The Dodgers had gotten through spring training with minimal injuries. With the exception of the wrist fracture to Justin Turner, and Tom Koehler’s right shoulder capsule strain, the rest of the club went into opening day with good health. Now the injuries are starting to hit again and I fully except for the entire roster to be on the disabled list within a couple of weeks. The Dodgers already had to place Logan Forsythe on the DL with shoulder inflammation, and now Rich Hill becomes the next Dodger to join the walking wounded.
The Dodgers have recalled Adam Liberatore from Triple-A Oklahoma City and placed Rich Hill (left third digit inflammation) on the 10-day DL (retroactive to April 15).
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 18, 2018
(*Update*) According to Eric Stephen, it’s a cracked fingernail, which he suffered during his last start.
The Dodgers announced this afternoon before their series finale in San Diego that Rich Hill was placed on the 10-day disabled list with what is listed as third digit inflammation. I think it might be a fancy way of saying, “he got blister”. However this would explain why he allowed seven earned runs to the Dbacks in his last outing which resulted in a 9-1 loss. Overall Hill has made 3 starts this season and is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA across 15 innings pitched. He’s allowed 10 earned runs on 17 hits and struck out 16. He’s issued 7 free passes and posted a 9.6 K/9. His 4.3 BB/9 rate is troubling and probably points to the finger problem.
Of course saying that the entire roster will be on the disabled list soon is a bit of an overreaction on my part. But the injuries are certainly annoying. What’s even more annoying is that the Dodgers literally have zero depth. There is almost nobody that the Dodgers can call up to replace Hill. The only logical choices are top prospect Walker Buehler, or right handed journeyman Brock Stewart.
Fortunately the Dodgers have several off-days built into the schedule, including tomorrow. Unfortunately they have nobody to start on Friday. So I’m assuming they’ll just call up Stewart, or skip his turn in the rotation and move up Kershaw to Friday since he last pitched on Sunday. For now they’ve recalled left hander Adam Liberatore from Oklahoma City to take his roster spot.
Hill’s turn in the rotation would have come up on Friday evening against the Washington Nationals. Since Hyun-jin Ryu pitched on Monday, and Kenta Maeda is pitching tonight, those guys can’t pitch on Friday night against Washington. My money is on Brock Stewart to make the spot start. Hill’s injury is retroactive to April 15.
Brock Stewart is another journeyman starter. Time to give Buehler some time in the Show.
totally agree Paul
Buehler and Stewart are NOT logical choices. Walker Buehler just pitched Monday (as did Santana, who is also on the 40) and Brock Stewart pitched Wednesday.
I’d just go with a bullpen game and not push Kershaw on 4 days rest this early in the season.
Buehler will not be called up, he pitched on Monday. Stewart pitched tonight.
I would get in a start for Buehler too. But the FBZ won’t do it. They think it’s so funny to deliberately NOT do things that have both short term and long term benefits, thereby annoying everyone just because they can, and they’ll cover themselves by making up some excuse later.
Just read up on the two pitchers we just picked up. Hernandez, whom we traded for, looks like another Yaisel Sierra (remember him?). Potential plus stuff against righties but lacking control. But if they can get either him or Sierra right, they are legitimate ROOGies.
Núñez is a 25 year old Cuban that throws 95 but walks a lot of people too. I like this pick up actually but it’ll be a while before we see him. They are getting into the habit of bringing along Cubans slowly (which I agree with).
Ah yes, Joc Strap at his best. This dude is useless?!!!!!! Sorry if the nickname offends people. But he has got to go away. NOT TO AAA. He needs to be DFA’d or traded for anything. Please Stop the Joc experiment
Tim
Spoken like the true voice of reason. Joc has been through for quite some time. He can’t be traded because no one wants him. The reason they don’t want him is because he is no good. I know this sounds quite simple but it is the truth. Don’t know what his relationship with Roberts is but I would believe about anything.
Is Muncy for real?
(Seager sure is – he’s heating up!)
And here we are. After 17 games:
2017 Dodgers: 8-9 3rd 3 GB
2018 Dodgers: 8-9 3rd 4 GB
Bluto you just jinxed us ahead of the Nationals match-up!!!
Hills injury is not inflammation, but a split finger nail. He said so in an interview earlier today. Fridays starter will probably be Ross Stripling with a bullpen game after that. You all did forget that Stripling was a starter before and is the long man in the pen. Joc was 2-5 so he was not worthless out there and he drove in a run, scored 2 and raised his batting average 40 points. Yeah, he dropped the ball down the line, but it was an extremely difficult play, and his glove hit his knee after he caught the ball and knocked it out of his glove. I doubt any of us could have done any better, so lighten up. Joc had a better game than Chris Taylor who was 1-6 and got the Golden Sombrero with 4 K’s. Team wins a laugher and all you can do is criticize Pederson….that’s pretty weak. I heard some things on the broadcast about what Yasmani went through last year without saying anything about it. So my opinion of him has changed. His wife was going through a very difficult pregnancy, and he was going back to Phoenix every off day to be with her and be supportive. On days that flights did not line up, he would drive 5 hours each way to be with her if for only a couple of hours. Finding out about that and that he put his family first makes me realize that the guy is committed to his family and his head and heart were in the right place. I can now understand why he slumped so badly. Kudos to Yasmani for that kind of dedication to family. Oh by the way, Joc had exactly the same batting line as Bellinger, but he struck out once to Bellinger’s twice. That’s fact, not fiction. And Bellinger left 3 on base, Joc only 1.
Ok Michael – that was nice to know. I’ll lay off Grandal for a while (maybe) and I will even hope that he continues to do well and get in to the All Star Game this year. That will get him a nice contract, but I do think it’s best he plays elsewhere next year so that our young catching cohort gets more chances to shine.
With Ruiz and Smith on the horizon and Barnes and Farmer already here, I think we are pretty well off at the position. Grandal still leaves a lot to be desired in the defensive side. His blocking of balls in the dirt has never been great. When he does get hot though, the guy can rake.
It would be sheer madness to NOT play Grandal at this point. He’s having his best start in years. He’s got my green light. Maybe he’s finally turning that corner we all talk about.