By Jon Weisman
To make room on the 25-man roster for newly acquired pitchers Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson and Alex Wood, the Dodgers have optioned Mike Bolsinger and Zach Lee to Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed Justin Turner on the 15-day disabled list.
Mat Latos is expected to start Sunday but has not officially joined the team yet. The Dodgers will need to make another 25-man roster move to accommodate Latos by then.
Don Mattingly told reporters today that Turner, who will be eligible to come off the DL on August 11, is being held out of baseball activities for approximately a week while he deals with his leg infection. While the Dodgers expect him to be ready before his 15 days are up, they couldn’t afford to play a man short for so long.
Alex Guerrero will get the bulk of opportunties at third base in Turner’s absence, with Alberto Callaspo mixing in as he has been, based on matchups. Guerrero, who went 0 for 3 Wednesday, is starting consecutive games for the first time since June 25-26.
Bolsinger has pitched 89 innings for the Dodgers with a 2.83 ERA, but he becomes depth for the rotation and/or long relief. It might seem a distant memory, but Bolsinger began 2015 in Oklahoma City and had two separate stints there, pitching 19 innings with a 1.42 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 19 innings.
The 27-year-old righty allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings against the Giants in his Dodger debut April 23, then was optioned the next day. He returned for a May 12 start against Miami that was also 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, and stayed until today.
Lee made his MLB debut Saturday against the Mets, allowing seven runs on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
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