Well, nothing boring about today, is there? Hours before the Dodgers officially announced they were adding Scott Van Slyke to both the 40-man and active rosters — that pushes Chad Billingsley to the 60-day DL, as expected — it seemed a pretty well-known fact on social media that he’d be arriving.

But what wasn’t so clear is who was going to make room for him, and for a while it seemed all but certain that it would be Adrian Gonzalez, mercifully preventing him from trying to force his way through his neck injury. Then people started pounding the drums for Luis Cruz, since he is of course awful, but that never seemed likely; with Justin Sellers already gone, there has to be someone who can play shortstop if needed other than Nick Punto, since he’s being pressed into service so much at second and third bases. After that, we started putting the pieces together and hoping that it would be the move that might make the most sense, which would be to simply DFA to abysmal Ramon Hernandez, since Tim Federowicz is already around.

Instead, the move was simply to send back Elian Herrera, who existed merely to make one start on Wednesday night. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since Herrera isn’t, well, good, but it did make many wonder why Van Slyke wasn’t simply called up in the first place. The answer, apparently, is that Van Slyke had been playing first base all season and the Dodgers wanted to get him time in the outfield, which he did the last three days.

That apparently means that Gonzalez is going to keep on playing despite neck strain, and he is in the lineup tonight — for now, anyway, because we’ve seen that game before — as is Carl Crawford, who returns after missing time with a sore right hamstring. My guess is that we’ll see Van Slyke in the starting lineup on Sunday in one of the outfielder corners as the Dodgers face lefty Wade LeBlanc.

All of which overshadows the fact that phenom Jose Fernandez and the Miami Marlins are in town tonight against Matt Magill, in what may hopefully be his final start. Old friend Juan Pierre hits leadoff in left field; expect him to steal a base while going 1-4 and making an error and generate calls for guys who “play the game the right way”. Otherwise, I swear I haven’t made up the names in the rest of the Miami lineup. Yes, Derek Dietrich and Marcell Ozuna are real people.

In news from around the minors, and there’s quite a bit of it, so let’s lightning-round it: Joc Pederson hit his Southern League-leading eighth homer of the season for Chattanooga tonight, capping off a day in which he (as well as Van Slyke) won the April Dodger Pride Award, given to a hitter and pitcher at each minor league level. Top prospect Corey Seager is on the disabled list with Great Lakes thanks to a — stop me if you’ve heard this before — strained hamstring. (That’s Sue Falsone’s fault, right?) Finally, spring sensation Jeremy Moore, who had been at extended spring training, has taken Van Slyke’s spot with Albuquerque and will make his debut tonight, hitting third and playing left field.

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Today’s winner of disabled list roulette is… Jerry Hairston! Congratulations, Jerry, you’ve won an all-expenses-paid trip to the DL days after it was obvious it needed to happen, finally making you a True Dodger™.

As we’ve all expected, Elian Herrera comes from Albuquerque to take Hairston’s place, because no team can possibly have enough players who can play multiple positions yet can’t hit at any of them, and I really mean that, because Herrera’s at just .250/.310/.336 despite playing in the pinball environment of the Pacific Coast League. He’s spent most of his time at second base, but has of course also seen time at third, left, and center; he’s able to play right and shortstop as well.

The funny thing is, I don’t mind a guy like Herrera on a National League team. A player who can fill in at a bunch of positions when most clubs prefer to carry an extra reliever rather than an extra bench player can be quite valuable, so good on him.

But on this team, it feels like that’s all the Dodgers have anyway. Nick Punto can play three spots, and so can Justin Sellers. Juan Uribe, Luis Cruz, & Skip Schumaker can all arguably play four — arguably — and that’s without even considering what Hairston provides when he’s healthy. Sure Herrera can play some outfield where the guys other than Schumaker can’t, but… so what? Schumaker really shouldn’t be playing second base over Punto anyway.

So did this team need another guy like that, or did they need a guy who can play first, left, and right, and who can actually hit one out of the park if he gets a hold of it? You tell me, and remember, I say that sticking to my long-held opinion that Scott Van Slyke really isn’t that great in the first place. Though he may be an option in the next few days, that won’t change the fact that there was a need more than a week ago. If anything, I weep for Alex Castellanos, who is missing his opportunity with a poorly-timed injury for the second year in a row.

But hey, at least Josh Beckett is starting tonight and A.J. Ellis is out (understandably, at least) and Dee Gordon will get more plate appearances now that he’s hitting second and… oh. Man, it just never seems to get better around here, does it.

Another day, and more of the same. This is now the ninth day in a row (eighth game) that Mark Ellis remains active yet unavailable — and the third day in a row that Adrian Gonzalez was originally in the lineup before being scratched. We also won’t see Jerry Hairston, and while there’s no word on his condition, the fact that he isn’t playing first base really ought to tell you something.

All that, and Matt Magill remains — he’s “still in the rotation,” claims Don Mattingly — to eat up a roster spot, while the team limps along with an overworked bullpen (thanks to short starts by Magill, Josh Beckett, & Ted Lilly) and a short bench.

It’s truly, absolutely, indefensible at this point, and I’ve run out of ways to explain it.

So what we’re left with tonight is a pretty fantastic infield as the Dodgers attempt to avoid being swept behind Hyun-jin Ryu. After 1,417 major league games, Juan Uribe gets his first start ever at first base. That gets Luis Cruz back in the lineup — he was not originally in until Gonzalez was scratched — and terrifies me that Uribe is now being put in the position of trying to collect Dee Gordon‘s often scattershot throws.

Meanwhile, Scott Van Slyke continues to sit in Albuquerque, rather than join a team which does not have a first baseman. Remember, you know me. You know that I don’t even like Scott Van Slyke. I think he’s completely overrated by ABQ stats, yet even I cannot fathom the thought process behind failing to make a move to bring him up.

There’s just nothing that makes sense about this, nor the refusal to get any help for an exhausted bullpen. It’s one thing to deal with endless injuries that can never be predicted and often can’t be prevented; it’s quite another to fail to put your manager and roster in the best position to win.