“The biggest question of this season is the creepy familiar.
Will their pitching ever return to full (or at least significantly improved) health? And if it happens, or when, will it be as productive as expected?
At this point, the team is confident in both ways.
That’s what injured starters Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Kinosaki Sasakijima. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani continues to stack his arms, while Emmet Sheehan is rehabilitating assignments with Triple-A Oklahoma City. Also, at some point many bailers will return, with Kirby Yates and Michael Kopek likely returning this weekend, with the possibility of Blake Treinen and Brusdahl Gretterrolls likely over the coming months.
Still, as has been typical of last week, despite the status of the staff, there is a constant lack of certainty that is always present, and it appears that the recovery of injured pitchers is always responsible for shifting.
“We’re sure we’ll get all of them back,” the manager said Wednesday. “I don’t know when.”
This week, Glasnow became the latest example of unpredictable dynamics.
On Monday, Roberts provided a seemingly troublesome update for the often injured right-handed person. After Glasnow threw one bullpen session a week and a half ago, a tense match in his back prevented him from throwing the mound again.
“I had one ‘pen, and then (his) body didn’t respond,” Roberts said. “So we’re trying to figure out when we can back him up.”
However, on Tuesday, Glasnow announced a more optimistic version of the event. Yes, after his first bullpen session, his back got “a little tight,” he said. However, he explained that the resulting pause in his slow progression was merely a “precautionary measure,” adding that he plans to throw the bullpen next week.
“I feel absolutely fine and completely normal,” said Glasnow, who was initially on the injured list. “My shoulders are totally fine. That problem, I haven’t felt it since I started throwing. It was fine.
During his time in Illinois, Glasnow believes he found a mid-ground between last year (when the season ended early with elbow tendonitis) and the changes he made in the winter (he felt he contributed to more recent shoulder problems).
“We’re trying to blend together the best world situations,” he said. “But now I am a really, really good mechanic, able to exercise and throw.
And although he’s only been away from revitalization for a few weeks, if not more than a month, Glasnow said he’s confident he’ll spend enough time rediscovering the rhythm before the playoffs.
“We’re trying to get back as soon as possible,” Glasnow said. “But we are on the same wavelength: “Let’s get back to health as quickly as possible, in a healthy way, as soon as possible.”
Also, Snell, who had been out since early April due to shoulder problems, has endured his own stop-and-start recovery process.
Two starts for the season after moving on to the injured list – due to shoulder pain he later said he had been bothering him since spring training, Snell began moving on to the bullpen session a few weeks later on April 19th.
However, his shoulders didn’t respond well for the days after that step. Therefore, he was again closed from the throw and received an injection to alleviate his prolonged discomfort.
Since then, Snell has been creating a more systematic throwing plan. Recently, his shoulders have finally started to feel normal. And like Glasnow, he hopes to start throwing the bullpen again next week.
“I can’t wait (to get back),” Snell told AM 570 last weekend. “You have to wait, it sucks. It’s a long process. But I’m going to go slowly. I’ll make sure I’m ready.
This remains the Dodgers’ company line with most of the injured weapons. The team hopes to carry on slow progress in the short term so that it can be used in the long term later this year.
“There’s certainly a sense of caution in that when it comes to returning to play,” Roberts said. “If you start to enter the middle of the year, any setback can be harmful for the rest of the season.”
In the meantime, the uncertainty on the mound, where the Dodgers are currently ranked 22nd in the majors in the 4.10 team ERA, will continue to loom.
There is always a threat of set-up. What happened was that he had surgery on season-ending Tommy John on Wednesday, and was injured due to an injury that was initially expected to be on the sidelines in just two weeks.
And even if the pitcher returns, the level of performance is affected by variance. It recently began a live batting practice session in front of the Big League coaching staff on Wednesday with Kopech, who had struggled very hard in his rehabilitation stint in Oklahoma City (he gave up 11 runs in six innings and 11 walks) and assisted in mechanical adjustments.
“The things were good,” Roberts said of Kopech. “I just want to know what the pitching guy and the training staff are feeling and how he feels today. And we’ll move on after that.”
Yates, who doesn’t need a rehabilitating tint to recover from his hamstring strain, also threw a live BP on Wednesday.
“We’ll see how they feel tomorrow,” Roberts said. “And I think we’ll make a much better decision this weekend for both of us.”
The good news for the Dodgers is that they have depth. They don’t need all of their injured pitchers to get all of them healthy and back to their previous form. Even if only half of the weapons currently in IL returned to their previous locations, they could still have a pitching staff capable of fighting against another person.
Therefore, it appears unlikely that they will make excessively aggressive movements in the trade market until the July 31 deadline. They could use another right-handed reliever to replace Phillips, but they might be wary of a high-cost splash for frontline starters (especially after kicking out over $5 billion to Glasnow, Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the last two winters).
For now, they continue to believe pitchers like Snell, Glasnow and Ohtani will be contributors to the impact of their season’s stretch run. They are sure Sasaki (who continues his regular catch plays while fighting his own shoulder issues), Sheehan and Greaterol will also give them more pitching coverage.
But up until then, they will face precariously familiar situations. They hope that enough injured pitchers can regain their health during the season, and more unexpected setbacks will not continue to leave them short on the mound.
“I think we’re sure we’ll get back the people we’re talking to,” Roberts said. “Then once we got them back, we’re going to make sure we’ll get them back.”
