Dreifort Will Sit a Spell

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  As if Darren Dreifort hasn’t endured enough the last eight months, laboring through the rehabilitation from his second elbow reconstruction surgery in six years, he suited up for his first spring-training workout Friday and discovered the name on the back of his Dodger jersey was spelled wrong.

“That’s OK,” Dreifort--or, according to his uniform, Driefort--sighed. “I’m a medical redshirt, anyway.”

Dreifort is something of a medical marvel. After the pitcher tore the medial collateral ligament in his right elbow June 29, Dr. Frank Jobe, Dodger team physician, and Dr. Ralph Gambardella performed Tommy John surgery, reaching the ligament through the same holes Jobe had drilled through Dreifort’s elbow in 1995.

The right-hander, in the second year of a five-year, $55.4-million contract, will not return until the All-Star break at the earliest, but the Dodgers and Dreifort are pleased with his progress.

Dreifort, who sat out the 1995 season because of his first elbow surgery, has been able to play catch, throwing softly from a distance of 80 feet, for several weeks. He will gradually increase his workload during camp but is months away from throwing off a mound.

“Everything is right on schedule right now, it’s just going to take time,” Dreifort said. “How much time, nobody knows. I think I recovered from surgery a little quicker this time, and I might be a little stronger now, but until I get on a mound, it’s hard to tell the difference [between this recovery and the one in 1995].”

Once Dreifort gets back on the mound, the Dodgers probably will try to convince him to adjust his mechanics. Some believe Dreifort’s awkward delivery may have been responsible for his arm troubles.

“I’ll worry about that down the road,” Dreifort said. “Right now I just want to play catch and try not to develop any bad habits.”

Would it be possible for Dreifort, 29, to alter his motion?

“I don’t know,” he said. “Everyone has his own arm slot, his own way of doing things. You can tweak things, but to overhaul something you’ve done for 20 years would be difficult.”

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Kim Ng, Dodger assistant general manager, has begun conversations with the agents for catcher Paul Lo Duca and reliever Matt Herges in hopes of signing the players to multiyear contracts.

Lo Duca had a breakout season in 2001, batting a team-high .320 with 25 home runs, 90 runs batted in and 28 doubles.

Herges was the Dodgers’ primary set-up man, going 9-8 with a 3.44 earned-run average in 75 appearances.

Talks are expected to center on three-year deals, but the Herges negotiations could be slowed by the uncertainty surrounding his role. If Herges is the team’s closer this season, his agent would seek a more lucrative deal; if he is a set-up man again, Herges would not command as big a contract.

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Seven players--Japanese pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, Dominican pitchers Odalis Perez, Rafael Roque, Danny Mota and Ricardo Rodriguez and catchers Angelo Encarnacion and Jose Diaz--were not in camp Friday because of delays in obtaining U.S. work visas. Venezuelan reliever Giovanni Carrara was excused because of a family emergency and is expected in camp Sunday.

Ishii is expected in camp Tuesday, Roque and Mota arrived Friday night, and Perez and Rodriguez are expected Sunday. Conflicting birth certificates also revealed Encarnacion, who will catch at triple-A Las Vegas, to be 33 years old, not 29.

“We were looking for a mature catcher to handle our young staff [in Las Vegas],” Dodger General Manager Dan Evans said, “so he’ll fit in fine.”

Shigeki Sano, who is 41-31 with 27 saves in 351 games in the Japanese major leagues, agreed to a minor league contract with the Dodgers and will report to minor league camp by March 1.

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Mike DiGiovanna