Dodgers' Cavan Biggio release couldn't have come at worse time after Freddie Freeman injury

It's never a good sign when a player is out of a lineup unexpectedly; for the Dodgers on Tuesday night, it was even more worrisome that the player out was Freddie Freeman. Freeman's middle right finger sustained a hairline fracture on Aug. 8 when he fielded a ground ball to first. He insisted that he would be able to play through it, and remained steady in the lineup until this Tuesday.

A Dodgers source said that Freeman was just out as a precaution as they keep a close eye on his finger, but Dave Roberts said after the game that they would re-evaluate the next day. He also said that the Dodgers didn't plan to put Freeman on the IL, but he could be out for the next two or three games.

Without Freeman, the Dodgers' options at first base are limited. Freeman has only missed 10 games this season, and Cavan Biggio took over at first for eight of them, while Kiké Hernández has made the other two starts, including the one on Tuesday. Hernández is a utility infielder, but he's spent limited time at first in his career. Biggio is long gone by now.

Sans Biggio and sans Freeman, what are the Dodgers supposed to do about first base if they lose Freeman to the IL?

Dodgers might have a first base problem if Freddie Freeman goes onto the IL

The easiest solution would be to stay with Hernández, who's hitting much better in August than any other month this season. However, if Hernández declines again, that's when things could get a little dicey. The Dodgers could put fellow utility infielder Chris Taylor at first, but that would mean having to put Chris Taylor in the lineup more often.

They could reassign Tommy Edman to first and put Andy Pages in center when rosters expand on Sept. 1, but Pages is much stronger corner outfielder than centerfielder, and Edman has played pretty much every position on the field other than first base.

If things got really desperate, the Dodgers could call up No. 1 prospect Dalton Rushing, who's been hitting like a maniac in Triple-A and was a catcher/first baseman before he was moved to the outfield ahead of his promotion. But the Dodgers' roster is an incredibly tight squeeze right now, so it'd be hard to find a place for Rushing -- not to mention that it's a bad time for the Dodgers, who are still fending off their division rivals, to take a chance on a prospect.

Let's hope we're just being overly pessimistic here, and that Freeman will return to the lineup in a few days like nothing happened. If he doesn't, though, the Dodgers will have another set of problems on their hands.