Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Hello and welcome to Spring Training, as pitchers and catchers have already reported for the Dodgers, and a bunch of position guys are already around and working.
As you’ll soon see, the vibes are off the charts so far.
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Hello, Shohei Ohtani!
Hyeseong Kim got a dose of Korean from him…
…and the other players are also having fun with him at least.
The Dodgers repeating will mainly come down to health and luck, but injecting fresh blood into the roster should help a lot in their quest because now a bunch of them are as hungry as anybody to win their first one.
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In transaction news, the Enrique Hernandez signing was finalized, and he’s making $6.5 million.
The Dodgers have agreed to terms with IF/OF Kiké Hernández on a one-year contract for $6.5 million. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred RHP Gavin Stone to the 60-day injured list.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) February 12, 2025
Gavin Stone heads to the 60-day IL to clear room, the first of presumably a handful of those moves to come.
In team news, the Dodgers have options at closer with all the experience in shutting down the late innings between Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, and Michael Kopech (even Alex Vesia), but Dave Roberts says it’ll be new signing Scott who will get the ball first.
Given the contract Scott received, that makes sense, as the Dodgers uncharacteristically splurged there for a reason. However, as the year goes on, I’d expect more of the same type of bullpen usage as 2024, especially because he’s a lefty.
In injury news … well, maybe we can cross out Phillips for a while, as he actually suffered a tear in his rotator cuff during last year’s NLCS. While many (me) were hoping he could return in the World Series at some point, that never seemed in the cards.
But during the NLCS, he suffered a tear in his subscapularis, a tendon in the back of the shoulder, the largest muscle in the rotator cuff.
“I did not bounce back well after Game 6 (of the NLCS). I could tell something wasn’t right,” Phillips said at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday. “I felt better after a day’s rest. I took Monday off. Tuesday, I came in and felt confident about it. Played catch and it just didn’t go well.”
The next day as the Dodgers prepared to play the Yankees in the World Series, Phillips underwent an MRI which revealed the tear. He received a cortisone injection, hoping to “accelerate” the healing enough for him to pitch in the World Series. It didn’t work and Phillips sat out the most important games of the year.
Fortunately, he did not need surgery, though he’ll be late starting this season.
Phillips said the exams of his shoulder did not show sufficient damage to require surgery but he did receive a platelet-rich plasma injection when the team returned from New York. In December, he had a follow-up MRI that showed things were “trending in the right direction” but “I think they still saw some damage in there.”
As a result, his throwing program in December was limited to medicine balls and light plyometric balls. He didn’t pick up a baseball until Jan. 1 and has only progressed to throwing long toss as camp opens this week, putting him behind schedule to be ready for the start of the season – and making him a very long shot to be ready for the games in Tokyo on March 18 and 19.
Is it concerning? Obviously, but realistically they also have the luxury of just needing him to round into form by October.
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While some fans (me) have been frustrated that Dave hasn’t already been extended, apparently he and the Dodgers only just started discussions.
On the Baseball Tonight podcast, Dave Roberts discusses his contract negotiations with the Dodgers, which have just started. pic.twitter.com/FrzTT4fWKV
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 7, 2025
When he talks about value, he likely wants to see something at least like Craig Counsell‘s five-year, $40 million record-setting deal with the Cubs, and it’s hard to argue he doesn’t deserve it at this point.
As was speculated earlier in the off-season, Farhan Zaidi is returning to the Dodgers in a special advisor role.
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Everybody will be in camp by February 15 on Saturday, and the first game will be on February 20 at Camelback Ranch.
