Hyun-Jin Ryu was transferred to the 60-day disabled list on Monday in a corresponding move to clear room for newly-acquired reliever Josh Fields on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 40-man roster. Ryu had been on the 15-day DL since July 19, retroactive to July 9, with tendinitis in his left elbow.
The paper move means the earliest date with which Ryu can be activated from the DL is Sept. 6. In reality, it may have effectively ended his 2016 season in similar fashion to Chris Hatcher, who is on the 60-day DL with a significant oblique strain.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said over the weekend that Ryu had yet to resume with baseball activities. He’s managed to make just one start in the Majors since undergoing surgery in May 2015 to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.
Ryu was initially projected to return by Spring Training but that was delayed and his recovery included multiple setbacks. After completing a rehab assignment that was stalled, Ryu was reinstated from the disabled list for his season debut July 7.
The 29-year-old showed flashes of his old form but suffered from fatigue and wound up allowing six runs on eight hits in just 4.2 innings. Optimism that came with the initial report of usual soreness after the outing were dashed when Ryu was scratched from his next scheduled start with the aforementioned tendinitis.
Excluding the lone start this year, Ryu is a combined 28-15 with a 3.17 ERA, 2.97 FIP and 1.19 WHIP over two full seasons with the Dodgers. He signed a six-year, $36 million contract in December 2012.
