Erik Bedard To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Strained Back
By Scott Andes

Dodger pitchers are dropping like flies. Ken Gurnick is now reporting that left hander Erik Bedard will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks with a strained teres muscle. Bedard had to leave his last start early on Friday in San Antonio after feeling discomfort. If you remember the teres muscle is the same injury that Clayton Kershaw suffered at the beginning of last season. From experience we now know that it usually entails at least a month of recovery time. The Dodgers have scheduled an MRI exam.
Erik Bedard expected to miss four to six weeks with strain of the same back muscle that shelved Clayton Kershaw for five weeks last year.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 23, 2015
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Bedard was signed as a free agent on a minor league deal back on January 18 of this year. The veteran left hander was a primary candidate to replace the injured Hyun-jin Ryu in the starting rotation. Now it looks like he’ll be out of the running. Joe Wieland appears to be the front runner now with the injury to Bedard.
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The 36-year old lefty has pitched in three games for the Dodgers this spring, and has not looked particularly sharp. He’s allowed three earned runs on five hits, and posted a 5.40 ERA in five innings of work. Last season the veteran was limited to 17 games with Tampa Bay, posting a 4.76 ERA, and a 7.6 strikeout per nine rate in 76 innings pitched.
Bedard has eleven years of MLB service time, with 241 games pitched, 230 of those as a starter. With Bedard starting the season on the disabled list, the Dodgers signed Cuban hurler Pablo Fernandez to bolster their already thinning pitching depth.