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Wells will start serving suspension

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Times Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO -- David Wells won’t take his next turn in the rotation to serve the seven-game suspension levied against him in July when he was with San Diego, the pitcher’s agent said Saturday.

Wells and his representative, Gregg Clifton, had planned to appeal the penalty and had a hearing scheduled for Thursday in Chicago. But with the season running out, Clifton said they decided to drop the challenge rather than risk the possibility of Wells’ missing two starts.

“David’s goal is to help the Dodgers as much as he can,” Clifton said.

“I had no choice,” said Wells, who declined to further discuss the suspension, saying, “I don’t want to get myself in more trouble.”

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Wells was suspended and fined $3,000 for “violent and aggressive actions,” which included throwing a baseball at the backstop after being ejected from a July 7 game with Atlanta for questioning umpire Ed Hickox’s strike zone. He reacted to the suspension and fine by calling Bob Watson, baseball’s vice president of on-field operations, “a henchman and a yes man” for Commissioner Bud Selig, and charging that the game is changing so much “pretty soon we’ll all put skirts on and we’re all going to play softball.”

Watson fined Wells an additional $5,000 for those comments.

The Dodgers were aware of the suspension when they signed Wells 10 days ago and, after consulting with the pitcher and his agent, agreed with their decision to drop the appeal.

“They felt it was best to start serving it right away and not go through the appeal process. We concurred,” General Manager Ned Colletti said. “If they believed it was going to be seven games no matter what, then it’s better off serving it now and get[ting] it behind you rather than have some wild-card date that lies ahead.”

Left-hander Eric Stults, optioned to the minors Friday to clear roster space for newly acquired pitcher Esteban Loaiza, will rejoin the Dodgers next week and start in Wells’ place Wednesday in Chicago, Manager Grady Little said.

Wells is expected to be back in the rotation next weekend in San Francisco.

An MRI exam on Nomar Garciaparra’s left calf showed the strain that landed him on the disabled list more than two weeks ago still hasn’t healed completely.

“We wanted to make sure everything is OK,” trainer Stan Conte said. “We were looking for the MRI to tell us to go forward or go back.”

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Instead, the test told Garciaparra to do what he’s been doing: continue hitting and fielding practice while slowly trying to test the leg by running easily.

The Dodgers hope to activate Garciaparra sometime next week and use him as a pinch-hitter until he feels 100%.

“We’re waiting for him to feel comfortable and not to worry too much that he can play,” Conte said.

With roster limits expanding from 25 to 40 players Saturday, the Dodgers called up four players from triple-A Las Vegas -- infielder Chin-lung Hu, catcher Chad Moeller and pitchers Jonathan Meloan and D.J. Houlton.

To create room on the 40-man roster for Hu, Meloan and Moeller, the Dodgers transferred pitchers Randy Wolf, Yhency Brazoban and Chin-hui Tsao to the 60-day disabled list.

Little said there will be at least one more wave of promotions after the minor league season ends Monday.

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Outfielder Delwyn Young, who batted .500 in a short stay with the Dodgers last month, was selected most valuable player of the Dodgers’ top farm club.

Young, 25, began Saturday hitting .334 with 17 homers, 90 runs batted in and a franchise-record 50 doubles for Las Vegas.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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