Regarded as one of the most consistent members of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen in recent memory, Blake Treinen struggled to remain healthy last season and ultimately underwent right shoulder surgery to repair his labrum and rotator cuff this past November.
The initial timetable for a return puts the 2023 season in jeopardy for Treinen. However, the 34-year-old expressed confidence late last year that he would return and pitch this season.
Doing so won’t come without missing multiple months, and Treinen was among the pitchers the Dodgers recently put on the 60-day injured list.
Regarding his outlook for this year, Treinen reiterated the expectation is to make an impact for the Dodgers at some point in 2023, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“I feel like I should be able to come back this year at some point, I think it’s a very real possibility,” Treinen said. “It’d be really kind of a gut punch to me if I wasn’t able to.”
Despite a return this season deemed by many as unlikely, the veteran believes the progress in his recovery has been encouraging and better than anticipated:
“It sounds like it will probably be a couple of weeks before I can start doing something like that,” Treinen said. “But we’re certainly ahead of schedule from where I think they were kind of hoping I would be.”
While the Dodgers bullpen still has some questions, it would be nothing short of positive if Treinen manages to continue his recovery pace.
Since signing with the Dodgers as a free agent in the winter of 2019, he’s pitched to a 2.45 ERA in 104 games.
In addition to coming only one game shy of tying his career record for appearances in a single season (73) in 2021, Treinen also displayed arguably the best season of his eight-year Major League career, capturing a stellar 1.99 ERA in 72.1 innings of work while allowing just 16 earned runs.
Across 13 appearances during the month of July, he didn’t allow an earned run and held opponents to a .098 batting average.
What are the Dodgers bullpen options without Blake Treinen?
Seemingly making moves all offseason to bolster their bullpen depth, the Dodgers have clearly considered the need to ensure that they have relief pitchers worthy of making up for Treinen’s potential full-season absence.
In addition to the Evan Phillips, they have the returning bullpen members in Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia, Yency Almonte and Phil Bickford.
Meanwhile, newcomer Shelby Miller is among others in the mix for relief roles.
Are you following Dodger Blue on Instagram? It’s the best way to see exclusive coverage from games and events, get your questions answered, and more!
