Los Angeles Dodgers News: Mark Ellis, Luis Cruz

The Los Angeles Dodgers could have a quality second baseman back in the mix, and Mark Ellis could be activated before today’s game against the Atlanta Braves. Ellis is supposed to continue to participate in rehab games on his rehab assignment today, but 29-year-old third baseman Luis Cruz is dealing with an elbow injury, per Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick.

Cruz was expected to be demoted once Ellis returns from his quad injury, but now things are more complicated with Cruz dealing with a sore right (throwing) elbow. The Dodgers aren’t going to sit idly by with a lack of infield depth due to Cruz’s injury, so it sounds like the Dodgers are going to rush Ellis a little bit, ignore a rehab game (or two), and, per Gurnick, start Mark Ellis.

Even if Ellis isn’t 100%, he should still be a massive upgrade over Cruz, who is best off in Triple-A at this point. He is hitting under .100 on the season, whereas Ellis has a .342 batting average and 11 RBIs on the season in 20 games. There is no reason to think that Ellis won’t continue to play well, although his batting average won’t nearly be that high. Still, he is definitely better than Cruz, and I bet the Dodgers will activate Ellis. However, the thing that is likely holding the Dodgers back is the fact that Ellis only played in four innings of rehab. His assignment started on Friday, but Ellis was pulled as precautionary measure due to the poor, rainy conditions at the game. If the Dodgers were cautious then, they might be cautious now. But with Cruz suffering from elbow soreness, the time is now for the Dodgers to bring back Ellis.