Bobby Abreu was signed as a bench bat, but he may be in line for regular starts as the Dodgers left fielder thanks to Juan Rivera’s hamstring injury.
Rivera, who’s been splitting time between first base and left field, was placed on the disabled list after hitting just .247 with a .634 OPS in 25 games. Abreu’s lack of range at age 38 will hurt the Dodgers’ defense, but he remains capable of getting on base at a good clip, particularly if spotted mostly versus right-handed pitching.
Triple-A call-up Scott Van Slyke could also see some starts in left field and a platoon between the lefty hitting Abreu and righty hitting Van Slyke would make sense for manager Don Mattingly.
