Abreu's Finally Playing At Vegas

Tony Abreu finally got onto the field for Las Vegas Tuesday night. Got a couple of hits, too. When last seen, Tony was sitting on the bench in Los Angeles. The Dodgers said that at his age (22) he needed to play every day and sent him to Vegas.

Only when he reported he said he'd strained an abdominal muscle running from first to third in a Dodger game, thus wasn't able to play. Naturally they had him examined but those exams didn't show anything particularly wrong. Still, Abreu insisted he was hurt and sat out.

At that point, Dodger officials' eyebrows began to climb. They wondered if he wasn't pouting about being sent down. So they placed him not on the disabled list but, rather, on the inactive list.

What's the difference? A lot to the player. When he's on the D.L. he gets paid. Inactive, he doesn't.

Now enter Abreu's agent who just happens to be Scott Boras. He maintained that since Abreu's injury had occurred in a major league game he should have been placed on the Los Angeles disabled list, not optioned out at all. The Dodgers reacted to a Boras pronouncement the way they usually do- with frosty silence.

When Abreu was sent down, it was assumed that he'd be recalled at the first available opportunity. However, General Manager Ned Colletti began to hint that when the roster expands Sept. 1, shortstop Chin-lung Hu might get a call, not Abreu.

The way things are going for the Dodgers, though, they'll pull up anybody they feel can help them win games- especially somebody with a reputation as a hitter, That's what they did with Shea Hillenbrand, you'll notice. Never-mind all that talk about his being clubhouse poison.

And Abreu can hit as he demonstrated again Tuesday. In the meantime he's back in action. at long last.

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