GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers’ six-man rotation will include only five starting pitchers for the first month or so.
With right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki used to pitching once a week during their careers in Japan and Shohei Ohtani expected to return to pitching after his second Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers are planning to use six starting pitchers to give them ample time off between starts. With off days every Thursday in April (and one Monday plus Sunday, March 30), however, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said it won’t be necessary to go with a six-man rotation at the outset of the season.
“The schedule sets up well through April for us to manage it without doing that,” Friedman said.
That schedule might force the Dodgers to start a pitcher on four days of rest as little as just three times in the first five weeks of the season (April 9, 16 and 30). By the time the schedule tightens up in May, Ohtani could be ready to return to pitching.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has said Yamamoto and Sasaki are expected to start the two regular-season games in Tokyo on March 18 and 19. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow (if healthy) are certainties in the rotation.
That leaves Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Bobby Miller fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation to start the season. Gonsolin missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, as was May when he suffered torn esophagus in July. Miller probably wishes he had missed 2024 – he posted an 8.52 ERA in 15 starts for the Dodgers last season and spent much of the year in the minors.
“It’s gonna be interesting. They are fighting (for a spot),” Roberts said.
Gonsolin or May could start the season on the injured list to complete their rehabs. But Roberts said they would also be options for a bullpen role if not in the rotation.
“Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But I do think that right now, at this point, they’re both building up. They’re both viewing themselves, we’re viewing them, as starters. We’ll see how the rest of the spring plays out, which obviously is a long ways away. That’s really not impacted until Opening Day here, in the States, so we’ve got a lot of time.”
Relievers Evan Phillips (shoulder) and Michael Kopech (forearm) are also expected to start the season on the IL, opening up two potential spots in the bullpen.
Friedman said the Dodgers are “not sure yet” when Ohtani will join the rotation, though Roberts has said “sometime in May” is likely. Ohtani is expected to throw his first bullpen session of the spring soon.
“We’re going to go through his progression and be able to read and react,” Friedman said. “It’s not something that we’re going to set an arbitrary date and say, ‘Now we’ve got to fit from where we are now to that date.’
“We’re just going to let him continue his progression, watch how he’s recovering. I’m sure that it will continue to be as good as it’s been to this point and we’ll continue to move forward. But the date’s going to kind of fall out of that process as opposed to us having a target date.”
NEW ARM
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol said he feels like he has “a new arm” after surgery on his right shoulder in November. Graterol missed much of the 2024 season with recurring discomfort in his pitching shoulder. The surgery dealt with issues in his labrum and a ligament in his shoulder, he said.
“Thank God, it was not the rotator cuff,” he said.
Graterol is still a month away from starting a throwing program. But he vows to pitch before the end of this season.
“The playoffs – just like last year,” he said.
Graterol made just seven regular-season appearances for the Dodgers last year due to his shoulder ailment and a hamstring injury. But he returned in time to make three appearances in the World Series.
VETERAN RELIEVER
The Dodgers added another experienced reliever to their bullpen options by signing right-hander Luis Garcia to a minor-league contract with an invitation to major-league camp.
Garcia, 38, signed with the Angels as a free agent a year ago and was 5-1 with four saves and a 3.71 ERA for them. Traded to Boston at the deadline, however, he had an 8.22 ERA in 15 appearances for the Red Sox.
A veteran of 12 major-league seasons with six teams, Garcia has a career ERA of 4.14.