Another Dodgers injury blow throws middle of bullpen into flux post-trade deadline

The Los Angeles Dodgers have another internal backfill to make on their roster, just days after the MLB trade deadline passed and made such things more difficult to pull off. Will Klein, the red-bearded righty who rose in fame after absorbing inning after inning in last October's inexplicable late-night Dodgers Game 3 win, has scuffled a bit this season. He's posted an unsightly 1.560 WHIP and subtracted 0.3 bWAR from the team while still maintaining a 3.67 ERA and striking out 49 men in 41 2/3 innings pitched. It's possible he was fated to play a key regular-season role and not a postseason role for LA this year, but ... last year did happen. You simply never know.

Unfortunately, Klein may not make it back in time to be an October factor. Per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Klein is suffering from bone chips in his right elbow, and is currently weighing surgery to sort out the issue.

Tack on Edwin Diaz's lack of execution since returning from the shelf and myriad middle men scuffling in their roles, and you have a Dodgers bullpen that's ranked 23rd in ERA since the start of July across Major League Baseball. And reinforcements are not coming from outside these walls.

What's next for Dodgers after losing Will Klein from bullpen?

The easy answer is "more magic"; Dodgers fans don't know who it'll be and where it'll come from, but they've had a propensity for covering high-leverage October innings with surprising sources before. Remember - that was Klein last season.

If Diaz cannot return to an elite level or something approximating it, though, the chain of succession is far less clear than what happens at catcher now that Dalton Rushing is under duress. The Dodgers added both Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia at the deadline, familiar names who can do a sturdy job. They did not do the same thing on the mound.

Now, the only recourse left is to hope they never get into any October dogfights or that Klein's prognosis involves anything other than surgery or that Seth Halvorsen saves them. Just because someone's done it the past two years does not mean you can count on it happening again.

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