Bummer Andrew Heaney update sheds light on Dodgers rotation

Were you mentally prepared for Andrew Heaney’s stay on the Injured List battling shoulder discomfort to be short, and a minor consequence of the truncated Spring Training? Sorry, Dodgers fans, but this one’s a bit more serious than was initially sold.

Heaney was initially placed on the IL on April 20 following two phenomenal warmup starts, one of which came at home in LA and one of which came in the dastardly cold of Minnesota’s Target Field. Ace reliever Blake Treinen blamed that early-season chill for his shoulder tightness, which still has him on the shelf.

Perhaps Heaney’s injury was due to the climate shift, too, even though he made another start after his excellent debut?

Regardless, the numbers below — while exceptional — are going to be frozen for quite a while.

Dodgers’ Andrew Heaney Injury Update: … still not throwing.

According to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, the first to report manager Dave Roberts’ quote from Wednesday’s session, the team has no desire to rush Heaney back ahead of schedule. That decision was surely helped along by the overall strength of the Dodgers rotation, which remains deep and is bizarrely outpacing the offense, at the moment, after a sleepy series in Arizona.

Per Roberts, Heaney still has yet to pick up a baseball a week after being placed on the IL with his shoulder issue, and certainly won’t begin throwing until things are further healed.

Bake in another ramp up period, similar to his work in Spring Training, and you can expect Heaney back in … a month at the earliest? Does that sound fair?

Heaney was clearly the Dodgers’ White Whale this offseason, as they made him the first free agent signed during the league-wide November splurge. Andrew Friedman clearly couldn’t wait to get Heaney into his own pitching lab after Brian Cashman and the Yankees tried to give him a crash course in August and September last year, failing miserably to get their point across.

After a rough spring debut, Heaney looked like a key swipe during his two starts to begin the campaign. Like the best-laid plans of mice and men, though, things quickly went awry … and will be slowly put back together.

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