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The Los Angeles Dodgers are dealing with several critical injuries within their organization at the moment. Jason Schmidt, Andy LaRoche, Tony Abreu, and Nomar Garciaparra are all suffering from injuries. Hopefully, these players will make full recoveries and be capable of contribute to the Dodgers' success in the 2008 Regular Season.

Jason Schmidt, the Dodgers' biggest off-season acquisition last season, has decided to ignore the pain evident in his right-shoulder. The pitcher is not expected to be prepared for Opening Day 2008, recovering from a major surgery that repaired multiple tears in his pitching arm last season. I do not expect the hurler to throw at full-force in 2008 or to stay on the mound for more than six innings a game, since he will be playing through the aching pain. However, I give a lot of credit to Schmidt for taking one for the team.

Andy LaRoche is now walking around with a bandaged right-hand. The promising third-baseman is restricted from participating in any baseball-like activity for eight to ten weeks. Hopefully, LaRoche will be back better than ever during the 2008 Regular Season. With Nomar Garciaparra injured, the Dodgers' are searching for alternatives at third-base.

Nomar Garciaparra, the Dodgers' other third-baseman, is recovering from a swollen right wrist. The former-Red Sox batter was hit-by-pitch earlier in the week. Since he did not fly over to China for the Dodgers' series against the Padres, he will hopefully have enough time to fully recover from this minor injury so that it will not affect his performance during the 2008 Regular Season.

Tony Abreu, an up-and-coming star, hopped on a plane to Philadelphia to visit Dr. William Meyers, the sports-hernia specialist who performed surgery on his abdomen this past October. Thankfully, the potential third-base starter has been cleared to play and will snap back into action this Saturday against the Washington Nationals (America).

The Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen into a four-game losing streak, including a sad loss to the Cardinals today, possibly due to the tremendous impact that these injuries had on the team chemistry. Although I'm not in the Dodgers' clubhouse, I believe that their team is not pleased to learn that some of their most-talented athletes are the victims of Pre-Season injuries. Hopefully, all of these players will recover from their various injuries and restore confidence in the Dodgers' organization and the fans.