April 8: An MRI confirmed that Snell is not facing any structural damage in his shoulder, per the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett. His treatment will likely include an injection of some sort, but the team is hopeful the two-time Cy Young winner will only require a short-term absence.
April 6: The Dodgers have placed left-hander Blake Snell on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The placement is retroactive to April 3. Right-hander Matt Sauer was called up from Triple-A to take Snell’s spot on the active roster.
Despite allowing eight walks in nine innings of work this season, Snell emerged with a 2.00 ERA over his first two starts of the season. It seems as if this shoulder issue developed in between Snell’s last outing on April 2 and a bullpen session today, as Jack Harris of the L.A. Times reports that Snell talked with GM Brandon Gomes and team trainer Thomas Albert in the aftermath of the bullpen.
This is the tenth visit to the injured list Snell has taken over his 10 MLB seasons, and today’s news continues his career-long theme of both health concerns and early-season issues. Snell is somewhat infamously a slow starter, with a 3.95 ERA over 555 2/3 career innings prior to the All-Star break, and then a 2.32 ERA in 500 innings over the second halves of seasons.
These splits notwithstanding, there are few pitchers in the game better than Snell when he’s in top form, as evidenced by his two Cy Young Awards. The 2024 campaign was another example of Snell’s hot-and-cold tendencies, as he signed with the Giants late in Spring Training and subsequently spent much of the first three months either injured or struggling, until the switch flipped and Snell posted a 1.23 ERA over his final 80 1/3 frames of the season.
Snell was encouraged enough by this spectacular finish to opt out of the final season (and $30MM) of his contract with the Giants, and that decision proved to be wise, as Los Angeles signed Snell to a five-year, $182MM free agent deal. The contract is worth “only” around $160MM-$165MM in current value since $65MM of Snell’s salary is deferred, yet it still represented the big long-term payday that eluded Snell in his previous trip to free agency.
The fact that Snell has already gone on the IL will bring some fresh questions about the Dodgers’ investment, yet there isn’t any indication that Snell’s shoulder inflammation is anything serious. It does leave the Dodgers in a bit of a tricky spot when it comes to filling Snell’s rotation spot, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are both only being used once per week, replicating the standard usage of a Japanese pitching rotation. Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, and Bobby Miller are the likeliest candidates to receive a Triple-A call-up and at least one spot start in Snell’s place.
In the bigger picture, Tony Gonsolin is on a Triple-A rehab assignment, and Clayton Kershaw (toe/knee surgeries) and Emmet Sheehan (Tommy John surgery) are expected to be available later in the season. Shohei Ohtani is also slowly ramping up his pitching workload in preparation of his mound debut in a Dodgers uniform, though it will still be at least a couple of months before Ohtani becomes available from a pitching perspective. In theory, Los Angeles has enough pitching depth available or eventually available to withstand another injury-riddled year like 2024, though Snell’s injury underlines the difficulty the Dodgers face in trying to maintain and preserve a staff of so many pitchers with significant durability questions.
That was sooner than I expected.
Dodgers have already soured (Sauered) on Snell.
NYY are so glad he’s gone. Also, what’s going to happen when the NYY start playing teams that don’t allow them to put 9 & 10 runs in the board …?
Snell was never a Yankee. Are you referring to as time with Tampa Bay?
Snell is 1-0 with a 2.00 era. Tf you talking about
What do the NYY have to do with Snell going on the IL?
And he walked 8 hitters in 9IP, that to me is impressive, pitching with runnners on base and RISP, getting out of jams. Dodgers are likely taking every measure oossible to keep everyone healthy, Id say he is probably going to take a couple weeks off, they have the ability to rest their starters like that with so much depth in their rotation, Id doubt the injury is all that significant.
Well that was certainly off target
Hopefully for Blake’s sake, this is just his usual April fits and starts aches and pains and he’ll be fine.
Snell always seems to turn it on as the season goes on. This is probably just him not warmed up enough, just as you said.
Brew, we have lived with April / May Snell as SD fans. He was too much of a fan fav to hate on just because he chose LA so, I’ll join you in wishing him a speedy recovery and all the best except when facing SD! I hope all SD fans can do the same.
Now, if memory serves, his throwing shoulder was never an issue with SD. Oblique or a leg or sinus infections and stuff like that unrelated to his left arm/shoulder.
You’re right LT, never has been the shoulder. But LAD might also be playing it safe here. Not saying it isn’t a real injury, but given Snell’s history in April, it would behoove a team to guide him slowly into summer.
It may be the Kershaw plan. Since he struggles early just IL him until June!
Wish the Pads had done that in 2023, might have made the playoffs!
Good strategy. Not sure there was a better option in 23 though.
While I’m at it let me just point out that the Soto trade has 3 of 5 starters in 2025 (counting Cease acquired). I’m still good with that trade to NY and as of right now, I’m good with the trade to Washington yet there are some “to be seen” factor. Even if Wood and Susana blossom, the trade was to be better in 2022 and 2023 and those guys were not going to help those teams. Sorry, off topic but no one has brought up Soto in awhile!
Break glass only in the event of an emergency/after the All-Star break.
On the 15 day IL because of inflamation in throwing shoulder. Oof. More than just “aches and pains”!? Hope not.
Hopefully not
Pitcher out with a shoulder issue, the most ominous of IL designations.
Best wishes, Blake
Lotta Giant fans were upset Snell sat out his last start of the 2024 season. Not me.
If he pitched and hurt his arm he would’ve exercised his player option and SF is stuck with a $30M paper weight.
He should be fine, bit of rest, ramp back up and do his usual 2nd half CY Young impersonation.
The Giants have pulled a Jason Schmidt on the Dodgers again here.
Does it make up for Farhan?
Giants fans were upset they kept him at the deadline.
Congrats Dave to your Giants sweeping my Mariners. Maybe you guys are on another magical 2021 run. If my memory serves, the Giants swept us very early in that season as well. Hopefully the M’s can right the ship before it sinks too much further.
The ignorant name fits. You gonna copy and paste the same comment everywhere?
And thus begins the Dodgers Starting Pitcher Injury woes.
amen
I’m no Dodger fan, so I was kind of hoping to see the nightmare season where Every. Single. One. of the their 19 starting pitchers was gloriously healthy and started bitching about innings by June. Not lose a single inning to injury and watch them slowly tear each other to pieces over 6 months. Ah well, sorry to hear about Snell, You only get so many years where you can do this and missing any of that time for an injury sucks.
I’d enjoy that dilemma very much, but the Dodgers would probably find a way to benefit from it.
Sadly, I don’t they’ll ever have too many starting pitchers because teams will put anyone on the IL these days for the most minor of ailments.
Stubbed Toe? IL! Paper Cut? IL! Bruised Buttcheek? I Frickin’ L!!!
Dodgers will exploit it to even out innings and manipulate the roster.
can somebody explain why Snell has a negative war only giving up 2 runs over 9 innings? What a broken stat.
“Can somebody explain..broken stat”
W.A.R and sabermetrics in general has cost power hitters and others millions upon millions of dollars in negotiated contracts.
I would say that the sabermetric revolution has helped power hitters a lot. Before analytics a lot of people thought that a player like Pete Rose was better than all but the very elite power hitters. Analytics have proven that batting average and stolen bases are not as important as previously thought. Power hitters have been helped by WAR and all the other metrics going back to the days of Bill James and Pete Palmer, who were pioneers in the field of analytics.
People thought that about Pete Rose only because it was true.
WAR is meaningless in tiny sample sizes (some would say, in any sample size, hah).
That said, Blake Snell has a poor WAR this year because he has a WHIP of 2.0, and has walked 8 batters against only 4 strikeouts. WAR takes into account those peripherals, and his are bad.
If you want a stat that ignores peripherals, and only values runs allowed, may I suggest ERA.
rhandome,
WAR is only meaningless to those who think only 100-year-old stats are worthwhile and aren’t interested in learning new things.
Also, ERA doesn’t consider all runs allowed, just those the scorekeeper determines are earned.
@GBS
I refer to WAR all the time. I think it’s very useful, as long as you understand what goes into it. I also don’t think it’s the one true objective measure of a player’s value… Thankfully, the stats world doesn’t seem to use it that way anymore. I still remember Fangraphs articles that evaluated trades by literally adding up the WARs.
rhandome,
I agree WAR isn’t the end-all, be-all stat. FanGraphs and Baseball Reference sometimes having very different values for the same player demonstrate that. It’s one of a number of tools available.
Baseball Trade Values does something similar to the WAR summation, though I think they convert to dollars. Not at all a good way to evaluate trades, real or potential.
Wins is the best stat to compare pitchers. Give me a pitcher with the most wins every time.
Gibby,
You mean like in 1987 when Nolan Ryan led the league in ERA, ERA+, and strikeouts and was 8-16?
FG uses expected stats to calculate WAR. What a player should have had as results. Baseball Reference uses what actually happened.
BTV is totally worthless.
Or like 2001 when Pedro had an otherworldly 1.74 ERA (01.84 better than 2nd best), a 291 ERA+ (110 points better than 2nd best), and led in every category other than SO (he was second to the Big Unit) and ended up 8th in Wins?
Pedro had arguably the greatest season in history and he was not even close to the highest in wins.
Or Felix Hernandez in 2010?
Then there was Rick Porcello in 2016 who led MLB with 22 wins but was not in the top 10 in any major category except wins. He got wins because the Red Sox scored over 6 runs per game in the games he pitched.
websoulsurfer, FG also uses UZR for the defensive component. BB Ref uses DRS. I prefer bWAR. IMO UZR is flawed. Not that DRS is completely reliable, but using UZR makes no sense to me, though it became slightly more reliable with limitations on shifts.
Anything that is based on arbitrary zones on the field is flawed. Far more so in the era of extreme shifts. If the SS or 2B lineup directly up the middle and catch the ball on the other side of that imaginary line, they get credit for an out of zone catch in UZR even if they only moved a half step to do so. UZR is hot garbage.
DRS takes into account as many as 27 criteria depending on the position including what happens after the play. For 2B, SS, 3B, and OF it is almost always on the money in describing defensive performance even if it does require 3000+ innings played or about 400 games to have much predictive value. For 1B it doesn’t take into account at all catching the ball unless they commit an error. In fact, none of the defensive metrics do. No defensive metric on FG or B-ref is very good for catchers. Only BP has done a good job with catcher defense and its so complicated that few can follow the math, so they dismiss it.
Yeah, it made no sense to me that UZR grades defense on the center of a zone, even though that isn’t where the players is positioned.
Not sure what the difference is, if any, between Baseball Savant, and Statcast. But it’s my go to for catcher metrics, They break it down to specific areas, blocking, framing, pop-time, and throwing. No one else comes close to that level in depth.
Patriot,
He gave up 7 runs, but only 2 were designated as earned. 10 hits, 8 walks, 4 Ks. In other words, he got really lucky.
WAR is not a broken stat, but the subjective distinction between earned and unearned runs is.
It is ERA that is the broken stat…. The only “unearned run” that should be allowed is if the batter that reached on an error (or his replacement on the basepaths due to a fielder’s choice) actually scored. The idea that once an inning-extending error is committed a pitcher is no longer (statistically) responsible for his pitching makes no sense. The idea that a home run allowed “shouldn’t count” against his stats is nonsensical. Add to that the fact we are talking about official scorers and their biases and, well, the unearned run idea needs some serious rethinking.
EBJ
you (and several others) in here are completely misunderstanding stats… neither ERA, WAR, or any other stat is ‘broken’
ERA exists because people want to know the runs allowed by the pitcher *if* the defense played without error, runs allowed per 9 is also a stat – but most people concede this stat is less useful than ERA
the point of stats (and why more and more are being created) is because you want to see the trends on specific things… there is no broken stat nor end-all be-all stat – the whole point is you need to look at all of them to figure out the big picture
Wins Above Replacement. He didn’t pitch well enough. He pitches for an offensive juggernaut. 2.00 whip and the ERA is not reflective of 7 runs allowed (fortunate that only 2 were earned). 10 hits and 9 walks in 9 innings. 2 runners per inning. Pitching on a different team that doesn’t “bail” him out of a 0-2 start essentially says a Replacement would possibly have been much better. Hence -.3 WAR.
@Claude
“fortunate that only 2 were earned”
What does that even mean? The Dodgers’ mostly crap defense let him down repeatedly in that start; how on earth does that make him fortunate? Or are you suggesting that he’d have given up those runs anyway?
valium
Only because he got tagged for a bunch of unearned runs.
10 hits. 9 walks. 9 innings. Not difficult to REPLACE that. Hence a negative WAR. Rocket science. The WAR statproves legit in this case.
Did you read the article? Have you watched any of the games? He walked nearly as many batters as he pitched innings, and the Dodgers committed several errors behind him. 7 runs scored while he was pitching. WAR takes into account far more than earned runs. What is broken is your understanding of the stat.
All stats measure different things. In the long run, K/W and FB/GB stats tell you how good a pitcher is.
Joe,
Those are two good stats (though I much prefer BB for walks because W is used for wins), but other stats contribute to our understanding of how good a pitcher is.
WHIP and IP are underrated
K/BB and the FB/GB stats are good, but I also like the K/9, and BB/9. Those stats also tell you a lot.
Jean,
K% and BB% are even better because, for example, striking out the side against three batters is better than getting 3 Ks while also giving up a few hits and runs in the inning.
Well, K% and BB% are different stats from K/BB and FB/GB, which was the subject.
You need to look at all of the stats. Striking out the side, with only 2 more SOs in 5 innings is a SO/9 of 1.0. Striking out 6, though 5 innings without a 3 SO inning is a SO/9 of 10.8. So, when I look at a pitcher’s stats, I will look at all of them to get the complete picture.
The Dodgers play for October. They put players on the IL just to rest them. I wouldn’t worry about this too much.
Yet, MLB won’t come down on them like the Mets lol Manfraud says Dodgers aren’t ruining MLB.
Pretty ridiculous they came down on the Mets.
Yeah, no way the poster boy of durability, Blake Snell, would suffer a mild injury.
The smart thing would have been to only pay him for partial seasons. They should have never expected him to provide a complete season.
Never meant to say he didn’t tweak something, but the have no intention of letting any of their pitchers waste innings during the season…it’s all about October.
Ummmm no they don’t.
This seems more like load management for Snell and the Dodgers evaluating Sauer to determine if he really should be on the 40-man roster.
Load management a week and a half into the season? I dunno.
Rhandome….that’s just Old York’s daily repetitive droll type troll thing. It’s actually adorable knowledge that he will certainly share again tomorrow and the next day….and so forth until you mute it.
@Cubby 2025
Quite ironic of you to say that, while also trolling me at the same time. As for being put on mute, I prefer that over morons ranting on social media that they don’t like what I wrote. It seems you haven’t muted me yet, so I’ll assume you really like my insights. Thank you.
@Cubby
His take doesn’t seem like a troll to me. Heck half the comments are calling this load management. I just don’t agree in this case. Too soon in the season and their pitching is already stretched thin. Their starters aren’t pitching deep into games at all.
@rhandome
It’s not about the calendar — it’s about preserving rotation depth over 162 games.
That makes total sense rest one with injury early l so bulk of work all is condensed together during grueling heat of mid summer.
Or could it possibly be that said player with a history of injuries actually has inflammation….
@Tigers3232
They’re playing for October, not May. Thank you for agreeing that it makes total sense.
It makes sense to manage his workload. But a player such as Snell with a lengthy injury history it would be of more benefit to rest mid-season. Break up the workload and give him a rest during the really hot months that are most physically demanding.
You want to point at workload as if it is linear and there is just this definitive IP total where it becomes bad. That os absolutely not the case. Managing work load is obviously about limiting injuries and in doing so giving arm more time to heal. Resting Snell now does not accomplish that as he’s hardly worked his arm at this point. So it very well could be inflation as they claim.
Mind you MLB also has rules against IL abuse and diagnosis and supporting paperwork has to be turned in. Billy Eppler was suspended for this while with the Mets. So unless you have any proof to make up these wild assertions I’d say the professionals reporting on this know quite a bit more than you….
@Tiger3232
Lay off the AI… Ironic that you accused me of it and are now using it.
I rarely proofread let alone take time to use any other software. Some of us have IQs higher than zoo animals….
@Tigers3232
Typical. As expected…
I do however read the articles and check facts before stating them. We clearly know you do not.
Do we? Doubtful. How many of us could escape zoo enclosures? Precious few.
How many zoo animals regularly escape enclosures? Less than a precious few, hence why zoos are full of animals.
Snell is already in midseason form
When is the pages experiment going to be over? Time to trade this guy
Trade? As if a guy hitting.100 that can’t field and is a disaster on the bases has trade value?
I’m not fan of Manfred, but the Dodgers aren’t ruining baseball.
Yeah, this is a a sport that was dominated for years by one team, the New York Yankees. Yet people today think that the Dodgers are ruining the game with their two championships in 35 years.
Manfred can’t force a salary cap nor a floor. The MLBPA and the owners have more to do with it than any commish.
Really like Snellzilla. Great pitcher and great guy. Even though he pitches for the evil empire to the north, I hope this is nothing serious.
The Dodgers now have twelve pitchers on the IL (but only one position player). This doesn’t count Ohtani, who is not ready to pitch, but not on the IL. Do they make up their own fantasy team? Do they have their own disabled pitchers’ meetings? Do they compare x-rays and MRIs? Who will be lucky #13?
Snell going on the DL is to be expected at some point just the same as him being absolutely dominant in the second half is to be expected.
I got to like Snell a lot last season with the Giants. Even though he’s now a Dodger, it’s tough to see him go on the IL. Hopefully it’s something minor like a mild strain, that a little rest will cure.
I may not be a fan of the evil empire, but I never want to see any player injured.
Another day, another dodger pitcher goes down
Is it the LA smog? Something in the dodger dogs?
I never hear about the LA smog anymore. Has it gotten better or people just tired of talking about it ?
Its horrible
Its like a dirty messy foggy mist over the whole city
I dont know how SF & LA have 2 of americas top 3 life expectancies. Between the awful air quality, stabbings, muggings, car jackings, etc they should be bottom 2
Its gotten much better. That is what having an active EPA does for people, it allows them to breathe,
It’s not just an active EPA, it’s that California has more restrictive emissions standards than the rest of the country. Something that’s needed in some of the unique microclimates along the coast.
You get incentive if you buy electric car in CA i think itz like $7500 check
Yet LA has never done anything to limit total car drivers which creates the smog bc theres almost no public transpo. for a huge city there is almost no way to get around town not like NY which is easy & accessible to go from any point A to any point B . LA you forced to drive. Cant walk bike, metro & bus is very limited. Theres a million highways in LA. Maybe smog is better than it was in 1973 or something, i wasnt alive. But it def aint good. I go on hikes alot, look @ city from high vantage point, its a huge cloud of smog
@chandlerbing. You are confusing the federal tax credit with the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Program. The available dollars for the CA program change every year depending on how much the legislature allocates from the cap and trade program, but it is usually $2,000. Recently, very low-income families were qualified for an additional rebate.
The number of very unhealthy air days in the LA Basin has dropped by around 90% since 1980 — still not great, but not even a little like it was before. I was alive then, and just walking down the street made you feel like you’d smoked a pack of cigarettes. And don’t confuse marine layer with smog. You’ll know the marine layer is polluted when it turns that sickly yellow-brown color, and you can’t see the end of the street. Yes, it really was like that, almost every day in the summer.
Can we go back to baseball now?
Much, much better. In the ’70s you often couldn’t see more than a couple blocks down the street in the summertime in some parts of SoCal. This never happens anymore, except in the fires. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying.
Glasnow just walked 3 in a row, gave up a single and then walked a 4th guy and was pulled in the 3rd without recording an out. Maybe he needs his annual IL trip to get some rest too!
about as bad as what our new guy Hart is doing in Chicago in the 1st inning
Yeah, hart definitely sh—t the bed as well as Brown and our 2 guys before them. Must be the cold weather (I hope). However, Hart is about 25 ish mil / year cheaper!
He needed a competent Phillies grounds crew
Even good pitchers have bad days, so I’m not worried about Glasnow. Luis Garcia scares me, he’s like gasoline on a flame. And Vessia doing his Nestor Cortes impersonation was disappointing.
Shocker.
Didn’t take Snell long to land on the IL. Good thing LA Deferrals have plenty of SP options
Posey probably made a good decision not to try & resign Smell
Giants !!!
That didn’t take long. Not surprising though. He finally got his contract so we’ll see how available he is as the season progresses. My guess is very sporadically.
Snell’s typical first half stunt…he is just trying to skip it and get to his bread and butter second half of season.
Having several good options to cover Snell’s spot in the rotation for a couple of weeks doesn’t seem so “tricky” to me. Pick one of the options and if he does well in his first start, give him another. If not, go with one of the other options.
I pick Wrobo
Him, or Knack. Unclear if Gonsolin will be ready any time soon, but he’d be the best option.
Gonso won’t be ready for Tuesday unless they are looking for 2-3 innings. He went 1.2 innings on 35 pitches a couple of days ago in his first rehab start.
Maybe in a week or two then.
Knack is with the team in DC…
the pregame today said Wrobleski Tuesday, Knack Wednesday
Neither one has been officially recalled yet but Wrobleski has been announced for tomorrow. TBD for Wednesday.
Likely Wrobo will take Sauer’s spot then Knack will take Wrobo’s spot. After that hopefully Gonsolin will be ready for the next week.
The sooner we get rid of that Sauer taste, the better.
Bummer he is hurt…but here is your chance Rockies!
I’ve picked him up mid-season for 2-3 years in a row. My luck will eventually run out, but it’s time to start making offers.
8 walks in 9 innings… what a clown for the money he’s paid
This will not affect the Dodgers.
They could field 2 MLB Teams.
MLB needs to send Elon Musk and the DOGE Team into the Dodgers and cut their payroll in half!
Or, let Elon buy the A’s and the Rays!
Elon wouldn’t find any waste to cut, just a highly efficient organization dominating their industry.
In other news Ohtani had 3 strikeouts today. The “MJ of baseball” he is not! I’d say he’s more like the Alvin Iverson.
Yeah Yucki, only three unanimous MVPs (the only player to ever do so) and a World Championship. Yet you insist on proving you know nothing about baseball time after time.
Why take any time to respond to this poor pathetic creature?
I have nothing but time…
So still a Hall of Famer. Pound for pound, You’re gonna have a tuff time finding a better HOF’r than Allen Iverson. This is coming from a Lakers fan since pre-Kareem.
Allen Iverson, you pigeon.
Really glad the Red Sox didn’t sign Snell. He’s injured a lot.
Yeah good thing they go for healthy SPs like Giolito, Crochet, Buehler…
Many athletes consider a vegan diet for the health benefits of faster recovery and less inflammation. Pitcher Spencer Strider took 11 months to recover from Tommy John surgery.
from Internet: “””“As athletes, we’re so protein-focused. And that’s how I was. And as a result, I was vicariously eating way too much fat and not getting enough carbs, which are really your fuel source,” Strider explained.
“So I was missing out on some vitamins and central minerals and things that the plant-based diet was making up for. It was a quick change and I definitely feel better every day.””””
Much easier these days as tasty and filling recipes and foods are in abundance. Always reading about athletes who had some injury that derailed their career. At the end of their rope they adopt either fully or a partial vegan diet and ba-boom their career is restored. Thinking Justin Turner who ditched dairy, and vegans Josh Donaldson, Mookie Betts. If Snell is looking for an edge and healthier year his teammates are there.
Snell looked a bit irritable last outing and huge bags under his eyes I don’t know what’s going on there.
Everyone’s body is different so a plant-based diet may work for one and doesn’t for another.
I had a blood allergy test done many years ago just because I was curious and I knew someone who worked in homeopathology. Turns out I have a slight allergy to cheese and asparagus. I did not place much weight into the results since I’ve always eaten both with no symptoms and still do. Both foods has its health benefits. A traditional doctor would call it quack. If I’m Snell (which I’m not), I’d considered cutting out both foods while recovering to cover my bases.
Like” “Everyone’s body is different…”
Snell has always had bags under his eyes. He said he only sleeps a few hours per night. Being a new dad last season may have exacerbated that a bit.
Sugars cause far more inflammation than proteins, and carbs are sugars.
Thank you Jesus! If anyone needs a break it’s the Dodgers.
Agreed. How can we look poorly upon those poor, poor lost Dodger souls? They have it so hard. 🙂
He’ll pitch out of the bullpen in Sept and then be left off the playoff roster…
Load Management… Dodgers play for October while most of the other teams are playing for April.
Good still for 100 victories even if snell out for any length of time
I never liked this guy.
Well, that was unexpected….