- Last night, Clayton Kershaw looked like a 37-year-old pitcher who was returning from knee and toe surgeries for the first time in a year. What can we take away from the game? He’s rusty, but looks to be healthy. We need to see progress in his next start.
- Will Dalton Rushing be Clayton’s personal catcher? I doubt it. If a tough LH is pitching when Clayton Starts, Will Smith will likely catch the GOAT.
- Kirby Yates is likely headed to the IL… no significant loss. Next man up! As of May 18, 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list. This includes both starting and relief pitchers, such as Roki Sasaki, who was recently sidelined with a right shoulder impingement.
- This number is among the highest in Major League Baseball. For comparison, the Cincinnati Reds have 13 pitchers on the injured list, including Hunter Greene and Brandon Williamson. Other teams like the Cleveland Guardians, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays also have significant numbers of pitchers on the IL, but the Dodgers’ count places them at or near the top league-wide.
- The Dodgers’ rotation has been particularly affected, with key starters like Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow on the 60-day injured list. Additionally, Shohei Ohtani has yet to return to pitching following his recovery from elbow and shoulder surgeries . While Clayton Kershaw was recently activated from the 60-day IL to make his season debut, the team continues to manage a high volume of pitcher injuries.
- This injury situation has necessitated frequent roster adjustments, including the recall of pitchers like Justin Wrobleski to fill gaps in the rotation . The Dodgers’ depth and resilience are being tested as they navigate these challenges in the 2025 season.
- It seems that Michael Conforto is now the latest Dodger Fans’ Whipping Boy. It’s funny to me that the “Ditch Conforto” crowd’s emergence has coincided with him breaking out. Over the past seven games, his batting average is .360 with a .429 OB% and a .560 Slug. The 17 million he makes is not what is keeping him on the team, and his bad defense is really not bad. He is average to below average as an outfielder and has actually played more RF than LF, and has 146 games in CF. Michael Conforto came to the Dodgers to see if RVS and Company could help him return to the time when he hit like a beast. In 2017-2019, he hit 27, 28, and 33 HR. From 2017 through 2020, he had an OPS of over .900. That’s why he signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers. He just turned 32, and his hard work with the Dodgers’ hitting instructors is starting to pay off. If he continues down that path, he will shut you up like Muncy and others have done many times. If he can hit .270 with 25+ HR, he will be a huge asset!
- While trying to ditch Conforto, many fans are pining to keep Chris Taylor, who is hitting .167 in his last seven games. “But he’s a good guy and more versatile!” Give me a break! He’s toast! Conforto still has some runway… especially with the turnaround he has shown in the last seven games. It actually started 15 games ago.
- We might see Nick Frasso soon. Wrobleski will likely be up too.
- Stay Calm. This, too, shall pass.
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Discussion (26)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Another night where we are leaving Teao and edman on the bench for comforto and kim. Robert’s just can’t bring himself to play the best players.
I feel sorry for Taylor who was the 26th man on the Dodger roster and had really no opportunities for playing time. The did him a favor and released him and I hope he hooks up with a non-contender and doesn’t come back to do damage against us. I wish him the best and hope someday he will come back as a coach or some position in the organizatiom. Good luck Chris!
Good thing we kept conforto another 0-3 down to .171. Last 5 games hitting a torrid .166 but his speed and versatility will serve us well. Hopefully they send kim down so conforto can give us this kind of production full time
hopefully garcia is the next to receive a dfa!!!
Pages’s progress….
In 2024, he batted a humdrum .213 against RHP, with a .647 OPS. He was much better against southpaws, with a .357 BA and .917 OPS.
This led to speculation that Pages could be a platoon partner for the lefty-swinging Conforto….
In 2025, Pages is hitting righties much better than he is hitting lefties.
Against RHP, he’s hitting .310 with a .906 OPS. Against LHP, he’s hitting .234 with an .706 OPS.
Overall, Pages is batting .284 with an .847 OPS.
Again, the same movie over and over…. Again!
“Kershaw is not the type of person that wants a last hoorah if he was to retire. I have a feeling this could be his last season. You see some hints of it in his recent interviews. So if you are attending the Dodger game tonight or any other time he is pitching this season please be loud and support him for all he has done for the Dodgers over the years. Don’t forget he will probably be somewhat rusty after not pitching in a long time besides the rehab games.”
“I don’t want to see any bashing of Kershaw or you will be banned.”
I read this on some Dodgers fan page.
Taylor has now been given his outright release. No DFA limbo for Chris. No team would have picked him up on waivers, but now he has a chance to sign with someone for the MLB minimum pro-rated.
With Yates on the DL, and Shohei ramped up to 50 pitches in a bullpen session….
Hmm.
I know we’re not supposed to see Shohei on the mound until after the all-star break. But as things shake out, would it make sense for him to see action as a reliever?
Prediction: Dodgers will win the WS, and Shohei will have both a W and a save in the Series…and hit a few homers too.
Why not?
Just wondering…
With Taylor out, could the next injury lead to a promotion for Alex Freeland?
The Dodgers still have a lot of UT options–Edman, Kike, Rojas, Kim–but Freeland is probably the most “ML ready” player in OKC.
https://x.com/Dodgerfam25/status/1924153203672666468
Oh well.
Just learned that Taylor got DFA’d to make room for Edman.
Ouch.
As I explain above, I think Taylor would ultimately prove more valuable to this Dodgers club than Conforto. Presumably the front office still believes that Conforto’s bat will come to life–but I think he’ll have a diminished role going forward. We’ll see.
The starting OF should have Teo, Edman and Pages.
The youth movement is now in full swing. Veteran players , “Produce or you will be replaced”.
The Dodgers will select Lou Trivino’s contract when Yates is placed on the 15-day IL, the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reports.
4:10 PM ET
Angels (19-25)
Dodgers (29-17)
SP Yusei Kikuchi L
0-4 3.72 ERA
SP Tony Gonsolin R
2-0 2.81 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
C Will Smith R
1B F. Freeman L
RF Andy Pages R
CF Tommy Edman S
3B E. Hernandez R
LF M. Conforto L
2B Miguel Rojas R
72° Wind 9 mph Out
Small samples are fun!
Mark defends Conforto’s lackluster performance with his supposed “breakout” in recent days.
To update this analysis, Conforto over the past 7 days has hit .310 with a .935 OPS, which is nice! He raised his season numbers to .175 and .592, which remains not-nice.
Anyway, the case against Conforto is really a case for Andy Pages, who is blossoming before our eyes and has richly earned a full-time job. He’s flexing all-star potential with 9 HRs and an OPS of .847, plus some strong defense in RF.
Teo and Edman will return soon. Should either of them sit so that Conforto can play? Nope. The optimal outfield, for both offense and defense, would include Teo, Edman and Pages.
It’s Conforto, despite his supposed “breakout,” should go to the bench.
Perhaps Mark would protect Conforto’s starting job by playing Pages in CF and moving Edman to 2B.
But playing Edman at 2B pushes Kim out of the lineup. So let’s compare Kim’s performance to Conforto’s “breakout.” Over 14 games (also a small sample, but double the Conforto sample for his purpose), Kim has produced a ridiculous .452 BA and 1.066 OPS. Obviously these numbers are unsustainable. But if you think Kim has earned a roster spot, why would you put him and his excellent glove and speed on the bench just to allow Conforto to play LF?
Finally, there’s the Rushing factor. His debut has been impressive. The bat definitely plays: On this team, only Shohei hits ball harder. When Rushing isn’t starting, he’d be the lefty pinch-hit option not named Conforto.
Occasionally Roberts could also work Rushing into LF (Conforto’s position) to get him more reps. I’d love to see both Smith and Rushing in the same lineup.
So the case against Conforto is really a case for giving more playing time to Pages, Kim and Rushing.
Oddly, Mark disses Taylor’s versatility, which is what every “26th man” should provide. If Conforto could do what Taylor can do, he might win the apple-to-apple comparison.
Edman (ankle) has been activated from the 10-day injured list and will bad sixth and play center field Sunday against the Angels, Erica Weston of Bally Sports West reports.
“Edman landed on the injured list April 30 after tweaking his right ankle but recovered slower than anticipated. He’s finally healthy enough to rejoin the active roster and immediately joins the starting nine. Edman slashed .252/.295/.523 with eight home runs in 122 plate appearances before the injury. The Dodgers designated Chris Taylor for assignment in a corresponding move”.
Sad to see Taylor go, but it was the right decision.
Loss last night not on the offense, it was on the pen. Yeah, Kersh gave up 5 and did not look sharp. It is natural. He hasn’t pitched in a major league game since last year. After they took the lead, the pen gave up the lead with a 4-run inning, with O’Hoppe’s 3-run shot topping it off. Vesia did not help matters any when he gave up the solo shot to Lugo. Ohtani 0-5. Did not hit a ball hard all night. Thank goodness for Freddie and Pages. Muncy and Conforto have been much better of late.
Taylor has been DFA’d
did anyone notice the difference between Barnes and rushing.? the bat. the throw to second. the body language. if you didn’t then you haven’t noticed the difference between Kim and Taylor. it’s time to move on! Chris is a good person and has meant a lot to the organization. BUT, it’s time! Conforto has had some of the hardest hit balls on the team! i’m way more concerned about the pitching than the offense! 9 runs last night against a below mediocre Angels team team! And we give up 11? I agree, if Clayton doesn’t improve in the next couple of games, it could be the end. God i hope not! not only because how much he means to the dodgers, but they need bhi in this rotation! I really believe they need to acquire another starter. i don’t believe Knack is the answer. Dustin? great early start, but lately not good. Sasaki?? who knows! Yamamoto? leveled off lately. Glasnow? fingers crossed! Catman? he’s good! AF. needs to make a move! And while he’s at it, bullpen needs some help. So it’s not the offense that needs help, its that fragile starting rotation in need of some rescue!
While you don’t necessarily ever want somebody to be hurt – in the case of Yates, it may be a good thing for the Dodger’s, maybe it is just my selective memory but the guy doesn’t seem to deliver when he is brought in to close the door if one of the other pitchers falter, instead he seems to throw gas on the fire and then put the game out of reach for any reasonable chance that the offense could come back to win the game.
Last night’s fiasco was the 2nd (for sure) and maybe the 3rd time he has allowed a game to blowup out of reach.
He seems OK when starting a inning clean and maybe that should be the only way he is allowed to pitch.
Pages with his fAR stats per Mark’s previous post would be the best on 19 other teams, and he seems to be getting better. Realize it is a very small sample size but with Pages, Kim and Rushing’s the Dodger’s youth movement has already begun with absolutely no fan-fare.
Rushing’s POP time of 1.69 is crazy good!!
Patrick Bailey’s (Giant’s Gold Glover) best POP time was 1.71, which was an MLB record since Statcast was implemented, while his average POP is 1.86-seconds.
It is crazy that they are still tied for 2nd best record in baseball with 2-key positional players and half their starting rotation on the side-lines.
Mark, if Conforto ends up at .270 with 25 HR, I will kiss your butt, take a photo of it, and change all my avatars to that image.
With conforto hitting at a recent 360 clip his average still nets out at 175. Its not a matter of conforto for taylor, would much rather have an outfield of tao, tommy pages all much more productive than conforto. In addition would let kim start at 2nd if he starts to falter always have kiki, rojas or taylor to fall back on. Conforto has been given a big runway and hasnot succeeded, with a team this talented there are much better options.
As I posted yesterday. I think it is telling that Conforto started against the lefty, and Taylor did not
Saturday scores
Oklahoma City 7, Round Rock 3
Tulsa 4, Northwest Arkansas 1
Great Lakes 7, Lake County 6
Inland Empire 7, Rancho Cucamonga 3
ACL Dodgers 8, ACL Rangers 2
Sunday schedule
10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Patrick Copen) vs. Lake County (Jackson Humphries)
11 a.m.: Tulsa (Chris Campos) vs. Northest Arkansas (Ryan Ramsey)
11:05 a.m.: Oklahoma City (Bobby Miller) at Round Rock (Gerson Garabito)
2 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Christian Zazueta) vs. Inland Empire (Andre Sanchez)
Low-A: Shortstop Kellon Lindsey was placed on the 7-day injured list.
For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.