Latest news with #Glasnow
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Freddie Freeman's walk-off hit saves the day, lifts Dodgers to win over Twins
Remember when the Dodgers injury-riddled rotation was the problem? That's so last month. The issue now is the bullpen. Over the last four weeks the team's bullpen ERA has ballooned to 4.44. Only six teams in the majors entered Wednesday with a higher mark. Freddie Freeman saved the Dodgers from another painful bullpen implosion Wednesday, lining a two-out, two-run single to left field in the ninth inning, giving the team a 4-3 walk-off win over the Minnesota Twins in a getaway day matinee at Dodger Stadium. An inning earlier Kirby Yates had given up two runs and an eighth-inning lead without recording an out. That wasted a season-best effort from right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who held the Twins a run on three hits, striking out 12 batters, over seven innings. In each of his three starts since coming of the injured list, Glasnow has gone at least five innings and allowed fewer than two runs. His ERA in that span is 1.00. Glasnow left with a 2-1 lead but that was gone four batters later, with Yates walking the bases loaded, missing the plate on 12 of his 18 pitches. Alex Vesia came on to get Willi Castro to hit into a double play, but that allowed the tying run to score. Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader then untied it with a poorly-hit ball that got over the leaping Vesia before landing on the infield grass as Brooks Lee raced home from third. The Dodgers were down to their last out in the ninth when Mookie Betts beat out an infield single. Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked and Esteury Ruiz followed with a walk of his own, bringing up Freeman, who two called strikes before slicing a line drive just in front of diving Bader in left to give the Dodgers their second win in six games since the All-Star Break. Freeman's heroics does nothing to heal the Dodgers were they are hurting most though, and that's pitching. After losing three of his projected five starters in the season's first two months, manager Dave Roberts has had to use everything short of masking tape and bailing wire to keep a rotation together. As a result, the Dodgers have used 16 starters this season and 37 pitchers overall. And that makeshift rotation may be to blame for the bullpen troubles. Dodger starters have thrown a big-league low 467 3/2 innings this season, averaging less than five innings a start, while their exhausted relievers have pitched a major-league leading 452 2/3 innings. The rotation is getting healthier now that Glasnow, who has missed most of the season with an inflamed shoulder, could soon be rejoined in the rotation by two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, The left-hander, out since April 2 with shoulder inflammation, is scheduled to make his final minor-league rehab start Saturday. Ohtani gave Glasnow an early lead Wednesday with a solo home run in the first inning. It was his fifth straight game with a home run, a career high that equaled the franchise record and it gave 37 for the season. The run was his 96th of the year, best in the majors. Royce Lewis got that run back for the Twins in the third, leading off with his fifth home run of the season just inside the left-field foul pole. It stayed way until the seventh, when Tommy Edman looped a single over a drawn-in infield, putting to the Dodgers back in front. Roberts isn't ready to blame the bullpen's recent struggles entirely on the heavy workload. But he's not excusing it either. 'That's how the season goes,' he said. 'It's easy to look at that in totality. I do know that we're what we're dealing with we have to kind of weather it.' In the last two days, the Dodgers have seen left-hander reliever Tanner Scott go on the injured list with elbow inflammation and watched right-hander Ben Casparius limp off the mound with a right calf cramp, joining 11 pitchers already on the sidelines. Casparius underwent an MRI exam, which was negative, and he is expected to be available during the team's nine-game road trip, which begins Friday in Boston. But Casparius admitted Wednesday that the bullpen's recent struggles led him to try to pitch through the soreness, likely making the injury worse. 'Going through the back of my mind [was] kind of gutting it out,' he said. 'I think you can look at it a bunch of different ways, but I'm not necessarily sure I put the team the best spot.' Casparius said the pitchers in Dodger bullpen, who haven't had a scoreless game since July 3, have struggled collectively and will have to work collectively to get back on track. 'Momentum is everything,' he said. 'We're kind of going through our tough patch right now and hopefully it's the worst it's going to be. We've got some guys coming back. Maybe getting on the road and being uncomfortable might help us out a little bit in a weird way too. 'It's a tough part of the year. Everybody around the league is going through this type of stuff. I think we're going to turn a corner.' Notes: Reliever Blake Treinen was scheduled to make back-to-back appearances for Triple A Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Thursday and if things go well, he could rejoin the Dodgers on the road trip. Treinen went on the injured list April 19 with forearm tightness. ... Third baseman Max Muncy is scheduled to face live pitching at the Dodgers' Arizona complex on Thursday and could begin a minor-league rehab assignment next week, far sooner than expected. Muncy was the Dodgers' hottest hitter when he sustained a bone bruise in his left knee three weeks ago. It was anticipated he would miss a month and half.
NBC Sports
20 hours ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
MLB Starting Pitcher News: Tyler Glasnow's sinker, Logan Gilbert's new arm slot
It's Wednesday, which means it's time for us to visit the bump on Hump Day and discuss starting pitcher news. Each week in this article, I'll be taking a deeper look at a few trending/surging starting pitchers to see what, if anything, is changing and whether or not we should be investing in this hot stretch. The article will be similar to the series I ran for a few years called Mixing It Up (previously Pitchers With New Pitches and Should We Care?), where I broke down new pitches to see if there were truly meaningful additions that changed a pitcher's outlook. Only now, I won't just look at new pitches, I can also cover velocity bumps, new usage patterns, or new roles. However, the premise will remain the same: trying to determine if the recent results are connected to any meaningful changes that make them worth investing in or if they're just mirages. Each week, I'll try to cover change for at least four starters and give my clear take on whether I would add them, trade for them, or invest fully in their success. Hopefully you'll find it useful, so let's get started. Matthew Pouliot, Tyler Glasnow came off the injured list on July 9th and has allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits in 11 innings, while striking out 11 and walking four. The four-seam fastball velocity has been ticking back up over 97 mph, and the whiffs appear to be there, even if the command remains a bit spotty. However, one of the big things I noticed when I went to look at his game logs on the Pitcher List site (thanks to Nick Pollack for the tip) is that Glasnow has really begun to lean into his sinker since returning to the mound. Pitcher List In truth, Glasnow was leaning into the sinker more in the two starts before landing on the injured list, with a 25.6% usage over those four starts. That's a big increase on the 18% usage he has if you just look at season-long numbers. So how do we feel about Glasnow throwing the sinker more? Well, for starters, we have to point out that this is not just an attack plan for right-handed hitters. In the two starts since returning from the break, Glasnow has used the sinker 27.4% of the time to lefties and 26% of the time to righties. Against lefties, he's using it 50% of the time early in counts and keeping it high in the zone 50% of the time. However, instead of attacking up and away, he's throwing a lot of inside sinkers, with a 55% inside rate to lefties. I understand the plan in theory, but Glasnow doesn't have great command of the sinker. His 45% zone rate against lefties in those two starts is below average, as is his 60% strike rate. However, he has posted a 25% called strike rate and a 10% swinging strike rate (SwStr%) on that pitch to lefties, so perhaps his plan is more about swings and misses and less about inducing weak contact. Glasnow's sinker is about one mph slower than his four-seam fastball but has nearly 12 inches of arm-side run and just 12.5 inches of induced vertical break (iVB), while his four-seam fastball has only 1.4 inches of arm-side run and nearly 16 inches of iVB. If lefties think they're getting an inside four-seam fastball but instead get a sinker that runs back over the plate 11 more inches, it could lead to some ugly swings. Against righties, Glasnow has come off the IL and thrown the sinker 54% of the time early in counts but also used it 23% of the time in two-strike counts and has seen it post a strong 33.3% PutAway Rate, which measures how often a two-strike pitch results in a strikeout. He's using the sinker all over the strike zone, vertically speaking, to right-handed hitters, but actually keeping it on the outside part of the plate 46% of the time. That's, again, another strategy that is not as common with a sinker, and I'm not sure it's working too much with a 7% SwStr% and 15% called strike rate. I'd love to see him get that sinker inside to righties more, but I should note that both of his games since coming off the IL were against the Brewers, who have a lot of left-handed hitters, so this may simply be an attack plan for one team; however, the increased sinker usage is something that we should expect to continue. One of the consequences has been that it has led to a decrease in curveball usage, which is interesting because it's one of Glasnow's best swing-and-miss pitches, with a 17% SwStr% on the season, but he really struggles to command it. Perhaps using the curve less often, and keeping it more to two-strike counts, will help him get ahead of hitters more often. Maybe the curve also puts some strain on his arm. Just something for us to consider. Another change that I noticed with Glasnow when I looked at Alex Chamberlain's Pitch Leaderboard is that he has dropped his arm angle almost four degrees. That may not seem like much, but it's a sizable change and likely why he has gained more horizontal movement on his sinker. Alex Chamberlain's Pitch Leaderboard Similarly, the lower arm slot has also led to more 'rise' on his four-seam fastball and given him a much flatter vertical attack angle. If he gets the command of that pitch back to where we've seen it in the past, that could be a nice boost for him. Similarly, his slider has picked up an inch of horizontal movement, likely due to the lower arm angle, but the command of the pitch is off this season, with a 10% lower zone rate, so the pitch has not been as effective. At the end of the day, Glasnow is still a bit rusty from his injuries, and his command is not where we'd like it to be, but these new changes are interesting. Leaning more into two fastball variations has become the norm in the league, so it's nice to see Glasnow following suit; however, we'll have to see if he can rack up as many strikeouts when he uses his curveball less than he has before, and we'll have to see if he can start jamming those sinkers inside to righties. Heading into the All-Star break, Logan Gilbert seemed on the verge of putting the pieces together after some inconsistent results following his return from the IL. I ranked him as my 8th overall starting pitcher in my updated rankings and said, 'Gilbert has battled injury this season and has a 3.39 ERA in his 61 innings. That being said, his K-BB% and his SIERA are second-best of any starting pitcher in baseball with at least 30 innings pitched this season. We know how talented Gilbert is when he's healthy, so I'm just betting on Gilbert 'figuring it out' over the final two-plus months.' Well, the figuring it out might have started on Tuesday, when he threw 6.1 scoreless against the Brewers, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out 10. It was a fastball-dominant showing from Gilbert, who was able to get 72% strikes on the pitch and then induce six whiffs on his slider and another seven whiffs on his splitter. It was also another start where Gilbert seemed to be paring down his arsenal. As you can see from Alex Chamberlain's Pitch Leaderboard above, Gilbert came into this season and scrapped the cutter that he used 11% of the time last season. Over the last few starts, he has also rarely thrown his sinker. He threw it 12 times in his first start off the IL on June 16th and then has thrown it just six times TOTAL in his last six starts, including none on Tuesday. That means we're looking at a four-pitch mix for Gilbert now instead of a six-pitch mix. Getting rid of the cutter isn't a bad idea for Gilbert. Last season, he used the pitch 7% of the time against right-handed batters and 14% of the time against left-handed batters. Overall, it was a pitch he commanded in the zone well and induced above-average swinging strike rates on, but it did give up a 45% ICR that was a 29th percentile rate in baseball. The pitch was more effective for him against lefties, even though it gave up more hard contact, so if he was going to get rid of it, he needed a clear plan to attack lefties. That plan seems to be leaning on his splitter more often. Gilbert's splitter usage is up to 21% on the season from 13% last year, and his usage to lefties specifically is up to 20.6% after being at 14.5% last year. We've also seen a slight change to the shape and velocity of his splitter. This year, the pitch is over two mph slower with less horizontal break across the plate and almost two inches more drop. Essentially, it's moving down and away from lefties more often, which we like to see. As a result, the splitter has been downright nasty this year against lefties, posting a 34% SwStr% and .056 batting average allowed. It has also not allowed a single barrel or batted ball that qualifies as Ideal Contact on 111 pitches to lefties this season. Gilbert is using the pitch 72% of the time in two-strike counts to lefties, with a 31% PutAway Rate, which is a clear improvement from his 59% usage in two-strike counts to lefties last year and 22% PutAway Rate. The final change for Gilbert, which may also be connected to the shape change on his splitter, is that Gilbert has dropped his arm angle by over six degrees. Now, we could say that's him compensating for his injury, but considering the arm angle change has remained even after he's come back healthy, I think it's a conscious decision. We've seen many pitchers drop their arm angle to a more comfortable slot this year, and if Gilbert has gotten rid of his cutter, then he has one less pitch that he needs to stay on top of. He might simply be pitching from a more natural arm angle. However, there have been a few consequences. He now has a lower arm slot but the same iVB on his fastball, which has led to an even flatter fastball with a higher adjusted vertical approach angle. His locations have been getting better in his starts since coming off the IL, and the fastball is starting to play up a little more. I would just like to see him get it up in the zone more often. He also has minor movement changes on his other pitches, but has seen a better overall strike rate this year and the best first pitch strike rate of his career, so perhaps the arm slot is helping him with that command and control. All said, we know Gilbert is talented, so his figuring it out is not a surprise, but it's nice to see that paring down his arsenal is actually working for him. Having that slider, four-seam, and splitter to lefties has been enough for him, so he doesn't miss the cutter and can focus on his better pitches. Nine starts ago, Joe Ryan threw a curveball in a game for the first time since 2022. He only threw one, and then in his next start, he also only threw one. However, that usage has started to tick up a bit in recent outings, with a 5.4% usage over his last seven starts, and even a 9.1% usage in his last start. Over those seven starts, Ryan has been electric, with a 2.08 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, and 50/8 K/BB ratio. That's a pretty impressive line considering Ryan has yet to establish a clear secondary pitch behind his four-seam fastball. At some points, it's been the sweeper or the splitter, and now it's been the sinker with the curve creeping up in usage. So how is this new curveball usage working for Ryan? He's using it to both righties and lefties, with a 5% usage to lefties over seven starts and a 6% usage to righties. Lefties get it primarily as an early in the count strike pitch, with a 64.3% early usage, while righties see the curve 57% of the time in two-strike counts. It has just a 16.7% PutAway Rate to righties, so it hasn't been super successful in those counts, but it does have a 28.6% SwStr% in a small sample size against righties, so maybe it will work in the long run. He has better-than-league-average zone rates and strike rates on the curveball to lefties, so it works as a strike pitch there, even if it has been getting hit hard at times. The introduction of the curveball has maybe taken some of the emphasis away from the splitter, which Ryan has thrown only 8% of the time over his last seven starts, with a 13% usage to lefties. Before that June 14th start, Ryan was throwing the splitter 15.4% of the time overall in 13 starts, but 23.3% of the time to lefties, so that's a 10% decrease in usage. It's a change you can start to understand when you see that, against lefties specifically, Ryan's splitter had a 7% worse zone rate than last year, 10% worse strike rate, 3% worse SwStr%, and allowed a 6% higher ICR. Essentially, everything about the splitter to lefties was worse this season than it was last season. It wasn't a bad pitch, but it was a fairly mediocre one. Ryan has instead turned to the slider more against lefties over his last seven starts, and while it also doesn't miss many bats, he can command it in the zone better, and it's allowed just an 8.3% ICR to lefties on the season. If you look at just these last seven starts, Ryan has begun using the slider and curve early in the count to lefties while using the splitter and four-seam more in two-strike counts. That has allowed the four-seam to play up and post a 23% PutAway Rate to lefties over the last seven starts, up from 19% in his first 13 starts. The final change is that he has increased his sinker usage recently. In his first 13 starts, he used it 9.7% of the time overall and 14.3% of the time to righties. That has changed to a 12.7% usage overall and 16% usage to righties and shifted even more in his last five starts, where he has a 15.3% sinker usage overall and 22% to righties. Over those five starts, the sinker is his second most-used pitch to tighies, with the slider and sweeper both sitting around 13% usage. He uses the sinker early in the count to righties and likes to keep it low and mostly out over the plate. Ryan has been able to pound the zone with the sinker, with strong zone rates and strikes over the last seven starts, and very little hard contact allowed. He will mix the pitch in with two strikes, and it does have a 26% PutAway Rate to righties over the last five starts, probably because most righties are expecting his four-seam and get a pitch that has five inches more run and significantly less 'rise' as it approaches the plate, so hitters swing over it. I don't believe these changes make him a drastically different pitcher, but I do think changing his approach against lefties was a smart decision. Ryan is still searching for a legit secondary weapon, and it's scary to think of how good he might be if he were actually able to find one. Until then, he remains a fringe top-ten starter in fantasy baseball, which isn't so bad. We've seen Brandon Pfaadt do this before. He adds in a new pitch or changes his pitch mix for a time and goes on a strong stretch of production, only to falter and start searching for a new plan. We saw it earlier this year with his curveball usage, and then, after I covered his struggles in early June, we're now seeing it again with the introduction of a cutter. In his June 17th start in Toronto, Pfaadt unveiled his cutter for the first time. He threw just four of them, and we weren't sure if it was a real change or a misclassification or just him experimenting. He threw five in his next start in Coors and then bumped that up to 11 cutters when he returned home to face the Marlins. Since he introduced the cutter into his pitch mix, he's registered a 3.50 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 35/5 K/BB ratio in 36 innings. That's also been against some decent offenses like the Blue Jays, Padres, Giants, and Cardinals, and also one start in Coors Field. All in all, not bad. But will it stick this time? In those six games, he has thrown 57 cutters, and only eight have been to righties, so this is certainly a plan to attack lefties. Much like the early-season increase in curveball usage was designed to do. He's using the cutter 71.4% of the time early in counts to lefties, and the few times he does throw it in two-strike counts, it's not often leading to strikeouts. He has a 51% zone rate on the pitch against lefties, which is essentially league average, but has a 91st percentile strike rate. It also allows a 94% contact rate with just a 4% SwStr%, so this is by no means a swing and miss pitch. This is a pitch that thrives on inducing weak contact, and gets it with just a 6.3% ICR allowed. A lot of that has to do with how well he's able to jam lefties inside, with an 80% inside rate against lefties and 72% of those cutters coming either middle-in and up-and-in. That's a strategy that can work and has been working for Pfaadt. Part of the reason it's working is because Pfaadt's four-seamer has been pretty bad this season, so he needs to start throwing it less. On the year, the four-seamer has just an 8.2% SwStr% with a 53% ICR and 19% barrel rate allowed. Both lefties and righties have hit his four-seamer hard, and he has struggled to command it in the zone against both as well. Pfaadt has leaned into his sinker as his primary fastball against righties, with his sweeper being his most-used pitch overall to them, and he's now turning to the cutter more against lefties while also mixing in the sinker, changeup, and four-seam. Against lefties overall since adding in the cutter, Pfaadt is allowing a .179 average and .305 xwOBA with just a 30% ICR. He does have just a 6.4% SwStr% and 17% strikeout rate against them, but as long as lefties aren't crushing Pfaadt, this can help because his sweeper allows him to post a 30% strikeout rate to righties. Overall, I still think Pfaadt, even with these changes, is just a 23-25% strikeout rate pitcher who will have an ERA around 3.70 or higher, but that will play as a low-upside option in shallow formats and a solid back-end starter in deeper formats.
Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Dodgers are shut out by Brewers, but Tyler Glasnow shows signs of growth
Tyler Glasnow's problems have been the same for years. Spending too much time caught up in his own head, and not enough time actually pitching on the field. Ever since the Dodgers acquired the tall, lanky and Southern California-raised right-hander, those two issues have plagued the $136.5 million acquisition in ways that have frustrated him, the team and its fan base. Glasnow made 22 starts last year (a career-high in his injury-plagued career) before a nagging elbow problem ended his season early. This term, he managed only five starts before his shoulder started barking, landing him on the injured list for another extended stint. Through it all, Glasnow has talked repeatedly about the need to be more 'external' on the mound — focused more on execution and compete-level than the aches and pains in his body and imperfections in his delivery. Yet, with each new setback, the veteran pitcher was left scrambling for answers, constantly tinkering with his mechanics and toiling with his mindset in hopes of striking an equilibrium between both. Which is why, as Glasnow neared his latest return to action, he tried to simplify things. For real, this time. No more worrying about spine angle and release point. No more mid-game thoughts about the many moving parts in his throwing sequence. 'I don't even know,' when asked last week how he changed his mechanics during his most recent absence, the kind of physical ignorance that might actually be a good thing in the 31-year-old's case. 'I'm just going out and being athletic and not trying to look at it. And if there's something I need to fix, or something the coaches see, then I'll worry about it. But I'm just going out … [and] getting in that rhythm. Getting back into a starting routine.' Two starts in, that new routine looks promising. After pitching five solid innings of one-run ball in Milwaukee last week, Glasnow started the second half of the season with another step forward Friday, spinning a six-inning, one-run gem in the Dodgers' 2-0 loss to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium. As the Dodgers came out of the All-Star break, few players seemed as pivotal to their long-term success as Glasnow. The club is counting on him and fellow nine-figure free-agent signing Blake Snell (who, like Glasnow, missed almost all of the first half with a shoulder injury but could be back in action by the end of the month) to bolster a rotation that has missed them dearly. To join Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and in some capacity Shohei Ohtani, at the forefront of a pitching staff seeking significant improvement as it tries to repeat as World Series champions. The Dodgers — who would like not to have to add a starting pitcher at the trade deadline, and might have a hard time finding an impact addition like they did in Jack Flaherty last summer even if they try — did have similar hopes for Glasnow last season. Even when he first went down with his elbow injury in mid-August, the initial expectation was that he'd be back well in time for the playoff push. Instead, Glasnow's arm never ceased to bother him. When he tried ramping up for a live batting practice session in mid-September, he effectively pulled the plug on his season when his arm still didn't feel right. Ever since, Glasnow has lived in a world of frustration, spending his winter trying to craft a healthier delivery only to run into more problems within the first month of this season. 'Certainly the talent is undeniable,' manager Dave Roberts said last week, ahead of Glasnow's return. 'But I think for me, for us, you want the dependability. That's something that I'm looking for from Tyler from here on out. To know what you're going to get when he takes that ball every fifth or sixth day.' On Friday, Glasnow produced a template worth following. Flashing increased fastball velocity for the second-straight outing — routinely hitting 98-99 mph on the gun — Glasnow filled up the strike zone, going after hitters with his premium four-seamer and increasing reliance on a late-breaking sinker. His big-bending curveball played perfectly off them, with Glasnow pulling the string for awkward swings and soft contact. He retired the first five batters he faced, and didn't let a ball out of the infield until Brice Turang's two-out single in the third. He was late getting to the mound at the start of the fourth, resulting in an automatic ball to the leadoff batter, but remained unfazed, retiring the side in order. Glasnow did wobble in the fifth. Suddenly struggling to locate the ball, he walked leadoff hitter Isaac Collins on five pitches before giving up an RBI double to Caleb Durbin in a 2-and-0 count, when he left a sinker over the heart of the plate. But then he settled back down, escaped the inning without further damage, and worked around a high-hopping one-out single from Jackson Chourio in the sixth with strikeouts of William Contreras and Christian Yelich. The outing marked Glasnow's first time completing six innings since April 13 against the Chicago Cubs, and was his first such outing allowing only one earned run since last June. Unfortunately for Glasnow, he was still the second-best pitcher on the bump Friday. Opposite him, young Brewers right-hander Quinn Priester dominated the Dodgers over six scoreless innings, recording the second-most strikeouts of his career by fanning 10. Struggling veteran Kirby Yates didn't help in relief of Glasnow, either, giving up a home run to Durbin in the seventh that sent the Dodgers to a disappointing defeat coming out of the break. Still, for a team with a comfortable division lead and the shortest World Series odds of any club in the majors at the moment, getting good starting pitching remains the most pressing big-picture concern for the Dodgers at the moment. At the end of last year, and for much of the first half this year, Glasnow was unable to help in that department. Now, he might finally be showing flashes he can. '[I want to] just go out and be athletic,' Glasnow said last week. 'Just go out and compete.'
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Four major questions the Dodgers face in the second half of the season
They have the most wins in the National League. They have an almost 95% chance of winning their division, according to Fangraphs' computer models. And, in the eyes of Vegas bookmakers, are still the overwhelming favorites to repeat as World Series champions. Yet, after an up-and-down opening half that saw the Dodgers fall short of their all-time (and, admittedly, somewhat unrealistic) expectations, the team kicks off the second half of its season on Friday night facing plenty of problems, and grappling with important unknowns, as it embarks on the second half of the schedule. 'Good first half,' manager Dave Roberts said before the All-Star break. 'But yeah, we should want to get better.' As the second half gets underway, here are four big questions in the Dodgers' quest to improve down the stretch and try to defend their 2024 title. It's an age-old question when it comes to the Dodgers, cast upon a new-look roster battling familiar injury-related headaches. In a best-case scenario, the Dodgers could end the season with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani (in some capacity) headlining their rotation. In the bullpen, they could have Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol bolstering more heavily-used arms like Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia and Kirby Yates — plus wild card options in Ben Casparius, Emmet Sheehan and Jack Dreyer to serve in more versatile roles on the mound. But best-case pitching scenarios, of course, have often been unrealized fantasies with the franchise in recent years. Thus, down the stretch this season, the Dodgers' top priority (after winning the division and securing a first-round bye) will be keeping their arms as healthy as possible. That will be most important with Glasnow (who just returned from a shoulder injury) and Snell (who should be back from his own shoulder problem in the next couple of weeks). To this point, the Dodgers have signaled a reluctance to urgently pursue a starter at the trade deadline. And even if they did, the lack of available front-line options means it'd be difficult to insure against either (or, in a nightmare world) both going down again. The Dodgers have been interested in adding to the bullpen, and might set their sights on a legitimate closer given Scott's season-long struggles. But still, much of their depth will depend on Treinen (who is also nearing a return from a forearm injury), Kopech (who went on the 60-day IL after a knee surgery, but is still expected back this season) and Graterol (who is also still expected to return after missing the first half recovering from offseason shoulder surgery). The Dodgers also have their fingers crossed on Roki Sasaki (hoping he can return in late August from his own shoulder issue) and haven't yet ruled out Tony Gonsolin (though he has remained shut down since suffering an elbow injury). But for now, their primary hope is to keep Glasnow and Snell upright, and replenish an overworked bullpen with late-season reinforcements. After pitching three innings for the first time this season in his final outing before the All-Star break, Ohtani appears to be getting closer to full-length starts in his return to pitching. But the question remains, how long (if ever) it will take him and the Dodgers to get there. After five abbreviated appearances over the last month-plus, it's clear Ohtani's stuff on the mound hasn't been diminished by a second career Tommy John surgery. He is routinely hitting 100 mph. He has 10 strikeouts in nine total innings. He has given up just one run overall. However, Ohtani's bat has cooled since resuming his two-way role. And the full extent of the physical toll being imposed on the 31-year-old superstar are still not yet entirely clear, prompting the Dodgers to be very deliberate in slowly, methodically increasing his workload. It's difficult to imagine, barring any unforeseen setbacks, Ohtani not being part of the pitching plan in October given how electric he has looked thus far. But will it be as a glorified three- or four-inning opener? Or in a traditional starting role in which he is asked to work into the sixth or the seventh? That could depend on the state of the rest of the Dodgers' staff, how Ohtani performs at the plate over the season's second half, and how his body holds up to a challenge he has never before attempted with a team competing for a playoff spot. The Dodgers might have Ohtani and a better supporting cast now. But, as they learned in 2022 and 2023, life can be difficult when Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts aren't hitting; especially in the heat of a playoff environment. And for all their other firepower this season, the Dodgers still need the two ex-MVPs to provide a spark. For as good as Betts has been defensively this year — still ranking top-10 among MLB shortstops in fielding percentage, outs above average and defensive runs saved — he was 122nd out of 155 qualified hitters in OPS during the first half, with a .696 mark that is more than 100 points worse than his previous career low. Freeman, meanwhile, went from a National League-leading .374 batting average at the end of May to a .203 mark over June and July, 163rd best out of 184 qualified hitters in that time. That kind of production will put a drag even on a Dodgers offense with so many other star-level players. If the team is going to be anywhere near its potential offensively, it will need both sluggers to quickly pick things up. Otherwise, their margin for error at the plate come October could be worryingly slim. There are myriad questions for the rest of the Dodgers' lineup, too, where first-half performances ranged from unexpectedly spectacular to unimaginably difficult. The Dodgers leaned heavily on Will Smith and his NL-best .323 batting average to provide consistent production. Can he replicate that in the second half of the season? Or will he fall victim to the late-summer slides that have plagued him throughout his career? For large stretches of the opening half, Andy Pages looked like an All-Star and one of the most trustworthy run-producers in the middle of the order (an important role for a Dodgers team that always generates ample opportunities, but can struggle to capitalize upon them). But he also entered the All-Star break in a two-week slump. If he can revert back to being a near .300 hitter, it could significantly help lengthen a sometimes top-heavy lineup. Conversely, Teoscar Hernández has looked out of sync ever since returning from a groin injury in May, batting just .209 since then. As one of the most clutch performers during last year's World Series run, there are real questions about whether he can regain enough health and consistency to replicate such heroics this fall. Tommy Edman, meanwhile, has been valuable defensively, and was a surprise early-season slugger with eight home runs in March and April. Since then, though, he has posted below-league-average numbers, and entered the break in a two-for-32 rut. One X-factor could be Hyeseong Kim, who turned heads in limited early-season playing time (.339 average, .842 OPS and 11-for-11 on steals in 48 games) and figures to get more everyday opportunities in Max Muncy's absence in the coming weeks. Muncy, himself, poses another big unknown. Roberts said the early reports on his recovery from a bone bruise in his knee have been encouraging. But, the Dodgers have not looked the same since losing him from the lineup. And though he is expected to return, just how limiting the lingering effects of his injury will be could have important implications on the state of the Dodgers' offense.
Canada Standard
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Canada Standard
Dodgers activate RHP Tyler Glasnow, move RHP Michael Kopech to 60-day
(Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images) The Los Angeles Dodgers activated right-handed starter Tyler Glasnow from the 60-day injured list, while moving right-hander reliever Michael Kopeck to the 60-day IL with right knee inflammation. In order to get Glasnow on the active roster to face the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday afternoon, the club optioned right-hander Alexis Diaz to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Glasnow, 31, last appeared in a major league game on April 27 and has been on the mend ever since with shoulder inflammation. He was 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in five starts before his injury. Over 10 seasons with three clubs, including six with the Tampa Bay Rays, Glasnow is 40-33 with a 3.83 ERA over 154 appearances (115 starts). Kopech, 29, was acquired from the Chicago White Sox last season and was a key member of the bullpen in the Dodgers' run to a World Series title last season. He started the season on the IL with elbow and shoulder injuries before not allowing a run in eight appearances this season. Kopech received a pain-killing injection to his knee last week after going on the IL July 1 and will not be eligible to return until the end of August. Diaz, 28, was acquired by Los Angeles in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds on May 29 but has not made an appearance with his new club. He was 18-14 with 75 saves and a 3.21 ERA in four seasons with the Reds, including an All-Star Game appearance in 2023. In an additional move, the Dodgers traded outfielder Steward Berroa to the Brewers for cash considerations. Berroa, who had 28 games of major league experience with the Toronto Blue Jays last season, was designated for assignment last week. --Field Level Media
