Another Dodgers reliever getting injured brings up persistent concerns from 2024

It looks like the Dodgers still haven't completely shaken the injury bug. Two Dodgers pitchers, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips, are already expected to start the season on the IL, and now Michael Grove will be joining them.

Dave Roberts said on Tuesday that Grove was "about a month behind schedule" after pitching just 1/3 of an inning in the NLDS last year and subsequently being left off of the NLCS and World Series rosters with a shoulder injury.

Grove didn't seem like a lock to make the bullpen in the first place, with three of Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, and Landon Knack bound to get kicked back to the bullpen when the rotation fills up, as well as hotter prospects like Ben Casparius fighting to see major league time.

However, it's still not a reassuring sign after so many pitchers got hurt last year. Grove was one of them; he went onto the IL in July and was quickly optioned back to the minors after struggling through his first few appearances in August.

Michael Grove becomes latest Dodgers pitcher set to start the season on the IL

Grove is easily one of the more expendable arms on the Dodgers' 40-man, and it's still a little hard to understand how he's managed to weather so many roster crunches (the latest being when the Dodgers traded Ryan Brasier to make room for Kirby Yates) when he has a 5.48 career ERA since 2022 and has a history of injury. He wasn't even a first-round pick that the Dodgers might want to give as much leeway to as possible.

So there are pros and cons here. On one hand, Grove's absence could give a minor leaguer or two a way to break onto the roster. On the other, that's now three pitchers who are already expected to start late, on top of multiple players who went out last year and will miss large chunks, if not the entirety, of the season. Those ranks includeBrusdar Graterol, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Clayton Kershaw.

The Dodgers have said they'll reevaluate their strategies for handling pitchers' workloads to try to eliminate the same volume of injury as last year, but we haven't heard specifics there, and they're already not off to a good start.