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There goes one starting option: Dodgers’ Paul Maholm has torn ACL

Dodgers pitcher Paul Maholm is 1-4 with 4.74 earned-run average in eight starts and 0-1 with a 5.00 ERA as a reliever.
(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
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Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly sat during his postgame media session Friday, admitting the news on Paul Maholm’s right knee was not expected to be good.

“He’s had four surgeries on the other knee. This is his good knee,” Mattingly said.

Not anymore.

The Dodgers announced Saturday that an MRI exam showed that Maholm tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee while covering first base on a play Friday. Treatment has yet to be determined, but it will almost certainly mean surgery that will end his season.

Maholm had struggled with the Dodgers after signing a one-year, $1.5-million contract in the off-season. He was originally signed as insurance for the fifth spot in the rotation should Josh Beckett not recover from rib surgery.

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When Beckett won the spot and got off to a terrific start, and then Clayton Kershaw returned from the disabled list, Maholm went to the bullpen for the first time in his 10-year career. He didn’t exactly shine in either role (1-4, 4.74 ERA in eight starts; 0-1, 5.00 ERA as a reliever).

But he at least offered some rotation insurance, and with Dan Haren struggling, he might have received another shot as a starter.

Not now. Now with the Dodgers lacking options at the big league level and no minor leaguer looking particularly ready, they may have to search the waiver wire.

Maholm is 32, so his entire career is in jeopardy. The left-hander’s career mark is 77-100 with a 4.30 ERA.

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