March 3: Roberts told the Dodgers beat this morning that the team “dodged a bullet” with regard to Stone (link via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). Imaging revealed inflammation in Stone’s surgically repaired shoulder but no structural damage. He’ll be shut down from throwing for a couple of weeks but for now does not appear to be facing a monthslong absence.
March 2: Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone is battling shoulder discomfort, manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of The California Post and Sonja Chen of MLB.com). Stone is unlikely to be ready for the start of the season.
It’s a concerning setback for a pitcher who missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing surgery on that shoulder. It was a significant operation that involved repair to his labrum, capsule and rotator cuff. Stone underwent the procedure in October ’24 and was immediately ruled out for the following season.
The 27-year-old entered camp without restrictions and tossed a perfect inning with two strikeouts in his Spring Training debut last week. Stone threw a bullpen session between game appearances and came out of that work with the shoulder flareup. There’s no indication anything is amiss structurally. Stone is shut down from throwing for the time being, an understandable precaution given his health history.
Stone was amidst a quality ’24 season before the injury. He had a 3.53 earned run average across 140 1/3 innings. His 20% strikeout rate was a hair below average but he limited walks and hard contact. He looked the part of a mid-rotation arm.
The Dodgers are planning to open the season with a six-man rotation. Stone had a good chance to win a spot had he gotten through camp healthy. Blake Snell is trending toward a season-opening injured list stint of his own after battling postseason arm fatigue.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki should occupy the top four spots. Ohtani isn’t pitching in the World Baseball Classic and could be on a tight pitch count for his first few starts. Emmet Sheehan has been delayed in camp by an illness but should have sufficient time to build up for Opening Day. He’d probably win a rotation spot as well.
That would leave one rotation spot available. River Ryan missed all of 2025 rehabbing Tommy John surgery but is back to health this spring. Lefty Justin Wrobleski could start or work out of the bullpen. Landon Knack remains on the 40-man roster as a depth starter; he has been hit around through his first two Spring Training outings. Veteran southpaw Cole Irvin is in camp as a non-roster invitee.
Right-hander Kyle Hurt does not appear to be in the rotation mix. Roberts told reporters that the Dodgers view the 27-year-old as a reliever who could work multiple innings. Hurt didn’t make an MLB appearance last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in July ’24. He has looked sharp early in camp, striking out six of 11 batters faced over his first three appearances. Hurt has fired three innings of one-run ball as he tries to claim an Opening Day bullpen spot.
Ouch. I hope he gets better and the Dodgers aren’t ruining his career or baseball.
U misspelled Saruman’s army is ruining Rohan
I bet Gavin Stone is happy to be on the Dodgers rather than banging trash can lids with the asterisks.
I approve of the spirit
We’re closing in on a decade since the trash can thing, and some people still bring it up at completely random moments…
@gbs
This is a comment that actually makes sense.
Yeah. Cheaters get called out for cheating. I bet you think Pete Rose needs to be in hall of fame too. You get busted, you pay the price. If you are going to cheat, be good enough that you don’t get caught. Simple rules.
perkins,
I’m adamantly opposed to Pete Rose ever getting into the Hall of Fame, and I’ll gladly share my view when the topic is relevant.
In this case, 100 used a post about Gavin Stone to somehow pivot to the Astros cheating nine years ago. I don’t see the connection.
He was replying to Stros fan’s snarky comment. There’s your connection….
Toupee,
Well then, he probably should learn how the Reply function works.
Mr P – no evidence Pete ever “cheated”. He violated the ultimate “no betting” rule of professional sports.
Well the cheaters weren’t punished and baseball knew better. That whole team that has those rings know they cheated and still act like they didn’t. Forever trash
Df
“That whole team that has those rings know they cheated and still act like they didn’t. Forever trash”
Wasn’t Mookie on the 2018 Red Sox?
latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2023-02-19/hernan…
“”People are trying to make it like we’re cheating,” [Mookie] said.”
Yes, Mookie. Because the Red Sox were cheating.
Are you Clayton Kershaw?
I just hope Kyle Hurt is okay.
No similar concern for Kyle O’Kay?!
He’s always Hurt
If Cole Irvin is the answer, I’d rather not hear the question.
“Post season arm fatigue”. – seriously.
The percentage of starting pitchers that return after shoulder surgery, especially involving the capsule, is less than half of that for TJ surgery. Those that do return often have diminished performance and shorter careers than those that had TJ.
Julio Urias beat those odds. He shortened his career by other means.
He beat more than the odds.
And here I was trying to not go the ugly route.
Might need to return to the days of underhand pitching. Seems overhand it hurting too many pitchers. Maybe get back to the original baseball rules where the pitcher had to place it where the batter wanted it. Also, make all the games played in Coors Field.
I heard back in the day those guys got some pretty deceptive spin from throwing it underhanded. I think it could work in today’s game.
Tyler Rogers has made a pretty good career of it. You might remember a few years ago the Padres took a look at Kazuhisa Makita. His arm angle was so radically low that his hand nearly grazed the dirt on delivery. He was fun to watch, but it didn’t work for him here as well as did in Japan.
Yep. Good recall. They actual had 4 sub mariners in camp that year. I can’t name them all but I was at ST and it was just very unique situation.
I think the Astros perfected being underhanded.
That’s OK, they have more. In addition to the guys mentioned in the article, Casparius and Miller both have starting experience and are on the 40-man. Should be enough to tide them over.
@highfly
They also have Jackson Ferris (a player they got in the Michael Busch trade with the Cubs). But he’ll need to prove himself in AA or AAA at the start of the season to later warrant a call up.
@highflyball
Miller is not making the team unless there is a mass injury event.
Even the mighty Dodgers can be in trouble down a couple starters. This is why guys like Cole Irvin still get work every year, hard to field a team of healthy pitchers
The Dodgers could roll out their AAA starters for 3 months and still make the playoffs. They just need their top pitchers to be healthy come October.
Resting for the playoffs already?
Ohtani isn’t going to be anywhere close to fully ramped-up to pitch at the start of the season either. He hasn’t pitched at all in Spring Training and is now off to the WBC, where he won’t pitch. At this rate he might not be on the mound at all until well into May. The Dodgers will be piecing their rotation together for a month or more. Fortunately they have a lot of good pieces.
They may ask for an exemption to allow for 27 man roster because he isn’t ready pitch and hit both. It isn’t fair otherwise.
Uh, what?
Oh no not discomfort.
MRI time….
The problem with an MRI is that it will show conclusively that he isn’t injured A they don’t want that. This purely strategic to avoid his being tired later in the year. The only part I think is wrong is being allowed to use an IL stint for someone that is tired from the playoffs which were 5 months ago.
If they have the extra SP (and they seem to have) then go for it. Just shouldn’t also be allowed a “tired” spot on the IL.
Keep him on roster and use him out of pen or only 2-3 innings as an opener.
Nonsense. A pitcher occupies a 40-man roster spot unless he goes on the 60-day IL, so the advantage is very limited unless they want to shelve him for at least two months. It’s hard to figure out what is “wrong” with every team being required to follow the same rules. And no team has to prove anything to you about whether a player is legitimately injured.
Finally: My doctor ordered an MRI for my injured shoulder. When I saw an orthopedist about it, he took an x-ray. So much for your medical theories.
X ray is typical first because of insurance not wanting to pay for mri. MRI is required to see soft tissue – tears – not X-ray.
I’m on month 5 of shoulder rehab after 4 different procedures involving both bone (clavicle) and 3 different tears (labrum, bicep and rotator cuff) so, I at least have some personal if not medical
knowledge.
And you are correct about the 40 and 60 but there is still the 26 in play. They won’t put Blake on 60 unless a real injury is present – none even disclosed yet.
So, siting on 15 with rehab time extending that, is a misuse of the IL if no real injury (as opposed to being tired).
As I said, I got the MRI first. I was surprised when the orthopedist after looking at those took x-rays in his office. Also an RC injury (from childhood) for which I have been in PT for nearly six months. So, personal experience also. Just different.
And again, the teams don’t have to justify their use of the IL to you or me. They all have to follow the same rules. If they do that, they haven’t misused anything. By definition.
Of course some people have to beat a dead horse over and over and over, don’t they Longtime?
Course the difference is that Stone is reporting pain and an mri found inflammation.
Blake – was tired back in October.
Poor fella his shoulder is on fire.