The Los Angeles Dodgers addressed their bullpen at the trade deadline by acquiring Brock Stewart, but the team otherwise intends to rely on internal options who will return from injury at some point during the second half.
Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates are the recent Dodgers relievers to be placed on the injured list, joining the likes of Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips also on the shelf. Phillips is out for the remainder of the season due to recently undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Meanwhile, Blake Treinen just returned and Kopech should be back once eligible in late August, but there appears to be some uncertainty with Graterol.
The Dodgers face the possibility of being in a similar position to last year, only this time with a depleted bullpen instead of a paper-thin starting rotation.
“Yeah, I think so,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently said about comparisons to 2024. “I think just kind of looking at the guys that we lost, and some of the guys that we have, we expect coming back, Treinen and Kopech being one.
“But until you get them back, you just don’t know. And obviously we don’t know where Graterol is at, so just kind of the uncertainty.
“I would say it’s kind of similar to where we’re at with the starting pitching last year.”
Graterol has been an important part of the Dodgers bullpen the past few years, especially during his best season as a professional in 2023.
Injuries last season similarly prevented him from making many appearances. However, he was able to be a part of the Dodgers’ World Series roster.
Although he only pitched 2.1 innings throughout the entire 2024 postseason, Graterol contributed to three of the Dodgers’ wins against the Yankees. That included two scoreless outings in tightly contested Games 1 and 3.
At the time of Graterol undergoing right shoulder surgery during the offseason, the Dodgers indicated he would return in the second half of 2025.
Brusdar Graterol’s injury history
The Dodgers placed Graterol on the 60-day injured list as part of setting their Opening Day roster for the Tokyo Series.
He was initially projected to miss at least the first half of 2025 after surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder.
Graterol missed the majority of the 2024 season with three separate bouts of shoulder inflammation, an injury believed to have stemmed from some trouble with his left hip during Spring Training.
In April 2021, Graterol landed on the injured list because of right forearm inflammation. He dealt with shoulder inflammation in July 2022 and right elbow inflammation in September of that year as well.
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