So Many Arms, Too Few Spots

The Dodgers have a numbers problem with the pitching staff that only a trade might solve.

Nonroster pitcher Jose Lima (1-1) has impressed with a 2.25 earned-run average in five spring appearances and probably will be on the opening-day roster.

Barring a trade, though, Lima figures to bump one of the 11 pitchers expected to make the team, Manager Jim Tracy having said he’d prefer to have a six-man bench.

“The chances are slim” of a 12-man staff, Tracy said Monday. “I don’t know that 12 pitchers is definitely the right way that we want to go.”

Lima has a clause in his contract that enables him to become a free agent if he’s not with the big league club by May 1, and the Dodgers don’t want to lose him. They might privately guarantee Lima a roster spot before that date if he agrees to start the season at triple-A Las Vegas, but team sources say that scenario is unlikely because Lima and the Dodgers know he deserves to open the season in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers also have eight days off the first two months of the season, meaning they could go without a fifth starter during that time, but Tracy said they might stick with a five-man rotation to give everyone an extra day’s rest.

“There are a number of days we have off,” Tracy said. “The extra guy on the bench would make a lot more sense than having another pitcher there.”

Darren Dreifort’s situation also affects the staff.

The Dodgers plan to use the injury-plagued right-hander in limited relief to start the season because, many in the organization believe, Dreifort cannot handle a starter’s workload. He has undergone seven surgeries as a professional and is coming off knee and hip operations.

The medical staff has recommended using Dreifort in long relief twice in a three-day span, but not on consecutive days. Dreifort is owed $12 million this season and $13 million in 2005.

General managers in the American and National leagues said there has not been much interest in right-hander Hideo Nomo, coming off shoulder surgery and owed $9 million; left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii, who has a partial no-trade clause and has revamped his delivery; or right-hander Jeff Weaver, trying to resurrect his career after a disastrous experience with the New York Yankees. Many teams want left-hander Odalis Perez and rookie right-hander Edwin Jackson, whom the Dodgers are reluctant to move.

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Perez out-dueled Curt Schilling as the Dodgers defeated the Boston Red Sox, 3-2, in front of an overflow crowd of 7,863 at Holman Stadium.

Perez (1-0) dazzled the park’s largest crowd since 1992, giving up three hits and striking out five with no walks in five innings. Perez, who has given up only one run this spring, lowered his earned-run average to 0.60.

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Kim Ng, assistant general manager, has removed herself from consideration for an assistant position with the New York Mets. General Manager Paul DePodesta had granted the Mets permission to interview Ng, who decided to remain with the Dodgers after speaking with Met General Manager Jim Duquette.

One of baseball’s highest-ranking female executives, Ng in November was the target of racially insensitive remarks made by former Met official Bill Singer, who mocked her Chinese heritage.

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Dave Wallace returned to Dodgertown in an official capacity for the first time since leaving the Dodgers for the second time in June to become Boston’s pitching coach.

“I feel real proud about what all the player-development people were able to do,” said Wallace, formerly a Dodger senior vice president of baseball operations. “When you talk about the staff we were able to put together, Bill Bavasi, John Boles, Joe Amalfitano

“I feel good about having left the Edwin Jacksons and the Greg Millers and all the player-development people who are doing a great job. On the major league level, I felt we were on the right track. We were probably a piece or two away from being real good ... but sometimes there are restrictions you can’t get over.”