A mound of issues

Pedro Martinez is still on the free-agent market, but the Dodgers aren’t about to part with the $5 million or so it would cost to sign him.

At least not yet.

Many of the questions that the Dodgers had about their pitching staff when they entered the season remain unanswered, chief among them the inexperience or durability of some of their key arms.

But indications so far are good, that their pitching won’t be the train wreck that some in the organization feared it might be.

Through eight games, the Dodgers have a team earned-run average of 3.13, fourth-best in the National League. They’re 5-3 heading into their game against the San Francisco Giants tonight at Dodger Stadium.

“Solid all around,” catcher Russell Martin said.

For it to remain that way, the Dodgers will have to continue to get the kind of starts they got in their last two games, first from Randy Wolf and then Chad Billingsley.

“We got into the bullpen too early and too often,” General Manager Ned Colletti said, pointing to how the Dodgers’ starters averaged fewer than five innings per start in their first turn of the rotation.

Wolf and Billingsley each threw seven innings of one-run ball in their respective starts on Sunday and Monday, both victories.

Maintaining a pattern of short starts could be hard for a rotation with concerns about health.

Wolf and opening-day starter Hiroki Kuroda have histories of shoulder problems and Kuroda is already on the disabled list because of a left oblique strain.

Health is also an issue with the bullpen, particularly with their setup men.

Hong-Chih Kuo has had four operations on his elbow and had to be shut down at the end of last season because of pain. Torre has refrained from using Kuo on consecutive days.

Cory Wade, who went on the disabled list last season because of shoulder problems resulting from overuse, blew a lead the first time he was asked to pitch on consecutive days.

Relief has come in the form of new arms.

Eric Stults, a 29-year-old who has spent most of career in the minors, was called up from triple-A Albuquerque to replace Kuroda and held Arizona to one run in 5 1/3 innings last week.

“He did that last year,” Torre said.

Stults won his first two starts after being called up last June, including a four-hit shutout of the Chicago White Sox. What Torre didn’t mention was what happened later -- four winless starts and a demotion to triple A. Colletti said he had a “heart-to-heart” chat with Stults recently and came out of it hopeful that the left-hander can hold his form.

But the real surprise of the opening week was Ronald Belisario, a career minor leaguer who was discovered by scout Ron Rizzi in the off-season in the Venezuelan winter league. Armed with a mid-90s sinker that one major league scout said “doesn’t sink” but “dives,” Belisario hasn’t given up a run in the 4 2/3 innings he has pitched over three games and has struck out eight batters.

“Guys swing and miss when he throws fastballs in fastball counts,” Martin said. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

Stults and Belisario could provide the Dodgers with the flexibility they would need to survive if the dreaded “what ifs” occur.

If Stults pitches well enough to remain in the rotation even after Kuroda returns, the Dodgers would be able to move rookie James McDonald to the bullpen, which was their plan at the start of spring training. McDonald was thrust into the rotation because the veterans competing to be the fifth starter, including Stults, had awful springs.

“We have him and Belisario in the middle, which protects us against the short start,” Torre said.

And if Belisario continues to pitch the way he has and if either Kuo or Wade goes down, the 26-year-old upstart could find himself in the back end of the bullpen.

“If they give me the chance, I’d like to set up,” Belisario said.

Also encouraging for Colletti is that Billingsley and closer Jonathan Broxton appear to have put last season’s unpleasant ending behind them. Billingsley won a team-high 16 games but lost his two starts in the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies and was criticized for not protecting his hitters. Broxton served up a home run that put the Dodgers behind in the series, 3-1.

Both young pitchers have repeatedly said the incidents haven’t scarred them. Colletti says he believes them.

“Those were details of their seasons when you look at the scope of their work,” Colletti said.

In what is expected to be his first full season as the Dodgers’ closer, Broxton has converted all three of his save opportunities and has given up only one run in four games.

He and Billingsley say their task has been made easier by the Dodgers’ offense.

Broxton has yet to come in a game where he has to protect a one-run lead while Billingsley said he was able to attack the strike zone with confidence Monday because he had a 7-1 lead entering the fifth inning.

“Our lineup is capable of doing unbelievable things,” Billingsley said. “They’re very capable of putting up runs. It’s great to be pitching with these guys are in the lineup.”

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

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DODGERS TONIGHT

VS. SAN FRANCISCO

When: 7.

Where: Dodger Stadium.

On the air: Prime Ticket; Radio: 790, 930.

Pitchers: Clayton Kershaw vs. Matt Cain.

Update: Outfielder Delwyn Young, who was designated for assignment on Monday, was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for two players to be named later, according to a league source who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the trade. Young, who batted .246 in 126 games last season, was once considered one of the Dodgers’ top prospects but was never able to secure a spot in the Dodgers’ crowded outfield. Kershaw pitched well in his season debut in San Diego except in one regard: He ran up his pitch count. Because he threw 105 pitches in five innings, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt didn’t let him go out for the sixth. Kershaw gave up one run and two hits.

-- Dylan Hernandez