The Dodgers announced that they have placed right-hander Tony Gonsolin on the 15-day injured list due to a right forearm strain, retroactive to August 26. Fellow righty Michael Grove has been recalled to take his place on the active roster. Gonsolin was set to start tonight’s game against the Marlins but Grove will now take the mound instead.
It is always somewhat alarming when a pitcher is diagnosed with an injury to their throwing arm, but it’s especially worrisome in the case due to Gonsolin’s excellent season, the short amount of time remaining in the season and the club’s injuries elsewhere.
The 28-year-old hurler had pitched for the Dodgers in each of the previous three seasons in a swingman capacity, pitching out of the rotation but also out of the bullpen. He pitched very well in those seasons but was often squeezed out of a permanent rotation job due to the tendency of the Dodgers to keep excess starting pitching on hand. This year, Gonsolin grabbed a spot in the rotation and ran away with it, registering an incredible 2.10 ERA through 23 starts and a career-high 128 1/3 innings. That elite level of run prevention probably wasn’t totally sustainable given his .201 batting average on balls in play, well below the .290 league average. However, he’s in the 77th percentile in the league in terms of missing barrels and the 74th percentile in terms of limiting hard contact, meaning he could probably be expected to keep his BABIP below league average, even with some regression.
Caveats aside, there’s no denying that Gonsolin is having an excellent season, which has been huge for the Dodgers. The club has been without Dustin May until very recently, weathered extended absences to Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney, and lost Walker Buehler in June, with Buehler eventually requiring Tommy John surgery. Despite all of those ailments, the club has an incredible 88-38 record, the best in baseball, thanks in no small part to Gonsolin stepping up and excelling in the rotation.
Forearm strains are often the first listed injury in what eventually leads to Tommy John surgery, meaning it’s understandable if some fans are now dreading that worst-case scenario. However, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times tweets that the team believes they caught this issue early enough that they can have Gonsolin back on the mound this season. That would surely be a much more welcome path forward, though it remains to be seen if the club is correct in that assessment.
There are just over five weeks remaining on the regular season schedule, though the Dodgers are almost guaranteed to receive a bye past the first round of the playoffs. This season’s 12-team postseason format allows the top two division winners in each league to skip the first round. The Dodgers are currently 7 1/2 games ahead of the NL East-leading Mets and 15 games ahead of the Central-leading Cardinals.
Even without Gonsolin, the rotation should be in good shape, with Kershaw expected to return from the IL this week. He will join a rotation that also features Heaney, May, Julio Urias and Tyler Anderson. Anderson’s 2.69 ERA on the year is actually the highest of that group, though some of them have done that in small samples due to injury absences. With Gonsolin now out for at least a few weeks, the depth will be a bit thinner until he can return. Grove’s appearance tonight will be just his third MLB game of the year, though he has a 3.48 ERA in the minors for the season. Ryan Pepiot has made seven starts for the Dodgers this year with a 4.02 ERA and could be an option if needed. He just threw five Triple-A innings on Saturday, however, which likely ruled him out of taking the ball today.
The Dodgers are cooked. Not gonna win in the postseason now.
Pessimists were already saying Gonsolin wasn’t as good as his record. I’ll back the Dodgers for the NL as long as Kimbrel doesn’t see the field
Kimbrel blows. Games that is. Cooked when it counts
Since 1988, the year Kimbrel was born
World Series
Mets 0
Kimbrel 1
Mets 2015, if you were paying attention. And yes I know, they didn’t win
Umm, you forgot 2000.
World Series = World Series wins
Certainly sounds like a Yankee fan talking
That’s right , I did. LFGM
You sir are a beast thank you for that
How so? Sure sounds like someone who has Yankee hate day in and day out. The Dodgers can weather this, It just makes it a bit harder.
Good comment bucsfan. You constantly seem to be a balanced and intelligent commenter. Very rare here.
Fir you Dodger doom sayers…
Baseball, if I remember correctly, is a team sport. People step up…
I remember when Gonsolin got called up with May. Tony got no love. Everyone was smitten with May and Gonsolin was the red headed step child…I knew he looked good and had amazing stuff from day 1 and am still confused why he has always been treated with kiddie gloves. I want to see him win the CY badly because I know it will make many heads explode. Hopefully this is nothing serious. Get well soon Cat Man.
Come on now, if anyone is the red-headed stepchild, it’s Dustin May.
Haha The irony is palpable yes.
Nah you just misread it.
I’m summarily confused now. I assure you much has been lost in translation friend. On another note “Go Dodgers!”
It’s a pun, son!
Lol I KNOW!! May is INDEED the red head….and I jokingly said it was ironic because Gonsolin does not have red hair…We are on the same team amigo. Besides I am a rookie poster…a green pea…I need time.
One of the most incredible pitching staffs, this dude could be out 2 weeks & LAD won’t miss a beat, wow.
What’s wrong with this site, I post a comment & it comes up again & again?
My comment comes up again & again & I delete it, and it comes up again, something out of kilter.
Curly, I have noticed the same thing but I think only YOU can see your comment multiple times…On my end your comments only appear once. Weird glitch I noticed too. But yeah I only see your comments once.
Guys if you post something and it says error do not post again. Exit the current chat and go back to main screen that lists all the discussions.
Then go back in a minute later and your post will be here without you having to re-post it.
Only pitching staff in baseball that is even CLOSE to be able to absorb these types of losses and still be extremely dominant. They have that much depth. Even Price might get called upon to do some opener stuff or even hand him a start.
Gonsolin has already pitched more than twice as many innings this year than his previous career high. The Dodgers have always been prepared for him to be unavailable for the playoffs. They were already prepared for this. No problem.
Being prepared being the key, were the Dodgers prepared for this?
No he hasn’t – he pitched 128 innings between A-AA ball in 2018. He’s equaled his career high now, not double it,
Definitely looks to be precautionary though.
Yes, precautionary is how this is being described by the team.
mlb.com/dodgers/news/tony-gonsolin-on-injured-list…
Uh oh bye bye dodgers season
Oh my, they may just have to rely a little more on the best offense in baseball, instead of the best pitching staff in baseball (and they’re about to get Kershaw back).
Oh my
Dodgers all of a sudden looking thin.
No Buehler
How much can May give you after TJ?
Now Tony out
They haven’t had Buehler almost the entire year and when he did pitch he was terrible because he was hurt
Damn. Impacts the CY race. Break for the Metsies too.
Break for all nl teams in playoffs if he can’t pitch.
I just mean because the Mets are playing them soon.
he wasn’t going to pitch against the mets. he was supposed to pitch today against the marlins, Mets are tomorrow through thursday. Miami is the only real beneficiary of this, because Kershaw will Just slot into Gonsolin’s spot in the rotation on Saturday most likely.
Wow that hurts
Yea, bye bye 50 games over .500
Now you’ll only be 45 games over .500
Season is over
Love the cynicism!
That sucks. Dude was having a darn good year.
Ruh-roh!
…any Scooby Doo reference gets an upvote
Probably not serious. The Dodgers are a million games up and have nothing to play for in September. No need to push anyone.
Just in time to miss the Mets series. Story of the Mets season, luck.
@Ozuna
He wasn’t pitching in this series so no luck there but being your a Braves fan it’s pretty obvious why you feel that way.
I haven’t checked recently, but have the Braves broke .500 against teams that have winning records? I’m also sure it was all luck for the Cardinals splitting a series against them and Jansen imploding on Saturday night.
No one cares about your useless .500 record since the Mets # is skewed beating the Phillies 15x this season. Braves beat the Astros 2/3. That didn’t stop you and all the twitter warriors from continuing using this stupid stat as an argument to whatever you making (or strength of schedule).
Let Jansen continue imploding. I hate the guy and his OCD-pitching. Don’t want to see him next season.
Braves won the season series 4-3 against the Cards, not that it matters because regular season stats mean nothing come playoff time. The Cards will be out again quickly. Their offense is Goldy/Arenado and nothing else.
Beating the Phillies is a pretty significant accomplishment these days.
Not when they play the Mets. You would know that if you watched the games.
You conveniently left out the Braves 17 wins against Washington and the Pirates. I can cherry pick stats as well. But hey, your argument based on your definition of luck is all that matters. And there is obviously a conspiracy against the Braves and MLB is cheating for the Mets.
The only part of any comments you make that are valid is that come the playoffs, regular season wins mean nothing. If they did, then your 87 win Braves team last year would have been knocked out in the first round and the Giants would have won the World Series.
No I’m not. The Mets dominated the Nationals too. The Pirates and Nats play bad against everybody – because you know…they are bad. The Phillies play really well against everyone and then they face the Mets, and everything falls apart for them. The Mets didn’t win some of the games, the Phillies handed them the wins. Whether you want to admit it or not, the Phillies are the difference between who wins the East this season, unless the Braves go 6-1 or better against them in Sept. Luckily for the Mets, it doesn’t matter how you win; however, it does reinforce my opinion that they are playing over their head, winning games they shouldn’t win, and essentially, never running into trouble all season. Come playoff time, they have to prove they are good and won’t get away with wins they don’t deserve.
Tyler O’Neil and Dylan Carlson and Tommy Edman say hello….the Cards actually have a solid lineup when fully healthy….
Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer would like to thank you for post season victory to come.
Formarm strain = TJ surgery… bad news for Dodgers
It just depends on where the forearm strain is. You can have a strain on top which is not related to the UCL
Thank you Dr. Knownothing.
Not nice!
Why be so rude?
Make stupid comments, get stupid replies.
One WS win for the Dodgers sine 1988 and it was the Covid year. Why is that? Baseball is random. It’s who’s hot at the right time and who plays smart. You don’t get that in football and basketball. The Dodgers are the kings of the regular season.
thanks for re-hashing every talking point on every sports talk show since the inception of the Wild Card in MLB.
I hope he gets back. He’ll be off the ERA leaderboard in a few days and that’s the only thing certain right now.
There were 55 pitchers with an official ERA when I looked just now, though I reckon Scherzer will be on there in a couple of weeks.
Tony’s innings are his highest ever. Everyone talking about “he’s going to crash eventually.” the Dodgers were prepared for this… it’s the whole reason TA and Heaney are here. People forget Danny Duffy is around the corner too…
Keep praying the Dodgers are cooked, losers.
Which “losers” are you referring to? And why the need to insult?
Duffy is out for the year.
Actually, he is not. Duffy is currently throwing sim games and might yet make an appearance.
I feel like this is the phantom IL stint a lot of us were expecting to keep Gonsolin’s innings down. Even if its not, a playoff rotation of Urias, Kershaw and May should still be dynamic enough to keep us in series. with Heaney and Anderson for the 4th/5th as needed.
Yep, was thinking that too. Keep Cat Man fresh for the post season. They’re up 19.5 games on SD with a magic number of 16, I believe. September call ups are only a few days away. They have time to rest him.
Probably just innings limit stuff
What are the Dodgers teaching their starters? Very odd that Kershaw has been having forearm issues the last couple of years. No TJ….. yet. Buehler and Gonsolin developed forearm issues. If I were Urias I would demand a trade now.
^^ Unintentional Humor Award, 2022 finalist. ^^
Wow. As much as I love to root against the cross town team I don’t wish a serious injury on a talented players.
Hopefully this is just a strain and it does heal.
If he was an Angel this would automatically mean TJ.
Dodgers
Only
Do
Good
Every
Regular
Season
It’s in the name. Losers no rings anyone counts in over 35 years
Let me guess, you are a bitter padres fan
I count their 2020 World Series championship. They clearly we’re a playoff-quality team and had to win more playoff rounds than any other team ever.
They played at the new Texas stadium before the rays got to play there. So they had an advantage of learning a new stadium a series before the other team. Plus they only played west coast teams. So like I said 2020 ring doesn’t count. 60 games is a little league season
Get real.. Little league has a truely World Series with lots of playoff rounds and their championship counts.
I think all real baseball fans know the 162 game grind is a better testament to a team’s greatness than simply getting hot in the playoffs.
The 2020 ring was won under the same circumstances everybody else had to play through. It is unique and deserves some context, but it is legit.
2020 was not the same for all teams. The world series team from Nl was always going to have an advantage. The nl team’s played in Texas new stadium and Al teams played in San Diego. So they were able to get use to a new stadium before the rays could play a game in Texas. Also 60 game schedule of only west coast teams. 162 is real season fans count
Yes it is. Unlike the cheating Asstros title that should have been vacated..
I’m laughing at your inability to control yourself. Sounds like the Dodgers have had your team’s number for a loooong time. Word of advice – better get used to it.
My team is the cubs we won a real ring . And beat up the doyers in ’16
His team wins once in 108 years and he gets all high and mighty.
Enjoy it loser. Not likely you will see another WS championship in your life time.
This site removes comments that aren’t in lockstep with their own opinions. I didn’t realize this was Yahoo. I guess only sheep can have opinions here. Soft.
I believe that the Dodgers make up a reason to put pitchers on the shelf, so they can get extra rest. I am sure he is being closely monitored due to him not pitching as many innings before.
Maybe, but forearm issues are usually a cause for concern rather than just saying “leg tightness” or “back soreness” if it were just to skip a start or two to rest his arm
Roberts already said he thinks he’s only missing 2 starts, so I think this isn’t serious
Dodgers are the Mets of the West coast when it comes to breaking pitchers.
The Dodgers might be ok in a short series but in a best of seven i now question if they have the pitching to beat the Mets, Braves, or even the Cardinals in the NL, let alone the Astros or the Yankees in the World Series
YEAH, 4 starters with an era under 3 is gonna be rough for the playoffs. 5 if you coun’t may’s early ip era. I think the dodgers will have plenty of starting pitching for a short or long series. I’d be more concerned about the Mets in a long series, because they will only get most likely 3 starts out of Degrom and Scherzer because of reduced off days. their 3-4 SP are good, but aren’t nearly as untouchable.
Giving away Mitch White is biting them hard.
on pace for 113, I dont think so…they have Grove, Pepiot, etc…just waiting
Exactly.
3rd Tommy in 14 months for LA?
Hmmm. It’s almost like 6 mph velo gains aren’t good for the arm. Weird. Who knew
Last year, Gonsolin averaged 93.9mph on his fastball – this year, 93.2mph.
Where’s the gain?
Get healthy quick, Cat Man.
Need someone to hold down the fort until Bauer gets back.
Another comedian.
Sounds like they are resting some players for playoff run now.
Well at least gosslin avoids the disabled list. Paging Dr Andrews.
Paging doc martens to the shoe dept.
Dodgers will put irias on the shelf as a precaution.
will not consider comments by this guy legit until he spells names correctly
Urias, May. Kershaw, Anderson all sub 3 era. even if worst case scenario with TG, they’ll still be favorites
Dodgers up by 20 games. Were about to go to 6 man rotation. Guys cing off DL I’m the next few weeks and guys on the way. Leads me to conclude that this while unplanned. Was not surprised. Every pitcher at this stage of a long season has either a dead arm strains, aches etc. I think he is fine. This is unchartered territory for The goose. With rosters expanding it also saves options for minor league players. Maybe a savvy move by front office? Just a theory from a dodgers fan of 45 years.
same. no one overreacting and its a rest. Grove looked good tonight. even if it was worst case there’s still more than a few good pitchers in the mix.
looks as though its heading to worst case damn it