ATLANTA — Tyler Glasnow’s first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers is over, and with it the organization’s rotation instability has spiraled. The latest and most resounding blow to the club’s hopes of having a fully functional starting staff in October came Friday, when Glasnow warmed up for a simulated game against hitters but never actually faced any, citing discomfort in his right elbow.
Imaging on his right arm revealed a sprained elbow, manager Dave Roberts said Saturday afternoon, adding a return this season is “highly unlikely.”
An offseason in which the Dodgers spent close to half a billion dollars in pitching still left them scrambling for bodies as the postseason nears. That included the club’s gamble on Glasnow, trading for the 31-year-old right-hander and handing him a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension before even throwing a pitch for them despite an extensive injury history.
The stuff and potential were just that tantalizing. And Glasnow’s history of injuries, both he and the organization said, was all tied to the same issue with his right elbow that was addressed with Tommy John surgery in 2021.
Glasnow did log a career-high in starts (22) and innings pitched (134), making his first All-Star team in the process while looking, at points, like the type of ace who could steward an October rotation. He complained of discomfort in his elbow in August and landed on the injured list on Aug. 16 with right elbow tendonitis. He worked his way to essentially his final step on Friday before the issue bit him again.
Roberts said Saturday he believed the scans showed Glasnow’s ulnar collateral ligament remains intact. Glasnow will be shut down indefinitely from throwing.
“Yeah, it’s a big blow,” Roberts said. “Looking at what he meant for our ball club, what he’s done for us, what we expected him to do, certainly there’s going to be a cost. But we have to move on and we will and we have capable people. I feel bad for Tyler because he did everything to stay healthy and get back and it just wasn’t going to happen.”
The body blows have added up for these Dodgers, who saw 12 different starting pitchers land on the injured list this season and have seven currently rehabbing, with Gavin Stone and Clayton Kershaw (and Tony Gonsolin, as a reliever) among those not fully ruled out yet this season.
It’s a staggering total, one that has already prompted calls from the Dodgers’ brass to consider “reimagining” how it handles its pitchers after an offseason review.
When that review begins will depend on how far this makeshift Dodgers rotation can make it into October. Jack Flaherty, slated to start Saturday against the Atlanta Braves, will likely start Game 1 of any postseason series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still working his way back to a full workload, but will likely be pegged for Game 2. Where the Dodgers go from there remains a mystery.
Stone is expected to resume playing catch at some time next week in Miami in hopes of keeping his season alive. Kershaw has lugged around a turf mound, seeking to keep his arm moving even as he deals with discomfort in his left big toe.
“I’m still confident,” Roberts said. “I don’t think there’s one way to win a championship. I think you can look back at the teams recently and how their staffs came together and who stepped up for each team’s staff. So we’re going to have the guys we have, and I feel confident in whoever we run out there. But certainly, losing Tyler for any length of time, and Clayton for any length of time, Gavin Stone and what he’s done, it’s certainly a hit. No doubt.”
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(Photo: Orlando Ramirez / Getty Images)
