The Los Angeles Dodgers moved Will Smith from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list as his absence from the team continues to grow.
Smith has already missed over a month due to a neck disc issue, but now his time on the injured list will carry over until at least August 5, the earliest he can be activated.
The Dodgers decided to put Smith on the 60-day injured list in order to free up a spot on the 40-man roster.
In his spot, LA has selected the contract of Charlie Barnes, a left-handed pitcher, to give the team a long relief option.
Additionally, Landon Knack was optioned down to Triple-A. He had a 9.00 ERA in two appearances for the Dodgers, his only two of the season.
Knack was stellar for the Dodgers in 2024 as a 1.0 bWAR starting pitcher, but he ended up falling to the wayside as time went on.
Now, after giving up five runs in five innings, he will need to prove himself if he wants to be more than just organizational depth.
Barnes, while not an upgrade on Knack in terms of production, can eat innings as a lefty, while giving Knack a chance to work down in the minor leagues.
Will Smith’s latest injury update
Before the start of the Yankees series, Smith was shut down from all baseball activities after not progressing in his recovery.
He had been throwing and hitting over the past month, but his neck had not improved.
“To be honest with you right now, I think that he’s taking a week — at least a week — of just really doing no activity to hopefully calm his neck down to then build up,” Roberts said.
“Early on, we’ve been trying to get him ready, moving around, doing some baseball stuff, but he hasn’t been able to get over the hump. So no activity, then we’ll kind of read-react after a week.
“However you want to word it, he didn’t feel like he was making any improvement.”
The Dodgers seem optimistic that he can return this season, but there was more doubt in Roberts’ voice during his latest update.
At this point, his outlook depends on how the next few weeks go after getting full rest.
“That kind of comes with consecutive days of feeling better. It’s going to be a slow ramp up. Honestly, I don’t know what that really looks like right now. It’s hard to say,” Roberts added.
