Dodgers News: Joel Peralta May Be Placed On Disabled List

Without key holdovers in Kenley Jansen and Brandon League, the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen has largely been carried by Yimi Garcia, Paco Rodriguez and Joel Peralta.

Garcia has been the most impressive of the group as he holds a 0.93 ERA, 0.62 WHIP and has an MLB-best 16 strikeouts in 9.2 innings pitched. Meanwhile, Peralta leads the Dodgers in saves as he’s more times than not been the reliever manager Don Mattingly turned to in the ninth inning.

However, Peralta also at one point was limited by back spasms and now is suffering from a dead arm that may lead to a stint on the disabled list, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

Reliever Joel Peralta said he has "dead arm," no pain but no shoulder strength. DL possible.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 25, 2015

Peralta believes his latest physical ailment may be tied to the April 15 back spasms, reports ESPN’s Mark Saxon:

Peralta is dealing with dead arm that he thinks resulted from the back spasms.

— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) April 25, 2015

On Friday the Dodgers called up Sergio Santos from Triple-A Oklahoma City, made room on the 40-man roster by designating recently acquired Xavier Cedeno and optioned Mike Bolsinger to Oklahoma City.

It was expected Cedeno would be the reliever to join the club in San Diego, but an undisclosed injury to a right-handed reliever — now appearing to be Peralta — forced the Dodgers to shift course. The Dodgers are expected to call up Scott Baker for a spot start Sunday in the series finale against the Padres.

Rather than continue to use the final spot on the active roster to shuffle players in and out, the Dodgers may now instead opt to place Peralta on the disabled list to clear room for Baker.

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