The Los Angeles Dodgers pursuit for their first World Series in 30 years gets underway Thursday, when they open the season against the division rival San Francisco Giants. This spring was a successful one for the Dodgers, although they lost a couple key players to injury.
The first was a shoulder injury to reliever Tom Koehler, who signed a one-year conract with the Dodgers this past offseason. The second was a bit more important, as in the final week at Camelback Ranch, All-Star third baseman Justin Turner was hit by a pitch and fractured his left wrist.
Both players will begin the season on the disabled list, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts outlined their initial plan to begin the season as they will be on a similar rehab schedule.
“They’re going to both stick around for the opening series and then at that point in time they’re going to both head to Arizona,” Roberts said. “They’re on sort of the same schedule, a little bit differently as far as I understand from the trainers. So they’re going to be kind of moving from Arizona to Los Angeles throughout their rehab.”
Koehler has yet to pick up a baseball since suffering the anterior capsule strain, but he is out of the sling so the club is optimistic that he will be back sooner rather than later.
That is also the case with Turner, although there is no set timetable for his return as the organization does not want to put any pressure on him to rush back.
The Dodgers’ depth allows for players like Turner and Koehler not to rush their respective rehabs, as the team figures to be in position to get by without them for the first couple weeks or months of the season if need be.
