Add The California Post on Google Welcome to the California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where we review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.
Why isn’t Shohei Ohtani on the injured list?
In case you missed it: Ohtani’s injury concerns took another twist this week.
He showed visible pain in an 0-for-4 performance on Wednesday. He was held out of the lineup for a day of rest on Thursday. And his status going forward was described by manager Dave Roberts as “day-to-day.”
So, as Ohtani’s right biceps and left knee issues continue to linger, why haven’t the Dodgers just placed him on the IL yet?
“I’m not sure it’s like an IL-worthy thing right now,” general manager Brandon Gomes said on Thursday. “Nothing has indicated that it should be an IL at this point.”
While that hand-wave of an explanation wasn’t all too convincing –– even Roberts has acknowledged Ohtani looked off during a 6-for-46 slump the last couple weeks –– Gomes did expand on the club’s logic later during his session with reporters, when asked if there could still be a benefit to sidelining the two-way star for a couple weeks.
“Could there be? Yes. Could there not be? Yes,” Gomes said. “I think it’s just really hard to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna knock something out in X amount of days.’”
That echoed a sentiment Roberts has shared in recent days, about how Ohtani might not get back to 100% the rest of this year and is “just going to have to find a way to make do and do the best he can.”
Thus, short of any guarantees that an IL stint will truly help, or any obvious concerns that continuing to play the 32-year-old will make his problems worse, Gomes said the Dodgers will “take it day to day and continue to have conversations and not try to get too far ahead of ourselves.”
“[We are] just continuing to monitor it and make sure it’s not inhibiting performance,” Gomes added, before later insisting: “I don’t think at this point it feels like there’s some long-term concern.”
Emmet Sheehan (4 starts, 1.50 ERA, 24 strikeouts in triple-A this month)
OK, we’re cheating here. Sheehan is obviously no longer a prospect. The only reason he has been in Triple-A lately is because of his first-half struggles in the Dodgers’ big-league rotation.
However, his return-to-form in the minors –– where he was named Pacific Coast League pitcher of the month after allowing just one run over his last three starts –– has come at an opportune time.
Already, the Dodgers seemed likely to call Sheehan back up for a spot start on Sunday. And now, Eric Lauer’s elbow injury has opened a more permanent spot in the rotation.
With Justin Wrobleski in the bullpen, Roki Sasaki also on the injured list, and rehabbing right-hander Gavin Stone still building a foundation at the Triple-A level after two years of shoulder troubles, Sheehan appears to be the most logical candidate to move back into the Dodgers’ rotation on a full-time basis over this final month.
It represents a potentially big opportunity for the 26-year-old right-hander, who slumped to a 5.29 ERA in 20 MLB starts at the beginning of this season amid flaws in his mechanics and fluctuations in his velocity.
As things currently stand, Sheehan is right on the edge of the Dodgers’ postseason roster bubble, vying for what would likely be a multi-inning relief role out of the bullpen (similar to what he did last October).
If he gets a chance back in the Dodgers’ rotation in the meantime, it would provide a possible pathway for him to showcase the improvements he has made during his stint in Oklahoma City.
After giving Sheehan a month-long reset in the minors, the Dodgers might be about to find out whether it paid off.
Freddie Freeman (7-for-18, 1 home run, 5 RBIs this week; .303 average, 16 home runs, 66 RBIs, .844 OPS this season)
The long, nightmarish and increasingly concerning wait is over.
On Wednesday, the veteran first baseman snapped a career-long 47-game homer drought with an opposite-field blast at Dodger Stadium, sending a ball over the fence for the first time since July 4.
Freeman hadn’t exactly been panicked over his power drought. Since that last long ball, he had still hit .315, the seventh-best average in the majors over that stretch.
“I’ve felt good at the plate for a while now,” Freeman said. “Just trying to get on base, keep things moving, get some guys on base and keep the line moving.”
However, slumping performances from others in the Dodgers lineup have put more of a burden on top-of-the-order hitters like Freeman to pick up the slack. The Dodgers will happily take his buffet of singles, but will also likely need more pop by the time they get to the playoffs.
Tyler Glasnow (7-inning, 1-run, 6-strikeout start this week; 4-0 record, 2.79 ERA in nine starts this season)
With Ohtani’s pitching status in doubt, and the rest of the Dodgers’ depth starters battling their own injury problems, the team is suddenly short on insurance policies for their postseason rotation.
And while they’ve long felt good about Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tarik Skubal, Glasnow’s recent return from injury had loomed as an unknown variable.
That’s why his second start back last weekend was such an encouraging sign for the team’s October pitching plans.
Glasnow was starting on only four days’ rest. He was coming off a promising, albeit frustrating, five-inning start the week prior in which he’d allowed three runs in the first inning. And yet, he went out and delivered a vintage performance, giving up just two hits to the Tigers while breezing through seven innings –– so much so, it only required 85 throws.
If that’s the version of Glasnow the Dodgers get in the playoffs, when he will effectively be their No. 4 starter, it would only amplify the strength of their rotation.
During his absence this summer, there were questions about how the 33-year-old would look when he returned. Two starts in, the answer has been comforting.
