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Dodgers Claim Yoendrys Gómez

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April 26: The Dodgers have formally added Gómez to their active roster. In a corresponding move, the team optioned right-hander Noah Davis.

April 25: The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Yoendrys Gómez off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The Yankees designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Dodgers have had an open 40-man roster spot since designating outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment on the weekend. Since Gómez is out of options, they will need to open an active roster spot for him once he reports to the club.

Gómez, 25, joins a new organization for the first time. The Yankees signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela back in 2016. As he climbed the ladder, he worked his way into being one of the top 30 prospects in the system. The Yankees added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

Since then, he has hardly been given a chance to face major league hitters. He used up three option years in the 2021-2023 seasons. Tommy John surgery in 2021 played a role there, as he wasn’t able to pitch much in that year or in 2022. The Yankees were given a fourth option for 2024, but he came into 2025 out of options and with just 13 1/3 innings of major league pitching under his belt. He held a long relief role for the first few weeks of this season, tossing 10 innings over six appearances.

Overall, Gómez has a 3.09 earned run average in 23 1/3 big league innings to this point. That’s not much to go on, but his minor league numbers are presumably intriguing to the Dodgers. Across 2023 and 2024, he tossed 148 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.63 ERA. His 12.3% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 27.7% of batters faced.

The Dodgers are generally willing to bet on talented but injury-prone pitchers and often find themselves rotating through various arms over the course of a season. At the moment, they have 12 pitchers on the injured list. Many of those underwent major surgeries last year, meaning the club wasn’t counting on them to contribute in 2025. However, they have also seen guys like Blake Snell, Blake Treinen and Tony Gonsolin get hurt in the past few weeks.

Right now, their rotation is down to Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. The club is trying to keep Yamamoto and Sasaki on a weekly pitching schedule, which is customary in Japan. As such, they have been doing the occasional spot start or bullpen game. Guys like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller have made spot starts this month. On Wednesday, Ben Casparius started a bullpen game, with six relievers coming in after him. They also used seven pitchers in Tuesday’s extra-innings game at Wrigley.

The Dodgers had an off-day yesterday but have leaned heavily on their staff. Gómez will give them a fresh arm whenever he meets up with them. He tossed three innings for the Yanks on Monday, so he should be able to be deployed as a multi-inning guy in some capacity. The Dodgers have Yamamoto, Sasaki, Glasnow and May scheduled to pitch the next four games but might need another sport start and/or bullpen game by Tuesday. Gonsolin tossed five innings in a rehab start on Wednesday, so he might be a factor in the club’s plans as well.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Dodgers, Nick Senzel Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have reached agreement with infielder Nick Senzel on a minor league contract, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Senzel makes his return to affiliated ball after a brief stop in Mexico. The former #2 overall pick had signed with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. It didn’t take long for him to find interest from a big league club. Senzel hit .591 with three homers, four walks, and one strikeout over six games. That attracts attention even in an exceptionally hitter-friendly league.

A veteran of parts of six MLB seasons, Senzel divided last year between a pair of rebuilding clubs. He signed a $2MM deal with the Nationals and was released in July after hitting .209/.303/.359 over 64 games. Senzel briefly caught on with the White Sox, but they moved on after just 10 appearances. He elected free agency in August and had remained unsigned until getting the opportunity in Mexico.

Senzel never panned out as the Reds had expected when they drafted him so highly. He turned in a .239/.302/.369 line through parts of five seasons — much of that spent as Cincinnati’s primary third baseman. He’ll try to get back to the highest level in Los Angeles, where third base has been an issue. Max Muncy is out to a .171/.273/.237 start with 32 strikeouts in 88 plate appearances.

Dodgers Shut Down Blake Snell

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Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell likely won’t be returning to the club soon. Manager Dave Roberts told members of the media, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that the southpaw “didn’t feel great” after a recent catch session. He will be shut down and it’s possible he’ll be sent for more imaging. He’ll be re-examined when the club gets back to Los Angeles, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers are at Wrigley tonight, then have an off-day Thursday before starting a new homestand on Friday.

Snell started the season healthy but landed on the injured list after just two starts due to shoulder inflammation. An MRI at that time didn’t find any structural damage and the club was hopeful that he wouldn’t miss too much time. It’s now been three weeks since his last appearance and this latest shutdown figures to extend his timeline.

More information will likely be revealed in the coming days as the Dodgers conduct more tests but it’s obviously not encouraging for him to have any kind of setback or recurrence of discomfort. The Dodgers signed him to a five-year, $182MM deal in the offseason, though with some deferrals. He got that big payday on account of strong production on a rate basis. He has only twice pitched more than 130 innings in a season, with both of those seasons resulting in Cy Young awards.

The Dodgers surely were aware that they might have a few IL stints from Snell over the course of his contract, based on past precedent. In other seasons, he has managed to post decent results around his injuries. That was the case last year. He followed up his 2023 Cy Young season with an uneven campaign in 2024. He went on the IL a couple of times due to groin issues and had a 9.51 ERA at the end of June, but then dominated the rest of the way with a 1.23 ERA in the final three months.

That was an extreme example of a general trend in Snell’s career, as he has almost always been a slow starter and strong finisher. For his career, he has a 3.92 first half ERA but a 2.39 ERA in the second half. Time will tell if this is a significant ailment or just another instalment of Snell’s typical magic. The Dodgers surely care more about Snell’s ability to contribute in October, so it makes sense to be cautious with anything at this time of year.

Snell is one of a number of Dodger starters on the injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan and Gavin Stone are out after undergoing major arm surgeries last year. Clayton Kershaw underwent knee and foot surgery and is still working his way back. Tony Gonsolin suffered a back injury during spring training.

Right now, the healthy rotation consists of Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Gonsolin and Kershaw are both currently on rehab assignments and could return in the coming weeks, though it’s a bit short-handed for now, especially with the club keeping Yamamoto and Sasaki on weekly pitching schedules. Ben Casparius is starting a bullpen game tonight after the Dodgers used six relievers in last night’s extra-innings loss.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Dodgers Notes: Treinen, Snell, Glasnow

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Veteran reliever Blake Treinen was placed on the 15-day injured list yesterday due to tightness in his right forearm, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shed more light on Treinen’s situation when speaking with the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters today.  Specifically, Treinen has a “low-grade sprain of the forearm,” as Roberts described it, as some forearm discomfort throughout the week resurfaced Friday when Treinen was warming up to enter the game.

“He was one hitter away as he was warming up to go into the game,” Roberts said.  “Obviously, if he were to pitch, it could have been potentially worse.  So I would say we’re in the dodged-a-bullet category.”

An MRI revealed the sprain yesterday, and Treinen will get more testing done before a recovery timeline is established.  Roberts’ view of the injury seemed relatively positive, though even if Treinen has avoided a more long-term problem, it stands to reason that he’ll miss more than just 15 days just out of natural precaution when dealing with forearm-related injuries.

Treinen’s first four seasons in Los Angeles yielded excellent (if often injury-plagued) results, leading to a two-year, $22MM deal to rejoin the club this past offseason.  Treinen was off to a solid start in 2025, if a bit of a step back only in comparison to his past standards since coming to the Dodgers prior to the 2020 season.  Over eight innings and eight appearances this year, Treinen has a 3.38 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, and 8.3% walk rate.

Turning to another Blake on the Dodgers’ injured list, Saturday marked Blake Snell’s first bullpen session since he was placed on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation.  Snell told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya that he will need at least one more bullpen and simulated game before exploring a rehab assignment, but as for the first step, Snell left his initial bullpen session feeling “way better.”

Snell hasn’t pitched since April 2, and it would seem like his IL stint will last over a month, given the number of steps remaining in the recovery process.  While the shoulder inflammation doesn’t seem like anything too serious, it does add to Snell’s history of both injuries and first-half struggles.  Snell did have a 2.00 ERA in his first two starts and nine innings of the 2025 season, but for his career, he has a 3.95 ERA prior to the All-Star break and then a 2.34 ERA in the second half.

The L.A. rotation had another minor injury scare in today’s 1-0 win over the Rangers, as Tyler Glasnow left with an apparent leg injury after throwing his first pitch of the fifth inning.  Fortunately, the team announced that Glasnow left due to only leg cramps, and Glasnow told MLB.com’s Sonja Chen and other reporters that he believes he’ll be able to make his next start.  The Dodgers have off-days on both Monday and Thursday this week, so Glasnow will get a full week before he is next scheduled to take the mound on April 27 against the Pirates.

Dodgers Activate Shohei Ohtani, Designate Eddie Rosario For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced this morning that they have designated outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment. The move comes in order to create a roster spot for Shohei Ohtani, who is returning to the club from the paternity list after he and his wife announced the birth of their daughter yesterday on social media.

Rosario, 33, always figured to be a temporary addition to the Dodgers roster. Now a veteran of 11 MLB seasons, Rosario spent the first portion of his MLB career as an effective and reliable corner bat for the Twins. He slashed .277/.310/.478 across 697 games in a Twins uniform, good for a 106 wRC+ that jumped up to 112 when looking only at his final four seasons with the team. During that stretch from 2017 to 2020, Rosario showed consistent 25-homer power and paired it with an impressively low 16.5% strikeout rate. That allowed him to offer a valuable blend of power and contact.

In the years since then, however, Rosario’s been an at times solid but largely inconsistent hitter. Playing for Cleveland, Atlanta, and D.C. from 2021 to 2024, Rosario slashed just .231/.278/.396 (82 wRC+) overall as his strikeout rate climbed to 21.6% while his power declined noticeably. The 2021 and ’23 seasons saw Rosario play at a roughly league average level overall with a 100 wRC+ in both seasons, with flashes of 20-homer pop making him a capable hitter despite the increased strikeout rate. 2022 saw him struggle badly at the plate (63 wRC+) due to vision problems that were ultimately corrected, while his problems at the dish (45 wRC+) in 2024 came in spite of him being generally healthy.

That lackluster performance was enough to force Rosario to take a minor league deal with the Dodgers this winter, and he didn’t make the roster out of camp due to Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto, and Ohtani blocking him in the outfield corners and at DH. Rosario was selected to the roster earlier this week to replace Ohtani in the lineup while he went on the paternity list. His brief stay in the majors this year saw him hit just .250/.250/.250 with a 41 wRC+, but it should be noted that he didn’t record a single strikeout and made several loud outs during his extremely brief, two-game trip back up to the majors. Going forward, the Dodgers will have one week to either trade Rosario or place him on waivers, where he could be claimed by any club. If he goes unclaimed, Rosario will have the choice to either accept an outright assignment back to Triple-A with the Dodgers or else head to free agency and look for a better opportunity elsewhere.

As for Ohtani, the reigning NL MVP rejoins a Dodgers club that suffered a frustrating walk-off loss to the Rangers last night. Prior to his trip to the paternity list, Ohtani was excellent as ever with a .288/.380/.550 slash line across 20 games and 92 plate appearances this year, with six home runs and five stolen bases. Needless to say, the superstar figures to reclaim his spot atop the Dodgers’ lineup as their everyday DH now that he’s back with the club.

Dodgers Activate Evan Phillips, Place Blake Treinen On 15-Day IL

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The Dodgers will be activating right-hander Evan Phillips from the 15-day injured list prior to today’s game with the Rangers.  In the corresponding move, righty Blake Treinen will be placed on the 15-day IL due to forearm tightness, as initially reported by The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya.

As manager Dave Roberts told Ardaya and other media members, Treinen has been feeling forearm discomfort for the last few days, and the discomfort increased yesterday during a bullpen session.  The decision was then made to put Treinen on the injured list, and the reliever will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the problem.

Any forearm injury naturally seems a little ominous, and it would be another blow for a veteran reliever who has already spent a lot of time on the IL in recent years.  Los Angeles also signed Treinen to a two-year, $22MM contract last winter, and as logical as that investment seemed based on Treinen’s on-field results, today’s news underlines the risk of committing bigger money to a veteran reliever (Treinen turns 37 in June) with a checkered injury history.

Shoulder problems kept Treinen out for most of the 2022 season and the entirety of the 2023 season, as he eventually required labrum and rotator cuff surgeries to fully correct the problem.  His planned return for the start of the 2024 campaign was delayed by a bruised lung in Spring Training, and Treinen also had a brief IL stint during last season due to a hip issue.

Through it all, of course, Treinen has been good to great when he has been able to pitch.  The righty’s five seasons in L.A. have resulted in a 2.34 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, and 7.6% walk rate across 157 2/3 relief innings.  Treinen also has a 3.24 ERA in 33 1/3 postseason frames during his time with the Dodgers, earning championship rings in both 2020 and 2024.

Just as Treinen goes down, however, the Dodgers’ remarkable depth chart allows the club to immediately replace him with another high-leverage reliever just back from his own IL stint.  Phillips was left off the World Series roster due to multiple injuries, most prominently a tear in a rotator cuff tendon that then delayed his usual offseason preparations.  As a result, L.A. placed Phillips on the 15-day IL to begin the season in order to give the reliever more time to properly ramp up, and he’ll now be ready to make his 2025 debut as early as today.

Phillips’ exact role will be interesting to monitor, as he was the Dodgers’ primary closer in the previous two seasons yet Tanner Scott has now assumed that role in 2025.  The club’s four-year, $72MM deal with Scott underlines the team’s commitment to giving Scott plenty of looks in late-game situations, though in February, Roberts said Scott would only receive the “brunt” of save chances, not all of them.  As circumstances, matchups, injuries, and performance will dictate over the course of the season and into the playoffs, the Dodgers figure to give multiple pitchers the chance to earn saves.  The left-handed Scott, for instance, could be brought into a game prior to the ninth inning should a rival team have an imposing set of left-handed hitters coming to the plate.

It makes for a pretty nice “problem” to have when a team can pick and choose between its many elite relievers, and Phillips has moved into that category over the last three seasons.  Claimed off waivers from the Rays in an under-the-radar move in August 2021, Phillips posted a 2.21 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate over 179 innings from 2022-24.  He has 45 career saves out of 54 chances, all with the Dodgers except for one save recorded with Tampa Bay in 2021.

Dodgers To Select Eddie Rosario, Place Shohei Ohtani On Paternity List

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The Dodgers are going to select outfielder Eddie Rosario to their roster. He will take the active roster spot of designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, who is going on the paternity list. Right-hander Edgardo Henriquez will go on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Rosario. The club hasn’t announced any of the moves yet. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic first reported that Rosario was with the club in Arlington and that Ohtani would be going on the paternity list. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register relayed that Henriquez would be the corresponding move.

Rosario, 33, signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers in the offseason. He has started the season in Triple-A and put up a massive .339/.406/.542 line in 14 games at that level. That’s in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League and he won’t be able to run a .419 batting average on balls in play forever, but he has a couple of home runs and is drawing walks at an 11.6% pace.

He has been incredibly streaky in recent years, so the Dodgers will see if they can ride the hot hand while Ohtani is attending the birth of his child. Rosario was actually pretty steady from 2017 to 2020, hitting .281/.317/.493 in that time for a 112 wRC+. But in 2021, he was down to .254/.296/.389 and an 88 wRC+ when he was flipped to Atlanta. He turned hot again at that time, hitting .271/.330/.573 for a 137 wRC+ with his new club. His hot/cold act continued into the playoffs, as he won NLCS MVP by hitting .560/.607/1.040 in that series. He then dropped to .227/.346/.318 during the World Series but Atlanta won it all regardless.

The seesaw production has continued since then. He hit .212/.259/.328 for a 63 wRC+ in 2022, then .255/.305/.450 for a 100 wRC+ in 2023, before dropping to .175/.215/.316 and a 45 wRC+ last year. As mentioned, he had to settle for a minor league deal with the Dodgers coming into this year. He had a rough .154/.241/.423 line in the spring before getting in a groove with Oklahoma City.

Paternity list stints last just one to three games, so Rosario might be in for a short stint on the roster while Ohtani is away. Perhaps he could stick around if he continues his recent hot streak, but that would mean giving up on someone else. Andy Pages is the only position player on the roster who can be optioned, and he’s getting regular playing time in the outfield. Players like Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernández aren’t hitting much but they provide more positional flexibility than Rosario, who can only play the outfield corners.

As for Henriquez, in early March, he suffered a left foot fracture in mysterious fashion. Manager Dave Roberts said only that there was some off-field “mishap”. His timeline is unclear but this transfer means he’s ineligible to return to the club until the middle of May at the earliest.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Looking Ahead To Club Options: NL West

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Over the coming days, MLBTR will look at next offseason’s option class. Steve Adams will highlight the players who can opt out of their current deals, while we’ll take a division-by-division look at those whose contracts contain either team or mutual options. Virtually all of the mutual options will be bought out by one side. Generally, if the team is willing to retain the player at the option price, the player will decline his end in search of a better free agent deal.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona signed the veteran righty, who missed all of last season after undergoing shoulder surgery in January 2024. Graveman was hobbled by back discomfort this spring and began the year on the 15-day injured list. He has thrown a few bullpen sessions but has yet to begin a rehab assignment. During his most recent healthy season, Graveman worked to a 3.12 ERA across 66 1/3 innings between the White Sox and Astros.

Grichuk posted big numbers in a short-side platoon role for the Snakes in 2024. Arizona brought him back on a $5MM free agent deal. He’s making only a $2MM salary and will collect a $3MM buyout on his option at the end of the season. Grichuk hasn’t gotten much playing time, starting six of Arizona’s 19 games (all but one as the designated hitter). He’s out to a decent start, batting .240 with five doubles over 28 plate appearances.

Colorado Rockies

Farmer has been a rare bright spot in what has been a terrible Colorado lineup. The veteran utilityman has started 15 of their 18 games. He’s playing mostly second base and is hitting .345 with nine doubles, the second-most in MLB. Farmer isn’t going to keep hitting at this pace, but it’s an excellent start for a player who signed for $3.25MM after a down year (.214/.293/.353) with Minnesota.

Kinley signed a three-year extension during the 2022-23 offseason. The slider specialist had a brilliant first half to the ’22 campaign, but that was cut short in July by elbow surgery. Kinley hasn’t been the same pitcher since returning. He allowed more than six earned runs per nine in both 2022 and ’23. He has given up five runs (four earned) with seven strikeouts and six walks across 7 2/3 innings this season. Kinley owns a 6.03 ERA while walking more than 11% of opposing hitters over 88 frames since signing the extension.

The option comes with a $5MM base value. It would escalate by $500K apiece if Kinley finishes 20, 25, and 30 games — potentially up to $6.5MM. He has finished two contests in the early going. While the option isn’t especially costly, this is trending towards a buyout.

Stallings produced the best offensive numbers of his career for the Rox in 2024. He returned on a $2.5MM deal early in the offseason. Stallings has been more of the 1-b catcher behind Hunter Goodman. He has started seven games and caught 59 innings. It’s been a slow start, as he’s batting .125 with 12 strikeouts in 27 trips to the plate.

Note: Thairo Estrada’s one-year deal contains a ’26 mutual option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.

Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Max Muncy, 3B ($10MM club option, no buyout)

This could end up being a borderline call. The Dodgers can keep Muncy around for what’d be his ninth season in L.A. on a $10MM price tag. That’s not an exorbitant sum for baseball’s highest-spending team. Muncy has generally been an excellent hitter in the middle of Dave Roberts’ lineup. He’s a career .230/.355/.482 hitter in Dodger blue. He remained as productive when he was healthy last season, posting a .232/.358/.494 slash over 73 games. An oblique strain cost him three months.

Muncy is out to a much slower start this year. He has yet to connect on a home run in 18 games. He’s batting .193 with 25 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances (a 36.8% rate). It’s very early, of course, but he’ll need to pick things up. Muncy turns 35 in August. NPB third baseman Munetaka Murakami will be posted for MLB teams next offseason. The Dodgers will very likely be involved on the 25-year-old slugger, so it’s possible they’d prefer to keep the position open early in the winter.

Taylor is in the final season of his four-year, $60MM free agent deal. He was coming off an All-Star season in 2021, when he hit .254/.344/.438 with 20 homers. His offense has trended down over the course of the contract, especially sharply over the past two years. Taylor fanned at a near-31% clip last season, batting .202/.298/.300 in 246 plate appearances. He has only been in the starting lineup three times this season.

The Dodgers have kept Taylor throughout his offensive struggles. They clearly place a lot of value on him as a clubhouse presence and appreciate the defensive versatility he provides off the bench. Still, it’s hard to imagine them paying the extra $8MM to exercise the option since he’s essentially the final position player on the roster. The option price would increase by $1MM if Taylor is traded or in the unlikely event that he reaches 525 plate appearances and/or makes the All-Star Game.

Note: Alex Vesia’s arbitration contract contains a ’26 club option, but he’s excluded from this exercise because he would remain eligible for arbitration if the option is declined.

San Diego Padres

Díaz finished last season in San Diego after being released by the Rockies. He re-signed on a $3.5MM deal as the Padres went with the affordable veteran catching tandem of Díaz and Martín Maldonado. He’s hitting .206 in 13 games, though he has taken seven walks against eight strikeouts.

  • Kyle Hart, LHP ($5MM club option, $500K buyout)

Hart, a soft-tossing lefty, returned to the majors after an excellent year in Korea. He signed a $1.5MM guarantee with a ’26 team option that has a $5MM base salary. The option price could climb as high as $7.5MM. It would jump $250K if Hart reaches 18 starts this year, $500K at 22 starts, $750K at 26 starts, and $1MM if he starts 30 games.

San Diego has given Hart a season-opening rotation spot. He has allowed seven runs over his first 11 2/3 innings. Hart has walked five with eight strikeouts and a below-average 8.3% swinging strike percentage.

King’s option is purely an accounting measure. He agreed to push $3.75MM of this year’s $7.75MM guarantee back to the end of the season in the form of a buyout — potentially buying the Padres a bit of flexibility for in-season trade acquisitions. Barring a major injury, he’s going to decline his end of the option and will be one of the top pitchers in next year’s class.

Wade agreed to a $1MM club option as part of a deal to avoid a hearing in his final year of arbitration. He was squeezed off the roster during Spring Training. Wade cleared waivers, accepted an assignment to Triple-A, then came back up last week. He’s playing center field with Jackson Merrill and Brandon Lockridge on the injured list. The option price is barely above the league minimum, but Wade is on the roster bubble and no guarantee to stick in the majors through the end of the season.

San Francisco Giants

San Francisco added Murphy on a two-year deal during the 2023-24 offseason. The veteran catcher has had a difficult time staying healthy throughout his career, and that’s continued in San Francisco. He played in only 13 games last year because of a knee sprain. He started this season on the shelf with a herniated disc that is going to keep him out for at least the first two months. This looks like a buyout.

Clayton Kershaw To Begin Rehab Assignment

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Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start a rehab assignment on Wednesday. Manager Dave Roberts recently passed the news along to reporters, including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. That will kick off a 30-day rehab window, which will take him the majority of the way to May 17, when he’s eligible to come off the 60-day injured list.

Kershaw, 37, was once a workhorse but his health has become more of a recurring issue in recent seasons. He hasn’t thrown more than 132 innings in a season since 2019. He only got to 30 frames last year. He started the 2024 season on the injured list recovering from shoulder surgery. He eventually made it back to the mound but his season was finished by surgeries on his toe and knee, to repair a ruptured plantar plate and a torn meniscus.

He was moved to the 60-day IL pretty quickly in 2025 but the timeline is a little bit different for him due to the Dodgers’ schedule. They started their regular season in the middle of March with the Tokyo Series and Kershaw landed on the IL at that time. A player starting the season on the 60-day IL would normally be out until late May but that early start gives Kershaw a chance to come back a bit quicker.

What to expect from Kershaw at this point is anyone’s guess. While he averaged around 95 miles per hour on his fastball at his peak, he’s been down closer to 90 mph in recent seasons. He has still managed to put up some decent numbers despite that, with a 2.46 ERA in 2023. Though he was clearly walking a tightrope and then got pummeled by the Diamondbacks in the playoffs. He had a 4.50 ERA in his limited work last year. With more surgical work on his track record, will that push those trends even further, or could he perhaps turn back the clock a bit with some health?

Whenever Kershaw does return, it’s possible the Dodgers will have to make some tough decisions about their rotation. Currently, they have Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May and Landon Knack in there. Blake Snell recently landed on the IL with some shoulder inflammation but it appears to be a fairly minor issue and he might be back soon. Tony Gonsolin is also on the IL due to back tightness but he is already rehabbing, having thrown 3 1/3 innings in his most recent outing. Then there’s Shohei Ohtani, who is working as the club’s designated hitter but also throwing bullpens on the side as he tries to return to the mound.

As Kershaw, Snell, Gonsolin and Ohtani get back into the mix, the squeeze might be on. Everyone in the group has some kind of health or workload concern, so it would be foolish to expect all of them to be healthy at the same time. Also, Yamamoto and Sasaki are being kept on weekly schedules, as is more common in Japan. That could leave the club some wiggle room to run a six-man rotation, depending on the off-days in the schedule, but someone also might get bumped into a long relief role. Knack, Sasaki and Gonsolin are the only pitchers mentioned here with options, though Gonsolin will hit five years of service time this week, at which point he would have to consent to any optional assignment.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Dodgers, White Sox Previously Discussed Luis Robert Jr. Trade

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The Dodgers and White Sox previously engaged in trade talks that would’ve sent center fielder Luis Robert Jr. to Los Angeles in exchange for outfielder James Outman and an unnamed “front-line prospect,” according to a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Nightengale notably adds that talks between the sides have been tabled at present, however, and it’s unclear whether these discussions occurred recently or at some point during this past offseason.

That the Dodgers would have interest in Robert is fairly unsurprising. The center fielder was among the most obvious trade candidates of the offseason with Chicago coming off the worst season in MLB history. Robert himself was part of that brutal campaign, as he was limited to just 100 games by injuries and did not perform up to expectations even when healthy with a .224/.278/.379 slash line (84 wRC+). While he stole 23 bases and slugged 14 homers during that time, he was held back by a 33.2% strikeout rate, the highest of his career.

That’s not much of a platform season to market to potential suitors. Between that and the $17MM guaranteed to Robert this season between his $15MM salary and the $2MM buyout of a $20MM team option for 2026, it’s hardly a surprise that the White Sox weren’t able to find the right value for their franchise center fielder. Despite his weak 2024 campaign, however, he did garner interest from clubs like the Reds and Giants this winter. It’s not hard to see why, given that Robert is not too far removed from a 2023 campaign that saw him make his first career All-Star team, finish 12th in AL MVP voting, and win the Silver Slugger award in center field. In 145 games that year, he posted a 128 wRC+, slugged 38 homers, swiped 20 bags, and posted a 5-win campaign (4.9 fWAR, 5.3 bWAR).

That tantalizing upside appears to have intrigued the Dodgers as well. It was reported back in December that Robert was among a number of possible alternatives to Teoscar Hernandez that L.A. was weighing a pursuit of if they were unable to bring the slugger back into the fold via free agency, though that thought experiment ultimately went nowhere when Hernandez re-signed with the club shortly thereafter. Even after bringing Hernandez into the fold, however, adding Robert could make at least some sense for the Dodgers. With Robert installed in center field, L.A. would be much less reliant on Miguel Rojas (and, eventually, Hyeseong Kim) at second base and could instead install switch-hitter Tommy Edman at the position. A stronger defender on the infield like Edman could help Mookie Betts improve as he works on learning shortstop, or could even provide the Dodgers with the ability to begin using Edman at short and Betts at the keystone if the experiment of playing Betts at the most valuable defensive position on the diamond does not work out.

Between the additional flexibility Robert would provide the Dodgers in how they deploy Edman and his previous heights as a star player, it’s not hard to see why the club would have some level of interest in him. The discussions reported by Nightengale suggest that Outman would be a key part of the return, which could make plenty of sense for both sides. Outman, 28 next month, finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting back in 2023 with an excellent debut season where he hit .248/.353/.437 (118 wRC+) as Los Angeles’s regular center fielder. Unfortunately, his sophomore season did not go nearly as well as he struck out in 35.3% of his plate appearances, posted a wRC+ of just 54, and was below replacement level in 53 games.

In some regards, Outman is a somewhat similar player to Robert, albeit with a far lower ceiling. Outman currently isn’t slated to hit free agency until after the 2030 season, which could also be attractive to the rebuilding White Sox. He evidently wouldn’t have been the only piece Chicago received had the trade been consummated, though it’s unclear whether the “front-line” prospect involved would be a top-100 type talent like southpaw Jackson Ferris or shortstop Alex Freeland or perhaps a less flashy name like righty Nick Frasso or outfielder Kendall George. What the hypothetical trade would have ended up looking like, it’s clear the sides aren’t currently discussing a deal at this point. Perhaps they could circle back and reignite talks closer to the trade deadline, when Robert is sure to be on the market ahead of the final guaranteed year of his contract.

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