Daily Dodger in Review: Javy Guerra, the forgotten man?

JAVY GUERRA, 28, reliever

Final 2013 stats: 0-0, 6.75 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, 12 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings,

Contract status: Under team control.

The good: There wasn’t much to go on, given his brief tour last season. He did strike out 10.1 batters per nine innings.

After spending May with the Dodgers, he returned to triple-A Albuquerque, where he ended up leading the Isotopes in saves (12).

The bad: Guerra appeared in nine games for the Dodgers, allowing runs in five of them. Twice they tried stretching him to two-inning appearances, but he struggled both times (four earned runs on eight hits and two walks).

What’s next: A trip back to Albuquerque, if not traded.

The take: He was the great surprise of the 2011 season, a rookie coming out of nowhere to save 21 games in 23 opportunities. He started as the team’s closer the next season, but after saving seven of his first eight games, it started slipping away. He battled a couple of injuries and command.

He did not make the team last season out of spring training, and in the one month he was up, did not look like the same pitcher. Mostly pitched well back at Albuquerque, but the way the Dodgers’ bullpen is currently constructed, there is no room for him on the big club.

Those things are always fluid as relievers go on and off the disabled list, but there appear to be others still ahead of him now.

He’s still fairly young, however, so the Dodgers might find other teams interested in the right-hander. They probably like having the potential depth he offers, but he could be running out of time to have an effect on the 25-man roster.