Dodgers expected to add Jerry Hairston Jr. to disabled list

At some point, will the Dodgers have more players on the disabled list than the active roster?

They’re starting to make it close. Moments after they finally placed Mark Ellis on DL, Jerry Hairston Jr. came off the field after briefly testing his sore groin Monday and headed into the clubhouse.

Now Hairston is expected to be placed on the DL after Monday’s game against the Diamondbacks, and the Dodgers are expected to call up an outfielder.

“I never want to put the team in harm’s way,” Hairston said before taking the field. “I don’t want to do that in any way.”

Trouble is, there is no obvious candidate to call up.

It won’t be phenom Yasiel Puig, who is at double-A Chattanooga. The Dodgers not only want him to get more seasoning in the minors, they’re not going to call him up unless he’s going to play every day.

At triple-A Albuquerque the candidates are Tony Gwynn Jr., Nick Buss, Elian Herrera and Scott Van Slyke.

Van Slyke is leading the Isotopes in hitting (.496, nine homers, 28 RBI), but has been playing first base this season and not the outfield.

Hairston would become the Dodgers’ 13th DL move of the season.

“The sad thing is, I was really starting to feel good at the plate,” Hairston said before the game. “As a team we’re kind of getting kicked around. Everybody is banged up. If we’re going to go through something, better it’s late April, early May.”