Blake Snell is set to meet with Dodgers team doctors on Monday as the parties try to determine the next step in his recovery from left shoulder soreness. Snell’s shoulder is still bothering him, to the point that plans to resume playing catch earlier this week were put on hold until Snell received a check-up from the medical staff.
Snell has been on the 15-day injured list since April 3, and tests haven’t revealed any structural damage within his throwing shoulder. He did start throwing in mid-April and had one bullpen session, but continued discomfort in his shoulder scrapped plans for another pen session on April 23. MLB.com’s Sonja Chen writes that Snell has received an injection in his shoulder since April 23, though the treatment didn’t appear to do much to solve the issue.
More will be known about Snell’s status once the check-up actually takes place tomorrow, though it can’t be considered a good sign that the two-time Cy Young Award winner has now gone close to three weeks without throwing, and what was initially thought to be a relatively minor shoulder issue has now cost Snell an increasingly big chunk of the 2025 season.
Injuries have long been a subplot of Snell’s career, yet when healthy, Snell has looked like one of the better pitchers in the sport over the last decade. The Dodgers were encouraged enough by this upside to sign Snell to a five-year, $182MM free agent deal this past winter, even though a variety of injuries in the first half of the 2024 season limited him to 104 innings with the Giants last year.
Given this track record, nobody would be surprised if Snell again looks like an ace whenever he returns to the L.A. mound. The fact that Snell hit the IL after just two starts in Dodger Blue is certainly ominous, however, and those concerns won’t dissipate unless Snell gets some good news in tomorrow’s check-up, or (more directly) when he is actually on a clear track to a return to action.
Tyler Glasnow is also set to meet with team doctors tomorrow, though this appears to be something of a final step before the right-hander gets the green light to start a formal rehab process. Glasnow went on the 15-day IL on April 28 due to his own case of shoulder inflammation, and that placement was soon followed by news of a 10-14 day shutdown. That shutdown period is now complete, as manager Dave Roberts told Chen and other reporters that Glasnow is pain-free and started playing catch this weekend.
Assuming tomorrow’s check-up goes well, it will still be a while before Glasnow is back off the IL, as he’ll need time (and probably at least one minor league rehab start) to fully rebuild his arm strength. But especially given the uncertainty surrounding Snell, Glasnow’s return to at least light throwing is a good sign.
Snell and Glasnow are two of a whopping 13 pitchers on the Dodgers’ seemingly ever-crowded injured list, and Shohei Ohtani could technically be considered the 14th given how Ohtani hasn’t pitched since undergoing a UCL-related surgery in September 2023. However, a major name is set to be activated next weekend, as Clayton Kershaw threw what is expected to be his final minor league rehab outing today.
Kershaw tossed 57 pitches over four innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City in today’s start, which was the fourth outing of his rehab stint. Kershaw underwent surgeries on his left plantar plate and a torn left meniscus last November, and began the season on the 60-day injured list as part of that recovery process. Because the Dodgers’ season began earlier than usual due to their series in Tokyo with the Cubs, May 17 represents the first day that Kershaw is eligible to be activated off the 60-day IL. Whether Kershaw is activated on the exact day or the next, the future Hall-of-Famer will make his 2025 debut during next weekend’s series against the Angels.
Once Kershaw is back, Los Angeles will be back up to a five-man rotation that also includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May. Since Yamamoto and Sasaki are on once-a-week pitching schedules to emulate their usage in Japan, the Dodgers should still deploy an unofficial six-man staff to make up for those extra starts, with the likes of Landon Knack, Ben Casparius, Justin Wrobleski, or others stepping into spot duty.
Thoughts and Prayers LOL
Kershaw will ride to the rescue one last time.
Snell is a shell of himself apparently.
That’s what we thought last year in San Francisco
Then when July came around he started mowing everybody down on K’s
He was incentivized last year. After getting his big contract, I think he’s good now to resume the injury trail.
Leaving Snell trails all over the place.
The Dodgers are so rich the whole team could go on the IL and they’d just buy a new one. No big deal at all.
“The Dodgers are so rich..buy a new one”…The Dodgers weren’t always rich and they didn’t get “rich” in a vacuum. They did the things that many other teams refuse to do because of risk.
13+ years ago the Dodgers were a mess of lawsuits, infighting, divorce, low attendance, countersuits and on-field mediocrity. New owners, Guggenheim Group, came in well financed and with determination and an excellent business plan.
Guggenheim almost immediately invested MILLIONS upon millions of the group’s money to acquire on and off field talent and to massively upgrade the stadium experience.
They immediately hired over a dozen+ new scouts, trainers and talent evaluators. They paid top dollar to attract the best talent development people and they’ve consistently drafted and developed better than 90% of other teams in the last decade.
And now today, they reap the rewards of their well executed plan. Top talent begging to play for them, nightly overflow crowds of 40,000+, even when the Marlins come to town and skyrocketing tv ratings.
No, the Dodgers weren’t “born” rich and they certainly didn’t get “rich” in a vacuum. They’re doing many of the things that many other teams refused to do.
Yeah, pay no attention to that $450 million payroll. It’s all internal development and scouting. LMAO!!!
“Pay no attention..450 million payroll”..You clearly know nothing about business and are not shy at all about showing it.
First off, your points are all emotionally based and highly exaggerated. The Dodgers do not have a $450M payroll and in fact do not have MLB’s highest payroll at all.
And a smart businessman would be willing to run a $800M+ payroll as long as his/her team makes money and is profitable. Does anyone at all think the Dodgers are not highly, highly profitable?
That’s the standard my friend; it’s what you make, not what you spend at the end of the day. Any first year business or accounting student could have told you all of these concepts in a semester term paper.
Having what is essentially a monopoly over North America’s second largest media market doesn’t hurt, either.
It’s a tad disingenuous to suggest the poster doesn’t understand basic economics. It’s seems rather like a deflection from the hard reality the payroll size has a direct correlation to winning in MLB. The more you spend, the more you win.
I don’t argue that the Dodgers haven’t been smart in other aspects of the game, neither did the other poster. But it’s not fair to attack someone’s intelligence because you don’t want to address a very valid point, especially in such a condescending manor.
spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/_/year/2025
1. LAD 332MM
2. NYM 324MM
If you look at luxury tax figures: spotrac.com/mlb/tax/_/year/2025
1. LAD 403MM
2. NYM 331MM
So while the poster was incorrect about the 450MM (Maybe they’re counting all deferred money in the figure), they clearly have the highest payroll.
They’re doing it smartly, like you mentioned. And good for them. But they clearly have the highest payroll.
If you allow teams who make more to spend more then you don’t have fair competition anymore you have college football. In that scenario Midwest teams can never ever realistically compete with teams like the Yankeesand Dodgers in the long term. And that’s not fair competition in sports. In business it is but not in sports and competition.
Nobody said they were dumb you can be rich and smart just like you can be Rich and Dumb like the 2023 Mets. Hell I think they did a Heck of a job taking the entire nation of Japan as their minor league affiliate. And they got 7 billion starting pitchers it’s genius actually. Granted no other club other than the Mets and Yankees has those resources and we have seen how they have used them in the past. So the Dodgers use the Big market to the upmost efficiency.
I mean, I’m sick of the Dodgers, too, but let’s not act like they haven’t been run increasing well over the past 15 or so seasons. They were winning before signing Ohtani, Freeman, Snell, Yamamoto, etc. which is exactly how they were able to pay for all those guys. They reinvested in the team. We would all love our teams to have a $354 million payroll, and I don’t believe you if you say otherwise.
If all teams had a 350 million dollar payroll them fine. One team spending that much while others spend nowhere close is not in the spirit of fair competition. Maybe you could let the Pirates use steroids. That would be fair…….
The Dodgers got rich because they were lucky enough to be in the 2nd largest media market in the nation. Get a clue.
You can spend hundreds of millions when the owners have hundreds of billions.
It’s true. My team refused to pay Ohtahni, who is a Human Cash Register. They refused to build around him. The Angels had a chance to become a Juggernaut, but Artie Moreno is the biggest Moran in baseball. Neto is on track to be a cost-controlled superstar. He would be an idiot to stay with the Angels. They should have already signed him to a Bobby Witt type contract, but the fact they haven’t tried to sign him just shows that Moreno is only interested in counting his gate receipts a and TV revenue. He’s already making a bundle on Neto jersey sales. He could use that money to subsidize an over payment to make him the face of the franchise.
I’m jealous of the Dodgers because they always do the right thing. Their player development is hugely successful. They are just doing what it takes to compete for a World Series year in and year out.
The dodgers are doing things other teams refuse/can’t do, like being in a top two market. If they were in the number 25 market, they would not even be able to afford Ohtani, even doing everything else right.
The Dodgers weren’t born rich? Ok, so you are still in high school so I’ll cut you some slack. The Dodgers, like the Yankees and Cubs have ALWAYS BEEN RICH. If they have been so well managed then why the huge payroll? The best training staff; have you looked at the injuries over the past 3-4 years? Currently they are sucking up money like a hospital. But it won’t be too many years when Ohtani gets “older” and the Japanese stop buying his merch. And all those other huge contracts will be attached to older players. It will be interesting to see how they handle the cascade.
Yes they are doing it good now but when all there deferred contracts start paying out then what? They mortgaged the future. I’m not a fan of the Dodgers but one clear advantage is the Japanese market. Smart but I still disagree with all the future payouts for players that are retired. This better be the Dodgers prime next 5 years. If they don’t win at least 2-3 more then it’s a huge failure and they will be in an albatross for a decade
@braves
Is the team they’re running out there on any given day any with all the injuries any good?
Latest on Dodgers’ Injured Pitchers…
I do not understand why the parties need to sit down tomorrow. And why call them parties? He is a member of the team, so I would expect his health and the next steps would have already been discussed.
Can you not read?
First sentence of the piece:
“Blake Snell is set to meet with Dodgers team doctors on Monday as the parties try to determine the next step in his recovery from left shoulder soreness. “
My Snell wants to party all the time.
~Eddie Murphy
Let’s party!!
I heard there will be cake.
🎶I hope it’s chocolate for me🎶
What is it with pitchers who are either now still on the team, or have been in the recent past, having an alarming history of arm injuries while or after pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays? And it’s not just in the Major Leagues either. Their minor league system is far from exempt. Maybe Leo Mazzone and Dr. James Andrews are on to something.
What team is keeping pitchers healthy?
I don’t want to say out of fear of the jinx. There is one that I’m aware of. Been riding the starters pretty hard as well.
@Dusty – Seattle has done an excellent job of keeping their starting pitchers healthy over the last two years. Not sure what they are doing but the results speak for themselves.
No team can keep their entire team healthy for a season (fielders or pitchers) but Seattle does one of the best jobs in the league when it comes to pitcher health, especially starters.
Mariners have 3 starters on the IL including their #1 and #2.
The lucky ones.
It’s not a Rays pitcher issue it’s a Rays pitcher who throws high velocity with a high spin rate issue. David Price, James Shields, and Jake Odorizzi all had relatively healthy careers where their arms didn’t start breaking down until they were older. All were relatively healthy. They all also threw average fastballs multiple mph slower than Snell or Glasnow. Glasnow and Snell also did not have easy throwing motions which were concerns even when they were drafted. The idea starting pitchers should pitch over multiple innings the same way that Billy Wagner threw in one inning without injuries is a modern fantasy.
Snell has never missed an entire season or had a major surgery during his mlb career. He misses a little time every year. I would say the Snell contract is less risky than the Glasnow contract. Glasnow is the crazy contract.
All of this happy talk concerning Snell coming back and being one of the best pitchers in baseball is a pipe dream. It is obvious that Snell’s body wasn’t made to be a starter, and the Dodgers were fools for serving up that contract. He’s had an injury plagued career, but somehow the Dodgers think that they can fix him. How’s that been working out for their Dirty Dozen? Baseball media talks like it’s given that their front office is clever since all they need to do is get to the playoffs and their pitchers will be healed. They got lucky last year, or should I say that the Yankees gifted them a ring. Will lightning strike twice? Dodger fans don’t bet your houses on it.
See you in the fifth inning of the fifth game…again.
The Dodgers are going to lose in the wild card round.
Dream on little one.
What are they 8-8 against winning teams?
See you next weekend.
rather the weekend after…May 23-24-25. Can’t wait.
Could happen. Every year is different. Dodgers from 2017 to 2024 can tell you that. Pretty much the best team in that span and 2 championships, one which is contested by Covid. Take or leave it. They may go far, may not. I still say the 2017 team was the best and I don’t think this year they are as good as last year’s team
As long as they don’t win 100 games, they’re a cinch for the WS. lol
Yankees played terrible baseball. But you know what? They were a lot closer to winning (stealing) the Series than you probably think. If they had a competent manager they would have won. Don’t be so smug, the Dodgers are an extremely top heavy team with a lot of dead contracts coming due…..
I believe your smugness detector needs some adjustment.
Well, that’s why they play the season out.
Nice after the fact take. Sadly I made this observation at the time of this ludicrous signing. The over hyped dodgers pitching staff is full of blown out arms and let’s hope. Yamamoto be careful. Made this take before the season. The only team with a loaded staff is the Phillies and their GM is to stupid to do anything with it
With the amount of walks he throws, I doubt he’s a reliever either
Snell Ill call finished for the yr. They will get few innings out of that payroll bandit. Glasnow-His name fits him well. He like Snell, Stanton, Rendon, like fine blown glass. How long until his next IL stint?
I hope both Snell Glasnow are finished for the year. LMAO
Yikes.
On the bright side for Snell: more time to play video games.
Don’t need an update on here I’ll just turn on his livestream. Shoulder looks ok while playing Fortnite.
Snell hibernates until July then gives up no runs the rest of the year.
But gives up a ton of walks and only pitches 100 innings or less. Waste.
A Bionic shoulder is advised..
Calling Dr. Rudy Wells!
Honestly, they’re probably better without him and his sluggish 5 innings a start
Sluggish?
Maybe not the right word. But I think of sluggish as not getting through a lot of innings and throwing walks. He’s good at that
Meanwhile Dodgers own the top record without Snell & Glas. They’ll manage.
The way I look at it, the season is a marathon. As long as they have 2-3 healthy starters come playoff time. The key, though, is the bullpen. Will it be healthy come October. Scott, Yates, Phillips, Kopech, Vesia, and Graterol are a formidable bunch…….on paper.
and Treinen
Jeez, I can’t believe I missed that. Thanks.
Very true, but I don’t think they are as good as last year
Snell got his big money guaranteed deal, any production the Dodgers get out of him over the life of the contract is a bonus
No structural damage but too much pain to even play catch? Something is wrong with this picture,
Nothing wrong with the picture, just with the interpretation.
His shoulder didn’t hurt when he signed that big money contract. Or did it? Either way way, he doesn’t care, he’s getting paid.
Trade him for Devers, just because.
Devers has a 1.227 OPS and 5 HR over his past 15 games. He ain’t going anywhere.
Is Devers going to pitch? Starter? Relief?
All this nothing: is it something?
Nobody disputes that a healthy Snell is a very solid starter. However, even when healthy, he’s hard pressed to pitch an efficient 6 innings. He’s the king of 5 1/3 innings pitched. Mix in a trigger happy manager with a penchant for taxing a bullpen all the way up to October and the Dodgers will be needing another unbelievable performance out of that bullpen to repeat this year. I wouldn’t bet on it.