Corey Seager out 1-2 weeks, Alex Wood scratched with forearm tightness

If there’s a more irreplaceable player on the Dodgers’ roster than Corey Seager, I’m not sure who that might be. So when he left Friday’s game with a sore left knee, it was cause for a little concern.

	Dodgers			Mariners
	6:40 p.m.			Peoria, Ariz.
SS	Hernandez		LF	Aoki
CF	Thompson		SS	Marte
LF	Ethier		2B	Cano
1B	Van Slyke		DH	Cruz
C	Ellis		1B	Lind
DH	Zarraga		3B	Seager
3B	Segedin		RF	Gutierrez
RF	Hassan		C	Clevenger
2B	Herrera		CF	Powell
P	Frias (R)		P	Paxton (L)

	Cubs			Dodgers
	6:05 p.m.			Glendale, Ariz.
2B	Zobrist		LF	Crawford
SS	Russell		CF	Pederson
3B	Bryant		RF	Puig
DH	Montero		DH	Gonzalez
LF	Soler		3B	Utley
1B	Baez		C	Barnes
C	Contreras		1B	Bellinger
CF	Almora		SS	Culberson
RF	Perez		2B	Johnson
P	Cahill (R)		P	Beachy (R)

Turns out, Seager needed an MRI on said knee today, and the results came back probably as good as they could — he’s going to miss 1-2 weeks with a strained knee.

With Enrique Hernandez still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, the Dodgers’ shortstop depth is almost non-existent (probably shoulda kept Ronald Torreyes). Perhaps Charlie Culberson, despite his complete inability to hit the baseball, might stick around for a bit.

He’ll be OK, but the Dodgers can really ill-afford to lose him.

What’s more alarming is the fact Alex Wood is missing his start against the Mariners because of the dreaded forearm tightness. Dreaded because forearm tightness is, often times, a precursor to Tommy John surgery. From Ben Lindbergh at Baseball Prospectus in 2010 (via the Hardball Times Annual):

“As Corey Dawkins asked in The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010, ‘How many times have you heard about a pitcher (usually) complaining about forearm cramping, tightness or inflammation, then coming back to pitch? Then, either later that season or the following season, after it’s originally been reported that the pitcher will be shut down for a few weeks to reduce inflammation, he ends up on the surgeon’s table.'”

Wood missed the 2009 season while at the University of Georgia because of Tommy John. Wood felt it after his first start this spring — a 50-pitch effort — but the team didn’t send him for an MRI. He called the tightness “extremely mild” soreness, which, I suppose, is a good thing. He’s expected to make his next start.

With Hyun-Jin Ryu not due back until May (hopefully), Brandon McCarthy not back until midseason and Brett Anderson out until possibly August, the Dodgers’ starting pitching depth is going to be tested early on. If there’s any hiccups with Wood, that depth would be pushed to its limit.

It’s something to monitor going forward, but here’s hoping it’s much ado about nothing.