Bigbie, Loney don’t make opening roster

They batted a combined .389 in 126 spring-training at-bats. One led the team in runs batted in while the other was tops in average and hits.

That wasn’t good enough to win either Larry Bigbie or James Loney a spot on the Dodgers’ opening-day roster, however, with Bigbie being reassigned and Loney optioned to the minors after Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Angels.

The team also put shortstop Rafael Furcal on the disabled list retroactive to March 23, meaning he won’t be eligible to play until at least Saturday. Journeyman Wilson Valdez, who hit .356 and led the team in at-bats (73) and runs (11) this spring, will take Furcal’s place on the roster.

The Dodgers’ clubhouse was emptied before Manager Grady Little and General Manager Ned Colletti announced the transactions, with most of the players having exited through a back door. Little said Loney, who hit .414 this spring after batting .380 in triple A last summer, did not take the news well.

“Right now, with the makeup of our club, it was just tough for us to have him here and have him doing as much sitting as he was probably going to have to be doing,” Little said. “He needs to be playing.

“These kids have come to spring training and made these decisions very difficult. For them to take it’s difficult sometimes. But that’s the way it is.”

Bigbie, a six-year veteran who came to camp as a non-roster invitee, hit .357 with a team-high 14 RBIs yet finds himself weighing offers from other teams before deciding whether to accept a minor league spot with the Dodgers, who chose Matt Kemp over Bigbie as the team’s fifth outfielder.

The club also optioned infielder Andy LaRoche and right-hander Chin-hui Tsao to the minors Saturday, giving the final spot on the 11-man pitching staff to veteran Rudy Seanez.

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Manny Mota has spent 37 of the last 38 seasons in a Dodgers uniform, but he won’t be in one Monday when the team opens the season in Milwaukee.

As part of a more stringent enforcement of a long-standing rule, baseball is limiting teams to six uniformed coaches during games, leaving no place for Mota, the longest-tenured coach since the franchise moved to California.

“Rules are rules,” he said. “I have to follow the rules. And that’s that.”

Mota will be permitted in the clubhouse and on the field before home games but he will no longer travel with the team.

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Infielder Tony Abreu, who hit .340 with three homers and 13 RBIs, was named the Dodgers’ top rookie of the spring.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com