An MRI showed that Dodgers reliever Tom Koehler has a mild anterior capsule strain. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports that Koehler was seen in a sling, later noting that the righty will be out for “an extended time”, which could be weeks or months. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register adds that no surgery has been planned at the moment, and quotes Koehler as saying it’s “not the way I’d like my tenure as a Dodger to start two weeks in.” He’d left Friday’s spring training game early after retiring just one of the four hitters he faced.
Koehler struggled to a 7.92 ERA in 12 starts with the Marlins last season, but he excelled in a relief role after being acquired by the Blue Jays in August. From that day on, the right-hander posted a 2.65 ERA while striking out 9.53 batters per nine across 17 innings with Toronto. Though team elected to non-tender him following the 2017 season, the Dodgers snatched him up on $2MM contract with some added incentives. If Koehler misses a significant portion of the season, it would prove a blow to his ability to earn additional bonuses through accumulation of total starts and relief appearances.
From the team’s perspective, the loss of Koehler for any length of time would not only thin the Dodgers’ bullpen a bit, but also detract from the team’s rotation depth. Though he struggled in a starter capacity last season, he has an extended track record pitching above-replacement in that capacity. Koehler has made 131 starts in his career while pitching to a 4.44 ERA. Though he was always unlikely to make many starts for Los Angeles, the team’s injury prone starting group would benefit from as much depth as possible.
Looks like a lot more innings for Stewart and Stripling
Sign a Starter already
Why sign a starter? They already have Kershaw, Hill, Wood, Maeda, Ryu, Stripling, and Stewart. There’s also Font who has looked good so far and I believe is out of options. Then there’s Urias who should be back later on in the season. Buehler will also likely be called up at some point in the season.
Buehler is the much better bet to make starts this season. I’d be surprised if we saw Urias at all. Best case scenario he is able to start pitching again in the minors mid-summer and then he’d need a couple months of work to recover from nearly two years of inactivity.
They’ll have to go hunting at the deadline and send a couple of better prospects for another Darvish-type. The opposite of durable is the Dodger rotation.
If Wilmer Font keeps it up, he should fill the Bold Look of Koehler role
The emergence of Wilmer Font makes this hurt less
We know what comes now, the 8th Inning Committee. Anybody care to guess how many games will be lost before they can get to Jansen?
Not a lot cause we have Scott Alexander and Baez was pretty good until about September. Also knowing this front office they’ll find someone who will shock everyone such as a Blanton or Morrow.
Baez has always been serviceable for stretches, but he has also always melted down at some point in the season. Blanton you should remember was signed as a middle reliever and only fell into the setup role because Baez was inconsistent and Hatcher was consistently awful. The “shock” we were set up for this season was that Koehler was going to be the next big relief discovery. What’s Plan B?
Adam Liberatore?
Maybe, or Garcia. But if the FO thought these were the best options they would not have signed Koehler.
I read somewhere Yimi was the FO option to set up
Less than 72, since were guaranteed 90 wins no matter what
Glass half full man. Sometimes u make it seem like u know better than our front office with you constant skepticism. As if they dont have an excellent track record with bullpens lately
Their excellent record in bullpen choices is basically one, Morrow. Care to name their other great choices?
Somebody named Joe Blanton in this thread. So that’s an easy 2nd pick. He may have fizzled with the Nats and didn’t have a good postseason in 2016. but he was very good for them in the regular season.
I already answered above that Blanton was signed as a long reliever who only became the setup man because all the others failed so miserably at the job. Obviously the FO knows the value of a reliable 8th inning holder. That’s why they made Koehler their only significant signing this year. We can’t now pretend that patching that role together with a bunch of seconds choices is totally hunky-dory.
That was already how it was going to happen. Koehler wasn’t exactly a lock to be a solid 8th inning guy based on a few good games with the Jays
Nobody is a lock to be anything with this FO, which I think is the right policy. However they did sign Koehler with a purpose, and it was to be the primary setup man.
Maybe a trade to the Jays?
why would the Jays do that?
Time to get arrietta on a backloaded 3 yr deal
Backloaded does not effect luxury tax implications. I was thinking Cobb, Lynn or Greg Holland
FO has been pretty clear that they’re not making any significant additions to the team until the trade deadline. The primary setup guy is already in the organization unless they pickup another minimum salary guy or swing a trade.
Question is, who will it be?
So does this mean he wont be “this years Morrow” or was that just a completely bs thought from the start….im going with the latter
Teams must always hope for the best and plan for the worst. NO team, EVER, gets through a spring without at least one injury to a player the organization was counting on to be part of the 25 man roster. Strong FOs plan accordingly. No question Koehler was expected to be part of the opening day bullpen. This FO, with their prioritization of depth, is far better prepared to handle injuries than just about any organization. Alexander, J.T. Chargois, Yimi Garcia, Dylan Baker (in addition to Koehler) were ALL seen as replacements for Morrow. Alexander, Chargois and Garcia have looked very good this spring. LAD will be fine until July with this group.
There is only one man on this roster who is really irreplaceable. And, the last two years–the roster depth created by this FO has cushioned the loss of even that guy for long stretches.