Perez’s Role Looks in Limbo

The Dodgers plan to place Odalis Perez on the bereavement list today, a move that will allow them to supplant the inconsistent left-hander in the rotation for at least one start.

Perez, who is visiting his ailing mother in the Dominican Republic, must remain on the bereavement list for a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven, though there are no assurances that the 28-year-old will reclaim his spot in the rotation once he returns. General Manager Ned Colletti declined to specify who would take Perez’s next turn in the rotation Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers but said the replacement would “probably not” be limited to one start.

Asked whether he wanted Perez’s substitute to stick around, Colletti said, “I hope so.”

Aaron Sele, who is 3-0 with a 2.43 earned-run average in five starts for triple-A Las Vegas, is the leading candidate to replace Perez, though Chad Billingsley and D.J. Houlton are options. Billingsley would seem unlikely because he threw 90 pitches Wednesday and would be pitching on three days’ rest if he started Sunday.

Colletti said Assistant General Manager Kim Ng had spoken with Perez’s agent and expected Perez to return within a few days, though Manager Grady Little acknowledged the possibility of a prolonged absence.

“When you’ve got someone’s health as a concern, there’s always that possibility,” Little said. “I think back to when people in my family were sick; they weren’t really operating on a schedule.”

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Dioner Navarro became the seventh Dodger to go on the disabled list since April 1 after suffering what the catcher described as a “really bad” bone bruise in the second inning Thursday when Vinny Castilla’s foul tip went off Navarro’s right wrist.

Catcher Russell Martin, whom Little called “one of our prized babies in the minor leagues,” made his major league debut Friday after being recalled from Las Vegas to replace Navarro.

The Dodgers would have preferred to allow Martin, hitting .297 in 23 games with nine runs batted in, to continue his development in Las Vegas but had no choice with Navarro sidelined for an extended stretch.

Little said Martin would not necessarily report back to the minor leagues once Navarro returned.

“It all depends on how the kid’s doing,” Little said. “If he comes up here and sets the world on fire, the position we’re in right now, we might look at something different. Anything’s a possibility.”

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Third baseman Bill Mueller, who tweaked his right knee Wednesday and had to leave Thursday’s game in the second inning after the soreness intensified, is expected to sit out only a couple of days after an MRI exam revealed no structural damage. Mueller, the only Dodger to have played in each of the team’s first 29 games, was replaced in the lineup Friday by Ramon Martinez.... Eric Gagne made a series of throws from varying distances Friday and reported “feeling the best he has all year, including spring training,” according to Little. The manager said he hoped that Gagne, recovering from surgery to remove a nerve from his right elbow, could pitch from a mound within a week.