When will we see Chin-Lung Hu in Dodger Blue again?

Hu is currently in an interesting position since he has several factors working in his favor towards a promotion and several working against it. We'll start by looking at the positives.

Hu's defense remains top notch and will always be his calling card. His good arm plus elite quickness makes him a gold glove candidate. Teams are always in need of defensive specialists and players with gloves of his caliber are extremely rare. The other factor is Rafael Furcal. Furcal is currently on the 15 day DL and is extremely injury prone and it's likely this may not be his only trip to the DL this season, giving Hu an opportunity to take his place. Also, the Dodgers are currently in deep financial trouble and combined with their poor start to the season it's very likely they'll start shedding some of their larger contracts, like Furcal.

However, there are several factors working against Hu's promotion. When Furcal was placed on the DL, Nick Green was called up in place of Hu. On the face of things you might wonder why the Dodgers would prefer a 31 year old decent glove, bad bat journeyman over a 26 year former top prospect? First, Ned Colleti, the Dodgers GM, tends to favor veterans. And as bad as Green was hitting in AAA, Hu was hitting even worse. Hu's line of .237/.266/.250 is awful by any measure and he needs to heat up quickly. He still needs to improve his plate discipline and add a bit more gap power since his .294/.332/.393 line in AAA last year, despite a decent BA, translates to only a .233/.261/.308 line in the majors, unacceptable even for defensive wizards.

If Hu can improve with the bat it's likely we'll see him in LA at some point this season as either a startup or bench player. Defensive specialists like him eventually find their way to the majors and it's likely he could have a decent career of 5-10 years as a backup or occasional starter.