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Wolf would still like to return next season

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Times Staff Writer

Randy Wolf was fielding questions in front of David Wells’ locker when Wells walked by.

“Did they get rid of your locker already?” Wells asked.

Wolf laughed.

Moments earlier, Wolf, who underwent shoulder surgery last week, said he didn’t expect the Dodgers to pick up his $9-million option for next season. The Dodgers could buy it out for $500,000.

“I kind of assume that,” Wolf said. “I wouldn’t pick up my option for next year. I understand that.”

But Wolf, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, said he wanted another shot with the Dodgers next season.

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“I’m in an awkward position,” Wolf said. “I want to play here, but they have to want me as well.”

Wolf’s contract would have been guaranteed for next season if he had pitched 180 innings. He was at 102 2/3 innings with a 9-6 record when he was shelved in July.

Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Esteban Loaiza and Jason Schmidt are under contract with the Dodgers for next season and Chad Billingsley is under the club’s control, meaning Wolf could be the odd man out.

But Wolf didn’t think that the Dodgers’ acquisition of Loaiza last month necessary pointed to his time with the club being over.

“They’re trying to win this year,” he said. “Picking up a pitcher like Loaiza I think is definitely something that we need this year. Something had to be done.”

Wolf was relieved that the exploratory surgery he underwent showed only a frayed labrum and scarring on the bursa.

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He said his shoulder already felt considerably better and that he should be throwing by November.

“I don’t even feel like I had surgery,” Wolf said.

Brett Tomko returned to the site of his torment Tuesday, describing himself as “100 times happier” than when he was last there.

The visit to Dodger Stadium was Tomko’s first since he was released by the Dodgers and picked up by the San Diego Padres at the start of the month.

“It’s been a 180-degree shift,” Tomko said.

From the time he was designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Aug. 24 to when he was signed by the San Diego Padres on Sept. 4, Tomko said he cleared his head and “stripped down to the basics mechanically.”

I think I got in some bad habits here,” Tomko said.

Tomko said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt suggested that he tried to better hide the ball and throw across his body, resulting in a decrease in velocity. But Tomko didn’t blame the Dodgers for his 2-11 record and 5.80 earned-run average with them this season.

“Nothing was crammed down my throat,” he said. “They were trying to make me better.”

Tomko pitched three scoreless innings Friday in his second game for the Padres, in which he said his velocity was back at 96 mph.

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Tomko, who could start for the Padres on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, was available out of the bullpen Tuesday and guessed that if he came out of it, he would be booed the way he had been all season.

“I didn’t enjoy getting booed the way I got booed,” Tomko said. “Now, if they boo, it’ll be because I’m on a different team. It’s definitely a lot easier to deal with.”

Yhency Brazoban will throw today for the first time since he underwent shoulder surgery in June.

Brazoban said he has been lifting weights for the last month.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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