Hu's Impressing, Broxton's Plan, And Spring Transactions

Dylan Hernandez reports that Joe Torre has had some very complimentary things to say about Chin Lung Hu.

"'Hu, to me, has been the star of the spring,' Torre said.

Hu has advantages over two of his main competitors for a utility infield role. Unlike DeWitt, he's a natural middle infielder. And unlike Juan Castro, he's on the 40-man roster, meaning the Dodgers wouldn't have to designate anyone for assignment if they include him on the opening-day roster.

'Coming into this spring, I really didn't know what to expect,' Torre said.

'This kid, his whole demeanor has changed.'"

If the Dodgers are really considering Castro or DeWitt as the utility infielder, then Hu is a no-brainer over those two options.

There's nothing wrong with DeWitt, but if he's not getting starts, I see no reason to hinder his development by making him a utility guy. I think Hu might be a long-time utility man, so I don't see significant downside in putting him in that role now. Besides, there's no evidence that DeWitt can handle shortstop and second base effectively.

In the case of Castro, besides not being on the 40-man roster, his career offensive output is something like Hu's in 2008 except over 984 games. I don't care if he's hitting .900 this spring, the 56 OPS+ over 2573 plate appearances speaks much louder to me. Also, the argument for Castro's defensive prowess is negated by the fact that Hu is at least his equal. I've been a long time proponent of Hu's defense, and in addition to his limited major league track record, Hu has been 12 runs above average per 150 defensive games over his last 4 years in the minors. It's always encouraging to see something that you've been hyping up over the last few years backed up by some semblance of objective evidence.

On the pitching side of things, Broxton said he wants to pitch inside more.

"The Dodgers' closer with the 100-mph fastball says he intends to pitch inside more this season, part of a concerted effort to increase discomfort for hitters."

This could be an interesting development because his slider has always seemed a bit too hittable. I have no charts or anything to back that up, but it just seems like a common theme to me.

In news that we all knew was happening as soon as Brad Ausmus signed, Danny Ardoin was waived and outrighted to AAA Albuquerque.

In other transactions, a bunch of old crappy pitchers will probably be cut this weekend.

"Eric Milton has accepted a Minor League assignment, Tanyon Sturtze will if he doesn't make the Major League club and Shawn Estes is still thinking about it as the Dodgers try to stock up on pitching inventory."

Milton and Estes were obvious cuts that took longer than expected, and given Torre's fetish for old veterans, Sturtze is hanging around much too long for my tastes.