Juan

Encarnacion

The Marlins would love to find a taker for Encarnacion’s contract, but that might be impossible unless they pair him with A.J. Burnett in a deal. It’s something they could consider doing if they think they have a chance to sign Carlos Delgado.

Encarnacion is likely to be the Marlins’ fourth outfielder if Jeff Conine can overcome his shoulder problems. The Marlins would love to dump his salary, but there haven’t been any decent rumors lately.

The Dodgers will try hard to get Encarnacion signed before next weekend’s arbitration deadline. He’s currently penciled in to play left field for Los Angeles, but the team is still in the market for an outfielder. They talked to the Mariners about Randy Winn yesterday.

Encarnacion was benched due to his throwing error in the sixth inning on Friday night, and was replaced by rookie Chris Aguila, who made his second start. Expect this to blow over and see Encarnacion back in the Marlins’ outfield today.

Despite the fact that doctors have diagnosed Encarnacion with only inflammation in the back of his shoulder, the Dodger outfielder has made little progress towards recovery this past week. Anti-inlammatory medication has not helped, and the team is concerned that there is some undetected structural damage in his labrum.

Encarnacion will likely not play again until after the All-Star break, but at least his injury is not considered long-term.

If Encarnacion was benched every time he took a couple of bad swings, he would have been out of baseball years ago. It’s just something he does more than most. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s been pretty good this year.

A sore wrist will likely sideline Encarnacion until the middle of the week. He’s hitting .296 and is ranked third on the team in homers (15) and RBI (65), but hurt his left wrist swinging a bat last week in St. Louis. An X-ray taken Friday was negative and an MRI performed Saturday was normal. It’s unlikely he will play before the team returns home Tuesday.

Manager Jack McKeon said the injury isn’t considered serious, and Encarnacion is expected back in the lineup this weekend. Chris Aguila started in his place.

It was his first at-bat since Thursday. Encarnacion remains day-to-day.