On Monday it was reported that 34-year-old veteran Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was dealing with soreness in his right elbow … again. And although this is the same elbow that has been troubling the 13-year MLB veteran for some time now, it comes as a surprise to no one that the San Diego, California native and unofficial team captain insists that it’s no big deal.

“He took a check swing and there was a little something with the same elbow. It was a different part, more of the belly of the arm,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Monday. “He’s assured us that it’s not a big deal.“

By “same elbow,” Roberts means the one that kept Gonzalez out of the Dodgers first nine spring training games and threatened to keep him out of the World Baseball Classic for Team Mexico. And while the veteran first baseman has “assured” the Dodgers that “it’s no big deal,” AGon has, to date, appeared in a grand total of four of the Dodgers 25 spring training games thus far, with only two weeks and 12 spring training games remaining before Opening Day.

In Gonzalez’s absence, 21-year-old number one ranked Dodgers first base prospect Cody Bellinger has seen the bulk of the playing time at first base for the team this spring and, quite frankly, has been outstanding. And while the extremely polite Scottsdale, Arizona native is only 9-for-43 (.209) at the plate with one home run and seven RBIs thus far this spring, his play on the other side of the ball at first base has been outstanding, having committed only one error in 72 total chances for an above-average fielding percentage of .991. He also has 103 put-outs and two assists. In other words, this is not a small sample size.

Although Bellinger has struggled at the plate this spring, his defense has been Adrian Gonzales-like.
(Photo credit – Lisa Blumenfeld)

But is/has Bellinger’s play at first base been good enough for the Dodgers to include him on their Opening Day roster should Gonzalez be unable to answer the bell on April 3?

The simple answer and the one that most Cody Bellinger fans want to hear – and there are many – is a resounding yes. The problem is that by doing so, the Dodgers will start Bellinger’s major league service time clock and force them to burn one of his pre-arbitration-eligible options for what would (probably) amount to perhaps a week or two in the big leagues until AGon is healthy enough to resume play, at which time the Dodgers would undoubtedly option Bellinger to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

While it is perfectly understandable that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi want to delay starting Bellinger’s service time clock and unquestionably want him to develop further before hitting the bigs, it is impossible to ignore the fact that Belly is, hands down, their best option as the Dodgers’ everyday first baseman in AGon’s absence.

There is no argument that a healthy Adrian Gonzalez is invaluable to the Dodgers. The problem is that he isn’t healthy. (Photo credit – Ross D. Franklin)

Oh sure, you can easily sub in utility bench players Scott Van Slyke or Rob Segedin or perhaps even non-roster invitee first baseman Ike Davis (if he even makes the team, that is), but if Gonzalez is going to be out for any significant period of time – and let’s face it, elbows are risky business – it would behoove the Dodgers to utilize their number one, top-ranked prospect with Adrian Gonzalez-like power and defensive skills at first base rather than to replace him with a utility bench player.

It basically all boils down to just how serious the Dodgers are about winning during AGon’s absence when the regular season begins on April 3.