Dodger Notebook : Thumb Injury Is Setback to Gonzalez’s Longshot Bid

Jose Gonzalez’s longshot bid to win a spot on the Dodger roster has suffered another setback. Gonzalez reported that he is unable to swing a bat after jamming his right thumb. He was examined Saturday by Dr. Frank Jobe, who said Gonzalez has a contusion on the thumb. His status is day-to-day.

Gonzalez, a 21-year-old outfielder who hit .306 in double-A San Antonio last season, has only one hit in 11 at-bats in exhibition play this spring.

The Dodgers were rained out of Saturday’s scheduled exhibition against the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, Fla. They returned to Vero Beach and played an intra-squad game, in which Bob Welch worked five innings and allowed one unearned run.

Rick Honeycutt is scheduled to make his third start of the spring today against the Atlanta Braves here, in a game that will be televised back to Los Angeles (Channel 11, 10:35 a.m.). Alejandro Pena is scheduled to pitch in today’s “B” squad game here.

Fernando Valenzuela was excused from Saturday’s workout because of a sore throat.

Dodger publicist Steve Brener said Saturday that the team has yet to receive a directive from the commissioner’s office setting guidelines for clubhouse visitation.

“But I’m sure we’ll hear something in the next couple of weeks,” Brener said. “We’ll have something before the season starts.”

Commissioner Peter Ueberroth had said more than two weeks ago that he planned to regulate access to major league clubhouses. “The days of friends, jewelry salesmen and agents are over,” Ueberroth said.

Currently, the Dodgers have a “fathers, sons and brothers” visitation rule for their players. Manager Tom Lasorda had a much more liberal policy for his office, in which he often entertained celebrities, politicians and friends. One of those friends, Joey DeCarlo, gained Lasorda a certain notoriety when Sports Illustrated, in a special report on gambling, linked DeCarlo, a Lasorda office regular, to the late organized crime figure Mickey Cohen.

Lasorda, who says he considers his office separate from the team clubhouse, denied any knowledge of DeCarlo’s background. DeCarlo, as have numerous other Lasorda associates, criticized the magazine for mentioning the Dodger manager in a piece on gambling. Lasorda says he has never gambled.