By Jon Weisman
For all the fuss over who’s on the Opening Day roster, about half the players the Dodgers use in a typical season typically aren’t. Last year, it was exactly half.
Of the 50 players who wore the uniform for the 2013 Dodgers, 14 began their season in the Dodger farm system, four on the disabled list and seven in other organizations.
Note that Aaron Harang was on the Dodgers’ Opening Day active roster but did not pitch for them in 2013. That doesn’t happen a lot. He was traded April 6 to Colorado for Ramon Hernandez, who was in roster limbo after being designated for assignment before the end of Spring Training.
The Dodgers received 920 plate appearances (15 percent of the team total of of 6,145) and 312 innings (21 percent of the team total of 1,450 1/3) from players who replaced the original 25 in 2013. Top contributors were Yasiel Puig (432 plate appearances), Scott Van Slyke (152) and Dee Gordon (106) at the plate, and Ricky Nolasco (87 innings), Stephen Fife (58 1/3) and Chris Withrow (32 2/3) on the mound.
The 2013 Dodgers on April 1
Opening Day 2013 roster (25): Josh Beckett, Ronald Belisario, Chris Capuano, Zack Greinke, Matt Guerrier, Aaron Harang, J.P. Howell, Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw, Brandon League, Paco Rodriguez, Hyun-Jin Ryu, A.J. Ellis, Tim Federowicz, Luis Cruz, Mark Ellis, Adrian Gonzalez, Nick Punto, Justin Sellers, Juan Uribe, Carl Crawford, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, Jerry Hairston, Skip Schumacher
Disabled list (4): Chad Billingsley, Scott Elbert, Hanley Ramirez, Ted Lilly
Triple-A Albuquerque (12): Elian Herrera, Stephen Fife, Alex Castellanos, Josh Wall, Dee Gordon, Chris Withrow, Shawn Tolleson, Javy Guerra, Matt Magill, Scott Van Slyke, Nick Buss, Peter Moylan
Double-A Chattanooga (2): Yasiel Puig, Jose Dominguez
Other organizations (7):
- Chicago Cubs: Carlos Marmol
- Miami Marlins: Ricky Nolasco
- San Diego Padres: Edinson Volquez
- Texas Rangers: Michael Young
- Triple-A Rochester (Minnesota Twins): Drew Butera
- Designated for assignment (Colorado Rockies): Ramon Hernandez
- Unsigned: Brian Wilson
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