Dodgers Careful With Brown

All signs Friday pointed to Omar Daal enjoying life in the rotation longer and Kevin Brown returning to the disabled list soon because of torn scar tissue in Brown’s surgically repaired right elbow, though the Dodgers said nothing has been determined while continuing to accentuate the positive.

Manager Jim Tracy acknowledged that Brown still had swelling around his elbow--seemingly a red flag--after the club’s No. 1 starter played catch on flat ground for the fourth time in as many days. But Tracy said a decision would not be made until today because, “As rigorously as he threw the ball, we’re going to wait and see how he’s doing before we decide any course.”

The Dodgers hope Brown will be ready to pitch off a mound for the first time since re-injuring his elbow in last Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at Qualcomm Stadium, taking another step away from the disabled list. And they’re feeling less queasy about losing Brown for a few more starts after Omar Daal worked 61/3 strong innings in Thursday’s 5-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.

But the team isn’t the same without the 37-year-old right-hander, who appears headed to the disabled list for the first time this season and fourth time since the beginning of the 2001 season.

“We talked about a lot of things,” Tracy said after emerging from a private meeting with General Manager Dan Evans and medical personnel. “Obviously, you don’t sit around and talk about just that one thing. You talk about other areas that you would go to if, in fact, it doesn’t work out exactly the way you’d like to see it work out.

“That’s conversation that I like to have. I don’t like to see us staggering around searching for an answer if we have to come up with one.... As of right now, he is on course to [start Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park]. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves by saying it’s going to happen because we still have to wait and see how he is.”

Team physician Frank Jobe seemed to be ahead of the curve, intimating he would recommend putting Brown on the disabled list unless something changed quickly.

“What we’ve done is gone day by day,” he said. “After eight days, it’s getting close to the time to make a decision.”

Brown used to push the envelope with injuries, pitching through many and often returning sooner than advised. He said his experience last season, when he underwent surgery to repair a torn muscle Sept. 27, has made him more conservative, and the Dodgers are more forceful with him, or at least trying harder to reason with him.

“From my vantage point as the manager of the club, we will err on the side of caution,” Tracy said. “It’s April, not the end of August. It’s not a huge situation, a critical situation in the month of September, and all those types of things are very important to me.”

Still, Brown won’t make it easy on the Dodgers.

“My advice to Kevin is that you always want to make sure you’re pitching in September,” agent Scott Boras said. “As evidenced by [Thursday] night’s game, there’s certainly a bit of leeway with available guys who can give some innings, without taxing the bullpen, that will allow him to be a little more [conservative] about his rehab.

“That’s what I’d say to Kevin. Whether or not Kevin would listen to that, that’s another matter.”

Daal provided what the Dodgers needed against the Padres, working efficiently and effectively in his first start with the club. The left-hander is not considered in Brown’s class, but the Dodgers believe he could be a good replacement for their staff ace.

“He’s a guy who could be starting for lots of teams,” pitching coach Jim Colborn said. “It was great foresight by the front office to arrange things like this. You can count on one hand the teams that have had this kind of depth.”

Brown agrees.

“It’s a huge boost,” he said. “Obviously, you’re not depending on somebody that has very little, or no experience, in the big leagues. He’s done it, he’s comfortable with it and he’s been successful at it. That’s a great luxury.”