about adding Mendoza or Chen to the rotation if Davis or Santana or Guthrie (not even going to mention the possibility of the other) makes a DL trip than adding, say, Will Smith.

But hey, maybe Yordano Ventura blows through AA and AAA and makes the whole thing moot by the all-star break. About time something like that happens for KC, right?

So, Am I the only one who thinks Paulino has a good chance to repeat what he started last year? Watched his repetition and it looked really fluid and corrected his mechanics a lot over last offseason. I have good expectations for him

I was under the impression that Paulino was anything BUT fluid, hence all the injuries.

I don't expect a damn thing from Paulino or Duffy this year.

If his arm stays healthy, he has dynamite stuff and the body to handle a big workload.

His fastball/slider combo were pretty impressive last year. I'm hoping he comes back strong from that.

It will be interesting to see what happens if BOTH Paulino and Duffy come back strong. The rotation this year and next will get crowded.

1 - Shields
2 - Guthrie
3 - Santana/open spot
4 - Davis
5 - Menchechen/open spot

With the following all knocking on the door. Not enough room for everyone...
Duffy
Paulino
Ventura
Zimmer
Lamb

Why would he have had an MRI last week? Either he felt something then or they just give random MRIs now.

This could be a case where they rest him and then throw him back on the mound and wait for the elbow to give out. It could be his first start back (Liriano) or a few years from now (Duffy).