Dodgers skeptical Derrek Lee would be an upgrade - MLB

The Dodgers certainly need offensive help. They definitely have a whole lot of money to throw around. So why hasn’t Derrek Lee taken over at first base for the team yet?

FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal suggests that Lee is interested. He wants to play, and he already lives in Los Angeles. The reason he didn’t sign over the winter was because he didn’t get any offers he liked.

Lee is 36, and he spent the first half of last year’s struggling with the Orioles. However, that was his first ever go in the American League. After being traded back to the NL in August, he hit .337/.398/.584 with seven homers in 101 at-bats for Pittsburgh.

Dodgers first basemen this year after hitting .243/.302/.339 with four homers in 292 at-bats. It’s hard to imagine that Lee wouldn’t improve on that given a few weeks in Triple-A to find his stroke. Maybe the Dodgers could do better in a trade, but given that it’d only cost them cash to make a run at Lee — and cash really isn’t an issue for the team right now — they really should make a bid.

PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.