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Jay Gibbons, Juan Uribe add to Dodgers’ health concerns

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The list of health concerns surrounding the Dodgers in spring training grew longer Monday with Manager Don Mattingly disclosing that infielder Juan Uribe and outfielder Jay Gibbons are struggling with ailments.

In addition, third baseman Casey Blake was scheduled to get an MRI on Monday after he suffered an apparent muscle strain behind his right ribcage on Saturday.

Blake is listed as day-to-day but ‘they want to make sure . . . that it’s not something longer term,’ Mattingly told reporters at the club’s Camelback Ranch facility.

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Uribe, acquired by the Dodgers from the San Francisco Giants in the offseason, has complained of general tightness in his body but can still play, Mattingly said.

Uribe left the Dodgers’ split-squad game against the Chicago Cubs in Las Vegas on Sunday after playing three innings and batting twice. The Dodgers acquired Uribe in part so he could occasionally play third base when Blake is resting.

Uribe ‘seemed OK but . . . with Casey having a little thing going on, the last thing I need is for Juan to have any issues,’ Mattingly said. ‘I’m more concerned with him feeling better before we extend him. We’ll try to extend everybody to seven [innings] tomorrow; I don’t know if Juan will get there.’

Gibbons, meanwhile, ‘will miss the next couple of days’ because ‘he’s having trouble with the eyes, with his depth perception’ and is going to get ‘extended testing,’ Mattingly said.

Gibbons, 34, who’s competing for the team’s left-fielder’s job, is having problems getting his contact lenses to stay in his eyes ‘and he’s having trouble with the glasses’ he wears, Mattingly said, noting that Gibbons also had laser eye surgery several years ago.

He tried wearing just one contact Sunday and ‘that helped,’ Mattingly said, ‘but we need to get that resolved with him. If you don’t have your depth perception right on, trying to hit a breaking ball just doesn’t work.”

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Meanwhile, the Dodgers optioned right-handed pitcher Carlos Monasterios to minor-league camp along with left-handed pitcher Wilkin De La Rosa.

Monasterios, 24, appeared in 32 games for the Dodgers last season -- including 13 he started -- and was 3-5 with a 4.38 earned-run average.

‘His stuff’s been getting better,’ Mattingly said, but ‘there’s a lot of little things that we want Monty to keep working on’ such as his fielding, control and ‘basically handling himself out on the mound.’

--Jim Peltz in Phoenix

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