The Dodgers have activated Blake Snell from the 60-day injured list, the team announced this morning. The two-time Cy Young winner signed a five-year, $182MM contract with L.A. in the offseason but landed on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation after just two starts with his new team. As expected, he will start this afternoon against the Rays. Right-hander Paul Gervase, whom the Dodgers acquired as part of the three-team trade that sent Zack Littell to the Reds, has been optioned to the minor leagues. MLBTR’s Steve Adams reports that the Dodgers will make room for Snell on the 40-man roster by designating fellow left-hander Zach Penrod for assignment.
When healthy, Snell is one of the most fearsome pitchers in the game. While injuries limited him to just 20 starts last year in his lone season with the Giants, the southpaw produced a 3.12 ERA and 3.16 SIERA in 104 innings of work. The Dodgers will hope he enjoys similar success upon his return in 2025, though it’s worth keeping in mind that neither of the injuries that sidelined Snell in 2024 (nor the injuries that sidelined him in 2022 or 2021) were arm injuries. On the bright side, he was utterly dominant in his four rehab starts, striking out 24 minor league batters in 13 2/3 innings of work and touching 97 on the radar gun.
Perhaps no team has suffered as many pitching injuries as the Dodgers this season, but no team entered the season equipped with more pitching depth, either. With Snell back in the mix, L.A.’s rotation is finally starting to look like the supergroup fans imagined it could be in the offseason. The two-time ERA leader joins Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, and Emmet Sheehan in what will be a six-man rotation for the time being. Considering all six of those pitchers have dealt with injuries over the past 12 months, manager Dave Roberts’s decision to move to a six-man rotation is easy to understand.
The Dodgers are enjoying yet another strong season, but they have not been the unstoppable force many expected them to be. Injuries have been a big reason why. According to FanGraphs, they are the closest team to a lock to make the playoffs (99.4% playoff odds), but their division odds took a notable hit after on trade deadline day. San Diego made a huge splash, adding Mason Miller, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramon Laureano, Nestor Cortes, Jorge Quintana, Freddy Fermin, and Will Wagner, while L.A. had a relatively quiet deadline, picking up Brock Stewart and Alex Call but parting with Dustin May. The Dodgers remain the clear frontrunners in the NL West and the favorites to win World Series, according to both the FanGraphs and PECOTA odds, but they are now relying on their many injured players to get healthy (and their many injury-prone players to stay healthy) more than ever.
The Dodgers acquired Penrod for cash consideration in June after the Red Sox designated him for assignment. The left-hander initially signed with the Rangers as an undrafted free agent in 2018, and went under the knife for Tommy John surgery the following year. He did not pitch in affiliated ball again until he signed a minor league pact with the Red Sox in August 2023.
Penrod made his MLB debut for Boston the following September, pitching four innings over seven games and giving up two runs (one earned). He struck out three and walked four. Unfortunately, a left elbow sprain kept him from competing for a spot in the Red Sox’s Opening Day bullpen this year, and not long after he returned from the IL, Boston cut him from the 40-man roster. Clearly, the Dodgers were intrigued enough to strike a trade and keep him on the 40-man for six weeks, but he failed to earn his way back to the majors. L.A. will now have to place Penrod on waivers, and perhaps the potential that attracted the Dodgers to his arm will convince another team to put in a claim in the coming days. He still has three option years remaining.
Source link
