Dodgers’ Glasnow ‘unlikely’ to return this year

ATLANTA — Tyler Glasnow has a sprained right elbow and is “highly unlikely” to pitch again this season, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Saturday, a devastating blow for a high-priced team with World Series expectations but serious concerns about its postseason rotation.

Glasnow had been out since Aug. 11 with what the team described as elbow tendinitis. He seemed to be close to a return before suffering another setback that essentially ended his season. The 31-year-old right-hander was warming up for a two- to three-inning simulated game from Truist Park early Friday afternoon, expected to be his last step before rejoining the Dodgers’ rotation, but had to shut it down due to elbow discomfort as he approached his 25th throw from the bullpen.

The Dodgers at this point can only be confident in newcomer Jack Flaherty starting their first postseason game. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who missed nearly three months with a shoulder injury but had an encouraging return last week, seems like a solid bet to follow him. Beyond that, though, the Dodgers’ rotation outlook is exceedingly uncertain.

“It’s a big blow,” Roberts said of Glasnow’s injury. “Looking at what he meant for our ballclub, what he’s done for us, what we expected him to do — certainly there’s gonna be a cost. But we gotta move on and we will. We have a lot of capable people. I feel bad for Tyler because he did everything to stay healthy and get back, and it just wasn’t gonna happen.”

The Dodgers acquired Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays over the offseason, giving up two promising young players in starter Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca and subsequently signing Glasnow to a five-year, $136.6 million extension.

Glasnow then posted a 3.49 ERA in his first 134 innings, striking out 168 batters and issuing 35 walks — oftentimes looking like a bonafide ace. But his arm held up for little more than four months.

Roberts said Glasnow will be shut down from throwing for an undetermined amount of time. The concern is that he might have sustained further damage to his ulnar collateral ligament, which he repaired via Tommy John surgery in August of 2021. Roberts said Glasnow’s UCL is intact, though the diagnosis of a sprained elbow typically means the ligament has sustained at least some damage.

It’s only the latest injury development for a team that is working through too many of them.

Clayton Kershaw, fighting through a bone spur in his left big toe, has been throwing off a makeshift mound but Roberts acknowledged that it’s unlikely he makes it back to the rotation before the end of the regular season. Gavin Stone, meanwhile, is dealing with shoulder inflammation and has yet to re-start his throwing program. The other two main options for the rotation, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller, have struggled.

Roberts nonetheless attempted to strike a positive tone.

“It’s manageable,” he said of the pitching injuries. “We’re doing it. I think the main thing is that we have to just continue to stay focused on the players that are available to us and winning a baseball game that night. To the guys’ credit, that’s what they’ve done, and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot given all that we’ve gone through this year. We’ve still got a pretty good ballclub.”