Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow has ‘sprained elbow,’ unlikely to pitch again this year

ATLANTA — The Dodgers acquired Tyler Glasnow last winter believing – hoping? – that his injury history was behind him.

It wasn’t.

After canceling a planned simulated-game session Friday with renewed “discomfort” in his elbow, Glasnow underwent an examination that revealed a “sprained elbow,” according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers offered no specifics about what ligament was sprained although Roberts did say Glasnow’s ulnar collateral ligament, which was repaired by Tommy John surgery in August 2021, was not damaged.

Regardless, the conclusion is that it is “very unlikely” Glasnow will pitch again this season, Roberts said.

“There’s going to be a shutdown in throwing. I don’t know how long that’s going to be,” Roberts said. “Time of return? I don’t think anybody knows.

“I would say it’s highly unlikely (Glasnow returns this season), given where we are in the calendar.”

The Dodgers’ billion-dollar investment last winter did not insulate them from another breakdown of their starting pitching.

As it stands now, mid-season acquisition Jack Flaherty would start the first game of a postseason series, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who just returned from a three-month absence due to a rotator cuff injury. What follows is an assortment of options, each distasteful or unlikely based on performance (Walker Buehler, Bobby Miller) or health (Gavin Stone, Clayton Kershaw). Rookie Landon Knack or a ‘bullpen game’ are also possible alternatives.

A long shot is right-hander Tony Gonsolin. Just 12 months removed from his own Tommy John surgery, Gonsolin is scheduled to make his second start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment on Sunday.

“Yeah, it’s a big blow,” Roberts said. “Looking at what he meant for our ballclub, what he’s done for us, what we expected him to do – certainly there’s going to be a cost. But we have to move on and we will and we have capable people. I feel bad for Tyler because he did everything to stay healthy and get back and it just wasn’t going to happen.”

Acquired with the Tampa Bay Rays and signed to a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension in December, Glasnow threw a career-high 134 innings this season but only 31 of them came after the end of June. He spent time on the injured list with a back injury in July then went back on the IL with what was called elbow tendinitis that started a month ago. He threw two bullpen sessions and was warming up to face hitters in a simulated-game setting Friday when it flared up again.

“I think all along that’s kind of what it is,” Roberts said of Saturday’s diagnosis. “I don’t know specifics. But saying it is a sprain sort of encompasses a lot and right now he’s not going to be throwing a baseball for a while.”

Left-hander Justin Wrobleski was scratched from his scheduled start with OKC on Saturday. But he can’t be recalled until Sept. 23 unless it is to replace a pitcher going to the IL.

“It’s difficult. It’s manageable. We’re doing it,” Roberts said of the ongoing issues with the starting rotation. “I think the main thing is, we have to just continue to stay focused on the players that are available to us, and winning a baseball game that night. To the guys’ credit, that’s what they’ve done, and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot, given all we’ve gone through this year.

“We still have a pretty good ball club.”

Whether they have a good enough team to win in October, with all the subtractions and question marks on the pitching staff, is the question they will have to answer.

“I’m still confident,” Roberts said. “I don’t think there’s one way to win a championship. I think you can look back at the teams recently and how their staffs came together and who stepped up for each team’s staff. So we’re going to have the guys we have, and I feel confident in whoever we run out there. But certainly, losing Tyler for any length of time, and Clayton for any length of time, Gavin Stone and what he’s done, it’s certainly a hit. No doubt.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Walker Buehler, 1-5, 5.95 ERA) at Braves (RHP Charlie Morton, 8-8, 4.11 ERA), 4:20 p.m. Sunday, ESPN, 570 AM