FanSided

Dodgers: 3 injuries that have hurt LAD the most during current slump

By Adam Weinrib |
Apr 1, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) slides safely in to second on a double in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) slides safely in to second on a double in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
1 of 3
Next

There was a time, way back when, when the Los Angeles Dodgers were challenging not only for NL West supremacy but the best record in all of Major League Baseball’s illustrious history.

Can you smell it? Can you smell the ink being spilled by Bill Plaschke about how this team might blitz the league to the tune of 126 wins?

It was just a few weeks ago, but it all feels so distant now.

Thanks to a cavalcade of injuries, the Dodgers still look like a good-to-great team most nights, and they have the depth to absorb several punishing blows. Instead of running and hiding in the National League, though, they’re keeping pace with the Giants and Padres, one enemy they anticipated and one they thought they’d left in the dust.

Along the way in a 162-game season, even the greatest teams are bound to be hampered by injuries, both short- and long-term, both mysterious and immediately diagnosed.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers have been hit by a flurry of both varieties all at once.

Prior to Monday’s game, Los Angeles underwent another massive roster shuffle, sending David Price to the IL with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, activating Gavin Lux, and moving several ancillary pieces back and forth to the Alternate Site.

It’s tough to find any form of consistency without the majority of your stars, and it’s tough to hold down an opposing offense when half your pitching depth isn’t pitching. All things considered — and with all due respect to several other injuries — these three maladies have been the most impactful thus far.

These 3 Dodgers injuries have hurt the most in April 2021.

Zach McKinstry #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
Zach McKinstry #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

3. Zach McKinstry

The Dodgers did not know what an essential piece they were bringing to the bigs when they promoted utility man Zach McKinstry following an impressive spring training showing.

In 17 games at the big league level — spent at second, third, left and right — McKinstry slashed .296/.328/.556 with a 144 OPS+ that papered over many of the roster’s other emerging issues.

Unfortunately, just as soon as he arrived, he vanished yet again. McKinstry was supposed to be a do-everything bat in the Chris Taylor mold who could’ve covered for the early absences of the team’s stars like Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger. Regrettably, he’s now on the shelf for the medium-term battling an oblique strain, perhaps the most undefinable injury in baseball. Will it be a month? Two months? We just don’t know, and we won’t be welcoming him back until it all “feels right.” Nebulous ’til the end.

McKinstry’s absence has also led to more playing time for Edwin Rios, a similarly young utility bat who’s also … 4-42 on the year and 0-for-his-last-21. This team absolutely misses McKinstry’s versatility and the way he allows their bigger names to struggle without the group missing a beat.

Tony Gonsolin #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Tony Gonsolin #46 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

2. Tony Gonsolin

Remember when the Dodgers’ pitching depth was so special they could send both the overqualified Tony Gonsolin and David Price to the bullpen in favor of Dustin May?

Now, both the team’s sixth and seventh starters are gone; Price’s hamstring strain sent him to the IL Monday, and Gonsolin has only recently begun a throwing program, encountering painful shoulder soreness the last time he tried to do so several weeks ago.

Down to the last line of defense, pitching depth-wise, just three weeks into the year? Not how LA drew it up.

Gonsolin hasn’t appeared this season, but the impact of his absence becomes obvious when you’re forced to look at who closes when Kenley Jansen isn’t available. Joe Kelly’s not walking through that door. Brusdar Graterol isn’t built up yet. Perhaps Corey Knebel could’ve entered the circle of trust if he hadn’t struggled before succumbing to his own potentially season-ending injury this week?

Massaging an extended late lead on Sunday, the Dodgers would’ve preferred to turn to a trusted innings-eater like Gonsolin. Instead, they were forced to go to reclamation project Jimmy Nelson, who couldn’t hold San Diego down. Once the game was tied, it was time for DFA candidate Garrett Cleavinger.

We’re ranking Gonsolin ahead of Kelly and Knebel here simply because we trust his guile and pitchability more in such situations. Knebel was partially down the comeback trail, and Wild Joe isn’t in the same league when the bleeding needs to be stopped. Losing Gonsolin has knocked all the wrong people up a peg.

Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

1. Cody Bellinger

Forget all this talk about depth and matchups. The Dodgers have been hurt the most by losing Cody Bellinger just a few games after he’d made the arduous trip back from offseason shoulder surgery.

Surgery he received because he … celebrated a home run too powerfully. Breaks of the game.

Of course, Bellinger was felled just four games into his 2021 season by a freak accident while running to first base against the Oakland A’s, and his calf pain ended up being diagnosed as a hairline fracture with an indeterminate timeline for his return.

Bellinger posted one of the most transcendent 23-year-old seasons in MLB history in 2019, ripping 47 homers and slashing .305/.406/.629 while capturing the MVP. We’d really … really like that back right about now instead of having to watch an outfield of Betts, Chris Taylor and Luke Raley. That wasn’t Plan A. It probably wasn’t Plan F.

No need to get overly clinical with our diagnosis here; Bellinger’s the type of player that no team, not even the vaunted Dodgers, can lose for a long stretch without anyone noticing. Mix in Betts’ extended absence during these past few weeks, too, and the outfield picture hasn’t looked nearly as menacing as we anticipated.

Next
Home / LA Dodgers News

Schedule