Tyler Glasnow injury spotlights Dodgers’ starting pitching need

After investing more money in free agency than any team this offseason, questions still lingered throughout the year about the Dodgers’ roster. Questions at shortstop. Questions in the outfield. Questions about the lineup depth. 

But as the deadline nears, their most pressing question has nothing to do with the offense at all: Do they have the starting pitching required to win a World Series? 

That query only intensified Tuesday as Tyler Glasnow was placed on the injured list with back tightness, adding to one of the most decorated and extensive registers of sidelined starting pitchers in the sport. The Dodgers’ IL already included a three-time Cy Young Award winner in Clayton Kershaw, the league’s most expensive pitcher in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a two-time All-Star in Walker Buehler, in addition to valuable depth pieces in Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Emmet Sheehan. 

Unlike most of the players on that list, Glasnow’s injury is not expected to sideline him for long — he could return shortly after the All-Star break and might miss only one start — but it will force him out of his first All-Star Game. The Reds’ Hunter Greene was already announced as a replacement on the National League team. 

Glasnow last pitched on Friday. Though he allowed five runs, there was nothing in that outing against the Brewers that sounded the alarm. His back issue didn’t flare up until two days later during catch play on Sunday. 

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that the Dodgers might have just tried to push him back a day or two if not for the break, which allowed the team to proceed with caution and provide Glasnow at least two weeks of rest. Any ailment gave the club a reason to press pause on Glasnow’s season as he approaches his career high in innings. 

But even if Glasnow recovers quickly from what appears to be a minor back issue, his injury and innings count — he’ll end the first half at 109 innings, 11 shy of the career high he set last year — only add to the belief that the Dodgers could use another frontline arm to feel comfortable after back-to-back first-round playoff exits, due in part to their breadth of ailments and absences in the rotation. 

The best options on the market in July — from the White Sox’s Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde, to the Tigers’ Jack Flaherty, to potentially the Rays’ Zach Eflin or the Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi — will come at a considerable cost. But the cost of missing out on an ace could be even greater. 

Last October, the Dodgers were without Buehler, May, Gonsolin and Julio Urías. Bobby Miller, a clearly-limited Kershaw and the newly-acquired Lance Lynn proceeded to allow a combined 13 runs in fewer than five innings of work in another first-round defeat. 

The Dodgers acquired Glasnow from the Rays and signed Yamamoto this offseason expecting to hand the ball to a new-look crew this October. 

Glasnow took pride in his ability to post after years of injuries — particularly to his elbow, which required Tommy John surgery in 2021 — cut into his workload in seasons past. On June 22, he became the first pitcher in the National League to surpass 100 innings, at the time leading the NL in innings, strikeouts, strikeout rate, WHIP and opponents’ batting average. Yamamoto, meanwhile, tallied a 2.92 ERA through his first 14 major-league starts. 

Now, Glasnow, Yamamoto and most of the arms the Dodgers expected to count on are either injured or scuffling. 

Yamamoto was shut down after straining his rotator cuff last month. Buehler is out with a hip issue and has no clear timetable as he searches for his form after struggling in his return from a second Tommy John surgery, Miller missed time with a shoulder issue earlier this year and hasn’t looked right all season. (Just hours after Glasnow was placed on the IL, Miller allowed nine earned runs to the Phillies to raise his ERA to 8.07.)

Reinforcements will come. Kershaw is expected to resume his rehab assignment this weekend after dealing with some shoulder soreness as he works his way back from offseason surgery, and many of the Dodgers’ sidelined starters are expected to return at some point in the second half. 

Still, how many of those arms can the Dodgers feel confident about before decisions need to be made at the deadline? 

It’s a credit to the club’s depth — rookies Gavin Stone and Landon Knack have been especially valuable — that L.A. has been able to maintain a comfortable lead in the division despite the litany of absences. But this year is about much more than winning the NL West for the Dodgers, and while depth can get teams through a season, stars tend to carry teams through October. 

With another now on the shelf, questions about their rotation continue to mount. 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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