The Dodgers put right-hander Evan Phillips on the 15-day injured list last week due to forearm discomfort. Manager Dave Roberts initially downplayed the issue but the prognosis changed in the following days, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“Our expectation is on that 16th day, he’ll be back active,” Roberts previously said. Phillips himself also relayed his belief that he would be back after a minimum absence but that will not be the case. An MRI discovered inflammation in his elbow and he’s going to be shut down from throwing for “a couple weeks,” in Roberts’ words. Even if everything goes smoothly and he feels better after that shutdown, he will then have to ramp back up again.
It’s been a challenging on-and-off period for Phillips going back to last year. Late in 2024, he was dealing with irritation in his shoulder and arm fatigue, as well as tightness in his lat, triceps and biceps. He was left off the club’s World Series roster. He was diagnosed with a small tear of a tendon in his rotator cuff during the playoffs, though that information didn’t come out until early in 2025. He started the current season on the IL due to that strain and was eventually reinstated but only pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Dodgers before this latest issue put him back on the shelf.
Phillips is one of 13 pitchers on the Dodgers’ IL at the moment. That’s not entirely unexpected as several of them underwent major surgeries last year and the team has a broad willingness to bet on talented but injury-prone pitchers. The team is doing fine in spite of that, as their 27-14 record is the best in the majors. Perhaps that allows them to be cautious with Phillips, as opposed to pushing him through an injury before he’s ready.
Whenever he’s healthy again, he will add another weapon to the pitching staff. Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, he has thrown 184 2/3 innings for the Dodgers with a 2.14 earned run average, 29.6% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate.
Plunkett also relays updates on infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman and outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who are both on the 10-day IL. Edman landed there a couple of weeks ago due to ankle inflammation while Hernández suffered an adductor strain last week. The Dodgers are bringing minor league pitchers to the park for some live batting practice this week, with both Edman and Hernández set to take part.
Somewhat similar to the Phillips situation, Edman’s injury was initially framed as very mild but has lingered longer than expected. Even though he’s going to take some swings, he is still having trouble running and Roberts estimates that Edman is only about 80% recovered.
With those two out, more playing time has gone to guys like Hyeseong Kim and James Outman. Kim has no walks and no extra-base hits, leading to a flat line of .318/.318/.318 so far, while Outman has a dreadful .067/.176/.267 slash. That latter line is in just 17 plate appearances but Outman struggled last year as well, hitting .147/.256/.265. Before their IL placements, Edman was hitting .252/.295/.523 while Hernández was at .315/.333/.600, so getting them back on the roster would give a boost to an already-strong Dodger team.
Image courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Outman will be the odd man out shortly
He looks overwhelmed by big league pitching. Ks waaay too much.
they found the hole(s) in his swing and he hasn’t adjusted. fear that’s it for him.
Bob Nightengale says the Dodgers are going to “jump in the fray” for Kyle Tucker this offseason. Feel free to share that folks……
Commish says it’s good for baseball Lolol
Yep Boob is always right!
It’s a rumor site. The quote and comment is all over my Facebook feed but here it’s nowhere to be found. And make no mistake they use his quotes for articles on this site ALL THE TIME.
Selective reporting.
Selective trolling. There. Fixed.
Nightengale can dream. Tucker seems destined to be a Met and this is from a Dodger fan.
Seems like we’ll have to suffer with Outman for a while longer, unless they decide to give Rosario another chance. Kim may not have played himself onto the active roster entirely, but he is fun to watch, at least.
I know it’s been a tough year for the Dodgers so far. They have fought through so much adversity and still keep fighting. This season is showing their true character. When the going gets tough the tough get going. The Dodgers are an inspiration to us all.
Dear Name of the week new account king of sad fan:
You couldn’t try any harder to be an idiot. You’re absolutely nailing this.
At this point E Ruiz would be a more interesting and capable guy to bring along to try out instead of Outman, until their missing outfielders come back. He has more of a track record and upside than JO. Who will def be the odd man… out soon. They also have Rushing but he’s not on roster yet.
Could be. I didn’t realize Ruiz was already on the 40-man. Don’t know if Outman has any options left.
he can still be optioned
If an option is an option, then an option is the most likely option.
Eddie Rosario? He’s back with Atlanta
Rosario is a free agent again as of today
Just saw that
Welcome to the party. 🙂
Kim seems to bring more to the roster than CT3 at this point – I will be sad to see Taylor go but I think his days are numbered.
The Outman fall off is crazy.
He was never that good to begin with.
His rookie season was actually very solid. If he’d maintained that level of performance, nobody today would be saying he was never good.
Yeah he hit 20 plus home runs and drove in 70 runs but struck out almost 200 times.
Good for an OPS+ of 117, which is more than good enough to stick on any roster, even as a strikeout machine. The problem for him now is that his SO rate is even higher, but he’s got nothing to show for it.
Darren: yeah he was that good. Whatever happened to him seems to be somewhat permanent. Sad. He was fun to watch.
Everyone figured out he can only hit fastballs down the middle of the plate….
I was hoping, and still hope,Outman can work things out at the plate.
With Vargas finally figuring things out, it’s going to make his path more difficult. He’s been playing solid baseball after starting badly.
I would much rather have Philips available for the last month of the season and playoffs than rush him back.
Vargas?
Apparently Outman’s Dodger path is blocked by the ChiSox Miguel Vargas.
ROFL, poor Vargas. I meant Pages. Who started terribly on all fronts. But has really been putting it together recently.
He’s turned the Pages.
That’s some really tough luck for Outman, being blocked by another team’s player.
Do you mean the other Cuban…Andy Pages?
Another
Freud agrees that Outman’s path to majors is with White Sox
Maybe trade Outman for a decent pitcher. Outman will be worth it, really!
Bring up Rushing and demote Outman
Copy and agree
Then DFA Conforto and Taylor.
Sorry, not gonna happen.
Conforto signing was a real head scratcher
At the very least bring up Ryan Ward. What’s the point of drafting and promoting a player through their system all the way up to Triple-A because he’s succeeded at each level, if you’re not going to give him a shot with the big club.
Kim had the speed of Ruiz, and it highly versatile. Outman and CT are obsolete.
Outman has K’d 10 out of 17 plate appearances.
I don’t understand why Roberts (any manager really) seem so deadset on giving the press hard deadlines when relaying the length of IL stints. It would drive me mad as a fan to hear that and then guys’ returns get bumped back.
I appreciate him relaying what he knows and is allowed to share. Allowed in terms of the data looks to be accurate.
There have been times where he’s been purposefully opaque regarding injuries and timetables. And that’s to be expected when they don’t yet know enough.
As a dodgers fan, it’s nice to know what’s happening. Every player and injury is going to be different. It’s not like my day is made or ruined because a player isn’t coming back for another month.
I feel it’s sometimes unnecessary, but I get that part of the job is working with the media who hound managers over this.
I wouldn’t call it hounding. Managers typically meet with the media after every game. One of the types of questions they are bound to be asked is about injured players. Sometimes these questions can be a little silly, especially when a player was injured during the game. The manager has to answer somehow, usually by saying something like, “We’ll know more tomorrow.”
I also feel the injury report has become more pertinent with the influx of legal betting, for obvious reasons.