The Dodgers look likely to be without starters Tony Gonsolin and Ryan Pepiot into May, skipper Dave Roberts told the beat this evening (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic and Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times).
Both hurlers opened the season on the injured list. Gonsolin sprained his ankle after a pitcher-fielding practice in Spring Training. Pepiot had earned the vacated spot in the starting five but suffered an oblique strain just prior to Opening Day. That pushed Michael Grove into the rotation while robbing Pepiot of a chance to break camp for the first time in his career.
Gonsolin seems the further ahead of the two. He’s throwing to hitters at the team’s spring complex. He’ll do so at least once more before the team considers sending him out a minor league rehab assignment, which could still be multiple weeks away. There’s no indication Gonsolin has suffered any kind of setback but his recovery has moved a little slower than anticipated. Pepiot, on the other hand, has yet to resume throwing. There’s still no public timetable as to when he might be able to pick up a ball, much less return to big league action.
Losing Gonsolin, in particular, has thinned Los Angeles’ rotation early in the season. Grove has gotten hit hard in his first two starts, surrendering 12 runs across 7 1/3 innings. That’s been a big factor in the Dodgers’ uncharacteristically middling 4.47 rotation ERA through the first couple weeks. Grove is one of the organization’s more interesting pitching prospects but hasn’t found success yet in his brief big league career. He allowed a 4.60 ERA over seven appearances (six starts) as a rookie, bringing his career mark to 6.63 in 36 2/3 frames.
A game of attrition. Whoever has the most pitchers standing, wins it.
Never thought of Grove as one of better SP prospects. Miller, Stone, Pepiot all better but to be honest not sure if any of those are quite MLB ready yet. I wonder if Stone gets a chance given Grove’s performance so far.
It’s all about Miller and Stone. But who knows? They gave up top SP prospects Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster in the Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Nick Punto(!) trade and neither ones out.
Gavin Stone isnt in 40man roster though, and while Bobby Miller is already there, he wasnt healthy enough to pitch, so if the FO decided to call him, im wandering who will be out from the 40man roster
Nelson or more probably Reyes could move to the 60 day DL to open a spot for Stone.
However Stone has struggled so far this season in AAA. ERA around 8 in only 7 innings in two starts.
He pitches today so we’ll see
Wait! What? I thought both were minor injuries.
So Gonsolin will be in camp a couple more weeks then by the beginning of May start his rehab assignment and make 3-4 starts in the minors to build up.
And he is the closer of the two?
Gonsolin was projected at 22 starts and 120 IP. His 1st start being in mid May puts him right on track for that many starts if he can stay healthy the rest of the way.
Pads – I had been thinking he was on a short program as well. So really, not a bad situation unless there is something else going on or subsequent injury.
That said I don’t see any way he manages to meet his 2022 production – notice that neither Heaney nor Anderson have so far for their new teams.
I don’t think Thor is the answer but we will see.
Urias is still CY contender every 5 days so there is that.
And these projections are based on what, exactly? If he can’t make his first start until the middle of May he’d be hard pressed to make 22 starts simply due to the calendar, not some number somebody invented who knows how.
You would have to ask the guys that run the many projection systems what they base their particular system on. Past player history and common practices by teams are certainly a part of it.
This is a very old article, but it will give you at least an outline of some of them. beyondtheboxscore.com/2016/2/22/11079186/projectio…
All of them on Fangraphs, Baseball Reference, Baseball Prospectus, Marcel, and Oliver agreed on 120-133 IP prior to the season and Gonsolin may not start a game until mid-May, so I would say that it was a pretty accurate projection.
2 starts in May. 5 in June, July, August, and September/October. That is 22 starts. Not so hard. Easy even. In fact, if he stays healthy its what should be expected. baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=gonso…
So what you are saying is he won’t stay healthy after returning? You may be right.
So they knew about his sprained ankle before it happened? AMAZING. Do they also supply winning lotto numbers?
And no I’m not saying that. My crystal ball is in the shop.
I wonder if there is something else wrong with Gonsolin. Hope it’s not the forearm strain from last year. Seems odd that an ankle injury sidelines you for that long.
Since he sprained his ankle walking off the field in Spring Training, one imagines that is the actual issue.
Any Dodger fans in the house, hello? I’m hearing an echo in this empty cavernous space, usually Dodger posts have their fair share of comments & kumbaya, I don’t understand !
I think Grove will get packed in a deal at some point, just NOT that guy IMO! With Pepiot, Stone and Miller waiting in the wings. Gonsolin hopefully solidifies the rotation when he gets back. Syndergaard, well, glad he’s only on a one year deal. I can definitely see Friedman going after a starter before the deadline. I believe Friedman and company put to much emphasis on Ohtani for 2024 and basically ignored all the holes on this years team, he May regret that unless Dodgers go hog wild at deadline!
He has looked very hittable. Still gets a lot of Ks but getting shelled. His minor league numbers are not very good. Given the lack of SP options right now it does look like he’ll likely get another chance against the Cubs, although the Dodgers can skip him in the rotation due to an off day on Thursday but they may prefer not to do that and provide an extra day of rest for the other SPs.
You are confusing Friedman with a sports media that wants the Dodgers to go after Ohtani. The evidence that the Dodgers are actually going to do that is approximately zero.