Dodger fans who have been following the progress of Cuban shortstop-turned-second baseman Alex Guerrero at Triple-A Albuquerque are well aware that he was absolutely tearing it up with the Isotopes. In his last 10 games Guerrero hit .415, had an OBP of .419 and a SLG of .951 for a Puig-like OPS of 1.370. He hit two doubles, one triple, six home runs and drove in 11 runs during that 10-game stretch. In other words, the Dodgers simply had to find a way to get Guerrero and his smoking hot bat  to Los Angeles.

So intent on doing so, the Dodgers aborted their attempts to convert the natural shortstop to a second baseman and returned him to shortstop – if for no other reason than Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon was simply not going away anytime soon and the Dodgers had to find another way to plug Guerrero into their line-up to (hopefully) spark their sputtering offense. They even sent Vice President of Player Development De Jon Watson to Salt Lake City to monitor Guerrero at the shortstop position to see if he was MLB-ready – and there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that he was.

But then the unthinkable happened. Veteran 37-year-old catcher Miguel Olivo got into an argument and then physical altercation with Guerrero, his own teammate, and bit a large portion of Guerrero’s left ear off – all of this in front of a shocked De Jon Watson.

Olivo’s inexcusable act not only sealed his own fate but it also derailed Guerrero’s imminent promotion to the Dodgers, who instead were forced to promote a much less MLB-ready Erisbel Arruebarrena from Double-A Chattanooga.

Although Olivo’s attack was criminal in and of itself, the real crime is that Olivo delayed Guerrero’s promotion to the major leagues. (Photo courtesy of StingEmBees.com)

And then things went from bad to worse.

Just moments before the start of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Phillies, regular shortstop Hanley Ramirez was scratched from the line-up for what is being reported as a “sore left calf” and Arruebarrena inserted into the Dodgers line-up in his place. And although Arruebarrena collected his first MLB hit (a single), scored his first run and was involved in two defensive plays, he is not Hanley Ramirez nor is he Alex Guerrero – not by any margin.

The point is that the now unemployed Olivo not only permanently maimed Alex Guerrero and delayed his promotion to the big leagues, he also hurt the Isotopes and more importantly he hurt the very team that believed in him enough to give him one more chance to make it back to the big leagues when they signed Olivo to a minor league contract this past off-season.

Whether or not Guerrero will ever forgive Olivo for his vicious and childish attack, as former Dodgers catcher Johnny Roseboro did Giants pitcher Juan Marichal (after two decades) remains to be seen, but the popular belief is that Olivo’s actions are absolutely unforgivable – but then, that’s up to Guerrero and only Guerrero regardless of what anyone else thinks.

It took nearly two decades for Dodgers catcher Johnny Roseboro to forgive Juan Marichal for hitting him on the head with a baseball bat in 1965. (Photo credit – Robert H. Houston)

Thanks Miguel, thanks a lot.