Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025
Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers revealed that Evan Phillips has a tear in the back of his right rotator cuff. He had a PRP injection. He will likely miss Opening Day.
Phillips missed the World Series because of an undisclosed arm injury. When the Dodgers know about Phillips’ injury, it makes sense that the Dodgers signed Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates.
The Dodgers already knew Brusdar Graterol would miss the first half of the 2025 season after having right shoulder surgery. They know having a great bullpen is necessary to have a World Series-caliber season.
The health of Michael Kopech is questionable. Earlier this winter, there was a rumor that Kopech’s forearm had a strained muscle. If this were correct, Kopech could miss significant time.
Nobody knows how Blake Treinen will respond to the amount of pitching he did during the 2024 postseason, especially after missing almost two full seasons.
This is why the Dodgers signed Scott and Yates. They needed more high-leverage relievers. If Dustin May can’t crack the starting rotation, he would be a fantastic high-leverage one-inning right-handed reliever. May is a brilliant pitcher who is injury-prone.
Since the Dodger starting rotation is full of injured pitchers, the bullpen will be used a lot in the first six weeks of the 2025 season. Blake Snell is the only starter who isn’t coming off an injury. Since sending Shohei Ohtani out on a traditional rehabilitation assignment is difficult, Ohtani might rehab at the major league level. Thus, the bullpen might have been used heavily during Ohtani’s first start. Having Landon Knack, Ben Casparius, and Justin Wrobleski in the bullpen will be important during the early 2025 season.
The bullpen is important to the Dodgers’ success.
