Dodgers call up two farmhands from Albuquerque
Wednesday, Aug. 13
The Big Z is coming back to LA.
The Dodgers couldn’t wait until September to bring up the 7-foot-2 left-handed pitcher from Albuquerque. They made a move yesterday to add him to the Big Club roster, hoping to shore up the bottom half of their starting rotation. Hideo Nomo, who just hasn’t been the same since having his jaw broken by a line drive late last season, will shift to Triple A. Nomo leaves with a 5-13 record, having lost five of his last six starts.
Zarzour has spent the entire season to this point with the Dukes of the Triple A Pacific Coast League. He posted a 10-8 record, with an ERA of 3.21. Dodger execs liked that he had 256 strikeouts through 22 starts, more than 10 K’s per game.
“We think Andrew is ready to be here, and we sure need his arm,” Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said when announcing the transaction. “He’ll fill the No. 5 hole in our rotation right now. As for Hideo, we’re hoping a few weeks with Albuquerque will help him get some confidence back and that he’ll be a new man when he comes back up in September. He just needs a little work with his mechanics."
Zarzour is expected to join the club Saturday in Cincinnati (LA plays at Chicago tonight and will have a travel day tomorrow) and likely will be penciled in to start the Aug. 20 game at home against Pittsburgh, Johnson said.
In another transaction by the Dodgers, infielder Cole Liniak will move up with Zarzour to the Big Club. He’ll fill the spot on the roster held by 2B Wilton Guerrero, who was lost for the season after tearing his thigh muscle.
The Dodgers are still chasing, without much success, the San Diego Padres in the NL West. LA trails the Pads by six games going into tonight’s game against the Cubs.
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Got an e-mail recently saying Zarzour’s duration had improved. Nice! But his ability to stop HR’s isn’t so great and went down a bit earlier in the season. This will be interesting to watch … (fingers crossed)... I plan to play out Zarzour's first start with the team, rather than just sim the day!