Kent Back; Billingsley May Debut Thursday

Ned Colletti, Kim Ng and Grady Little met for more than an hour Monday at Dodger Stadium, discussing roster moves and trade possibilities, but the only concrete decision was to activate second baseman Jeff Kent from the disabled list in time for today’s game against the San Diego Padres.

Closer Eric Gagne is expected to be put on the disabled list, and the first move could be as simple as replacing Gagne with Kent, reducing the number of pitchers from 12 to 11.

However, the Dodgers are close to promoting starting pitcher Chad Billingsley from triple-A Las Vegas to make his debut Thursday at San Diego or Friday in an interleague game at Oakland.

The Dodgers could retain a 12-man pitching staff by promoting Billingsley and activating Kent while placing Gagne on the disabled list and sending rookie Joel Guzman to Las Vegas.

Slipping Billingsley into the rotation Thursday is appealing to the Dodgers for two reasons. It would enable them to avoid handing another start to Odalis Perez or Jae Seo, while also giving struggling Brett Tomko an extra day of rest.

Colletti will drive to San Diego to meet with Little before tonight’s game and decide on the impending moves. The general manager and manager also will continue their good-natured needling about the Stanley Cup finals.

Colletti, whose first job was as a sportswriter covering hockey, is pulling for Edmonton because he has friends on the team. Little admittedly knows next to nothing about hockey but is pulling for Carolina because his former minor league pitching coach, Matt West, works in the Hurricanes’ front office.

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Colletti would not comment on whether anyone with the Dodgers has been contacted in connection with baseball’s steroid probe. Investigators might be interested in speaking to Colletti about Barry Bonds and his associates because Colletti worked in the San Francisco Giants’ front office for 11 years.

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Third baseman Andy LaRoche was promoted to Las Vegas after helping double-A Jacksonville to the first-half title in the Southern League.

LaRoche, 22, was leading the league with 46 runs batted in. He was batting .309 with nine home runs and scouts said he was playing excellent defense. Perhaps his most impressive statistics were his 41 walks and only 32 strikeouts.

The Suns’ record is 45-20, second-best in the minors to the triple-A Charlotte Knights. They have won 12 of 13 since their top hitter, Matt Kemp, was promoted to the Dodgers.