Bobby Miller will return to the Dodgers rotation next week. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that L.A. will reinstate Miller from the 15-day injured list to start against the Rockies on Wednesday (X link via Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times). He’s not the only Dodger pitcher who’ll be making a noteworthy start that night. Clayton Kershaw will begin a rehab appearance with Low-A Rancho Cucamonga on Wednesday.
Miller has been out of action for more than two months. The second-year righty took the ball three times before going on the shelf with shoulder inflammation. He began a rehab stint on May 26 and has started four games in the minors. Miller had a rough go on that assignment, allowing 14 runs over 15 innings. He topped out at 4 2/3 innings and 93 pitches for Triple-A Oklahoma City yesterday.
A former first-round pick, Miller emerged as arguably the Dodgers’ top starter in the second half of his rookie season. He turned in a 3.76 ERA with a solid 23.6% strikeout rate over his first 22 starts. He recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts against the Cardinals to kick off his sophomore season, but the Cubs tagged him for five runs over 1 2/3 frames in his second outing. Miller tossed four innings of two-run ball against the Twins before the injury.
The Dodger rotation let them down in the postseason, contributing to their sweep at the hands of the D-Backs in the Division Series. The front office overhauled the group over the winter. The Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a record deal for a pitcher not long after acquiring and extending Tyler Glasnow. They brought in James Paxton later in the offseason.
That trio each has an earned run average between 3.00 and 4.00 on the season. Glasnow and Yamamoto have been excellent, running huge strikeout rates with plus command. Paxton’s peripherals are much shakier, as he has walked 12.6% of batters faced with a well below-average 13.8% strikeout rate.
Gavin Stone has stepped up in Miller’s absence, working to a 2.93 ERA over 67 2/3 innings. Walker Buehler has rounded out the starting staff since his return from Tommy John surgery. Buehler has shown some rust over his first seven starts, allowing 4.64 earned runs per nine with a diminished 19.7% strikeout percentage.
No one from that quintet will be nudged out of the rotation. Roberts said the Dodgers will move to a six-man rotation “for this moment in time” once Miller returns (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). Los Angeles is three games into a stretch of 12 consecutive game days. The Dodgers already shuffled their rotation this week to get an extra couple days off for Yamamoto and Glasnow, so they’ll welcome the opportunity to get their starters a bit of a breather. That’ll come with a hit to their bullpen depth, as they’ll need to go to a seven-man relief group to meet the limit of 13 pitchers on the active roster.
The Dodgers could welcome Kershaw back to the group a few weeks from now. The three-time Cy Young winner underwent shoulder surgery in early November. Next week’s appearance will be his first game action of 2024. That could position him for a return to the MLB rotation around the All-Star Break.
Kershaw worked to a 2.46 ERA over 24 regular season starts a year ago. His velocity evaporated down the stretch as he pitched through the injured shoulder, though, culminating in a disastrous outing in his lone playoff start. He officially re-signed with L.A. in February on an incentive-laden deal that guaranteed him $10MM. Kershaw is making a $5MM base salary and could earn an additional $7.5MM in performance bonuses if he gets to 10 starts. He has a $5MM player option for next year that could rise as high as $20MM if he makes 10 starts in 2024. That still seems attainable with Kershaw trending towards a July return.
The guys who said in the off-season that Kershaw would not come back from his injury were wrong. Kershaw is an amazing guy and you can expect him to pass 3000 strikeouts.
Will be interesting to see if he gets some of his velocity back after the shoulder surgery.
You can’t use a 7-man rotation if you lose in 5 games.
Yamamoto and Glasgow are the only locks for postseason starts. The others will sort themselves out. The Dodgers need to worry more about getting some hits out of six through nine in the lineup.
valid
Zero mention of a 7-man rotation. Kershaw is still far away from coming back. The way pitchers are dropping these days a SP could go on the IL before Kershaw comes back.
Playoff rotation and regular season rotation different. Point of going to a true 6 man rotation or the synthetic 6 man the Dodgers have been in on for most of this season is to avoid injuries for older pitchers, minimize innings for younger pitchers, and keep Yamamoto on similar pitching regiment. So far so good but it’s a long season.
At some point in second half they will have to determine their strategy for 5/7 playoff game series, but they will of course need pitchers to get acclimated to pitching on more normal 4 days rest. Playoff rotation will get trimmed to 3/4 starting pitchers.
Yoshinobu just left after two innings. Uh-oh!
Jinxed it. Seems like SP injuries a complete crapshoot. Playing Russian roulette every time a starter goes out there. Hope it’s not a season ending thing because Yamamoto was being counted as a top 2/3 SP option.
Someone is going to the pen which likely means no pen upgrades.e.g., Paxton.
Six man rotation, so no need to move anyone to the pen. Besides, Paxton has never pitched in relief. If Miller and Kershaw come back looking good Paxton could well be traded.
No one will go to the pen. They’ll go through the 6 man rotation once then someone will have a hamstring/lat/forearm strain and they’ll continue the IL cycle
Or tricep tightness. Man, this game is brutal.
Six man rotation and pitchers will rarely be allowed to go a full six. Yikes
craig
Why “yikes”?
What do you want him to say? “HOLY S–t” Oh F–k !” This is a family site, so “Yikes” works.
Ignorant
What are you talking about?
I’ll take a shot. Six-man rotation means one fewer reliever to cover the relief innings. All else equal, the six starters need to go longer on average to make it up. That said, Glasnow is averaging over 6 IP per start and Yamamota and Stone have been regularly going 6 or 7 in recent weeks, plus there are already two long relievers in the pen so it seems manageable.
Use Paxton as a piggybacker with the right-handers on a rolling schedule. Keeps innings downs and reduces the need for relief innings
Jobu needs I wake up their bats.
Who’s Jobu? Do you mean Joba Chamberlain ?
Major League is the best baseball movie of all time….
A six-man rotation with Kershaw coming back soon. Dodgers have an enviable problem.
Problem only gets better when May and Gonsolin get a return timeline. And gets better again next year when Ohtani and Sheehan return
Gonsolin is out for the season. I know, not officially — but practically. May, if he’s able to pitch this year is almost certainly going into the bullpen, where his stuff will play better anyway. Sheehan, maybe middle of next season at the soonest.
It looks like they are lining up Kershaw to make his first start right after the All-Star break.
Don’t think Gonsolin is in the works for 2024. And I have my doubts about May, recovery and effectiveness. For May not sure if they will have him start or out of pen, and still decent chance he doesn’t pitch at all in 2024.