Penny might be back soon

Penny might be back soon
L.A. Daily News


"Dodgers right-hander Brad Penny, who threw a 40-pitch side session and a 30-pitch simulated game on Monday at Petco Park, could be activated from the 15-day disabled list as soon as Friday. But he won't be rejoining the club's starting rotation. Dodgers manager Joe Torre told Penny that when he does return, it will be out of the bullpen, where Penny has made just two appearances in nine major-league seasons. "He was fine (with it)," Torre said. "In explaining the bullpen to him, the fact we don't look for him to come into the middle of an inning (was emphasized). We'll have it pretty well mapped out whether it will be the sixth, the seventh or the eighth inning, and we'll only have him warm up once. "The thing he was worried about was warming up, and (pitching coach) Rick (Honeycutt) and I both told him that we will give him plenty of time." Penny made his most recent regular-season relief appearance on July 9, 2006, when he gave the Dodgers one-third of an inning the day before the All-Star break. However, he also has four career postseason relief appearances, most recently when he gave up two critical runs in the Dodgers' Game 1 loss to the New York Mets in the 2006 National League Division Series. The addition of Penny will give the Dodgers a 12-man bullpen, and that will increase to 13 if closer Takashi Saito returns. "The way we have used our bullpen, obviously, the more the merrier, especially with

people who can give us an inning or two," Torre said. More surgery for Schmidt: Dodgers pitcher Jason Schmidt, who still hasn't appeared in anything other than a minor-league rehabilitation game since undergoing right shoulder surgery 15 months ago, will undergo right shoulder surgery again. This time, the procedure will be arthroscopic, a simple cleanup of some scar tissue that prevents him from getting completely over the top when he throws. Schmidt is expected to be ready to go by the time he reports to spring training, which already puts him ahead of where he was when reported to camp this year."



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