Dodgers News: Gavin Lux to Remain Sidelined Until Next Week at Best
Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux hasn’t played since September 1, dealing with a neck and upper back issue that also caused him to miss six games in late August. Before Friday’s game, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts told the media it’s going to be a little while longer before we see him back in a game.
Gavin Lux might swing a bat tomorrow, Dave Roberts said, but is close to a week from game activity. Won’t go on the IL — Roberts said they don’t feel they need to add the extra position player (they view this current group as who they’re choosing from right now for postseason).
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) September 9, 2022
The Dodgers can afford to let Lux take his time to get fully healthy, with an insurmountable lead in the NL West and a reasonably comfortable lead for the best record in baseball. The big concern, of course, is that the lengthy layoff is due to the injury being more serious than Roberts and the Dodgers are letting on. The secondary concern would be Lux being out so long that he’s not fully back in the groove by the time the postseason starts.
It’s interesting that the Dodgers are opting not to put Lux on the injured list. With Roberts not expecting him back for another week, they could have placed him on the IL on Friday and still had him back around that time. But Roberts says they don’t have anyone they want to call up from Triple-A, so there’s no roster reason to officially sideline Lux.
That means rookie James Outman is presumably out of the question for a postseason audition, despite his outstanding play with Oklahoma City. With Trayce Thompson and Joey Gallo both available even if Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor don’t break out of their slumps, the Dodgers have decided it makes more sense to keep Outman getting regular playing time in Triple-A instead of a bench role in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers have had some bad luck with injuries lately, but hopefully it’s just a whole lot of caution as they play out the stretch of relatively meaningless games before the postseason starts.
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Outman could and should get more playing time in the Bigs; they should sit Belli for a while and let him reset.