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When a Major League Baseball team is forced to rely on an inordinately high number of pitchers, it typically means a rash of injuries and ineffectiveness that derailed the season.<\/p>\n
For the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, it meant winning the franchise\u2019s eighth World Series title.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles set a team record last year by using 40 different pitchers during the regular season, including a total of 17 who started at least one game.<\/p>\n
The team obviously made it work, but it is not the recommended path.<\/p>\n
While optimistic of staying away from that big of a merry-go-round in 2025,\u00a0the Dodgers do plan to employ a six-man rotation\u00a0once\u00a0Shohei Ohtani\u00a0is ready to start,\u00a0but that date remains an unknown.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles is also hopeful\u00a0of being able to ease\u00a0Yohinobu Yamamoto\u00a0into the season, while keeping an eye on\u00a0Roki Sasaki\u2019s workload in his first MLB campaign.<\/p>\n
All of which emphasizes the importance of depth in the pitching staff, and for Los Angeles,\u00a0thanks to a few injuries and one off-field \u201cmishap,\u201d\u00a0that depth will be tested right from the opening pitch.<\/p>\n
As the Dodgers prepare to begin their defense of the crown with games against the Chicago Cubs\u00a0on March 18 and 19 in Tokyo, they will do so without a quintet of right-handed relievers:\u00a0Michael Kopech,\u00a0Evan Phillips,\u00a0Michael Grove,\u00a0Brusdar Graterol, and\u00a0Edgardo Henriquez.<\/p>\n
Getty<\/span>Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Edgardo Henriquez will miss the start of the season due to an injury on his left foot suffered during an off-field \u201cmishap.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Those first four are all dealing with injuries of varying degrees. As for Henriquez, the 22-year-old, who made his MLB debut in September, appeared to have earned a spot on the opening day roster, in part due to the loss of the aforementioned quartet, but on March 4, he arrived at the team\u2019s training camp site in Arizona\u00a0with a walking boot on his left foot.<\/p>\n Manager Dave Roberts was initially reluctant to discuss the injury, but later said Henriquez had a \u201cmishap\u201d off the field and suffered a metatarsal injury, which would keep him out for four to six weeks.<\/p>\n Among the injured relievers, Grove will be out the longest.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Grove walked into the clubhouse at Camelback Ranch\u00a0with his pitching arm in a sling. He declined to speak with reporters, but it was later confirmed that Grove had season-ending surgery to repair his right labrum.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a shoulder issue that\u2019s been bothering him for, I don\u2019t know how far back,\u201d\u00a0Roberts\u00a0said. \u201cHe tried to pitch through it and the recovery wasn\u2019t what any of us would have liked. We tried the rest approach and we just felt that we had to get the surgery done.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Graterol is expected to miss half of the upcoming season following surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. The procedure was performed a few days after the World Series, in which Graterol appeared in three games.<\/p>\nMichael Kopech, Evan Phillips Hope to be Activated in April<\/h2>\n