Dodgers’ Werth out with wrist injury

Friday, March 4, 2005 | 10:05 a.m.

SUN WIRE SERVICES

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- A CT scan on the left wrist of Dodgers left fielder Jayson Werth on Thursday revealed a tiny fracture of the radius bone. The injury is expected to keep Werth out of spring-training action for the next couple of weeks. He likely will return well before the regular season begins on April 5.

Werth was hit by a pitch from Florida's A.J. Burnett in Wednesday's Grapefruit League opener and immediately underwent an X-ray at the Dodgertown medical facilities that showed no fracture. But when he arrived in camp on Thursday with swelling in the area, club officials sent Werth to a local radiology center for a more extensive X-ray and the CT scan.

The pitch actually hit Werth's ulna bone, pushing it into the radius with enough force to cause the break, which was too small for either X-ray to detect it. After the results came back, trainer Stan Johnston wouldn't definitively say that Werth should be ready by opening day. But Johnston did say before the results were known that if there was a fracture, Werth probably would need about two weeks.

"We'll re-evaluate him (in two weeks), get another CT scan and see how the healing is going," Johnston said. "He's not going to be splinted or casted. He'll continue with the treatment program of range-of-motion exercises and therapy."

But with the club deadline for striking a deal passing, the Angels were left to muse about what might have been with Weaver, the former Long Beach State star chosen 12th overall last June.

"We're disappointed," owner Arte Moreno said. "We've made him the best offer of drafted players the last couple years. Right now, that's not good enough. He should've been here with pitchers and catchers."

"He's going to have a great career, but unfortunately, it's not going to be with us," manager Mike Scioscia said. "We wish we had Jered. It didn't work out."

The 28-year-old Ponson is accused of committing violence alone or in the company of others in public, kicking a person in the head and battering a person by hitting him in the face with his fist.

If convicted, Ponson faces a maximum sentence of four years in jail, a fine and community service.

Judge Bob Wit, flown in from the nearby Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao to give the case a sense of impartiality, said he took the pitcher's career into consideration in postponing the case.

Wit said that Ponson's livelihood could be jeopardized if he has a criminal record because his U.S. work visa could be taken away. Ponson was born in Aruba, a semiautonomous Dutch Caribbean territory.

Crosby batted .239 with 22 homers and 64 RBIs last season to win AL Rookie of the Year honors. Harden, expected to be the A's No. 2 starter this season, was 11-7 with a 3.99 ERA. After the All-Star break, he went 8-2 while holding opponents to a .229 batting average.