What's Happened to Andy LaRoche?

I keep reading comments on blogs and message boards about Andy LaRoche like he's been held back by the organization, never given a "real" chance, or that they've never been confident in him.  So I've sat back and racked my brain, and Rotoworld hehe.

My memory isn't that great so like I just said I went to all the rotoworld blurbs (and related news) about LaRoche (thanks rotoworld) and the transactions from baseball-reference.com and came up with this timeline:

2006 Late September through early October:  LaRoche undergoes surgery on his left shoulder he injured diving for a ball (Rotoworld and their sources including mlb.com and the latimes.com kind of conflict on which shoulder, some reports saying it was his right).

2007 February through March:  LaRoche's spring training involved getting hit on the wrist, a short experiment with left field, but he ultimately doesn't make the team as the dodgers go with Betemit and Nomar instead (my memory of the sentiment at the time is that he could use another half season in AAA and should be playing come September).  Looking at his numbers he tore up Vegas, in 200+ at bats in '06, but then again it's the PCL and he only played half a season in AAA, so keeping him in AAA isn't out of the ordinary or unusual.

2007 May 6'th through May 31'st:  LaRoche makes his MLB debut and does decently by getting on base at a good clip while batting 8'th.  He gets hit by a pitch on May 8'th but it doesn't keep him from playing.

2007 June 1:  LaRoche demoted to Vegas.  (My memory was that he was pulling his weight, but the pitching staff was going through a dead armed period so they needed a 12'th pitcher and keeping a guy like Abreu was more convenient because he was more versatile defensively.  If James Loney hadn't shoved Nomar off third it would have been the new big game James back in Vegas despite having nothing to prove).

2007 July:  LaRoche kicks major butt in Vegas.

2007 July 31'st:  Dodgers trade Wilson Betemit for Scott Proctor.  (My memory is that a LaRoche callup was imminent and LaRoche was finally ready to be at least a platoon partner if not making Nomar a super-utility guy, therefore Betemit was expendable to fill the need for another arm capable of going multiple innings because of the dodgers rotation shortcoming of not going deep into games, just for the same reason LaRoche got dogged for a 12'th pitcher in June).   If there is any evidence that the dodgers liked LaRoche and thought he was ready, this move is the smoking gun in their confidence in LaRoche.

2007 August 10:  Dodgers signed Shea Hillenbrand.  An emergency signing after shipping off Betemit.  Not ahead of LaRoche on the depth chart at third base.  Shea was playing third at Vegas while LaRoche was not playing because of his back...again the dodgers wanted him but his body protested as we'll see in the next blurb he got at the beginning of September.

2007 September 2:  Andy LaRoche gets called up to the Dodgers!  

He would have been called up sooner but was delayed by his back...which was kind of the smoke signal that probably prompted the dodgers to sign Hillenbrand in August.

2007 September 12:  Andy LaRoche isn't available to start right now because of the same back problems that delayed his callup.  (LaRoche was hurt.  He was handed the chance to earn the job but his back kept him from taking advantage of it.  They promoted him anyway and he just couldn't play.  I don't see any conspiracy or lack of confidence in the timeline to this point, to the contrary they are pushing the job at LaRoche and he happened to get hurt at around the same time).  

2007 September 15:  LaRoche declares he won't have back surgery for a protruding disc in his back.

2007 October through November:  LaRoche kicks butt as a member of Team USA.

2008 January 16'th:  GM declares LaRoche and Nomar on equal footing for the third base job.  around the same time there's a lot of himming and hawing on the part of Joe Torre which I guess could be the source of Jon Weisman's mistaken view that LaRoche has been held back or not given as much of an opportunity as he should have been given.  Still, looking back at the timeline he just has been hurt when given the opportunity because of the back.

2008 March 7:  LaRoche injures his thumb with an 8-10 week timeline for his return.  

The guy is not set to return yet from his injury, but the fact that Nomar is ready to come back from a different injury is a sign that the dodgers are holding LaRoche back?  I don't get that line of thinking and can only look at the timeline and type again that it seems to be just plain bad luck.

2008 April 14:  LaRoche hopes to be sent to extended spring training.  Gets sent to extended spring training on the 19'th.

2008 April 23:  Begins minor league rehab assignment that's supposed to last about 20 days.

2008 May 4:  LaRoche sent down to Vegas.  He wasn't supposed to be back until mid-May.  I don't see the big deal.  I don't hear LaRoche declaring himself 100%.  The kid didn't get a real spring training due to his thumb and it's understandable with the game's 2'nd best third base prospect to be cautious with him, given his injury history and all.

Maybe in this timeline I missed something the dodgers did or said about LaRoche that would indicate they lost faith in him.  I think the trade of Betemit at the deadline spoke volumes in their confidence in LaRoche at third base as at least Nomar's backup.  The fact that he happened to injure his back right around the same time he's given the job is just bad luck.

He'll be back soon.  I'm sure he'll get the callup and the chance to win the third base job.  Let's just hope he doesn't happen to get hurt again shortly after that opportunity is given.