The Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed back Max Muncy before Monday’s series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost another key contributor as Tommy Edman was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right ankle.
Edman sustained the injury after hitting a single and rounding first base in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He previously dealt with ankle trouble earlier in the team’s road trip, which caused Edman to miss the series opener against the Cincinnati Reds.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Edman’s condition had improved after the team returned to L.A., but that they will slow-play his return until he is completely healthy.
“Don’t know how long he’s going to be, but I do think he’ll be back at some point. I think the main thing is when he does get back, how we can make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Roberts said.
“It’s kind of ligaments, strained tendons, whatever it is, it just has more laxity, for lack of a better word. That’s kind of how it keeps happening. But getting off the plane [Sunday], I heard he felt better, which is good. But no timeline.”
When discussing Edman’s status and outlook again on Friday, Roberts reiterated much of that same sentiment.
“Tommy is hanging in there. It’s going to take some time. We’ve just got to make sure once we get him back, we can’t have a recurring situation of the twisting of the ankle,” he said.
“So it’s probably going to be sometime in early September, but he’s doing OK. He’s working his tail off to get back.”
Edman previously spent time on the IL in May because of right ankle inflammation, which cost him roughly two weeks. He later avoided the IL in early June after tweaking the ankle during a game against the New York Mets.
“That’s kind of the thought of being able to get on your frontside batting left-handed, knowing that it doesn’t need to be on again, off again, or potentially losing him for the postseason,” Roberts said.
“Because now where we’re at on the calendar, we’ve got to make sure we do everything on the frontend that we don’t have a setback.”
How Dodgers are replacing Tommy Edman
Miguel Rojas started in Edman’s place at second base on Monday, but Alex Freeland is also expected to recieve some opportunities there. Though, that potentially may only be until Hyeseong Kim is activated off the injured list.
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