Dodgers manager Dave Roberts delivered some tough news to reporters this afternoon, as he indicated to the team’s beat (including Juan Toribio of MLB.com) that right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been diagnosed with a sprained elbow and will be shut down indefinitely, leaving him “highly unlikely” to pitch again in 2024. Glasnow suffered a setback in his throwing program yesterday and underwent testing that ultimately revealed the sprain.
The update is a devastating blow to a Dodgers rotation that has been in flux for much of the year due to injuries despite the extreme depth they came into the season with on paper. The 30-year-old Glasnow was an All-Star for the first time in his career during his debut season with L.A. and posted a 3.49 ERA with a 2.90 FIP and a 32.2% strikeout rate this year, but he was unfortunately limited to just 22 starts and 134 innings this season. While that volume falls short of a full season of work, both totals actually constitute career-bests for the righty, whose previous career-highs were set last year at 21 starts and 120 innings of work respectively.
Glasnow’s lack of durability throughout his big league career didn’t deter the Dodgers from dealing outfielder Jonny DeLuca and right-hander Ryan Pepiot to the Rays to acquire him alongside outfielder Manuel Margot this offseason, nor did it get in the way of the club finalizing an extension that guaranteed the right-hander just over $111.5MM in new money from 2025 to 2028. Pepiot, who has posted a 3.76 ERA in 23 starts with the Rays this year, has dealt with injury issues of his own this season, and given Glasnow’s success with the club when healthy the Dodgers surely don’t regret adding his top-of-the-rotation caliber arm to their starting mix.
That doesn’t make the news regarding Glasnow’s likely absence from their postseason run any less frustrating, however. The Dodgers laid out well over a billion dollars in guaranteed contracts this winter in pursuit of their first World Series championship in a full season since 1988 and in doing so added Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Teoscar Hernandez to a core of players that already included stars such as Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts. While the additions of Hernandez and Ohtani have taken the club’s offense to new levels even in spite of absences from Betts and Freeman throughout the year, the rotation once again figures to be a significant question mark for the club this October without Glasnow to help stabilize things.
Yamamoto returned from the 60-day injured list earlier this month and figures to start Game 1 for the Dodgers this winter, with deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty standing out as their most likely contender to start Game 2. Who will follow those two in the club’s postseason rotation is not yet clear, however. Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller have both struggled badly in the majors this year with ERAs of 5.95 and 8.17 respectively, making them lackluster options to start potentially pivotal playoff games. Rookie Landon Knack has pitched fairly well in ten starts for the club this year, but the Dodgers surely would prefer a more experienced arm to follow Yamamoto and Flaherty.
Of course, the returns of other injured pitchers could help to bolster the club’s rotation ahead of October. Rookie Gavin Stone would be a tantalizing option given his 3.53 ERA in 25 starts this year, but the righty is currently on the shelf due to elbow inflammation with no clear timetable for return. Veteran southpaw Clayton Kershaw is also on the injured list, but has expressed hope that he’ll be able to return this year and would help to fortify the club’s rotation mix even as he’s posted a pedestrian 4.50 ERA in seven starts this year. Roberts also suggested earlier this week that there was a “very slim” possibility that Ohtani could be made available to pitch during the postseason, but it’s impossible to imagine the Dodgers changing their plans for the superstar based on today’s news regarding Glasnow.