Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips missed the World Series last year due to shoulder troubles, but the full scope of his injury was never made clear until camp opened this week. Phillips tells the Dodgers beat that he was diagnosed with a small tear of a tendon in his rotator cuff during the 2024 postseason (link via Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register). The tear was not significant enough for doctors to recommend surgery, but Phillips received a cortisone injection and was shelved while his teammates closed out the postseason with a World Series win over the Yankees.
Even with the lack of surgery, Phillips could be IL-bound to begin the season, Plunkett writes. A follow-up MRI in December revealed significant healing but still some damage. Phillips has been limited in his offseason throwing program but said yesterday that he hopes to be on a mound “soon.”
The 30-year-old Phillips is a key member of the Dodgers’ late-inning relief corps when healthy. He picked up 18 saves in 2024 and another 24 saves the year prior. During his three full seasons as a Dodger, the former Braves, Orioles and Rays castoff has posted a 2.21 ERA with a big 29.6% strikeout rate against a tidy 6.5% walk rate. Phillips has saved 44 games overall and also been credited with 34 holds. He’s earning $6.1MM this year in his penultimate season of club control before reaching free agency in the 2026-27 offseason.
There’s a similarly murky update on fellow late-inning righty Michael Kopech. The Dodgers quickly moved to downplay a report that their deadline bullpen acquisition from last summer would miss a month to begin the season. GM Brandon Gomes at the time said that the team hadn’t seen “anything of concern yet” with regard to Kopech’s reportedly ailing forearm. To be fair to the team, there’s still no firm indication Kopech will be out a month, but manager Dave Roberts today conceded that Kopech, like Phillips, is “a little behind schedule” and is not a lock to be on the Opening Day roster (via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya).
Like Phillips, Kopech played a key role in the Dodger bullpen after struggling with another organization. He posted a lackluster 4.73 ERA with the White Sox despite a huge 30.9% strikeout rate. Command was an issue with the South Siders, evidenced by a 12.6% walk rate, but a pitcher with Kopech’s raw stuff and former prospect pedigree seemed like he should fare better than he was with the ChiSox.
His fortunes indeed turned almost immediately after the trade. Kopech posted a microscopic 1.13 earned run average in 24 innings with Los Angeles. His 33% strikeout rate was a slight improvement, as was his 11.4% walk rate, but that walk rate was still about three percentage points higher than average. Kopech enjoyed a significant uptick in his opponents’ swinging-strike rate and chase rate, however, which adds some legitimacy to the improvement. He’s not going to sustain the ridiculous .167 average on balls in play or 91% strand rate he enjoyed with the Dodgers, but Kopech’s power arsenal and bat-missing abilities should make him a key arm for Roberts in the right-hander’s final season before free agency — assuming this forearm issue indeed proves minor.
The Dodgers, of course, made several meaningful splashes in the bullpen this winter, which will help to offset any missed time for Phillips and Kopech. In addition to re-signing Blake Treinen on a two-year deal, they gave out the largest contract for any reliever this winter when signing Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72MM deal. That pair will be joined by right-hander Kirby Yates, who inked a one-year, $13MM pact.
F#%” the dodgers
Trevor Bauer already tried to.
Free Trevor!
Bauer is in jail? Best news of 2025 yet!
@sf
for what would Bauer be jailed for?
“Free Trevor!”
Wasn’t the girl indicted on charges of fraud and extortion?
I heard she was Patty Hearst’s love child and was plotting to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge.
Go get some therapy. Too much anger and instablity in the world to get upset by something like this. Jeez.
You need to get some help.
F#%” You!
How pleasant, beisball. Hopefully, we won’t be hearing much from you going forward.
So their readiness is deferred?
Its a good thing deferrals have 27 other RPs
Makes some of their moves make sense beyond merely stock piling
Rsox: Two pitchers starting ST “a little behind schedule.” Is the dominoe effect beginning again?
Breaking: Dodgers trade 3 trash prospects for Andres Munoz
former Padre, checks out.
Why would the Mariners take 3 trash prospects? They know what Muni is worth. I’m going to assume this was meant as a bad joke.
New policy: MLBTR will defer all their posts on the Dodgers until 2030. That lowers the present value of the verbiage.
original.
quick- sign every pitcher that’s left on the market before it’s too late!
Did they just found out Spring Training has started?
Dang Dodgers are so lucky to have signed Scott and Yates when they did. Almost like they knew and planned for it…
My Magic 8-Ball sayz: There will be a lot of Injured List action this season with so many over-30 players and one’s with injury history on their roster.
Funny but my Magic-8-Ball sez it would be a lot easier to find a pitcher with an injury history than one without an injury history.
Thus the flaw in Magic-8-Balls I guess.
Dunno about yours, but my 8-Ball speaks the truth. Good luck finding a pitcher who gets as far as free agency without any injuries. My 8-Ball sez you would be more likely to uncover a trove of hen’s teeth.
Actually Mariners starting pitchers doing a pretty good job. Luis Castillo is the oldest and he has never missed much time. Gilbert and Kirby have been healthy. Woo has had a couple issues. King Felix never underwent Tommy John and was healthy until the end of his career, only missing a month here or there with lat issues.
Luck comes in two flavors, and you can’t bottle either one.
This is so much better than auto-injecting onto the 60-man. At least a couple fringier RP’s can extend their auditions.
The Dodgers could use their AAA pitching squad the entire month of April and still make the playoffs with plenty to spare. It’s more important to be healthy in October–not April. They don’t need to push anyone right now.
With all their signings, the LAD still need to find a way to cover 1,620 regular season innings AND have everyone fresh for the high leverage nature of October innings. So many of their arms they have to manage the innings, all really with the exception of Snell who strangely enough has pitched 180IP in 2 Cy Young seasons and all the other seasons of his career never topped 130 IP. Despite the crazy $’s spent on their staff the roadmap seems very mix & match + it’s not clear how many guys in their bullpen have options or that Dave Roberts/LAD front office has shown they are capable of managing a staff with this many limitations.
I’m not a gambler but I like the LAD under win total in 2025. Going to the World Series, the shorter off-season, the aging everyday lineup, repeating is tough and a mid 90’s win total wins the NL West.
@sf, perhaps I’m reading your post wrong, but it reads that you’re saying it’s not clear that Roberts and the FO has shown they are capable of managing a staff with many limitations. That’s exactly what they did in ‘24. And precisely why they signed who they did knowing the probability that seems to be playing out in ST. Roberts management of the staff was brilliant. The FO gave him more reinforcements to start the season so that they don’t have to dip into the farm at the deadline.
I am saying exactly that, you can very much argue the NYY beat themselves as much as you say the LAD won the WS. Because of that LAD had the luxury of having a bullpen game 4 in the WS. Are you saying Roberts and the FO “planned that”? GTFO, they got lucky NYY were sloppy late in game 1, had NYY held on that game, then what does LAD do in game 4?
@sfjackcoke Were you in a coma in 2024? All of your concerns have already happened. And the result was a WS trophy.
I guess there’s more method to the Dodgers spending madness than initially thought. I mean they still three it around at the higher end like nobody’s business, but it wasn’t just a flex.