The Dodgers announced this evening that right-hander Gavin Stone underwent surgery on his right shoulder on October 9. The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache and figures to cause Stone to miss the entire 2025 season.
Stone, 26 next week, made his big league debut with the Dodgers last year to lackluster results but enjoyed a breakout campaign this season upon being forced into the rotation by a number of pitching injuries. Stone wound up being one of the club’s most reliable pitchers for most of the year as key players like Bobby Miller, Walker Buehler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow all fell by the wayside throughout significant portions of the season due to injuries, ineffectiveness, or a combination thereof. During that time, Stone stepped up to post a solid 3.53 ERA (109 ERA+) with a 4.01 FIP in 140 1/3 innings of work across 25 starts, including an utterly dominant 2.73 ERA in his first 15 starts of the season.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Stone began to flag late in the season as he made it out of the fifth inning just three times after the All-Star break, pitching to a 4.12 ERA and 5.00 FIP in his final eight starts of the year before he too was placed on the IL in early September due to what at the time was termed right shoulder inflammation. The soreness persisted throughout the month of September and eventually led to him being more or less ruled out for the club’s postseason push just under a month ago. At the time, there was little indication that Stone wouldn’t be ready to go come Spring Training 2025 but that’s no longer the case as the youngster will likely have to wait until 2026 to follow up on an impressive rookie campaign.
While the news changes little for the Dodgers as they look to take on the Mets in the NLCS tomorrow in hopes of advancing to their first World Series since the shortened 2020 season, Stone’s absence is a devastating blow to the club’s 2025 starting rotation. With Shohei Ohtani expected to return to the club’s rotation early next year, it seems likely that the Dodgers will employ a six-man rotation next year as the Angels did while Ohtani was pitching for them. Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Glasnow figure to occupy three of those six slots, but the Dodgers have little in the way of certainty beyond that group.
Miller will return to the club next year but struggled to an 8.52 ERA in 13 starts this year, leaving questions regarding how willing the club would be to rely on him for a significant number of starts next year. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May both figure to return to the mound early next year, but will be coming off lengthy absences that could make them questionable choices to pencil in for 30 starts a piece. Clayton Kershaw could return but is undecided about his future after a mostly lost season due to injury, while both Buehler and Jack Flaherty are ticketed for free agency this November.
Given the numerous questions the Dodgers face regarding their rotation depth this winter, it seems likely that bolstering their starting pitching corps will be a priority for the club this winter even as they boast a number of potentially strong options. This winter’s free agent class of starters is headlined by Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, Max Fried, and Flaherty. The Dodgers have shown little hesitance about shopping at the top of the free agent market, so it’s certainly feasible to imagine that caliber of name being in play for the club. Even looking beyond that group, however, L.A. could still bolster their rotation depth with mid-tier options like Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, or Luis Severino or even search for a bounce-back candidate or two as they’ve done with Tyler Anderson and Noah Syndergaard in recent years.
Senor Attache el armo.
Bummer. Shoulder surgery is always the worst.
@BlueSkies_LA
Worse things could happen. He could die. He could forget how to pitch like some in the past and lose his career. Shoulder surgery is all covered by the team and the guy just gets some paid time off.
Sigh. I was just talking about people posting here who don’t seem to like baseball very much, and there you are, right on cue.
@BlueSkies_LA
When did I not like baseball? Is that your projecting your opinion of baseball on me?
@Mojo37
I’d like to reply directly to you but the system says I can’t reply to your posts.
How exactly am I a jerk? What exactly did I mention?
Think it over, perhaps in a quiet corner.
@Mojo37
The fact you can’t be bothered to have a rational conversation tells me your purpose in life is to be a troll.
York
You post negative BS almost every day. Always negative and usually glib. If I took the time to go into detail with you it would be a full time occupation. I don’t give a damn what you think of me. Your posts speak for themselves as do mine. As for trolling you’d be the expert in that.
@Mojo37
I don’t post negative bs everyday. I’m providing constructive feedback and discussion on topics of baseball. The sense of negativity is in the reader’s perspective.
If I’m to go by your posts, you don’t seem that interested in baseball so much as trolling. Do you think that’s a fair assesment or is that my perspective?
Your assessment about me is yours and you are entitled to it. I do not think it is objectively true. As I said minutes ago and will say now for the last time both your posts and mine speak for themselves.
Mojo37
7 mins ago
Working next to you in that case?
—————
And I’m the one posting BS and trollish posts that acts like a jerk? I guess kevnames42 misdirected the comment and it should have been directed at Mojo37.
It’s funny how both of y’all are right
York
Do you get advice on how to be a jerk or is it all on your own?
He went to the jerk store, but they were running out of him!
Kev
Hope we meet in da Bronx week after this.
You going to the subway series too?
Lotsa luck. May the best team win. I’ll be at Citifield Wed-Thurs.
Old York, true. Or he could wake up and realize his MLB career was all a dream. Then he heads off to his shift at the 7/11.
Working next to you in that case?
Liked him also cpl times saw him pitch on mlbtv Bluesky. LAD have had maybe worst luck in the game with serious SP injuries last 3y. Fans of other teams whining need look no further than LA and see how decimated SP numbers can be and how they have STILL won is amazing.
john;
Please.
It wasn’t “bad luck”. Save that for the stat geeks that need excuses when their projections fail.
‘Luck is the residue of design’
– Branch Rickey
Blue: Totally agree. As a recipient of a sub acromial decompression and some shoulder debridement along with repair of a frayed tendon due to impingement syndrome, shoulders suck to come back from because of the overall mobility of the joint. Would much rather have had an elbow which only goes one way. That said, I was throwing without pain after nine months of not picking up a baseball and the ensuing rehab. Let’s hope Stone has a successful recovery.
We’ve also learned that although his career might be over at least he isn’t dead.
Indeed we did. Assuming now that someone needs to post that after every article about a player getting hurt just to let the masses know it could be worse.
Yep. These days TJs are common. Shoulder usually musch worse. Dodgers have all guys who cant stay healthy.
Rich Hill on line 1
Yeah…Rich Hill can take Gavin to/from his rehab appointments.
Sign Tomoyuki Sugano and get Roki Sasaki. I believe Sugano will be interested with 2/20-25M. And Sasaki i believe wants to jump now. He’s preety piss off last year when his team (Chiba Lotte) didnt let him going to the Majors
Stone was probably their best starter this season so that’s a blow for next year already.
Expect Glasnow/Gonsolin/May to play musical chairs with the IL next season and you will need a 6 man rotation for Ohtani with only Yamamoto guaranteed a spot
Sheehan will also be back next year. And I say Kershaw will be too. No way he goes out on this last season.
Kershaw should pull a Clemens and comeback in the second half. He doesn’t have the durability to make it through a full season anymore
I fear that Glasnow won’t make it thru next season and require TJS #2. Sheehan should be expected to have command issues similar to that of Buehler this season. Based on reports, Gonsolin may hold up best. May should be converted into a reliever. Kershaw should be solid…when he pitches.
Out for a season with surgery. Now that qualifies Stone as a true Dodger.
So will his ring.
Stone cold post.
pitching ability is toast, but he has a whole life ahead of him
Vesia is likely to miss the Mets series with an intracostal injury.
*intercostal
Intercostal injury keeps him out of an inter-coastal series
Sure but it’s a sad day for Stone after such a promising season.
Thanks Jesse. We all love who we love and we can’t control that. At least you’re a lover not a hater like so many here. I’m no fan of the Giants but I don’t wish them ill. It’s always may the best team win.
Now Gonsolin appears to be in the mix. It’s musical hurlers.
As long as someone goes and eats innings and gets a win, Dodgers gotta use all the tools available.
The Dodgers have the 20-5 plan.
Sign 20 pitchers to get production equal to 5.
This year they signed one starter. I know it only seems like 20.
Did you give up on Ohtani already?
Um, what?
You said you signed one starting pitcher. Yamamoto and Ohtani were both signed for about a billion dollars. They are both considered significant starting pitchers.
Ohtani was signed to pitch this season? Tell me more.
Was he signed for this season alone? Was he giving his contract to be a starting pitcher in his deal? I’m sure the Dodgers gave him 600+ mil to DH alone. So like the original poster was implying, the Dodgers sign a bunch of injury prone pitchers. He’s not wrong because the pitcher was literally hurt all year and couldn’t pitch.
The point being, they actually did not sign a bunch of injury prone pitchers and in fact they signed just the one starting pitcher for this year, or two if you count keeping Kershaw under contract. Three if you want to count the extension for Glasnow. Either way most of the starters on the IL this year were team controlled players: Ryan, May, Gonsolin, Stone, Sheehan. So this is real story, not the easy narrative.
Injuries are never good but they seem especially cruel when they happen to a young guy seemingly on the cusp of flourishing.
Safe to say that this was torn labrum surgery if Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed it? Wish Stone well.
Roki Sasaki news? Is 2025 the year?
Doubtful. Not enough cash in it yet for his Japanese team.
My bet is 2026 he is with Dodgers or Padres. His health was shaky early in 2024 and he may realize that waiting from 2025 to 2026 to get the bigger payday is the smart move.
It’s not up to Sasaki. His team holds the decision.
Agreed, but I am saying that if the team permits it, the smart move is still for him to wait one more year and cash in big time. The Yamamoto way not the Ohtani way. There are some writers who speculated that his team agreed to let him leave early, but I am skeptical.
Yes I think he waits.
Screw the Dodgers!
So long as you buy them dinner first like the Pads.
The Giants spend too – except they don’t win.
Now it’s River Ryan and Stone lost to surgery.
Ohtani, Glasnow, May, Gonsolin, Miller, Kershaw.
You can’t count on any of the above guys to pitch or be healthy for a full season. The only two guys who I would venture to be above 20 starts are Yamamoto and, assuming he is given and takes a qualifying offer, Buehler, and I write that with trepidation.
I get that both these players have been on the IL this year, but I’m betting on Yamamoto being better and healthier next year because he’ll be more adjusted to the nuances of MLB such as using a larger ball when pitching. Buehler will be over a full year removed from surgery and have adjusted to a new pitching style/repertoire because he clearly isn’t “Buetane” anymore with the punch outs.
If Roki is available, I hope the Dodgers sign him. However, the one guy who has shown to be durable (at least when he has had a full Spring Training), is Blake Snell. Though he might cost a lot, he could be a staunch addition to the rotation. It’s going to be difficult though because the Dodgers do need to work in some of their talented & cheaper minor league talent into the mix like Jackson Ferris.
Dodgers are getting Fs in 2026, Ferris and Frasso.
Add Sheehan to your list of starters that will be back next year.
No way they give Buehler a QO at 21 million. They might want him back on a pillow deal but not at that price.
Stone’s MLB career is toast. He’s done.
You picked your name well.
Thank you Doctor Mcknownothing
They have the money to outbid other teams looking to sign Patrick Corbin.
Or they could avoid him completely & sign Corbin Burnes instead.
images.app.goo.gl/vcDAAJ4ohMZy8o8N8
Something about the Dodgers routine for their pitchers forces an abnormally high rate of TJ’s, shoulder and back injuries.. Let’s see how long before Ohtani needs a second elbow surgery..
He’s already had two expert
You really have to tip your cap to the Dodgers for advancing this far in the playoffs. Rotations #1 and #2 were decimated by injury and they’re running on #3. It would be an embarrassment to the rest of the league if they managed to win the championship patching their staff together with duct tape and bailing wire.
I’d be surprised if LAD doesn’t use Ohtani as a pitcher in the NLCS.
Whereas, the rest of baseball would be flabbergasted.
The only way Ohtani pitches in this series is if the Mets are down to their final out in the series and Mike Trout comes in to pinch hit. (In other words, it won’t happen.)
Gavin Stone had an unexpectedly great season for the Doyers. Shame it ended as it did. Hope to see him sooner, rather than later, atop the mound throwing firestuff at Dodger Stadium in 2025.
Horrible news,
Ho hum, time for the Dodgers to just buy another superstar to replacement. Sigh.
How can people root for this team? The 2017 team, that was different. A lot of young homegrown stars (with some purchases, of course). But Ohtani, Betts, Yamamoto, Glasnow, Freeman, Tesocar? These aren’t true Dodgers. These are ringers brought in by America’s greediest team to try and buy their first legit title since 1988. It’s pathetic and yet their “fans,” the ones who throw garbage at opposing players and get into fights outside the stadium.