Donnelly Hospitalized Again With Nosebleeds

Any hopes Brendan Donnelly had of returning in the first week of the season were dashed Saturday night when the Angel reliever was readmitted to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital because of continued bleeding in his nose, a setback that could sideline Donnelly for several weeks and deal a considerable blow to the Angel bullpen.

“Right now, we’re not dealing with a situation where we’re wondering when a guy will get back to the mound,” Manager Mike Scioscia said Sunday. “We’re dealing with a serious situation that needs to be addressed for Brendan to be healthy.”

Donnelly, an All-Star setup man who was 2-2 with a 1.58 earned-run average in 63 games last season, suffered 20 fractures in his nose when he was struck by a batting-practice fly ball March 9.

After experiencing nosebleeds that were so serious he lost roughly half the blood in his body over a 48-hour span, Donnelly underwent a second surgery March 20 to cauterize the blood vessels in his nose. He returned to camp for the first time in nine days Saturday, in good spirits and cleared to begin light exercise.

But the nosebleeds returned Saturday night, and Donnelly underwent a third procedure to address the problem. Donnelly is expected to remain hospitalized for several days, and he will have to remain inactive until his nose has fully healed.

“It was serious the last time, and now he’s had another complication,” Scioscia said. “I’m not sure of the extent of his nosebleeds this time, but I would imagine since he was admitted to the hospital, they were pretty serious.

“We haven’t been given a time frame [for his return], but right now he needs to shut everything down, even normal activities. He needs to be quiet, to stay in bed, and then we’ll see where this situation goes.”

Donnelly will open the season on the disabled list, and Francisco Rodriguez, who has been dominant this spring, with an 0.79 ERA in eight games, will slide into the primary setup role in front of closer Troy Percival. Ben Weber and middle reliever Scot Shields will assume more significant, late-inning roles.

With Derrick Turnbow reassigned to minor league camp, there are two bullpen spots open.

One is expected to go to the starter who doesn’t make the rotation -- probably Aaron Sele or Ramon Ortiz -- and the final spot probably will come down to right-handers Kevin Gregg, who threw a scoreless ninth inning in the Angels’ 3-0 exhibition victory over San Francisco on Sunday, and Matt Hensley.

However, Scioscia did not rule out the possibility of using Kelvim Escobar, who signed a three-year, $18.75-million contract with the Angels this winter to be a starter but had extensive bullpen experience in Toronto, in relief.

“We’ll consider every option, but the criteria is not so much if a guy has pitched in the bullpen before,” Scioscia said of the possibility of using starters in relief. “It’s what five starters will give us the best rotation.”

The Angel bullpen had an American League-leading 3.15 ERA last season, and Donnelly was a huge part of that, giving up only two earned runs in his first 50 innings. He limited right-handers to a .202 average and left-handers to a .199 average.

“We still have good arms who can hopefully bridge that gap [between the starter and closer],” Scioscia said. “Now, we don’t know when Brendan is going to be back. The No. 1 priority is to get this stabilized, under control. You can’t minimize the loss of someone like Brendan in the bullpen, but we’ll get it done.”