Dodgers: Four takeaways from the past losing road trip

Dodgers Are Beginning to Get Healthy

Over the road trip, we saw the Dodgers activate three pitchers from the Disabled List. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brandon McCarthy, and Rich Hill were all activated following missing only one start (excluding Hill). A good reason why these pitchers (for the exception of Hill) didn’t miss a substantial amount of time was that the club was taking advantage of the new 10-day DL rule.

We at Dodgers Way consider the recent DL use for the starting pitchers by the Dodgers as “phantom injuries.”  In other words, injuries that allow the team to utilize the same roster spot without using any player options to continue to give pitchers extra days rest and use their depth. While McCarthy did have a dislocated nonthrowing shoulder, Ryu was really placed on the DL to give him additional rest.

But phantom injuries or not, the Dodgers now have a full rotation of pitchers activated. Roberts currently has six starting pitchers active and will utilize all six this week with Ryu pitching Thursday night. Following Ryu will be Alex Wood, Julio Urias, and Brandon McCarthy to close out the weekend series.

I mentioned during spring training that at some point this season Dave Roberts was going to have to utilize a six-man rotation. The team just has too many quality arms, and with the front office wanting to limit Urias innings, it makes the most sense. Outside of Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood, none of the pitchers have proven to be healthy enough to solidify their spot in the rotation. Our Alex Perez wrote an article earlier today sharing his ideal five rotation starters. Check it out!

* 4:00 pm Update – Adrian Gonzalez has also been activated from the DL and will start today at first hitting 6th *