DALLAS — In a quiet moment with the Dodgers in between the addition of Blake Snell and – they hope – Roki Sasaki, Brandon Gomes rattled through updates on many of the other starting pitchers that could be a part of their rotation.
The Dodgers’ general manager acknowledged that they need to get healthy because they can’t endlessly add to the list.
“You feel like you have depth going in, and sometimes it maintains and sometimes it doesn’t,” Gomes said Wednesday, the final full day of MLB’s winter meetings. “It’s a little scary of an unknown, but at some point you just bet that your guys are going to be able to go and post, because you can’t just continue to add.”
Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the two starters who didn’t have any health issues at the end of 2024 — though Yamamoto missed three months in mid-season with a rotator cuff strain. Shohei Ohtani had surgery last month on his left shoulder. That will cause him to miss the beginning of the season on the mound, but he is expected to be ready to DH when the Dodgers open the season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and 19.
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who had a sprained elbow at the end of the season, has been throwing. Gomes said he saw encouraging video of Glasnow on Wednesday.
“He’s feeling good,” Gomes said. “Everything we’re hearing from our doctors is he’s in a great place.”
However, Gomes wouldn’t elaborate on what treatment Glasnow had over the previous two months to make them so confident in his recovery. Glasnow pitched a career-high 134 innings in 2024 but only 31 of them came after June.
Gomes said Glasnow has just begun his throwing program, so the real tests won’t come until closer to spring training.
“That’s true of any pitcher going into the offseason,” Gomes said. “You don’t know a ton until they step on the mound, but our expectation is there won’t be an issue as he builds up.”
Right-hander Dustin May had Tommy John surgery in 2021, elbow flexor surgery in 2023 and then esophageal surgery this year.
Right-hander Tony Gonsolin had Tommy John surgery in 2023.
“We don’t really know how it all plays out coming off those injuries,” Gomes said, referring to May and Gonsolin. “It’s not always linear. If they come in and and they’re feeling good, great, let’s go. If we need to adjust, we will. And we know that we have a lot of options on the other side that can plug those holes.”
One of those options is left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who is expected to re-sign with the Dodgers to finish his Hall of Fame career. Kershaw missed much of the season with foot injuries, and he had foot and knee surgeries last month.
“He’s continuing to heal and build up from the procedures he’s had,” Gomes said. “We’ll just stay in touch. As I said, I hope and our expectation is that Clayton will be back next year, and whenever he’s ready, if we’re fortunate enough to bring him back, we’ll plug him in.”
NOTES
The Dodgers lost left-hander Garrett McDaniels to the Angels in the Rule 5 draft. McDaniels, 24, originally signed with the Dodgers as a minor-league free agent. He pitched just three innings above Class-A. He had a 3.19 ERA in 73⅓ innings at three levels last season. The Angels must keep him on the major-league roster all season, or offer him back to the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ minor-league pitcher of the year in 2021, right-hander Hyun-Il Choi, was taken by the Washington Nationals in the minor-league phase of the draft. …
Gomes said the Dodgers are expecting left-hander Alex Vesia (intercostal injury) and right-hander Evan Phillips (shoulder) to be ready to pitch by Opening Day, but they won’t know until the pitchers get to camp and start throwing with more intensity. …
Right-handers Brusdar Graterol (right labrum surgery) and Emmet Sheehan (Tommy John surgery) should be back sometime late in the season, Gomes said. …
Outfielder Michael Conforto, who this week signed a one-year, $17 million deal, comes to the Dodgers after an unusual season. Conforto, a left-handed hitter, was better against lefties than righties in 2024. Gomes said those numbers aren’t a total fluke, but he also doesn’t expect that trend to continue. “I don’t believe Michael is now a better hitter vs. left than right,” Gomes said. “I do believe with his swing and his path that he will handle left-handers better than he has historically, and he will still maintain a very high level vs. right, especially when you look at what he did on the road and some of the under-the-hood stuff.” Gomes also said Conforto can play either left or right field.