In last night’s Dodger victory over the Giants to sweep a 3 game series, Dodgers reserve infielder Doug Mientkiewicz slapped a pinch-hit RBI double down the right field line and then made a horribly awkward and completely unnecessary dive into second base, severely dislocating his right shoulder in the process (pictured above).  At the time of the dive, no infielder was even within 20 feet of the second base bag.

Back in the clubhouse, Dodger trainers popped his shoulder back in, but then it popped right back out again, meaning Mientkiewicz is probably headed for surgery.

Sucks for Mientkiewicz, but what really makes this so frustrating for Dodgers fans is what Mientkiewicz cost the team.

Manager Joe Torre insisted the Dodgers sign Mientkiewicz to a minor league contract in the offseason (because Joe loves what he knows, and he knows Mientkiewicz from when he managed him back on the Yankees), and Torre was then bound and determined to shoehorn Mientkiewicz onto the major league squad, no matter how much Mientkiewicz did not fit in with the rest of the roster.

“I like how he is not afraid to get his shirt dirty,” Torre said back in late March.

But of course, forcing Mientkiewicz onto the roster ultimately meant that the Dodgers had to trade away Delwyn Young to Pittsburgh, only to have Mientkiewicz tear up his shoulder on a ridiculously foolish play just two days after the trade.

So now the Dodgers have no Delwyn Young *and* they’ve lost Mientkiewicz, so they’ll have to call up either Blake DeWitt or Xavier Paul, both of whom would be much better served getting at-bats every day than riding the pine in the majors.

But Torre was right about one thing. Mientkiewicz definitely was not afraid to get his shirt dirty.

Like giving kimchi to a man with stomach ulcers, cigarettes to a lung-cancer survivor, or Japanese cartoons to an eplileptic, giving experienced-veteran-loving Joe Torre to experienced-veteran-loving Ned Colletti was only bound to make Colletti’s notorious case of big-name-itis worse.

Exhibits A, B, C, and D of this phenomenon are Doug Mientkiewicz, Jeff Weaver, Juan Castro, and Tanyon Sturtze, four “experienced veterans” who look primed to make the Dodgers opening day roster, all four as non-roster invitees.

As anyone who reads this blog knows, Joe Torre likes to go with what he knows, and always prefers the devil he’s heard of to the devil he hasn’t.  And Torre’s fingerprints are all over these four guys.

Mientkiewicz, Weaver and Sturtze have all played under Torre in the past when he managed the Yankees, and who better to play the Luis Sojo/Miguel Cairo role of Torre’s Latino futility-infielder binkie than their stastistical triplet Juan Castro?

The one that makes the least sense of all here is Mientkiewicz, a first baseman who hits like a third-string middle infielder.  But he has certain qualities that Torre and Ned Colletti just can’t resist, so let’s quickly run through Mientkiewicz’s truly impressive “experienced veteran” credentials:

• He is a veteran (11 MLB seasons)
• He is known for his defense (gold glove, 2001)
• He is known for his experience (six teams in five years)
• He has won a World Series title (Red Sox, 2004)
• He provides subpar offense (100 career OPS+. At first base.)
• He is over 30 (age 35 in 2009)
• He is white (very much so)

What is there for Torre and Colletti not to love?

Look I realize that it is possible to find good bargains among non-roster invitees, but usually these are younger guys who still have even a shred of upside left. The problem with going with experienced veterans is that they is what they is, and if what they is is not all that much, then guess what you are going to end up with? Not all that much.

Or even worse if keeping a Doug Mientkiewicz means that you have to trade away an out-of-options, cost-controlled, still talented youngster like Delwyn Young just to make room for him.

Here’s Boston Metro writer Sarah Green’s latest column about former Sox Doug Mientkiewicz and his fight with the team over the ball that he caught to record the last out of the 2004 World Series.