“When I return to the shortstop, I have to wait until I return from Japan.
Betts will miss both games this week in the Dodgers’ season-opening match at the Tokyo Dome with the Chicago Cubs, said Monday as the manager continues to recover from the uncontrollable stomach virus since last weekend.
Betts is expected to be ready for the Dodgers’ domestic housing opener, facing the Detroit Tigers on March 27th. In the meantime, however, Roberts said the Dodgers were “considering” him and letting him go home early to Los Angeles.
“He’s still trying to find his way (physically),” Roberts said. “The question is, what’s the best way to get him ready for the first day? We’re still talking. It’s on the table.”
Betts first started to feel sick last week before the team left for Japan. He made his final appearance in the Cactus League on March 9th and will play full time this year after three months of stints last year. However, the next day, after reporting his symptoms to the club, he was kicked out of the team’s final two games in Arizona.
Roberts said there are not many initial considerations for Betts to miss out on a trip to Tokyo. He also doesn’t worry that his illness, which Roberts said does not believe doctors are contagious, will spread to others on the team.
However, according to Roberts, over the course of his illness, Betts lost almost 15 pounds and looked remarkably slim when he arrived in Tokyo. He was finally beginning to feel better recently, but he was still battling the prolonged effects of dehydration and fatigue.
“The problem is, when you lose a lot of weight, when you’re dehydrated, it opens up people up to soft tissue injuries,” Roberts said. “We’re very careful about that. To get in the next week, call it, back him up, make his strength, do some baseball activities to prepare for the home opener.”
Betts did not participate in any of the Dodgers’ exhibit games with Japanese teams this weekend. During pre-game training on Sunday, the 32-year-old former MVP looked visibly tired as he grabbed the ground ball, leaving his hands resting on his lap several times between the drills.
Betts was scheduled to take part in an off-day workout on Monday, but he ended up discarding the session.
Roberts said Betts’ additional sacrifices back in shortstop were instrumental in the team’s decision to block him from the season-opening game on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The manager also admitted that if the Dodgers knew that Betts could not play in Tokyo, they would have had him return from the trip.
