LOS ANGELES — A Dodgers’ bullpen that has been decimated by injuries could get some much-needed reinforcements this weekend with the likely activations of veteran right-handers Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates.
Kopech, who has been sidelined all season because of a shoulder impingement, and Yates, who went on the 15-day injured list because of a right hamstring strain on May 18, both threw 15-20 pitches to hitters in simulated innings before Wednesday night’s game against the New York Mets.
“Kirby was good – he threw strikes, did his usual thing and felt good coming out of it,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “Michael’s stuff was good … we’ll see how they feel [on Thursday], and we’ll have a decision on this weekend.”
Yates, who signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the Dodgers in January, went 3-2 with a 4.34 ERA in 22 games, striking out 31 and walking six in 18⅔ innings, before suffering his hamstring injury.
Kopech, acquired in a trade-deadline deal from the Chicago White Sox last summer, provided shut-down relief in the final two months of 2024, going 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA and six saves in 24 regular-season games.
The hard-throwing right-hander was a workhorse in the postseason, throwing nine innings over 10 playoff appearances in which he allowed three earned runs and five hits, struck out 10 and walked seven batters.
But that heavy workload took a toll. Kopech was sidelined all spring by forearm inflammation and opened the season on the injured list because of his shoulder.
Kopech was healthy enough to begin a minor league rehabilitation assignment in early May, but he was erratic and ineffective over nine games for Triple-A Oklahoma City in which he gave up 11 earned runs and eight hits, including two homers, struck out 11 and walked 10 in 6⅓ innings, for a 15.63 ERA.
“The reports were that the stuff was good, but certainly, the line wasn’t good or consistent,” Roberts said. “I think the thought is, with his track record, the heightened focus of being here, that’s kind of our thought about his potential activation.”
Right-hander Evan Phillips, who closed games for much of the 2023 and 2024 seasons, underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery, and right-hander Blake Treinen, the team’s top reliever during last season’s World Series run, has been out since April 19 because of a forearm sprain.
Reliever Luis Garcia suffered a right-adductor strain in Cleveland last week and was placed on the injured list, and Brusdar Graterol is still recovering from shoulder surgery that has sidelined him all season.
Top-line starters Blake Snell (shoulder inflammation), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder inflammation) and Roki Sasaki (shoulder impingement) are also on the injured list.
“I’m very confident we’re going to get these guys back,” Roberts said of his key starters and relievers. “I just don’t know when, and then once we get them back, we have to make sure we keep them back.”
EDMAN OUT
Utility man Tommy Edman, who earned MVP honors in last October’s National League Championship Series victory over the Mets, aggravated a right ankle injury this week and was not in the lineup for a second straight game on Wednesday.
Edman, who missed 16 games in late April and early May because of the injury, played the final three innings of Tuesday night’s 6-5, 10-inning victory over the Mets, but Roberts planned to rest him Wednesday night.
The switch-hitting Edman was listed as day-to-day. The Dodgers summoned outfielder Estuery Ruiz to Los Angeles as a taxi squad member in case they have to put Edman back on the IL.
“We want to make sure we’re doing everything we can so it doesn’t get worse,” Roberts said of Edman. “Once you’re sore, you’re compromising things, so we want to keep the soreness down and the strength up. He feels a lot better today than he did [on Tuesday]. We’ll see where we go with it [on Thursday].”
REHAB REPORT
Emmet Sheehan, who underwent Tommy John surgery with an internal brace procedure in May of 2024, is scheduled to make his second rehab start for Oklahoma City on Saturday.
The right-hander, who went 4-1 with a 4.92 ERA in 13 games – 11 of them starts – for the Dodgers in 2023, allowed two hits over three scoreless innings, struck out five and walked none in his first start on Sunday.
UP NEXT
Mets (LHP David Peterson, 4-2, 2.69 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Landon Knack, 3-2, 4.58 ERA), Thursday, 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
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