Under The Knife 9/3/24

Angels Up, Dodgers Down

The Angels don’t hold back.

I’ve been hard on the Angels about their lack of pitching development (and the whole Mike Trout thing), but I also admire the way they push guys to the majors when they believe they’re ready, regardless of age, experience, or service time consideration. That’s how it should be done, but seldom is, so credit to Perry Minasian and his crew.

With Caden Dana and Samuel Aldeghiri, the two were quickly called up and inserted into the rotation. They follow Jack Kochanawicz, who’s made a handful of starts over the last month with some success. Aldeghiri’s first start wasn’t terribly successful, but his defense was awful and he’s likely to get at least one more start. Dana started Sunday and had more success in his debut. It wasn’t great, but he showed that he has the stuff to compete right now, which again, is the point.

There are two ways that things get done in baseball: control and desperation. The Angels might have both. They’ve tried to win every other way, so why not just put the best available talent out on the field and see what happens? There’s going to be ups and downs with any young players - no, any players old or young. We just notice it more when they’re young and haven’t established an identity in our minds. Young players often seem better as potential, as hope, as prospects rather than as actual flesh-and-blood, ink-on-lineup players. We’ll see what the Angels can do with theirs for the next month.

On to the injuries, which start just north of Anaheim:

CLAYTON KERSHAW, SP LAD (inflamed toe)
TONY GONSOLIN, SP LAD (sprained elbow/rehab)
YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO, SP LAD (strained cuff)
TYLER GLASNOW, SP LAD (strained forearm)

“Bone spur in toe” is not the out of context text message you want to get in the evening. I was not watching the Dodgers play or seeing Clayton Kershaw hobble off the mound to understand why someone would text me this. A second, then third variant on the theme made me actually look to see another Dodgers pitching injury, to go with a lot of others.

What Kershaw has is that simple. He has a bone spur, which is normally a symptom of gout, that prevents him from pushing off. There’s medications that can help and in extreme cases, there’s even surgical. Basically they’d make a small incision, lop off the spur, and wait for it to heal, which could take as little as the 15 days he’ll be on the IL. Lithotripsy isn’t often used near small bones like the toes, but it’s another option. None of these are great, or painless, but the problem is curable.

With Kershaw down, the Dodgers will have to figure out what fills in. One option is Tony Gonsolin, per Dave Roberts. Gonsolin is a year post elbow surgery and he’s thrown live batting practice. While the plan was that he wouldn’t return, none of the Dodgers pitching has gone to plan this year. The question is how quickly he could get ready, which depends on how they use him. The Dodgers could send him on a rehab, or just put him in the pen behind the five starters they have now and build him up at the same time. It’s doable, if more difficult.

What the Dodgers really want is Yoshinobu Yamamoto back. There’s no reason they can’t after his second rehab start in OKC goes on Tuesday. He’s expected to go 45-50 pitches and while that’s not where the Dodgers would like him, they could easily take the 60-70 pitches reasonable in his next start and work around it. Or, he could make that start in OKC and the Dodgers could continue to try to patch together a rotation and hold a lead in the NL West and for the bye.

Oh, and there’s Tyler Glasnow as well. He’s not going to be back before mid-September “at best”, again via Dave Roberts, and he’ll require a rehab assignment. A source tells me Glasgow’s response to anti-inflammatories hasn’t been ideal and that his lack of throwing is the biggest concern. Again, the Dodgers have five starters right now, but not the ones they expected. Justin Wrobleski is supposed to be innings-light, while Walker Buehler has just been bad. If the Dodgers manage to hold on to this thing, it’s again, the managerial job of the decade and an indictment of the risk-accepting strategy of the Dodgers.

More info below the wall on Tatis’ leg, Royals late-season woes, and a load more injuries in Quick Cuts that only subscribers get.