Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Opens Up About Losing Tyler Glasnow For Season
Tyler Glasnow was always a high-risk, high-reward player when the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired him in December. On Saturday, the risk the Dodgers took on Glasnow, not to mention the $136.5 million invested in the right-hander, proved to be in vain.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the latest MRI scans revealed the 31-year-old pitcher had an elbow sprain. The news essentially confirmed Glasnow wouldn’t be making a return to the mound this season.
“It’s a big blow,” Roberts told Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times. “Looking at what he meant for our ball club, what he’s done for us, what we expected him to do, certainly there’s going to be a cost.”
“I feel bad for Tyler,” Roberts added. “He did everything to stay healthy and get back. It just wasn’t going to happen.”
The Dodgers have no choice but to find another pitcher to spearhead the postseason efforts on the mound. The strongest pitchers in the rotation are currently Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Flaherty has a 5-1 record with a 2.61 ERA in seven starts. Yamamoto has made just one start since his return from the injured list. The $325 million offseason acquisition missed nearly three months due to a shoulder injury.
Although he is back on the mound for the Dodgers, Yamamoto will still need multiple starts to get playoff-ready.
Flaherty and Yamamoto make up two solid slots in the Dodgers’ rotation, but who else will the club depend on in October?
Time is running out for Gavin Stone to make a comeback from a shoulder injury. Clayton Kershaw is a long shot with his toe injury.
The Dodgers still have Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller, neither of which looks postseason-ready. Rookie Landon Knack recently joined the pair after a season-worst five-run, two-inning start Friday.
Los Angeles is quite frankly running out of options. It’s an uphill battle for the Dodgers and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the club is doomed from the start of the playoffs.
Nevertheless, Roberts remains optimistic about his team.
“I’m still confident,” Roberts said. “I don’t think there’s one way to win a championship. I think you can look back at the teams recently and how their staffs came together and who stepped up for each team’s staff. So we’re going to have the guys we have, and I feel confident in whoever we run out there.”
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
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Well, we absolutely knew durability issues were a likely problem when LAD acquired Glasnow in the offseason trade. Really like the guy, but he has a severe limitation on innings pitched for a season. That’s a huge problem over a 162 game season. This is a critical problem heading into the playoffs for a team that has given up 40 runs in its last 5 games, and twice in its last 6 has lost 10 – 1. Too many runs given up and not enough runs scored. So, Davey, in your infinite wisdom, exactly how many ways are there to win a championship, because scoring fewer runs than you give up is a loss every single time. But, considering he’s managed LAD to 6 straight NLDS losses, I was kind of hoping he’d have at least figured that much out. Sigh.
They gave him a $136 million 5 year deal instead of letting him play out the one-year he had at $20 million. $27 million a year for 5 years instead of the $20 million he had coming to him. Who will pitch more innings over 5 years, Pepiot or Glasnow? Pepiot’s ERA this year was not far off from Glasnow’s, although he only pitched 115 innings, 25 fewer than Glasnow, and he could close some of that gap in the next two weeks. For about $26 million less. Glasnow is a better pitcher, this year and likely for the next 4 years, but not beyond that. Will Glasnow actually pitch more innings than Pepiot? Would spending $27 million or more on someone else, last winter or this winter [Burnes] and not trade for Glasnow, keep Pepiot, have been a better idea? I guess they were all in on the idea of winning the World Series this year. But, if so, keep Glasnow on his $20 million last year salary. A bullpen game in each of the playoff series, or piggy-back two starters, might not be fatal this year. Current playoff rotation: Flaherty, Yamamoto, Buehler, bullpen game.
Rather scary when your best option for a fourth starter is Bobby Miller and that is assuming Beuhler is effective. I’m a Miller fan, but not this year. The Dodger’s bullpen is solid but depending on 4 or 5 relievers to be good in every (or any) game is not realistic. Generally one of them will have an off night. The Dodger’s pitching philosophy throughout their entire system does not seem to be very effective. I do not follow other teams, but it appears to me that the Dodgers have far too many pitching injuries. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate their entire procedure for grooming pitchers. The one now could use improvement.