11:58pm: There is a “high probability” that the Dodgers will place Yamamoto on the 15-day injured list, Roberts told reporters (including DiGiovanna) after the game. Roberts went on to note that he “wasn’t part of that conversation” if Yamamoto spoke to the coaching staff about tightness during warmups prior to the game, adding that there was “no point in time” where Dodgers brass felt he wouldn’t be able to make his start.
11:09pm: Yamamoto told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times) that his start was pushed back due to the tightness in his triceps. He felt it again while warming up for his start and mentioned it to Dodgers coaches but didn’t think it was “serious enough” to be scratched from his start. DiGiovanna adds that Yamamoto does not believe the issue to be a serious one, although he’s likely to undergo an MRI tomorrow.
8:57pm: Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto exited his start against the Royals tonight after just two innings with what the club referred to as triceps tightness. He was replaced by right-hander Michael Grove to start the third inning. As noted by MLB.com’s Juan Toribio, Yamamoto’s velocity was down throughout his abbreviated outing. The righty’s fastball bottomed out at just 92.9 mph, nearly three ticks below his 95.7 mph average to this point in the season.
The shortened start is particularly notable given the fact that the Dodgers pushed Yamamoto’s start back earlier this week. He was initially scheduled to take the ball against the Rangers on Thursday before his start was moved to tonight’s game against Kansas City. Manager Dave Roberts did not indicate at the time of that announcement that the club had any concerns regarding a possible injury for Yamamoto, instead noting that they were building additional rest into his schedule as he makes the transition from pitching once a week in Nippon Professional Baseball to every five days in MLB.
While the severity of Yamamoto’s injury is not yet clear, it would hardly be a surprise to see the Dodgers opt to place Yamamoto on the 15-day injured list following the game. The 25-year-old hurler was the second most coveted free agent of the past offseason behind only teammate Shohei Ohtani thanks to his youth and immense talent. The sweepstakes for his services ended in late December of last year when he inked a 12-year deal with the Dodgers worth $325MM—a record total for any full-time pitcher. Given L.A.’s significant investment in Yamamoto, it would be understandable for the club to act with an abundance of caution and prioritize the right-hander’s long term health.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, replacing Yamamoto in the rotation should be a relatively seamless endeavor for the club if it ends up being necessary. Right-hander Bobby Miller is scheduled to be reinstated from the injured list this coming Wednesday after missing the past two months with shoulder inflammation. Miller, who sports a 3.90 ERA and 3.54 FIP in 25 starts since he made his big league debut last May, could slot into the club’s rotation alongside Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton, Walker Buehler, and Gavin Stone without any significant hiccups.
Even so, the loss of Yamamoto for any amount of time would be a noteworthy blow. After a difficult start to his major league career against the Padres during the Korea Series where he surrendered five runs while recording just three outs, the right-hander has been nothing short of spectacular. In 71 innings of work across his past 12 starts, Yamamoto has posted a 2.41 ERA with an excellent 28.5% strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 5.3%. Yamamoto has paired those strong ratios with a strong 48.7% groundball rate as well. That type of dominant production is difficult to replace, even for a club that has the second best rotation by ERA in the National League behind only the Phillies.
While details regarding Yamamoto’s injury are currently scarce, it’s worth noting that a significant elbow injury could trigger a clause in his contract that alters the dates of his opt-out opportunities. Yamamoto’s contract reportedly includes opt-out opportunities following the 2029 and ’31 seasons, but if he either undergoes Tommy John surgery or spends at least 134 consecutive days on the IL due to an issue with his right elbow prior to that first opt out in 2029, his chances to opt-out would be delayed until after the 2031 and ’33 seasons.
Oh, boy, hope it’s nothing serious.
Gbs – Agreed, if he’s injured its bad for the game.
FPG: Why is it bad for the game? Players get injured on every team.
Dial down the melodrama and hyperbole.
@Baron Any time top talent os injured ots bad for the game. Fans want to see the best of the best and when those players are injured its a loss for MLB as a whole.
Blue – Pretending all players are created equal and therefore have equal value doesn’t make it so.
Let’s say, totally hypothetically of course, Ohtani was convicted of betting on baseball. Would that be no different than Bobby Dalbec or Dom Smith getting convicted of the same thing? Would it have the same impact on the game?
International superstars in their prime get mega contracts because they have performed at a highly elite level, drive up ratings and merchandise sales, and generate billions in revenue.
Do we really need to explain to you why east coasters like me will stay up past 1am to watch Yamamoto starts and Ohtani plate appearances when I’m not even a Dodgers fan?
“We?” Speak for yourself.
Not every fan on the east coast stays up late to watch these people.
Dial down the condescension along with the melodrama and hyperbole.
Bobby Dalbec: Wha? Wha die do? Why always me?
Because injuries seem to be on the rise and it’s not good for baseball, maybe?
Fever – the answer is yes you do need to explain things to Baron. Be careful using logic. It will get you muted.
Is it top talent or just highest paid?
It doesn’t affect anything though outside of wins and losses. The fans will continue to watch.
Bad for the team yes. For the game? The game won’t skip a beat
Blue – I’m speaking for all of us East Coasters (including my 84-year-old mother) who do love baseball enough to stay up that late to watch superstars. I never said all East Coasters do it. So you can take your arrogant “speak for yourself” comment and shove it right up where the sun don’t shine because one of the most disliked posters around isn’t going to be giving me orders that’s for damn sure. Keep it up buddy and you’re getting muted, your choice pal.
Just because you have no logical response to my polite explanation doesn’t give you the right to treat anyone that way. You don’t like my opinions and can’t handle them, then you have the option to ignore them.
Let – I can change it to Grissom if you’d like ;o)
Its – Yeah this isn’t the first time he’s had no response so he resorted to getting personal. I’m probably hoping he does mute me, and if he doesn’t I’ll probably just ignore him. Life is too short to waste it reading posts from miserable people who aren’t capable of friendly or at least civil discussion.
Joe – Usually they go hand in hand, but not always. Ultimately it’s the popularity of the player that drives ratings and revenue.
“Why is it bad”…I gotta disagree on this one Blue. It’s not necessarily bad just about Yamamoto, but the way pitchers on every team are dropping like flies is very “bad for the game”. It not about just 1 or 2 players, it’s about the majority of players.
BB: Why do you care so much about someone else’s opinion? Don’t be that guy.
Stop telling other people how to think.
Unfortunately, in the WNBA fans want to see Caitlyn Clark, but jealous opponents are intent on making flagrant fouls on her or mocking her.
Only if you’re a dodger fan.
Dh – I get that lots of people don’t like the Dodgers because they spend so much, but the game wouldn’t be as popular because as they say in the entertainment business there always has to be a perceived villain to maximize interest.
“Another injury in baseball today….”
Baron: nothing to see here!!!!
What would an MLBTR comments section be without condescension, melodrama and hyperbole???
Gbs – And what would it be without keyboard warriors who easily get triggered and therefore resort to getting personal?
These comments are sometimes a microcosm of society today, they can’t handle differing views therefore they try to silence those who have them.
It’s a big reason why I don’t do social media, too many people ruining something that was supposed to be informative, friendly and fun. Too many people who can’t have discussions without crossing the line. It’s all about respect, clearly some people were raised without experiencing the concept.
This is becoming a really tired expression people are saying.
It’s bad for the team. The common fan is a fan of their team and come out to see their players play and win
Those fans aren’t going to stop watching if a player is hurt regardless if it’s their teams player or not.
Card AG let’s test that theory: key player gets hurt, a second key player gets hurt, a third key player gets hurt. That team goes from contender to toilet, team either rebuilds or reloads for the following year, are fans going to support the team as much?
You said fans aren’t going to stop watching. I beg to differ, as nearly 100% of teams have more support when their team is healthy and winning. I would also argue that if Ohtani were injured less fans would show up at home and when his team plays on the road.
By having a huge number of players on the shelf, MLB can’t build more common fans.
Card – Sorry but with all due respect that’s simply not true. Especially when it comes to starting pitchers.
Many people made it a point to watch Pedro starts when he was in his prime. And Clemens. And Ryan. And Sale. And Valenzuela. The list goes on and on.
And why do you think nationally televised games with star players like Judge, Soto, Mookie and Ohtani always draw higher ratings than other big market teams with no stars?
Its – Fantastic and logic-filled post, thank you!
It’s amazing how despite all the logical explanations we provide, with examples, some people still don’t get it … or they do but refuse to admit it.
@Its Baron obviously doesn’t want to hear it or except reality. I’m going to go on a limb and assume he’s a fan on MLB and enjoys seeing most of the best baseball players on the planet. If that is true, it is not in his best interest for any of these players to be injured as it deprives the game of talent.
@Fever IF he’s a fan of MLB, any talent not being on the field is not in his best interest. He might not admit but that’s the reality.
Most if not all fans of pro sports are fans of the most talented players in said sport. When those talents are unavailable it is a loss to the game.
Take Bo Jackson for example. His injury robbed baseball, MLB, and the fans the opportunity to see a unique talent at his best for years to come.
Dodgers have 325 million reasons to have Yoshinobu rest on the IL
gbs42: Oh, it’s not serious. Unless, of course, it is.
Slow his transition and let some of the guys coming back from the IL pick up the slack a bit…
If any team needed a 6-man rotation with all those TJS and rookie arms being stretched out.
Not good
Testing
You failed.
And so it begins….
He tore it
Thanks for the diagnosis doc.
Gonna need LA fans to relax and in this instance take about 3 mph off the sarcasm there.
Um, what?
Never can buy championships.
signing free agents = buying championships apparently lol
There is signing free agents then there is that ridiculous off-season the dodgers did. They are desperate to win. Can’t win that way. Never happens.
Just ridiculous. An off season every intelligent baseball person recognizes as one of if not the best off season ever. That lets you out.
Taker
“Not quality? ”
Do you think they didn’t get quality? If so, please support that assertion
“They are never going to win with this strategy. ”
Do you think this idea you made up out of thin air is an intelligent one or an ignorant one?
The price for the quality doesn’t match the quantity. Doesn’t matter if they are good players. Billion dollars is insane. What happens with teams like this is they don’t have to really pay attention to quality. They just look at the sexy and spend. see the padres for an example.
Taker
So, the Dodgers won’t win because the Padres didn’t win? That can’t be what you are saying. But, it seems like what you are saying.
“The price for the quality doesn’t match the quantity.”
Citation requested, and show your work. This will require a numerical answer
Lol. Yup. No quality in those acquisitions. What planet are you on?
the expert on quality whose team is running under .500.
MOJO
The team you follow has nothing to do with the validity of your point
point taken CB.
Dodgers finding legal ways to tax dodge the mlb and state of California is/was definitely impressive. I ain’t gonna lie. If I could find legal ways to avoid paying taxes I totally would. I think we all would.
The Yankees have NEVER overspent for talent right?
@I believe, Ohtani has a luxury tax # of $48M. That’s the exact amount they re paying with the $2M in salary and $46M annually to fund the deferrals.
There is no dodging the funding and when deferred monies are funded are clearly defined in CBA.
Take, Steinbrenner and, to a slightly lesser extent, Epstein, did it.
Ohtani signed a 10 year 700 mill contract. Deferred 680 mill.
MLB is only gonna see a tax on 10 year 46-48 mill a year so say 500 mill of the 700 mill (not the entire sum).
Definitely a tax dodge. A legal tax dodge.
And the way the payouts will work in CA deferring so much money he’s probably destined to return back to Japan thus avoiding CA taxes as well.
Again. All perfectly legal. But a tax dodge is still a tax dodge.
Nope. Completely incorrect.
IBICW
Have you studied any economics (or math) at all?
The Dodgers are paying Ohtani $2 million a year and putting $44 million a year in an interest accruing account to fund the deferred payments. Add that together, and they are paying $46 million a year to Ohtani.
$46 million is counted towards the CBT.
It’s not, at all, a tax dodge for MLB purposes
I don’t know enough to comment on California tax law – something other people should do
This has all been explained so times already, to the point where anyone who wants to understand it already does, and those who don’t want to understand it, never will.
As for the California tax situation, I suspect the state has that situation wired and Ohtani won’t be getting away with a tax dodge. He will have to pay taxes when and where he earned the money, not when the checks were cut.
10 years 700 mill is the agreement
700 / 10 is 70 a year
Deferring money to avoid paying taxes on 70 mill a year in favor of paying taxes on 46 mill a year is a tax dodge. Or tax loophole. Which ever word makes you feel better I guess. End goal is the same. Using legal options to pay less in taxes. Businesses do it all the time. Especially the rich. Obama administration created many tax dodge / tax loopholes for rich ppl to avoid paying as much.
And deferring payments made to ohtani till after his paying career is over is definitely a tax dodge in the state of california. Again all legal.
Question is: how can we also do this cause I’d like to pay less in taxes or no taxes at all.
Again, completely incorrect. You clearly fall into the category of those who will never understand no matter how often it’s explained. We got that already, so you can stop now.
ibwcw
People who do not understand finance think that 70 million dollars over 20 years is the same as 70 million dollars over 10 years
Ohtani and the Dodgers understand.
You do not.
@I believe The amount Ohtani is being taxed out is the value of the deferred money. That is what the Dodgers will pay a 3rd party who will pay interest on it. Had Ohtani opted to take the money upfront he’d be gaining interest on the money.
There is no luxury tax dodging happening. You have to take into account accruing or the time value of money.
So, the Dodgers won’t win because the Padres didn’t win?
=========================
Maybe just let it play out. Some Padre fans swore they had the greatest off-seasons in history. These things always look good until the check comes due. And before the Padres, it was the Mets that had the greatest off-seasons ever. Before that, the Yankees.
Wrong. 20 of the past 29 world series winners were from the top 10 in salaries the year the won. So, yes, teams try and do buy championships. Where’s this koolaid you’re drinking? I could use some so I can believe my poor arse team has a chance. (that’s nearly 70 percent, btw).
No one buys championships period. They can buy some free agents to help and that’s it. The dodgers mindset over the years is spend more and more until they win. It doesn’t work! It never works. Say all the crap you want. Plus my dbacks lost their top 3 starters this year. don’t forget who eliminated your overrated team last year
@running Which team of amateurs won a MLB World Series??? Every team is essentially “bought”.
TakerDBacks
“Never can buy championships”
————
See Texas Rangers October 2023, who outbid Dodgers for Seager, and paid a fortune for Marcus, Max, etc.
Sometimes it works and often it does not.
If they win the championship it proves they bought it. If they don’t win the championship, it proves that you can’t buy one. Argument covered either way.
I just said you can buy some.Not so many positions. Texas had young players in jung,lowe,Carter, taveras,eovaldi and montgomery were average salaries. Bullpen was made together with no bought players. What are you saying?
TAKER
Maybe it would help if you’d lay out your exact, cherry-picked, parameters for what constitutes buying a championship.
Taker – Buying championships happens all the time. Money doesn’t guarantee it every time, but it sure does increase their odds if it’s spent well.
Exactly! Everyone knows the best and most ethical way to win championships is to tank! Well, I guess tank and then spend like crazy like the Rangers, Astros and Braves.
Well, do teams buy championships or do they pay for championships? In other words, if you develop top talent and pay them appropriately according to the market value, then you are paying for a championship. If you get your top talent from the free agent talent pool by offering more money than market value to outbid other teams that can’t afford to pay over market value, then you are buying the championship. There is a difference. But mostly, teams blend the two approaches.
Hayzee – Developing top talent can give a team a competitive window, but it’s like threading a needle. For it to work, you need to have several star players developed around the same time and they need to stay healthy. That would give around a 3-year window, but it’s so hard to do. The Rays, Athletics and Pirates are great examples of how difficult it is to win without a competitive payroll.
Or to put it another way, every team pays for championships, some are just willing and able to pay more for them. But if we look under the hood of these arguments they all boil down to hopes that teams signing big free agents get burned by them, which in turn boils down to hoping some of the best players in the game suffer injuries. This will teach somebody a lesson, though who or what lesson is up for grabs. But so long as it validates the haters this argument serves a purpose. I have a hard time seeing people who make these arguments as actual baseball fans.
It’s amazing the Dodgers are still in contention. They lost their entire first rotation group to injury and now the second shift is starting to be whittled away.
Are you serious with this? They still have Betts. ohtani, freeman, teoscar, glassnow, Yamamoto until today. all paid for. Stop acting like they are pulling off miracles
If any other team lost their rotation and depth the equivalent of Kershaw, Miller, Gonsolin, May, Sheehan, Hurt and Frasso they’d be toast. That doesn’t even include Bauer.
nor should it, he’s not their headache anymore.
Brewers disagree
Actually Betts and Glasnow were traded for and then extended while under team control. That’s not the same as a free agent sign which is commonly viewed as “bought”. That whole notion is kind of laughable as every player on every MLB roster is paid by the franchise they are on. So by your logic, every MLB player is “bought”.
But how was Betts brought under team control? Much the same as Agon was… through taking on unwanted salary, aka bought. It wasn’t a straight talent for talent swap.
So, trades are bad too?
Relax. He’ll be back by mid-2025.
This site leads the league in a-holes
I only half agree – have you seen the hockey site?
Can’t say I have
Have a sense of humor, B-rocker.
Like every great comedian tell your audience when to laugh.
Laugh!
True man. I may not like the Blue Ballers, but I don’t want them to get hurt. That just kinda is a d*ck move.
Hoo boy. Hope he’s ok
The Dodgers signing Yoshi has not exactly been Glorious Roman Victory
“the right-hander has been nothing short of spectacular. In 71 innings of work across his past 12 starts, Yamamoto has posted a 2.41 ERA with an excellent 28.5% strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 5.3%. Yamamoto has paired those strong ratios with a strong 48.7% groundball rate as well. That type of dominant production is difficult to replace,”
Yeah, what a crappy signing
Japanese pitchers have been a mixed bag at best. Quite a few of them have had a few good years and then kinda faded out..It will be interesting to see how Yamamoto ages and whether the deal is good or regrettable. .
Jersey – I think that’s because they usually come to MLB when they are older. Yamamoto came at an unusually young age.
You could be right Fever. I was specifically thinking about Dice-K (26) and Nomo (26). They both looked like future Cy-Young winners and settled into something a lot less. On the positive side of the ledger Tanaka (25) was a solid 2 for years and Kuroda (33) may have been the best of them all. I’m interested to see how Yamamato plays out over the next few years not just his first 12 starts or whatever its been.
Selective endpoints. Don’t his other starts count? Or just the past 12?
Triceps tightness has become synonymous with precursor to TJS in today’s game.
It may be a result of his supercharged start against the Yankees where he was throwing his hardest yet this season (I believe he was up around 98 IIRC).
Hopefully nothing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s terrible news either.
You got that right Clip. It just always gets me when they use words like “tightness”. What the hell is that, anyway? It’s pain, that’s what it is. His arm hurts.
I think it’s more forearm tightness that’s associated with being a precursor for TJS. Not sure.
I’ve heard both. There is no point in speculating. Steve Stone once said he arm always hurt except for his Cy Young season. Sometimes it just has to do with the fact that throwing a baseball is not natural for the human arm.
Coop – It’s like weightlifting.
You can go to the gym 3 times a week and lift moderate weights with no ill effect, but just one workout with much heavier weights can cause serious injury. Like Sale and Pedro overthrowing in the ASG.
Why do they always say “tightness” when the mean pain? His elbow hurts. It’s definitely not good news for the Dodgers. But with all the money they spent this offseason, there is no way they are not going out and getting pitching help, especially if Yamamoto is down for a while. And they want a shortstop, but I can’t see Milwaukee trading Adames. He’s not only a good SS, he’s the team leader. If they think there was acrimony when they traded Hader, wait to see what happens if they move Willy. It won’t be pretty, I can tell you that.
rtc
“Why do they always say “tightness” when the mean pain? His elbow hurts. ”
Are you inside Yamamoto’s head?
If not, how do you know what he is feeling?
I’m not just talking about him. Notice I said “why do they always…” I’m basing this on years of hearing that word used in place of pain.
rtc
“His elbow hurts.”
This you?
You’re talking about him
As someone who has suffered from a triceps injury (not from baseball), the first symptoms were the muscle was tight and would not relax. It was noticeable during full arm extension, especially when some weight was involved.
For example, no issue picking up a coffee cup but lifting a garbage bag high enough to put it into a large container resulted in the inability to fully extend the arm. The arm would just stop extending.. It felt like a door that would stop moving as it was being fully opened. Later there was a loss of strength and finally some momentary pain during arm extension. At that point, I consulted doctors..
My injury was minor with massage, rest, and time enough to heal. The time was a month or so. Of course, I am no athlete and am twice the age and then some of most MLB players. I now am careful to rest if the muscle gets tight and will not relax.
I dunno, I can feel tightness in my lower back at times, but I wouldn’t classify it as pain. It’s more like stiffness.
Ignorant
Right, like I guess these keyboard warriors have never done anything athletic
rtc
“I’ve been a writer for Bleacher Report and other sites for many years”
Oh.
Well.
In that case
You’re still wrong.
If no one at Bleacher Report knows that there’s a difference between a professional athlete and Joe Schmoe working at Target, then maybe they are all hacks
“you moron.”
Adios
Ignorant – Exactly, stiffness is a great synonym.
It’s like having a stiff neck, it doesn’t hurt but you can’t turn your head.
But we’re not talking about a back. In my many years of writing g and talking to mlb players, they always tell me something was hurting. But the team prefers to see “tightness” when it’s just minor pain like a tweak. To call someone ignorant is stupid. Like I said, this comes from experience with mlb players. Talk about a keyboard warrior – you wouldn’t call me ignorant if you knew my background. But I guess you’re just being “ignorant. “…
But you go about your day pretty much as normal, right? When you have to stop working is when it hurts. Sometimes if it’s bad enough you can’t get out of bed with a bad back. Point is, to stop doing your job (pitching in this case), I think he’s feeling some pain when he throws. Maybe I’m wrong.
Yikes! Doesn’t sound good. This is a risk of signing Japanese pitchers because they usually pitch once a week back in Japan. You either have to slowly acclimate them to a 5 man rotation or go with a 6 man rotation. That was one of the drawbacks during the Ohtani sweepstakes that wasn’t talked about a lot back when he first came over.
Shota says hello.
Don’t jinx him!
There is no such thing as a jinx. Shota was the best signing of the offseason to this point. if he’s going to get hurt, it won’t be due to a random post on a website Rob. You know that.
Of course I know that. It’s more surprising you thought it was serious.
Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t the Japanese league use a smaller ball? Remember the gyro ball that didn’t translate to mlb?? Maybe it’s changed now and I could be wrong
I do recall hearing that. And of course, they only pitch once a week.
Yep smaller and slightly lighter. Many gloss over that fact. As a whole Japanese pitchers have underwhelmed compared to their hype. Obviously the “other” guy I LA has been everything and more but none of the aces from Japan have been more than good #2’s here in America.
Blue – The fact Ohtani was pitching with more than 4 days rest is proof the extra rest doesn’t help. It’s the constant max effort that is causing these injuries, MLB hitters are a higher quality than Japanese and therefore require higher velocity and spin rate to get out.
Oh, that shucks! Thought it was the gambler!
Proof the pitch clock causes injuries. Why didn’t this happen in Japan?
Proof? It isn’t even evidence.
HADG
Why do pitchers get hurt later rather than sooner?
Compelling evidence you have there
@Hank Ypu might want to read onto the difference between causation and correlation.
So there’s at least a correlation between the pitch clock and injuries? That’s what I’ve been saying!
HADG
“So there’s at least a correlation between the pitch clock and injuries?”
Have you been saying it? Based on what evidence?
Another One.
For what its worth in his postgame interview tonight Yamamoto said he was feeling some tricep “tightness” over the past couple of days but didn’t think it was serious enough to stop him from starting tonight. It felt somewhat worse during his two innings so he bailed. He still thinks its not serious. I hope he’s right.
Domo owie Gato
That’s a hit on the Dodgers battleship
It’s funny because you said hit, something the Dodgers aren’t exactly consistently doing lately.
It’s funny because you said battle
Put some icyhot packs on his triceps and sit him for 2 weeks he’ll be good to go.
Who’s going to research past tricep tightness and how serious?
I see Verlander in 2020, and that didn’t end well, as he eventually had TJ surgery at end of season after making only 1 start and getting shutdown a couple of times. Started with bicep tightness in spring training.
Kazmir in 2014 and that didn’t seem to impact him as much as he made 32 starts.
James Paxton missed about 4 months in 2014.
Deferred participation in the rotation
There is a “high probability” that the Dodgers will place Yamamoto
Anyone from the Dodgers placing a wager on this?
Kikuchi. Jays need a bat.
Dodgers are going to be careful with Yamamoto, especially since they have Kershaw coming back. No need to over exert their arms when they’ll need them healthy for what is hopefully a deep playoff run.
Yamamoto’s spot in the rotation will be taken by Miller, who returns to action next week. The earliest we could see Kershaw is right after the All-Star break. If Yamamoto misses that much time it could be a bad sign.
Never mind for some reason I thought Kershaw was coning back sooner, my apologies. Then hopefully Yamamoto only has to miss a start or two at the most.
No problemo. If he goes on the 15-day as expected he’ll miss at least two starts.
Go Cubs Go!!
Yamamoto is the reverse of Alex Manoah. He’s a tiny guy who is now discovering that he could hump it up and blow guys away in Japan but here? Not so easy. MLB hitters can time you pretty quickly. His secondary stuff is great, but he has a lot of miles on that arm already. And he is the highest paid pitcher in the game. Think the Tax Dodgers are already having buyer’s remorse?