The Dodgers announced tonight that an MRI on the left arm of starter Alex Wood has revealed a posterior elbow impingement, which will require four weeks of rest (Twitter link). Per their announcement, he’ll be reevaluated at that time. With a layoff of nearly a month from throwing, Wood seems like a lock to require a minor league rehab assignment before returning, so an absence of at least six weeks (through the All-Star break) seems like a reasonable floor, and the potential for him to miss more time than that certainly exists.
Wood, 25, had rounded into form after a slow start with the Dodgers to open the year. Over his past six outings, a span of 35 1/3 innings, he’d worked to a 2.80 ERA with a scintillating 50-to-8 K/BB ratio and a 43.2 percent ground-ball rate. Wood’s unorthodox delivery has led some to tab him as an injury risk in the past, though this is the first time he’s landed on the Major League disabled list with an arm injury (or with any injury, for that matter). Last season, he totaled 189 2/3 of 3.84 ERA ball between the Braves and Dodgers, who acquired him from Atlanta in the much-maligned Hector Olivera trade.
The Dodgers had already placed Wood on the disabled list and brought Julio Urias back from Triple-A prior to the MRI, and it’ll be Urias who starts in Wood’s place for tomorrow’s matchup against the Cubs. Wood joins left-handers Brett Anderson and Hyun-jin Ryu as well as right-handers Brandon McCarthy and Frankie Montas as injured rotation options on the Dodgers’ disabled list. With him on the shelf, Los Angeles will lean on Clayton Kershaw, Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda, Mike Bolsinger and, presumably, Urias in the rotation for the foreseeable future. Other alternatives at the Triple-A level include Ross Stripling, Carlos Frias and Zach Lee.
The Dodgers’ rotation entered play today with the third-best ERA of any team in the Majors, though that mark is skewed to some extent by Kershaw’s dominance. As a collective unit they’ve posted a strong 3.41 ERA, but non-Kershaw starters have provided skipper Dave Roberts and his staff with a more pedestrian 4.14 ERA. The Dodgers clearly have a number of starters that could return from the disabled list to bolster the middle and back-end of the rotation, though given the uncertainties permeating the staff, the top-heavy nature of the rotation and the front office’s active nature, it shouldn’t come as a shock if the Dodgers are connected to potential rotation upgrades on the trade market this summer.
Ended up being a minimal trade.
Still pretty impactful – Alex Wood is only gone for a month and a bit.
And the Dodgers managed to turn Jose Peraza and a couple of spare parts, into Trayce Thompson and Frankie Montas + Micah Johnson.
Very true Cam, very true. But Bird, Paco, and a Comp pick came to Atlanta as well, and dropped Arroyo on the Dodgers. But I agree, Wood can still end up being a good pitcher. I hope he does anyway.
Oliveria was due more money than Arroyo. Bird is a nothing prospect and Rodriguez as far as I know hasn’t even picked up a ball since tommy John. Pretty clear the Dodgers got the best side of the deal.
Me too, Gogerty. When Wood repeats his mechanics and keeps that arm slot consistent, he really is a good pitcher. Great to watch, funky and all.
The Dodgers need him healthy.
I agree, Dodgers got more of the upside, but dropping $10M off the books when Arroyo wasn’t gonna pitch anyway, helped out.
Wood was part of that string of Braves pitchers that had TJ right after the other (Medlen, Beachy, and Minor all had it once I believe). If this ends up being his third, as suggested, could be horrible for him.
I agree the prospect haul LAD got for Pereza does make it more of a plus for Dodgers, to be honest I didn’t play that in as he was shipped out so soon.
The Braves paid Arroyos contract in that deal and the Dodgers ultimately only ate Olivera’s singing bonus of 28 mil.
Good call, guess I forgot that portion or did not realize the Braves paying Arroyo in the deal. Thanks for the correction.
Headline in 4 weeks: Wood headed for Tommy John
If that did happen he would only be 26 by the time he got back so… It may derail his career a bit but I don’t think it would be that serious
It would be the second of his career though. That dampens his odds a bit. Hopefully he can avoid it!
He had Tommy John as a high schooler as well. I initially had that in the post, but I didn’t feel the need to fuel any TJ speculation when there’s no word that there’s anything wrong with his ligament.
I bet you are right.
Not much likelihood of the Dodgers being in the starting pitching market this summer, even if another starter goes down. Not that they couldn’t use an upgrade, they are going to try to find the innings among the many options they have already even if some of those options are mediocre.
BTW anybody know what happened with Brandon Beachy? After he he disappeared from Spring Training he basically just vanished from baseball without a word. Still under a minor league contract with the Dodgers apparently but not playing anywhere.
Absolute mystery! Last update I can see is early May, where all that was written, was a look back at him leaving Spring Training.
Assumptions are dangerous – but gotta think the guy is considering if he has a future in the game. To see no update from the team is quite odd.
Yup, really strange. Normally we’d expect to hear about some sort of issue being treated, and if not, that he was released, or retired — but not this time. He’s not on the DL or any minor league roster as far as I can tell. The only clue I can offer is from his starts last season. They were awful, obviously, but to me he seemed to take them really hard. Leads me to suspect that he’s thrown in the towel just not officially yet.
I would guess the second TJ didn’t take; the track record of pitchers with two TJ surgeries isn’t particularly good. Most don’t come back and the ones that do have pretty short careers post-second surgery.
Isringhausen is probably the most successful I can think of, and he had to switch to the pen. The only other successful ones I can think of are also relievers – Soria, Shawn Kelley, Daniel Hudson come to mind. Beachy wasn’t that great to begin with; I’d be surprised if you ever see him in a major league rotation again (or Mike Minor, or Josh Johnson, or Venters, Or jarrod Parker, or….the list goes on and on.)
Venters has to be the best reliever that nobody remembers. Dude was filthy for a couple years.
I remember him well in the trio of braves 7th thru 9th inning filth..including O’flaherty and Kimbrel
Minor had shoulder issues..no elbow issues
Brandon B was designated for assignment. ByeBye 2013 I think he was okay but since then everytime they brought him up, HE LOST. Also Good Bye to Lee, and I really hope they don’t bring Frias up to wild even when pitching well. Grandal doesn’t like to catch him, and of course A.J. will, both say he won’t work with them and is constantly shaking off pitches. So for me GOOD BYE
Again last I heard about plans (future) before the trade deadline if were in the running top/or 2nd we will attempt to go after a starter and BP pitchers from non contending clubs. 2 maybe 3 ANDERSON/MC CARTHY/RYU should be ready to come back before end of July but it doesn’t change the plans..