At the end of an otherwise celebratory offseason, the Dodgers had to take a critical look at one of their biggest organizational flaws this winter.
In the weeks leading up to spring training, team officials engaged in what they described as a “deep dive” into their spate of pitching injuries in recent years. They called meetings involving club executives, pitching coaches and medical personnel. Together, they tried to diagnose the causes — and brainstorm potential solutions — to an injury crisis that has impacted the baseball world at large, but ravaged their pitching staff more than any other MLB team over the last several seasons.
“We dove pretty deep,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said last week, as the Dodgers gathered at Camelback Ranch for another season that could be defined by their ability to stay healthy on the mound. “We were able to have some substantive discussions.”
It remains to be seen how fruitful that examination proves to be.
While Friedman said the team identified “some things we’ll do differently,” he also acknowledged there was no “Ah-ha! We’ve figured it out” moment. He said the club’s probe into the problem will continue during spring training, when they plan to “create little groups to dive in on various things.” At the same time, he countered, “there are obviously some big macro issues that are a lot harder” to solve completely.
“There’s a lot going on in youth baseball that is different than how we would set it up or how Major League Baseball would set it up,” Friedman said, referencing how an industrywide emphasis on velocity and spin has led young pitchers to train in a way that makes them more susceptible to injuries early in their professional career.
Read more: Shohei Ohtani’s first spring bullpen session surprises Dodgers: ‘He looks really good’
“The chicken or egg on how those things get untangled, and momentum shifted a different way, is a much bigger question,” Friedman continued. “It’s easier for us to control how things operate within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization.”
Long term, such organizational changes could come in myriad facets — from minor league development methods, to rest and recovery routines between outings for big leaguers, to even the way the Dodgers evaluate potential draft picks.
“It’s not like we’re going to have a few more meetings here and go, ‘Alright, we’re good,’” Friedman said. “It’s going to be omnipresent for us.”
In the short term, however, the Dodgers are relying on a simpler strategy to try to mitigate injury risks on the mound in 2025.
Depth. Lots and lots and lots of depth.
This offseason, the majority of the Dodgers’ nearly half-billion dollars of spending was allocated to the pitching staff. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki were added to the starting rotation. In the bullpen, the team re-signed Blake Treinen before adding two of the top veteran relievers on the free-agent market, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates.
The result is a roster that includes as many as 12 currently healthy pitchers capable of starting games, and a bullpen so overloaded the Dodgers had to trade a once-trusted veteran, Ryan Brasier, to make room for their new additions.
“I’m sure some of [our past injury problems] created some of the mindset this offseason,” Friedman said of the team’s aggressive pursuit of pitching reinforcements this winter. “Just to be as prepared as we possibly could be.”
Added pitching coach Mark Prior: “I just think we all feel very fortunate to be part of an organization that’s willing to keep pushing to try to go out and win a championship every year.”.
The Dodgers have had depth before. Last season, they thought the additions of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and James Paxton would offer ample production in the rotation. For much of the past several seasons, the team has also counted on its talent-rich pitching pipeline to provide depth from the minor leagues.
Alas, it hasn’t always worked.
Glasnow and Yamamoto both arrived with durability question marks, and both proceeded to miss significant portions of the 2024 season while on the injured list. The team’s ability to keep its younger arms healthy has been an even bigger issue, finishing last year with six homegrown pitchers out because of major arm injuries.
“We sat here in spring training last year and said, ‘Oh we’ve got so much pitching depth, we’re definitely not going to go to market in July for pitching,’” Friedman said. “Fast forward to July and we’re in the market for pitching.”
The Dodgers have renewed hope they can avoid that fate this season.
They not only lavishly bolstered their depth in the offseason, but did so with acquisitions like Snell (who has made at least 20 starts in every full season of his nine-year career) and Scott (who has racked up 275 appearances over the last four seasons) who’ve had durable track records in their MLB careers.
Compared with the last couple of years, they will be far less reliant upon younger pitchers who — given the realities of modern baseball development — might be more susceptible to coming up to the majors and quickly getting hurt.
Read more: One bite of salad derailed Dustin May’s return to Dodgers. He’s thankful to be back
The Dodgers will continue to cautiously manage each pitcher’s workload, reprising the strategic use of off days and drop-in starters that have become commonplace in recent seasons.
Now, even if they are bitten by the injury bug again, their sheer number of options on the mound should leave them less susceptible to a situation like last year, when the team was left with just three healthy starters by the beginning of the postseason even after a key deadline trade for Jack Flaherty.
“It’s certainly very important,” manager Dave Roberts said, noting that the construction of this year’s pitching staff should give the team more “latitude” to protect the group overall.
Already this spring, it has factored into the Dodgers’ decision to slow-play the buildup of veteran relievers Evan Phillips (who spent the offseason recovering from a tear in his rotator cuff) and Michael Kopech (who battled some arm inflammation during the winter), willing to let both completely heal from their injuries even if it means they begin the season on the injured list.
The team’s plan to use a six-man starting rotation once Shohei Ohtani is ready to start pitching again should have a similar effect, giving the entire group of starters more time to recover between outings and a less rigorous workload overall.
Granted, Friedman and Prior noted in recent days that much can happen over a 162-game schedule.
“You look back over the years, we’ve been as aggressive as anyone in dropping in a starter, using off days,” Friedman said. “It’s almost the most risk-averse way of handling a pitching staff, and it hasn’t worked.”
“Unfortunately, it’s hard to script what’s going to happen,” Prior added. “On paper, yes, [our depth] makes it, I think, a little bit easier. But things happen. So, you know, we’ll see.”
But while the Dodgers — along with the rest of the industry — still have big-picture questions to figure out when it comes to protecting pitchers’ health, the team feels as good as it can about the state of its uber-deep staff entering 2025.
“Adding premier guys gives you some talent,” Prior said, “and at least that raises the floor for sure.”
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
